The Social Functioning of Students With Learning Disabilities: Implications for Inclusion

This article presents a selected review of research on the social functioning of students with learning disabilities (LD) and draws implications for the inclusion of students with LD in regular education classrooms. Four areas of social functioning are addressed: social skills, self-concept, friendships, and social networks. Research in these areas indicates that some, though not all, students with LD demonstrate problems in the social domain that may have consequences for their inclusion in regular classrooms. In light of the trend toward inclusion of students with LD, we argue that the social dimensions of placement decisions for these students should be considered.     

Effects of minimum competency testing for minority students: A review of expectations and outcomes

As a new approach to educational accountability, minimum competency testing (MCT) has created considerable controversy. While its supporters believe that the new policy will be of particular value to students from minority and low-income backgrounds, critics are concerned about the possible adverse consequences for these groups. A review of research evidence and results of statewide MCT programs indicate that there is a substantial discrepancy between the initial test performances of black students and their white classmates and that, in some cases, post-test remediation seems relatively ineffective for blacks. Moreover, blacks may be receiving a disproportionate share of all diploma sanctions imposed on repeated MCT failers. It is proposed that some problems currently associated with competency testing can be avoided by emphasizing the remedial rather than the punitive function of these programs.     

Pragmatic language skills of students with language and/or learning disabilities: a quantitative synthesis

A meta-analytic review of 33 studies investigating the pragmatic language skills of 3- to 12-year-old students with language disorders, language-learning disabilities, or learning disabilities as compared with the pragmatic language skills of nondisabled peers was conducted. The students with language and/or learning disabilities demonstrated consistent and pervasive pragmatic deficits in conversation compared to non-disordered peers (mean effect size = -0.52; SE = 0.06) across settings, conversational partners, age groups, and types of pragmatic skills measured. The pragmatic differences between the students with language or learning disabilities and control groups could not be accounted for by differences in study methodology or design. Furthermore, these pragmatic deficits appeared to be more attributable to underlying language deficits than to insufficient social knowledge. These findings are consistent with the perspective that students with learning disabilities can also be described as language disordered, and that children with language disorders experience a continuum of language failure that may be manifested in different ways as they progress through school.     

Functioning and participation of young adults with ASD in higher education according to the ICF framework

Because of a better understanding of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in all stages of life and the improvement of support of students with ASD in primary and secondary education, an increasing number of students with ASD are accessing higher education. Previous research suggests that these students have fewer opportunities in higher education due to a number of functioning and participation problems. However, literature regarding students with ASD in higher education is rather scarce. This article presents an overview of recent studies in a literature review describing the functioning and participation problems of young adults with ASD. This literature review is complemented by focus groups with student mentors and interviews with students with ASD to connect the insights from the literature review to the context of higher education and to check whether all functioning and participation problems are covered by the existing literature. The review showed that little is known about the functioning and participation problems of students with ASD in higher education. However, knowledge about the full spectrum of problems can be the first step towards a better match between the individual problems and the offered reasonable accommodations to increase the participation chances and success rate of these students in higher education.     

Notetaking and review: The research and its implications

Notetaking and review are positively related to academic achievement, but many students record too few notes to benefit fully from these activities. This paper presents ten factors that may constrain notetaking and review, and provides corresponding implications for improving these study behaviors and for conducting further research. Some instructional implications are that students should record more extensive and conceptual notes and that instructors can help students by organizing their presentations, reducing lecture rate, pausing for notetaking, emphasizing key ideas and encouraging alternate frameworks for notetaking and review. Instructors can also facilitate learning by providing learners with notes for review and with knowledge about testing. In addition, instructors should consider the cognitive processing differences among students because certain learners are likely to find notetaking dysfunctional relative to other means of acquisition. The implications for research focus on determining the optimal notetaking and review activities.     

国内关于英语写作教学中时间因素研究的概述

通过对最近十年来国内关于英语写作教学中有关时间因素研究状况的文本研究发现,国内关于英语写作教学中有关时间因素的研究多为实验研究,根据研究对象的不同,可整理为以高中生为对象的研究和以大学生为对象的研究。     

‘Observation has set in’: comparing students and peers as reviewers of teaching

Peer review is a powerful method to enhance teaching in higher education. Peers, however, may not be the most relevant people in evaluating teaching success; as the most important stakeholders in learning, students’ evaluations need to be heard. Whilst some efforts to capture ‘the student voice’ are simplistic and may foster consumerist approaches, adopting ‘radical collegiality’ towards students may provide the benefits of peer review whilst avoiding some of its disadvantages. Here we describe the Students as Colleagues project, which trained student volunteers as evaluators of teaching. To assess the ability of students to provide useful reviews, we compared their evaluative feedback with that from academic peers, using a paired design and qualitative and quantitative data. Students gave significantly more positive comments, and just as many negative and directive comments, as academic peers. Student colleagues emphasised the positive personal (rather than professional) capacities of their reviewees, encouraged expressed vulnerability and drew on their broad experiences as students rather than from professional perspectives. Participation changed how students saw their abilities and helped ‘humanise’ both the reviewees and the university as a whole. Our results and standpoint theory suggest that students’ evaluative feedback is the most valuable perspective to inform teaching enhancement.     

Teacher Wellbeing: The Importance of Teacher�CStudent Relationships

Many studies have examined the importance of teacher?Cstudent relationships for the development of children. Much less is known, however, about how these relationships impact the professional and personal lives of teachers. This review considers the importance of teacher?Cstudent relationships for the wellbeing of teachers starting from the Transactional Model of Stress and Coping of Lazarus (1991). Based on theories on interpersonal relationships, it is postulated that teachers have a basic need for relatedness with the students in their class. It is discussed that teachers internalize experiences with students in representational models of relationships that guide emotional responses in daily interactions with students and change teacher wellbeing in the long run. In addition, the notion of mental representations of relationships at different levels of generalization could offer a window to understand how individual teacher?Cstudent relationships may affect the professional and personal self-esteem of teachers. Lastly, it is argued that the influence of student misbehavior on teacher stress may be more fully understood from a relationship perspective. The review shows that few studies have directly tested these propositions and offers suggestions for future research.     

Study experiences and the post-study intentions of female international undergraduate students

The number of female international students is increasing exponentially, and whilst international study may engender many benefits and challenges, little is known about their intentions once they complete their studies. This article reviews the literature on female international students with specific focus on exploring post-study intentions. A scoping review of four electronic databases was completed. After applying criteria to determine suitability, 30 publications were included in the final review. Analysis revealed three key foci: (1) the rationale for studying internationally; (2) the study experience; and (3) post-study intentions. The literature illustrates that an international study experience has the potential to be a powerful transformative opportunity if positive experiences outweigh the negatives. The findings also indicate that the post-study intentions of female international students are under-researched. The article contends that attention should be given to supporting the needs of this group, with a view to maximizing post-study opportunities.     

Feedback,feedforward: evaluating the effectiveness of an oral peer review exercise amongst postgraduate students

Assessment for learning approaches, such as peer review exercises may improve student performance in summative assessments and increase their satisfaction with assessment practices. We conducted a mixed methods study to evaluate the effectiveness of an oral peer review exercise among post-graduate students. We examined: (1) final assessment grades among students who did and did not take part in the peer review exercise; (2) student perceptions of the impact of the peer review exercise; and (3) student understanding of, and satisfaction with, this new assessment practice. We found that students who took part in the exercise had a significantly higher mean grade in a subsequent summative oral presentation assessment than students who did not take part in the exercise. Students gained a better understanding of assessment and marking criteria and expressed increased confidence and decreased anxiety about completing the subsequent summative assessment. Assessment for learning improves academic attainment and the learning experience in postgraduate students.     

Gender differences in the Australian undergraduate STEM student experience: a systematic review

ABSTRACT

In Australia, the number of female graduates in some science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines is as low as 15%. Previous reviews exploring the issues affecting female undergraduate STEM students are primarily based in North America and there is yet to be an Australian focused review. This review identifies the factors contributing to the gendered experience of Australian undergraduate STEM students. A systematic review was conducted in November – December 2018 using ERIC, PsycInfo, ProQuest and Scopus databases. From this review, 36 papers that focus on gender differences and university STEM students in Australia were identified. The Australian research suggests the most prominent issue for female STEM students is their lower self-efficacy. Gendered preferences for learning, gendered motivations to pursue STEM degrees, the masculine culture of these fields and gender differences in science identity were also themes identified through the review. This review indicates some gaps in the Australian literature, namely that identity, and other emotional factors, are understudied in the Australian context and an avenue for future research. The findings suggest that science educators should be aware of the gendered experiences of their students to ensure female persistence in university STEM degrees.     

The use of educational comics in learning anatomy among multiple student groups

Understanding basic human anatomy can be beneficial for all students, regardless of when, or if, they will later undertake a formal course in the subject. For students who are preparing to undertake a formal anatomy course, educational comics on basic anatomy can serve as a concise and approachable review of the material. For other students, these comics can serve as a helpful and fun introduction to the human body. The objective of the comics in this study was to promote an understanding of fundamental human anatomy through self‐learning among students. Based on the authors' previous teaching experience, these anatomy comics were produced in a simple, direct style. The comics were titled after the two main characters, “Anna” (a girl) and “Tommy” (a boy). These comics were then presented to groups of elementary school students, high school students, premedical students, and medical students to assess the comics' ability to enhance student interest and comprehension of basic anatomy. Quiz scores among high school students and premedical students were significantly higher among participants who read the educational comics, indicating a deeper comprehension of the subject. Among medical students, close reading of the comics was associated with improved course grades. These educational anatomy comics may be helpful tools to enrich a broad spectrum of different students in learning basic human anatomy. Anat Sci Educ 10: 79–86. © 2016 American Association of Anatomists.     

The Emergence Model: An Alternative Pedagogy for Facilitating Self‐Reflection and Theoretical Fit in Counseling Students

The author presents a critical review of counselor education literature that has focused on student acquisition of theoretical orientations in order to identify the potential of these practices to facilitate critical self‐reflection and theoretical fit among students. Two reflective, awareness‐based pedagogical models—radical constructivism (E. von Glasersfeld, 1984) and transformative learning (J. Mezirow, 1997)—are also examined. The author concludes by briefly outlining an alternative pedagogical framework called the “Emergence Model,” which may enhance the ability of counselor educators to facilitate self‐reflection and theoretical fit among counseling students.     

A systematic review of teacher guidance during collaborative learning in primary and secondary education

For this review, we synthesized quantitative and qualitative research on collaborative learning to examine the relationship between teacher guidance strategies and the processes and outcomes of collaboration among students (66 studies). The results show that several aspects of teacher guidance are positively related to student collaboration, for example when teachers focus their attention on students’ problem solving strategies. During student collaboration, opportunities arise for students to engage in collaborative activities that support their learning process. The way teachers take more or less control of these moments determines whether these opportunities can be turned into real moments of learning for the students. This review highlights the important yet challenging role of the teacher during collaborative learning.     

Beginners and programming: insights from second language learning and teaching

This paper will consider issues that are important in the teaching and learning of programming to students in their first year of an undergraduate course in a computer science discipline. We will suggest that the current educational climate offers the opportunity to move the focus onto the learner and their experience, and that second language learning and teaching in the field of English as a Second, or Foreign, Language may be a fruitful area on which to draw. We will review a particular aspect of second language pedagogy-learner strategies-and discuss their applicability to students who are starting to learn how to program. We will consider ways in which these strategies might be useful to support learning programming at this level.     

Peer ethnicity and achievement: a meta-analysis into the compositional effect

This study reports a meta-analysis on the effects of ethnic minority share in school on achievement test scores. Best evidence from the studies that have appeared thus far on this topic shows that these compositional effects appear small in general, but may be larger when the ethnic minority group is African Americans in the USA than when the minority group consists of immigrants. A high share of students from an ethnic minority group seems to affect the achievement of students belonging to the same ethnic group more than the achievement of students belonging to the ethnic majority or to other ethnic minority groups. Effects of the share of immigrants on test scores of ethnic majority students even seem to be close to zero. Several robustness checks confirm our results. The review concludes with a discussion of implications for research and policy practice.     

Analysis of measures for attention to diversity in Compulsory Secondary Education: the case of the Region of Murcia,Spain

In this paper, we present an analysis of the implementation of measures of attention to diversity for students with special educational support needs studying Compulsory Secondary Education (12–16 years) in the Region of Murcia, Spain. Our aim is to learn about the organisational and curricular structures implemented in five secondary education schools with a total of 1967 students. These structures are used to deal with student diversity through common and specific measures of attention to diversity and are established by law. We intend to verify and assess whether these are properly and effectively implemented, providing a quality educational response in conformity with the discourse on inclusion and social cohesion. A review of existing legislation suggests that it may be advisable to apply common measures before specific ones in the event that a student has educational support needs and, if possible, in the usual context, that is, within the regular classroom.     

Thinking Strategies: Its Effectiveness in the Teaching of Multiplication Facts to Low Achievers of Mathematics

Many students have found the learning of multiplication a difficult task. Without mastering multiplication facts, a student will always resort to fundamental strategies which may be undesirable in problem-solving. Many teachers and educators agree that learning basic facts in the four operations are the fundamental steps that precede learning harder facts. Referring to the aspect of computational errors, Knifong and Holton (1975) indicated that computational errors accounted for 49% of the total errors made by 35 students who sat for the Metropolitan. Achievement Test. Suydam (1975) and NCTM (1977) stressed the importance of basic facts even though calculators and lately computers have been introduced into the school curriculum. The purpose of this study was to investigate the methodology of teaching basic facts which would alleviate the problems of teaching these facts to low achievers of Mathematics. A review of studies on thinking strategies shows that very few were carried out in learning the thinking strategies, particularly in multiplication using low achievers as the target. The success of using thinking strategies to teach multiplication number facts to most students does not imply its success in teaching all students. One of the intentions of this study is to investigate what strategies are useful in helping the low achievers in learning mathematics.