Knowledge about Aging and Alzheimer Disease: A Comparison of Professional Caregivers and Noncaregivers

This study assessed professional caregivers of persons with Alzheimer disease (AD) and non-caregivers' knowledge about aging and AD. Participants completed modified versions of the Alzheimer Disease Knowledge Test and the multiple-choice version of the Facts on Aging Quiz #1. Overall, knowledge levels about AD and aging were low. Caregivers were found to be more knowledgeable about AD than were noncaregivers (58% and 42% correct, respectively), but these groups did not differ on knowledge about aging (40% and 39% correct, respectively). The most common misconceptions and areas of ignorance on the two tests demonstrate that participants rely on age stereotypes.     

Horizons,not Boundaries,are the Language of Retirement: Sense of Fulfillment,Fears, and Life Trajectories of Faculty Extendees in the Philippines

This qualitative study probed into (a) the sense of fulfillment, (b) fears and anxieties, and (c) life trajectories of aged working professors recruited from one comprehensive university in the Philippines. Interestingly, findings of the study reveal that respondents were fulfilled and felt successful through the life outputs of their students; their self-worth was witnessed through continued employment and communication to students of ideas, work ethic, and values. Fears and anxieties were rarely felt because of religious commitments and prayers to God. Sense of delight was manifested through the satisfactory academic environment; the possession of supportive systems, including family, friends and community, and their plans of spending their remaining years with the family in leisure activities; and in joining religious organizations.     

影响宏愿开放大学学生成绩的因素分析

确定支配学生学习成绩的因素是一个具有挑战性的任务,这些因素包括：心理因素、社会因素、经济因素和环境因素等。马来西亚高教部开放入学政策强调学习者的年龄和他们以前的学术资格或学习经验。宏愿开放大学（WOU）研究结果显示,来自不同学术背景的学生注册课程的数量和年龄的差异并没有影响到他们的GPA成绩。然而,学生的学术背景或年龄差异单独作用时对GPA成绩就会产生很大影响。这一发现将为学生的学习支持服务系统的发展与改善提供有用信息。     

Teachers’ use of research evidence in practice: a pilot study of feedback to enhance learning

Background: There is worldwide interest in improving the effectiveness of teachers and teaching. This paper considers two strands of that interest. It revisits the impact of using enhanced feedback from teachers to pupils as a way of improving attainment, and it looks at the feasibility of teachers using research evidence to create their own interventions. Current evidence on the causal impact of effective feedback on learning is unclear: many studies have mixed results, are small in scale, lack randomisation or are not conducted in real classroom conditions. Purpose: The aim of this paper is to describe the experience of schools as they engage with research evidence to support their own enquiry into the effectiveness of feedback in the classroom. Research design: This study took place over one academic year, involving nine treatment schools in one local authority. The study involved teachers themselves using research findings to create an intervention, which took, as its focus, enhanced feedback in the classroom. Test results from these schools were compared to the results in 5 participating comparator schools, to the 49 other schools in the borough and to all state-funded primary schools in England. Results: Although teachers showed that they could engage with research evidence, the study indicated that the process was complex in practice. In addition, the independent impact evaluation suggested that enhanced feedback in itself does not necessarily lead to improved pupil test performance. Discussion and conclusions: The paper considers some of the challenges faced by teachers as they attempted to use research evidence, and discusses implications for schools wishing to use research evidence in practice. The findings of the study suggest that it may be feasible for practitioners to use research evidence to inform their own practice. However, to do it well would require clearer guidance, professional development and modelling of any strategies suggested. These findings have implications for policy on teacher development, and for the research community to make research outputs more comprehensible and accessible to research users.     

An evaluation of Fresh Start as a catch-up intervention: a trial conducted by teachers

This paper describes a randomised controlled trial conducted with 10 secondary schools in England to evaluate the impact and feasibility of Fresh Start as an intervention to help new entrants with low prior literacy. Fresh Start is a synthetic phonics programme for small groups of pupils, here implemented three times per week over 22 weeks. The intervention was led by the schools themselves and assessed in cooperation with the independent evaluators. A group of 433 year 7 pupils (first year of secondary school) were identified by schools as having literacy attainment below “secure” KS2 level 4, and individually randomised to a treatment group or a waiting-list control. The pupils were assessed via GL’s New Group Reading Test. Missing data at pre- and post-test amounted to 3% of the total. The overall “effect” size in terms of gain scores from pre- to post-test was +0.24, and this was repeated in a sub-group analysis involving only FSM-eligible pupils. However, there was some imbalance between the two groups at the outset, and this must lead to a slight caution about the findings, and to some doubts about whether one or more schools unwittingly subverted the randomisation. Other than this, the aggregated trial shows that schools can conduct evaluations of their own interventions with firm guidance from experts, and under favourable conditions such as individual randomisation and lack of extended involvement by developers with a conflict of interests.     

Curriculum integration in arts education: connecting multiple art forms through the idea of ‘space’

Arts integration research has focused on documenting how the teaching of specific art forms can be integrated with ‘core’ academic subject matters (e.g. science, mathematics and literacy). However, the question of how the teaching of multiple art forms themselves can be integrated in schools remains to be explored by educational researchers. This paper draws on data collected at a secondary school in Singapore. The case study analyses how three art teachers, using the idea of ‘space’ as organizing theme, implemented a module of instruction that connected concepts and processes from a variety of art forms (including dance, music, drama and visual arts). We present evidence from curriculum materials, lesson plans, student–teacher classroom interactions and students’ productions. Students were able to reflect upon the importance of space within the arts, analyse the points of convergence and divergence among several art forms, experiment with space and create their own interdisciplinary performances. Our ultimate aim is to provide insights that might inspire art teachers in designing instructional units focused on ‘big ideas’. We suggest that allowing more curricular freedom and providing teachers with adequate structures for interdisciplinary collaboration are key to achieving meaningful levels of integration.     

Asian Secondary School Students' Help-Seeking Behaviour and Preferences for Counsellor Characteristics

This study examines general help-seeking behaviours and preferences for the counsellor, characteristics of gender and ethnicity specifically, in a sample of 448 secondary school students in Singapore. The relationship between the age of the student and his/her preference for the gender and ethnicity of a counsellor was also examined. Findings indicated significant differences in preferences for the gender of the counsellor, with most females preferring a same sex counsellor and most males preferring an opposite sex counsellor. Male and female students did not differ in responses regarding preference for ethnicity of counsellor. The findings also indicated a developmental shift in perspective regarding preference for gender and for ethnicity of counsellor. Neither gender nor ethnicity of counsellor mattered to the oldest group of students. In comparison, the younger students either reported a distinct preference for gender and ethnicity of counsellor or stated they were unsure of their response. Findings from the present study that are helpful to counsellors working with an Asian secondary school population will be discussed in the light of previous research.     

The role of parents in young people’s education—a critical review of the causal evidence

There is currently a considerable body of research suggesting that parental involvement is linked to young people’s attainment at school. It is also generally agreed that a number of factors such as parental background, attention, warmth and parenting style are associated with children’s later life outcomes. However, although widely assumed on the basis of these associations, the nature of this causal link has not yet been established. This paper summarises what would be needed to demonstrate that enhanced parental involvement produced better attainment and other outcomes, based on establishing an association, the correct sequence of events, sensitivity to intervention and an explanatory mechanism. It then reports on the findings of a systematic review of available and relevant studies, based on this approach. The search for evidence on the impact of attitudes, expectations and behaviour on attainment yielded 1,008 distinct reports. Of these, 77 were directly about the impact of parental involvement. These confirm that parental involvement and attainment are linked, and in the correct sequence for a causal model. There are several plausible mechanisms to explain why parental involvement might have an impact. And most crucially and unlike all other areas linking attitudes and behaviour to attainment, there is promising evidence that intervening to improve parental involvement could be effective.     

Impact of Contact on the Development of Children's Positive Stereotyping about Aging Language Competence

This study examined young children's (M = 38 months) beliefs about the aging of language competence using a modified mutual exclusivity paradigm (cf. Markman, 1990 Markman , E. M. ( 1990 ). Constraints children place on word meanings . Cognitive Science , 14 ( 1 ), 57 – 77 .[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). Children were shown pairs of objects (familiar and unfamiliar) and were asked by a younger and older experimenter to point to the object in the pair to which a novel non-word referred. Showing reliance on a mutual exclusivity heuristic (a new word must refer to something I do not already know), children selected more unfamiliar objects as the referent. Children who had relatively little contact with older adults showed more reliance on mutual exclusivity when tested by a younger experimenter than an older experimenter. This pattern was reversed for children who had more frequent contact with older adults. These results suggest that with infrequent contact with older adults, children rely on common stereotypes linking old age with diminished competence to judge an older interlocutor's behavior. More frequent contact allows for positive stereotypes associating older age with enhanced language competence to dominate, making an older experimenter the better teacher of new words.