Teacher and student enactments of a transdisciplinary art-science-computing unit

Instructional Science - Transdisciplinary learning environments have potential to bring together the arts, sciences, and computing within schools. We investigate the student and teacher enactment...     

Evaluation of a Computer-Supported Learning System

Educational content on the Internet is rapidly increasing. Academics and businesses are placing more course material online to supplement classroom and business training situations. In addition, significant increases in undergraduate enrollments in information system courses, and the rapid pace of new knowledge in the field, have led researchers to call for new innovative approaches to learning. Prior researchers have reported that this new Web‐based training technology (which has its foundation in computer‐based training) has not integrated sound pedagogical practices into the authoring process when developing new tutorials. This paper summarizes an experiment to evaluate the effect on posttest scores of a Web‐based authoring tool that prompts the developer to build multiple presentation styles into the learning module. Early results indicate that the tool is more effective than traditional HTML‐authoring tools and that the number of exercises affects posttest scores in a positive manner. No effect on posttest scores was observed for the number of examples in the learning module.     

Parenting Styles, Adolescents' Attributions, and Educational Outcomes in Nine Heterogeneous High Schools

This article examined the contemporaneous and predictive relations between parenting styles, adolescents' attributions, and 4 educational outcomes. Data were collected from adolescents attending 6 high schools in California and 3 high schools in Wisconsin during the 1987–1988 and 1988–1989 school years. The results of path analyses partially confirmed the central hypotheses. Adolescents who perceived their parents as being nonauthoritative were more likely than their peers to attribute achievement outcomes to external causes or to low ability. Furthermore, the higher the proportion of dysfunctional attributions made for academic successes and failures, the lower the levels of classroom engagement and homework 1 year later. Although adolescents' attributional style provided a bridge between parenting style and 2 educational outcomes, it did not fully explain the impact of parenting on those outcomes. Additional analyses within gender and ethnic subgroups reinforced the overall pattern of findings observed within the entire sample.     

Over-Time Changes in Adjustment and Competence among Adolescents from Authoritative, Authoritarian, Indulgent, and Neglectful Families

In a previous report, we demonstrated that adolescents' adjustment varies as a function of their parents' style (e.g., authoritative, authoritarian, indulgent, neglectful). This 1-year follow-up was conducted in order to examine whether the observed differences are maintained over time. In 1987, an ethnically and socioeconomically heterogeneous sample of approximately 2,300 14–18-year-olds provided information used to classify the adolescents' families into 1 of 4 parenting style groups. That year, and again 1 year later, the students completed a battery of standardized instruments tapping psychosocial development, school achievement, internalized distress, and behavior problems. Differences in adjustment associated with variations in parenting are either maintained or increase over time. However, whereas the benefits of authoritative parenting are largely in the maintenance of previous levels of high adjustment, the deleterious consequences of neglectful parenting continue to accumulate.     

Alleged sexual abuse at a day care center: impact on parents

OBJECTIVE: This report describes the cascade of stressful events and secondary life changes experienced by parents in a case of alleged sexual abuse at a day care program. The study evaluated parents' Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptoms and general psychological responses to the stressful events 4 years after the alleged abuse, and explored predictive factors of parental distress. METHODS: A total of 39 parents were interviewed about stressful events, life changes, and social support. Current distress reactions, psychological wellbeing, and locus of control were assessed with a battery of standardized measures. RESULTS: Hearing about the sexual abuse, testifying in court, hearing the verdict, and being exposed in media reports were all rated by the parents as distressing events. The majority of the parents experienced secondary life changes after the alleged sexual abuse. Four years after the alleged sexual abuse, one-third of the parents reported a high level of PTSD Intrusive symptoms and one-fourth reported a high level of PTSD Avoidance symptoms. There was a significant positive correlation between a measure of psychological wellbeing and PTSD. Secondary life changes and locus of control significantly predicted PTSD. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrates that the alleged sexual abuse of children in day care and the resulting events in the legal system and the media constitute significant and chronic stressors in the lives of the children's parents. These findings underscore the need to expand the focus of trauma-related sequelae from the child victim to their parents and family.     

Impact of Parenting Practices on Adolescent Achievement: Authoritative Parenting, School Involvement, and Encouragement to Succeed

This article examines the impact of authoritative parenting, parental involvement in schooling, and parental encouragement to succeed on adolescent school achievement in an ethnically and socio-economically heterogeneous sample of approximately 6,400 American 14-18-year-olds. Adolescents reported in 1987 on their parents' general child-rearing practices and on their parents' achievement-specific socialization behaviors. In 1987, and again in 1988, data were collected on several aspects of the adolescents' school performance and school engagement. Authoritative parenting (high acceptance, supervision, and psychological autonomy granting) leads to better adolescent school performance and stronger school engagement. The positive impact of authoritative parenting on adolescent achievement, however, is mediated by the positive effect of authoritativeness on parental involvement in schooling. In addition, nonauthoritativeness attenuates the beneficial impact of parental involvement in schooling on adolescents achievement. Parental involvement is much more likely to promote adolescent school success when it occurs in the context of an authoritative home environment.     

Emotional Autonomy Redux: Revisiting Ryan and Lynch

Ryan and Lynch have suggested that emotional autonomy in adolescence, at least as indexed by Steinberg and Silverberg's Emotional Autonomy Scale, is associated with poor family functioning and might therefore be better conceptualized as detachment. In the present study, we contrast adjustment scores among adolescents who differ in both emotional autonomy and perceptions of support in their relationship with their parents. Several thousand adolescents aged 14 through 18 completed Steinberg and Silverberg's emotional autonomy measure, a measure designed to assess the provision of support in the parent-adolescent relationship, and a number of standardized measures of adjustment. Adolescents high in emotional autonomy but low in relationship support show problematic adjustment profiles, consistent with Ryan and Lynch's interpretation of the measure as an index of detachment. Although adolescents high in both emotional autonomy and relationship support report more internal distress and behavior problems than some adolescents, they score higher on measures of psychosocial development and academic competence than their peers. Emotional autonomy in the context of a supportive adolescent-parent relationship may carry some developmental advantages as well as some deleterious consequences suggested by Ryan and Lynch.     

Training teaching staff to facilitate spontaneous communication in children with autism: Adult Interactive Style Intervention (AISI)

Previous research has demonstrated that the way adults interact with children with autism can have a great impact on their spontaneous communication. However, to date, few studies have focused on modifying adults' behaviour and even fewer have been conducted in school settings which actively involve teaching staff in designing the intervention. The aims of this study were twofold: (1) to explore the extent to which staff were able to build on their good practice and alter their interactive style and (2) to then assess the effects of this change on children's communication. The study used an action research methodology and involved three members of staff and six children with autism. The staff and the researcher developed an Adult Interactive Style Intervention (AISI) in partnership. This was based on two theoretical models of child development and disability. Data were collected pre‐ and post‐intervention and at follow‐up (12 months after the end of the main study) to measure change. The results showed that staff considerably increased the number of times they used AISI principles post‐intervention and that this change had a significant impact on the children's spontaneous communication. All three staff took an active participatory role in the study which was considered a very positive and empowering experience.     

The influence of instruction modality on brain activation in teenagers with nonverbal learning disabilities: two case histories

Teenagers with nonverbal learning disabilities (NLD) have difficulty with fine-motor coordination, which may relate to the novelty of the task or the lack of "self-talk" to mediate action. In this study, we required two teenagers with NLD and two control group teenagers to touch the thumb of each hand firmly and accurately to the fingertips of the same hand, in an order specified by verbal or tactile instruction. Brain activity patterns (measured using functional magnetic resonance imaging) suggest that unlike control participants, the NLD participants used internalized speech to facilitate the novel task only when instructions were verbal. NLD participants also showed activity in a more widely distributed network of neural structures. These findings provide preliminary evidence for remediation strategies that encourage internal speech.