Basic calculation proficiency and mathematics achievement in elementary school children

The relation between skill in simple addition and subtraction and more general math achievement in elementary school is well established but not understood. Both the intrinsic importance of skill in simple calculation for math and the influence of conceptual knowledge and cognitive factors (working memory, processing speed, oral language) on simple calculation and math are plausible. The authors investigated the development of basic calculation fluency and its relations to math achievement and other factors by tracking a group of 259 United Kingdom English children from second to third grade. In both grades the group did not retrieve the solutions to most problems, but their math achievement was typical. Improvement in basic calculation proficiency was partially predicted by conceptual knowledge and cognitive factors. These factors only partially mediated the relation between basic calculation and math achievement. The relation between reading and math was wholly mediated by number measures and cognitive factors

More dead than dead? Attributing mentality to vegetative state patients

In a recent paper, Gray, Knickman, and Wegner present three experiments which they take to show that people perceive patients in a persistent vegetative state to have less mentality than the dead. Following on from Gomes and Parrott, we provide evidence to show that participants' responses in the initial experiments are an artifact of the questions posed. Results from two experiments show that, once the questions have been clarified, people do not ascribe more mental capacity to the dead than to PVS patients. There is no reason to think that people perceive PVS patients as more dead than dead

Toward an understanding of youth in community governance: Policy priorities and research directions

For more than a decade, many researchers and practitioners have endorsed a “positive youth development” approach, which views adolescents as active contributors to their own development and as assets to their communities. As part of this shift, youth are increasingly being invited to engage in community governance. In youth organizations, schools, community organizations, and public policy arenas, youth are making strong contributions to advisory boards and planning councils, and are integrally involved in key day-to-day functions such as program design, budgeting, outreach, public relations, training, and evaluation. State and local policy-makers are also beginning to endorse the engagement of youth in community governance. This policy endorsement, however, has largely occurred independent of scholarship on adolescent development. In this Social Policy Report, our aim is to help bridge this gap. We discuss the cultural context for youth engagement, theoretical rationales and innovative models, empirical evidence, and priorities for policy and research. Why involve youth in community governance? Three main theoretical rationales have been established: Ensuring social justice and youth representation, building civil society, and promoting youth development. Moreover, across the country, innovative models demonstrate that the theory can be effectively translated into policy. Finally, a strong research base supports the practice. When youth are engaged in meaningful decision-making – in families, schools, and youth organizations – research finds clear and consistent developmental benefits for the young people. An emerging body of research shows that organizations and communities also derive benefits when youth are engaged in governance. Several directions need to be pursued for youth engagement to exert a maximum positive impact on young people and their communities. We recommend three areas for policy development. First, public awareness of the practice needs to be better established. Societal expectations for youth remain low and negative stereotypes remain entrenched in the mass media. Second, more stable funding is needed for youth engagement. It will be especially critical to support community-based youth organizations because these places are likely to remain the primary catalysts for youth engagement in the civic life of communities. Third, it is necessary to build local capacity by supporting outreach and training through cross-sector community coalitions and independent, nonprofit intermediary organizations. These entities are best positioned to convince stakeholder groups to chart, implement, and sustain youth engagement. It is equally important to broaden the scientific context for youth engagement in community governance. Priorities for scholars are to focus research on understanding: the organizational and community outcomes that emanate from engaging youth in governance; the competencies that youth bring to governance; and how the practice of youth engagement can be sustained by communities

Re-thinking masculinity : discourses of gender and power in two workplaces.

The proliferation of academic studies of men and 'masculinity' in the last twenty years has mirrored the growth of feminist studies of women and gender relations. This thesis reflects upon these theoretical developments and examines the expression of 'masculinity' amongst employees in two contrasting workplaces in Yorkshire. Adopting a Foucauldian approach, it is suggested that 'masculinity' should be analysed as a set of practices which create, maintain and reinforce inequalities between the sexes and that their achievement is situationally contingent. From this perspective, masculinity can only be understood within a framework of power, conceptualised as relational, productive and existent only in its exercise. Critical evaluation of the 'masculinity' literature demonstrates that conventional conceptualisations of 'masculinity' have produced methodological impasses, of which the most problematic is the conflation of 'masculinity' with the study of men. The thesis proposes an alternative framework which recognises that discourses of 'masculinity' relate to the words and actions of women as well as of men and that 'masculin~y' is most profitably understood as a series of discourses - transcending the scale of the individual - which set out the 'rules', expectations and conditions within which everyday gender relations take place. The empirical investigation of these ideas adopts a qualitative approach. In-depth, repeated interviews focusing upon participants' work experiences and home lives were carried out with men and women from the two workplaces - an academic department within a university and a manufacturer of metal products. Interview transcripts were interpreted using an "analysis of discourses" method. The analysis reveals that despite obvious differences in the labour processes of the workplaces, there is considerable continuity in dominant discourses of 'masculinity' regardless of participants' age, social class and, most significantly, sex. These discourses are identified as "reproduction", "breadwinning", "homemaking" and "sexual objectification". The research demonstrates how discourses of 'masculinity' structure gender relations within the workplace at an interpersonal scale - in everyday interactions - and at an organisational scale - as reflected by sexual divisions of labour. It is shown that these discourses can be space-specific, with the negotiation of power in gender relations often more difficult in the workplace than in the home. The thesis concludes by reflecting on the implications of the study for future research on men and 'masculinity' and for geographical studies of gender. It also discusses the potential for a more closely related research agenda between feminism and the study of 'masculinity'

The Treatment of Recurrent Abdominal Pain in Children: A Controlled Comparison of Cognitive-Behavioral Family Intervention and Standard Pediatric Care

This study describes the results of a controlled clinical trial involving 44 7- to 14-year-old children with recurrent abdominal pain who were randomly allocated to either cognitive-behavioral family intervention (CBFI) or standard pediatric care (SPC). Both treatment conditions resulted in significant improvements on measures of pain intensity and pain behavior. However, the children receiving CBFI had a higher rate of complete elimination of pain, lower levels of relapse at 6- and 12-month follow-up, and lower levels of interference with their activities as a result of pain and parents reported a higher level of satisfaction with the treatment than children receiving SPC. After controlling for pretreatment levels of pain, children's active self-coping and mothers' caregiving strategies were significant independent predictors of pain behavior at posttreatment