Things I've Learned from My Pupils

In this article, the authors, students in an instructional technology graduate course, describe a process to create an online tutorial for teaching software. They created the tutorial for a cyber school's use. Five tutorial modules were linked together through one menu screen using the MenuBuilder feature in the Adobe Captivate program. The separate modules allowed the cyber school's students to customize their learning, whereas the entire tutorial allowed teachers to concentrate class time on teaching lesson objectives, rather than software.     

Overexcitabilities and ADHD in the Gifted: An Examination

Gifted children and adolescents can display behavioral characteristics similar to those exhibited by children and adolescents who have been diagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), leading to potential issues with misdiagnosis. The overlapping characteristics between giftedness and ADHD are often seen as anecdotal or to only exist in theory, such as that explained by Dabrowski's theory of positive disintegration and his notion of overexcitabilities. There is a paucity of empirical data to support this perceived relationship between ADHD and overexcitabilities. This study provides empirical support for a relationship between ADHD and overexcitabilities within a sample of gifted adolescents. Implications are discussed.     

Honoring and Suffering the Thorn: Marking,Naming, and Eldering Depth Psychology II

This is the second article advocating and explicating a depth psychological approach to the education of the talented. In this analysis we take the “thorn” on the Piirto Pyramid of Talent Development and relate it to the processes of marking, naming, and eldering/mentoring as teachers practice them. The article presents 20 ways that the imaginal, symbolic aspects of life can be acknowledged and brought forth in students, thus invoking the educare within education.     

Feasibility of test administration and preliminary findings for cognitive control in the Burn 2 learn pilot randomised controlled trial

ABSTRACT

The feasibility requirements of administering field-based cognitive assessments are rarely reported. We examined the feasibility of administering a group-based cognitive test battery in a school setting with older adolescents. Several types of reliability were also assessed in the control group. Preliminary efficacy and the relationship between changes in fitness and changes in cognitive control were also explored following a 14-week HIIT intervention (3 sessions/week). Participants completed a cognitive test battery measuring inhibition (flanker), and working memory (n-back) at baseline and post-test. Health-related fitness assessments were also conducted. Test administration took approximately 30.8 ± 1.5 minutes to complete with up to six participants simultaneously. The test battery demonstrated acceptable reliability (ICC = 0.5–0.81), with significant changes observed for flanker incongruent accuracy, and 2-back non-target accuracy from baseline to post-test. Regarding efficacy, small-to-moderate effects were observed for accuracy outcomes, while several small associations were found between changes in fitness and changes in cognition. Findings from the current study suggest a cognitive test battery can be administered with older adolescents in a school setting. However, there remains a lack of adequate reporting of administration requirements for field-based cognitive assessments. Efficacy findings should be confirmed with a larger and more representative sample of older adolescents.     

Revising the ISSN Standard: The Challenge of Change

ABSTRACT

The International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) has been the standard, eight-digit code used to identify newspapers, journals, magazines, and periodicals on all kinds of media—print and electronic—for the past 40 years. Periodically, the standard must be revised to allow it to accommodate new formats, changes in the publishing industry and information supply chain, and other developments in the information field. Regina Romano Reynolds, director of the U.S. ISSN Center at the Library of Congress, describes the issues that the ISSN International Centre perceives as necessitating a revision of the standard and the likely next steps in the International Organization for Standardization standards revision process.     

Studying for Exams Just Got More Relaxing—Animal-Assisted Activities at the University of Connecticut Library

In recent years, academic libraries have expanded their traditional focus on intellectual and scholarly pursuits, with many libraries now initiating programs that support student growth, development, and wellness. Although providing animal-assisted activities to college students is a fairly new concept, the social and therapeutic benefits of pet ownership or simply interacting with a companion animal are well documented. The University of Connecticut's Homer Babbidge Library on the Storrs campus chose to support the physical and emotional well-being of students during the stress-filled week of finals by providing therapy dogs. Student interaction and feedback were overwhelmingly positive.     

Teenage girls' perceptions of the functions of relationally aggressive behaviors

Adolescent girls reported on their experiences both as perpetrators and as victims of several distinct forms of relational aggression. Details of these incidents were gathered from 114 ethnically diverse ninth and tenth graders via a secure online survey. The frequency with which girls perpetrated or were targeted for particular acts of relational aggression was assessed and, based on the responses, a computer program randomly selected one item (i.e., gossip, ignoring, or exclusion) for which each girl was asked to recall a specific experience and answer follow‐up questions. Perceptions of the goals and functions of specific relationally aggressive acts were assessed, as well as how the perpetrator or victim felt at the time of the incident. Ignoring or “giving the silent treatment” appeared to be a unique form of relational aggression inasmuch as the girls perceived different motives, or functions, for ignoring compared with gossip and exclusion and felt worse at the time of the ignoring incident, both when they were reporting as aggressors and as victims. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.