Disabilities Among Norwegian Students Found Eligible for Special Education

The prevalence of different disabilities in a sample of 780 students found eligible for special education in Norway is presented in this article. Each student was judged in relation to 10 different disabilities, and the frequencies of the different disabilities were reported. Almost all students had more than one problem or disability. It is argued that statistics related to students with disabilities that ascribe each student only to one category of disability do not provide a correct picture of the prevalence of different disabilities. The most common disabilities reported in this study were psychosocial problems, intellectual disability, and communication disorders that were found in about 40 to 50% of the students. About one third of the students were reported to have attention deficit disorder or physical disabilities, 25% experienced social stress outside school, and 20% had medical problems. Hearing and visual impairments are reported for about 5% and 6% of the sample respectively.     

Theory of educational art: A reply

Educational technology research and development -     

Fostering house mice onto rats and deer mice: Effects on response to species odors

Newborn wild house mice (Mus musculus) were fostered upon maternal conspecifics, prairie deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus bairdi) or laboratory rats (Rattus norvegicus). Male subjects were weaned into individual cages, in which they remained until testing commenced. At 35 days of age, subjects were given a four-choice test in which they had the opportunity to investigate tunnels scented with clean wood chips or with chips soiled by an adult male conspecific, deer mouse or rat. Compared to theMus-nursed andPeromyscus-nursed mice,Rattus-nursed mice were more active during the test and less reluctant to investigate theRattus-scented tunnel. These results were replicated in a two-choice test (Mus- vs.Rattus-scented tunnels) that included a group of mice fostered onto conspecifics, but withRattus scents present in the maternity cage throughout the nursing period. Early exposure to the scent ofRattus had no significant effects on the responses ofMus-nursed mice to the scent ofRattus.     

Lessons Our BSW Students Taught Us About Teaching Social Work in a Reservation Community

ABSTRACT

American Indians and Alaska Natives are underrepresented as social work students, social work educators, and within the profession in general. In addition, many historical and socioeconomic factors have contributed to disproportionality in higher education attainment between these students and those within other ethnic groups. Compounding the challenges, many students in reservation communities lack access to programs that provide social work degrees. Faculty based in a small university in the upper Midwest delivered a BSW program to students in a tribal community over a 3-year period and share pedagogical lessons learned from their students and the literature.     

Processing procedural documents: A cognitive model for following written directions

This paper reviews empirical literature on how people use documents to perform tasks. We examine studies that have been published under the topics of: following written directions, reading maps, following instructions, using job performance aids, and processing procedural texts. Documents that contain a procedure, such as a set of directions, require transformation of information. Such transformation frequently requires converting a procedure represented verbally in a text into a procedure represented behaviorally in a performance. To accomplish this transformation, we propose that students must: (a) form a conceptual model of the performance; (b) encode procedures from the document; (c) engage in self-testing; and (d) conduct self-corrections to repair mistakes. We further propose that these operations are performed most efficiently with distinctive information resources. An overview of the task is likely to be most effective in facilitating conceptual model formation. Procedural information that emphasizes temporal characteristics of the performance will facilitate the encoding of procedures. A representation of the outcome (usually graphic) improves self-testing, and the comparison of the outcome with progress in the workspace leads to most effective self-correction. This process-resource interaction minimizes the number and complexity of transformations required to process procedural documents.     

Effect of group size on avoidance learning in zebra fish,Brachydanio rerio (Pisces: Cyprinidae)

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of density of fish on the rate of avoidance learning in a schooling fish. Naive adult zebra fish (Brachydanio rerio) were trained in a two-way aquatic shuttlebox, in isolation, in groups of two, or in groups of five. The number of trials to reach progressively more exacting levels of performance (1, 2, 3, … ,9 consecutive correct avoidance responses on 2 successive days), was used to quantify the rate of learning for individuals in the three groups. Using this measure, individuals in groups of five reached any given level of performance in fewer trials than individuals tested alone, which in turn reached the progressive criteria in fewer trials than individuals tested in pairs. In addition, the mean latency of response to the conditioned stimulus for individuals in groups of five was significantly lower than for individuals tested alone or in groups of two by Day 3 of the experiment. The rate of learning in zebra fish schools at these densities may be due to either a balance between imitation learning and conflict-inhibition among the fish or the elicitation of different behavioral responses by shock, depending upon environmental stimuli.     

Using Research to Improve the Cost Effectiveness of Early Intervention Programs

Since the implementation of Public Law 99457, the number of children served by early intervention programs has increased substantially. This article describes the d e s of advocacy and science in contributing to that expansion. A biosocial systems model of early development is used to explain how comparative experimental research can help to improve the cost effectiveness of early intervention programs. Examples of the benefits of such research are taken from the other articles reported in this issue of Early Education and Development.