When learning to program, many novice coders find the transfer from block-based to text-based programming languages very difficult. To bridge this gap we developed an integrated development environment (IDE) for Python that allows users to drag-and-drop programming elements in much the same way as block-based environments allow but in a text-based environment. We empirically tested the IDE on two groups of students aged 13 and 14 years in an English secondary school. The group that had access to the hybrid IDE for the final assessment performed significantly better relative to their baseline compared to the group that used a standard IDE. In this paper, we argue that this approach offers essential scaffolding that can reduce extraneous cognitive load for novice learners and facilitate the transition from block-based to text-based programming environments.
Objective: The goal was to deepen the understanding of parental reflexivity by examining the relationship between its components and their association with parental motivation to engage in interventions, while analyzing professionals' expectations and perceptions of families' progress, in socioeconomically disadvantaged contexts. Background: Although it plays a crucial role in change processes, parental reflexivity-the ability of parents to critically self-evaluate-is an understudied concept, particularly among at-risk families. This highlights the relevance of expanding research in this area. Method: Data were collected from 65 caregivers referred to child protective services and 43 professionals. Quantitative measures assessed parental reflective functioning, attributions, motivation for change, and practitioners' expectations of family progress. Pearson correlations, hierarchical multiple regression, and mediation analyses were performed to identify predictors of the variables of interest. Results: Positive associations were found between dysfunctional parental attributions, motivation for change, and prementalizing. Prementalizing was indirectly associated with parental motivation to change child behavior through dysfunctional child-responsible attributions. Conclusion: Greater awareness of parental cognitions may increase motivation to modify both parental and child behavior, underlining the role of reflexivity in promoting change. Implications: Addressing parental reflexivity in interventions targeting families may mitigate the risks associated with socioeconomic disadvantage by increasing parental availability to interventions that can promote more positive parent-child relationships.
Abstract A subset of older youth in the American foster care system have had so many bad things happen to them that they disconnect from society and bounce between foster homes, psychiatric hospitals, kinship care, homelessness, and juvenile detention. Deeply wounded by their circumstances, some are eventually placed in a Residential Treatment Center (RTC)––the least understood, most maligned, and most expensive level of foster care. Pain and Promise is about these kids, the system “outliers.” It showcases their voices, reveals the inside story about the residential treatment programs devoted to their care, and reflects on Nan Dale’s thirty years of child welfare experience, including her twenty-two years as CEO of the Children’s Village (CV) in New York. This book reimagines how to address a myriad of challenges and provide these kids with the opportunities they need and deserve. Aron Myers, a former resident of CV and now a clinical social worker and leadership trainer, helps bring the book’s many pieces together. New regulations and family support programs have improved the lives of many kids, but some have been damaged by one-size-fits-all policies and recent legislation that is pushing these programs into extinction and offering few good options. Scores of teenagers have been left homeless and alone. Pain and Promise addresses the complexity of foster care, especially residential treatment, and explores options to improve care for all children, including those dangerously disconnected from society, giving them a genuine shot at a safe and fulfilling future.
