Testing the double-deficit hypothesis in an adult sample

The double-deficit hypothesis of dyslexia posits that reading deficits are more severe in individuals with weaknesses in phonological awareness and rapid naming than in individuals with deficits in only one of these reading composite skills. In this study, the hypothesis was tested in an adult sample as a model of reading achievement. Participants were parents of children referred for evaluation of reading difficulties. Approximately half of all participants reported difficulty learning to read in childhood and a small subset demonstrated ongoing weaknesses in reading. Structural equation modeling results suggest that the double-deficit hypothesis is an accurate model for understanding adult reading achievement. Better reading achievement was associated with better phonological awareness and faster rapid automatized naming in adults. Posthoc analyses indicated that individuals with double deficits had significantly lower reading achievement than individuals with single deficits or no deficits.     

Online learning: Learner characteristics and their approaches to managing learning

Using cluster analysis this study investigated the characteristics of learning strategies learners use in online courses with one-on-one mentoring. Three distinct approaches were identified: “Mastery oriented”, “Task focused” and “Minimalist in effort”. Despite the widespread concern that students will have difficulty managing their time in online courses with high level of student freedom, this study found that the vast majority of learners were very effective in their learning strategies. The findings speak well for the potential of distance education environments to provide high quality self-paced learning, accommodating different learning strategies, which is difficult to do in group-paced courses. We further explored how these approaches relate to and interact with, participants’ background and their levels of satisfaction and self reported learning.     

The impact of culture contact and desegregation on the whites of an urban high school

Conclusion Desegregation has generally been presented as an outgrowth of the civil rights movement and as an attempt to redress the educational disadvantages blacks have suffered as the result of a racial imbalance. Given the general theoretical considerations of resource allocation, the assumption has been that reallocations of resources to blacks would necessarily mean reallocation of these resources to blacks from whites. This view is also part of the popular culture where the process of desegregation has caused turmoil and disturbance among whites based, manifestedly at least, on the notion that improving educational benefits for blacks necessarily means a reduction in the same benefits for whites.Based on an analysis of the experiences of teachers and students at one polyethnic inner-city high school, we suggest that not only have whites at this school not been disadvantaged by the desegregation process but that there is evidence indicating that there have been more advantages for whites than for blacks. What, then, are the advantages of desegregation for whites, both students and teachers? In this school it was found that the advantages differed for white students and for white teachers, with white students experiencing more positive outcomes than white teachers experienced.     

Power Users and patchworking – An analytical approach to critical studies of young people’s learning with digital media

This paper sets out to problematise generational categories such as “Power Users” or “New Millennium Learners” by discussing these in the light of recent research on youth and information and communication technology. We then suggest analytic and conceptual pathways to engage in more critical and empirically founded studies of young people’s learning in technology and media‐rich settings. Based on a study of a group of young “Power Users”, it is argued that conceptualising and analysing learning as a process of patchworking can enhance our knowledge of young people’s learning in such settings. We argue that the analytical approach gives us ways of critically investigating young people’s learning in technology and media‐rich settings, and study if these are processes of critical, reflexive enquiry where resources are creatively re‐appropriated. With departure in an analytical example, the paper presents the proposed metaphor of understanding learning as a process of patchworking and discusses how we might use this to understand young people’s learning with digital media.

Les “Power Users” et la construction en “patchwork” – Une approche analytique des études critiques portant sur l’apprentissage chez les jeunes avec l’aide des médias numériques.

Le présent article vise à faire ressortir la problématique des catégories de générations, celles par exemple des “Power Users” ou des “Apprenants du Nouveau Millénaire” en les examinant de façon critique à la lumière des recherches récentes sur la jeunesse et les TICE. Nous suggérons ensuite des voies d’approche analytiques et conceptuelles pour nous engager dans des études plus critiques et plus solidement empiriques de l’apprentissage chez les jeunes dans des environnements à fort contenu technologique et médiatique. En nous appuyant sur l’étude d’un groupe de jeunes “Power Users”, on avance l’hypothèse selon laquelle le fait d’analyser et de conceptualiser l’apprentissage comme un processus de construction de patchwork peut améliorer notre connaissance de l’apprentissage chez les jeunes se trouvant dans de tels environnements. Nous avançons l’idée que cette approche analytique nous fournit les moyens d’étudier de façon critique l’apprentissage chez les jeunes se trouvant dans des environnements à fort contenu technologique et médiatique et de déterminer s’il s’agit là de processus de recherche critique et réflexive dans lequel ils se réapproprient les ressources de façon créative. En s’appuyant sur un exemple analytique, cet article présente une proposition, celle d’une métaphore pour comprendre l’apprentissage comme un processus de patchwork et discute de la façon dont nous pourrions l’ utiliser pour comprendre de quelle façon les jeunes apprennent avec les medias numériques.

?Power User“ und ?Patchworking“ – eine analytische Annäherung an kritische Studien über das Lernen junger Leute mit digitalen Medien

Dieser Artikel problematisiert generationspezifische Kategorien wie ?Power Users“ und ?New Millenium Learners“ welche hier vor dem Hintergrund der jüngsten Forschungsergebnisse im Bereich Jugend und Informations‐ und Telekommunikationstechnologie (ITK) diskutiert werden. Darauf aufbauend werden analytische und konzeptionelle Wege vorgeschlagen, wie auf empierischer und auf Fakten basierender Grundlage das Lernen junger Menschen in einem technologie‐ und medienreichen Umfeld studiert werden kann. Eine Gruppe junger ?Power Users“ ist die Grundlage unserer Argumentation, dass Konzeptionalisierung und Analyse des Patchwork Lernprozesses junger Leute unser Verständnis von ihrer Herangehensweise an den Lernprozess verbessern kann. Wir argumentieren, dass die analytische Herangehensweise uns hilft, das Lernen junger Leute im ITK Kontext zu analysieren und wir untersuchen, ob diese Prozesse kritisch und reflexiv sind und dazu beitragen, Ressourcen kreativ zu nutzen. Der Artikel schließt mit einem analytischen Beispiel in dem wir die zuvor diskutierte Metapher – Lernen als einen Patchworkprozess zu verstehen – nutzen, um zu diskutieren wie dieses Verständnis genutzt werden kann, um unser Wissen über das Lernen junger Leute mit digitalen Medien zu erweitern.

Los “Power Users” y la construcción en “patchwork” – Un enfoque analítico sobre los estudios críticos acerca del aprendizaje de los jóvenes con los medios digitales.

El propósito del presente artículo es de hacer resaltar la problemática de las categorías de generaciones, entre ellas los “Power Users” o los “discentes del Nuevo Milenio”, a través de una discusión de esas categorías a la luz de las últimas investigaciones sobre la juventud y las TICs. Sugerimos después algunos caminos analíticos y conceptuales para meterse en estudios con una base más crítica y más fuertemente empírica, del aprendizaje de los jóvenes en entornos con una fuerte dimensión tecnológica y mediatizada. Basandose en el estudio de un grupo de jovenes “Power Users”, se argumenta que el hecho de analizar y conceptualizar el aprendizaje como si fuese un proceso de “patchworking”, puede en realidad realzar nuestro conocimiento de la manera de aprender de los jovenes en entornos de ese tipo. Argumentamos que el enfoque analítico nos ofrece maneras de investigar críticamente el aprendizaje de los jóvenes dentro de entornos fuertemente tecnológicos y mediatizados y de estudiar si se trata de procesos de investigación crítica y reflexiva en los cuales se produce una re‐apropiación creativa de los recursos. Con una salida hacia un ejemplo analítico este artículo presenta la propuesta de una metáfora para entender el aprendizaje como si fuese un proceso de construcción de un “patchwork” con una discusión sobre las posibilidades de uso de esto para entender como los jóvenes aprender con los medios digitales.     

Classroom and Grade Level Differences in the Stability of Teacher Expectations and Perceived Differential Teacher Treatment

Using two independent samples of urban elementary school children from Grades 1, 3, and 5, this study explored the long-term stability of classroom learning environments that differ in the extent of differential teacher treatment favoring high achievers over low achievers, as reported by students. Classroom differences ('high' versus 'low') in perceived differential treatment were highly stable from fall to spring in Grades 3 and 5, but not in Grade 1. Stability in (a) individual children's reports of differential treatment, and (b) teacher expectations for children's year-end reading achievement was accentuated in classrooms where differential treatment was pronounced early in the year, particularly in the higher elementary grades. Findings suggest that there would be heightened risk for problematic teacher expectancy effects and other maladaptive learning outcomes in these classrooms, because stable or rigid performance expectations are coupled with classroom instructional patterns that consistently convey these expectations to children. In contrast, risk is likely to be reduced in classrooms where high and low achievers are treated more equitably in the eyes of children, because teachers' expectations for children are more flexible, and children take longer to discern differences in treatment. The overall consistency of findings in two samples supports the generalizability of the conclusions reached.     

The Use of Reflective Journals to Stimulate Critical Thinking in the Academic Internship

Reflective journals have been widely accepted throughout various educational disciplines for many years as a means of enhancing experiential learning practices. Reflective journals allow for students to gain a better understanding of a given experience and explore the levels of critical thinking as they work through the understanding and learning processes. Critical thinking involves the logical progression from mere knowledge and understanding to the highest levels of synthesis and evaluation. The immediate study presents findings of the analyses of a series of sequential reflective journals presented over the course of a semester-long internship experience. Findings indicate that reflective journals are shown to facilitate progression through the levels of critical thinking as identified in Bloom’s taxonomy and promote a higher level of understanding and application of theoretical concepts to practical experiential learning.     

All Validities are Not Created Equal: Determinants of Variation in SAT Validity Across Schools

Previous research has demonstrated that cognitive test validities are generalizable and predictive of academic performance across situations. However, even after accounting for statistical artifacts (e.g., sampling error, range restriction, criterion reliability), substantial variability often remains around estimates of cognitive test–performance relationships suggesting the presence of additional moderators. In the present study, we examine the sources of institutional variation in Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) validity across a sample of 110 institutions. Institutional characteristics moderated the size of SAT validities, such that more selective schools and schools that emphasize traditional assessment techniques (i.e., school records, standardized tests) showed higher SAT validities while schools that were larger and where students demonstrated more financial need, schools that emphasized the usage of alternative assessment techniques (i.e., essays, letters of recommendations, extracurricular activities), and schools that enrolled higher percentages of historically disadvantaged minority students generally exhibited lower SAT validities. Future directions in the understanding of situational influences on SAT–grade point average validities are discussed.     

CO(2) dissolution in water using long serpentine microchannels

The evolution of carbon dioxide bubbles dissolving in water is experimentally examined using long microchannels. We study the coupling between bubble hydrodynamics and dissolution in confined geometries. The gas impregnation process in liquid produces significant flow rearrangements. Depending on the initial volumetric liquid fraction, three operating regimes are identified, namely saturating, coalescing, and dissolving. The morphological and dynamical transition from segmented to dilute bubbly flows is investigated. Tracking individual bubbles along the flow direction is used to calculate the temporal evolution of the liquid volumetric fraction and the average flow velocity near reference bubbles over long distances. This method allows us to empirically establish the functional relationship between bubble size and velocity. Finally, we examine the implication of this relationship during the coalescing flow regime, which limits the efficiency of the dissolution process.     

Resident perceptions of anatomy education: a survey of medical school alumni from two different anatomy curricula and multiple medical specialties

In 2004, the University of Michigan Medical School reduced its gross anatomy curriculum. To determine the effect of this reduction on resident perceptions of their clinical preparedness, we surveyed alumni that included residents from the original and new shortened curricula. A Likert-scale survey was sent to four classes of alumni. Respondents were compared in old curriculum (OC) and new curriculum (NC) groups, surgical specialty (SS) and nonsurgical specialty (NS) groups, and subgroups of SS and NS were compared for differences between OC and NC. Mean response scores were compared using independent samples T-tests. As a single population (n = 110), respondents felt their anatomy education prepared them well for residency, that a more robust anatomy curriculum would be helpful, that dissection was important to their residency preparation, and that a 4th year anatomy elective was effective in expanding their anatomy education and preparing them for residency. No significant difference existed between OC and NC groups, neither as a whole nor as SS and NS subgroups. The SS group felt dissection was more important to their residency preparation than the NS group (P = 0.001) and that a more robust anatomy curriculum would have better prepared them for residency (P = 0.001). Thirty percent of SS respondents who did not take a 4th year elective commented that they wish they had. Fourth year anatomy electives were highly valued by residents, and respondents felt that they should be offered to students as a way of revisiting anatomy following the 1st year of clinical training.