Preliminary norms and technical data for use of the Revised-Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale with kindergarten children

The Revised-Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale (Reynolds & Richmond, 1978) was administered to 97 kindergarten children. Coefficient alpha reliabilities of .79 for males (N = 53), .85 for females (N = 44), and .82 for the total sample resulted. Contrary to findings with older children, no sex differences occurred in scoring on the anxiety scale. The kindergarten children generally scored higher on the anxiety scale than did older children. Lie scale scores were comparable to those of other primary grade children. Implications for use of the scale with young children are discussed.     

A comparison of regular program and vocational program junior high school students on affective dimensions

The hypothesis that young adolescents in vocational education programs would differ from young adolescents in a regular program along several affective dimensions was examined. The Today Form of the Multiple Affect Adjective Check List (MAACL) was administered twice during the school year to 111 students in a vocational program and to 50 students in regular classrooms. Dimensions of Anxiety, Depression, and Hostility were examined. Significant main effects for all three dimensions were noted for school program (regular vs. CVAE) and for grade (seventh vs. eighth). Students in the vocational program and those in seventh grade scored higher on Anxiety, Depression, and Hostility. These differences persisted across time, with the exception of Depression, for which there was a significant interaction between time (pretest vs. posttest) and school program (regular vs. CVAE), with regular students reporting increased depression at the second testing.     

MeSH and text-word search strategies: precision,recall, and their implications for library instruction

Objective:This study compared the recall and precision of MeSH-term versus text-word searching to better understand psychosocial MeSH terms and to provide guidance on whether to include both strategies in an information literacy session or how much time should be spent on teaching each search strategy.Methods:Using the relevant recall method, a total of 3,162 resources were considered and evaluated to form a gold standard set of 1,521 relevant resources. We compared resources discussing psychosocial aspects of children and adolescents living with type 1 diabetes using two search strategies: text-word strategy versus MeSH-term strategy. The frequency of MeSH terms, the MeSH hierarchy, and elements of each search strategy were also examined.Results:Using the 1,521 relevant articles, we found that the text-word search strategy had 54% recall, while the MeSH-term strategy had 75% recall. Also, the precision of the text-word strategy was 34.4%, while the precision of the MeSH-term strategy was 47.7%. Therefore, the MeSH-term search strategy yielded both greater recall and greater precision. The MeSH strategy was also more complicated in design and usage than the text-word strategy.Conclusions:This study demonstrates the effectiveness of text-word and MeSH search strategies on precision and recall. The combination of text-word and MeSH strategies is recommended to achieve the most comprehensive results. These results support the idea that MeSH or a similar controlled vocabulary should be taught to experienced and knowledgeable students and practitioners who require a myriad of resources for their literature searches.     

WISC and WISC-R correlates of academic achievement

WISC and WISC-R test results were correlated with achievement test scores and school grades of 36 children who had completed two years of school. Global intelligence estimates from both scales correlated at significant levels with all achievement test measures. Individual subtests from the two scales were unevenly correlated with grades in specific school subjects over both school years. Data suggest that while the two scales may be grossly equivalent as global predictors of school achievement, the individual subtests from the two scales may not correlate equivalently with specific external criteria such as school grades.     

Redefining the meaning of teaching: A work in progress

Abstract

Particular elements of a new initial certification program are described. The use of inquiry, collaboration, and reflection as teaching strategies resulted in new learning for preservice teachers, experienced teachers, and university faculty involved in the program. Each partner in the endeavor indicated an increased understanding of these strategies as effective tools for teaching and learning at every level of the profession. Furthermore, a vision of professional development for experienced professionals in the context of their work with novice teachers emerged. Guidelines for the design and implementation of such programs are proposed.