Academic underachievement among children with epilepsy: proportion exceeding psychometric criteria for learning disability and associated risk factors

This study assessed rates of learning disabilities (LD) by several psychometric definitions in children with epilepsy and identified risk factors. Participants (N = 173, ages 8-15 years) completed IQ screening, academic achievement testing, and structured interviews. Children with significant head injury, chronic physical conditions, or mental retardation were excluded. Using an IQ-achievement discrepancy definition, 48% exceeded the cutoff for LD in at least one academic area; using low-achievement definitions, 41% to 62% exceeded cutoffs in at least one academic area. Younger children with generalized nonabsence seizures were at increased risk for math LD using the IQ-achievement discrepancy definition; age of seizure onset and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) were risk factors for reading and math LD using low-achievement definitions. Writing was the most common domain affected, but neither ADHD nor seizure variables reliably identified children at risk for writing LD. Although children with earlier seizure onset, generalized nonabsence seizures, and comorbid ADHD appear to be at increased risk for some types of LD by some definitions, these findings largely suggest that all children with epilepsy should be considered vulnerable to LD. A diagnosis of epilepsy (even with controlled seizures and less severe seizure types) should provide sufficient cause to screen school-age children for LD and comorbid ADHD.     

The Complexity of Becoming a Dialogic Teacher in an English Language Arts Classroom

Recent research in English education has emphasised dialogically organised instruction to promote learning talk; yet little is known about teachers’ perceptions of their efforts to teach dialogically. This study draws on video-cued interviews to examine how secondary preservice English teacher Emma experiences trying to teach dialogically and the conflicting demands it elicits for her. Findings indicate that she must navigate competing discourses including the curriculum, the ideas of her mentor teacher, her beliefs about dialogic teaching and her university schooling. Emma’s accounts revealed that satisfying these at once was not achievable, and that her endeavour to become a dialogic teacher was rife with conflict.     

Teaching group interdependence: A campus murder mystery activity

Courses: Introduction to Communication; small group; interpersonal

Objectives: This single activity demonstrates: (1) how interdependence can lead to better group outcomes than individual outcomes can; (2) how diversity of knowledge from multiple contributors helps group functioning; and (3) how students can be introduced to members of the department in a creative way. Successful completion of this activity familiarizes students with both administration, staff, and faculty members, as well as undiscovered resources.     

The Development and Validation of the Behavior and Emotion Expression Observation System to Characterize Preschoolers’ Social and Emotional Interactions

Research Findings: This article describes the development and evaluation of the Behavior and Emotion Expression Observation System (BEEOS), a direct observation tool to characterize preschoolers’ social and emotion behaviors during semistructured activities in the classroom. The BEEOS was used to observe 148 Head Start preschoolers, and questionnaires were completed by teachers and parents to provide psychometric comparisons to the observational system. Findings support both the reliability and criterion-related validity of the behavior indicators and emotion expressions that make up the BEEOS. Preschoolers in the current sample engaged in expected patterns of social behavior and emotion expression. Furthermore, both constructs were related to teacher and parent reports of preschoolers’ social behavior, externalizing and internalizing symptomatology, emotion regulation, and perceived emotion expressions. Practice or Policy: Findings suggest that the BEEOS can be used to supplement caregiver report and standardized assessments of preschoolers’ social and emotion behaviors. The potential applications and implications of the BEEOS for research and education are discussed and include informing teaching planning and practices as well as the effectiveness of social-emotional interventions.     

Old friends, new friends: predictors of children's perspective on their friends at school

Predictors of 5-year-old kindergartners' insights into their friends, and their accounts of liking and conflict with their friends were investigated, with a focus on both the children's and their friends' social understanding during the preschool period, and the quality of their preschool friendships. Seventy children initially studied at 4 years utilizing social cognition tasks and observations of dyadic play with their friends were followed over the transition to school; at school they were interviewed about their friendships and their social understanding was assessed. One group had remained close to their preschool friends, whereas a second group had formed new friendships. Social understanding, language abilities, and prosocial characteristics of both the children and preschool friends, their successful communication and shared pretend play experiences during the preschool period, and their mothers' educational level were related to their perspectives on their current school friends. Liking of current friends was linked to relationship history and maternal educational level for both those with old and with new friends, whereas insight was related to assessments of social cognition.     

Some reflexcttons on educational research

This paper was written for delivery to the NSW Institute of Educational Research soon after my retirement and the cessation of funding for ERDC. Copies were circulated, I believe, to Institute members and I circulated a few. Grant Harman, editor of Educational Researcher saw a copy recently and suggested publication. I was happy to agree and had added some further brief reflections from retirement.     

Activating learning in engineering education using ICT and the concept of ‘Flipping the classroom’

ABSTRACT

This case study trialled the introduction of a student-response system (Top Hat) in a third-year engineering Fluid Mechanics course (n?=?44) to improve student engagement, motivation and cognition. It was recognised that for the potential benefits of student-response systems (SRSs) to be fully realised, more time must be allocated for student engagement and the active learning components of the course. In order to allow sufficient time to fully engage with the SRSs and other classroom activities, traditional lectures were revised and the classroom format was flipped. This paper presents the initial case study results focusing on the use of SRSs. Overall, the new flipped lecture and SRS teaching format demonstrated a substantial increase in the level of student engagement, motivation, active learning and attendance compared to previous cohorts. However, the increased levels of engagement did not appear to reflect on any large increase in students’ individual grades.     

What GATE Did: an exploration of the effects of the CATE criteria on students’ use of information technology during teaching practice

ABSTRACT

Information technology (IT) has assumed an increasingly important role in the English primary school curriculum. The CATE criteria (DES, 1989b) require that student teachers develop competencies in teaching with IT if courses are to be accredited. Consequently, colleges have modified their policies and practices. To explore the effects of these changes, the experiences of a group of students were monitored over their four year course at Edge Hill College, and related to the experiences of students from a pre‐CATE cohort The CATE group made more use of IT in each of their teaching practices, with every respondent reporting some use of IT. Word processing was the most common IT based activity; uses of LOGO and simulations were disappointingly low. Students’ accounts of the benefits to pupils from using IT focused largely on improving skills in specific subject areas and computer skills, increasing motivation, and facilitating group and social skills. Little emphasis was placed on the development of thinking skills. Very few tutors offered help with IT on teaching practice; tutor skills, and in‐school mentoring both appear to be barriers to development These data are related to on‐going developments in the College. CATE has had, and continues to have, a direct effect upon College practices and these effects are visible in the classroom experiences of student teachers. Yet more progress is needed in developing student teachers’ abilities to use IT in class; we conclude that IT development should be seen as the focus for long term development, like other professional skills.     

Managing Dualities in Planned Change Initiatives

Dualities play an important role in creating the conditions for change and managing planned change initiatives. Building on Seo, Putnam, and Bartunek's (2003) work, this study focuses on the dualities associated with managing change processes. A case study of a planned change process called the Circle of Prosperity Initiative, a multi-stakeholder dialogue designed to bring information technology to Indian country, was analyzed. Three dualities emerged regarding the structuring and management of the change initiative: (1) inclusion–exclusion, (2) preservation–change, and (3) centrality–parity. The findings suggested that these dualities were managed using Seo et al.'s (2003) strategy of connection. Notably, the strategy of connection relied heavily on the ability of change agents to set context within and between the different phases of the initiative and involved three specific practices for setting context setting: (1) commonplacing, (2) bounded mutuality, and (3) reflexive positioning.