The Science Thought Experiment: How Might it be Used Profitably in the Classroom?

It is well established that thought experiments are both scientifically and philosophically significant, and even that they are pedagogically significant. However, the basis and methodology for their pedagogical use is not as well established. Pedagogical thought experiments are defined as mental simulations with special features to isolate certain conceptual elements. It is argued that thought experiments are made pedagogically effective through the process of re-enactment of the thought-experimental process. The process of re-enactment is best captured by rewriting thought experiments as stories. Several examples of thought experiments are analysed for their narrative content and an example is given of a pedagogical thought experiment re-written as a story. Recommendations are made as to how such thought experimental stories can be used effectively.     

'After the Statement': Reading progress made by secondary students with specific literacy difficulty provision

Students identified as experiencing a specific literacy difficulty or dyslexia may receive considerable additional support through a Statement of Special Educational Needs, but little is known about the reading outcome for the students receiving this support. This study investigated the reading decoding progress of 67 students who had been given a Statement of Special Educational Needs for specific literacy difficulties (SpLD). Also, the relationship between the rate of reading progress and intellectual ability (IQ) was investigated. The results showed that students receiving additional support made just over 6 months of reading progress per year of support. Approximately 13% of students made progress towards 'catching up' to their peers. No significant difference was found between three ability groups in terms of reading decoding progress, and the correlation between IQ and rate of reading decoding progress was near zero. The implications for special education programming were discussed.     

Self-efficacy from the perspective of adolescents with LD and their specialist teachers

This study used qualitative methodology to investigate the self-efficacy beliefs of early adolescents with learning disabilities (LD). We conducted a series of focus group interviews with 28 Grade 8 and 9 students with LD and individual interviews with 7 specialist LD teachers. Content analyses of the student and teacher data resulted in 2 a priori and 3 inductive themes: self-efficacy, calibration and levels of self-efficacy, students' self-awareness, attributions for failure, and problems and solutions. The students viewed themselves as low in self-efficacy and generally accurate in the calibration of their efficacy and performance, whereas the teachers viewed the students as overconfident about academic tasks. In contrast to the teachers, the students viewed verbal persuasion as a valued source of self-efficacy. Students attributed their failures to lack of effort, whereas their teachers attributed student failure to uncontrollable deficits. Problems and solutions related to student motivation were discussed from student and teacher perspectives.     

An Analysis of the Effects of Communication Skills Training Provided to the Mothers of Six-Year-Old Children on the Social Skills of Children

This study aims to analyze the effects of communication skills training program provided to the mothers on the social skills of their children. The study uses pre- and post-tests control group design. Experiment and control groups consisted of a total of 30 six-year-old children who were enrolled in nursery school. Experiment group consisted of 15 children; control group consisted of 15 children. The mothers of the children in experiment group were provided communication skills training for 13 weeks. SSES （social skills evaluation scale） was administered to the children before and after the training. The results of pre- and post- tests were compared and the effects of mothers＇ training program on the social skills of the children were investigated.     

Physics Comes to Winnipeg: The 1909 Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science

History of science can be used to bring scientific concepts to school science in a way that humanizes the protagonists and provides an appropriate context. The authors have researched the 1909 meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science (BAAS) in Winnipeg, a significant event in the city’s history that has remained largely unexplored until now, despite the existence of the original documents. The Mathematics and Physical Science Division of the BAAS met in Wesley College, which is now the University of Winnipeg. The meeting took place with much fanfare and public attention, especially with the attendance of the prominent scientists Rutherford, Thomson, Hahn, and Millikan, all of whom were or would become Nobel Laureates. Prominent themes relating to this meeting will be discussed in this paper.     

Academic procrastination and motivation of adolescents in Turkey

This article presents a study of academic procrastination and associated motivation variables in 508 adolescents from a general secondary school in central Turkey. Girls reported higher levels of self‐efficacy for self‐regulation and predicted higher Turkish grades than boys, but there was no difference in levels of procrastination. Academic self‐efficacy was a stronger predictor of procrastination for girls than for boys, but for both groups self‐efficacy for self‐regulation was the strongest predictor of procrastination. Most participants (83%) reported spending one hour or more procrastinating per day, with writing tasks the most prone to procrastination for boys and girls. When procrastinating, Turkish adolescent boys were more likely to spend time with electronic media (watching TV, emailing, going on‐line, and, in particular, playing computer games), whereas girls were most likely to read books, magazines, and newspapers. The article concludes with implications for researchers, and also for parents and educators of adolescents.     

Name-calling and Peer Beliefs among Primary School Children in Turkey

Name-calling is a common problem among primary school children in Turkey as in other countries. The Name-Calling Survey and Peer Beliefs Inventory were used to determine the relationships between name-calling and peer beliefs amongst a group of 319 primary school children in Turkey. Name-calling was found to be more common amongst boys than girls. A negative relationship was found between name-calling and peer beliefs, so that the greater experience of name-calling, the more children disliked their peers. Gender and grade level were found to have a significant negative relationship. The name-calling experiences of students affected their friendship relationships negatively, which contributed to violence in schools. School counsellors must be aware of name-calling victims and perpetrators, as well as organizing educational programmes aimed at helping students to cope with these problems.     

Factors Affecting Psychosocial Adjustment of Deaf Students

Deafness is more than a medical condition. Recent theories have emphasized the importance of environmental factors on the psychosocial development of deaf children. As part of a larger scale study, this article aims to investigate the impact of the following variables on deaf students' psychosocial adjustment in Turkey: student-related background and experiential characteristics, parent-related variables, school-related factors, and teacher-related variables. The sample of 1,097 deaf students enrolled in the elementary, secondary, and high schools was drawn from 34 schools in 24 cities on a national geographical spread. The multiple regression analysis revealed that degree of hearing loss, additional handicap, and age at onset of deafness were negatively related to psychosocial adjustment of deaf students. However, there was a positive relationship between psychosocial variables and some of the independent variables, such as use of hearing aids, speech intelligibility, academic achievement, parental hearing status, and communication methods used at school. The findings of the study do not support a "pathological" view of deafness, suggesting that it was not deafness per se but that some environmental factors were also influential on the psychosocial adjustment of deaf students.