The Problem of Women and Mathematics

Reviews relevant research to determine the reasons for the limited participation of women in advanced mathematics and related fields. Explores options for improving women's mathematics skills and increasing their participation in related fields

Federal Reserve personal financial education initiatives

Recognizing the importance of successful personal financial management to individuals and the broader economy, the Federal Reserve System has in the past two years intensified its efforts to provide and promote personal financial education. Initiatives have ranged from a public outreach effort highlighting the importance of financial education, to local and regional Reserve Bank programs targeted to specific audiences, to new educational seminars for employees. Staff members have studied the effectiveness of different types of education programs for different groups, and the System has worked to encourage the dissemination of research findings. The challenge for the future is to support financial education in a way that makes effective use of the System's resources and national visibility and complements the resources already available.Federal Reserve System ; Finance, Personal ; Education - Economic aspects

Both symbolic and embodied representations contribute to spatial language processing: Evidence from younger and older adults

Building on earlier neuropsychological work, we adopted a novel individual differences approach to examine the relationship between spatial language and a wide range of both verbal and nonverbal abilities. Three new measures were developed for the assessment of spatial language processing: spatial naming, spatial verbal memory, and verbal comprehension in spatial perspective taking. Results from a sample of young adults revealed significant correlations between performance on the spatial language tasks and performance on both the analogous (non-spatial) verbal measures as well as on the (non-verbal) visual-spatial measures. Visual-spatial abilities, however, were more predictive of spatial language processing than verbal abilities. Furthermore, results from a sample of older adults revealed impairments in visual-spatial tasks and on spatial verbal memory. The results support dual process accounts of meaning, and provide further evidence of the close connection between the language of space and non-linguistic visual-spatial cognition

Maternal Factors Related to Parenting Young Children with Congenital Heart Disease

The purpose of this study was to compare the early child-rearing practices between mothers of young children with congenital heart disease (CHD) and mothers of healthy children. In addition, maternal stress, parental developmental expectations, and the early behavioral and emotional development of their children were explored. Maccoby’s (1992) socialization theory emphasizing the reciprocal nature of mother-child interactions provided the framework for this study. Findings from quantitative self-report measures and videotaped parent-child interactions showed a remarkable similarity between mothers of children with CHD and mothers of healthy children. In contrast, qualitative data revealed important differences with mothers of CHD children reporting high levels of vigilance with their children. The important role of promoting the principle of normalization among mothers of children with CHD and ensuring a sufficient support system is discussed

Development of a Barriers Scale to Predict Early Treatment Success for Young Children in Poverty with Behavior Problems

Research has demonstrated that participation in parent and child therapy (PCT) programs significantly reduces problematic behaviors while increasing positive behaviors in the child. However, PCT programs report rates of early termination as high as 60% among families in poverty. Research to reduce these early termination rates has historically focused on barriers to treatment including logistical conflicts, socioeconomic status, child age, and symptom severity. Despite attempts to address these variables and reduce early termination rates, progress has been slow in advancing the research in this area. In addition, few measures have been designed to accurately assess how barriers to treatment impact treatment attendance and participation, particularly for families of young children living in poverty. The purpose of this study was to develop and pilot a clinician-report screening tool, the Treatment Barriers Scale (TBS), to assess barriers to treatment participation in primarily low-income, urban minority families receiving home-based therapy for their young child’s challenging behaviors. Data from 330 families consecutively referred to a mental health clinic for behavior problems were analyzed to identify the initial psychometric and predictive properties of this new tool in screening treatment barriers in this population. The resulting 17-item scale consisted of two factors, labeled Treatment Process Barriers and Operational Barriers. Each factor demonstrated acceptable levels of internal consistency (.82 and .80, respectively). Children with more-severe challenging behavior at pretest were more likely to be successful by the third session in treatment. Families with higher TBS scores were more likely to be less successful early in treatment. Limitations of the study and implications for future research and practice were discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved

The Alternative of Socially Responsible Investment

Free market, capitalist ideology is increasingly becoming the basis of the world economy. Over the past century the economic system of capitalism has proven to be highly effective and profitable, creating wealth and increasing productivity levels. However, the capitalist imperative to maximize profits is often accomplished at the expense of countless social and environmental factors. The ruling forces of capitalism that drive industry to be more efficient, more profitable, and expand to new markets, have left environmental degradation, cyclical poverty and hunger, as well as social strife in the wake of productivity. The social needs of many employees, including decent wages, job security, open hiring policies and support services are often lost in the quest for profit. Simultaneously, employees regularly become the scapegoats and suffer layoffs, lowered wages and/or benefits and increased work hours when production doesn\u27t meet goals

Secondary literacy teachers' use of a Twitter chat community for voluntary ongoing professional learning /

In this holistic, descriptive, single-case study, the interactions of secondary literacy teachers who participated in the weekly #2ndaryELA Twitter chat were examined to explore the nature of online, self-selected, voluntary professional learning. Archived tweets from 17 chats occurring from July through November 2016, Twitter profile information, questionnaire responses, and semi-structured interviews with four participants were collected and analyzed. Wenger's (1998) social learning theory served as the theoretical framework, and the four main constructsmeaning, practice, identity, and communitywere used as a lens through which the community interactions were viewed and interpreted. Four broad themes emerged from the data: Sharing, Connecting, Socializing, and Exploring. Participants shared ideas and resources most often. They made connections by interacting with and following others, and they socialized by sharing feelings and identifying with each other, which created a positive social climate. Participants explored new ideas through public reflection and negotiation of meaning very little. Findings revealed that the nature of learning in this environment is personalized and supportive, but there were obstacles to learning, such as the voluntary nature of participation and low levels of perceived efficacy. The Twitter chat structure was found to limit participants' depth of learning. A modified model of social learning theory is offered for use in voluntary, structured environments similar to Twitter chat communities.Field of study: Learning, teaching and curriculum.|Dr. James Baumann, Dissertation Supervisor.|Includes vita.Includes bibliographical references (pages 101-116)

Online labs for distance learners: reflections from an Irish pilot study

This presentation discusses the introduction of remote online laboratory (lab) work into Communications Technology modules of an undergraduate BSc. in Information Technology (IT) by distance learning. The role of online labs and virtual instruments in undergraduate education is discussed and how they relate to physical labs. Outcomes are presented of a pilot introduction of online virtual labs. An argument is made that the introduction of online virtual lab work is worthwhile. We also argue it is increasingly feasible if suitable tools can be inexpensively sourced, such as from digital learning repositories as described here

History and Archaeology of the Hot Wells Hotel Site, 41BX237

During the month of April 1984, archaeologists from the Center for Archaeological Research, The University of Texas at San Antonio, conducted a surface survey and test excavations at the Hot Wells Hotel site in south San Antonio. The purpose of the project was to locate and map the foundations of a large brick resort hotel, built in 1901 and burned in 1925, and to locate and test remains of any other structures on the Hot Wells site. One additional brick foundation that appears contemporary with the hotel was located and mapped. Artifacts recovered pertained primarily to the hotel, or to later residents in the area

Performance of Students with Visual Impairments on High-Stakes Tests: A Pennsylvania Report Card

Students with disabilities participate in high-stakes assessments to meet NCLB’s newer proficiency standards. This study explored performance in reading and math on the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA), Pennsylvania’s grade-level assessment, to provide a foundational baseline on performance and accommodations used by students with visual impairments (VI). Analysis of an extant data set reviewed students in grades 3-8, and 11over three academic years (2005-2006, 2006-2007, and 2007-2008) to form two sample groups. The larger sample compared the total scaled scores and performance level scores for students with VI to the performance of students who are hard of hearing including Deafness (HH) and specific learning disability (LD), to all Pennsylvania students (ALL PA). The smaller sample identified students with VI with performance level scores in reading and math in three consecutive grades to form four longitudinal subgroups. Analysis of accommodations used by students with VI was conducted for both sample groups. Descriptive statistics were applied for all performance measures across and within grade-levels and academic years. One-way ANOVAs with ad hoc analyses were conducted on the mean test scores per disability group, to determine statistical significance for differences seen descriptively. Analysis of the reading and math performance measures showed that students with VI are doing well on the PSSA, generally scoring the highest of the two disability groups but lower than ALL PA. But these data do not fully describe the performance of students with VI. Surprise findings revealed that students with VI generally do better in math than reading and that a substantial percentage are not proficient and maintain the same performance level category from one grade-level to the next. Trends of accommodations used were identified but the data revealed no apparent common bundling of accommodations with a random year to year provision. To connect high-stakes performance results to instruction, researchers need to have transparent access to tests scores with accommodations used to continue analyzing the performance of students with VI. There is an immediate need for Pennsylvania IEP teams to provide the consistent provision of accommodations for each year’s high-stakes assessment