Can educational experiments both test a theory and inform practice?

This article feeds into debate about the feasibility and usefulness of educational experiments by discussing methodological issues arising out of a study which sought causal links between teaching and learning of one aspect of French as a foreign language. The study involved two small‐scale experiments which tested a hypothesis regarding the learning of second language grammar within a particular theoretical, and its related pedagogical, framework (Input Processing and Processing Instruction respectively), and has been described in full elsewhere. The current article uses that example to suggest some circumstances (contextual, methodological and theoretical) within which educational experiments may be able to both test a learning theory and inform educational practice. It is argued that despite the complexities and limits of small‐scale educational experiments, an experimental design which combined a range of methods was able to generate new and useful (in a range of senses) substantive knowledge.     

An Outreach Framework for Retaining Nontraditional Students at Open‐Admissions Institutions

The author discusses an outreach framework focused on retaining nontraditional students at small open‐admissions institutions. By using both campus and community resources, this approach integrates social work and counseling disciplines in an attempt to meet the needs of this population more effectively. Components of the program, implementation strategies, and limitations are also delineated.     

Self‐report objective measures of personality for children: A review of psychometric properties for RQC

Knoff (1995) indicated that Referral Question Consultation (RQC) can be applied to personality assessment and suggested several self‐report objective measures that could be consistent with this approach. The current article reviews the tools mentioned by Knoff, including the Children's Personality Questionnaire, The Millon Adolescent Clinical Inventory, The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory–Adolescents, The Personality Inventory for Youth, and The Self Report of Personality (SRP) from the Behavior Assessment System for Children. Each review addressed the reliability of the scales and composite scores, validity, usefulness of results for planning interventions, the empirical basis for analyses of individual items, and whether each measure accounted for response biases. The appropriateness of each for use with RQC, and individual strengths and weaknesses varied considerably. Therefore, practitioners should keep each test's limitations in mind when using it for intervention planning, and future research is needed to validate the tools for this purpose. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Benefits of assistive reading software for students with attention disorders

This study investigated how assistive reading software affected the reading performance of a group of 20 post-secondary students who had a primary diagnosis of attention disorder. These students used assistive reading software for most of a semester to read assignments for an English class and in testing sessions in which comparisons were made between normal, unassisted reading, and reading assisted by the soft ware. This software provides a synchronized visual and auditory presentation of text, and incorporates study skills tools for highlighting and note taking. Attention measures, reading speed, comprehension scores, and attitude questionnaire responses were obtained during these sessions. The principal findings were that the assistive software allowed the students to attend better to their reading, to reduce their distractibility, to read with less stress and fatigue, and to read for longer periods of time. It helped them to read faster and, thereby, to complete reading assignments in less time. It did not have a significant effect on comprehension, but it helped some students whose comprehension was very poor. The study results indicate that assistive reading software should be considered as a significant intervention to assist students who have attention disorders and as an accommodation to help them compensate for their disabilities.     

Profiles of emergent literacy skills among preschool children who are at risk for academic difficulties

The purpose of this study was to explore patterns of within-group variability in the emergent literacy skills of preschoolers who are at risk for academic difficulties. We used the person-centered approach of cluster analysis to identify profiles of emergent literacy skills, taking into account both oral language and code-related skills. Participants were 492 preschoolers (aged 42-60 months) enrolled in needs-based programs. In the fall of the academic year, children were administered eight measures of emergent literacy: four oral language measures (i.e., expressive and receptive grammar, expressive and receptive vocabulary) and four code-related measures (i.e., print concepts, alphabet knowledge, name writing, and rhyme). Controlling for age, hierarchical-agglomerative and K-means cluster analysis procedures were employed. Five psychometrically sound profiles emerged: highest emergent literacy (prevalence = 14%); three profiles with average oral language and differential code-related abilities (16%, 24%; 23%); and lowest oral language with broad code-related weaknesses (23%). Profiles were then compared on midyear teacher ratings of emergent literacy as well as end-of-kindergarten literacy performance; results provided convergent evidence of predictive validity. This study highlights the considerable heterogeneity of emergent literacy abilities within an “at-risk” group. The resulting profiles have theoretical and practical relevance when examining both concurrent relationships between oral language and code-related skills as well as longitudinal relationships between early patterns of performance and later reading achievement.     

蠕变条件下完整岩石的起裂和扩展准则

The mechanism and criterion of crack initiation and propagation of rocks were investigated by many researchers,And the creep behaviour of rocks was also theoretically and experimentally studied by some scientists and engineers.The characteristics of crack initation and propagation of rocks under creep condition.however,are very improtant for rock engineering and still not paid enough attention by researchers,In this paper,the criterion and mechanism of crack initiation and propagation under creep condition were investigated using specimens collected from sandstone rock formations outcropping in the Emei Mountain,the Sichuan Province of China.Cuboid specimens under three point bending were used in this investigation.All specimens were classified into four sorts and used for Mode-I fracutre of creep frcture tests.The experimental result shows that due to creep deformation.rock crack will inevitably initialt and propagate under a load of KI,which is less than fracture toughness KIC but not less than a constant(marked as KIC2),KIC2 indicates the ability of rock to resist crack initiation and propagation under creep conditions and is less than fracture tough ness KIC.defined as creep fracture toughness in this paper,KIC2 should be considered as an importnat parameter on design and computation of rock engineering.The microstructureal mechanism for crack initiation and propagation of rock materials under creep condition was introduced based on competitive model between softening effect and hardening effect,and the validity of test result was explained.The test result was also verified in rheological theory.When KI is more than KIC2 but less than KIC,rock crack will initiate and propagate after a time interval of sustained loading under creep condition.In order to find the relation between duration of sustained lading.which can lead to crack initiation and propagation,and the initial stress intensity factor KI,an unequal0interval time sequence forecasting and predicting model was introduced,and the relation was obtained for homogeneous and isotropic fine-grained red sandstone.Finally a modified fracture toughness formula was given,in which the influence of fracture process zone(FPZ) was fully considered.     

Art instruction and the Goodenough-Harris drawing test in fifth-graders

The experiment was conducted to assess the effect of ordinary school art instruction in human figure drawing on scores of the Goodenough-Harris Drawing Test. Subjects consisted of 44 fifth-grade students attending a suburban parochial school who were members of two preexisting, randomly assigned homeroom classes. Both classes were taught two lessons in art by their regular teachers. The treatment group was taught human figure drawing, and the control group had art lessons excluding figure drawing instruction. The Drawing Test was administered three times, one preinstruction and two postinstruction administrations. Absenteeism reduced treatment and control groups to 14 and 17 subjects, respectively. As predicted, no differences were found in the control group between pretest and postests. The treatment group showed significant gains on both posttests, as well as a significant decline from the first posttest to the second posttest.     

A Critique of the Existing Research into Small Primary Schools

Major studies carried out in the United Kingdom on small primary schools are drawn upon and evaluated. It is argued that research in this area is flawed for the following reasons: there is no agreed definition of a 'small primary school'; investigations have been biased in their favour as a result of problems in research design and the ways in which data have been analysed; and, finally, there has been a neglect of certain key issues, notably those affecting pupil grouping.