Turn-taking in tutorial group discussion,under varying conditions of preparation and leadership

The effects of variations in preparation and leadership on turn-taking behaviour in problem solving groups were investigated in a field-experimental setting. A factorial, randomized, longitudinal design was employed, with controls imposed over many of the identifiable extraneous effects. Four groups (n = 15) discussed problematic case study material under conditions of varying preparation (prepared vs. unprepared) and leadership (emergent vs. assigned leadership), for eight consecutive weekly sessions of one hour's duration. The principal hypotheses were tested by 2 × 2 analysis of variance, and a cautious approach was adopted to the interpretation of statistically significant results, in that preparation or leadership effects were only taken as being of any theoretical or practical significance if they reached significance in at least three of the eight discussion sessions. Both preparation and leadership, as well as the interaction of these variables, influenced turn-taking behaviour. Interactive behaviour also showed a degree of stability across sessions, with the greatest stability occurring in the behaviour of members of prepared groups. The obtained leadership effects were explained in terms of interaction expectation theory, and behaviour modelling.     

EUROPEAN DISSERTATION SUMMARIES

Co‐operative learning means shared leadership where there is not just one leader in a group but where each member of the group is a leader. A leader demonstrates academic as well as collaborative skills in helping the group achieve a goal. Some academic skills are verbal interactions such as initiating ideas, responding by summarizing or suggesting procedures. Collaborative skills that build and maintain a good working relationship within the group include verbal interactions of praising group members and inviting others to get involved. The purpose of this study was to examine the verbal interactions and non‐verbal behaviours within unstructured learning groups. The verbal interactions were classified as positive if they aided the group to accomplish its goal and negative if they inhibited the group accomplishing its goal. Twenty‐eight students from seven intermediate‐grade level classrooms, grouped heterogeneously for sex and race and homogeneously for their ability in science, were selected for observation as they were doing a science activity. In general students’ verbal interactions were positive (i.e., there were more than four times more positive interactions than negative interactions). Further, in reviewing the positive interactions, students presented ideas more than four times as much as any of the other types of interactions. Females encouraged other members to participate in the activity significantly more than the males did. There was a trend in the number of times the equipment (clay) was handled; the males handled it more than the females as a function of race. Qualitative analyses revealed consistent patterns of interactions within groups of black and white males and females.     

Impact of feedback request forms and verbal feedback on higher education students’ feedback perception,self-efficacy,and motivation

ABSTRACT

In higher education, students often misunderstand teachers’ written feedback. This is worrisome, since written feedback is the main form of feedback in higher education. Organising feedback conversations, in which feedback request forms and verbal feedback are used, is a promising intervention to prevent misunderstanding of written feedback. In this study a 2 × 2 factorial experiment (N = 128) was conducted to examine the effects of a feedback request form (with vs. without) and feedback mode (written vs. verbal feedback). Results showed that verbal feedback had a significantly higher impact on students’ feedback perception than written feedback; it did not improve students’ self-efficacy, or motivation. Feedback request forms did not improve students’ perceptions, self-efficacy, or motivation. Based on these results, we can conclude that students have positive feedback perceptions when teachers communicate their feedback verbally and more research is needed to investigate the use of feedback request forms.     

Anatomy Teaching,a “Model” Answer? Evaluating “Geoff”, a Painted Anatomical Horse,as a Tool for Enhancing Topographical Anatomy Learning

Development of new methods for anatomy teaching is increasingly important as we look to modernize and supplement traditional teaching methods. In this study, a life-sized equine model, “Geoff,” was painted with surface and deep anatomical structures with the aim of improving students’ ability to convert theoretical knowledge into improved topographical anatomy knowledge on the live horse. Third and fourth year veterinary medicine students (n = 45) were randomly allocated into experimental (used “Geoff”) and control (used textbook) groups. The efficacy of the model was evaluated through a structured oral exam using a live horse. Questionnaires gathered information on student confidence and enjoyment of the task. There was no significant difference in the performance of experimental and control groups either immediately (44±20% vs. 40±21%; P = 0.504) or 9 weeks after the learning intervention (55±17% vs. 55±20%; P = 0.980). There were however specific questions on which the experimental group performed better than controls, and for which gender effects were apparent. The students using “Geoff” showed a transient gain in confidence following the session (Likert scale 2.7 to 3.6) however the initial increase was no longer present at the second test. There was a significant influence of gender on confidence with greater confidence gains in females in the Experimental group. The students found the model to be extremely useful and both groups found the sessions enjoyable. The model will be of benefit as a complementary learning tool for students.     

The effects of teaching notetaking strategies on elementary students’ science learning

The research examined effects of notetaking instruction on elementary-aged students’ abilities to recall science information and their notetaking behaviors. Classes of eight to nine years old third grade students were randomly assigned to three treatment conditions: strategic notetaking, partial strategic notetaking, and control, for four training sessions. The effects of the notetaking instruction were measured by their performances on a test about science information, a long-term free recall of the information, and the number of information units recalled with or without cues. Students’ prior science achievement was used to group students into two levels (high vs. low) and functioned as another independent variable in analysis. Results indicated significant treatment effect in favor of the strategy notetaking instruction groups on cued and non-cued recall of the information units. Students with higher prior achievement in science performed better on cued recall and long-term free recall of information. The results suggest that students as young as those in third grade classes can be instructed to develop notetaking ability that promotes their learning.     

Leadership challenges of strategic research centres in relation to degree of institutionalisation

The purpose of this study was to describe and analyse leadership challenges in the organisation of strategic research centres, focusing on the relationship between organisation and the level of institutionalisation. Four main themes of leadership challenges were identified: (1) the changing university context, including relationships with top management and faculties; (2) research strategy, considering decisions about diversity or a focused perspective; (3) management, dealing with prioritising administrative work; (4) affiliation, the sense of belonging to a strategic research centre, comprising issues of leadership, trust, attitude towards recruitment and succession. We concluded that leadership and effective administration are vital for research collaboration, not only within small research groups as been shown in other studies, but also within large groups in university-based research centres.     

Students' knowledge construction in small groups in the seventh grade biology laboratory: Verbal communication and physical engagement

Same- and mixed-gender small groups of middle school, seventh grade, students were observed gathering data on knowledge construction in terms of verbal communication and physical engagement in the biology laboratory. Video cameras with wireless receivers were used to record interactions between students in groups of four (36 target subjects in total). Both quantitative and qualitative methods were employed to examine how students exchange ideas, construct scientific concepts and perform laboratory work during laboratory sessions. Results indicated that gender differences exist in several verbal communication and physical engagement behaviour measures regardless of the same-gender or mixedgender groups. However, one or two students in either all-boy or all-girl groups were dominant in their small groups' verbal communication and physical engagement, which suggested that individual differences also existed in the same-gender groups. It also showed girls working in the mixed-gender groups appeared to participate on a par with boys in the majority of engagement and verbal communication behaviours. However, more detailed analysis revealed that verbal communication and physical engagement patterns varied widely within the three mixed-gender groups. This study strongly suggested that girls have the potential to perform equally well as boys in the science laboratory and both individual and gender differences contribute to the students' differential verbal communication and laboratory engagement.     

Effects of Facilitator-Directed and Self-Directed Group Experiences

A group experience consisting of five selected Encountertapes and five unstructured sessions (25 hours) was provided for six groups of eight people each (N=48) enrolled in a counselor education course in group procedures. Three of these groups had cofacilitators (facilitator-directed) while three had no designated facilitators (self-directed). Congruency was assessed by the Group Semantic Differential, a measure of self-congruency. Disclosure was assessed by the Johari Window, a measure of self-disclosure. No significant differences between treatments were found. Increased levels of self-congruency and self-disclosure were demonstrated by both treatments. Implications for counselor training and areas for additional research were suggested.     

Committees of division 15 1974–1975

A meta-analysis was undertaken to reexamine near- and far-transfer effects following working-memory training and to consider potential moderators more systematically. Forty-seven studies with 65 group comparisons were included in the meta-analysis. Results showed near-transfer effects to short-term and working-memory skills that were sustained at follow-up with effect sizes ranging from g = 0.37 to g = 0.72 for immediate transfer and g = 0.22 to g = 0.78 for long-term transfer. Far-transfer effects to other cognitive skills were small, limited to nonverbal (g = 0.14) and verbal (g = 0.16) ability and not sustained at follow-up. Several moderators (e.g., duration of training sessions, supervision during training) had an influence on transfer effects, including far-transfer effects. We present principles for how best to improve working memory through training in the narrow-task paradigm and conjecture how best to improve basic cognitive functions in complex activity contexts.     

Performance equivalency between computer‐based and traditional pen‐and‐paper assessment: A case study in clinical anatomy

The time, material, and staff‐consuming nature of anatomy's traditional pen‐and‐paper assessment system, the increase in the number of students enrolling in medical schools and the ever‐escalating workload of academic staff have made the use of computer‐based assessment (CBA) an attractive proposition. To understand the impact of such shift in the assessment method, an experimental study evaluating its effect on students’ performance was designed. Additionally, students’ opinions toward CBA were gathered. Second‐year medical students attending a Clinical Anatomy course were randomized by clusters in two groups. The pen‐and‐paper group attended two sessions, each consisting of a traditional sectional anatomy steeplechase followed by a theoretical examination, while the computer group was involved in two similar sessions conducted in a computerized environment. At the end of each of the computer sessions, students in this group filled an anonymous questionnaire. In the first session, pen‐and‐paper group students scored significantly better than computer‐group students in both the steeplechase (mean ± standard deviation: 66.00 ± 14.15% vs. 43.50 ± 19.10%; P < 0.001) and the theoretical examination (52.50 ± 12.70% vs. 39.00 ± 21.10%; P < 0.001). In the second session, no statistically significant differences were found for both the steeplechase (59.50 ± 17.30% vs. 54.50 ± 17.00%; P = 0.085) and the theoretical examination (57.50 ± 13.70% vs. 54.00 ± 14.30%; P = 0.161). Besides, an intersession improvement in students’ perceptions toward CBA was registered. These results suggest that, after a familiarization period, CBA might be a performance equivalent and student accepted alternative to clinical anatomy pen‐and‐paper theoretical and practical examinations. Anat Sci Educ 11: 124–136. © 2017 American Association of Anatomists.     

Loosely‐guided,self‐directed learning versus strictly‐guided,station‐based learning in gross anatomy laboratory sessions

Anatomy students studying dissected anatomical specimens were subjected to either a loosely‐guided, self‐directed learning environment or a strictly‐guided, preformatted gross anatomy laboratory session. The current study's guiding questions were: (1) do strictly‐guided gross anatomy laboratory sessions lead to higher learning gains than loosely‐guided experiences? and (2) are there differences in the recall of anatomical knowledge between students who undergo the two types of laboratory sessions after weeks and months? The design was a randomized controlled trial. The participants were 360 second‐year medical students attending a gross anatomy laboratory course on the anatomy of the hand. Half of the students, the experimental group, were subjected without prior warning to station‐based laboratory sessions; the other half, the control group, to loosely‐guided laboratory sessions, which was the course's prevailing educational method at the time. The recall of anatomical knowledge was measured by written reproduction of 12 anatomical names at four points in time: immediately after the laboratory experience, then one week, five weeks, and eight months later. The strictly‐guided group scored higher than the loosely‐guided group at all time‐points. Repeated ANOVA showed no interaction between the results of the two types of laboratory sessions (P = 0.121) and a significant between‐subject effect (P ≤ 0.001). Therefore, levels of anatomical knowledge retrieved were significantly higher for the strictly‐guided group than for the loosely‐guided group at all times. It was concluded that gross anatomy laboratory sessions with strict instructions resulted in the recall of a larger amount of anatomical knowledge, even after eight months. Anat Sci Educ. © 2012 American Association of Anatomists.     

Instructors Learn to Help Students Apply Principles

Abstract

The Lorge-Thorndike Intelligence Tests, verbal and nonverbal, were administered to 115 eighth-grade boys and 150 eighth-grade girls who had taken the tests in grade three or four. Estimated true changes in IQ from grades three and four to grade eight were calculated. It was found that 1) estimated true (E.T.) nonverbal changes were more than three times as great as (E.T.) verbal changes for both boys and girls, 2) both verbal and nonverbal IQ scores tended to rise, 3) grades three, four, and eight verbal IQ scores correlated more highly with each other than did grades three, four, and eight nonverbal IQ scores, and 4) there was no significant product moment correlation between (E.T.) verbal and (E.T.) nonverbal IQ change scores.     

Behavioural Peer Tutoring: training 16‐year‐old tutors to employ the ‘pause,prompt and praise’ method with 12‐year‐old remedial readers

Abstract Eight 16‐year‐old, low achieving pupils were trained to tutor reading using the ‘Pause, Prompt and Praise’ method. The effectiveness of training such tutors was investigated through a tutorial programme in which these eight older pupils tutored eight 12‐year‐old remedial children who were retarded in reading. The programme consisted of 24 tutorial sessions conducted over eight weeks. Two matched control groups of remedial readers were also included in the experiment. One consisted of eight pupils tutored by a group of eight untrained tutors who tutored during the same sessions using the same materials. The second control group consisted of a third group of remedial readers who read silently, without a tutor. The experimental group of tutees, who had a mean pre‐test reading age of 8 years 4 months, made a mean gain of 6 months in reading accuracy by the end of the programme. The tutees of control group I who had received tutoring from untrained tutors made a mean gain of 2.4 months. The pupils of control group II who read silently without a tutor made a mean gain of 1.8 months. Analysis of covariance showed the gains of the experimental group to be statistically significantly different from the gains of the two control groups.     

Teacher Perception and Secondary School Classroom Discussion

Abstract

Although the significance of student-teacher perception of student role in elementary school classroom verbal interaction has been shown, a void has tended to exist in such research at the secondary level. Therefore, using the Flanders Interaction Analysis system to quantify and record classroom verbal interaction and the Feshbach Situation test to sample student-teacher perception of student role, an investigation was conducted in 11th and 12th grade classrooms. An analysis of variance revealed significant differences in the mean number of indirect student-teacher verbalizations preceding and following the talk of selected role groups. Differences were also found among the eight role groups in the mean number of student responses to student-teacher questions and in the mean number of episodes of talk initiated by the variously perceived role groups.     

Disabled readers' processing of prose: Do any processes change because of intervention?

A multiple baseline design was implemented to address the questions, “Do qualitative changes in reported strategies occur during treatment and does strategy instruction concurrently influence a conceptually related task?” The dependent measure for the prose recall task was the number of idea units recalled, while the number of facts comprehended during silent reading sessions assessed transfer effects. “Thinking aloud protocols” were used to identify cognitive processes during prose recall. The results suggested that a qualitative shift in verbal strategy reports occurred across training sessions. The introduction of cognitive training (visual and verbal mapping of idea units) increased the recall of prose compared to the baseline conditions, although concurrent effects on reading comprehension tasks were minimal. It was assumed that unstable cognitive processes during prose recall, as well as nonequivalent mental processes between the two tasks, accounted for the poor transfer of training effects.     

Scaffolding Narrative Skills: A Meta-Analysis of Instruction in Early Childhood Settings

Research Findings: Children’s ability to tell stories and to understand the stories of others typically emerges in early childhood, supported by primary caregivers and educators. This article reviews instruction designed to foster children’s narrative skills in preschool and kindergarten settings and examines the effects using meta-analysis. The review covers more than 3 decades (1980–2013) of experimental research (k = 15 studies, 28 effects). The findings showed that verbal scaffolding, alone or in combination with other strategies, was the predominant teaching approach. The meta-analysis revealed average effects (weighted for sample size) for narrative expression (.50) and a slightly larger effect for comprehension (.58). These effects were unrelated to the duration of instruction. However, when verbal strategies were combined with nonverbal ones, such as engaging children in enacting stories or in telling stories with props, the effects for expression increased (i.e., children’s storytelling improved more from pretest to posttest). Practice or Policy: The review indicates promising strategies for supporting narrative skills. Furthermore, the studies identified can serve as a resource for practitioners by suggesting diverse kinds of verbal scaffolds, complementary nonverbal approaches, and storybooks that have been used effectively to foster narrative competencies among young children.     

How performance assessment for leaders (PAL) influences preparation program quality and effectiveness

The Performance Assessment for Leaders (PAL) is a four-task evaluation system designed to improve the quality of initial school leaders in Massachusetts by evaluating candidate readiness using a rigorous, standard assessment system. By design, it is signalling leadership quality expectations to preparation programmes. Through two years of survey research with leadership preparation faculty (n?=?12) and candidates (n?=?53) who completed PAL, we explored faculty understanding the PAL assessment, assessment alignment task to programme content, candidate preparedness, and impact on programmes. Results show that faculty used PAL to improve their preparation programmes and provide high-quality learning experiences for candidates.     

The effect of poverty on the verbal scores of gifted students

A nonexperimental design was used to determine whether the verbal scores of low-income gifted fifth graders (n = 38) differed from those of their higher income peers (n = 83). The Otis–Lennon School Ability Test, Eighth Edition and the Stanford Achievement Test-Tenth Edition were used to collect student data. Results of a MANOVA showed a statistically significant difference between the verbal scores of the two groups, with low-income students scoring significantly lower. A large effect size for the multivariate main effect of income level on verbal intelligence and verbal achievement scores was found (η² = .19). The existence of verbal–nonverbal score discrepancy in low-income students questions the practice of using only nonverbal or nonverbal parts of an IQ test to identify and place students in gifted programmes. These results also underscore the need to nurture underdeveloped verbal abilities when they occur in low-income students.     

Effects of Alternating Dissection with Peer Teaching and Faculty Prosected Cadaver Demonstrations in a Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy Gross Anatomy Course

The most effective method to teach gross anatomy is largely unknown. This study examined two teaching methods utilized in a physical therapy and occupational therapy gross anatomy course, (1) alternating dissection with peer teaching every other laboratory session and (2) faculty demonstrations during laboratory sessions. Student (n = 57) subgroup (A or B) academic performance was determined using written, laboratory practical, and palpation practical examinations. Subgroup A performed significantly better on laboratory practical examination questions pertaining to dissected, in comparison to peer-taught structures (67.1% vs. 60.2%, P = 0.008). Subgroup B performed significantly better on laboratory practical examination questions pertaining to peer-taught, in comparison to dissected structures (64.1% vs. 57.9%, P = 0.001). When Subgroup A was compared to Subgroup B, there were no statistically significant differences on laboratory practical examination question types, whether the subgroup learned the structure through dissection or peer teaching. Based on within and between subgroup comparisons, faculty demonstrations had no effect on written, laboratory practical, or palpation practical examination scores. Although limited, data suggest that the student roles when alternating dissection with peer teaching every other laboratory session appear to be equally effective for learning gross anatomy. The benefits of this method include decreased student/faculty ratio in laboratory sessions and increased time for independent study. Faculty demonstrations during laboratory sessions do not seem to improve student academic performance.     

Activation of Background Knowledge for Inference Making: Effects on Reading Comprehension

Failure to activate relevant, existing background knowledge may be a cause of poor reading comprehension. This failure may cause particular problems with inferences that depend heavily on prior knowledge. Conversely, teaching how to use background knowledge in the context of gap-filling inferences could improve reading comprehension in general. This idea was supported in an experimental study comprising 16 sixth-grade classes (N?=?236) randomly assigned to experimental or control conditions. In the experimental condition, students' contribution to “gap-filling” inferences with expository texts were made explicit by means of graphic models and inference-demanding questions. After eight 30-min sessions, a large training effect was found on students' inference making skills with a substantial and sustained transfer effect to a standard measure of reading comprehension. The effects were not mediated by students' motivation, decoding ability, vocabulary, or nonverbal IQ.