Noncontingent use of alum in the reduction of rumination

In the years following the passage of PL 94–142, increasing numbers of severely and profoundly handicapped children have been educated in public school classrooms. One of the many troublesome behaviors sometimes found among members of this population is rumination, a habit in which the child vomits repeatedly and may reingest the vomitus. The behavior is a potential health hazard. It also tends to make the child repulsive to teachers and other caregivers. Treatments developed for management of this behavior in residential facilities have tended to require time-consuming contingent aversive treatment of the rumination. The present study adventitiously identified a stimulus that is effective in reducing rates of rumination when used contingently and also when used noncontingently. Theoretical implications for the understanding of rumination are considered.     

Korean 4‐ to 11‐year‐old student conceptions of heat and temperature

The aim of the present study is to shed light on the conceptions that young students have of heat and temperature, concepts that are both important in school science curricula and closely related to daily life. The subjects of the study were students from a rural district in South Korea and they ranged in age from 4 to 11 years. Interviews were conducted with each student on the basis of questions on temperature, thermal insulation, and heat equilibrium. After calculating the frequency and percentage of student responses and analyzing the rationale for their answers, it was found that younger students tended to view temperature as “size” or a “summation of numbers.” This tendency gradually diminished in older students. Most students had alternative conceptions of thermal insulation regardless of age; however, reasoning differed according to age. Younger students displayed a greater tendency to view insulation as a material property, whereas older students showed a greater tendency toward rational heat and temperature conceptions. Most students did not have clear concepts of heat equilibrium regardless of age, but possessed numerous alternative conceptions. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 44: 284–302, 2007     

Health sciences libraries in Germany: new directions

This feature is part of a series about medical library services in various countries. It gives an overview of the state of and selected current developments of medical library services to support research, education and clinical practice in Germany. Findings from an online survey and issues of access to health information are discussed in relation to the German health care system.J.M.     

A Cognitive Learning Account of the Avoidance,Omission and Exaggerated Phenomena and Expressions in Young Adolescents’ Drawings of the Human Figure in the Visual Culture Art Education Context

It is common in the everyday art class to find many examples of avoidance, omission and exaggeration in young adolescents’ depictions of the human figure. When students depict sophisticated human images, they make every effort to avoid the difficult parts, and some students tend to exaggerate the size or distort the shape of the human image. Art educators see these types of behaviour and modes of expression as unnatural, and claim that they may hinder the development of the creativity of young adolescents. Relevant discussions in the literature from a psychological perspective are mainly concerned with the negative impact of such behaviour and modes of expression on the formation of young adolescents’ identities. However, in the context of popular visual culture, the findings of recent studies on young adolescents’ comic drawings have suggested that when young adolescents draw comic characters, they use their everyday life experiences in their drawings. This article reports on a five‐year qualitative longitudinal study conducted in a Hong Kong secondary school. The aim of the study was to deepen our understanding of this behaviour on the part of adolescents in art classes. The findings of the study confirmed the view that these aspects should be interpreted from a cognitive learning perspective. It is suggested that art educators reconsider these types of behaviour and modes of expression as a potential means for improving secondary students’ learning of the art of popular visual culture.     

Effects of Alternated Basketball Competition on Perceived Competence in Adolescents with Intellectual Disabilities Over a Period of 13 Months: A research note

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of alternated (segregated and integrated) basketball competition on two domains of perceived competence and on general self-worth. Participants were 24 adolescent males with intellectual disabilities divided equally into three groups: (a) those involved in basketball in an alternated sport competition, (b) those involved in adapted physical activity, and (c) those who were sedentary. The experimental treatment lasted for 13 months. For the sport competition group this involved 2 hr of training each week and 12 competitive meets. We administered Harter's (1985) Self-Perception Profile for Children 13 times to determine changes in perceived competence and general self-worth. The results indicate no significant changes for the different groups in the two domains of perceived competence and in general self-worth over 13 months.     

Not all school dropouts are the same: Ethnic differences in the relation between reason for leaving school and adolescent substance use

Several national studies have revealed that students choose to drop out of school for a variety of reasons. Moreover, there are ethnic differences in the reasons dropouts give for leaving school. In the present study, the relation between reason for dropping out and substance use was explored in Mexican American and non‐Hispanic White adolescents. The results revealed that for Mexican American adolescents, substance use was highest among those who left school to be with their friends and lowest among those who left for family‐related reasons. Among non‐Hispanic White adolescents, there were no significant differences in substance use as a function of reason for leaving school. For both ethnicities, nearly one‐third of the dropouts reported that their substance use was an important contributor to their decision to leave school early. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed. Recommendations are made for ways in which the reasons that dropouts give for leaving school can be used to inform school programs. © 2002 John Wiley & Sons.     

Bridging scientific reasoning and conceptual change through adaptive web‐based learning

This study reports an adaptive digital learning project, Scientific Concept Construction and Reconstruction (SCCR), and examines its effects on 108 8th grade students' scientific reasoning and conceptual change through mixed methods. A one‐group pre‐, post‐, and retention quasi‐experimental design was used in the study. All students received tests for Atomic Achievement, Scientific Reasoning, and Atomic Dependent Reasoning before, 1 week after, and 8 weeks after learning. A total of 18 students, six from each class, were each interviewed for 1 hour before, immediately after, and 2 months after learning. A flow map was used to provide a sequential representation of the flow of students' scientific narrative elicited from the interviews, and to further analyze the level of scientific reasoning and conceptual change. Results show students' concepts of atoms, scientific reasoning, and conceptual change made progress, which is consistent with the interviewing results regarding the level of scientific reasoning and quantity of conceptual change. This study demonstrated that students' conceptual change and scientific reasoning could be improved through the SCCR learning project. Moreover, regression results indicated students' scientific reasoning contributed more to their conceptual change than to the concepts students held immediately after learning. It implies that scientific reasoning was pivotal for conceptual change and prompted students to make associations among new mental sets and existing hierarchical structure‐based memory. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 47: 91–119, 2010     

Children’s Visual Scanning of Textual Documents: Effects of Document Organization,Search Goals,and Metatextual Knowledge

This study examines children’s strategies when scanning a document to answer a specific question. More specifically, we wanted to know whether they make use of organizers (i.e., headings) when searching and whether strategic search is related to their knowledge of reading strategies. Twenty-six French fifth graders were asked to search single-page documents presented on the screen of an eye tracker in order to respond to questions requiring the location of information in either a single paragraph (Location questions) or multiple paragraphs (Comparison questions). Location questions were easier and faster to answer than Comparison questions. The presence of headers led to more selective reading strategies but did not significantly speed up the search. Strong individual differences were observed in children’s scanning strategies: Some systematically fixated headers, whereas others did not. These differences were not significantly related to the participants’ decoding or comprehension skills but rather to their knowledge of reading strategies.     

Preparing pre‐service teachers for inclusive classrooms: revising lesson‐planning expectations

The purpose of this article is to explore the use of a lesson‐planning template designed to support and scaffold pre‐service teachers’ lesson‐planning techniques for a wide range of learners in inclusive classrooms. This template is currently used across the final three semesters of a dual certification inclusive elementary and special education teacher preparation programme. This article reports on an empirical study using a mixed methodology that addresses the following question: How do pre‐service teachers, university faculty, supervising teachers and field supervisors perceive their experiences using this template? Addressing that question led to revising the original template. This article concludes with that revised lesson‐planning template.