312 research outputs found
Aptitude test, socio-economic background and secondary school selection: the possibilities and limits of change
A group of verbal reasoning questions, of the type often used in
intelligence tests, were included in the English paper of the Kenya
secondary school selection examination (C.P.E. - Certificate of Primary
Education) from 1971, and from 1974 scientific reasoning questions were
included in the general paper. In early 1974 a full-scale item analysis
of the 1973 selection paper was made. This paper presents some results
from the analysis carried out for the years 1973 to 1976 of the English
paper and the science section of the general paper.
The scores of pupils from Nairobi high-cost primary schools and
from rural low-cost schools are compared. Three interesting results of
this analysis are presented and some possible explanations offered. For
one thing, pupils from the Nairobi high-cost schools perform up to 70 per
cent better on English items testing knowledge of specialised words,
expressions and idioms, whereas in the science paper, descriptive items
testing knowledge of specialised and technical terms produce a mean
difference of less than 12 per cent. Secondly, the verbal reasoning items
in the English paper give the Nairobi high-cost pupils a smaller advantage
than the achievement items; whereas in science, the reasoning items give
a bigger advantage than the descriptive and explanatory items. Finally,
the observation items in the science paper produce an especially large
performance gap between the two types of schools.
These and other results suggest that the huge performance advantage
enjoyed by Nairobi high-cost pupils in the English paper can be ascribed
entirely to two sources: first, their greater familiarity with the language,
and second, the superior quality of the teaching they receive. In both
papers, questions which test higher-level intellectual skills, such as
the ability to reason, are particularly sensitive to the effects of teacher
quality, rather than reflecting the innate capacity of the pupils
Associations between parenting styles and children's fruit and vegetable intake
This study investigated associations between childrenâs fruit and vegetable intake and their parentsâ parenting style (i.e., authoritative: high warmth-high control; authoritarian: low warmth-high control; permissive: high warmth-low control; and disengaged: low warmth-low control). Data from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children K cohort, comprising approximately 5,000 children, were used for analyses in wave 1 (4â5 years), wave 2 (6â7 years), and wave 3 (8â9 years). Fruit and vegetable intake patterns were extracted through exploratory factor analysis. Boys with authoritarian mothers were found less likely to consume fruits and vegetables at 6â9 years. Children of both genders with authoritative and permissive fathers, and girls with authoritative mothers at 4â5 years were found most likely to consume fruits and vegetables two and four years later. Exploring possible mechanisms underlying such associations may lead to interventions aimed at increasing childrenâs consumption of fruits and vegetables
Primary school leaving examinations, basic intellectual skills and equity: some evidence from Kenya
The Kenya functional literacy programme: an evaluation
This paper presents the results of an evaluation of the Kenya
Functional Literacy Programme, conducted on an experimental basis in six
divisions (counties) in different parts of the country as part of the
Special Rural Development Programme.
The main problem with the literacy programme may be that it is
too ambitious. Through the same set of texts it attempts to achieve three
goals: first, the attainment of literacy, second, knowledge of the Swahili
language, and third, knowledge of practical facts about agriculture, health
and household management. By not establishing a priority order among these
objectives, the programme risks failing to attain any of them.
Little advantage is taken of the fact that Swahili, unlike English,
is a phonetic language in which sounds are connected to written symbols in
a rational and consistent manner. Students are not systematically taught
the sound-values for each symbol, so they acquire only slowly the knowledge
and skill needed to tackle the reading of new words for themselves. Instead,
throughout the course each new word is learned first as a whole, by rote-memorisation.
The period in which students remain intellectually dependent
on their teachers is thus prolonged.
An alternative teaching method based on the rapid breaking down
of a few well-known and meaningful generative words into their simplest
components is suggested.
Virtually no account is taken of the fact that for most learners
Swahili is a little-known second language. The order in which new words are
introduced bears little relationship to their linguistic or phonetic difficulty.
Forgetting of new words thus tends to be rapid.
The information and advice given in the booklets about farming is
sometimes inconsistent with existing knowledge, and often fails to take into
account the constraints under which low-income families in Kenya live. If
the new information to which learners are exposed is not both accurate and
relevant, very little of what is taught will lead to permanent behaviour
changes
A novel mathematical model for transit-time ultrasonic flow measurement
The calculation of the averaged flow velocity along an ultrasonic path is the core step in ultrasonic transit-time flow measurement. The conventional model for calculating the path-averaged velocity does not consider the influence of the flow velocity on the propagation direction of the ultrasonic wave and can introduce error when the sound speed is not much greater than the flow velocity. To solve this problem, a new mathematical model covering the influence of the flow velocity is proposed. It has been found that the same mathematical expressions of the path-averaged flow velocity, as a function of the absolute time-of-flight (ToFs) of ultrasonic waves travelling upstream and downstream, can be derived based on either of the models. However, the expressions as a function of the time difference (the relative ToF) between the ultrasonic waves travelling upstream and downstream derived by the two models are completely different. Flow tests are conducted in a calibrated flow rig utilising air as flowing medium. Experimental results demonstrate that the path-averaged flow velocities, calculated using either the relative or the absolute ToFs based on the new model, are much more consistent and stable, whereas those calculated based on the conventional model have shown evident and increasing discrepancy when the flow velocity exceeds 15 m/s. When the flow velocity is around 39.45 m/s, the discrepancy is as high as 0.38 m/s. As the relative ToF can be more accurately, reliably and conveniently measured in real applications, the proposed mathematical model has a great potential for the increase of the accuracy of the ultrasonic transit-time flowmeters, especially for the applications such as the measurement of fluids with high flow velocities
Mercury exposure in a low-income community in South Africa
Objectives. To establish whether a specific community in a gold mining area, with potentially associated small-scale gold mining activities, was exposed to mercury.
Methods. The community was situated in Mpumalanga, where some potential sources of mercury emissions may have an impact. Adults âĽ18 years were considered eligible. Biological monitoring, supported by questionnaires, was applied. Thirty respondents completed the questionnaire which covered demographics, energy use, food and water consumption, neurological symptoms, and confounders such as alcohol consumption and brain injuries. Mercury levels were determined in 28 urine and 20 blood samples of these respondents.
Results. Three (15%) of the blood samples exceeded the guideline
Evaluation of the impact of a school gardening intervention on children's fruit and vegetable intake: a randomised controlled trial.
Background: Current academic literature suggests that school gardening programmes can provide an interactive environment with the potential to change childrenâs fruit and vegetable intake. This is the first cluster randomised controlled trial (RCT) designed to evaluate whether a school gardening programme can have an effect on childrenâs fruit and vegetable intake.
Methods: The trial included children from 23 schools; these schools were randomised into two groups, one to receive the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS)-led intervention and the other to receive the less involved Teacher-led intervention. A 24-hour food diary (CADET) was used to collect baseline and follow-up dietary intake 18 months apart. Questionnaires were also administered to evaluate the intervention implementation.
Results: A total of 641 children completed the trial with a mean age of 8.1 years (95% CI: 8.0, 8.4). The unadjusted results from multilevel regression analysis revealed that for combined daily fruit and vegetable intake the Teacher-led group had a higher daily mean change of 8 g (95% CI: â19, 36) compared to the RHS-led group -32 g (95% CI: â60, â3). However, after adjusting for possible confounders this difference was not significant (intervention effect: â40 g, 95% CI: â88, 1; pâ=â0.06). The adjusted analysis of process measures identified that if schools improved their gardening score by 3 levels (a measure of school gardening involvement - the scale has 6 levels from 0 âno gardenâ to 5 âcommunity involvementâ), irrespective of group allocation, children had, on average, a daily increase of 81 g of fruit and vegetable intake (95% CI: 0, 163; pâ=â0.05) compared to schools that had no change in gardening score.
Conclusions: This study is the first cluster randomised controlled trial designed to evaluate a school gardening intervention. The results have found very little evidence to support the claims that school gardening alone can improve childrenâs daily fruit and vegetable intake. However, when a gardening intervention is implemented at a high level within the school it may improve childrenâs daily fruit and vegetable intake by a portion. Improving childrenâs fruit and vegetable intake remains a challenging task
- âŚ