scholarly journals The Lengthening of Childhood

2008 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 71-92 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Deming ◽  
Susan Dynarski

Over the past 40 years, the age at which children enter first grade has slowly drifted upward. In the fall of 1968, 96 percent of six-year-old children were enrolled in first grade or above. By 2005, the proportion had dropped to 84 percent, mainly because a substantial share of six-year-olds were still in kindergarten. About a third of the increase in age at school entry can be explained by legal changes. Almost every state has increased the age at which children are allowed to start primary school. The other two-thirds of the increase in the age at school entry reflects the individual decisions of parents and teachers who choose to keep children out of kindergarten or first grade even when they are legally eligible to attend. This practice is sometimes called “red-shirting,” a phrase originally used to describe the practice of holding college athletes out of play until they have grown larger and stronger. Red-shirting is referred to as “the gift of time” in education circles, reflecting a perception that children who have been allowed to mature for another year will benefit more from their schooling. As we will discuss, little evidence supports this perception. It is indeed true that in any grade, older children tend to perform better academically than the younger children. In the early grades there is a strong, positive relationship between a child's age in months and his performance relative to his peers. But there is little evidence that being older than your classmates has any long-term, positive effect on adult outcomes such as IQ, earnings, or educational attainment. By contrast, there is substantial evidence that entering school later reduces educational attainment (by increasing high school dropout rates) and depresses lifetime earnings (by delaying entry into the labor market).

Author(s):  
Kim P. Roberts ◽  
Katherine R. Wood ◽  
Breanne E. Wylie

AbstractOne of the many sources of information easily available to children is the internet and the millions of websites providing accurate, and sometimes inaccurate, information. In the current investigation, we examined children’s ability to use credibility information about websites when learning about environmental sustainability. In two studies, children studied two different websites and were tested on what they had learned a week later using a multiple-choice test containing both website items and new distracters. Children were given either no information about the websites or were told that one of the websites (the noncredible website) contained errors and they should not use any information from that website to answer the test. In both studies, children aged 7- to 9-years reported information from the noncredible website even when instructed not to, whereas the 10- to 12-year-olds used the credibility warning to ‘edit out’ information that they had learned from the noncredible website. In Study 2, there was an indication that the older children spontaneously assessed the credibility of the website if credibility markers were made explicit. A plausible explanation is that, although children remembered information from the websites, they needed explicit instruction to bind the website content with the relevant source (the individual websites). The results have implications for children’s learning in an open-access, digital age where information comes from many sources, credible and noncredible. Education in credibility evaluation may enable children to be critical consumers of information thereby resisting misinformation provided through public sources.


2017 ◽  
Vol 47 (3) ◽  
pp. 628-649 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark R. Joslyn ◽  
Steven M. Sylvester

In this article, we examine the individual predictors that are responsible for accurate beliefs about the link between vaccinations and autism. We then show how these beliefs affect policy preferences about vaccines. We derive two hypotheses from motivated reasoning theory and test these on national survey data from Gallup and CBS News. Republicans were less likely to report accurate beliefs than Democrats. In addition, educational attainment modified the impact of party identification. The gap between Republicans and Democrats in likelihood of reporting accurate beliefs was largest among the most educated portion of the public. Finally, we show that accurate beliefs about vaccines, independent of statistical controls, are important predictors of policy attitudes about unvaccinated children attending public school and parental choice about the decision to vaccinate. We discuss the theoretical and practical significance of these findings.


2010 ◽  
Vol 112 (5) ◽  
pp. 1338-1390 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Benson ◽  
Geoffrey D. Borman

Background/Context Seasonal researchers have developed a theory and hypotheses regarding the importance of neighborhood and school contexts for early childhood learning but have not possessed nationally representative data and precise contextual measures with which to examine their hypotheses. Purpose/Research Questions This empirical study employs a seasonal perspective to assess the degree to which social context and race/ethnic composition—in neighborhoods and schools—affect the reading achievement growth of young children. The authors ask, Were there specific seasons when context and/or composition were particularly salient for reading achievement? Also, did accounting for context and composition challenge established appraisals of the relationship between family factors and achievement? Population Data for a nationally representative sample of students proceeding through kindergarten and first grade came from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Cohort (ECLS-K). Neighborhood social and race/ethnic measures came from the 2000 Census. Research Design: This quantitative study employs a three-level model that assesses reading achievement at school entry and during three subsequent seasons. The model represents reading achievement as a time-varying process at level 1, conditional upon family socio/demographic factors at level 2, and dependent on social context and race/ethnic composition at level 3. Findings/Results Neighborhood social context mattered substantially for students’ reading achievement levels at school entry and for their reading achievement growth during the summer. The proportion of neighborhood residents from minority race/ethnic groups was not associated with reading achievement at school entry or during the summer season. During the school year, school social context was associated with reading growth during kindergarten, and school social context and race/ethnic composition were associated with reading growth during first grade. Conclusions/Recommendations The magnitude and frequency of contextual effects found in this national sample have considerable implications for achieving educational equality in the United States. The authors recommend that policy makers attend to the quality of neighborhood and school settings as a means of promoting literacy development for young children.


1977 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 203-206
Author(s):  
Marjorie H. Holden

Research on young children's word awareness, the ability to identify the lexical constituents of a meaningful utterance, has received different interpretations: Either word awareness is related to linguistic and cognitive changes associated with the early school years or is a concept that children can learn when appropriate techniques are employed. This study was devised to clarify the nature of variables influencing word awareness during early childhood by analyzing responses of 26 kindergarten and 24 first-grade children to the Homophones Test of Word Awareness. Responses were assigned to seven categories representing a continuum characterized as ranging from discrete to global. Older children made fewer errors, and they gave a higher proportion of discrete responses. Younger children gave more global responses. Memory was evidently not the source of the younger children's inability to perform as well as the older ones. Rather, the difficulty appeared to stem from the younger children's inability to divorce sound from meaning in spoken messages. The role of developmental factors in children's conscious awareness of language structure and lexical units is supported by these findings.


Children ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (11) ◽  
pp. 1023
Author(s):  
Ninoshka J. D’Souza ◽  
Miaobing Zheng ◽  
Gavin Abbott ◽  
Sandrine Lioret ◽  
Kylie D. Hesketh

Identifying correlates of behavioural patterns are important to target population sub-groups at increased health risk. The aim was to investigate correlates of behavioural patterns comprising four behavioural domains in children. Data were from the HAPPY study when children were 6–8 years (n = 335) and 9–11 years (n = 339). Parents reported correlate and behavioural data (dietary intake, physical activity, sedentary behaviour, and sleep). Behavioural data were additionally captured using accelerometers. Latent profile analysis was used to derive patterns. Patterns were identified as healthy, unhealthy, and mixed at both time points. Multinomial logistic regression tested for associations. Girls were more likely to display healthy patterns at 6–8 years and display unhealthy and mixed patterns at 9–11 years than boys, compared to other patterns at the corresponding ages. Increased risk of displaying the unhealthy pattern with higher age was observed at both timepoints. At 9–11 years, higher parental working hours were associated with lower risk of displaying mixed patterns compared to the healthy pattern. Associations observed revealed girls and older children to be at risk for unhealthy patterns, warranting customisation of health efforts to these groups. The number of behaviours included when deriving patterns and the individual behaviours that dominate each pattern appear to be drivers of the associations for child level, but not for family level, correlates.


Author(s):  
Ejen Jenal Mutaqin ◽  
Neni Nadiroti Muslihah ◽  
Nizar Alam Hamdani ◽  
Sri Dewi Febriani Sasty

<p><em>This study was a qualitative descriptive study design which aims to find out the analysis results of the implementation of Jerome S. Bruner's learning theory in learning concept of addition count operations of whole numbers in the first grade of elementary school. Jerome S. Bruner's learning theory is one of the learning theories that emphasizes the learning process using mental, namely the individual who learns to experience what he is learning for himself, so that the process can be recorded in his mind by his own way. The stages of Bruner's learning theory are: (1) the enactive stage, (2) the iconic stage, and (3) the symbolic stage. Data collection techniques in this study used student worksheets, observation, interviews and documentation. Based on the results of the study, it can be concluded that the process of applying Jerome S. Bruner's learning theory can have a good effect and increase students' understanding and learning ability in learning addition count operations of whole numbers in the first grade of 1 Mekarsari Elementary School.</em></p>


2017 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 517-529
Author(s):  
Erica Taciana S. Crepaldi ◽  
Marta Regina Gonçalves C. Zanini ◽  
Edna Maria Marturano

2013 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 345
Author(s):  
John Kleinsman

This article will argue that the notion of the common good is imperilled by a particular contemporary account of the moral good; one which, because of its (somewhat narrow) emphasis on the individual, readily lends itself to a state of 'moral hyperpluralism' in which 'the good' is primarily defined in terms of the promotion and protection of self-interest. At the same time, it will be argued that any quest to recover the notion of the common good cannot be achieved by either returning to, or holding onto, a more traditional account of morality. It will also be proposed that, as part of the quest to recover the common good, close attention needs to be paid to how the term is understood. The tension between individual autonomy and the welfare of society, and the differing ways in which this tension is resolved within different moral paradigms, will emerge as central to any discussion about the ongoing place of the common good in contemporary legal and moral debates. Finally, it is suggested that a solid basis for articulating a robust account of the common good may be found in the foundational and innovative work being done by thinkers of the gift to establish an alternative account of morality. 


2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 387
Author(s):  
Ana I. Gil-Lacruz ◽  
Marta Gil-Lacruz

The main contribution of this paper is an analysis of the nature of the link between internal coherence and risk aversion. Both variables play an important role in individual decisions concerning risk behaviors. We compare the levels of internal consistency and risk aversion among smokers and non-smokers. To measure the individual internal coherence and risk aversion; we use a survey that includes lottery questions. Our results confirm that smokers are consistent in their decisions and they behave as risk averse. These results should be treated with circumspection as lottery questions are based on monetary expectations that depend on socio-economic conditions and they obviate other dimensions such as social recognition.


Author(s):  
O. Kryshtal ◽  

The purpose of the research: comprehensive assessment of the individual milking unit of the company "Kurtsan" (Turkey) during operation. Methods of research: Analysis of the structural features of the individual milking unit performed by the observation method given to test sample, the quality of the machine was evaluated by standardized methods: the quality of the technological process and operational-technological indicators in accordance with the SOU 74.3-37-273, energy indices according to DSTU 2331, economic Indicators according to DSTU 4397, safety indicators and ergonomics according to DSTU IEES 60335-1, DSTU EN 60335-2-70. Research Results: The conducted research confirms a sufficiently high quality of the technological process of selection of milk in cows in the conditions of use of milking installation in a personal economy, which provides favorable conditions for the milking of the cow, taking into account its physiological features. Performance per hour of basic time is 10 heads. Milking installation works on the principle of a closed milking system, thanks to which milk does not contact the environment and immediately from the basin enters a sealed can. Such system protects milk from the possibility of bacterial and physical contamination. Milk obtained during milking by milking installation according to quality indicators (acidity, density, content of somatic cells, mass fraction of dry matter, mass fraction of fat) meets the requirements for the first grade according to DSTU 3662. Milking installation is equipped with a dry vacuum pump. Power consumption during installation does not exceed 0.54 kW. Specific electricity consumption for milking of one cow is 0.05 kWh / head. Annual operating expenses for milking of two cows in the farm are 1591.90 UAH / head. Conclusions. According to the testing of the individual milking plant manufacturing company "KURTSAN", it has been established that this installation reliably performs the technological process of machine milking of cows in milking can for their tethered maintenance and allows you to get milk of the first grade. The total duration of visiting one cow is 5.75 minutes. The average intensity of milk is 1.0 kg / min. Milking machine provides complete bodies of cows. The magnitude of the control manual feed is 50 ml. The milking machine is equipped with an adjustable pulsator of pairwise milking, which creates a manual milking process and works for a working vacuum of 40 ± 1 kPa, which prevents injury to dies and diseases of mastitis. In the cover the "Stop-Milk" system is installed, which prevents milk from entering a vacuum pump during the overflow of the poor, or water while washing All items are compactly assembled on a single cart. However, a small diameter of wheels on an unequal surface creates some inconvenience to the operator during the transportation of the machine with a filled milk capacity. The application of the installation increases the amount of milk received. Its gentle work does not harm the emotional and physical health of the cow: the dysfunctions during operation are not pushed, and light vibration creates a massage effect. Milking installation allows you to significantly reduce the labor of service personnel in an economy with a maintenance of 1 to 10 cows.


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