Dealing with graphic output from diagram processing tasks: Approaches to characterisation and analysis

The current relative lack of detailed knowledge about how learners interact with the types of diagrams used in instructional materials is partly due to the research difficulties in characterising the cognitive structures and processes involved in these interactions. One of these difficulties arises from the lack of research tools specifically designed for the collection and meaningful analysis of relevant data. This paper describes computer-based approaches developed to analyse and characterise graphic output produced during diagram processing tasks. Specializations: Mental representation and processing of scientific diagrams, characteristics of explanatory diagrams, visual aspects of problem solving, instructional design.     

Influence of carbohydrate mouth rinsing on running and jumping performance during early morning soccer scrimmaging

Carbohydrate mouth rinse (CMR) is a novel method proposed to enhance endurance performance lasting ≤ 60 min. The current study examined the influence of CMR on anaerobic performance tasks in 11 collegiate female soccer players after an overnight fast. Athletes completed two experimental sessions, during which carbohydrate (CHO; 6% maltodextrin) or taste- and colour-matched placebo (PLA) mouth-rinse solutions were administered in a counterbalanced, double-blinded design. Three rounds of a 5-min scrimmage bout and series of performance tests including a single countermovement vertical jump (1VJ), a set of four consecutive vertical jumps, a 72-m shuttle run (SR72) and 18-m sprint comprised each trial. Thirst sensation (TS), session TS, ratings of perceived exertion (RPE) and session RPE were assessed as secondary outcomes. The first SR72 approached significance (p = 0.069), but no significant between-trials differences were observed for any of the mean performance tasks. The highest 1VJ scores did not differ for the first (CHO = 47.3 ± 3.4, PLA = 47.7 ± 3.5 cm; p = 0.43), second (CHO = 48.0 ± 4.1, PLA = 47.9 ± 3.5 cm; p = 0.82) or third bout (CHO = 47.4 ± 3.9, PLA = 48.1 ± 3.9 cm; p = 0.26). TS approached significance (p = 0.053) during the first bout. No significant differences (p > 0.05) were found for any of the perceptual variables. Current results fail to support ergogenic influence of CMR on anaerobic performance tasks in collegiate female athletes.     

Young children's understanding of counting and cardinality

4-year-old's knowledge of counting and cardinality--the last count word reached represents the numerosity of the set--was tested in 2 experiments. Experiment 1 investigated the nature of early cardinality responses by presenting different forms of the cardinality question before, after, and before and after the child counted. Both type and time of question has large effects. Experiment 2 examined whether children of this age could recognize errors in 4 counting procedures and whether they would reject a cardinality response arrived at through a mistaken counting procedure. The children were very good at recognizing a standard counting procedure as correct. They had only limited success at treating procedures that violated the stable order of count words or violated the one-one correspondence between count word and object as incorrect. They lacked an understanding of the order irrelevance in that they judged valid, nonstandard counting orders as incorrect. The children did not seem to link their evaluation of a cardinality response with their evaluation of the counting procedure used to reach that response. The results do not indicate that counting principles initially govern the child's acquisition of counting knowledge. They are consistent with the suggestion that early cardinality responses are last-word responses.     

Significant predictors of test anxiety among students with and without learning disabilities

In the present study, the relationship between students with and without learning disabilities (LD) and different aspects of test anxiety was examined on a new multidimensional measure of test anxiety. A sample of 774 elementary and secondary school students--195 students with LD and 579 students not identified with LD--completed the Test Anxiety Inventory for Children and Adolescents (TAICA), a new multidimensional measure of test anxiety for elementary and secondary school students in Grades 4 through 12. Examination of the factor structure of the TAICA scores across LD status to determine whether accurate test score interpretation was possible revealed that the majority of the coefficient of congruence values between each pair of six corresponding factors of the TAICA (Cognitive Obstruction/ Inattention, Performance Enhancement/Facilitation Anxiety, Physiological Hyperarousal, Social Humiliation, Worry, and Lie) and the Total Test Anxiety factor were above .90, and the salient variable similarity index values were statistically significant, suggesting that the factor structure of the TAICA was similar across groups. The results of seven multiple regression analyses revealed that LD predicted higher Cognitive Obstruction/Inattention and Worry scores and lower Performance Enhancement/Facilitation Anxiety and Lie scores. Implications of the findings for school personnel who work with students with LD are discussed.     

6 Urban schools as organizations: political perspectives

Reformed at the turn of the century toward top‐down, centralized administration, city school systems are frequently being reorganized today toward a bottom‐up, decentralized construction. The most radical of these is Chicago. But Chicago, in a condition shared widely throughout the USA, is a city school system experiencing serious budgetary and infrastructure decline ‐ a condition tending anew toward organizational centralization. Such political forces may not mesh well ‐ as a new politics of adaptive realignment at the grassroots encounters renewed strength in an ‘old politics’ of bureaucratic centralization. Largely unstudied and unknown at this time are the effects on the internal politics of the organization in city schooling ‐ a politics that may adapt in some unforeseen way to new battles between top‐down and bottom‐up.     

Talking of fabric: a multi‐dimensional model of quality in education

‘Improving quality’ has become a key phrase in policy and academic discourses on education in low‐income countries, reflecting concerns that the success in increasing enrolment and widening access to schooling is being undermined by low‐quality teaching and learning, and subsequent low levels of skills and knowledge among school leavers. We wish to revitalise discussions problematising ‘quality’ through examining current debates on and available frameworks for understanding the concept and proposing a new framework. We model ‘quality’ as a stretched ‘fabric’ maintained in tension through a contextually appropriate balance across seven conceptual dimensions. We recognise tensions and complementarities among the dimensions and the centrality of values inherent in making judgements of quality, that quality is a matter of process rather than product, and that this complex process demands a strategic approach. Finally, we recognise two issues that remain to be addressed in a future agenda.     

From lifelong learning to youth employment: back to the future for higher education in Scotland’s colleges

This article explores aspects of the experience of higher education students in a Scottish college within the context of widespread contemporary concern about youth unemployment. Analysis of published data reveals a marked shift in the demographic profile of higher education students in colleges in favour of young people. An unseen consequence of this change has been a decline in opportunities for older students, particularly women wishing to study part time at an advanced level. Survey data from one college follows up an earlier case study and explores new dimensions of the work/life/study balance. In this study the respective experiences of school leavers, young adults and adults are compared. Over half of the students were in paid work, an increase compared with the previous survey. The relationship between work or family life and study was significant in influencing the quality of the students’ experience. Young part-time students, many of whom were following modern apprenticeships, achieved a more successful work/life/study balance compared with full-time students who were in paid work. It is recommended that colleges should devote attention to enabling students to maximise the benefits of combining work with study, to prepare them for transition into a difficult labour market. It is also argued that the different priorities of older lifelong learners should continue to be recognised as their numbers decline.     

Consulting with children and young people who have disabilities: views of accessibility to education

The Education (Disability Strategies and Pupils' Educational Records) (Scotland) Act 2002 requires local authorities to prepare and implement an accessibility strategy to improve access to education for young people with disabilities. In this article, Dr Richard Woolfson, Principal Psychologist, Michael Harker, Depute Principal Psychologist, Dorothy Lowe, Senior Psychologist, Mary Shields, Senior Psychologist, and Hilary Mackintosh, Research Assistant, all from Renfrewshire Educational Psychology Service, report the response of one local authority. Staff from the psychological service carried out a two-stage research study with children and young people. Stage One involved a postal questionnaire for 290 pupils with a range of disabilities; parents and carers were asked to assist their children with the questionnaire. Stage Two involved young people with disabilities in a number of focus groups. The results recorded here confirm that the area of greatest pupil satisfaction is physical access to the school environment. Few problems are identified regarding access to information from school and most pupils with disability consider that their opinions are listened to and respected. Other findings suggest that pupils with disability generally view their teachers as supportive, while pupils often struggle to complete homework. Further, the pupils indicated that they would like to be more closely consulted about access to the curriculum, working independently and the provision of support. Older students suggested that preparation for post-school options should start much earlier. In the light of these findings, the authors discuss recommendations for future practice and for further research.