Creative thinking abilities and hemispheric asymmetry in schizotypal college students

Two groups of college students that scored high (N=25) and low (N=60) on a schizotypal personality index based on the Perceptual Aberration, Magical Thinking, and Schizotypal Personality Scales, were tested for hemisphericity using a dichotic listening task and completed the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking. The schizotypy scales correlated with high scores on the nonverbal portion of the creativity tests and with a left ear preference to dichotically presented verbal stimuli. The Torrance Test of Creative Thinking did not correlate, however, with hemispheric asymmetry. These results clarify the relationship between schizotypy and creating thinking abilities but fail in establishing the role of hemispheric asymmetry in the production of creative thinking ideas. This article is based on a portion of the first author’s dissertation at Wayne State University.     

Developing a Basic Mathematics Questionnaire for Grades 4 to 7

In this article, the authors report on the development of a basic mathematics questionnaire for Grades 4 to 7 (the BM(P)). The provisional instrument was completed by 1,103 Afrikaans-, English-and Tswana-speaking learners in Grades 4 to 7 in the North-West Province of South Africa. First-order factor analysis was carried out, item analysis was done, reliability coefficients and discrimination values were calculated, and norm tables were established. Weighted means were used to ensure that the results were proportional to the ratios of the language groups in the province. We (the authors) concluded that standardisation of the BM(P) yielded satisfactory results with regard to the determination of issues such as construct validity, reliability, validity and intercorrelations for Grade 4 to 7 learners in the North-West Province of South Africa.     

The Road to Religious Tolerance in Education in South Africa (and Elsewhere): a Possible ‘Martian Perspective’

Abstract

Combining Dennett's notion of detached curiosity with Alexander's notion of transcendental pragmatism, we propose in this paper, from a ‘Martian perspective’, that religious understanding and tolerance in education may be pursued from at least two different angles: (a) via the spiritual substrata of religions or via confessional pluralism or (b) via a combination of both. On the basis of a hermeneutic reconstructive interpretation of (a), we subsequently argue that current South African policy on education and religion has effectively placed a ban on confessional pluralism by relegating religious education to parental homes and religious institutions such as churches, temples and mosques. We conclude that it provides no opportunities for helping learners to understand the religious differences that they will have to engage with in future as adults. We suggest that it effectively engineers a pedagogy of religious essentialism and the subsequent reemergence (of an almost Bourdieuian model) of cultural and spiritual intolerance.     

The Relationship Between Typical and Maximum Performance: A Meta-Analytic Examination

This study's purpose was to meta-analytically estimate the magnitude of the relationship between typical and maximum job performance to determine if this distinction deserves greater attention. We also tested several moderators including three associated with the temporal boundaries of this relationship and examined theoretical antecedents of typical and maximum performance (ability, motivation, and personality). This meta-analysis revealed a moderate typical–maximum performance association (ρ = .42), suggesting that a meaningful distinction does exist. Although the examined temporal moderators did not meaningfully affect the typical–maximum performance relationship, task complexity, type of performance measure, and study setting were significant moderators. Antecedent analyses confirmed that both ability and Openness to Experience are more strongly related to maximum than typical performance. The implications of these findings are discussed.     

The Third Curriculum—from a Christian Perspective

According to Michel Serres, and those who support his views about education, the truly educated person is one who has been exposed to the so-called Third Curriculum. This conviction is evaluated from the vantage point of a Christian view of reality, education, and the curriculum. The author concludes that while Third-Curriculum thinking appears to be innovative and creative, its two central tenets of interdisciplinarity and dialogical thinking are not quite so new. He also concludes that the Third-Curriculum theory is still too vague, inconsistent, and programmatic to be seriously considered for implementation in schools. Its postmodern refusal to acknowledge the divine, law-subjected orderliness of creation as well as its tendency to reduce the God-given diversity in reality to only one or two aspects of reality are contrary to convictions underlying the Christian view of the curriculum and curriculum design.     

PHILOSOPHICAL-PEDAGOGICAL CRITERIA FOR ASSESSING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF A CHRISTIAN SCHOOL

An analysis of recent publications in the field of school effectiveness studies shows that virtually no contributions have been made in that knowledge domain with respect to the effectiveness of Christian schools. To address this shortcoming—while keeping the undesirability of a package approach to Christian education in mind—a philosophical-pedagogical approach to a more systematic assessment of Christian schools is offered. A number of other considerations regarding the assessment of the effectiveness of Christian schools are left for further discussion and investigation.     

Evidence affects hypothesis judgments more if accumulated gradually than if presented instantaneously

In a hypothesis comparison task involving quantifiable evidence, we investigated whether judgments of relative probability were affected by gradual evidence accumulation and by making a series of revised ratings, rather than a single final one. Each trial of our task required participants to rate the probability that a focal hypothesis, rather than its alternative, was correct. We manipulated (1) the strength of evidence supporting the focal hypothesis, (2) the strength of evidence supporting its alternative, and (3) whether that evidence was presented in three sequential portions (gradually accumulated evidence condition) or, instead, was all presented instantaneously (control condition). In a second experiment, we also manipulated (4) the number of successive ratings made within a trial with gradually accumulated evidence. Regardless of how many ratings were made per trial, gradual evidence accumulation increased the effects of evidence strength on ratings of relative probability.     

Measuring Employee Engagement During a Financial Downturn: Business Imperative or Nuisance?

In this article, we emphasize that measuring workforce attitudes is a business imperative—including during an economic downturn or crisis. After reviewing the concept of employee engagement we draw upon recent real-world examples and data across a variety of organizations and argue for the business value of an engaged workforce. We offer practical applications for HR managers, including providing guidance on the types of questions that should be asked in an employee survey and focusing on those that result in the most actionable feedback. We conclude the paper by laying out an agenda for future research aimed at helping bridge the academic-practitioner divide.     

Prenatal maternal predictors of cognitive and emotional delays in children of adolescent mothers

The present study examined relationships among prenatal characteristics of 121 adolescent mothers-including cognitive readiness for parenting, intelligence, social support, and personal adjustment-and intellectual-linguistic development, social-emotional functioning, and adaptive behavior in their children at three years of age. Only 28% of the children scored within normal ranges on all three types of outcomes. Intellectual and linguistic delays were predicted best by prenatal measures of maternal Performance IQ and social support from extended family. Socioemotional problems were predicted best by maternal internalizing problems and social support from partner and friends. Adaptive behavior was associated with parenting style. Implications for the early identification of high-risk children--and associated intervention programs--are discussed.