Learning for being: an ontological and existential approach

This paper will investigate the ontological and existential learning experience of a group of laterlife computer learners in Sydney, Australia. The research, undertaken as a PhD project, focused on the interpretation and understanding of the learning experience from the perspective of the learners. Hence, a qualitative method was used because it enabled existential insights into the learning experience and privileged the voices of the participants. A hermeneutic phenomenological method was considered suitable because of its emphasis on understanding the lived experience of people. The research found that participants wholeheartedly believed in the worth of the learning they were undertaking. They felt that the outcomes from learning would lead to greater opportunity for participation in their lifeworld. Without computer skills and knowledge they believed they would be ignored and relegated to a peripheral position as observers in their lifeworld. Their purposes and expectations in undertaking learning were situated in the changing nature of the world and a desire to continue to live their lives authentically, as participants and not spectators. Learning for the people in the study provoked both ontological and existential questions that demanded answers. The author believes that the findings from this particular research could be used to inform other studies involving both adult learners and lifelong learning.     

A breakfast club for children with emotional and behavioural difficulties

This article gives an account of the setting up of a breakfast club at a school for children with emotional and behavioural difficulties. The aim of the breakfast club was twofold: firstly, to improve the nutrition of students from areas of social deprivation, many of whom are also receiving medication for ADD/ADHD, known to suppress appetite and which can have effects on growth; and secondly, to improve the ethos of the school and enhance the social skills of students.     

Development of Phonological Constancy: 19‐Month‐Olds,but Not 15‐Month‐Olds,Identify Words in a Non‐Native Regional Accent

By 12 months, children grasp that a phonetic change to a word can change its identity (phonological distinctiveness). However, they must also grasp that some phonetic changes do not (phonological constancy). To test development of phonological constancy, sixteen 15‐month‐olds and sixteen 19‐month‐olds completed an eye‐tracking task that tracked their gaze to named versus unnamed images for familiar words spoken in their native (Australian) and an unfamiliar non‐native (Jamaican) regional accent of English. Both groups looked longer at named than unnamed images for Australian pronunciations, but only 19‐month‐olds did so for Jamaican pronunciations, indicating that phonological constancy emerges by 19 months. Vocabulary size predicted 15‐month‐olds' identifications for the Jamaican pronunciations, suggesting vocabulary growth is a viable predictor for phonological constancy development.     

Can more become less? Effects of an intensive assessment environment on students’ learning performance

Online interactive systems offer the beguiling prospect of an improved environment for learning at minimum extra cost. We have developed online interactive tutorials that adapt the learning environment to the current learning status of each individual student. These Adaptive Tutorials (ATs) modify the tasks given to each student according to their previous responses. Feedback, assessment and remediation are also adapted. Over a three-year period we progressively blended ATs into notoriously challenging courses in introductory Engineering Mechanics. We assessed the impact of this initiative by reviewing three lines of data: (i) the built-in diagnostics of the system, (ii) changes in student grades from year-to-year and (iii) supplementary surveys. Generally, students liked the new blended system and grades improved. Detailed analysis revealed nuances in the measures of student learning, such as differences between high-performing and low-performing students. With these insights we are able to further adapt the system to meet the learning needs of our students.     

The use of cross-curricular activity on interactive playgrounds to supplement school-based physical activity: an exploratory study

Childhood obesity and physical inactivity are serious threats to the health and wellness of our schoolchildren. Research has shown that play and physical activity are important in development, behaviour and academic achievement. Through the efforts of coordinated school health program and a Physical Education for Progress grant, a county school system in a southern state was able to construct multiple innovative playground systems at schools and combine them with various academic units in a cross-curricular effort to address the wellness needs of students. Exploratory research using pedometers, accelerometers and an observation method examined physical activity intensity levels during cross-curricular sessions. Results indicated that this type of physical activity might be a viable supplement to daily school-based physical activity needs.     

Education,employment and school religious denomination in Scotland in the 1950s

Newly available survey data allow the investigation of the educational and employment opportunities open to Roman Catholics in Scotland in the mid-20th century. Previous research has shown that Catholic disadvantage in education and the labour market in the early 20th century had weakened or vanished by the end of the century, and that the main change in that respect had come with the advent of comprehensive secondary schooling in the 1960s. However, the extension of Catholic secondary schooling started in the 1920s. The data used here allow an investigation of whether the Catholic disadvantage was mitigated by these earlier reforms, and thus allow an assessment of whether a selective school system was able to overcome an important dimension of social disadvantage. The data come from a cohort study of a representative sample of people born in 1936 (first surveyed in 1947 and followed up annually to 1963). Evidence is available on social background, on cognitive ability measured at age 11, on secondary school courses, on educational achievement after leaving school, and on social-class status at age 27. The conclusions are that the continued social disadvantage of Catholics was not due to any aspect of the school education which they had received.     

Infusing Aging Content Into a Research Course: A National Organization and University Partnership

Increased longevity coupled with inadequate savings makes retirement savings and investment research increasingly important. A policy-capturing method was used to examine the relative importance of 6 demographic predictors on the retirement investment decisions of 64 working adults. All predictors were significant predictors of the investment. In addition, although age differences on amount of investment were not significant, interactions between participant age and vignette information were found. Results indicate that older and younger adults make similar decisions using different pieces of information. These findings have implications for individuals planning for retirement and financial professionals who help others make decisions.     

A written language intervention for at-risk second grade students: a randomized controlled trial of the process assessment of the learner lesson plans in a tier 2 response-to-intervention (RtI) model

In a randomized controlled trial, 205 students were followed from grades 1 to 3 with a focus on changes in their writing trajectories following an evidence-based intervention during the spring of second grade. Students were identified as being at-risk (n?=?138), and then randomized into treatment (n?=?68) versus business-as-usual conditions (n?=?70). A typical group also was included (n?=?67). The writing intervention comprised Lesson Sets 4 and 7 from the Process Assessment of the Learner (PAL), and was conducted via small groups (three to six students) twice a week for 12 weeks in accordance with a response-to-intervention Tier 2 model. The primary outcome was the Wechsler Individual Achievement Test-II Written Expression Scale. Results indicated modest support for the PAL lesson plans, with an accelerated rate of growth in writing skills following treatment. There were no significant moderator effects, although there was evidence that the most globally impaired students demonstrated a more rapid rate of growth following treatment. These findings suggest the need for ongoing examination of evidence-based treatments in writing for young elementary students.