Botany in children\u27s literature: a content analysis of plant-centered children\u27s picture books that have a plot and characters

This content analysis study examined 36 plant-centered children’s science picture books that have a plot and characters published from 1950 to present. Botanical subject matter and learning opportunities offered by these books were analyzed, along with the range and frequency of the National Science Education Standards-consistent and age-appropriate plant science concepts and principles. The science graphics, artistic innovations, and story plot of these books were also examined. Rubrics and research-based recommendations were developed to offer parents, teachers, and librarians assistance in identifying, evaluating, and using such books to help children of ages 4-8 learn about plants and enjoy plant science. This genre of children’s literature was identified and selected primarily through extensive research at four major, nationally recognized children’s literature collections: The Kerlan Collection, The de Grummond Collection, The Center for Children’s Books, and The Central Children’s Room at the Donnell Library. This study determined that there was a substantial increase in the number of books written in this genre of children’s literature from 1990 to 2000. Botanical subject-matter knowledge and learning opportunities offered by these books include biodiversity of plants; characteristics of plants; life cycles of plants; economic botany, ecology, and ethnobotany. The range and frequency of National Standards-consistent and age-appropriate plant science concepts and principles identified within these books, in part, though not exclusively, included the emergent categories of the process of photosynthesis; basic needs of plants; plant structures; external signals affecting plant growth; environmental stress to plants; biodiversity of plants; plants as animal habitats; and common uses of plants. With regard to plant science graphics, 13 books were identified as presenting some type of science graphic, beyond simple illustrations. The most frequently used graphics were cutaways, sequence diagrams, and zoom graphics. The findings relative to story plot and characters revealed that the majority of story plots involved a problem followed by a solution, rather than merely a series of events. The main character(s) of these stories were most often Caucasians (44%), followed by plants (28%), Hispanics (11%), animals personified (8%), African Americans (6%), and indigenous peoples (3%). Most often the stories took place in rural settings

ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS NOW OR A HALF MILLION DOLLARS LATER?

Most people do not think about retirement savings early enough and miss years of compound interest earnings. According to Investopedia, the average 55-64 year old American has approximately $104,000 in retirement savings, which translates into$310 income per month. The prospect of millions of seniors living well below the poverty level is not ideal. The purpose of our study is to determine if different methods of envisioning the future can prompt millennials to increase their savings early in life. Land-use management experts use a “backcasting” approach to generate future scenarios that enable planners to easily identify strategies to achieve those goals. Both land use management and retirement planning require trade-offs between short-term sacrifices and long-term gains. For example, using forecasting, we focus on saving $25 per month and determine what our savings will be in the future. Using backcasting, we determine what income we want in the future then calculate how much we have to save each month to achieve that goal. We hypothesize that backcasting will result in higher savings than forecasting. In our experiment, we present a scenario to prompt subjects into a forecasting or backcasting mode. They will then be asked to save a portion of their participation fee. One week later, the same subjects will repeat the experiment in the other mode and again be asked to save a portion of their participation fee. The study will highlight the cognitive processes involved in time dependent decisions. We will also recommend strategies to improve the retirement financial independence of millennials by illustrating ways to encourage them to start saving while they are young

Private Information, Overconfidence and Trader Returns in Prediction Markets

In lab experiments on the value of information in financial markets, groups of “insiders” are randomly chosen to receive perfect information. However, in typical (non-experimental) financial markets, investors often engage in extensive fundamental analysis, a process which may result in over-confidence in one’s private information. In this study, we examine trading volume, prices and trader returns in a set of four real money prediction markets where the values of securities are tied to a movie’s box office performance. Before the markets opened, every trader submitted a detailed forecast of the movie’s future performance. Therefore, all traders have self-generated private information, the accuracy of which can only be known ex-post.            As expected, the volume and timing of trading were consistent with over-confidence. In three of the four markets, contract prices were consistent with the prior information equilibrium. In those three markets, traders whose forecast was associated with the winning contract had significantly higher returns than traders whose forecasts suggested that another contract would pay off. In the other market, there were no significant differences in returns across trader groups. This research suggests that when traders are overconfident and trade accordingly, there can value to being better informed if the information is accurate.