Enhancing Phonological Awareness and Letter Knowledge in Preschool Children with Down Syndrome

This study investigated the effectiveness of a phonological awareness intervention for 4‐year‐old children with Down syndrome. Seven children with Down syndrome who attended an early intervention centre participated in the intervention. Their performance on measures of phonological awareness (initial phoneme identity), letter name and sound knowledge, and print concepts pre‐intervention and post‐intervention, was compared with that of a randomly selected group of age‐matched peers with typical development. The intervention involved print referencing techniques whereby the children’s parents were instructed to bring the children’s attention to targeted letters and sounds within words and to draw their attention to the initial phonemes in words during daily shared book reading activities. The intervention was presented for a 6‐week period. The results indicated a significant treatment effect on phonological awareness and letter knowledge for the children with Down syndrome. Additionally, above‐chance performance on the initial phoneme identity task was contingent on letter knowledge of the particular phoneme. Individual profiles of the children with Down syndrome pre‐intervention and post‐intervention are presented, and implications for the management of preschool children approaching the age of integration into mainstream primary schools are discussed.     

Predicting the Grades of Low-Income–Ethnic-Minority Students From Teacher-Student Discrepancies in Reported Motivation

The aims of this study were to investigate the effects of discrepancies between teachers' perceptions of students' motivation and students' reports of their motivation on math and English grades and to identify possible gender and ethnic differences. Participants included 215 low-income, ethnic-minority students and their teachers in academically struggling schools. Discrepancy in motivation ratings accounted for a significant amount of variation in final grades. This teacher-student discrepancy effect was larger than both the effect of students' recent standardized test scores and the effect of self-efficacy in both subjects. Girls were found to attract positive teacher bias, but their grades were not differentially affected. Differences in teacher-student discrepancy effects between African American and Latino students were not found.     

Transformational Partnerships: A New Agenda for Higher Education

In this article we develop the concept of transformational partnership and illustrate how such an understanding has enriched the relationship between a particular university and a school system. Transformational partnerships are different in purpose, nature, and strategies from transactional partnerships. They are based upon genuine engagement and a focus on common goals and mutual benefits. In transactional partnerships each institution pursues its own goals with little consideration of mutual goals or shared purpose. The areas of community engagement, leadership, and transformational partnerships provided key concepts for analysing the case study showing how higher education institutions can think and work differently with other institutions, organizations, and groups to achieve mutual benefits.     

Teacher voices from an online elementary mathematics community: examining perceptions of professional learning

Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education - This study compares web usage data with interviews from 41 participants, who are members of an online professional development site called the Everyday...     

Yes,Memorize

The endless wealth of information on the internet sharpens the question: how much and what is really important for us to remember? This issue is related to questions regarding the core processes involved in reasoning and thinking. We present mental manipulation (MM) as the core of reasoning and examine the above‐mentioned issue in light of MM's vital role in reasoning and problem‐solving.     

Effect of vibration training on neuromuscular output with ballistic knee extensions

The aim of the study was to determine whether vibration applied directly to a muscle-tendon could enhance neuromuscular output during and 1.5 and 10 min after a bout of ballistic resistance training. Fourteen participants were exposed to two training conditions in random order: exercise with vibration and exercise with sham vibration. The exercise comprised three sets of ballistic knee extensions with a load of 60-70% of one-repetition maximum. Vibration (1.2 mm amplitude, 65 Hz frequency) was applied with a portable vibrator strapped over the distal tendon of the quadriceps. Knee joint angular velocity, moment, and power, and rectus femoris and vastus lateralis electromyography root-mean-squared were measured during knee extension. During and after training, the vibration did not induce significant changes in peak angular velocity, time to peak angular velocity, peak moment, time to peak moment, peak power, time to peak power, or average EMG of the rectus femoris and vastus lateralis. We conclude that direct vibration, at the selected amplitude and frequency, does not enhance these neuromuscular variables in ballistic knee extensions during or immediately after training.     

Paraphrasing Interventions and Problem‐Solving Accuracy: Do Generative Procedures Help English Language Learners with Math Difficulties?

This randomized control treatment study investigated the role of generative paraphrasing interventions on word problem‐solving (WPS) accuracy in English language learners (ELL) who were at risk for math difficulties (MD). One hundred and forty‐two third‐grade monolingual and English language learners were randomly assigned to either an untreated control group or one of three treatment conditions: paraphrase question (Restate), paraphrase relevant information (Relevant), and paraphrase all propositions (Complete). Results showed that the relevant treatment condition improved WPS accuracy for monolingual and ELL children's accuracy relative to the control and restate condition. There were, however, no positive advantages on the transfer measures (knowledge of problem‐solving components, calculation) for ELL children with MD. In addition, the magnitude of posttest outcomes on the problem‐solving measures was substantially smaller for ELL children with MD than for children without MD. Although the results overall support the notion that generative learning improves problem‐solving accuracy, ELL children without MD are most likely to benefit from its application.     

Confronting Physical Activity Programming Barriers for People with Disabilities: The Empowerment Model

Community-based physical activity programs for people with disabilities have barriers that are unique to their program leader qualifications and the population they serve. Moran and Block (2010) argued that there is a need for practical strategies that are easy for communities to implement, maximize resources, and minimize the impact of barriers on each individual. The purpose of this article was to build upon the work of Moran and Block by identifying and systematically addressing barriers to physical activity for people with disabilities in ways that target their sources of self-efficacy. The Empowerment Model is introduced, along with its multi-tiered empowerment continuum of training, support, and programming strands. The goal of the tiered empowerment continuum is to progressively move populations to more independent levels of training, support, and programming.     

REVELATION AS TEACHING‐LEARNING

Revelation is a central category in Jewish, Christian, and Muslim religions for relating the divine and the human. Each of these religions tends to speak of revelation as something given to them in the past. This essay describes revelation as a present relation of teaching‐learning, one that is universal in scope and finds particular expressions in bodily and communal life. To teach is to show someone how to do something. Teaching is a fundamental act of all human and some nonhuman beings. Some Christian writers, including Clement of Alexandria and Thomas Aquinas, are cited in support of this thesis.     

Unlikely Crusader: John Eldred Swearingen and African-American Education in South Carolina

Although not a well-known figure either in educational or South Carolina history, John Eldred Swearingen had a profound impact on the schools of the Palmetto State. Guiding the schools to transition from 19th-century academies to 20th-century schools, Swearingen held office from 1907–1922. During these years, Swearingen oversaw unprecedented legislation impacting attendance, funding, and curriculum. Swearingen's stance on African American education was unlike many of his contemporaries—he used a variety of methods to improve education and raiseconsciousness amongst his White politician counterparts.

All of these facts would make him a worthy subject of biographical study; however, that he achieved all these things while blind makes his life and career all the more worthy. Almost as overlooked as Swearingen's contributions to South Carolina is the role the state played in the Brown v. Board of Education decision via the Briggs v. Eliott case. Drawing from Swearingen's own words, the papers of his contemporaries, and both legal and historical analysis of the involved legal cases to present an overview of both Swearingen and Briggs, this article argues that without Swearingen's visionary leadership—or if he had not been undone politically—the road to Briggs would have been quite different—if it existed at all.