Thinking about maths : a review of issues in teaching number from 5 to 14 years

This document was written as a contribution to the National Debate on Mathematics Education in Scotland

Childhood loneliness as a predictor of adolescent depressive symptoms: an 8-year longitudinal study

Childhood loneliness is characterised by children’s perceived dissatisfaction with aspects of their social relationships. This 8-year prospective study investigates whether loneliness in childhood predicts depressive symptoms in adolescence, controlling for early childhood indicators of emotional problems and a sociometric measure of peer social preference. 296 children were tested in the infant years of primary school (T1 5 years of age), in the upper primary school (T2 9 years of age) and in secondary school (T3 13 years of age). At T1, children completed the loneliness assessment and sociometric interview. Their teachers completed externalisation and internalisation rating scales for each child. At T2, children completed a loneliness assessment, a measure of depressive symptoms, and the sociometric interview. At T3, children completed the depressive symptom assessment. An SEM analysis showed that depressive symptoms in early adolescence (age 13) were predicted by reports of depressive symptoms at age 8, which were themselves predicted by internalisation in the infant school (5 years). The interactive effect of loneliness at 5 and 9, indicative of prolonged loneliness in childhood, also predicted depressive symptoms at age 13. Parent and peer-related loneliness at age 5 and 9, peer acceptance variables, and duration of parent loneliness did not predict depression. Our results suggest that enduring peer-related loneliness during childhood constitutes an interpersonal stressor that predisposes children to adolescent depressive symptoms. Possible mediators are discussed

UKIRT under new management: status and plans

The United Kingdom Infrared Telescope (UKIRT) observatory has been transferred to the ownership of the University of Hawaii (UH) and is now being managed by UH. We have established partnerships with several organizations to utilize the UKIRT for science projects and to support its operation. Our main partners are the U.S. Naval Observatory (USNO), the East Asian Observatory (EAO), and the UKIRT microlensing team (JPL/IPAC/OSU/Vanderbilt). The USNO is working on deep northern hemisphere surveys in the H and K bands and the UKIRT microlensing team is running a monitoring campaign of the Galactic bulge. EAO, UH, and USNO have individual P.I. research programs. Most of the observations are using the Wide Field Camera (WFCAM), but the older suite of cassegrain instruments are still fully operational. Data processing and archiving continue to be done CASU and WSA in the UK. We are working on a concept to upgrade the WFCAM with new larger infrared detector arrays for substantially improved survey efficiency

UKIRT under new management: status and plans

The United Kingdom Infrared Telescope (UKIRT) observatory has been transferred to the ownership of the University of Hawaii (UH) and is now being managed by UH. We have established partnerships with several organizations to utilize the UKIRT for science projects and to support its operation. Our main partners are the U.S. Naval Observatory (USNO), the East Asian Observatory (EAO), and the UKIRT microlensing team (JPL/IPAC/OSU/Vanderbilt). The USNO is working on deep northern hemisphere surveys in the H and K bands and the UKIRT microlensing team is running a monitoring campaign of the Galactic bulge. EAO, UH, and USNO have individual P.I. research programs. Most of the observations are using the Wide Field Camera (WFCAM), but the older suite of cassegrain instruments are still fully operational. Data processing and archiving continue to be done CASU and WSA in the UK. We are working on a concept to upgrade the WFCAM with new larger infrared detector arrays for substantially improved survey efficiency

Strategies to Target Tumor Immunosuppression

The tumor microenvironment is currently in the spotlight of cancer immunology research as a key factor impacting tumor development and progression. While antigen-specific immune responses play a crucial role in tumor rejection, the tumor hampers these immune responses by creating an immunosuppressive microenvironment. Recently, major progress has been achieved in the field of cancer immunotherapy, and several groundbreaking clinical trials demonstrated the potency of such therapeutic interventions in patients. Yet, the responses greatly vary among individuals. This calls for the rational design of more efficacious cancer immunotherapeutic interventions that take into consideration the “immune signature” of the tumor. Multimodality treatment regimens that aim to enhance intratumoral homing and activation of antigen-specific immune effector cells, while simultaneously targeting tumor immunosuppression, are pivotal for potent antitumor immunity

Young children's rights to numeracy

In this paper I argue that children have a right to basic numeracy and that studies of adult numeracy suggest that this right is being denied to many in British schools. Because of the way that maths education discourses are structured, we do not have a separately defined discourse around numeracy teaching, and this has implications for young children's access to numeracy. I outline what a discourse of numeracy teaching would look like, and how it would relate to current maths education discourses. A developmental dimension in these discourses will improve both Early Years numeracy teaching and the curriculum development processes around British maths education. I use the term 'small' maths to define the differences between numeracy and basic arithmetic

Mathematics in early childhood - the early years maths curriculum in the UK and children's numerical development

The recent development of the British early years (3-5 years) maths curriculum is described as a function of successive educational reforms aimed at the primary school curriculum in general and the primary maths curriculum (5-12 years) in particular. Contradictions within this curriculum development process are explained in terms of current curriculum theory. Young children's experience of the British primary maths curriculum is illustrated with data from a longitudinal study of early maths concepts from 5 to 8 years of age. Case study data show how normative assumptions embedded in the curriculum make teachers' work unnecessarily difficult, and deprive children of satisfying learning experiences in mathematics. It is argued that an efficiently implemented early years maths curriculum (from 3-8 years) would take young children's developmental characteristics into account, and would stress cross-curricular themes and indirect teaching of concepts

Interactions between school systems and reading recovery programmes - evidence from Northern Ireland

Recent work on raising attainment in education has raised theoretical issues about organizational responses to innovation and qualitative aspects of programme implementation. In particular, the 'depth' of an implementation (the extent to which a programme actually changes the educational interactions between pupils and their teachers) is now thought to be as important as its 'spread' (the number of schools in which it is replicated). Such issues, together with the existing literature on Reading Recovery implementation, suggest that it is time to review the models of implementation held within the Reading Recovery community. We used a range of methods at four levels of data collection to analyse variation in 'depth' of implementation in a countrywide Reading Recovery programme. From our findings we conclude that Reading Recovery has achieved resounding success as an individual programme, but that it would be still more efficient if the models of implementation were to be reviewed