Hi all, This is an area in which there has been almost no research. As a developmental psychologist and homeschooling mom, I am trying to rectify this through some work with children. For sources, there is an obscure journal, the Home School Researcher (published by the National Home Education Research Institute), which has many good articles although it is not well-known. If anyone wants an article or 2 from that, I could copy for you. (It won't be found in most libraries.) In addition, last year, the Peabody Journal of Education had a special issue on homeschooling (if I am remembering correctly). Most of the little work that seems to have been done in the field has been done with children, not adults. Doing research on this topic has many inherent difficulties, including access to a population that often doesn't want to be studied, developing appropriate control groups, getting adequate samples of homeschooled kids, and instruments that are tailored to children who are in school. I'm not at the office, now, so don't have all my sources available. If anyone wants to contact me for more, I would be happy to try to help.
Marcia Marcia J. McKinley Psychology, Mount St. Mary's College -----Original Message----- From: Hetzel, Rod [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wed 9/3/2003 3:01 PM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences Cc: Subject: home schooling and development Hey folks: I have a student who is interested in doing some research investigating the impact of home schooling on social and emotional development. I don't know a whole lot about this area, so we are both in the exploratory stages. I'll be doing a literature search later this week, but I'm curious if anyone on the list has done research in this area or knows of any additional resources. We have a lot of home-schooled students at our university, so we have a pretty good sample of convenience. I've always suspected, just based on anecdotal evidence, that there are some meaningful differences between our home-schooled and non-home-schooled students, but it looks like we'll now have a chance to do something a bit more scientific... Thanks in advance! Rod ______________________________________________ Roderick D. Hetzel, Ph.D. Department of Psychology LeTourneau University Post Office Box 7001 2100 South Mobberly Avenue Longview, Texas 75607-7001 Office: Education Center 218 Phone: 903-233-3893 Fax: 903-233-3851 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > -----Original Message----- > From: David Epstein [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Wednesday, September 03, 2003 1:42 PM > To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences > Subject: Re: Serotonin production in the colon > > > On Wed, 3 Sep 2003, Nathalie Cote went: > > > One of my Intro Psych students told me that he found a Web > site that > > says that the gastrointestinal tract is a bigger producer > of serotonin > > than the brain is > > That's what I've been taught--that 90% of the body's > serotonin is in the gut, where it serves functions related to > intestinal motility. > > > The student is concerned because he has had his colon removed for > > medical reasons, so he wants to know if that affects > serotonin levels > > in his brain. > > No, there's nothing to worry about there. Serotonin doesn't > penetrate the blood-brain barrier, so the student's digestive > tract can make as much (or as little) serotonin as it likes, > and his brain won't know the difference, so to speak. > > Serotonin in the brain is made in specific clusters of neuron > in the brainstem, whose axons form specific pathways with > specific (perhaps even opposing) functions in various other > brain regions. It's not something that the brain needs to be > globally bathed in, like cerebrospinal fluid, and more isn't > necessarily better. > > > 1) What do you know about serotonin in the gut? Other than > being the > > same chemical, is it related to serotonin in the brain? How? > > I think that when nature finds a useful signaling molecule, > it uses that molecule wherever it can. So the same molecules > tend to turn up in a lot of different places; that doesn't > have to mean they're serving the same functions. > > > 2) The Web site above also makes the claim that "inadequate > levels of > > serotonin and norepinephrine precursors in the diet > > ...probably constitute a condition that almost never occurs. > > > is it the case that extended use of SSRIs depletes > neurotransmitters? > > No--at least, it's never been demonstrated. There are > studies showing that huge overdoses of SSRIs can damage > serotonergic axons in rats. Those studies have no > implications for chronic use of therapeutic doses. > > > And is it the case that diet has a measurable effect on > > neurotransmitter levels in the brain? > > Generally not, unless you go to unusual lengths, such as > fasting, then drinking specially made cocktails of amino > acids from which tryptophan is deliberately excluded. > > --David Epstein > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > --- > You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > To unsubscribe send a blank email to > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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