The elementary learning disability process group and the school psychologist

This paper proposes a model of a process group conducted with elemetary learning disabled students. The school psychologist is proposed as leader of the group. Five goals are identified and the process of the group is discussed. Specific procedures are mentioned to enable the school psychologist to conduct a process group. The process group can be an effective addition to the various intervention strategies used with learning disabled children.     

The learning benefits of using eye trackers to enhance the geospatial abilities of elementary school students

In this study, we examined the spatial abilities of students using eye‐movement tracking devices to identify and analyze their characteristics. For this research, 12 students aged 11–12 years participated as novices and 4 mathematics students participated as experts. A comparison of the visual‐spatial abilities of each group showed key factors of superior spatial ability, and a spatial ability instructional strategy was developed. After training, the same spatial ability test was conducted again, and eye‐tracking records were used to compare the participants' line‐of‐sight and answer rate results with those of the previous test. Specific references and recommendations are provided for spatial ability training education and assessment.     

The school psychologist as a tutorial systems supervisor

The school psychologist often is viewed as a diagnostician instead of a remediator. The purpose of this paper is to stress the remedial role that school psychologists can assume without detracting from the importance of diagnosis. Three main points are presented. (a) Paraprofessional tutors can be effective providers of individualized help to problem learners if they are given proper training, structured approaches, and careful supervision. (b) The application of effective paraprofessional models should be extended to the increasing number of mainstreamed handicapped students and adequately evaluated. (c) The school psychologist is in a position to effect improvements in existing remedial education through assuming the role of supervisor as tutorial systems are implemented and evaluated.     

The classroom learning environment as perceived by students in Arab elementary schools

In this study, students’ perceptions of the classroom learning environment in Arab elementary schools were investigated. The sample included 261 students from Grades 5 and 6. The questionnaire was developed at an Arab college of teacher education by 16 fourth-year student teachers who were completing their studies toward a BEd degree. Articles on classroom learning environment were distributed to the students, who then wrote items to assess learning environment. The items were evaluated for content validity in relation to the Arab school culture, language, teachers’ teaching, students’ learning styles, teacher–student relations, order and organisation, discipline and behaviours. The Classroom Learning Environment of Elementary Students (CLEES) questionnaire consists of 32 items in four scales: Teacher’s Image, Group Work, Students’ Participation, and Order and Organisation. The CLEES was used in a pilot study in two Grade 5 and 6 classes in order to validate it. The student teachers administered the questionnaire to students in elementary schools. Data were analysed using SPSS (e.g. factor analysis and one-way ANOVA) to validate the CLEES. No significant differences were found between boys and girls in classroom learning environment. However, significant differences in CLEES perceptions were found between students from different grades (Grade 5 vs. Grade 6), age groups and schools. The results are explained in the discussion section in relation to the characteristics of their schools.     

Promoting Gypsy children school engagement: A story-tool project to enhance self-regulated learning

The high rate of school failure among Gypsy children is on the agenda of European policies. The current study assessed the efficacy of an extra-class program, eighteen weeks long, to promote the behavioral and cognitive engagement (self-regulated learning, SRL) of Gypsy children from fourth grade. Gypsy communities were contacted, and the 35 Gypsy children in the 4th grade (10 to 12 years old) participating in the study were randomly distributed in the experimental and control groups. The program used a story-tool to organize the weekly sessions due to the cultural value of stories and the oral transmission of values in Gypsy communities. Children's behavioral engagement and self-regulatory behaviors in the classroom were assessed with an observation protocol. The 35 Gypsy children were observed throughout the duration of the program in 12 five-minute intervals for a total of 60 min. The findings show the efficacy of the program for promoting behavioral engagement and enhancing SRL strategies.     

Instructional design using an in-house built teaching assistant robot to enhance elementary school English-as-a-foreign-language learning

This paper presents a design for a cutting-edge English program in which elementary school learners of English as a foreign language in Taiwan had lively interactions with a teaching assistant robot. Three dimensions involved in the design included (1) a pleasant and interactive classroom environment as the learning context, (2) a teaching assistant robot designed and built by the researchers as instructional technology (instructional tool/medium), and (3) the need for improved motivation and learning outcomes and positive learning experiences of the students as the core research problem. This Human–Robot Interaction (HRI) led to better pedagogical effects on learning and teaching by (1) employing a vivid, enjoyable teaching approach; (2) adopting practical, interesting learning materials; and (3) creating a natural, enjoyable learning context. Both quantitative and qualitative findings of this study indicate that the students' English learning experiences were enhanced, as were their motivation and learning outcomes as a result of this HRI. This paper, instead of merely suggesting design criteria for robots, provides a set of instructional design guidelines that other researchers can follow to create an innovative and enjoyable English classroom that employs an interactive robot as an assistant for enhancing English acquisition while simultaneously reducing the pressure and teaching load of the English instructors.     

Principals in schools with a positive school culture

This study focuses on the profile of principals who seem to be able to shape the school culture to best encourage teaching and learning. Data from a representative sample of primary schools (N = 46) were collected through questionnaires for principals and for teachers (N = 700) and semi‐structured interviews with the principals. Functioning, well‐being and personal characteristics of the principal, structural and cultural characteristics of school, and organisational context are examined. Compared to their opposites, principals in schools with cultures stimulating professional development, combine (1) type A, achievement‐oriented behaviour, (2) transformational leadership, (3) a preference for tasks related to education matters and people management and (4) effective time management allowing them to devote most of their time to their preferred role and task component.     

Problem-based learning as a facilitator of conceptual change

We investigated whether problem-based learning (PBL) can foster conceptual change. Students were randomly assigned to a PBL, lecture-based, or self-study group, all receiving instruction about the topic of Newtonian laws. Conceptual change was measured from pre- to immediate post-test (directly after instruction) and from immediate post-test to delayed post-test after one week. Results showed that the PBL-group outperformed both the lecture and the self-study group on the immediate post-test. This result supported the hypothesis that PBL can increase the likelihood of conceptual change. The PBL group also outperformed both other groups at the delayed post-test after one week; the decline in conceptual change from immediate to delayed post-test was similar for all three groups. Findings are discussed in terms of cognitive engagement.     

The school as a workplace: Extending democracy to schools

The author has a thorough knowledge of the educational scene in the USA. His critical analyses of the “modern” educational theories developed by J. Holt, H. Kohl, Ch. Silbermann, I. Illich and others, and of their — as yet unresearched — application to institutionalized learning and socialisation processes provide very informative insights into the on-going discussion on reform, even outside his own country. Stopsky points to four factors which have had a pronounced influence on the objectives, direction and progress of curriculum reform:

1. The student movement and the stimuli it generated in the civil rights movement and the relations with the “Third World”.
2. The subculture of youth, accompanying this protest movement and partly caused by its lack of success, with its typical phenomena of drug consumption and social disintegration.
3. The disappointment at the failure of the propagated educational reform to establish, e.g., equality of chances and improve the quality of life, and the effects of raising the standards of performance demanded of under-privileged pupils by means of drastic restrictions on admission and entrance examinations implying social selection for higher educational courses.
4. The development of “anti-curricula” in the form and content of “open” or neohumanist education. The favourable reports on experiments with these “pupil-centred” curricula in British schools created a fascinating response from teachers and pupils in the USA, but most colleges rejected the innovation as being anti-intellectual and decided in favour of a “competency based” or “performance based” curriculum.

In this future-oriented paper F. Stopsky attempts to free school from the odium of suffering individual oppression and the resulting fear of the pupils, and to turn it instead into a place where children and adults will work without repression.     

The gifted as problem solvers in elementary schools

Gifted students should have opportunities to apply their mathematical skills to problem solving solutions.     

The school psychologist as a behavior therapist: Past and future

Using a published review of 1965 as a comparison point, this article presents an opinion on the evolution of the school psychologist as a behavior therapist (encompassing the period of 1965–1975). Over the past ten years, it was noted that the role of being an individual therapist has been replaced by the role of being a consultant to the schools and the community, that assessment of change due to behavioral interventions (while some progress has been made) is still a major problem, and that the use of behavioral methods in the educational context is screened on an individual technique basis. In terms of the future, it is posited that there will be increasing support for the use of behavior modification activities, and specific areas of preparation for the schools and colleges are suggested. Special emphasis is placed on the relationship between professionalism and public policy, particularly as relevant to the ethics inherent in the use of behavior modification.     

Home and school contributions to science achievement in elementary schools in israel

This article reexamines the relative status of “school variables” versus “home variables” in explaining the variance in science achievement, based on data from Israeli elementary schools in 1984. The contribution of school variables was found to be “subject specific”—larger in subjects taught in school and less dependent on general ability, and “system specific”—larger in low socioeconomic schools and small in high socioeconomic schools.     

An investigation of blended learning to support reading instruction in elementary schools

Educational technology research and development - Research is needed to address the possible benefits of blended learning as a form of reading instruction in elementary schools. Blended learning...     

如何培养小学生数学学习的情感

情感是人的需要是否得到满足产生的一种内心体验，是人对接触到的客观事务的态度的体验。情感伴随着学生学习的全过程，直接影响学生的学习动机、兴趣和效果。教师要用真挚的感情创设一种宽松和谐的学习氛围；活用教材，启迪学生的情感；巧用教材，调动学生的情感；还要采用小组合作、同伴互助的教学形式，激发学生的情感。     

小学数学实践活动的特点

实践活动课程以综合、开放、灵活多变的教学内容与形式,改变了传统教学中重学科知识而轻综合应用、重抽象思维而轻实践技能等不良倾向,有利于学生主体性的发挥。《数学课程标准》(实验稿)明确地将“实践与综合应用”作为与“数与代数”、“空间与图形”、“统计与概率”相并列的学习领域,其目的是增强学生应用数学的意识,提高学生的实践能力,为今后更有效地进行高水平的实践活动打好基础。本文着重谈谈小学数学实践活动的特点。数学实践活动是学生在教师引导下,在已有知识体验的基础上,从所熟悉的现实生活中发现、选择和确定问题,主动应用知…     

小学开展研究性学习的尝试与探索

本从理论和实践两方面论证了小学生进行研究性学习的可行性，指出了指导小学生开展研究性学习的自主性、个性化、生活化、活动化、激励性等原则，并从实践中总结出在小学开展研究性学习的的基本途径及注意事项。     

Developing academic talent as a practicing school psychologist: From potential to expertise

In this article, we explore how school psychologists who adopt a talent development perspective can play a larger role in cultivating the talent of academically gifted students. Utilizing the talent development megamodel and Ackerman's model of expertise, we outline how school psychologists can consult with school administrators, teachers, and parents to meet the general and domain-specific academic needs of academically gifted students at home and in school. In addition, we discuss how school psychologists can leverage systems of assessment (e.g., universal screening, continued assessment) to identify academically gifted students across academic talent trajectories as well as provide students with multiple opportunities to exhibit their academic talents. We conclude by highlighting some diversity and multi-cultural considerations that school psychologists should keep in mind while developing academic talent, as well as a policy implication of school psychologists adopting a talent development approach to their work.