Early reading instruction for children with reading difficulties: meeting the needs of diverse learners

Several multiple-probe-across-participants design studies were employed to evaluate the effectiveness of a supplemental tutoring intervention using Read Well (Sprick, Howard, & Fidanque, 1998-2000). In Year 1, we conducted two studies with 7 first-, second-, and third-grade children (1 girl and 6 boys), who were classified as having learning disabilities, having attention-deficit disorder, or being English language learners and were identified by their teachers as poor readers. The results of the two studies indicated that 3 of the 5 children who received Read Well instruction showed improvement in passage fluency. Student performance on other measures of reading and comprehension was varied. Differences in student characteristics and in the amount of Read Well instruction received (2 to 7 weeks) seemed to account for the differences in performance. In Year 2, we implemented the same tutoring intervention for a longer duration (up to 16 weeks) and included 5 children in second and third grades (2 girls and 3 boys) with reading difficulties. Two of these children had previously participated in the Year 1 studies. The results indicated growth in reading, spelling, and comprehension for most children. Overall, the findings from Year 1 and 2 studies indicate the benefits of increased instructional intensity and duration for children who struggle with emerging reading skills.     

Principals’ reactions to feedback received by school inspection: A longitudinal study

This article presents the results of a follow-up study on the attitudes of German principals towards receiving feedback from school inspections. In a first study, we explored the attitudes of 50 principals towards feedback from school inspections [Quality Analysis (QA) in North Rhine-Westphalia] before school inspections took place at these schools (Bitan et al., Int J leadersh Educ 18(4):418–439, 2015). In the present study, the change in attitude of 20 of these principals towards the feedback instrument was investigated in a longitudinal study that took place 6 months after the schools had been inspected. Mixed methods were used. The main aim of the study was to assess the principals’ reactions and attitudes toward the feedback given by school inspectors as well as the change in principals’ attitudes after the school inspection and to explore the underlying reasons for their attitudes and reactions. 20 % of the principals changed to a more negative attitude towards the QA after the inspection, whereas 0 % voiced a neutral attitude. 60 % changed to a more positive attitude and 20 % remained positive after the QA. The discussion presents implications for school inspections as a feedback instrument as well as school development.     

Electrifying Engagement in Middle School Science Class: Improving Student Interest Through E-textiles

Most interventions with “maker” technologies take place outside of school or out of core area classrooms. However, intervening in schools holds potential for reaching much larger numbers of students and the opportunity to shift instructional dynamics in classrooms. This paper shares one such intervention where electronic textiles (sewable circuits) were introduced into eighth grade science classes with the intent of exploring possible gains in student learning and motivation, particularly for underrepresented minorities. Using a quasi-experimental design, four classes engaged in a traditional circuitry unit while the other four classes undertook a new e-textile unit. Overall, students in both groups demonstrated significant learning gains on standard test items without significant differences between conditions. Significant differences appeared between groups’ attitudes toward science after the units in ways that show increasing interest in science by students in the e-textile unit. In particular, they reported positive identity shifts pertaining to their perceptions of the beliefs of their friends, family, and teacher. Findings and prior research suggest that student-created e-textile designs provide opportunities for connections outside of the classroom with friends and family and may shift students’ perceptions of their teacher’s beliefs about them more positively.     

Cataloging in a Remote Location: A Case Study of International Collaboration in the Galapagos Islands

The Corley Smith Library is a small, special library located at the Charles Darwin Research Station in the Galapagos Islands. Currently, the library is managed by international volunteer librarians in collaboration with Station staff and local volunteers. Recently the library migrated its online public access catalog to Koha. We describe the process of selecting an open-source integrated library system and implementing Koha. Cataloging in this remote location presents challenges related to technology, staff expertise, language, local practices, and obtaining supplies. We define the strategies to address these issues, including long-term goals of copy cataloging with Z39.50 and remote cataloging by volunteer librarians.     

Seek and You Shall Find? An Observational Study of Music Students' Library Catalog Search Behavior

This observational study examined the strategies that music students used to locate scores and media items in an academic library's online public access catalog (OPAC). During a usability test, investigators tracked students' search strategies and behaviors, and measured their success in identifying appropriate items. Students experienced briefer, less complicated, and more successful queries for media items than for music scores (the latter of which they struggled to find and properly identify). Class standing, library catalog experience, and prior library instruction had no significant effect on positive outcomes. Searches for music scores were highly sensitive to variations in query wording, and students frequently struggled to revise their searches.     

Mediators of a Preservice Teacher’s Use of the Inquiry-Application Instructional Model

This paper reports on one preservice teacher’s use of the Inquiry-Application Instructional Model (I-AIM) to plan and teach an instructional sequence on photosynthesis to 5th-grade students. Analysis of the preservice teacher’s planned and enacted instructional sequences and interviews shows that the preservice teacher was successful in leveraging the conceptual change but not the inquiry aspects of the I-AIM. The mediators of this preservice teacher’s use of the I-AIM included her approach to teaching science, the curriculum materials she had available, and the meanings she made of the underlying frameworks. Understanding the mediators of preservice teachers’ uses of instructional models can inform teacher educators’ approaches to supporting preservice teachers in using instructional models for organizing science instructional sequences.     

Visual discrimination learning of random figure problems by rhesus monkeys

In a two-choice discrimination learning paradigm, a U-shaped function was found between trials to criterion and the number of sides comprising the random figure discriminanda. These data are consistent with results from human Ss and suggest similar information processing capabilities in the two species. Changing the orientation of the stimulus figures after the discrimination had been learned only partially disrupted subsequent discrimination performance. Any single difference in selected form attributes between the two figures comprising a problem was not a good predictor of learning speed, suggesting that monkeys use a combination of such factors.     

Nurse managers’ perceptions of barriers to the mentoring of early career nurses

ABSTRACT

Mentoring is a unique educative workplace relationship which holds the potential to support the skill, knowledge, social and emotional needs of both new and experienced staff members. As promotion of mentoring in the nursing workplace can improve workforce retention and cohesion, understanding of nurse managers’ perceptions of the barriers to the mentoring of early career researchers in hospitals can offer insights that enhance the efficacy of mentoring in these dynamic contexts. In-depth interviews with 20 nurse managers were conducted to identify these barriers, with interpersonal conflict, competing priorities for time and financial resources, and lack of training emerging as recurring themes raised by participants. We explore how these barriers can be mitigated to strengthen the contemporary mentoring quality and opportunity in acute care hospitals.