Specific Language Disorders in Singaporean Children: Four Case Studies

Children with specific disorders of language have failed to develop normal means of spoken and written communication. International studies suggest that 5–10% of children enter school with a significant language disorder that puts them at risk educationally and also affects their social and emotional development.

The invisible nature of language disorders makes early detection and remediation difficult. In multilingual settings, such as Singapore, early detection may be particularly difficult, and remediation is complicated by the desirability of maintaining the range of languages used in the home and at school. Two case studies of specific spoken language disorder and two of written language disorder are presented to illustrate means of remediation and the importance of early intervention.     

Emergence of Learning Environment Research in South Africa: Editors' Introduction

This introduction provides information about the learning environment strand of the Third International Conference on Science, Mathematics and Technology Education which was held in January 2003 in East London, South Africa. The theme of the conference and the titles of key note addresses and selected presented papers are provided together with information about the forthcoming published Proceedings and the next conference. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Comparison of personal and class forms of the science laboratory environment inventory

Existing instruments in classroom environment research have limitations when subgroups are investigated or case studies of individual students conducted. This study reports the validation and development of a personal form of the Science Laboratory Environment Inventory which is better suited to such studies. Further, systematic differences between scores on the class and personal forms of the instrument are reported along with comparisons of their associations with inquiry skill and attitudinal outcomes. Specializations: Science education, Preservice science teacher education. Specializations: Learning environments, science education, educational evaluation, curriculum. Specializations: Curriculum, science education, science laboratory teaching.     

Teachers’ views of their school climate and its relationship with teacher self-efficacy and job satisfaction

The purpose of this study, in part, was to confirm the factor structure of the School-Level Environment Questionnaire, which assesses six school climate factors that can be considered important for improving schools. The study also tested a research model of the relationships between the school climate, teachers’ self-efficacy and job satisfaction. The participants included 781 Western Australian high-school teachers in 29 schools. When the data were analysed by means of structural equation modelling, teacher self-efficacy and teacher job satisfaction were both related to school climate dimensions and there was also a relationship between teacher self-efficacy and job satisfaction. These results provide practical information for improving school climate and suggest that it is worthwhile for school principals to consider factors within the school climate and how they might be enhanced.     

Strangers in their own land: friendship issues when children have cancer

More children than ever before are surviving childhood cancer. While treatment protocols have improved, there is little consideration given to their ongoing educational needs, including their social needs for positive peer relationships and friendships. This qualitative study of 12 families included children from four to 15 years of age. Most of the children were attending primary school and half were still undergoing treatment. Interviews in family homes were undertaken with parents, children with cancer and their siblings. The results show that most of these children with cancer have special social relationship needs beyond the impact of absence from school. This article focuses specifically upon friendships and peer relationships which often change dramatically when a child has cancer. Such changes can place children with cancer at risk both academically and emotionally. Some suggestions for addressing this issue are explored.     

Different perspectives: Spatial ability influences where individuals look on a timed spatial test

Learning in anatomy can be both spatially and visually complex. Pedagogical investigations have begun exploration as to how spatial ability may mitigate learning. Emerging hypotheses suggests individuals with higher spatial reasoning may attend to images differently than those who are lacking. To elucidate attentional patterns associated with different spatial ability, eye movements were measured in individuals completing a timed electronic mental rotation test (EMRT). The EMRT was based on the line drawings of Shepherd and Metzler. Individuals deduced whether image pairs were rotations (same) or mirror images (different). It was hypothesized that individuals with high spatial ability (HSA) would demonstrate shorter average fixation durations during problem solving and attend to different features of the EMRT than low spatial ability (LSA) counterparts. Moreover, question response accuracy would be associated with fewer fixations and shorter average response times, regardless of spatial reasoning ability. Average fixation duration in the HSA group was shorter than LSA (F(1,8) = 7.99; P = 0.022). Importantly, HSA and LSA individuals looked to different regions of the EMRT images (Fisher Exact Test: 12.47; P = 0.018); attending to the same locations only 34% of the time. Correctly answered questions were characterized by fewer fixations per question (F(1, 8) = 18.12; P = 0.003) and shorter average response times (F(1, 8) = 23.89; P = 0.001). The results indicate that spatial ability may influence visual attention to salient areas of images and this may be key to problem solving processes for low spatial individuals. Anat Sci Educ 10: 224–234. © 2016 American Association of Anatomists.