Teachers’ role and attitudes concerning ADHD medication: A qualitative analysis

The increased use of Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) medication by children has led to growing concerns. In a previous study, we found that many of the teachers that were interviewed about ADHD spontaneously associated ADHD with medication. The present study is a qualitative reanalysis of what precisely these 30 primary school teachers had spontaneously said about medication in our previous semi‐structured interviews on ADHD. Almost all respondents had experience with pupils taking ADHD medication. The majority of spontaneously mentions medication as the treatment of ADHD. Attitudes towards ADHD medication use by pupils are mainly ambivalent, but more positive than negative effects of medication are reported. However, what teachers say about ADHD medication is often not based on sound information; their attitudes tend to be formed by personal experiences rather than founded on professional and scientific sources. We conclude from our analysis that it will be in the interest of reducing the number of children on ADHD medication that teachers have good access to verified and up‐to‐date information on ADHD and medication so that they are better supported in making evidence‐based pedagogical judgments.     

School psychologists’ beliefs and practices about treatment integrity in 2008 and 2017

A random sample of 1,000 Nationally Certified School Psychologists were mailed a 17‐item survey about treatment integrity. A total of 132 responded and answered questions about the importance of treatment integrity data for tiered interventions and the frequency and methods used to measure treatment integrity in one‐to‐one and problem‐solving team consultation. Ninety‐eight percent agreed that treatment integrity data were critical for tiered interventions. However, only 7% in one‐to‐one consultation and 0% in team consultation reported it was “always” collected. Respondents identified barriers of time, workload, system factors, and staff knowledge as explanations for why there was a gap between belief and practice. The participant responses were compared to those from a 2008 survey and found to be almost unchanged. Issues associated with decision‐making when treatment integrity data are lacking and recommendations for improving the assessment and reporting of treatment integrity are discussed.     

Differences of math anxiety groups based on two measurements,MASS and EEG

This article investigated how mathematic anxiety (MA) of Korean middle school students could be reduced by comparing analytically their cognitive neuroscience and questionnaire results. We developed a three-hour Complex Treatment Program (CTP) on quadratic functions for the study. In the summer of 2016, we collected data of the pre and post MA questionnaires by Mathematics Anxiety Scale for Students (MASS), the percent of correct answers (PCA) and reaction time (RT) by E-prime program, and also brain-imaging data of the event related potentials (ERP) by Electroencephalograph (EEG) using computer-based functional F-G model. The result indicated the CTP to be effective with the group with higher math anxiety and the group with higher achievement respectively. The MASS result was verified with the better performance of PCA on type G, which was measured by E-prime program. Some interesting patterns were revealed on brain-imaging data by EEG, indicating more brain activities with the MA groups.     

汉英翻译中的文化补偿策略

翻译涉及源语和译入语两种不同的文化。原文文化信息的省略和遗失,都会在不同语言的交际活动中对异域文化的读者造成不同程度的误解或不解。译者的首要任务就是为译入语读者解决由文化差异而带来的理解困难。解决原文信息传递中的理解困难,需要填补这种文化内容的遗失,目的是让译文读者全面真实地了解原文文本信息。     

地方院校环境工程特色专业建设方案探索

从人才培养方案、课程建设、教师队伍建设、实践教学、教学管理制度等几方面探讨了作为地方院校如何开展环境工程特色专业建设,以地处珠江三角洲的东莞理工学院为例探讨了如何结合地方特点来建设环境工程特色专业,对各方面建设内容进行了详细阐述,以为同类院校提供借鉴。     

Opportunities for educational innovations in authentic project-based learning: understanding instructor perceived challenges to design for adoption

Educational technology research and development - Authentic project-based learning (APBL) is a highly effective way for instructors to help students learn disciplinary skills, modes of thinking,...     

Quantifying Qualitative Scholarship: A Fool’s Errand or a Methodological Necessity?

This paper describes our efforts to systematically generate knowledge from ethnographic and other qualitative scholarship as a way of bridging intellectual gaps found in quantitative research. We ground this scholarly endeavor in the study of gangs, which has a lengthy history in the field of criminology, yet lacks a coherent, coordinated, and comparative understanding of gang dynamics, behavior, and impacts. We discuss the importance of acknowledging the multiple and mixed methodologies used in gang scholarship and detail the inductive, deductive, and iterative process that helped us (1) develop a comprehensive coding instrument for coding a range of qualitative works, (2) establish the instrument’s inter-rater reliability, and (3) remain cognizant and reflexive about the strengths of both quantitative and qualitative research. Finally, we share the critical yet informative challenges we faced throughout the project and conclude with reflections on why the project was unsuccessful in the way we originally envisioned.     

“They Were There for People Who Needed Them”: Student Attitudes Toward the Use of Trigger Warnings in Victimology Classrooms

Over the last five years, vigorous debate has been waged about the purpose, use, and impact of trigger warnings in courses offered at institutions of higher education. This debate has been largely uninformed by research findings. This study fills this gap using quantitative and qualitative data collected via surveys in a large undergraduate victimology course to explore student attitudes toward trigger warnings. Findings revealed considerable, but nuanced support for trigger warning use in victimology courses. Support does not appear to differ between crime victims and non-victims; support is higher among females than males. These findings underscore that universal decisions mandating or advocating for or against the use of trigger warnings are premature. Further study is needed with a diverse range of samples to gain a fuller picture of student attitudes about trigger warnings as well as to assess any impact of trigger warnings use on student behavior and learning.     

Fostering Analogical Reasoning Through Creating Robotic Models of Biological Systems

This article considers student analogical reasoning associated with learning practice in creating bio-inspired robots. The study was in the framework of an outreach course for middle school students. Fifty eighth and ninth graders performed inquiries into behavior and locomotion of snakes and designed robotic models using the BIOLOID robot construction kit. We analyzed the interdomain analogies between biological and robotic systems elaborated by the students and evaluated the contribution of the analogies to the integrated learning of biology and robotics. The analogies expressed by the students at different stages of the course were collected and categorized, and their use in knowledge construction was traced. The study indicated that students’ reasoning evolved with learning, towards an increased share of deeper analogies at the end of the course. We found that analogical reasoning helped students to construct knowledge and guided their inquiry and design activities. In the proposed framework, the students learn to inquire into biological systems, generate analogies, and use them for developing and improving robotic systems.