Developmental outcome of preterm infants with intraventricular hemorrhage at one and two years of age

Around 1980, many perinatal centers began prospective cranial screening of preterm infants using portable ultrasonography at the bedside. This study examined developmental outcome at 1 and 2 years in relation to the presence and severity of neonatal intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH). It varies from earlier reports in the size of the sample, restriction to infants without periventricular leukomalacia (PVL), and an attempt to formulate a predictive model by examining development longitudinally. Parametric and nonparametric analyses demonstrated that IVH related to Bayley mental and motor scores and neurologic ratings at 1 year but not at 2 years. Developmental delay and/or neurologic abnormality were more prevalent in infants with severe IVH but were far from universal. Regression analyses on prediction from neonatal and 1-year performance to 2-year scores revealed significant associations between the 1- and 2-year measures but not the neonatal and outcome measures. A direct insult to the CNS such as IVH thus constitutes only a limited model of risk status.     

Faculty consulting: Do universities have “control”?

Whether current policies governing external consulting during institutional time are adequate is being discussed both within and outside of academe. Many institutions are presently reviewing their consulting policy statements to determine their adequacy in light of pressures to more closely monitor outside work by their faculty. Faculty, on the other hand, are concerned with what they see as a movement to restrict consulting opportunities. A review of institutional documents shows most large universities do not address in a formal, written manner many important considerations of the consulting arrangement. As a result, confusion and confrontation over control of noninstitutional work for compensation is present.     

Contextual influences on the interaction between conflicting memories in the rat

Contextual events redundant to the learning, in sequence, of passive and active avoidance were of one type for the former task and of another for the latter. During later testing, these contextual events were found to determine which of these acquired, conflicting dispositions would be manifested in behavior. Mutual interference in retention otherwise seen under similar circumstances seemed subordinate to the influence of the three types of contextual stimuli tested—drug (pentobarbital), compound (the experimental room in which conditioning took place), and a relatively unitary stimulus (a constantly sounding buzzer). The discussion considered the defining characteristics of a “contextual stimulus” and the mechanisms through which contextual events control the manifestation of learned behaviors and alleviation of interference in retention.     

Taking religions seriously in the sociology of education: going beyond the secular paradigm

Abstract

Valuable developments in the Sociology of Education over the last 40?years have involved the widening and deepening of analytical perspectives to include not only class-based research in education but also the complex interactions of class, race and gender in all educational, social, economic and political contexts. From a sociology of knowledge perspective the field has become historically more mature and multi-­dimensional in its research and analysis of socio-educational contexts internationally. This paper argues that despite these progressive developments, one dimension is still largely ignored i.e. that of the religions of the world and of the social and cultural implications of these faiths for education today. Sociological analysis which elides a religious dimension not only presents an over-simplified view of social relations in the modern West but also fails to make an authentic engagement with education.     

Exponential functions,rates of change,and the multiplicative unit

Conventional treatments of functions start by building a rule of correspondence betweenx-values andy-values, typically by creating an equation of the formy=f(x). We call this acorrespondence approach to functions. However, in our work with students we have found that acovariational appraoch is often more powerful, where students working in a problem situation first fill down a table column withx-values, typically by adding 1, then fill down ay-column through an operation they construct within the problem context. Such an approach has the benefit of emphasizing rate-of-change. It also raises the question of what it is that we want to cal rate across different functional situations. We make two initial conjectures, first that a rate can be initially understood as aunit per unit comparison and second that a unit is theinvariant relationship between a successor and its predecessor. Based on these conjectures we describe a variety of multiplicative units, then propose three ways of understanding rate of change in relation to exponential functions. Finally we argue that rate is different than ratio and that an integrated understanding of rate is built from multiple concepts.     

Conceptually enhanced simulations: A computer tool for science teaching

In this paper, we consider a way computer simulations can be used to address the problem of teaching for conceptual change and understanding. After identifying three levels of understanding of a natural phenomenon (concrete, conceptual, and metaconceptual) that need to be addressed in school science, and classifying computer model systems and simulations more generally in terms of the design choices facing the programmer, we argue that there are ways to design computer simulations that can make them more powerful than laboratory models. In particular, computer simulations that provide an explicit representation for a set of interrelated concepts allow students to perceive what cannot be directly observed in laboratory experiments: representations for the concepts and ideas used for interpreting the experiment. Further, by embedding the relevant physical laws directly into the program code, these simulations allow for genuine discoveries. We describe how we applied these ideas in developing a computer simulation for a particular set of purposes: to help students grasp the distinction between mass and density and to understand the phenomenon of flotation in terms of these concepts. Finally, we reflect on the kinds of activities such conceptually enhanced simulations allow that may be important in bringing about the desired conceptual change.     

The effects of computer-assisted instruction and locus of control upon preservice elementary teachers' acquisition of the integrated science process skills

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of computer-assisted instruction (CAI) versus a text mode of programmed instruction (PI), and the cognitive style of locus of control, on preservice elementary teachers' achievement of the integrated science process skills. Eighty-one preservice elementary teachers in six sections of a science methods class were classified as internally or externally controlled. The sections were randomly assigned to receive instruction in the integrated science process skills via a microcomputer or printed text. The study used a pretest-posttest control group design. Before assessing main and interaction effects, analysis of covariance was used to adjust posttest scores using the pretest scores. Statistical analysis revealed that main effects were not significant. Additionally, no interaction effects between treatments and loci of control were demonstrated. The results suggest that printed PI and tutorial CAI are equally effective modes of instruction for teaching internally and externally oriented preservice elementary teachers the integrated science process skills.