The contribution of knowledge about anaphors,organisational signals and refutations to reading comprehension

Expository texts contain rhetorical devices that help readers to connect text ideas (within a text and with prior knowledge) and to monitor reading. Rhetorical competence addresses readers' skill in detecting, understanding and using these devices. We examined the contribution of rhetorical competence to reading comprehension on two groups of 11‐ to 13‐year‐old students: low‐level (Study 1) and high‐level (Study 2) reading skills. The measures of rhetorical competence assessed students' knowledge about anaphors, organisational signals and refutations. In both studies, each measure of rhetorical competence contributed significantly to reading comprehension once prior knowledge, working memory and decoding skills were controlled for. This contribution was higher in Study 2. Furthermore, whereas in Study 1, each measure of rhetorical competence had a unique contribution to reading comprehension when controlling for the other measures of rhetorical competence, in Study 2, only the knowledge about organisational signals and refutations had this unique contribution.     

CHARACTERISTICS OF SUCCESSFUL STUDENTS READMITTED FOLLOWING ACADEMIC SUSPENSION

The study was an investigation of the usefulness of 50 variables in predicting the academic performance of 86 students readmitted to Bronx Community College following academic suspension. The variables included scores on the City University of New York placement tests, the Maudsley Personality Inventory, and the Survey of Study Habits and Attitudes. Other variables included 8 educational history items, 20 biographical items, and students' opinions about the contribution of 12 factors to their previous academic failure. The criterion measure was the academic performance (pass or fail) in the re‐entry semester.

The principal conclusions to be derived from this study are that, for the population of academic failures characterized by average high school achievement and average scholastic aptitude, specific academic skills are important, past academic record seems unimportant, and a general factor called incentive seems important in the attainment of passing grades upon readmission.     

Performance of goldfish trained in allocentric and egocentric maze procedures suggests the presence of a cognitive mapping system in fishes

Goldfish were trained to obtain food in a four-arm maze placed in a room with relevant spatial cues. Four experimental conditions were run: allocentric, egocentric, egocentric + allocentric, and control. Relative to controls, all groups were able to solve the different tasks with high accuracy after 1 week of training. Subsequent transfer tests revealed place and response strategies for allocentric and egocentric groups, respectively, and both types of strategies for the ego-allocentric group. Moreover, the allocentric group showed the capacity to choose the appropriate trajectory toward the goal, even from novel starting points, presumably by using the distal cues as a whole. The results suggest that, in addition to using egocentric strategies, goldfish are able to solve spatial tasks on the basis of allocentric frames of reference and to build complex spatial cognitive representations of their environment.     

Re-Examining the Similarities Between Teacher and Student Conceptions About Physical Science

There is a large body of research that has explored students’ misconceptions about science phenomena. Less research, however, has been devoted to identifying teachers’ misconceptions, but the results of the few existing studies demonstrate that teachers and students possess similar misconceptions. This study explored the physical science conceptions of 103 elementary science teachers to determine whether, after three decades of misconception research, teachers still possess conceptions similar to those held by students. We found that our teachers expressed misconceptions regarding gravity, magnetism, gases, and temperature that were similar to common student misconceptions. Suggestions for improving science professional development programs are discussed.     

Using electronic meeting system support in the design of the graduate core curriculum

This article focuses on the use of an electronic meeting system (EMS) to facilitate the selection and refinement of a set of common graduate core courses for all master's degrees within the school of education in an upper-division university. The EMS was used at selected intervals within a seven months' process and provided an opportunity for broad-based group involvement in selection of the core competencies to be included. The seven-member task force generated ideas, discussed highly charged issues, prioritized competencies, and came to consensus through a combination of traditional and electronic meeting environments. The process followed, as well as the advantages, disadvantages, and insights gained, are reported here.Dennis W. Spuck is dean of the School of Education and professor of educational leadership and foundations. Doris L. Prater is associate dean and professor of educational foundations; she also chaired the task force whose work is described in this study. David B. Palumbo is an associate professor of instructional technology and was instrumental in the establishment of the electronic meeting system environment.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Conference of the University Council for Educational Administration, Philadelphia, PA, October 28, 1994.     

Memoria a corto plazo y modalidad sensorial en sujetos ciegos y videntes: efectos de la similitud auditiva y táctil

Resumen

El presente artículo tiene como objetivo analizar los procesos de codificación y almacenamiento en tareas que implican el sistema de la MCP. Con este fin, hemos utilizado material verbal y hemos manipulado el grado de similitud táctil y fonética de los estímulos para estudiar su efecto en la retención a corto plazo. Los resultados de los dos experimentos indican, por un lado, que los ciegos se sirven de formatos de naturaleza diferente (táctil-fonémica) para mantener la información a corto plazo y, por otro lado, que incrementan su capacidad de almacenamiento con la edad.     

Understanding the Fourth-Grade Slump: Our Point of View

Educators know that an achievement gap exists between students of low-income and middle-income families, a gap that is especially evident in fourth grade and beyond. This essay explores issues related to this gap, including primary-level children being immersed in narrative text and, therefore, unprepared for the challenges of informational text and content-specific vocabulary; lack of available material children are interested in reading; and limited reading opportunities created by a focus on high-stakes, test-preparation regimens.     

Cross-Validation of a Model of Intrinsic Motivation With Students Enrolled in High School Elective Courses

The purpose of this study was to cross-validate a model of relationships among social-contextual factors, individual differences, and intrinsic motivation in adolescent students enrolled in required courses (E. Ferrer-Caja & M. R. Weiss, 2000) with an independent sample of students taking elective courses. Female and male high school students (N = 219) completed measures of motivational climate, teaching style, perceived competence, self-determination, goal orientation, and intrinsic motivation. Motivated behavior was assessed by teachers who rated the students on effort and persistence in class activities. First, the authors used structural equation modeling to examine model invariance between the original and the new samples, which yielded a lack of equivalence. Next, the authors examined several alternative theory-based models using the elective sample. The results indicated that the data were best represented by a model that separated social-contextual factors, individual factors, intrinsic motivation, and motivated behaviors. The strongest predictors of intrinsic motivation were task-goal orientation and perceived competence. These results are discussed from both theoretical and methodological perspectives.     

Project ASTER III: A Model for Teacher Professional Development Integrating Science Museum Exhibits with State and National Science Education Content Standards

Abstract This article describes Project ASTER III (Active Science Teaching Encourages Reform), a science professional development program for early elementary teachers, which is based on the premise that people learn best by doing. Very few professional development programs focus on early childhood teacher development and how best to integrate informal science centers into teaching. In ASTER III, development teams—consisting of university scientists, science educators, K‐3 teachers, and educators from a hands‐on science museum—developed 5E lesson plans aligned with the Ohio Academic Content Standards and the National Science Education Standards in conjunction with the museum’s exhibits. This study explores the impact of the ASTER III model on teacher perceptions about the role and effect informal science museum visits have on subsequent teaching and student learning.