Communicating conservation science

What are the key messages conservation science should communicate to the public? Although the profile of conservation science itself can be raised by talking about the process, most feel that the messages should concern what conservation science brings to the focus of its work – cultural heritage. However, it is no longer enough to focus on the needs of heritage in isolation. Demonstrating public benefit is crucial to persuade decision-makers to invest not only in the conservation of cultural heritage but also in the science that informs its care. Conservation science can research the significance of cultural heritage and how to enable access to it, but it now also needs to engage the public actively in its activities. This means continuing to use the traditional ‘hard’ sciences of physics and chemistry but also learning from and collaborating more with less familiar partners such as the social sciences, the medical sciences, and natural heritage to demonstrate how conservation science is good for people, and developing new methods of communication to do this. Conservation science needs to engage with the public not only as a subject for research but also as a means of doing the research, so the end also becomes the means. Public impact should be factored into conservation science projects, with training in communication and the principles of interpretation provided to those involved. A more fundamental shift may be required in the sector however, that puts people's benefit at the heart of conservation science as much as the benefit of the cultural heritage it engages with.     

Firm foundations: the effectiveness of an educational psychologist developed intervention targeting early numeracy skills

This study evaluates the efficacy of a mathematics intervention devised by Essex Educational Psychology Service (EPS), UK. The intervention was designed to develop understanding and skills across four key domains within arithmetical development, by applying the principles of errorless learning, distributed practice and teaching to mastery. A quasi-experimental design was used to investigate the success of the intervention in raising the level of arithmetical skills of lower achieving pupils up to National Curriculum Level 2. The results indicated that children engaging with the intervention made significantly more progress than children not engaging with the intervention, with ratio gains of 2.51 in arithmetical skills. In addition, gains were made in mathematical reasoning.     

Exploring the Potential for Students to Develop Self-Awareness through Personalized Learning

Abstract

Personalized learning (PL) and social-emotional learning (SEL) are areas of increasing emphasis in U.S. educational policy and practice. With the goal of examining how these initiatives may be mutually supportive, this exploratory study investigates the potential for a PL experience to help middle school students develop the SEL skill of “self-awareness.” Using qualitative inquiry, we analyze reflective interviews with eleven students engaged in PL using an original self-awareness coding scheme. Our findings offer promising evidence that PL can promote self-awareness, including specific student examples, followed by recommendations for how PL and SEL efforts can be more strategically aligned.     

Discourse complexity of college writers with and without disabilities: a multidimensional analysis

The purpose of this study was to examine specific word- and sentence-level features most frequently used in the expository writing of four groups of college writers. Three groups were writers who demonstrated disabilities. Group 1 students (n = 87) demonstrated learning disabilities (LD); Group 2 (n = 50), attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD); and Group 3 (n = 58), combined LD and ADHD. Group 4 consisted of writers with no history of a documented disability (n = 92). Computer-based analysis and structural equation modeling were used to group specific linguistic features identified in the expository essays across all four groups. The frequency of linguistic features, not errors, was analyzed. Four communication dimensions (factors) were identified for the four groups of writers, but the factor loadings and correlations were significantly different across groups. Furthermore, the relationships of specific linguistic features were studied as to their impact on the verbosity, quality, and lexical complexity of students' expository essays. It is interesting to note that very high correlations were found between verbosity, quality, and lexical complexity, suggesting that these constructs are not as separate in their functioning as might be supposed. Implications for assessment and instruction are provided.     

市场投资四步骤

For investors, the market＇s moody swings are a recipe for rash decisions. Even the pros are having a hard time getting it right, so don＇t get discouraged. If you＇re a frazzled investor, here are five practical tips from Charles Schwab designed to calm your nerves：     

An investigation of factors impacting on mainstream teachers’ beliefs about teaching students with learning difficulties

The relationship between teacher experience, further professional development training, and beliefs and attributions about teaching students with additional learning support needs was studied in a sample of 199 mainstream general class primary school teachers. Using multiple regression, it was found that none of the teacher experience or professional training variables were significant predictors of locus of causality, stability, or controllability attributions, or of teacher self‐efficacy with students with difficulties in learning. Self‐efficacy, however, was a positive predictor of attributions, and sympathy a negative predictor. Multivariate analysis of variance found no relationship between teacher experience, further professional development training, and dependent outcome variables: self‐efficacy with learning difficulties, coping with learning difficulties, interactions with people with disabilities, or general optimism. Implications for continued professional development are discussed.     

Written sentence production error patterns of college writers with learning disabilities

Utilizing a controlled stimulus passage to control for verbosity and topic selection, this research investigated the written syntax of 81 (60 males, 21 females) collegeable individuals demonstrating a specific learning disability. Four models of speech production disturbance (i.e., syntactical, lexical, monitoring, control) were evaluated in light of the errors identified in the rewrite paragraphs of this population. The data from this research supports the control impairment hypothesis, predicting that sentence production errors will be of the same kind as found in the language of writers demonstrating no handicapping conditions. In addition, the study investigated the correlation of specific cognitive and achievement variables to syntactical competence and error type.