bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Action Meets Word
Authors: Hirsh-Pasek Kathryn A. , Golinkoff Roberta M.
Published: April 2010

Words are the building blocks of language. An understanding of how words are learned is thus central to any theory of language acquisition. Although there has been a surge in our understanding of children's vocabulary growth, theories of word learning focus primarily on object nouns. Word learning theories must explain not only the learning of object nouns, but also the learning of other, major classes of words — verbs and adjectives. Verbs form the hub of the sentence because they determine the sentence's argument structure. Researchers throughout the world recognize how our understanding of language acquisition can be at best partial if we cannot comprehend how verbs are learned. This book enters the relatively uncharted waters of early verb learning, focusing on the universal, conceptual foundations for verb learning, and how these foundations intersect with the burgeoning language system.
Discovering Verbs Through Multiple-Cue Integration
Authors: Christiansen Morten H. , Monaghan Padraic
Published: April 2010

This chapter discusses how children may accomplish the difficult task of verb learning, focusing on the integration of multiple language-internal cues to verb forms. It first reviews previous work on multiple-cue integration. It then reports results from novel analyses of corpora of English child-directed speech, pointing to different roles for distributional and phonological cues in the learning of nouns and verbs. Finally, the chapter relates the differential roles of cues to differences in semantic support for nouns and verbs in language-external information, and discusses the possible implications of the results for the understanding of word learning more generally.
Conceptual Foundations for Verb Learning: Celebrating the Event
Authors: Pulverman Rachel , Hirsh-Pasek Kathy , Golinkoff Roberta M. , Pruden Shannon , Salkind Sara J.
Published: April 2010

This chapter evaluates whether difficulty in analyzing and conceptualizing nonlinguistic events contributes to the documented difficulty in verb learning. It shows that not only can infants discriminate between events based on these components but that they are also capable of forming some categories of events along these lines. Furthermore, there is a relationship between infants' ability to see certain distinctions in non-linguistic events and their level of language development. Infants can look within motion events to find the primitives that form the basis for verb learning and can even form categories based on these primitives.
When Is a Grasp a Grasp? Characterizing Some Basic Components of Human Action Processing
Authors: Loucks Jeffery T. , Baldwin Dare
Published: April 2010

This chapter considers whether infants focus on superficial, perceptual aspects of events, or if they analyze what they see in conceptual ways. It reviews work on how infants (and adults) find units in the stream of action in the world, units which will have relevance for the learning of verbs. It raises the possibility that action analysis can actually be hierarchical, analogous to the organization of language. Thus, it can occur at a number of levels, from noting rapid changes in movement or so-called featural information (e.g. a unit might occur when the woman bends to pick up the towel), to analyzing the inferred intentions of the actors or what they call configural information, or global relations among motion elements (e.g. she wanted to rehang the towel). The chapter examines how infants form categories of action, relying on the established literature on face processing as a guide to the questions research might consider.
Are Nouns Easier to Learn Than Verbs? Three Experimental Studies
Authors: Childers Jane B. , Tomasello Michael
Published: April 2010

A current controversy in the study of word learning is whether it is conceptually easier to learn nouns as compared to verbs early in development. This chapter describes three experiments which address the noun-verb question in different ways. In the first experiment, researchers asked how many times (and on how many days) does a 2-year-old need to hear a word to be able to learn it, and does this differ for nouns and verbs? This second study investigates whether — when nouns and verbs are presented in comparable sentence contexts, controlling the number of exposures, and presenting a dynamic event in both the noun and verb conditions — nouns are easier to learn than are verbs. In Study 3, researchers compared children's ability to learn intransitive and transitive verbs and their ability to understand verbs for self-action as opposed to other action, to determine whether some of these verb and referent types are learned more quickly than are others.
Elders Living in Poverty
Authors: Biegel David E. , Leibbrandt Sylvia
Published: April 2010

Despite the advent of various federal-level income support and social service programs that have had positive effects in reducing the extent of poverty among older adults, poverty among the elderly is still a significant problem. Given the heterogeneity of the elderly population, poverty is of particular concern among elderly women, elders who are 75 years and older, elders of color, and elderly persons living in rural communities. This chapter reviews the extent of poverty among the elderly and discusses the characteristics and needs of vulnerable older populations. Of significant concern to social workers is the underutilization of health, mental health, and social services by older people, especially by those at-risk populations most in need. A framework for conceptualizing service delivery barriers is presented, and the literature concerning the nature and extent of these barriers is reviewed. Practice and service delivery recommendations to address the identified barriers are then presented and discussed.
The Oldest Old
Authors: Dunkle Ruth E. , Jeon Hae-Sook
Published: April 2010

As the demographic landscape of the world changes, people are curious about those who live well beyond their life expectancy; those people referred to as the oldest old. Their chronological age has been a fascination to researchers and practitioners. This chapter reports findings in the main areas of function and well-being, sociodemographic factors, mental health, social support, and health. Where possible, findings regarding the very old (85+) are compared and contrasted with those on the young old (65-75 years of age) and the old (75-85 years of age). Racial and ethnic variations are addressed, as well as caregiving and service delivery issues, and culturally competent care for the very old.
Older African Americans and Other Black Populations
Authors: Chadiha Letha A. , Brown Edna , Aranda Maria P.
Published: April 2010

The Black elderly population (i.e. African Americans, Caribbean and African immigrants) aged 65 years or older comprises the largest group of elders of color in the United States. Growth in population size, as well as in age and cultural diversity, of the Black elderly population, presents both challenges and opportunities for effective service delivery by social workers to these Americans. This chapter addresses the special concerns of social work practice with older Blacks while taking into account the ethnic diversity within the U.S. Black elderly population. In order to address such concerns, it is essential to preface them with a discussion on certain salient issues in empirical literature on the older Black population. These issues, which form major subheadings in this chapter, include: the expansion and subsequent cultural heterogeneity of the older Black population; social, demographic, and economic characteristics; physical health and mental health status, as well as access to health care; and family, church, and religion as sources of informal support to older Blacks.
Older Gays, Lesbians, Bisexuals, and Transgender Persons
Authors: Butler Sandra S.
Published: April 2010

Although the experience of aging for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) individuals is in many regards indistinguishable from that of their non-GLBT counterparts, there are nonetheless special circumstances and a history of discrimination that bear noting when working with this population. There is considerable diversity within the GLBT community itself. Gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender elders vary in characteristics such as cultural, ethnic, or racial identity; physical ability; income; education; history of marriage and/or child rearing; and place of residence. They also vary in terms of the degree to which their GLBT identities are central to their own self-definition, and their level of affiliation with other GLBT individuals and organizations. This chapter examines social work practice with GLBT older adults. The purpose is to introduce practitioners to information and resources so that they might better serve older GLBT individuals. It begins by tracing some of the historical events and circumstances that have shaped the lives of the current cohort of GLBT elders. The invisibility of GLBT elders will be discussed next, a phenomenon that has resulted from a history of discrimination and oppression. GLBT elders bring certain unique strengths to the aging process; they also face some particular challenges. These are outlined, along with suggested practice guidelines.
Older Adults as Caregivers to Persons With Developmental Disabilities
Authors: Mccallion Philip
Published: April 2010

The success that the aging of persons with developmental disabilities (DD) represents also means challenges for families who must provide longer term and new forms of care. In addition, traditional views of family caregivers, particularly older parents as caregivers, must be expanded to include other relatives, such as siblings and grandparents. The aging of persons with DD and their caregivers requires all social workers to renew perspectives, tools, and approaches. The increasing complexity of life history and experiences, health needs, and life transitions also require that a holistic and multidisciplinary perspective be embraced. Drawing on the related research and practice literatures, this chapter outlines key demographic issues for adults with DD and their families, and describes changing family caregiving constellations. Suggestions are offered for the assessment and management of life transitions, and of grief and bereavement issues that are increasingly a feature of the older years of both caregivers and persons with DD.
Older Latino Family Caregivers
Authors: MagaÑA Sandra
Published: April 2010

This chapter deals with aging Latino family caregivers. Latinos are currently the largest minority group in the United States. Therefore, the unique caregiving challenges and resources of this group warrant investigation. The chapter explores five themes: (1) the well-being of Latino family caregivers, including the high rates of depression that they experience; (2) stress and coping processes, including the role of religion and spirituality in this group; (3) family support and the cultural value of familism, as the individual is strongly influenced by family well-being; (4) service utilization patterns, as Latinos underutilize services, possibly because of culturally insensitive services; and (5) interventions, which must be adapted for Latino family caregivers.
Rural African American Caregiving
Authors: Carlton-Laney Iris
Published: April 2010

This chapter examines rural African American caregivers. These individuals face critical and potentially life threatening problems, including poverty, lack of transportation, inadequate child care, substandard housing, inadequate heath care, and insufficient child care. Although these challenges are formidable, rural African American caregivers can also draw on unique cultural resources, including the mutual-aid system that permeates African American culture, the importance of extended family, including fictive kin, religion, and the value of neighbors and the local geographic community. In this population, social support and caregiving are overlapping concepts. Implications for social work practice are discussed.
Home Care Settings
Authors: Benjamin A. E. , Naito-Chan Edna
Published: April 2010

This chapter provides an overview of social work practice in home care, including a historical perspective on this practice arena, social work's current role and functions, and government policies and funding mechanisms for home care that have both shaped and constrained social work practice. It concludes with a brief discussion of some challenges involved in enhancing the visibility and role of social workers in home care, and suggests some possible solutions.
Senior Centers
Authors: Rozario Philip A.
Published: April 2010

This chapter presents senior centers as vital resources for improving the quality of life for older adults, and for facilitating independence. It outlines the important contributions social work professionals have made in this venue and argues that senior centers have untapped potential to serve the aging population.
Services to Support Caregivers of Older Adults
Authors: Crewe Sandra Edmonds , Chipungu Sandra Stukes
Published: April 2010

In 1988, the U.S. Administration on Aging reported that for the first time in history, couples had more parents than children to care for. In addition, the report indicated that women would spend 18 years caring for aging parents, as compared to 17 years caring for children. By the year 2040, the older population is expected to more than double, and the number of people age 85 and older will triple, and one half of them are likely to require assistance with one or more activities of daily living. The unprecedented growth of older persons, and in particular the projected increase in the 85-and-older population to 8.5 million by 2030, make it urgent for the nation to aggressively plan and develop caregiving resources. This chapter discusses the background and prevalence of family caregivers, the definition and profile of family caregivers, the legal authority for services to family caregivers, social work roles and practices with family caregivers, support services available to family caregivers, and the next generation of family caregiver resources.
Services for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Older Adults
Authors: Zodikoff Bradley D.
Published: April 2010

This chapter presents an overview of community-based social services for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) older adults. It focuses specifically on service delivery issues with respect to LGBT older adults. Beginning with a discussion of the specific service concerns of the LGBT older adult population, drawing from current research, the chapter describes the availability of services for LGBT older adults across the country, including information to assist providers in locating existing services in their own communities. It highlights key practice principles for working with LGBT older adults and for promoting LGBT-sensitive services within mainstream organizations. Finally, it identifies selected policy issues that directly affect the health and well-being of LGBT older adults and their families.
Services for HIV-Infected or HIV-Affected Older Adults
Authors: Emlet Charles , Poindexter Cynthia
Published: April 2010

This chapter provides human service practitioners with information related to service delivery systems and their legislative underpinnings, so that they can be more prepared to provide case management and referrals to older adults affected by HIV and AIDS. It outlines commonly available services as well as the roles that social work can play in these organizations. It discusses the ways in which such services can enhance quality of life and be culturally relevant.
Transitions From Nursing Homes to Community Settings
Authors: Mollica Robert L.
Published: April 2010

This chapter describes efforts to help nursing home residents return to the community. Consumer demands for services that enable them to live in the most integrated setting, the U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding the rights of individuals with disabilities to live in the community, and the rising cost of institutional care to state Medicaid budgets have led to increased efforts to help nursing home residents move to community settings. State Medicaid, aging, other agencies and independent living centers, and other community-based organizations are increasingly developing programs to promote community transitions.
Assisted Living Settings
Authors: Zimmerman Sheryl , Munn Jean , Koenig Terry
Published: April 2010

Assisted living (AL) is a term applied to a wide array of residential facilities for older adults. In the broadest sense, AL includes all group residential programs not licensed as nursing homes, which provide personal care in activities of daily living and can respond to unscheduled needs for assistance. In a more restrictive sense, it refers to the values underlying the manner in which that care is provided. Thus, AL has come to refer to both a setting of long-term care that combines housing and supportive services in a homelike environment, and a distinct philosophy of residential care provision. This chapter discusses assisted living as a setting and a philosophy of care, assisted living regulation, assisted living funding, issues in assisted living, and the social worker in assisted living.
Private Retirement Benefits
Authors: Hudson Robert B.
Published: April 2010

This chapter reviews the place of private pensions in the overall retirement income picture, recent trends in private pension coverage, and the adequacy of private pensions in helping to meet the retirement needs of vulnerable populations. The last issue is of special importance to geriatric social workers, who must be aware of and knowledgeable about the income adequacy and security challenges that their clients are facing.
Policies Affecting Health, Mental Health, and Caregiving: Medicare
Authors: Lee Ji Seon
Published: April 2010

This chapter provides an overview of Medicare, a program that was enacted as part of Title XVIII of the Social Security Act of 1965. It discusses Medicare's new policy developments, projected fiscal problems, limited long-term care coverage, and lack of mental health parity. It concludes with a review of social work's role in Medicare.
Policies Affecting Long-Term Care and Long-Term Care Institutions
Authors: Chen Li-Mei
Published: April 2010

In recent decades, the development of the long-term care (LTC) policies in the United States has lagged behind the growing care needs of older persons with chronic illnesses and mental or physical disabilities, and their families. In most industrialized societies, the responsibilities for social policy and service delivery are seen as shared by the household, the state, and the marketplace. In these societies, an assurance of government involvement to protect an individual's minimum standard of living when the market fails to do so, is an important policy principle. A policy based on a balanced and complementary system between the private (market and household) and public sectors is often sought by progressive reformers. However, in the United States, LTC polices are lopsided, with the responsibility for LTC provision primarily placed on the elder's household. This chapter examines the development of federal and state policies affecting LTC, namely, nursing homes and other providers of such care. It presents relevant issues surrounding LTC vis-à-vis the political, social, and economic changes in U.S. society.
Policies Affecting Families of Older Adults With Care Needs
Authors: Li Lydia , Rafferty Jane A.
Published: April 2010

This chapter describes two federal programs that aim to support families of elderly persons with care needs: the Family and Medical Leave Act and the National Family Caregiver Support Program. It first presents the history, provision, and implementation of each program, then discusses their loopholes in addressing the needs of family caregivers and the implications for social work.
Long-Term Care Insurance in Japan
Authors: Ozawa Martha N. , Nakayama Shingo
Published: April 2010

Japan has instituted one of the most comprehensive forms of long-term care insurance in the world. This chapter provides an overview description of this novel system of care. It also describes the historical and political forces that led to the adoption of this social program.
Credentialing Opportunities for Social Workers in Aging
Authors: Golden Robyn , White Monika
Published: April 2010

This chapter discusses credentialing for social workers with older adults, with an emphasis on care management, as it is the only possible current credentialing opportunity addressing social work with older adults and their families. Following an overview of credentialing is a discussion of the case management knowledge and skills needed to provide services for a growing number of older persons and their families. Social work with older adults, especially with those who are frail and at risk, has become more complex in recent years because of fragmented health and social welfare policies, programs, and services, problematic legal and financial structures, and shrinking public resources. Given this, effective case management skills are critical.
Infants’ Causal Learning
Authors: Meltzoff Andrew N.
Published: April 2010

This chapter shows that the perception of others' actions and production of self-action are mapped onto commensurate representations starting from birth. This allows infants not only to learn interventions through their own manipulations but also to multiply greatly their learning opportunities by observing the manipulations of others and profiting from them. Infants imitate but do not blindly copy everything they see. First, they make creative errors. Second, they skip over the literal behavior they see and choose to duplicate inferred interventions: what the adult meant to do, not what the adult did do. Third, when causal relations are difficult, as in the rake case for younger infants, observation alone does not seem to guarantee success; older infants glean more from the modeling than do younger ones.
Detecting Causal Structure
Authors: Sommerville Jessica A.
Published: April 2010

This chapter argues that infants' experience of their own actions and the consequences that these actions have on the world play an important role in their developing understanding of causal relations. Recent philosophical theories of causation take an interventionist perspective on causality: If manipulations on one factor (interventions) are associated with a change in a second factor, then the first causes the second. In addition, empirical evidence suggests that both adults and young children readily learn causal structure from enacting and observing interventions. This chapter presents evidence that infants' developing ability to act on the world is intimately linked to their causal understanding. Infants' interventions may enable them to evaluate causal hypotheses and to detect the causal structure of various events in the world.
Causal Reasoning Through Intervention
Authors: Hagmayer York , Sloman Steven , Lagnado David , Waldmann Michael R.
Published: April 2010

In causal reasoning, the observation of an event supports different inferences than an intervention that generates the event. An intervention breaks the connection between the manipulated event and its normal causes. Therefore, in contrast to an observation, an intervention prevents diagnostic inferences about the causes of the event. This chapter shows how causal Bayes nets can be used to model observations and interventions. Empirical findings are then presented demonstrating that people are highly sensitive to this distinction: (i) Their inferences conform to the distinction when reasoning counterfactually; (ii) they derive different predictions for novel observations and previously unobserved interventions when the underlying causal model entails different outcomes; and (iii) their decisions differ depending on whether an evidential statistical relation between an action and an outcome will be sustained if the action is deliberately chosen (i.e. intervened on). Other non-causal theories of learning and reasoning are not able to explain these findings.
On the Importance of Causal Taxonomy
Authors: Hitchcock Christopher
Published: April 2010

Using a standard counterexample to probabilistic theories of causation as an illustration, this chapter argues that there are a number of questions which one might ask about a putative causal relationship: Is it causal at all? What is the direction of the relationship? What is its strength? How does the cause compare with various alternatives? How stable is it under changes in background conditions? What are the pathways responsible for it? Many approaches in philosophy and psychology run these questions together. Together, the answers to these questions can provide a taxonomy of different kinds of causal relationships. By keeping these questions separately, we are able to clarify both philosophical applications of causation, and psychological claims about causal learning.
Why Represent Causal Relations?
Authors: Strevens Michael
Published: April 2010

Why do we represent the world around us using causal generalizations rather than, say, purely statistical generalizations? Do causal representations contain useful additional information, or are they merely more efficient for inferential purposes? This chapter considers the second kind of answer: it investigates some ways in which causal cognition might aid us not because of its expressive power, but because of its organizational power. Three styles of explanation are considered. The first, building on the work of Reichenbach, points to causal representation as especially efficient for predictive purposes in a world containing certain pervasive patterns of conditional independence. The second, inspired by the work of Woodward and others, finds causal representation to be an excellent vehicle for representing all-important relations of manipulability. The third, based in part on the author's own work, locates the importance of causal cognition in the special role it reserves for information about underlying mechanisms.
General Introduction
Authors: Daiute Colette
Published: April 2010

This introductory chapter begins with brief discussion of previous studies on youth involvement in conflict and violence. It then discusses the definition of youth conflict, developmental analysis of youth conflict, the interdependence of youth and society, and the dilemma of youth. An overview of the subsequent chapters is presented.
Growing Up During the Balkan Wars of the 1990s
Authors: Freedman Sarah Warshauer , Abazovic Dino
Published: April 2010

The youth today in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) and Croatia have grown up during times of war and chronic unrest. Since the youth will determine the future of the countries in the still-unstable Balkan region, it is critical to understand how their experiences of past wars and current, ongoing violence might relate to the role they will play in the reconstruction of their society. This chapter focuses on what was learned about youth and violence from a study of young people aged 14 to 16 enrolled in secondary schools in the still deeply divided towns of Mostar in BiH and Vukovar in Croatia. The chapter shows that many young people in Mostar and Vukovar suffer from a general sense of depression and apathy. These symptoms may not always be clinically significant, and the same youth simultaneously show some resilience, yet their malaise permeates the culture. It also shows that regardless of their national affiliation or where they live, the youth feel abandoned by the adults who are responsible for them, both parents and teachers. Finally, for the most part, the youth do not know how to heal or how to think about a positive future. They are conflicted about whether it would be best to focus on trying to forget the past or on trying to remember it, and also about whether they will ever be able to forgive others for what happened.
Social Hierarchy, Social Conflicts, and Moral Development
Authors: Turiel Elliot
Published: April 2010

This chapter offers a theoretical perspective on social and moral development, relevant to discussions of youth conflict and violence. Rejecting the idea that cultures have singular integrated patterns of moral functioning, it explains that a major source of conflict is social hierarchy characterized by dominant and subordinate positions, such as the positions of women and ethnic minority groups across many societies. The chapter reviews research examining conflicts across social developmental domains, in terms of the development of understandings of morality (harm, justice, and rights), social conventions, and personal prerogatives or entitlements. These categories of moral judgment are psycho-social practices that occur across cultures as sources of conflict, disagreement, and struggle. An example of the utility of this theory is its explanation, for example, of why children who are identified as aggressive make moral judgments similar to those of other children but differ in their justifications about retaliation. Examples of group conflicts are also considered, including acts of violence stemming from social hierarchies and cultural practices, such as acts of conflict and resistance by women in contexts in India and Iran where women's freedom of movement and self-determination are much more restricted than men's.
Collective Ostracism Among Youth in Korea
Authors: Lee In Jae
Published: April 2010

Collective ostracism among Korean youth recently has become a notable social problem. Collective ostracism ranges from trivial conflicts in dissonant human relationships to violent criminal acts. The seriousness of collective ostracism is evident in the lower as well as the upper grades of elementary schools. This chapter describes the concept, causes, effects, and types of collective ostracism. Drawing on various theories and research, it offers a complex conceptualization of collective ostracism as a practice caused by the interaction of social, cultural, and psychological dimensions. It shows that collective ostracism among Korean youth is caused by the interaction of personal, psychological, educational (teacher, students, curriculum, classroom, and school environment, etc.), and sociocultural (family, social climate, youth's value system or youth culture, etc.) factors. The chapter also explains the practice of collective ostracism in terms of roles, contexts, and responsibilities to overcome it, as well as in terms of insights about the psychological orientations of bullies, victims, and bystanders.
Youth Violence in South Africa
Authors: Higson-Smith Craig
Published: April 2010

This chapter analyzes ongoing youth conflict in terms of the situations of fragmentation and disempowerment in apartheid South Africa. It explains that South Africa, like other postcolonial societies, is a fertile context for youth conflict and violence, not solely because of poverty — although societies taken and then abandoned by colonizers are overwhelmingly poor — but also because of social, political, cultural, and economic upheaval that lead many young people into situations of conflict. Drawing on clinical work with young people in group work by the Sinani Programme for Survivors of Violence, the chapter offers insights by interweaving history, statistics, and the personal stories of violence and tragedy, which the author says are most important for understanding the complexity of youth conflict.
Order, First Step to Mastery: An Introduction to Sequencing in Instructional Design
Authors: Reigeluth Charles M.
Published: April 2010

This chapter provides an entry point for interested readers into the instructional design literature and introduces issues from this field. It shows how sequence effects relate to instruction and provides some introduction to an important context where order matters. It reviews several of the major instructional design techniques for ordering instructional material, based on the nature of the content and their interrelationships. The chapter describes and discusses useful approaches to ordering material that fit the needs of instructional design in the field. These approaches support the development of new instructional methods beyond the ones presented here, and help validate, illustrate, and teach these design principles. The chapter gives special focus to the Elaboration Theory of Instruction, which provides holistic alternatives to the parts-to-whole sequencing that are quite typical of both education and training, and synthesizes several recent ideas about sequencing instruction into a single coherent framework. The chapter closes with some general guidelines and principles for sequencing, organized by the order in which decisions need to be made.
Learning in Order: Steps of Acquiring the Concept of the Day/Night Cycle
Authors: Morik Katharina , Mühlenbrock Martin
Published: April 2010

This chapter presents a detailed model of children's explanations of where the sun goes at night. Knowledge of the day/night cycle is one of the first relatively complex sets of knowledge that all people acquire. The model shows how children progress through a lattice of possible explanations (a lattice is a partially but not completely ordered set). The task and data modeled offer an excellent basis for the investigation of order effects, with implications for modeling scientific discovery and for learning in general. It shows that some transitions are particularly difficult, that some transitions require using incomplete or incorrect knowledge, and that not all transitions are possible. It also shows that the order of learning can make a large difference in the amount that has to be learned and, perhaps more importantly, unlearned. Better orders provide about a 30% reduction in facts that have to be learned. These findings make suggestions about the instructional complexity that children, and presumably learners in general, can handle, and about the use and importance of intermediate stages of learning.
Timing Is in Order: Modeling Order Effects in the Learning of Information
Authors: Pavlik Philip I.
Published: April 2010

Simple memorization of information, because it does not have the complexity of more conceptual learning, provides a paradigm for investigating how primitive memory processes may underlie order effects in higher-level tasks. For instance, the superiority of distributed vs. massed practice implies an order effect because it suggests that any learning that has a repetitive memory component must be spaced widely to maximize retention. This chapter examines this effect and discusses recent research in which a mathematical model of both learning and forgetting was applied to optimizing the learning of facts. The model explains why it is always important to consider forgetting functions as well as learning curves for any learning procedure. One important implication of this model is that while learning per trial is generally greater with wider spacing, the increased time necessary to complete widely spaced practices means that it is difficult to fully apply in practice. These results suggest that investigations of order effects in the learning of more complex domains must consider the spacing of practice to the extent that there is a repetitive memory component to the task.
In the Shadow of Death
Authors: Beck Elizabeth , Britto Sarah , Andrews Arlene
Published: April 2010

Little is known about the effects of having a loved one on death row, and alternative visions of punishment that offer the possibility for forgiveness and recovery are also underrepresented in our system of justice and within the academic literature. In the Shadow of Death uses narrative accounts of individuals affected by the death penalty and crime to explore what it means to have a loved one on death row. The in-depth examination of this under-studied population adds to the literature on loss, trauma, grief, and recovery. In addition to theory on trauma and loss, the book also uses restorative justice theory, which holds offenders accountable while searching for ways to mend communities and lives torn apart by crimes, and explores options for the offenders' family members to be brought into the justice equation and the process of healing and recovery. The book uses myriad interviews with offenders' and victims' families, legal teams, and leaders in the abolition and restorative justice movement, as well as court documents that include in-depth psychosocial histories of offenders, in order to help ground a vision of justice rooted in the social fabric of community.
Organizing for Abolition
Authors: Beck Elizabeth , Britto Sarah , Andrews Arlene
Published: April 2010

A key component to restorative justice and trauma-healing involves empowerment. This chapter explores the advocacy efforts of death row family members either in the death penalty abolition movement or in local efforts to extend rights to their loved ones on death row. It explores family members' entrance into activism, often for the first time, and the role it has played in the healing process. For many family members, their activism often resulted in their meeting and forming relationships with individuals who have lost loved ones to homicide. These encounters are highlighted, as are a number of organizations that facilitate dialogue, including Murder Victims' Families for Human Rights, an organization comprised of abolitionists who have lost a loved one to murder.
Shining Light in the Shadows
Authors: Beck Elizabeth , Britto Sarah , Andrews Arlene
Published: April 2010

Restorative justice is a response to crime that engages primary stakeholders: victims, offenders, and communities. The following five questions, posed by restorative justice theorist and practitioner Howard Zehr, frame this chapter: Who's been hurt, what are their needs, whose obligations are these, who has a stake in this situation, and what is the appropriate process to involve stakeholders in an effort to put things right? The chapter looks to the future and uses Zehr's questions to explore the many ways that restorative justice policy and initiatives can meet the needs of victims, offenders, and communities.
Marijuana and Driving: Trends, Design Issues, and Future Recommendations
Authors: Liguori Anthony
Published: April 2010

This chapter summarizes the current state of peer-reviewed research on acute marijuana effects on both actual and simulated driving. Most research on the connection between marijuana use and driving may be divided into three major classes of studies that occasionally overlap. These classes are: (1) post-hoc epidemiological surveys examining the extent to which prior marijuana use predicted collision-related injuries; (2) simulated driving studies; and (3) studies of actual on-road driving. While several reviews of the existing literature have drawn comparable conclusions, the available peer-reviewed literature has been marked by several inconsistencies in the methods used and samples recruited. The chapter will focus on identifying the strengths and limitations of the procedural approaches within this area of research. It presents a seven-step plan for improving research on marijuana and driving, and for clarifying the likelihood and nature of marijuana-induced impairment.
Disseminating Accurate and Balanced Marijuana Education: An Opportunity for the Policy Reform Movement
Authors: Roffman Roger A. , Nicoll Anne
Published: April 2010

This chapter argues that the anti-prohibition movement will enhance its effectiveness in promoting liberalized policy and will better serve the public if the movement's mission is expanded to include the dissemination of accurate, thorough, and balanced marijuana educational information, tailored for each of its current and potential constituencies. A number of premises underlie this position, and these are discussed as a prelude to approaching the chapter's central theme. It is argued that many people with varying personal interests in marijuana stand to benefit from an expanded mission of the policy reform movement such as that envisioned here. The chapter identifies each of these groups and briefly considers both their needs and the advantages they might subsequently enjoy if the movement does in fact make a greater investment in marijuana education.
Marijuana’s Perceived Addictiveness: A Survey of Clinicians and Researchers
Authors: Gore Robert , Earleywine Mitch
Published: April 2010

Although experts influence public opinion regarding drug addictiveness, no previous research surveys the opinions of different groups of experts in order to compare their ratings of addictiveness. This chapter reports on a survey of addiction researchers, clinicians specializing in addiction, and generalist psychotherapists. Respondents rated the addiction, tolerance and withdrawal potential of 12 drugs. They gave LSD, 3-4 methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), and cannabis the lowest ratings of addictiveness, and crack cocaine, nicotine, and heroin the highest. Addiction treatment specialists gave the highest average addictiveness ratings, followed by non-specialist clinicians and then by researchers. Respondents who had more formal education and had written more published articles gave lower ratings; those with more clinical contact gave higher ratings. Findings are explained in terms of the information each professional group routinely encounters, and judgment and decision theory.
Do Marijuana Offenders Deserve Punishment?
Authors: Husak Douglas
Published: April 2010

This chapter attempts a somewhat novel defense of marijuana decriminalization. It begins by identifying some of the factors that may have prevented commentators from recognizing the principled objections to punishing users of marijuana. It then argues that our best understanding of the normative foundations of punishment and sentencing theory supports the conclusion that marijuana use should be decriminalized.
Values and the Marijuana Debate
Authors: Earleywine Mitch
Published: April 2010

This chapter reviews some of the arguments presented in the preceding chapters. It concludes that truly valuing compassion and justice can lead us to legalize medical cannabis and remove penalties for possession of marijuana for personal use. A focus on some other values can lead to more dramatic changes. For example, a taxed, legal market for marijuana is consistent with the value of fiscal responsibility. Alternatively, a completely free market for marijuana is consistent with the value of liberty. But the United States may not be ready for such big steps. For now, we can focus on the fundamental values of compassion and justice; let us legalize medical marijuana and remove penalties for personal use. Religious, moral, and empirical arguments mandate these moves. Precedents from other countries offer further support. If we value justice and compassion, we must change marijuana policy.
Are There Experts on Dangerousness?
Authors: Slobogin Christopher
Published: April 2010

This chapter applies the final three admissibility factors — probative value, helpfulness, and prejudicial impact — to expert prediction testimony. Despite false-positive rates approaching 50 percent, prediction testimony should usually be considered probative because, contrary to critics’ insinuation with their coin-flipping analogy, both clinical and actuarial predictions produce results better than chance selection would. Furthermore, in contrast to culpability testimony, we at least have error rate information about predictions, which provides the fact finder with a way of gauging its worth. Prediction testimony is also generally helpful, at least when it avoids ultimate issue language, because it identifies risk factors that laypeople might not otherwise consider. The chapter concludes that where prediction testimony is most likely to fail in evidentiary terms, is with respect to the fourth factor, prejudicial impact. When the government proffers expert testimony that someone who has just been convicted of charged with an offense is dangerous, it is merely confirming what the fact finder already strongly suspects. When this testimony is presented in clinical, as opposed to actuarial, form, even aggressive rebuttal evidence normally has minimal impact on the fact finder. Thus, the chapter argues that the decision as to whether clinical expert testimony on dangerousness will be presented should be left up to the subject of the prediction. This subject first rule is analogous to the well-known character evidence rule, which bars evidence of bad character, despite its probativeness on the issue of whether the defendant committed an offense, unless and until the defendant opens the door by presenting evidence of good character.
Conclusions: The Structure of Expertise in Criminal Cases
Authors: Slobogin Christopher
Published: April 2010

This chapter concludes the book by reviewing the previous chapters and by offering two key observations about the structure of expertise in criminal and preventive detention cases now that Daubert has been handed down. The first is that a rigid application of Dauberta’s positivist approach will, in the long run, be good for prosecutors, and bad for criminal defendants and those subjected to commitment. The second is that the result of this differential impact will be a justice system that is less just. A more nuanced approach to clinical testimony on culpability and dangerousness is essential if we care about fairness and appropriate outcomes.
The Cognitive Child Versus the Whole Child: Lessons From 40 Years of Head Start
Authors: ZIGLER EDWARD F. , BISHOP-JOSEF SANDRA J.
Published: April 2010

The effect of play on children has become the subject of intense debates in America. Many preschools and elementary schools have reduced or even eliminated play from their schedules. Play is being replaced by lessons focused on cognitive development, particularly literacy and reading, to match the content of standardized testing. The focus on cognition and literacy also found its way into policies and proposals for Head Start. The Bush administration initially wanted to change Head Start from a comprehensive intervention to a literacy program. However, changing the law governing Head Start would have required considerable time. To move the program in the desired direction more quickly, the administration imposed new protocols on how the program should be run (decisions that are within its power). This chapter looks at the lessons learned from Head Start's 40 years of existence, the whole child approach to education, and the theory and practice of children's play and development.
Mathematical Play and Playful Mathematics: A Guide for Early Education
Authors: GINSBURG HERBERT P.
Published: April 2010

This chapter examines the role of mathematics in children's play and the role of play in early mathematics education. The confluence of environment and biology guarantees that virtually all children acquire major aspects of everyday mathematics (EM). Children's EM is ubiquitous, often competent, and more complex than usually assumed. It involves activities as diverse as perceiving which of two plates of cookies has “more” and reflecting on the issue of what is the largest number. It should therefore come as no surprise that EM is a significant aspect of children's play. Children use informal skills and ideas relating to number, shape, and pattern as they play with blocks or read storybooks. Indeed, EM provides the cognitive foundation for a good deal of play, as well as for other aspects of the child's life. Even more remarkably, spontaneous play may entail explicit mathematical content: young children can enjoy explorations of number and pattern as much as messing around with clay.