A Qualitative Examination of the Challenges, Resources, and Strategies for Serving Children Learning English in Head Start

The dramatic growth in the number of children learning English as a second language in our country has led to a corresponding increase in the need to understand how teachers and schools can effectively teach children who are learning English as a second language. Many teachers report not feeling prepared to meet the needs of these children (National Center for Education Statistics, Teacher preparation and professional development: 2000. , 2002). The current study used focus group interviews to examine how Head Start teachers in one program addressed the special learning needs of children learning English in their classrooms. Key challenges involved communicating with children and their families in their home language. Teachers used other staff, parents, and children in the classroom to interpret. Strategies involved visual aids, pictures, gestures, and a welcoming classroom environment. Resources used by teachers were professional development and language skills of other staff. However, available resources were often underutilized and limited for teachers to use in meeting the challenges the teachers faced in the classroom. Suggestions are presented for overcoming the challenges and limited resources encountered by teachers, such as changes in preservice and inservice training opportunities, and second language learning opportunities for teachers. Further implications for training and research are discussed.     

Comparing Union and Nonunion Staff Perceptions of the Higher Education Work Environment

Evidence of substantial growth in unionization among university noninstructional staff over the past 20 years (Hurd and Woodhead, 1987) and the emergence of a quality movement in higher education linking employee attitudes toward the work environment with increased productivity point to the need for additional research into union and nonunion staff perceptions of the work environment. This paper describes a conceptually oriented, exploratory study of the university work environment as perceived and defined by union and nonunion noninstructional staff.     

Assessment of Cooperative Learning: A Goal-Criterion Approach

The problem of assessment of non-traditional teaching techniques has long challenged educational administrators and faculty. The approach to assessment that we followed in this instance employed a model that we developed to assess group learning, variously known as cooperative learning, collaborative learning, or team learning. We applied the model to group-based case study courses that included innovative enhancements such as group exams and group-based role-play. The model required balanced representation among multiple learning criteria arranged in six goal-criterion sets, all drawn from the literature on group learning. We designed a test instrument based on the model and administered the instrument to 85 students near the end of three business strategy courses. Imbalances among criteria in the six goal-criterion sets helped identify and correct weaknesses in course design and in methods of instruction.     

大学和学院组织模型:历史演化的视角

在过去五六十年里,高等教育研究者提出了多种高等教育组织模型,用它们来理解和解释美国大学和学院的组织行为。本文通过建立一个概念框架,试图解释它们的建立和发展过程。在概念框架中,“变化着的环境条件”是第一驱动力,它形成了“学校管理挑战”,影响和改变了“我们對对主要行业的概念”,从而通过它们间接地影响着大学和学院的运行机制。研究者提出的各种大学和学院组织模型就是从不同的侧面反映环境对组织的影响。     

Tensiomyographical responses to accelerometer loads in female collegiate basketball players

The purpose of the present study was to characterise the relationship between relative versus absolute internal and external loads in collegiate basketball players throughout the course of a season. Five Division I basketball players wore triaxial accelerometers throughout the 2015–2016 season and were tensiomyographically assessed weekly. One-way repeated-measure analysis of variance (RM ANOVA) with least-significant-difference (LSD) pairwise comparisons was used to determine which absolute weekly loads were different across the season. Cohen’s d was used to supplement the determination of meaningful relative load changes. Overall RM ANOVA models suggest absolute external load differences occurred (PlayerLoad? F = 17.63; IMA? F = 31.63). Two-way RM ANOVA models revealed main effect differences were revealed between muscle groups for Tc (F = 9.11) and Dm (F = 3.25). Meaningful relative load changes between weeks were observed for both external and internal. The present study observed that tensiomyography utilised as a tool to monitor internal load may be more suitable for detecting fatigue from relative external load changes versus absolute load attained. Limiting weekly training volume changes to ≤10% may maintain appropriate adaptation. Mediolateral plane IMA? and adductor longus muscle group may be pertinent metrics when monitoring female collegiate basketball athletes.     

Elephants Dancing in My Head: A Developmental Approach to Children''s Concepts of Specific Pains

The present study produced an empirically derived, developmental continuum of children's understanding of specific pains. Subjects of 5 age groups: preschool (ages 3-4), first grade (ages 6-7), third grade (ages 8-10), sixth grade (ages 11-12) and college freshmen (ages 18-23) were interviewed with open-ended questions. The subjects were questioned extensively about 3 specific types of pain: an injury (skinned knee), a medical intervention (injection), and an illness (headache). Subjects were asked to describe each pain, tell why the pain hurt, and state the value of the pain. Their answers were then categorized and the categories ordered developmentally by experts in pediatric pain who were unaware of the children's ages. Then children's specific answers were given developmental scores. Multivariate analyses revealed that older children had more complex and precise understandings of pain, and this pattern differed by type of pain and by aspect of pain being considered. The subjects were also asked to report the frequency of their own pains and their parents' pain; parental and self-reported pains were closely related.