RETIRED EDUCATORS AS ADVOCATES: PROMOTING K-12 EDUCATION ABOUT AGING

Retired educators and other older adults can be influential advocates for K-12 education about aging, by promoting balanced and accurate education related to aging across grade levels and core disciplines. This article presents the processes, outcomes, and evaluation of a pilot project involving retired educators in Colorado and Montana. The experiences from this pilot project can help guide future efforts of retired older adults to increase teacher awareness of the need for K-12 education about aging.     

Training phonological awareness: A study with inner-city kindergarten children

A small-scale, longitudinal, phonological awareness training study with inner-city kindergarten children was conducted in four classrooms. The central goals of the study were the creation and evaluation of a phonological awareness training program and a preliminary look at the consequence of that training on basic phonological processes. Assessment of phonological awareness and basic phonological processes was carried out in the fall of the kindergarten year, and again in the spring following an 18 week training program which incorporated both auditory and articulatory techniques for fostering metaphonological development. Follow-up evaluation of promotion to first grade and of reading achievement took place a year later. The children in the two experimental classes receiving training had significantly greater gains in phonological awareness at the end of kindergarten, were significantly more likely to be promoted to first grade rather than to pre-one, and had a trend toward better reading skills in first grade than did the smaller group of children promoted to first grade from the control classes. In addition, there were some indications that development of phonological awareness was accompanied by changes in the underlying phonological system as well. Here we focus on the rationale and implementation of our training program and discuss the implications of the findings for a potential large-scale study.     

Participants' Personal Perceptions of Mentoring

This study is an investigation of the views and perceptions held by one group of mentors, mentees and university lecturers about the recent policy changes in Initial Teacher Training (ITT) which have led to the closer collaboration between Higher Education Institutions (HEls) and schools under the umbrella of partnership.

It takes the form of a survey and uses a structured questionnaire and semi‐structured interviews as its source of data collection.

It then analyses and interprets the data obtained with the aim of using the information gathered to make recommendations for the future of partnership.     

Informing educational decisions in the early years: can evidence for improving pedagogy for children with autistic spectrum disorder be found from neuroscience?

It is possible that many benefits may be found for all concerned in education and child development in understanding how knowledge of the brain and its development can inform early years practice. This article, written by Brenda Peters and Chris Forlin, both from the Hong Kong Institute of Education, reviews literature based on neuroscience to establish potential links with teaching and learning, in an attempt to identify the most appropriate pedagogical support for children with autistic spectrum disorder (ASD). Two key themes have emerged: firstly, neuroscience and education and translation between these disciplines, and secondly, the relevance of these developments for specific groups of learners. This article focuses on early educational intervention and how emerging evidence from neuroscience and collaboration with educators may support future developments for practice for these young learners with ASD.     

Measuring the Transfer of Training

This study examined the use of self-report to measure training transfer by comparing three training transfer assessment methods. Applying a framework provided by instructional alignment theory, the study tested the hypothesis that if training transfer is measured by assessment methods that vary in their degree of alignment with the post-training learning assessment, the training transfer scores would be higher as the degree of alignment increased. Instructional alignment is the extent to which stimulus conditions match across instructional components: intended outcomes, instructional processes, and assessment. Three training transfer assessments were administered to 40 telecommunications technicians approximately 60 days after they completed a training course. The moan transfer score for the job performance assessment with high alignment was significantly higher than the two self-report assessments of moderate and low alignment with effect size differences of 0.96 (p < .01) and 0.87 (p < .01), respectively. The mean scores for the two self-report assessments did not significantly differ. This study has implications for the extensive use of self-report to assess training transfer in both research and training evaluation programs.     

Distance Learning: Relationships among Class Size,Instructor Location,Student Perceptions,and Performance

This study investigated differences in student perceptions and performance among three distance learning sites taking the same off-campus M.B.A. course with the same instructor, The sites varied in class size and instructor location. Two classes (one large and one small) were linked using a two-way video system with rotating origination. The third class was small and was taught in person each week. Data were collected over an entire semester. Class size influenced performance more than location of instructor. Performance in the two smaller classes was better than performance in the large class. Student characteristics and site variables accounted for over 50% of variance in performance. One interaction effect was found. Students with initial low perceived value did best when the instructor was physically present each week. For students with high initial perceived value, location of instructor did not matter.