The role of supervisory neglect in childhood injury

This paper explores the theoretical understandings of supervisory neglect and how these understandings might assist in delivering practical responses using a public health approach to child protection.Injury is the leading cause of death in Australians 1–44 years of age (McClure, Stevenson, & McEvoy, 2004). Transport-related injury, drowning, and assault/homicide were the three leading causes of injury-related deaths in Australian children between 2004 and 2006 (AIHW, 2009). Children are particularly vulnerable to different types of injury depending on their stage of growth and development. This vulnerability is dependent on a combination of the child’s developmental stage, exposure to environmental risk factors and the presence of protective factors (Towner & Dowswell, 2002). Due to the diverse nature of injury in the population, prevention programs are mainly targeted at similar types of injury or circumstances in specific population groups. Examples of such targeted programs include preventing car crashes in newly licensed young drivers or educating beach goers to swim between the flags

Fluctuations in Student Understanding of Newton's 3rd Law

We present data from a between-student study on student response to questions on Newton's Third Law given throughout the academic year. The study, conducted at Rochester Institute of Technology, involved students from the first and third of a three-quarter sequence. Construction of a response curve reveals subtle dynamics in student learning not captured by simple pre/post testing. We find a a significant positive effect from direct instruction, peaking at the end of instruction on forces, that diminishes by the end of the quarter. Two quarters later, in physics III, a significant dip in correct response occurs when instruction changes from the vector quantities of electric forces and fields to the scalar quantity of electric potential. Student response rebounds to its initial values, however, once instruction returns to the vector-based topics involving magnetic fields.Comment: Proceedings of the 2010 Physics Education Research Conferenc