Parenting stress, infant emotion regulation, maternal sensitivity, and the cognitive development of triplets: a model for parent and child influences in a unique ecology

To examine the development of triplets, 23 sets of triplets were matched with 23 sets of twins and 23 singletons (N=138). Maternal sensitivity was observed at newborn, 3, 6, and 12 months, and infants' cognitive and symbolic skills at 1 year. Triplets received lower maternal sensitivity across infancy and exhibited poorer cognitive competencies compared with singletons and twins. The most medically compromised triplet showed the lowest regulation, received lower maternal sensitivity, and demonstrated the weakest outcomes compared with siblings. Structural modeling charted three levels of influence on cognitive outcomes: direct, indirect, and contextual. The triplet ecology provides a context for assessing the relations among infant inborn dispositions, the rearing environment, and the role of exclusive parenting in development.     

Dyslexia and spatial thinking

Impairment in spatial thinking has figured prominently as an assumed cause of developmental reading disability. The empirical findings relevant to the idea, with special reference to right-left orientation, visuomotor and visuoconstructive performances, and finger recognition are examined. It is concluded that, although some dyslexic children do show spatial disabilities, there is little evidence to support the existence of a visuospatial type of developmental dyslexia. Presented at the 33rd Annual Conference of The Orton Dyslexia Society, San Diego, California, November 1983.     

A study of the effect of HyperCard and pen-paper performance assessment methods on expert-novice chemistry problem solving

This study investigated HyperCard as a tool for assessment in science education and determined whether or not a HyperCard assessment instrument could differentiate between expert and novice student performance (balancing stoichiometric equations) in science education. Five chemical equations were presented by traditional pen-paper and by a HyperCard (Hyperequation) program. Thirty honors (expert) and 30 regular (novice) chemistry students were randomly divided into HyperCard and traditional pen-paper groups of 15 students each. Scoring was based on five dependent variables: performance scores, number of attempts, rate of attempts, time on task, and correctness. Correlation results indicated that students with high performance scores correctly balanced more equations, required fewer attempts to balance equations, and required less time per attempt than did students with low performance scores. MANOVA results showed that performance scores and correctness scores for both experts and novice were significantly higher on HyperCard compared to pen-paper assessment; the novice scores on HyperCard nearly equaled the expert pen-paper assessment scores. Significant interactions were found for time on task and for correctness. The results suggest that HyperCard can be a suitable tool for assessment in science education and that such an instrument can differentiate between expert and novice student performance.     

Maximizing responses to a nationwide faculty survey

Using on-campus facilitators to distribute and retrieve an 11-page questionnaire administered to a nationwide sample of humanities faculty and nonhumanities department chairmen in two-year colleges resulted in an 84% return rate. The 2,000 subjects were drawn from 156 junior/community colleges selected on the basis of geographic locale and type of control. Secondary stratification variables included college size, organization, and curriculum emphasis. Accurate rosters of full-time and part-time faculty were generated from class schedules. Pilot procedures, selection of the college and faculty samples, and the use of facilitators are described.     

Accomplishing lessons in postcolonial classrooms: comparative perspectives from Botswana and Brunei Darussalam

Drawing on observations and audio‐recordings of classroom language use in two postcolonial societies, the Republic of Botswana in Africa and the Sultanate of Brunei Darussalam in south‐east Asia, this study seeks to explore how teachers and pupils face the challenge of accomplishing teaching and learning using a language which is not their own. In both Botswana and Brunei Darussalam, English is the official language of instruction for some subjects from mid‐primary school level. Unlike many comparative studies which concentrate on the macro or national level, the focus of this study is the micro‐level of classroom interaction. The study shows that there are both similarities and differences across the two contexts in the ways teachers and pupils engage with language(s) through a range of monolingual and bilingual strategies. In comparing the discourses of primary‐level classrooms in Botswana and Brunei Darussalam, the study demonstrates the tensions in the language policies and practices in the two postcolonial countries. The pressure of globalisation has resulted in the privileging of imported over indigenous languages and the study shows the pragmatic responses of the classroom participants in the two contexts.     

Developing Multicultural Counseling Competencies Through Experiential Learning

Counselor educators are challenged to prepare students for working with culturally diverse clients. The recent attention paid to multicultural counseling competencies has defined domains of learning; however, training methods to support the development of multicultural counseling competencies have received less emphasis. This article focuses on experiential learning as a teaching and learning methodology to increase students' multicultural counseling competencies. The authors outline ethical and practical suggestions for using experiential learning in multicultural counseling curriculum.     

Distance education and distance learning: some psychological considerations

Face‐to‐face education and distance education, viewed as differing sets of organisational provisions for the fostering of learning, emphasize different kinds of learning processes, and depend upon somewhat different psychological properties in learners. Nonetheless, all practical learning settings, whether they are labelled ‘school’, ‘adult education’, ‘distance education’, or something else, involve a mixture of face‐to‐face learning and distance learning. The psychological difference between the two kinds of setting is thus note purely qualitative in nature, but is also quantitative: for instance, certain learner characteristics which are useful in face‐to‐face learning (discussed in detail in the body of the present paper) are indispensible for distance learning, while certain processes which are at the heart of distance learning (also dis‐cusssed in detail later) are often given little emphasis in face‐to‐face settings, although they are in principle possible and even desirable there. The question thus arises of whether it would not be desirable to give more emphasis in face‐to‐face settings to psychologically desirable aspects of distance learning.