Assessing giftedness with the WISC‐III and the SB‐IV

The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children–Third Edition (WISC‐III) and the Stanford‐Binet Intelligence Scale–Fourth Edition (SB‐IV), were administered to 20 gifted children and 20 non‐gifted children to examine the extent of the difference in IQ scores obtained on the two tests and whether order effects were present. Results show that the SB‐IV Composite Score was significantly higher than the WISC‐III Full Scale IQ for both groups. However, for the gifted group, unlike the non‐gifted group, this difference achieved significance only when the SB‐IV was administered first. When either IQ test was administered to the gifted students for the first time, without the confound of a learning influence, there was no significant difference in mean scores. However, when both tests were administered, it was found that the SB‐IV influenced the WISC‐III Full Scale IQ in a downward direction whereas the WISC‐III influenced the SB‐IV Composite Score in an upward direction. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Peer Mentoring Styles and Their Contribution to Academic Success Among Mentees: A Person-Oriented Study in Higher Education

The purpose of our study was to explore peer mentoring styles and examine their contribution to academic success among mentees. Data were collected as part of a comprehensive evaluation of a peer mentoring program. The sample consisted of 49 mentors (advanced students) who supported 376 mentees (first year students) in small groups. Indicators for peer mentoring styles were constructed using mentee assessments of mentoring functions and mentor quality, and unobtrusive data gathered in an analysis of online mentoring activities and a content analysis of the quality of the online mentoring activities. Using cluster analyses, three distinct mentoring styles were identified: Motivating master mentoring, informatory standard mentoring, and negative minimalist mentoring. Motivating master mentors were shown to have a positive influence on success in the mentoring program among those mentees who failed two preliminary exams. Implications for the training of peer mentors in higher education are discussed.     

Four fictional views of the future of learning

We are at a critical moment in the history of human learning, and in the history of humans. Learning is very important in our future. With 6 billion people on Earth, going to 9 billion by the middle of the century, current educational systems everywhere at all levels have major problems, probably not solvable with present approaches. In many areas, little education is available. We need new learning modes and structures, and we need them quickly and globally. Creating new learning materials and systems will require great imagination. We need approaches that go beyond current situations. Learning should be greatly improved, less expensive, and available lifelong for all in all subjects. We need a society that focuses on learning, where everyone loves to learn. Solving many of the world's problems, including population, water, violence, health, and environmental destruction, will depend on improving learning. One neglected source of future ideas is fictional accounts of the future of learning. I have long found them helpful in my own thinking and have written about them before. I keep finding new sources of this kind. Some, not mentioned here, are negative views.     

The effects of computer-assisted instruction and locus of control upon preservice elementary teachers' acquisition of the integrated science process skills

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of computer-assisted instruction (CAI) versus a text mode of programmed instruction (PI), and the cognitive style of locus of control, on preservice elementary teachers' achievement of the integrated science process skills. Eighty-one preservice elementary teachers in six sections of a science methods class were classified as internally or externally controlled. The sections were randomly assigned to receive instruction in the integrated science process skills via a microcomputer or printed text. The study used a pretest-posttest control group design. Before assessing main and interaction effects, analysis of covariance was used to adjust posttest scores using the pretest scores. Statistical analysis revealed that main effects were not significant. Additionally, no interaction effects between treatments and loci of control were demonstrated. The results suggest that printed PI and tutorial CAI are equally effective modes of instruction for teaching internally and externally oriented preservice elementary teachers the integrated science process skills.     

Some Thoughts on Motivation in Sport

This paper examines the content and context of changes in the dominant discourses of physical education. It begins with an analysis of the role of language in publicly defining a role for new professions and defining the nature of that profession's expertise. It then briefly traces the reconstruction of university physical education as sports studies, sport sciences, and sport management and situates these discourses in a political and historical context. The final sections proceed to deconstruct the languages of sport science and sport management, to connect these with struggles to redefine the profession, and to point to some issues for professional education if physical education is to retain any of its traditional humanistic meanings. The argument is grounded in an interview study of technical and administrative professionals in Canadian high performance sport.     

Sense of community in a higher education television-based distance education program

The purpose of this study was to measure sense of classroom community in a television-based higher education distance education course and in the same course taught by the same instructor in a traditional face-to-face learning environment, in order to determine if differences existed and if so to identify the nature of these differences. Participants for this study consisted of 120 adult learners who were enrolled in either of two sections of a semester-long undergraduate educational technology course offered by an urban state university. One section was taught tradiationally and the other section was taught to a small studio audience and at a distance to 24 remote classroom sites using synchronous one-way television and two-way audio technologies. Study results revealed a significantly lower sense of classroom community among learners in the distance education course, to include the studio audience.     

The relationship between linguistic characteristics and reading/writing performances of Norwegian children

The relations between different word categories and children's reading and writing performances were examined in twenty 9-year-old children. Results indicated for Norwegian, which is more regular than English but less regular than Finnish, that the length and the frequency of words and their interactions are factors substantially related both to children's reading, writing time (writing velocity), and spelling performances, whereas the regularity factor affected children's spelling only. Significant intercorrelations among reading and writing (accuracy and spelling) measures were found.