Parent-Teacher Contacts and Student Learning

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of teacher-parent contacts on the reading achievement of 398 underachievers in an ESEA program in a desegregated elementary school district. Most of the students were black. The central hypothesis was that the home environment influences classroom learning. The results, as measured by normed CAT achievement tests, indicate that the number of contacts was found to have a differential effect on achievement gains. With increasing numbers of contacts, younger students made significant gains in reading; however, increasing numbers of contacts were associated with decreased achievement in older students.     

Getting along with classmates in regular schools: a review of the effects of integration on the development of social relationships

The objective of this review is to find out what knowledge is available regarding the effects of integrating pupils the sensory, motor and/or mental disabilities is regular schools. This review is restricted to the effects of integration on the development of social contacts with classmates without disabilities. Analysis of 14 studies revealed contradictory conclusions: no effects were reported in some studies, while in others researchers found that special needs pupils in regular schools acquired more social contacts and friendships, and that regular and special schools differed in this respect. Only a few studies revealed negative effects of integration.     

Executive Functions in Young Children with Autism

The executive dysfunction hypothesis of autism has received support from most studies of older people with autism; however, studies of young children have produced mixed results. Two studies are presented that compare the performance of preschoolers with autism (mean = 51 months/4.3 years of age) to a control group matched on age, and verbal and nonverbal ability. The first study (n = 18 autism and 17 control) found no group differences in performance on 8 executive function tasks (A not B, Object Retrieval, A not B with Invisible Displacement, 3-Boxes Stationary and Scrambled, 6-Boxes Stationary and Scrambled, and Spatial Reversal), but did find that children with autism initiated fewer joint attention and social interaction behaviors. The second (longitudinal) study of a subset of the children (n = 13 autism and 11 control) from the first study found that neither groups' performance on Spatial Reversal changed significantly over the course of a year. The results of these studies pose a serious challenge to the executive dysfunction hypothesis of autism.     

Failure analysis of a kind of low power connector

A kind of low power connector used e.g. in household appliances was partly burned in routine experiment. The heat sources were four paralleled contacts constructed by springs (Sn/CuSn-alloy) in socket and a plug sheet (Ni/Steel) while mating. The contact interfaces were detected by scanning electronic microscope (SEM) and X-ray energy dispersive spectros- copy (XEDS), obvious wear tracks and various contaminants, including element Si, Al, Na, K, S, Cl, O, etc., were found. The contamination degrees on the four paralleled contacts were different, so that the ratio of average contact resistance on the four contacts was about 5:8:3:1. The maximum contact resistance on contacts of the plug sheet reached 28 ?. The main failure rea- sons were fretting and contamination between the contact interfaces. Fretting simulation showed that connection resistance of connectors was raised up, even to ohms level. When the current increased to 5 A, the socket housing was heated and decom- posed. By the thermal analysis, it was estimated that the connector would be burned under the lower current if the current was not evenly distributed on the four paralleled contacts caused by uneven contamination. Improvement methods for connector failure are also discussed.     

Globalisation or europeanisation? International contact among university staff

The article examines whether the increase in international contacts among university researchers is an impact of a general globalisation trend, or whether it is an effect of policy initiatives on national and supranational levels such as EU research programmes. The present study demonstrates that the sheer volume of international contacts among Norwegian university staff has increased substantially during the last 20 years with respect to conference participation, guest lecturing, study and research visits, peer review work, research collaboration and international publishing. While patterns of international visits have not changed with respect to geographical pattern, research collaboration and co-authoring has become increasingly directed towards other European and Nordic countries. Moreover, we demonstrate a homogenisation between fields of learning regarding the degree of international contact while there are significant differences in geographical orientation. We conclude that general trends of globalisation and regional policy initiatives from the EU are supplementary rather than contradictory with respect to international contacts among Norwegian university staff. Data are drawn from studies based on questionnaires carried out in 1981, 1991 and 2000 among all tenured faculty members of Norway’s four universities.     

Parent-teacher partnership and high school students’ development in mainland China: the mediating role of teacher-student relationship

Parent-teacher partnership is associated closely with adolescents’ development. However, little is known about the association between parent-teacher partnership and Chinese high school students’ development. Therefore, this study examines whether and how parent-teacher partnership (objective contacts and subjective relationship quality) relates to high school students’ academic, career, and personal/social development among a national representative sample of 4,606 high school teachers from 61 high schools across 10 provinces of Mainland China. Both parent-teacher contacts and relationship were related to high school students’ development across all three domains (i.e., academic, career, and personal/social development). Parent-teacher relationship was more closely related to students’ developmental outcomes than parent-teacher contacts. Parent-teacher contacts were associated directly and indirectly with students’ developmental outcomes via parent-teacher relationship and teacher-student relationship. Implications for future studies and practice were discussed.     

The developmental costs of high self-esteem for antisocial children

Two hypotheses--high self-esteem leads children to act on antisocial cognitions (disposition-activating hypothesis) and high self-esteem leads children to rationalize antisocial conduct (disposition-rationalizing hypothesis)--were investigated in two longitudinal studies. In Study 1 (N= 189; mean age = 11.1 years), antisocial behavior was aggression; in Study 2 (N= 407; mean age = 10.8 years) it was avoidance of the mother. In both studies, there was little evidence for the disposition-activating hypothesis but considerable support for the disposition-rationalizing hypothesis. Over time, aggressive children with high self-esteem increasingly valued the rewards that aggression offers and belittled their victims, and avoidant children with high self-esteem increasingly viewed their mother as harassing and uninvolved. For antisocial children, high self-esteem carries costs.     

Study on properties of residue-residue contacts in protein

Residue-residue contacts are very important in forming protein structure. In this work, we calculated theaverage probability of residue-residue contacts in 470 globular proteins and analyzed the distribution of contacts in thedifferent interval of residues using Contacts of Structural Units (CSU) and Structural Classification (SCOP) software. Itwas found that the relationship between the average probability -PL and the residue distance L for four structural classes ofproteins could be expressed as lgPL=a b×L, where a and b are coefficients. We also discussed the connection between twoaspects of proteins which have equal array residue number and found that the distribution probability was stable (or un-stable) if the proteins had the same (or different) compact (for example synthase) in the same structural class.     

口吃的理论模型与最新研究进展

本文简要介绍了口吃的几种理论模型,包括言语错误侦察模型和内隐修复假设、要求和能力模型、口吃的神经心理语言学功能理论、言语运动控制失调假设和口吃的时间压力假设,并综述了口吃的最新研究进展,主要是脑功能成像研究、口吃的基因研究和对儿童口吃者的研究。     

Individual Differences in Mastery Motivation in Infants

Potential sources of individual differences in mastery motivation are the attachment relationship (hypothesis 1) and specific features of infant engagement with persons and objects (hypothesis 2). We reviewed studies pertaining to both hypotheses. We distinguished between three types of mastery motivation measures and measures conceptually related to mastery motivation. In studies of infants older but not younger than 20 months, hypothesis 1 was generally supported. Consistent with hypothesis 2, amount and contingency of stimulation were related to increased mastery motivation in infants as young as 6 months. Maternal affect during mastery motivation tasks and withdrawal or intrusiveness during mother-infant interactions may also influence mastery motivation. For neither hypothesis did study designs support inferences about causality. Future studies should support causal inferences about main effects and interactions among these various factors; and evaluate how developmental level or prior experience may constrain or facilitate change in mastery motivation.     

Individual Differences in Mastery Motivation in Infants

Potential sources of individual differences in mastery motivation are the attachment relationship (hypothesis 1) and specific features of infant engagement with persons and objects (hypothesis 2). We reviewed studies pertaining to both hypotheses. We distinguished between three types of mastery motivation measures and measures conceptually related to mastery motivation. In studies of infants older but not younger than 20 months, hypothesis 1 was generally supported. Consistent with hypothesis 2, amount and contingency of stimulation were related to increased mastery motivation in infants as young as 6 months. Maternal affect during mastery motivation tasks and withdrawal or intrusiveness during mother-infant interactions may also influence mastery motivation. For neither hypothesis did study designs support inferences about causality. Future studies should support causal inferences about main effects and interactions among these various factors; and evaluate how developmental level or prior experience may constrain or facilitate change in mastery motivation.     

Municipal consultants’ participation in building networks to support science teachers’ work

This paper focuses particularly on the role of municipal science consultants in developing and maintaining network activities and connections among primary school science teachers. The hypothesis is that consultants play a crucial role in supporting strategic planning, and sustaining contacts and activities within professional learning networks. The research is framed by a project that involved 80 primary science teachers in 20 schools. The aim of the project was to develop network activities that facilitate sustainable change of the participating schools’ collective culture and practice of science teaching. The authors were involved as researchers and evaluators in the project. Data consist of reports from the consultants about their participation in various network activities, school assessment reports and a longitudinal survey. Three distinct cases are analysed through the use of a framework of professional learning networks to assess the consultants’ opportunities and constraints in terms of participating in network development. The results indicate that the consultants’ roles in successful network formation is characterized by personal stable contacts within the science teacher community in the municipality, availability of municipal resources to support network activities, participation in strategic planning of municipal network support, and facilitation of the development of new teaching activities within schools or in collaboration between schools. These four distinctive features of municipal science consultants’ participation in supporting network activities enable the participants to share and develop teaching activities.     

Scaling the duration of short pauses in licking behavior of rats and mice: A first approximation to a basic pause-scaling unit

Two studies are reported in which short pauses from the drinking behavior of four hooded rats (rat study) and four mice (mouse study) were analyzed. Both of these studies supported the hypothesis that the interlick interval (II) can be used as a unit (PU) for scaling short pauses in licking behavior during water drinking. The outcomes of these studies are seen as suggesting that the factor responsible for the constancy of the II is also functioning during short pauses and is responsible for the tendency herein reported for pauses to be scaled by the PU.     

Traditional Dimensionality Versus Essential Dimensionality

This article addresses testing the hypothesis of one versus more than one dominant (essential) dimension in the possible presence of minor dimensions. The method used is Stout's statistical test of essential unidimensionality, which is based on the theory of essential unidimensionality. Differences between the traditional definition of dimensionality provided by item response theory, which counts all dimensions present, and essential dimensionality, which counts only dominant dimensions, are discussed. As Monte Carlo studies demonstrate, Stout's test of essential unidimensionality tends to indicate essential unidimensionality in the presence of one dominant dimension and one or more minor dimensions that have a relatively small influence on item scores. As the influence of the minor dimensions increases, Stout's test is more likely to reject the hypothesis of essential unidimensionality. To assist in interpreting these studies, a rough index of the deviation from essential unidimensionality is proposed.     

Middle school behavioral profiles of antisocial and at‐risk control boys: Descriptive and predictive outcomes

Abstract

In this investigation we report two studies of the school behavior adjustment status of two groups of middle school‐age boys—an antisocial group (N = 39) and an at‐risk control group (N = 41). In study one, we compared the two groups on a series of behavioral measures across grades five, six, and seven that included (1) teacher ratings of social skills, (2) classroom observations, (3) playground observations, and (4) school archival records. Results indicated extremely problematic behavioral profiles for the antisocial subjects and much more favorable profiles for the at‐risk control students. The behavioral profiles for the two groups appeared to be quite consistent and stable across the middle school years with the exception that several variables (social skills ratings, attendance, math achievement, and school discipline contacts) tended to show gradually increasing negative trends for the antisocial subjects. In the second study, we used a series of selected fifth‐grade variables, derived from the four major clusters of study measures, as predictors in regression analyses of subjects' status on a series of seventh‐grade criterion measures of school success or failure. The criterion measures predicted in these analyses were reading and math achievement, school discipline contacts, attendance, and time spent within a nonregular classroom. There were low multiple Rs for reading achievement and time spent in a nonregular classroom setting. The multiple Rs for math achievement, school discipline contacts, and attendance were moderate to moderately high.     

A critique of Mody, Studdert-Kennedy, and Brady's "Speech perception deficits in poor readers: auditory processing or phonological coding?"

A 1997 article by Mody, Studdert-Kennedy, and Brady claimed that their studies constituted a critical test of two hypotheses concerning students with reading impairment: (a) that they experience speech-specific failure in phonological representation, and (b) they display general deficits in auditory temporal processing. From these studies, the authors concluded that their findings were consistent with the first hypothesis but were not in agreement with the second. A critical analysis of the Mody et al. article leads to the conclusion that it makes no contribution to that debate because (a) the children in the Poor reading group did not meet the accepted reading-impairment criterion of being delayed by at least 1 year in their reading skills, (b) there were severe violations of statistical assumptions, and (c) their conclusions were based on the failure to find significant differences, thus compelling them to accept the null hypothesis as proven, in the absence of any statistical power analysis.     

Technical research on optimization design of contacts of electrical connector

Pin and socket contacts are the key parts of electrical connector as aerospace electronic components. The contacts are also the direct carriers for signal transmitting of electronic equipments, passing the signal from the input end to the output end of electrical connector. The reliability of pin and socket contacts directly influences signal transmission. The goal of this study is to enhance the contact reliability of aerospace electrical connector. Computer simulation analysis was made on contacts performance data by utilizing the simulation system developed by PCL Language of MSC software. Furthermore, the results were experi- mentally validated so as to realize the objective of optimizing contacts design.     

新世纪:展望郭沫若研究

郭沫若研究从20世纪初其新诗问世即已开始，但在新的世纪，仍有着开阔的学术空间。应从以下几方面向纵深发展：首先，增强学理性，在20世纪学，史学和社会政治化发展的大背景上全方位把握研究对象的特质；其次，加大资料整合的力度，以还原研究对象真实的人生状态，其次，注重其人际交往，在与中国现代化化史上一些重要人物的交往中，通过他们之间的友情，论争和恩怨反映他们所生活的时代的社会思潮和化动向。     

主体间性与译者主体性

从主体间性理论出发,探讨译者与翻译活动所涉及的各主体之间交往时所体现出的主体性,指出译者作为翻译主体,与其他各主体之间是一种平等、共生的关系,译作是翻译活动各个主体在此基础上理解、对话、交流的产物。