The integration experience of hearing impaired elementary school students in separated and integrated school settings

Integration experiences of hearing impaired German elementary school students in separate educational settings (n = 31) were compared with those of counterparts at the same level in integrated settings (n = 26), and evaluated in regard to psychosocial behavior, semantic-lexical abilities, and communicative skills. Analysis of questionnaire responses and intelligence subtests showed that the only difference between the samples concerned perceived well-being in school, and favored the integrated students. Other percentages of variance are explainable by school type (10%), parents' hearing status (12%), and use of bimodal communication (11%). The integrated students demonstrated a higher level of integration experience, associated with fewer psychosocial abnormalities and better communicative skills. The results indicate that educational setting is not the only factor influencing students' perceived well-being. Other contextual factors, e.g., hearing status of parents and communicative skills, have a similar positive impact on integration experiences     

Developing a hypothetical multi‐dimensional learning progression for the nature of matter

We describe efforts toward the development of a hypothetical learning progression (HLP) for the growth of grade 7–14 students' models of the structure, behavior and properties of matter, as it relates to nanoscale science and engineering (NSE). This multi‐dimensional HLP, based on empirical research and standards documents, describes how students need to incorporate and connect ideas within and across their models of atomic structure, the electrical forces that govern interactions at the nano‐, molecular, and atomic scales, and information in the Periodic Table to explain a broad range of phenomena. We developed a progression from empirical data that characterizes how students currently develop their knowledge as part of the development and refinement of the HLP. We find that most students are currently at low levels in the progression, and do not perceive the connections across strands in the progression that are important for conceptual understanding. We suggest potential instructional strategies that may help students build organized and integrated knowledge structures to consolidate their understanding, ready them for new ideas in science, and help them construct understanding of emerging disciplines such as NSE, as well as traditional science disciplines. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 47:687–715, 2010     

Sustainable leadership in small rural schools: Selected Australian vignettes

According to Hargreaves and Fink (The seven principles of sustainable leadership, 2003; Sustainable leadership, 2006), sustainable leadership matters, spreads and lasts, and is fundamental to enduring and widespread school improvement. This observation is especially germane to the context of leading small primary schools in rural locations, where challenges encountered by principals in engaging with the complexities of continuous improvement are often accentuated. This article looks at the applicability of certain aspects of sustainable leadership to the circumstances surrounding small rural schools. First, reasons are given for devoting attention to the specific context of leadership in small rural primary schools, especially in Australia. The article then examines the distinctive challenges encountered by principals of small rural schools that appear to compound the difficulties of pursuing sustainable leadership. The next section draws from a Queensland study (Clarke and Stevens, Small schools leadership study. Leading and teaching in small schools: confronting contextual complexity in work practices, 2004) that has generated vignettes depicting the complexity of novice teaching principals’ work in rural environments. Taking cognizance of Hargreaves and Fink’s analysis of sustainable leadership, selections from these vignettes are used to sharpen understandings of ways in which sustainable leadership plays out in this context and the factors that either promote or impede its development.     

How Residential College Students Adjust Socially and Emotionally to First Year University

In this longitudinal study at the University of Wollongong, a model of social and emotional adjustment to first year university was developed. For the study sample of 126 late‐adolescent, non‐local college students it was found that social and emotional adjustment to university was only partly a function of the new, “objective” circumstances that confronted them. Most important was their outlook: feeling positive from the beginning about the transition, believing they had sufficient friends to rely upon, experiencing intimacy and not worrying about whether they were independent enough. Unexpectedly, membership of a particular college predicted more positive emotional adjustment. Differences between the colleges are discussed to help explain this desirable outcome. Interactions between sex and several other factors indicated that male and female students adjusted in different ways. Suggestions are made for how these findings would be very useful for those engaged in counselling students, for professional staff in houses of residence, for university administrators and for academic staff.