Classifying the Context Clues in Children's Text

This study aimed to determine which types of context clues exist in children's texts and whether it is possible for experts to identify reliably those clues. Three experienced coders used Ames’ clue set as a foundation for a system to classify context clues in children's text. Findings showed that the adjustments to Ames’ system resulted in 15 clues that can be used to capture the majority of clues found in children narrative and expository text. This study adds to the limited empirically validated systems available for classifying different context clues. A usable classification of context clues has application to reading research that considers or controls for text factors as well as teaching reading strategies in K–12 classrooms.     

Measuring Self-Regulation: A Focus on Activity

Ainley and Patrick describe an assessment process designed to “identify self- regulation in action.” In the spirit of this goal, the author offers three suggestions for providing a more holistic and contextual view of self-regulation. These suggestions include (a) expanding the definition of self-regulation used in their studies; (b) measuring self-regulation as a dynamic process rather than as a linear one; and (c) including measures of the context, such as task, interpersonal contacts, and community norms.     

Using the Objective Borderline Method (OBM) to support Board of Examiners’ decisions in a medical programme

Decisions about progress through an academic programme are made by Boards of Examiners, on the basis of students’ course assessments. For most students such pass/fail grading decisions are straightforward. However, for those students whose results are borderline (either at a pass/fail boundary or boundaries between grades) the exercise of some discretion by university staff is required. In the interests of the transparency of the exercise of this discretion and to increase the chances that the ‘right’ decision is made, we tested the validity of the second version of the Objective Borderline Method (OBM2) decision-making tool in a medical programme. Our results suggest that application of OBM2 provides valid data to help university staff make robust decisions about a student’s progression through a programme, and with which to defend these decisions if that should be required.     

An ecological analysis of after-school program participation and the development of academic performance and motivational attributes for disadvantaged children

This longitudinal study evaluated after-school program (ASP) participation and the development of academic performance (school grades, reading achievement) and teacher-rated motivational attributes (expectancy of success, effectance motivation) over a school year. Participants were 599 boys and girls (6.3 to 10.6 years) from an urban, disadvantaged city in the United States. An ecological analysis of after-school arrangements identified 4 patterns of care: ASP care, parent care, combined parent/self-sibling care, and combined other-adult/self-sibling care. Aspects of academic performance and motivational attributes were significantly higher (p<.05) at the end of the school year for children in ASP care compared with those in the 3 alternative patterns of care. Differences were marked for children rated as highly engaged in ASP activities.     

Linguistic awareness skills in grade one children in a French immersion setting

This study examined the ability of children in French immersion and English programs to analyze the internal structure of spoken words in relation to their early reading and spelling abilities in English. Thirty-two children in the first grade were given a modified version of the Auditory Analysis Test, and reading and spelling tasks that included both real words and non-words. Results indicated that French immersion children were more proficient than their English program peers at explicitly analyzing spoken words and that the groups did not differ when reading and spelling orthographically regular real words and non-words. The English program children performed better than their French program peers only when reading orthographically irregular English words. These results demonstrate that second language learning enhances metalinguistic awareness and help to explain why children in immersion programs do not experience long-term difficulty in acquiring English written language skills.     

A multivariate examination of parent involvement and the social and academic competencies of urban kindergarten children

The primary objective of this study was to obtain a multidimensional picture of parent involvement in kindergarten. Participants in this study were 307 low‐income, ethnic minority children and their primary caregivers in a large, urban school district in the Northeast. Results revealed that kindergarten parent involvement dimensions (i.e., from the Parent Involvement in Children's Education Scale; Fantuzzo, Tighe, McWayne, Davis, & Childs, 2002) were congruent with those established with preschool (Head Start) parents. Multivariate relationships were found between kindergarten parent involvement dimensions and children's social and academic competencies. Parents who actively promote learning in the home, have direct and regular contact with school, and experience fewer barriers to involvement have children who demonstrate positive engagement with their peers, adults, and learning. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 41: 363–377, 2004.     

The transfer of content knowledge in a cascade model of professional development

A cascade model of professional development presents a particular risk that ‘knowledge’ promoted in a programme will be diluted or distorted as it passes from originators of the programme to local trainers and then to the target teachers. Careful monitoring of trainers’ and teachers’ knowledge as it is transferred through the system is therefore imperative. This paper focuses on the transfer of content knowledge through an in-service teacher professional development programme and offers an innovative methodology for investigating knowledge transfer, i.e. through insights gained during a mentoring process. The findings suggest that this methodology facilitated assessment of knowledge transfer because it involved the identification of knowledge in practice. The focus on knowledge in practice appeared to avoid a deficit model of trainers’/teachers’ knowledge and revealed that content knowledge was generally being successfully transferred throughout the system. A detailed analysis of different aspects of content knowledge transfer suggested various foci for additional training.     

Entering Initial Teacher Education: science graduates’ views of the interview and selection process

This paper describes ongoing research that builds on earlier studies by the authors that have investigated issues concerning the selection of science graduates to secondary PGCE courses. These studies identified the need for criteria that are understood by tutors and applicants to ensure that candidates from ethnic minority groups are not disadvantaged. The research focuses on the perceptions that science graduates have about the selection process for secondary teacher education courses and seeks to identify whether the procedures used disadvantage any particular groups or individuals. We are interested also in whether there is a mismatch between tutors’ perceptions of the interview process and those of the applicants. During 1995/96 current students and applicants for one year PGCE courses in science were asked how they had prepared for their interviews and for their impressions of the interviewing process. The paper describes initial findings and the implication of these findings.     

The Impact of Science Fiction Film on Student Understanding of Science

Researchers who have investigated the public understanding of science have argued that fictional cinema and television has proven to be particularly effective at blurring the distinction between fact and fiction. The rationale for this study lies in the notion that to teach science effectively, educators need to understand how popular culture influences their students’ perception and understanding of science. Using naturalistic research methods in a diverse middle school we found that students who watched a popular science fiction film, The Core, had a number of misunderstandings of earth science concepts when compared to students who did not watch the movie. We found that a single viewing of a science fiction film can negatively impact student ideas regarding scientific phenomena. Specifically, we found that the film leveraged the scientific authority of the main character, coupled with scientifically correct explanations of some basic earth science, to create a series of plausible, albeit unscientific, ideas that made sense to students.