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 children’s fruit and vegetable intake and their parents’ 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 (4–5 years), wave 2 (6–7 years), and wave 3 (8–9 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 6–9 years. Children of both genders with authoritative and permissive fathers, and girls with authoritative mothers at 4–5 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 children’s consumption of fruits and vegetables

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 ≥18 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 children’s 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 children’s 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: −19, 36) compared to the RHS-led group -32 g (95% CI: −60, −3). However, after adjusting for possible confounders this difference was not significant (intervention effect: −40 g, 95% CI: −88, 1; p = 0.06). 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 ‘no garden’ to 5 ‘community involvement’), irrespective of group allocation, children had, on average, a daily increase of 81 g of fruit and vegetable intake (95% CI: 0, 163; p = 0.05) 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 children’s daily fruit and vegetable intake. However, when a gardening intervention is implemented at a high level within the school it may improve children’s daily fruit and vegetable intake by a portion. Improving children’s fruit and vegetable intake remains a challenging task