Differences in Performance Between Students with Learning Disabilities and Mild Mental Retardation: Implications for Categorical Instruction

We reviewed eight studies that described learning differences between students with learning disabilities (LD) and students with mild mental retardation (MMR). A total of 639 students, 6–20 years old, participated in these studies. Study authors examined students' inductive reasoning and their performance during guided inquiry and more lengthy interventions in reading and math. Students with LD and students with MMR were assessed in terms of learning ease, pre‐ to posttreatment gains, and the maintenance, transfer, and application of knowledge acquisition. Students with LD statistically significantly outperformed students with MMR on both inductive reasoning and guided inquiry tasks. They made reliably larger gains following interventions in reading and math. Across all learning tasks and contexts, students with LD displayed greater consistency transferring and applying conceptual knowledge to new tasks. Regarding maintenance, results were mixed. Implications for categorical instruction are discussed.     

Classroom Order as Practical Action: the making and un‐making of a quiet reproach

This paper details the interactional work and resources of a high school teacher and student engaged in a brief sequence of reproach. Across their several turns of talk and gesture, as teacher and student press and deflect the object of the reproach, we gain access to a basic structure of classroom accountability: how teachers tie their remarks to the behaviors that prompt them. The sequential analysis of their scene shows the interactional competence that both parties bring to their exchange, the orderly structures they produce and orient to, and the potential for discovery about classroom order and management practices that lies in the observable detail of everyday scenes.     

Effects of Cooperative Learning on the Academic Achievement of Students with Learning Disabilities: An Update of Tateyama‐Sniezek’s Review

This article reviews research published from 1990 to 2000 examining effects of cooperative learning strategies on the academic achievement of students with learning disabilities. The literature search is described. Fifteen studies are included in the review and are grouped according to the types of cooperative learning strategies that were examined. Sample characteristics, measures, findings, and effect sizes are reported in a table. Achievement outcomes are mixed. Cooperative learning strategies that incorporate individual accountability and group rewards are more likely to improve achievement of students with disabilities. However, design problems across the studies limit conclusions to be drawn about the efficacy of cooperative learning. More research is needed before it may be viewed as an effective strategy for students with disabilities.     

Database publishing statistics

The database industry was initiated in the early 1970s by the abstracting and indexing (A&I) or secondary publishers as they converted their print products to computer-readable form. In the 1980s a number of primary publishers followed suit and introduced the first full-text databases—first on magnetic tapes and then on CD-ROMs. CD-ROM was responsible for accelerating the growth of full-text databases. The majority of the early databases were produced by government and not-for-profit organizations. In the mid-1980s the commercial sector started large-scale production of databases and now produces the majority of all publicly available databases. This paper traces the growth of the computer-readable database industry from the 1970s to the present.     

Confronting the Evolution Education Abyss

This article discusses recent evolution education literature and highlights key themes and perspectives recognized in the scientific community but only minimally exposed within either the science classroom or the science education research agenda. Examples include: macroevolution, expressed as the history of life on earth; the microbial dominance of most of earth time as a learning tool and theme organizer; sym-biogenesis and frequently accompanying horizontal gene transfer; Lamarck and the roles of others traditionally ridiculed in evolution study; and new views of fundamental evolution topics such as speciation. Several recommendations are given to address these important omissions within the science educator community.     

Physiological responses to maximal intermittent exercise: differences between endurance-trained runners and games players.

Six games players (GP) and six endurance-trained runners (ET) completed a standardized multiple sprint test on a non-motorized treadmill consisting of ten 6-s all-out sprints with 30-s recovery periods. Running speed, power output and oxygen uptake were determined during the test and blood samples were taken for the determination of blood lactate and pH. Games players tended to produce a higher peak power output (GP vs ET: 839 +/- 114 vs 777 +/- 89 W, N.S.) and higher peak speed (GP vs ET: 7.03 +/- 0.3 vs 6.71 +/- 0.3 m s-1, N.S.), but had a greater decrement in mean power output than endurance-trained runners (GP vs ET: 29.3 +/- 8.1% vs 14.2 +/- 11.1%, P less than 0.05). Blood lactate after the test was higher for the games players (GP vs ET: 15.2 +/- 1.9 vs 12.4 +/- 1.7 mM, P less than 0.05), but the decrease in pH was similar for both groups (GP vs ET: 0.31 +/- 0.08 vs 0.28 +/- 0.08, N.S.). Strong correlations were found between peak blood lactate and peak speed (r = 0.90, P less than 0.01) and between peak blood lactate and peak power fatigue (r = 0.92, P less than 0.01). The average increase in oxygen uptake above pre-exercise levels during the sprint test was greater for endurance-trained athletes than for the games players (ET vs GP: 35.0 +/- 2.2 vs 29.6 +/- 3.0 ml kg-1 min-1, P less than 0.05), corresponding to an average oxygen uptake per sprint (6-s sprint and 24 s of subsequent recovery) of 67.5 +/- 2.9% and 63.0 +/- 4.5% VO2 max respectively (N.S.). A modest relationship existed between the average increase in oxygen uptake above pre-exercise values during the sprint test and mean speed fatigue (r = -0.68, P less than 0.05). Thus, the greater decrement in performance for the games players may be related to higher glycolytic rates as reflected by higher lactate concentrations and to their lower oxygen uptake during the course of the 10 sprints.