Aligning Components of Recognition and Response and Response to Intervention to Improve Transition to Primary School

Children face numerous transitions throughout their school careers. Research has demonstrated that early transitions can positively or negatively impact future school performance. Establishing effective models to ensure carryover of instructional strategies and interventions into early elementary school can increase the likelihood children will have a smooth transition to kindergarten from preschool. Response and Recognition (R&R) is a framework for delivering a continuum of instructional strategies and interventions to meet children’s needs at the preschool level. Response to Intervention (RtI) is a framework for implementing a continuum of instructional strategies and interventions to meet children’s needs at the K-12 level. The purpose of this paper is to outline the similarities and differences between the R&R and RtI frameworks and to provide recommendations of ways the two frameworks can be used to ensure a smooth transition into primary school.     

Prospective teacher learning: recognizing evidence of conceptual understanding

This study examined prospective teachers’ (PSTs) ability to recognize evidence of children’s conceptual understanding of mathematics in three content areas before and after an instructional intervention designed to support this ability. It also investigates the role PSTs’ content knowledge plays in their ability to recognize children’s mathematical understanding. Results of content knowledge assessments administered at the beginning of the study revealed that content knowledge did seem to support PSTs’ analyses of children’s understanding when the child’s response demonstrated understanding or demonstrated a misconception. Content knowledge did not seem to support PSTs’ analyses of children’s procedural responses, as many PSTs with good content knowledge initially characterized procedural solutions as evidence of conceptual understanding. Similarly, content knowledge did not seem to support PSTs’ analyses of children’s responses with features commonly associated with understanding but not evidence of understanding. After the instructional intervention consisting of three multifaceted lessons in which PSTs examined many examples of student thinking, they showed improved ability to analyze responses with conceptual features and no evidence of conceptual understanding and responses demonstrating procedural knowledge. Results suggest that content knowledge is not sufficient for supporting PSTs’ analysis of children’s thinking, and that building activities such as the intervention into content courses may help develop this ability. Implications for teacher education programs and future research are considered.     

��Information Survival Skills��: a medical school elective

Objective:

The authors developed an elective course to assist students in (1) understanding the changing nature of scholarly communication and online publishing, (2) identifying resources and strategies for searching current best evidence, and (3) demonstrating effective communication of information.

Setting:

The course took place in a medical school in the Southwest.

Participants:

Second- and third-year medical students participated in the course.

Intervention:

A pass-fail, undergraduate-level elective was first offered October to December 2006. This 7.5 hour course, developed and co-taught by 2 health sciences library faculty, consisted of hands-on exercises, small group discussion, and didactic lecture.

Conclusion:

Presenting a medical school elective is one possible outlet for intensive bibliographic instruction. Illustrating the flow of information from creation to management and presentation affords students an opportunity to understand information in context. This elective has been consistently ranked very high in student evaluations and led to new and expanded teaching opportunities.     

The contribution of ‘shared education’ to Catholic–Protestant reconciliation in Northern Ireland: a third way?

Northern Ireland has achieved political stability and its devolved government is now tackling public policy issues neglected during periods of sectarian violence. Notwithstanding the prevailing political optimism, one legacy of the conflict is a deeply divided society. This is particularly manifest in the education system where around 90% of children attend either state (controlled) schools (de facto Protestant) or Catholic (maintained) schools, with integrated schools accounting for less than 6% of the school population. In an attempt to address this duplication of services, in the context of 85,000 empty desks, external funders have piloted an initiative entitled The Shared Education Programme (SEP) where schools working in cross‐community partnerships deliver shared classes and activities in order to improve education outcomes. This paper attempts to: quantify the educational returns for pupils participating in the SEP; articulate the qualitative reconciliation benefits from the perspective of teachers, parents and pupils; and, locate the findings of the research in the ongoing policy debate about restructuring education provision in Northern Ireland at a time of budget retrenchment and declining school rolls.     

The Power of Perspective: Teaching Social Policy with Documentary Film

AIDS has challenged the social work community to be responsive to work with individuals who are facing death and families and significant others who are undergoing feelings of loss and grief. This article discusses teaching content and methodology in each of three integrated sessions that go beyond the traditional, didactic approach to the topic of death in a graduate social work practice course. Students examine their attitudes and reactions to death and dying and develop relevant knowledge, skills and coping behavior for work with persons with AIDS, their lovers and families.     

Factors associated with minimal changes in countermovement jump performance throughout a competitive division I collegiate basketball season

ABSTRACT

The purpose of the study was to assess factors that contribute to countermovement jump (CMJ) performance in women’s basketball athletes. Thirteen female athletes participated and were tested for maximal oxygen uptake (VO_2max) and heart rate (HR_max). Athletes were monitored, daily for a total of 21 weeks with heart rate-based wearable devices and CMJ performance and body weight were tested weekly after one day of recovery. 3-jump average height (CMJ_avg), maximum height jump (CMJ_max), and CMJ power (Watts) were calculated and recorded. Playing intensities >85% HR_max, HR_avg, HR_max and training load were averaged for three consecutive days prior to the recovery day. After the season, data was grouped as changes in CMJ power from week one: Large (≤ ?4.39% change), Moderate (?4.4% to ?0.62% change), and Minimal (≥ ?0.61% change) changes. Fixed-effects models revealed a main effect of group (p ≤ 0.05) for CMJ_avg, CMJ_max, VO_2max, weekly percent changes in body weight and for 3-day training load, HR_avg, and playing time at >85% HR_max. When athletes experienced minimal changes in CMJ performance, relative to large changes, they produced greater power, jumped higher, avoided negative changes in weekly body weight, had a greater preseason VO_2max and 3-day average workloads appeared to have an impact on CMJ performance     

Learning More About How They Think: Information Literacy Instruction in a Campus-Wide Critical Thinking Project

ABSTRACT

Critical thinking and information literacy are strongly connected. At Washington State University, librarians have been involved with first-year experience programs and with a grant-funded critical thinking project that enhanced the library instruction and outreach efforts and has led to increased involvement with new initiatives on campus.