EFFECTS OF AGE AND INSTRUCTIONS ON TEACHING OLDER ADULTS TO USE ELDERCOMM,AN ELECTRONIC BULLETIN BOARD SYSTEM

This study focused on how to train older adults to perform computer procedures. Young-old (aged 60 74 years) and old-old (aged 75 years and older) adults were instructed on how to use ELDERCOMM , an electronic bulletin board system using one of two types of text-based instructions. The first set of directions consisted of illustrated, step-by-step instructions (simple condition). The second set of directions included the same step-by-step instructions as in the first set, but explanatory information about how the bulletin board system worked was added before the     

End-of-Life Decision Making in Older Korean Adults: Concerns,Preferences, and Expectations

This study explored Korean older adults’ concerns and preferences regarding end-of-life care and the expected role of physicians in the decision making process. The purpose was to assist health care professionals, in particular, physicians, to better understand how to interact with Korean older adults. A qualitative method using in-person interviews was conducted with Korean older adults (N = 54). The seven main themes generated in this study included the following: (a) life-sustaining treatments and hope for quality of life; (b) physician expert status; (c) truth telling and ethics; (d) preferred way to disclose bad news; (e) physician's role to treat, (f) potential misuse of life-sustaining treatments; and (g) priority of patients’ preferences. Overall, study participants generally anticipated a larger role for physicians in their own end-of-life decision making, though some expressed concerns about the outcome of giving such power to physicians, especially in agreeing to life-sustaining treatments. Although culture provides one important clue about expectations, it is always crucial for health care providers to ask about individual preferences and to develop an open communication style to decrease distress. Our findings highlight the importance of understanding concerns and preferences regarding end-of-life care among Korean older adults and the importance of assisting them in planning end-of-life care within a cultural framework.     

Integrating Research Proposals Into a Field Seminar: Feedback From Students

Teaching research to social work students continues to be the topic of an ongoing dialog within the profession. The literature suggests that some form of a “real-world” or “hands-on” learning opportunity has many benefits for teaching a subject that students often are reluctant to engage in. Using online survey methods, researchers gathered feedback from graduate students and their field supervisors about their experience of completing a field seminar that integrated an agency-based research proposal as part of the course requirement. Although there were limitations to this approach, many of the same benefits of actually implementing research were reported by students who completed only a proposal.     

Factors affecting achievement in a satellite‐delivered Japanese language program

Abstract

This article reviews previous research and reports on a study relating to six factors relevant to achievement in learning a new language: motivation, language learning styles, language learning strategies, gender, course level, and previous experience in learning a foreign language. Although motivation, learning styles, gender, and learning strategy use were all found to be influential, motivation was the single most important predictor of success. The authors suggest that awareness and understanding of the influence and interaction of student characteristics on achievement will allow instructors to provide optimal learning opportunities for all students.     

Teacher Conceptions and Approaches Associated with an Immersive Instructional Implementation of Computer-Based Models and Assessment in a Secondary Chemistry Classroom

This paper reports on a case study of an immersive and integrated multi-instructional approach (namely computer-based model introduction and connection with content; facilitation of individual student exploration guided by exploratory worksheet; use of associated differentiated labs and use of model-based assessments) in the implementation of coupled computer-based models and assessment in a high-school chemistry classroom. Data collection included in-depth teacher interviews, classroom observations, student interviews and researcher notes. Teacher conceptions highlighted the role of models as tools; the benefits of abstract portrayal via visualizations; appropriate enactment of model implementation; concerns with student learning and issues with time. The case study revealed numerous challenges reconciling macro, submicro and symbolic phenomena with the NetLogo model. Nonetheless, the effort exhibited by the teacher provided a platform to support the evolution of practice over time. Students' reactions reflected a continuum of confusion and benefits which were directly related to their background knowledge and experiences with instructional modes. The findings have implications for the role of teacher knowledge of models, the modeling process and pedagogical content knowledge; the continuum of student knowledge as novice users and the role of visual literacy in model decoding, comprehension and translation.     

Heart Rate Response to a Modified Harvard Step Test: Males and Females,Age 10–69

Abstract

The residents of an entire community are being examined periodically in an effort to determine the etiologic factors which lead to impaired health. As a part of this study, a submaximal test consisting of stepping onto an 8-inch bench at the rate of 24 steps/ minute for three minutes was administered to 2696 males and 2568 females, aged 10–69. The ECG, from which heart rate (HR) was measured, was recorded before, during, and after the exercise. Resting, exercise, and postexercise HR's are significantly higher for females at all ages. Pre-exercise HR decreases from age 10 to about age 25 in males and females, and shows little age change thereafter. In both males and females the terminal (3 minute) HR decreases from age 10 to 35, remains fairly constant to age 55, and decreases thereafter. The postexercise HR decreases again at age 65 in males and females. Reclining pre-exercise HR is moderately correlated with the exercise and postexercise HR at all ages in males and females. However, there is only a low correlation between either sitting or standing anticipatory HR and exercise and postexercise HR's. The HR's at 2′30” and 3′ during exercise are highly correlated as are the various postexercise HR's with each other at all ages and in both males and females. The correlation of the exercise HR and postexercise HR is moderately high. Percentile ranks for males and females (age 10–69) are given for the 1-minute postexercise HR's.     

‘Boys’ clubs are better than policemen's clubs': endeavours by philanthropists,social reformers,and others to prevent juvenile crime,the late 1800s to 1917

Conclusions set forth in Serious and Violent Juvenile Offenders (1997) and other recent reports are remarkably similar to those that men and women on both side of the Atlantic had made a century ago: prevention is better than punishment; stable families are important; schools and communities must take a role in providing positive experiences for children and youth. The Revd William Byron Forbush, sociologist Charles Zueblin, philanthropist Louise de Koven Bowen and scores of other men and women also believed that ‘structured playground activities’ and after-school recreation programmes were important interventions. Chicago's Hull-House, which was inspired by Toynbee Hall, had developed extensive educational and recreational offerings for the youth of its community by the 1890s. Scores of settlement houses, which numbered over 200 by 1904, and other private endeavours directed their energies and resources to such programmes before the First World War.     

No one way: Differentiating school district leadership and support for school improvement

This article examines findings from a qualitative investigation of how school district administrators in four mid to large sized urban school districts (10,000–50,000) identify and address differences in school performance. The analysis explores the interaction between district policies and actions that centralize and standardize expectations for teaching, learning, and leadership, and those that lead to the differentiation of district support to schools depending upon their identified needs. The findings demonstrate variability in district orientation and capacity to understand school needs to improve performance, as well as in district strategies for actually differentiating support to schools. Differentiated assistance can focus both on strengthening implementation of district expectations in order to improve school performance, and on supporting experimentation with non-standard solutions to performance challenges that are not solvable through use of established programs and practices.     

Impacts of urban economic factors on private tutoring industry

This paper investigates both supply (the number of employees in the PT industry and the number of PT institutions) and demand (the number of middle and high school students, grade 7?C12). Panel data are used for this research, making it possible to analyze market growth over time since it contains both cross-sectional and time-series information. Also this research sheds light on regional differences (urban socio-economic factors) which influence the growth of the PT market. Fixed effects and random effects regression models are developed to analyze the panel data. The purpose of this study is to analyze whether the changes in the demand for PT affect the growth of PT market between 2001 and 2006 in 25 gu (borough) of Seoul. Urban economic and industrial structures and income were controlled because they are known to influence the PT market along with demand for PT.