Predictive text entry with PAL and children with learning difficulties

Nine case studies were conducted to evaluate the usefulness of a predictive text entry program within a classroom environment. The program, PAL, was found to be very successful in eight of the cases. For children with poor motor control, the key-saving aspects speeded up text creation. Of even greater significance was the extent to which children with severe spelling problems were helped. They were able to produce much higher quality written work with a substantial reduction in the number of spelling errors. This provided great motivation for the children, and teaching staff commented on their improved confidence and attention span, as well as stimulation of language and vocabulary development. One of the children was on the verge of being classified as a non-reader and, although progress was slow, a significant improvement in the child's work was observed.     

Origins of individual differences in theory of mind: from nature to nurture?

In this study of the origins of individual differences in theory of mind (ToM), the Environmental Risk (E-Risk) Longitudinal Twin Study sample of 1,116 sixty-month-old twin pairs completed a comprehensive battery of ToM tasks. Individual differences in ToM were striking and strongly associated with verbal ability. Behavioral genetic models of the data showed that environmental factors explained the majority of the variance in ToM performance in this sample. Shared environmental influences on verbal ability had a common impact on ToM and explained more than half the phenotypic correlation between these two skills. Possible underlying proximal mechanisms are discussed, including maternal speech and mind-mindedness, sibling interactions, and peer influences.     

Development of an exchange format for the European Environmental Chemical Data and Information Network (ECDIN)

Increasing concern about the release of potentially harmful chemicals into the environment has led to efforts to collect data on such chemicals with a view to identifying and minimising the associated hazards. The collection and storage of such data requires cooperation and communication (both national and international) between partners in a general environmental data network. A format is described for the exchange of data between these network partners. This format is of general applicability. It is shown that a hierarchical tree structure best describes the situation. Rules are derived to identify and process the nodes in the tree such that information is neither lost nor degraded upon transfer between the network partners.     

Mothering in Families With and Without a Child with Disability

This paper describes some features of a study which compares and contrasts mothers’ perceptions of their family life in three different family environments, those without a child with disability and those families who live with a child with an intellectual or physical disability. All families have children in the middle childhood period allowing the mothers to reflect on earlier experiences and changes in their family life. Mothers’ psychological characteristics are explored in terms of the coping resources they utilise when meeting stressful life situations in their family and how their personal resilience and vulnerability is related to these individual coping resources.     

An International Study of Prospective Teachers’ Initial Teaching Conceptions and Concerns: the case of teaching ‘combustion’

An important task of science teachers should be to take pupils’ (pre)conceptions and learning difficulties into account and to negotiate about the meanings of specific concepts. In this context, teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge plays an important role. This article presents an international study of Dutch, Finnish, English and Greek pre-service teachers’ conceptions and concerns of how to teach the concept of combustion. The prospective science teachers were invited to prepare a lesson about this concept for pupils of junior secondary school level. The prospective teachers were not allowed to consult any textbook. Research data were obtained from audio-taped semi-structured interviews with the prospective teachers. In addition, their written lesson plans and their answers to an accompanying questionnaire were collected and analysed. The results reveal a number of important characteristics of prospective teachers’ views and concerns regarding the teaching of combustion. The implications of the study for science teacher education will be presented.     

The Intergrated Museum: A Meaningful Role in Society?

Abstract This article describes a process initiated in 1983, at the Canadian Museum of Nature (CMN), which was based on the premise that a responsible natural history museum should assist society in shaping its collective future. The museum predicted that if it were able to help people understand themselves and their relationship to the natural world, the museum would again be seen as valuable to society, and thus would be supported in its efforts. The CMN therefore began to integrate its collections, scholarship, discovery, public programming, and public exhibits into broad, institution‐wide programs focused on the needs and interests of society. These programs enabled the museum to engage its visitors in “guided conversations” in which the museum provided the content, drawing on the research and communication strengths of the museum, while the audience, representing society, set the context. This guided conversation empowered the public to make informed decisions and to influence the museum and its work. CMN also designed exhibit formats that allowed the visiting public to contact industry and government decision‐makers with their opinions. The article describes the museum's evolution through several stages of increasing internal and external integration, ultimately using a managerial matrix to form project teams, with discipline‐based professionals focused on the interests and needs of society. Drawing on audience participation, the CMN reset its programming and offered advice and counsel to government and industry. The museum also took the first steps to include the traditional knowledge of indigenous peoples as an additional source of wisdom about the natural world. Financial and other support grew rapidly, effectively demonstrating a successful programmatic feedback loop helping society to shape its future using the museum as an information source and communication tool. The effort was terminated before the integration was completed, but nonetheless, CMN demonstrated that is possible to achieve a programmatic feedback loop that includes collections, science, exhibits, the general public and both government and industry decision‐makers.     

The relationship between hostile attributional bias and aggressive behavior in preschoolers

Previously, K.A. Dodge and colleagues found an association between hostile attributional bias and aggressive behaviors among school aged children. The present study explored such an association among preschool aged children. Sixty-eight children (38 girls and 30 boys) with a mean age of 4.76 years participated in the study. Videotaped vignettes of children's social interactions were developed specifically for this age group to examine their attributional bias. Children's aggressive behaviors were assessed by teachers, using the Preschool Behavior Questionnaire. Results indicated that hostile/aggressive children were significantly more likely to possess a hostile attributional bias (p < .05) than less aggressive children. Results also indicated that preschoolers were capable of distinguishing between intentional and unintentional actions when stimulus materials used were concrete and familiar to them.     

图书馆资源共享的目标

<正> 引言图书资源共享意味着由若干个图书馆共同发挥作用的一种工作方式。它的目标是为了提供有益的网络效果:1)能够为用户提供更多的资料或服务;2)保证图书馆以较低的费用维持一定水平的服务,或者在不增加费用的情况下增加服务,或者用较少的费用来提供更多的服务。所有这些,如果单独由一个图书馆来做,那花销要大得多。为了实现这些目标,必须对各个参加馆的工作方式加以调整,但是不能影响他们原来的工作职责。这些目标的实现,同样也离不开读者对自身的阅读习惯做些调整。