Education and training for computer-based reference services: review of training efforts to date.

This article raises several questions regarding training for computer-based reference services, including who is to be trained and who is responsible for training. It discusses these issues and then provides a summary of the training provided to date by search service suppliers, database suppliers, library schools and extension programs, library cooperatives, and professional organizations. The available training materials are also discussed. Some projections are made of likely future activities.     

An instrument for measuring short intervals of time

This paper describes a meter for measuring short intervals of time. Full scale deflections of 0.001, 0.1 and 1.0 second can be obtained by the use of a selector switch. This meter will indicate the length of time a contact remains closed, or the interval of time between the closing of one circuit and the opening of another. The device has a linear acale for any chosem range. It measures time by the charge which flows to a condenser during the interval. The charge is found by reading the potential difference 0n the condenser with a sensitive vacuum-tube voltmeter.The theory of the circuit and its advantage over other devices for the same purpose are discussed.     

Talking about education: exploring the significance of teachers’ talk for teacher agency

Abstract

The interest in teachers’ discourses and vocabularies has for a long time been studied under the rubric of knowledge, most notably teachers’ professional knowledge. This interest can be traced back to Shulman’s distinction between different kinds of teacher knowledge and Schwab’s interest in the role of practical reasoning and judgement in teaching. Within the research, a distinction can be found between a more narrow approach that focuses on teachers’ propositional or theoretical knowledge and a more encompassing approach in which teachers’ knowledge is not only the knowledge for teachers generated elsewhere, but also the knowledge of teachers. This is the ‘stock of knowledge’ gained from a range of sources and experiences, including teachers’ ongoing engagement with the practice of teaching itself. In this paper, we focus on the role of teachers’ talk in their achievement of agency. We explore how, in what way and to what extent such talk helps or hinders teachers in exerting control over and giving direction to their everyday practices, bearing in mind that such practices are not just the outcome of teachers’ judgements and actions, but are also shaped by the structures and cultures within which teachers work.     

FAMILY EDUCATIONAL INVOLVEMENT AND CHILD ACHIEVEMENT IN EARLY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL FOR AMERICAN‐BORN AND IMMIGRANT FAMILIES

As the foreign‐born population in the United States grows, the achievement of immigrant children is a pressing concern. We examined family educational involvement in early elementary school as a potential source of support for the academic success of children in immigrant families. Using a nationally representative sample, we examined rates of educational involvement at first and third grade, as well as associations between involvement and math and reading achievement at these times. With regard to rates, the domain of greatest difference between U.S.‐born White parents and both U.S.‐born and immigrant parents of color (Asian, Black, and Latino) was for school‐based involvement. In addition, several variations in the associations between involvement and child achievement were evident across immigrant and race/ethnicity groups, with children in U.S.‐born White, Black, and Asian families as well as children in Latino immigrant families most consistently demonstrating positive associations between family educational involvement and achievement.     

The effect of rate of reinforcement and time in session on preference for variability

Pigeons pecked keys on concurrent-chains schedules that provided a variable interval 30-sec schedule in the initial link. One terminal link provided reinforcers in a fixed manner; the other provided reinforcers in a variable manner with the same arithmetic mean as the fixed alternative. In Experiment 1, the terminal links provided fixed and variable interval schedules. In Experiment 2, the terminal links provided reinforcers after a fixed or a variable delay following the response that produced them. In Experiment 3, the terminal links provided reinforcers that were fixed or variable in size. Rate of reinforcement was varied by changing the scheduled interreinforcer interval in the terminal link from 5 to 225 sec. The subjects usually preferred the variable option in Experiments 1 and 2 but differed in preference in Experiment 3. The preference for variability was usually stronger for lower (longer terminal links) than for higher (shorter terminal links) rates of reinforcement. Preference did not change systematically with time in the session. Some aspects of these results are inconsistent with explanations for the preference for variability in terms of scaling factors, scalar expectancy theory, risk-sensitive models of optimal foraging theory, and habituation to the reinforcer. Initial-link response rates also changed within sessions when the schedules provided high, but not low, rates of reinforcement. Within-session changes in responding were similar for the two initial links. These similarities imply that habituation to the reinforcer is represented differently in theories of choice than are other variables related to reinforcement.     

The usefulness of the verbal receptivity construct in instructional communication research

Perceptions of verbal receptivity of dyadic partners have recently been incorporated into interpersonal research. Receptivity of a teacher appears likely to be associated with student learning. However, it was suspected that perceptions of teacher responsiveness, a factor found very important in previous research, might overlap with perceptions of receptivity to the point that the latter construct would not be useful for predicting additional variability in student learning.

While both verbal receptivity and responsiveness were found to be significantly correlated with both affective and cognitive learning, the data indicated that measures of verbal receptivity and responsiveness were highly correlated. Analyses of variance found that verbal receptivity contributed significantly to cognitive learning but non‐significantly to affective learning (except affect for instructor) when the effects of responsiveness were accounted for. Receptivity probably would be best considered as a subset of the larger responsiveness construct in future work in the instructional arena.     

The Transition from Early Child Care to Preschool: Emerging Toddler Skills and Readiness for Group-Based Learning

Research Findings: National policy today is on the brink of defining preschool experiences as essential for children’s academic success. Indeed, many children’s classroom experience begins as they transition from infant/toddler care to a preschool classroom. This study examined developmentally relevant skill domains among 36-month-olds (effortful control, social engagement, and language abilities) and tested their organization in a latent factor model of skills hypothesized to promote classroom adaptation. Assessments of low-income children interacting with a parent and examiner from the Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Project were utilized (n = 1,814). The data included observations of mother–child interactions during semistructured activities at home and child behavior assessments. Results indicated that the interrelated structure of children’s skills was best defined in a 2-factor, latent variable model: effortful control and social communication. These learning skills were related to but separate from general cognitive ability. Practice or Policy: Home-visiting programs for infants and toddlers are expected to promote children’s school readiness, yet little research has focused on the skills that facilitate children’s transition to the large-group learning environment at age 3. Implications of this model for early prevention efforts and early childhood teacher training to promote children’s readiness for group-based learning are discussed.