The impact of feedback on school performance

Over the past few years Research Data Services (RDS), part of the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER), has led numerous large‐scale, longitudinal projects. Feedback to schools has been provided for all of these projects, and has been in the form of sets of tables and charts and electronic files illustrating pupil performance and progress in each school compared with national norms. This study sought to establish what differences the ongoing provision of feedback has made to the participating schools. The main thrust of the study was a statistical analysis of the most current National Pupil Dataset. Using this dataset, the overall impact on pupil performance in the participating schools of their participation in projects where feedback is used could be examined. In general, the findings presented in this paper suggest that school feedback does have an impact on key stage 2 performance.     

Nonsocial Play Patterns of Young Children With Communication Disorders: Implications for Behavioral Adaptation

It has been well established that young children with communication disorders (CD) have considerable difficulties interacting socially with peers in free-play settings. The central purpose of this study was to determine whether behavioral adaptations of children with CD could contribute to their peer interaction problems. To accomplish this, the behavioral patterns of reticent, solitary-passive, and solitary-active subtypes of nonsocial play of children with CD were observed in unstructured playgroup settings and compared to the nonsocial play of matched groups of typically developing children. Also examined was whether the associations with peer social interaction measures and child and family characteristics differed among the reticent, solitary-passive, and solitary-active subtypes and whether the context factors of the developmental status and familiarity of peers influenced these patterns. Results revealed that preschool children with CD do not exhibit distinct patterns of nonsocial play and provide no evidence for situation-specific (i.e., with peers) behavioral adaptations despite difficulties interacting with peers. The developmental characteristics of or familiarity with one's peers did not influence these results. Moreover, the peer social interaction patterns corresponding to each subtype, as well as child and family characteristics associated with each subtype, were also similar for both groups of children. Recommendations for preventive intervention programs to minimize future peer interaction problems emphasizing social-information and emotional regulation processes were presented.     

Habituation and recovery of orienting in rats as a function of stimulus significance

Three experiments measured orienting of rats to stimuli varying in intrinsic significance. In the first, rats showed greater reactivity to a recording of a conspecific’s distress squeal than to a simulated mimic squeal when the stimuli were presented at 100 dB but not at 80 dB, and orienting to all stimuli habituated rapidly with repeated stimulus exposures. Experiment 2 showed that, following several stimulus exposures, recovery of orienting after rest periods of 1 and 7 days was a function of the stimulus: Orienting to the distress squeal presented at 100 dB recovered more rapidly than did orienting to the mimic squeal at 100 dB or to either the mimic or the distress squeal presented at 80 dB. Experiment 3 showed that habituation to the most significant stimulus, the distress squeal presented at 100 dB, was retarded at long (24-h) interstimulus intervals, presumably a consequence of less stimulus-to-stimulus transfer of habituation with this stimulus. The results are discussed in terms of biological constraints on habituation of orienting and on recovery of orienting following habituation.     

The Use of the Five-Factor Model of Personality as a Therapeutic Tool in Career Counseling

Many clients requesting assistance in Career Centers are mismatched with their career due to issues of occupational choice. In addition, personality conflicts with co-workers, lack of interpersonal skills, and the individual's personality characteristics can affect vocational success. Theories of personality are incorporated into several theories of vocational choice and development (i.e., Holland, Roe) resulting in some attention to personality. Likewise, client personality can affect the career counselor's ability to intervene effectively to assist the client in making effective career choices and decisions. More direct attention to the impact of personality on an individual's career and vocational success can enable the Career Center to increase the effectiveness of their interventions. This paper will discuss the methods for increasing the effectiveness of career counseling through the use of the Five-Factor Model of Personality into our therapeutic work with clients.     

An investigation of children’s conceptualisation of computers and how they work

This paper reports on a study in which observation, stimulated recall and semi structured interviews were used to report on children’s knowledge and understanding of computer processes. It suggests a model for identifying stages in pupils’ understanding of these processes with implications for how best to support and develop that understanding. This was a small scale, exploratory case study involving data collection in two schools. The study differentiated between: simple awareness of computer processes; immediate knowledge of how to use an item or carry out a process; ability to offer a simple explanation for a process; and ability to offer a more sophisticated explanation and to use knowledge to solve problems. It was found that all pupils had an awareness of basic input, output and storage devices and a reasonable level of confidence and competence in using the computer. However, children’s knowledge tended to be confined to what they had acquired through experience. Interviews with the same pupils over a period of time showed little development in their conceptualisation of computer processes. Some examples of children’s common misconceptions as well as partial and appropriate conceptions are given. An implication for the classroom is that more dialogue between teacher and pupil, or more realistically between teacher and groups of pupils, is needed so that the teacher can ascertain prior knowledge and understanding and present accessible explanations for pupils.     

Investigating Engagement and Flow with a Placed-Based Immersive Virtual Reality Game

An immersive virtual reality (iVR) game for high school students to learn about locations in their watershed with a primary focus on their city was designed and developed, employing a design model that focuses on flow. An exploratory study with the iVR game was conducted in an urban school in the eastern USA with 57 adolescents ages 16–18 from a population that is economically disadvantaged and includes students who are typically unengaged in traditional school-based learning environments. After game completion, the participants completed a 10-item survey measuring elements of flow and a 12-item survey designed to measure perceptions toward learning with VR games, immersion and presence. Participant focus groups were conducted with an emphasis on features that promoted engagement, learning, immersion, and presence. The findings revealed that all students experienced a flow state when they played the iVR learning game. Almost all users (98.1%) had positive attitudes towards using the iVR game. Students experienced high immersion and presence. In addition, students had favorable attitudes towards learning with iVR games in school environments.

     

明江南的城市园林——以王世贞的散文为视角

在城市生活的动态关系中,文人的私家园林是个人的退隐之所,但同时也是角逐声望的展示对象。园林还是志同道合的士绅们的聚会之处。作为16世纪的文坛领袖之一,同时也作为江南著名的文人家族中的一个成员,王世贞既是一个园林的鉴赏家,也是阐述园林在社会和文化生活中的正确地位的代言人。     

Online collaboration and cooperation: The recurring importance of evidence,rationale and viability

This paper investigates collaboration in teaching and learning and draws out implications for the promotion of collaboration within online environments. It is divided into four sections. First the case for collaboration, including specifically cooperative approaches, is explored. This case revolves around the impact of collaboration on the quality of learning and on learning outcomes. Collaboration is seen as constrained by context but, if structured and rewarded, it will bring important motivational and cognitive benefits. Next, the case for online collaboration is examined. This is based on longstanding arguments about the benefits of working together albeit in an environment which offers greater reach; a mix of media; and archives of interaction. The third section of the paper compares perspectives on online collaboration with a longer tradition of research into collaboration in general; it critiques the idea that online mediation offers a paradigm change in teaching and learning. The fourth section of the paper considers future directions for promoting online collaboration.     

Constructing a professional development school: A model of one school‐university partnership

Abstract

A partnership between an elementary school and a university in the Midwest evolved into a professional development school. The authors describe this process, making analogies to the process of constructing a house. The steps are also related to Kagan's (1991) stages of organizational development. From laying the foundation of the partnership through adding the sill (the vision), constructing the frame (the goals and objectives), adding the sheathing (the formal structure), installing siding (the implementation), to maintaining through assessment, the parallels are explored and analyzed. Because the process relates to individuals as well as an institution, the authors also discuss ways in which the processes diverge.

The process is presented as a model that might be useful to others engaged in creating a professional development school or improving teacher education. A visual of the model is included.