Four year old children’s acquisition of print knowledge during electronic storybook reading

The experiment reported here explored the importance of engaging 4-year-old children’s interest in the print itself during storybook reading. We explored the effect of computer animation of the print in order to draw the child’s attention to each word as it was read. We also investigated the influence of illustrating that not all visual displays are readable print on the child’s print knowledge. The measures of interest were print concept knowledge and early reading skill. Results indicated that simply drawing children’s attention to the print during shared reading was insufficient to facilitate children’s learning of print conventions, but this attention to print while hearing stories read did improve children’s letter reading. The child’s active engagement with the print during shared story reading led to further improvements in written language skills, as illustrated by gains in knowledge about print concepts.     

Balancing varied assessment functions to attain systemic validity: Three is the magic number

Accountability-oriented reforms demand immediate and continual gains on achievement test, for all students, and without diminishing other outcomes or undermining instruction. This paper describes a framework for aligning classroom assessment and external testing with the aim of negotiating these seemingly contradictory goals. The framework varies the sensitivity to instruction and the representations of knowledge across approaches to assessment. Cycles of design- based studies successively refine relationships between a curriculum and the frame that each assessment provides. Doing so, we argue, leverages the unique formative and summative balance across assessments in order to scaffold learning and demonstrate the “consequential” validity of our strategy without compromising curricula, instruction, or the “evidential” validity that warrants their continued use.     

The influences of guiding cues on motor skill autonomy in rats

How does the effectiveness of guiding cues influence the development of motor skill autonomy? We utilized two sets of guiding cues (lights vs. reversed-lights conditions) that differed in their effectiveness to control a left–right leverpress sequence in rats. We separately measured the development of stimulus control by panel lights on guiding-cues trials and the development of stimulus control by practice cues on no-cue probe trials within the same sessions. Accuracy in the presence of the guiding cues was acquired faster in the lights condition than in the reversed-lights condition, but subjects in the reversed-lights condition were more able to complete the skill autonomously than those in the lights condition. Throughout acquisition, control by guiding cues and practice cues developed at the same rate in the reversed-lights condition, but control by practice cues (autonomy) developed at a slower rate than did control by guiding cues in the lights condition. At the end of training, subjects that had been exposed to the reversed-lights condition displayed higher levels of autonomy than did those exposed to the lights condition. The less effective guiding cue (reversed-lights) produced greater levels of autonomy than did the more effective cue (lights), even though control by this guiding cue developed more slowly. Thus, guiding your child by the hand too much may reduce his or her ability to complete the task independently. We discuss the similarity to prompt dependence in children with learning disabilities and transfer of stimulus control.     

Building intergenerational Bridges in early childhood

A recent report of the Committee for Economic Development observed that 30% of our children are educationally disadvantaged and face major risks of educational failure and lifelong dependency (CED, 1987). One reason advanced for this observation is that schools have neglected to prepare these children to become active citizens who can contribute to the social and economic uplifting of their neighborhoods.L. C. Taharally is an Assistant Professor, Early Childhood Education, and A. L. Smith is an Assistant Professor, Training and Supervision, in the Department of Curriculum and Teaching at Hunter College of the City University of New York.     

Memory codes for temporal and nontemporal samples in many-to-one matching by pigeons

Pigeons were trained to match temporal (2 and 8 sec of keylight) and color (red and green) samples to vertical and horizontal comparison stimuli. In Experiment 1, samples that were associated with the same correct comparison stimulus displayed similar retention functions; and there was no significant choose-short effect following temporal samples. This finding was replicated in Phase 1 of Experiment 2 for birds maintained on the many-to-one mapping, and it was also obtained in birds that had been switched to a one-to-one mapping by changing the comparison stimuli following color samples. However, in Phase 2 of Experiment 2, when the one-to-one mapping was produced by changing the comparison stimuli following temporal samples, a significant choose-short effect was observed. In Experiment 3, intratrial interference tests gave evidence of temporal summation effects when either temporal presamples or color presamples preceded temporal targets. This occurred even though these interference tests followed delay tests that failed to reveal significant choose-short effects. The absence of significant choose-short effects in Experiment 1 and in Phase 1 of Experiment 2 indicates that temporal samples are not retrospectively and analogically coded when temporal and nontemporal samples are mapped onto the same set of comparisons The interference test results suggest that the temporal summation effect arises from nonmemorial properties of the timing system and is independent of the memory code being used     

Processing of phonological,orthographic and cross-modal word representations among adult dyslexic and normal readers

This study examined the extent to which adultdyslexic readers exhibit concurrent deficitsfor phonological, orthographic and cross-modalword representations, and the relationshipbetween these deficits and decoding ability.Participants were 18 phonological dyslexics and19 normal readers at college level. Compared tonormal readers, dyslexics exhibitedsignificantly slower reaction times acrosstasks, and were less accurate on the unimodalorthographic task. Word pattern processing wasmore extensively related to decoding abilityamong dyslexic as compared to normal readers,but more robustly related to baseline measuresof phonological and orthographic processingamong normal readers. The results are discussedin the context of integrating the phonologicaland orthographic aspects of words, speed ofprocessing deficits, and the importance of taskselection when assessing adult dyslexicpopulations.     

The preparation experiences of elementary mathematics specialists: examining influences on beliefs,content knowledge,and teaching practices

Many in the field of mathematics education call for elementary schools to have elementary mathematics specialists (EMSs) who provide needed mathematical expertise and support for children and teachers. EMSs serve as a reasonable, immediate alternative to the challenges generated by elementary teachers needing improved mathematical knowledge for teaching in the classroom. However, limited inquiry has explored how to best prepare EMSs and how program features and learning activities influence their development. This mixed-method study identifies some of the interrelated benefits from a K-5 Mathematics Endorsement Program designed to prepare EMSs through examining changes in mathematical beliefs, specialized content knowledge (SCK), and classroom teaching practices during the program. Data (n = 32) were collected over the 2-semester program via belief surveys, a content knowledge assessment, observations of teaching practices, and individual interviews from elementary teachers participating in the program. The findings show some changes in beliefs can be made relatively quickly, other shifts in beliefs take more time and continued support, and changes in SCK and adoption of various aspects of standard-based pedagogy require considerably greater opportunities to learn. The described program features and learning experiences provided a context for these changes and offer considerations for EMS preparation programs.     

Investigating the Modality and Redundancy Effects for Learners with Persistent Pain

Two experiments were conducted to investigate how individuals with persistent pain would respond to instructional materials designed to promote the modality and redundancy effects. It was predicted that persistent pain would reduce the positive impact of narrated text due to reduced working memory capacity. One hundred thirty-seven full-time teachers from six schools in Australia participated in the study. Pain and pain-free participants were identified and matched through a demographics questionnaire before being randomly assigned to selected instructional formats. In both experiments, participants viewed system-paced multimedia presentations depicting how lightning works. In Experiment 1, it was found that for pain-free participants, illustrations plus narrated text led to significantly higher learning outcomes than illustrations plus written text (a modality effect). However, for pain participants, no advantage was found for the illustrations plus narrated text format. In Experiment 2, it was found that for pain-free participants, illustrations plus narrated text led to significantly higher learning outcomes than illustrations plus narrated text plus identical written text (a redundancy effect). For pain participants, a reverse effect was found, suggesting that the replicated written text format was not redundant but beneficial for these individuals. Furthermore, despite low scores on standardized pain measures, individuals with persistent pain achieved significantly lower learning outcomes than pain-free participants in both experiments. It was concluded that clinically low levels of pain could significantly interfere with information retention and transference. For individuals with persistent pain, the use of narrated explanatory text could be a disadvantage due to its transitory nature.