Reading on the computer with orthographic and speech feedback

In this paper we present an overview of a computer program directed toward the remediation of children's deficits in word recognition and phonological decoding. In the present studies, 138 children read stories on the computer, in their school, for a half hour per day during a semester. Children were trained to request synthetic-speech feedback (DECtalk) for difficult words by targeting the words with a mouse. Different groups received whole-word feedback, wherein targeted words were highlighted and spoken as a unit, or segmented feedback, wherein segments of words (onsets, rimes, or syllables) were sequentially highlighted and spoken by the computer, requiring the child to pay attention to and blend the segments. Both whole-word and segmented feedback resulted in almost twice the gains in standardized word recognition scores compared to control groups that spent an equal time in their normal remedial reading program. Most important, the computer-trained groups improved their phonological decoding of nonwords at about four times the rate of the control group. However, there was a significant interaction between level of deficit severity and optimal feedback condition. The most severely disabled readers showed the largest phonological decoding gains from syllable feedback, while the largest gains for the less severely disabled readers were from onset-rime feedback. The disabled readers' level of phonological awareness at pre-test was the strongest predictor for gains in word recognition and phonological decoding. Implications of the results for future training programs are discussed.     

Structure and prevalence of PTSD symptomology in children who have experienced a severe tornado

Children served by school psychologists are frequently impacted by natural disasters. In the United States, tornadoes are a particular threat but have been studied very little. The current investigation developed a scale for assessing posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in children in Kindergarten to Grade 6 impacted by a severe tornado. Six factors were found: Avoidance, Re‐experiencing, Interpersonal Alienation, Interference with Daily Functioning, Physical Symptoms/Anxiety, and Foreshortened Future. Prevalence rates for PTSD symptomology ranged from 34 to 44% for factor scores and 41% for meeting all three Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder, fourth edition‐text revision (DSM‐IV‐TR; American Psychiatric Association, 2000) criteria; 40% indicated no symptoms. Children's fear during the tornado and damage to their school were related to many factor scores. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 43: 283–295, 2006.     

Assessing high school chemistry students’ modeling sub-skills in a computerized molecular modeling learning environment

Much knowledge in chemistry exists at a molecular level, inaccessible to direct perception. Chemistry instruction should therefore include multiple visual representations, such as molecular models and symbols. This study describes the implementation and assessment of a learning unit designed for 12th grade chemistry honors students. The organic chemistry part of the unit was taught in a Computerized Molecular Modeling (CMM) learning environment, where students explored daily life organic molecules through assignments and two CMM software packages. The research objective was to investigate the effect of the CMM learning unit on students’ modeling skill and sub-skills, including (a) drawing and transferring between a molecular formula, a structural formula, and a model, and (b) transferring between symbols/models and microscopic, macroscopic, and process chemistry understanding levels. About 600 12th grade chemistry students who studied the CMM unit responded to a reflection questionnaire, and were assessed for their modeling skill and sub-skills via pre- and post-case-based questionnaires. Students indicated that the CMM environment contributed to their understanding of the four chemistry understanding levels and the links among them. Students significantly improved their scores in the five modeling sub-skills. As the complexity of the modeling assignments increased, the number of students who responded correctly and fully decreased. We present a hierarchy of modeling sub-skills, starting with understanding symbols and molecular structures, and ending with mastering the four chemistry understanding levels. We recommend that chemical educators use case-based tools to assess their students’ modeling skill and validate the initial hierarchy with a different set of questions.     

Mutual alignment comparison facilitates abstraction and transfer of a complex scientific concept

Learning about a scientific concept often occurs in the context of unfamiliar examples. Mutual alignment analogy – a type of analogical comparison in which the analogues are only partially understood – has been shown to facilitate learning from unfamiliar examples . In the present study, we examined the role of mutual alignment analogy in the abstraction and transfer of a complex scientific concept from examples presented in expository texts. Our results provide evidence that (a) promoting comparison between two examples and (b) orienting the learner toward relational commonalities result in greater abstraction and transfer. These findings suggest that mutual alignment analogy is an effective means of promoting abstraction and transfer of complex scientific concepts, and may thus be used in the classroom to promote learning from unfamiliar examples.     

Reprising John Dewey: A Review of Andreas Demetriou, George Spanoudis & Antigoni Mouyi's “Educating the Developing Mind: Towards an Overarching Paradigm”

As a summary of current advances in developmental psychology, the above article makes some useful contributions. As a contribution to educational policy and practice, it is limited if not a failure for two reasons. It fails to come to grips with the real demands of living classrooms, and second, it fails to grasp the actual subjective lives of the children taught. The gap between science and practice is now as large as it was when John Dewey first called attention to “the whole child” and a pragmatic approach to knowledge and thinking.     

From study to work: methodological challenges of a graduate destination survey in the Western Cape,South Africa

Current literature proposes several strategies for improving response rates to student evaluation surveys. Graduate destination surveys pose the difficulty of tracing graduates years later when their contact details may have changed. This article discusses the methodology of one such a survey to maximise response rates. Compiling a sample frame with reliable contact details was most important, but may require using additional sources of information other than university records. In hindsight, graduates should have been contacted prior to the survey to introduce it and stress its importance, while email and postal reminders appeared to have a limited effect on non-respondents. Due to varying response rates between participating universities, online responses were augmented with a call centre administering the survey telephonically to non-respondents. Although overall differences between online and telephonic responses appeared to be small, certain question items may need to be treated with caution when conducting telephonic surveys.     

Assessment for Learning in the writing classroom: an incomplete realisation

An Observation Guide, designed to help New Zealand teachers identify areas of teaching strength and aspects for development, was developed as part of a wider project. In the second phase of this project, 18 middle school teachers used the Guide to gather and record evidence as they participated in seven rounds of reciprocal peer observation and feedback during writing lessons with Grades 6–8 students. We report here on data from round 6 observations about the assessment for learning (AfL) strategies reported as evident in teachers’ practices, how these strategies were implemented and potential gaps in practice. AfL has at its heart a core of interdependent strategies that collectively contribute to the development of autonomous, self-regulating learners and quality learning. While the middle school teachers shared goals for learning and communicated what counted as successful achievement to students, they appeared to struggle when articulating goals in terms of literacy learning and conveying the substantive aspects and quality expected in students’ writing. In addition, despite AfL's promotion of learner autonomy, few teachers openly afforded students focused opportunities to take a meaningful role in their learning through the appraisal of their own and peers’ writing and the joint construction of feedback. As such, teachers’ AfL practice in the writing classroom failed to realise its full potential. It is argued that the promise of AfL can only be reached when strategies are enacted in ways that reflect its unitary nature, promote quality outcomes and give students a central role in their learning.     

Student Learning about Biomolecular Self-Assembly Using Two Different External Representations

Self-assembly is the fundamental but counterintuitive principle that explains how ordered biomolecular complexes form spontaneously in the cell. This study investigated the impact of using two external representations of virus self-assembly, an interactive tangible three-dimensional model and a static two-dimensional image, on student learning about the process of self-assembly in a group exercise. A conceptual analysis of self-assembly into a set of facets was performed to support study design and analysis. Written responses were collected in a pretest/posttest experimental design with 32 Swedish university students. A quantitative analysis of close-ended items indicated that the students improved their scores between pretest and posttest, with no significant difference between the conditions (tangible model/image). A qualitative analysis of an open-ended item indicated students were unfamiliar with self-assembly prior to the study. Students in the tangible model condition used the facets of self-assembly in their open-ended posttest responses more frequently than students in the image condition. In particular, it appears that the dynamic properties of the tangible model may support student understanding of self-assembly in terms of the random and reversible nature of molecular interactions. A tentative difference was observed in response complexity, with more multifaceted responses in the tangible model condition.