The timing of middle-childhood peer rejection and friendship: linking early behavior to early-adolescent adjustment

This study used a sample of 551 children surveyed yearly from ages 6 to 13 to examine the longitudinal associations among early behavior, middle-childhood peer rejection and friendedness, and early-adolescent depressive symptoms, loneliness, and delinquency. The study tested a sequential mediation hypothesis in which (a) behavior problems in the early school years are associated with middle-childhood peer rejection and (b) rejection, in turn, leads to lower friendedness and subsequently higher adolescent internalizing--but not externalizing--problems. Results supported this sequential mediation model for internalizing outcomes and revealed an additional path from early disruptiveness to loneliness via peer rejection alone. No evidence of sequential mediation was observed for delinquency.     

A Practical Introduction to Authoring for Computer-Assisted Instruction. Part 5: PHILVAS

Interactive videodisc technology is likely to have a significant impact upon many aspects of education and training. However, before this medium can be effectively utilized considerable attention must be given to overcoming the present problems associated with courseware authoring. Solutions to these problems are to be found in the provision of suitable courseware development aids. In particular, there is a requirement for a powerful and easy-to-use author language. This paper describes the approach used by the PHILVAS authoring system.     

Controlling parenting and physical aggression during elementary school

The goal of the present study was to examine whether controlling parenting contributes to the problem of physical aggression. Developmental trajectories of children's physical aggression were modeled from yearly teachers' ratings, from ages 6 to 12. Multinomial logistic regressions (N = 1,508) served to identify risk factors that distinguish children who display different levels of physical aggression throughout grade school. Results revealed that being a boy and having a reactive temperament were important child predictors. Parental separation and an early onset of motherhood were also significant risk factors. Finally, mothers' controlling parenting increased the odds of following the highest trajectory of physical aggression, above and beyond the previous risk factors.     

Action Learning Projects For Management Development

The origins and characteristics of Action Learning together with some of its uses in business/industry and education are described. Methods of assessment for Action Learning projects in education are suggested. The approach to Action Learning in courses at the Middlesex University Business School are used to illustrate the wealth creating aspects of the Action Learning process.     

When group work leaves the classroom does group skills development also go out the window?

In moving towards what Lemke (1996) terms the ‘interactive learning paradigm’, higher education has adopted two key principles consistent with group learning technologies:

• ? learning is always mediated by and occurs through language ( Falk, 1997 ; Gee, 1997 ); and
• ? learning is distributed across a range of other people, sites, objects, technologies and time ( Gee, 1997 ).

A third and relatively recent principle to emerge on the higher education scene that seems to ‘contradict’ accepted views of group learning technologies is that:

• ? many universities now choose to offer ‘learning resources’ online.

This paper asks whether Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are ‘robust’ enough to support, sustain and address industry, employer and government calls for greater attention to group skills development in university graduates. Data features an examination of respondent feedback (n = 171) in an ‘ICT‐rich’ group work setting, and the subsequent ratings of group skills development over a 13‐week period. This discussion offers an account of learner outcomes by adopting Kirkpatrick's (1996) four levels of evaluation of learning as a classification scheme for determining learner satisfaction (Level One), the effectiveness of learning transfer (Level Two), its impact on practice (Level Three) and the appropriation of learning behaviours by participants (Level Four). The contrasting patterns of ICT use between female and male users in the data are discussed in relation to building social presence and producing social categories online. Differences reported here indicate that ICT group work is moving forward, but opportunities to challenge rather than reproduce existing learning relations and differences, remain largely unresolved.     

Issues in development of the test battery for Australian sign language morphology and syntax

In this article, we outline the initial stages in development of an assessment instrument for Australian Sign Language and explore issues involved in the development of such a test. We first briefly describe the instruments currently available for assessing grammatical skills in Australian Sign Language and discuss the need for a more objective measure. We then describe our adaptation of an existing American Sign Language test, the Test Battery for American Sign Language Morphology and Syntax. Finally, this article presents some of the data collected from a group of deaf native signers. These data are used to demonstrate the range of variability in key grammatical features of Australian Sign Language and to raise methodological issues associated with signed language test design.     

Teaching Intercultural Communication in a Technical Writing Service Course: Real Instructors' Practices and Suggestions for Textbook Selection

This article addresses the problem of textbook selection for teaching intercultural communication in the service course. The study analyzes the pedagogical elements of textbooks, using a model of awareness, information, and practice. Applying the Burkean pentad as an analytical tool, the article situates the pedagogical elements of textbooks in four areas: the instructor's experience, course goals, classroom situation, and teaching techniques. It then describes a tool for textbook and context assessment useful for guiding textbook selection. It reports the results of a contextual inquiry to validate the assessment tool. We conclude that the assessment tool offers instructors a valuable predictor of the fitness of a given textbook to a given instructional situation.     

Epistemological Beliefs Across Domains Using Biglan's Classification of Academic Disciplines

The purpose of this study was to examine students' beliefs about the nature of knowledge and learning, epistemological beliefs, across domains that vary according to Biglan's classification of academic disciplines (hard vs. soft disciplines and pure vs. applied disciplines). One hundred and fifty-two university students completed three questionnaires that assessed their epistemological beliefs about mathematics (hard-pure), the social sciences (also pure), and business (neither hard nor pure). Correlations indicated that students' epistemological beliefs were similar for mathematics and social sciences, as well as for mathematics and business. When the amount of academic experience was taken into account, some evidence of domain specificity was found. These results support Sternberg's caveat that the dichotomy of domain generality/specificity is an assumption that should be questioned. We propose that future researchers should investigate the breadth of applicability of epistemological beliefs.     

Making Visible the Behaviors that Influence Learning Environment: A Qualitative Exploration of Computer Science Classrooms

The authors conducted ethnographic research to provide deep understanding of the learning environment of a selection of computer science classrooms at a large, research university in the United States. Categories emerging from data analysis included (1) impersonal environment and guarded behavior; and (2) the creation and maintenance of informal hierarchy resulting in competitive behaviors. Both of these categories describe patterns of recurring communication taking place in the classroom learning environments. We identify particular and recognizable types of discourse, which, when prevalent in a classroom, can preclude the development of a collaborative and/or supportive learning environment. Alternative communication choices, both explicit and implicit, can lead to a more balanced and supportive climate for learning. An example of a successful effort to alter traditional patterns of interaction, without compromising the quality of learning, in a higher education astrophysics class is presented.