Individual differences in relative metacomprehension accuracy: variation within and across task manipulations

In recent decades, increasing numbers of studies have focused on metacomprehension accuracy, or readers’ ability to distinguish between texts comprehended more vs. less well. Following early findings that suggested readers are fairly poor at doing so, a number of studies have identified specific tasks to supplement a single reading of text that have resulted in greater metacomprehension accuracy. One assumption underlying these studies is that, in the absence of such tasks, metacomprehension accuracy is uniformly poor, and given their implementation, readers uniformly improve. Here we describe the individual variation that occurs both in the absence (e.g., within a single text reading manipulation) and presence (e.g., within a rereading or selective rereading task manipulation) of these supplementary tasks (N = 214), in order to make a case for greater attention to individual differences in metacomprehension accuracy. We also introduce a new manipulation in metacomprehension research, selective rereading, and argue that certain types of tasks may be more likely to reveal individual differences in metacomprehension accuracy due to the nature of the task being more or less demanding on working memory capacity.     

Teaching multiplication to low math performers: Guided versus structured instruction

The results of an intervention program forstudents with difficulties learning mathematicsare reported. Two kinds of math intervention,guided versus structured instruction, werecompared to regular math instruction. A totalof 75 students from regular and specialeducation, aged seven to thirteen,participated. Ability and automaticitymultiplication tests were administered beforeand after the four-month training period. Theresults show that the students in both of theexperimental conditions improved more than thestudents in the control condition. Someadditional differences were found between thetwo experimental interventions. Guidedinstruction appeared to be more effective forlow performing students than structuredinstruction and especially for those studentsin regular education. Special educationstudents appear to benefit most from structuredinstruction for the automaticity ofmultiplication problems. A three monthfollow-up test showed the acquired knowledge tobe well-established in both groups.     

Assessing a novel application of web-based technology to support implementation of school wellness policies and prevent obesity

Childhood obesity is one of the most pressing public health concerns in the United States. Because schools are a critical site to promote wellness and prevent obesity, extensive policy and legislative efforts have focused on school-based food services, nutrition education, physical education, and overall physical activity. Unfortunately, research indicates that most of these policies prove ineffective due to insufficient implementation. A small number of web-based programs have emerged that are designed to support the implementation of school wellness policies. The purpose of the current study is to present and interpret findings from an evaluation of the web-based portion of a program implemented throughout the state of Pennsylvania. In total, 192 registered users completed a survey designed to evaluate their utilization and perceptions of the web-based features of the Health eTools for Schools program. Participants represented the following stakeholder groups: school nurses, teachers, wellness coordinators, administrators, and food service directors. Findings indicate the web-based portion of the Health eTools for Schools program is comprehensive, well-designed, and has the potential to support implementation of school wellness policies geared toward obesity prevention. At present, the web-based features are most effective in providing school nurses with tools and resources to execute their roles related to obesity prevention. Applications supporting other groups such as teachers and food service directors require further development to be equally effective. The number of programs with this focus is likely to increase and further research is needed to address other aspects of these programs as well as their impact on student level outcomes such as eating habits, body mass index, physical activity levels, and physical fitness.     

A Decade of Teacher Stress: the changing nature of the determinants of teacher stress, 1981 to 1991

This article describes a longitudinal comparative case study of teacher stress. Results of a series of eight questionnaires administered to practising teachers in suburban and inner urban settings are presented. School location emerged as a significant variable. Implications for teacher education are drawn.     

Remembering in California sea lions: Using priming cues to facilitate language-like performance

Two sea lions(Zalophus californianus) were trained to respond to relational commands fey bringing the last designated object (transport item, or TI) to the earlier designated object (goal item, or GI). Most errors on this task involved forgetting of the GI due to interference from memory for the TI. We reasoned that instructing the animals to act directly on the same object several times in single-object commands immediately before a relational command that included the same object as the GI should make the GI associative episode less prone to interference by the TI associative episode. Results confirmed that prior cuing or prompting in this manner did enable the sea lions to perform significantly better on relational commands when no cuing was given.     

LENGTH OF SCHOOLING AND ITS EFFECT ON PERFORMANCE IN THE JUNIOR SCHOOL

Friendship patterns in an urban girls’ secondary comprehensive school with nearly 30 per cent immigrant pupils were studied by a sociometric technique. Pupils were found to choose their friends most frequently from their own ethnic groups, but this was more marked in the lower streams and older age groups than in the upper streams and younger age groups. In the upper streams and the sixth form some preference was found, but immigrant pupils tended to be well integrated with British girls in complex friendship groups.