Investigation of the Gender Stereotypes of Children from "Extended" Single-Parent Families in Turkey

The breakdown of relationships between parents because of divorce, separation or spousal death can affect children's gender roles, as it requires restructuring roles in the family. In Turkey, single-parent families function like extended families unlike the most West societies. Therefore, we aim to examine the gender stereotypes of children living in extended single-parent families in Turkey. We obtained the data through activities held with nine children aged 54-78 months living in "extended" single-parent families, without any intervention in their behavior on the part of the researchers. Findings revealed that living with a mother may affect children's gender stereotypes regarding the division of household labor and occupations. Besides, social role models such as uncles and grandmothers at home may affect children's gender stereotypes regarding the division of household labor. However, these effects are limited. Most of the children in single-parent families headed by either a mother or a father have strong gender stereotypes. Children's gender stereotypes and the related literature are discussed in the context of family structures in Turkey. Suggestions for future research are also discussed

Barriers to Parental Involvement in Preschool Education and Problems Encountered in Process

WOS: 000477757000012The aim of this study was to examine problems that parents and teachers encountered during which family participation fulfills in preschool education thoroughly, with limited participants by using qualitative data collection tools. The study was conducted with two teachers who worked in an independent kindergarten affiliated to the Directorate of National Education in the province of Cukurova, Adana and the parents of 28 children from the class of these teachers. This study was conducted as a case study of qualitative research designs. Interview and observation were used as data collection tools in the research. Content analysis was used to analyze the data. As a result of the research, it was determined that the participating teachers did not have sufficient knowledge and awareness about the problems they experienced in terms of family participation with parents, family participation barriers, responsibility for family-school communication in terms of family participation and increasing parental involvement. It was determined that parents were willing to communicate with the school and participate in their children's education, but that they had no information about how they could participate, were not adequately supported by the school and the teacher, and had communication problems with the school management and teachers in terms of family involvement. It was determined that both teachers and parents have some barriers in terms of family involvement

Reproducibility of fluorescent expression from engineered biological constructs in E. coli

We present results of the first large-scale interlaboratory study carried out in synthetic biology, as part of the 2014 and 2015 International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) competitions. Participants at 88 institutions around the world measured fluorescence from three engineered constitutive constructs in E. coli. Few participants were able to measure absolute fluorescence, so data was analyzed in terms of ratios. Precision was strongly related to fluorescent strength, ranging from 1.54-fold standard deviation for the ratio between strong promoters to 5.75-fold for the ratio between the strongest and weakest promoter, and while host strain did not affect expression ratios, choice of instrument did. This result shows that high quantitative precision and reproducibility of results is possible, while at the same time indicating areas needing improved laboratory practices.Peer reviewe