A Confirmatory Study on the Motivational Orientations of Older Adults Involved in Formal Education at the University of Maryland

The purpose of this study was two-fold. One objective was to confirm Pritchard's (1978) typology of older adults' motives for education participation. Another purpose was to examine the influence that selected demographic variables (age, gender, socioeconomic status, and marital status) had on motivations of older students to participate in the "Golden Identification" (Golden I.D.) Program at the University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland. The sample consisted of 160 participants from the Golden I.D. Program who were selected through a systematic probability sampling procedure. A mailed questionnaire comprised of three instruments was used for conducting this research. The first part of the questionnaire measured motivational orientations for participation in education by older adults and consisted of the Education Participation Scale for Older Adults and the Older Learner Participation Scale. The third instrument measured demographic characteristics of the study participants. The results revealed that the motivation of the Golden I.D. students to participate in education can be divided into the following six factors (in decreasing order of importance): "cognitive interest," "self actualization," "adaptation/self-understanding," "social contact," "social contribution," and "escape/stimulation . " Furthermore, significant relationships emerged between the socioeconomic status of the participant, and the motives "social contribution," "escape/stimulation," and "self actualization." The implications of these findings and recommendations for further research are discussed

Maternal mind-mindedness and children’s school readiness: A longitudinal study of developmental processes

This study aimed to test a five-wave sequential mediation model linking maternal mind-mindedness during infancy to children’s school readiness in kindergarten through a serial mediation involving child language and effortful control in toddlerhood and the preschool years. Among a sample of 204 mother-child dyads, we assessed maternal mind-mindedness when children were aged 1 year, child expressive vocabulary at age 2, effortful control at ages 3 and 4, and finally cognitive school readiness in kindergarten. The results corroborated the model, suggesting that the prospective association between early mind-mindedness and later cognitive school readiness was entirely mediated by the proposed sequence of mediators, all of which were necessary to account for this longitudinal association. These findings suggest that the potential of parental mind-mindedness to support children’s cognitive development may have been under-estimated, and that its putative positive influence may take the form of a developmental cascade unfolding during the preschool years and entailing the acquisition of basic skills that serve as building blocks for further learning and development

Mentoring, coaching and supervision

This chapter considers the purpose of coaching, mentoring and supervision in early childhood eduaction and care. It examines a number of different approaches and considers the key skills required for effective coaching, mentoring and supervision

Technological University Dublin\u27s Pathway to Embedding Sustainability in Food Degrees, NEMOS and Beyond

The School of Food Science and Environmental Health, Technological University Dublin, commenced a journey to embed Sustainability in its modules and programmes in 2020 with a nationally funded project ‘Sustainable Food Curriculum Co-Create’. The project’s goal was to build capacity for integrating sustainability learning outcomes across Food programmes through educator professional development and co-creation with students. The CPD curriculum design involved several stakeholders in Education for Sustainable Development from across the Food System including enterprise and state organisations who advised on sector-specific sustainability issues, food experts from across several Schools, and sustainability experts from across the University and beyond. It also was informed by industry publications and policy frameworks. In 2021, the School commenced the European Erasmus partnership NEMOS – A new educational model for acquisition of sustainability competences through service-learning. Using a TU Dublin designed sustainability mapping tool, our BSc Food Innovation degree was analysed for current levels of sustainability, based on the AASHE Stars categorisation. Through research involving internal and external stakeholders, barriers to sustainability were identified, and categorised as economical, supply chain issues, labour, knowledge, awareness, investment, government, human nature, climate change, environmental, social sustainability, capitalism, low adoption of Innovation, and food safety. Meanwhile, key food related Sustainability concepts that will be useful to inform the review of food degrees were identified and categorised as Farming Practices, Climate change direct impacts, Environmental, Agrifood Circular Bioeconomy, Waste reduction, Measuring and benchmarking, Food Safety and Regulatory Affairs, Food product development, Sustainable and Ethical Food Business. In all, 70 competencies were identified. In this special session, TU Dublin will outline the CPD module for enhancing lecturer capacity for embedding sustainability in the curriculum, the TU Dublin curriculum mapping tool for measuring sustainability, and provide an Irish and European context for sustainability competencies

The role of paternal mind‐mindedness in preschoolers' self‐regulated conduct

This study examined the prospective links between paternal mind‐mindedness (MM) and 2 indices of preschoolers' self‐regulated con-duct, namely, inhibitory control and rule‐compatible conduct.Ninety‐two families (47 boys) participated in 2 assessments. PaternalMM was assessed with a 10‐min father–child free‐play session whenchildren were aged 18 months. Children's rule‐compatible conductwas reported by mothers when children reached 3 years of age,and inhibitory control was measured with a Snack Delay task, alsoadministered at 3 years. The results suggested that after accountingfor the contribution of child temperament (social fearfulness),paternal MM was positively related to children's inhibitory control.In contrast, the relation between paternal MM and mother‐reportedrule‐compatible conduct was not significant. The results areinterpreted in light of the mechanisms that may account for the linksbetween paternal MM and preschoolers' emerging capacity tovoluntarily control their behaviour

School Counseling Intervention Research on College Readiness, College Access, and Postsecondary Success: A 10-Year Content Analysis of Peer-Reviewed Research

Recent demands from educators and policymakers require school counselors to ensure that students are college and career ready. In this 10‐year content analysis of peer reviewed research, investigators sought to review and describe the available intervention research designed to improve post‐secondary success. Ten (n = 10) articles published between 2007‐2016 met the inclusion criteria and were coded across the dimensions of project leadership, program goals, and research rigor. All ten intervention studies identified were implemented in high school settings, and five of the ten were large‐scale, multi‐modal collaborative interventions. None of the articles were published in counseling journals, and various levels of rigor were represented across the studies. Implications for researchers and school counselors are discussed

The Call for a New Definition of Biosignature

The term has become increasingly prevalent in astrobiology literature as our ability to search for life advances. Although this term has been useful to the community, its definition is not settled. Existing definitions conflict sharply over the balance of evidence needed to establish a biosignature, which leads to misunderstanding and confusion about what is being claimed when biosignatures are purportedly detected. To resolve this, we offer a new definition of a biosignature as This definition is strong enough to do the work required of it in multiple contexts-from the search for life on Mars to exoplanet spectroscopy-where the quality and indeed quantity of obtainable evidence is markedly different. Moreover, it addresses the pernicious problem of unconceived abiotic mimics that is central to biosignature research. We show that the new definition yields intuitively satisfying judgments when applied to historical biosignature claims. We also reaffirm the importance of multidisciplinary work on abiotic mimics to narrow the gap between the detection of a biosignature and a confirmed discovery of life