“I find it odd that people have to highlight other people’s differences – even when there are none”: Experiential learning and interculturality in teacher education

This article examines the role of experiential learning in developing intercultural competences in the context of teacher education in Finland. Local and foreign students studying to become teachers were asked to write five short narratives each about meaningful intercultural encounters they experienced prior to enrolling in an intercultural course. Based on these narratives, the author analyses the potential overlap between the way the students reflect on and interpret these encounters and an understanding of interculturality which concentrates on the construction of self–other and social justice. The discourse analysis of the students’ narratives shows that in most cases, important intercultural learning seems to have already taken place before these students embarked on the course. The article ends with a discussion of the importance of starting from this observation in teacher education and of providing the student teachers with theoretical tools and methods which can support them in expanding their understanding of interculturality in their job as teachers.     

Effects of key state policies on private colleges and universities: sustaining private-sector capacity in the face of the higher education access challenge

The relationship between key state policy variables — (1) relative (private–public) tuition prices, (2) state student-aid funding, and (3) public institution density — and the competitive position of private colleges and universities is examined. Elite private schools are found to be nearly impervious to state policy. Large and moderately selective private institutions are adversely affected by public institution density and low public prices. Such prices divert students who would otherwise prefer these private institutions to similar public schools. State student aid funding most affects the enrollment market shares of the small, low-selectivity private colleges enrolling the greatest proportions of minority and modest-income students. The findings suggest state policies in this era of strong demand for higher education and constrained public sector capacity should use price signals (student aid and public institution pricing) to encourage students to consider seriously whether private higher education might serve their needs as well as or better than public institutions.     

Differences between WISC‐R and WISC‐III performance scale among children with ADHD

Reviews involving the Wechsler Scales for children suggest that Full Scale IQ scores on the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, Third Edition, average 5 to 6 points lower than scores on the second edition of the scale [WISC‐R, Wechsler, D. (1974). Zimmerman & Woo‐Sam, 1997], with the differences distributed disproportionately over subtests, i.e., with larger discrepancies found within the Performance Scale (Wechsler, 1991). Changes on the revised subtests of the WISC‐III Performance Scale may place children with ADHD at a disadvantage compared to their performance on analogous WISC‐R subtests. We examined IQ test performance in 122 unmedicated children with ADHD (61 given the WISC‐R, 61 given the WISC‐III), and 46 children from a healthy, comparison group (23 given the WISC‐R, 23 given the WISC‐III). The ADHD and comparison group samples were matched for sex and for Verbal IQ between WISC‐R and WISC‐III. Children with ADHD had significantly lower Performance IQ on WISC‐III compared to the WISC‐R, with the Picture Arrangement subtest showing the most significant difference. In contrast, there were no significant differences between the WISC‐R and WISC‐III cohorts on Performance IQ or any Performance subtests among the comparison group. These findings highlight the importance of examining the comparability of ability test revisions among clinical and non‐clinical populations, and will be especially salient when the WISC‐III is revised. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 40: 331–340, 2003.     

Becoming a Supervisor: Doctoral Student Perceptions of the Training Experience

Thirteen doctoral students, 7 Caucasians and 6 Hispanics, participated over 3 semesters of practicum/internship in a qualitative research project exploring the experience of becoming supervisors. A follow‐up study with 5 different doctoral students confirmed and refined findings 1½ years later. The research team of 2 female faculty members and 1 male research assistant (the authors) identified 6 themes emerging from individual and group interviews with supervisors‐in‐training regarding the process of becoming a supervisor: (a) learning, (b) supervisee growth, (c) individual uniqueness, (d) reflection, (e) connections, and (f) putting it all together.     

The Concept of Cycles for Environmental Education

The concept of ‘cycles’ could be an integrative one for learning about environmental issues within several school subject areas. This concept is the subject of this study with the following question: what are the ideas secondary school students associate with the word ‘cycles’ before instruction? Students formulate their associations on the stimulus word ‘cycles’ in terms of the school subject areas ‘biology’ and ‘environment’ more than in terms of the subject areas geography or other sciences. In their formulations a restricted number of cycle ideas, relevant for the use of cycles as an integrative concept in environmental education, occurs. Possibilities for making use of the concept of cycles in lower and higher secondary environmental education are discussed.     

Types and frequencies of feedback interventions in classroom interaction in secondary education

Contributing to the growing amount of literature on learning–enhancing feedback, this article attempts to distinguish between progress feedback and discrepancy feedback. Building on relevant literature drawn from psychology, we propose the use of a ratio of 3:1, positive:negative feedback. We analyzed contiguous 10 min blocks of classroom interactions from 78 teachers. Findings indicate that teachers seldom provide the types of feedback interventions identified as effective in enhancing learning in the course of typical classroom interactions. We examine potential explanations for this, discuss the consequences of this finding on teacher education and professional development, and offer several opportunities for future research.     

The Refined and Further Defined Freedom Paradigm: A Response to Ottens and MacCluskie

The proposed freedom paradigm is briefly reviewed as an overarching framework that may provide a structure for integrating the counseling profession and counseling theories. Freedom is defined and discussed in terms of four modalities: freedom from, freedom to, freedom with, and freedom for. This is followed by a response to comments on Hanna's (2011) article and addresses such topics as the nature of practice, the value of techniques, hypnotherapy, and the applicability of the paradigm for mental health professionals in general. A further clarification of counseling toward object orientation and internal control is also included.     

A preliminary investigation on diffusion through a layered system

We introduce layered systems such as the citations–citing authors–citing institutes–citing countries one. Diffusion of scientific ideas flows through such layered systems. Our contribution contains three main topics: a fractional counting system for the number of different units in a layer; the fractional number of items of the same type, i.e. in the same layer, over which ideas have been diffused; and the evenness of diffusion over different layers. In this way we construct a coherent system to measure the extent to which scientific ideas are diffused.