Interactional models of learning disabilities: Evidence from students entering foster care

Children are increasingly entering foster care due to primary or secondary neglect in the home environment. They provide a unique opportunity to examine the relationship between learning and extrascholastic environments. Achievement and intelligence scores were obtained for 3483 school‐age children during the first 30 to 60 days of foster care placement. Results showed average to low‐average mean achievement and IQ, with primary academic deficits in basic skill areas. One or more severe (≥1.75 SD) regressed discrepancies was found for 25.4% of children, and 76.6% showed one or more areas of academic underachievement (≤25th percentile). Results are interpreted as supporting interactional models of learning disability etiology that recognize environmental, neurologic, instructional, and behavioral variables. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Socioeconomic Disadvantage, Proximal Environmental Experiences, and Socioemotional and Academic Adjustment in Early Adolescence: Investigation of a Mediated Effects Model

This study investigated interrelations among conditions of household socioeconomic disadvantage, proximal environmental experiences, and adaptational outcomes in a sample of 398 middle grade, early adolescents from a predominantly poor, rural area. Findings indicated that levels of disadvantage were related to both socioemotional and academic adjustment, with those from relatively disadvantaged backgrounds faring most poorly. Specifically, youth from homes in which adults were employed in low-income, unskilled occupations were found to have lower levels of school performance and achievement compared to those from homes in which adults were employed in higher paying semi-skilled or skilled/professional occupations. Further, youth from families in which neither parent had graduated from high school exhibited significantly worse socioemotional and academic adjustment than did those whose parents had higher educational levels. Youth who lived in relatively disadvantaged homes also reported more negative experiences of proximal environmental conditions relating to family and school contexts and greater exposure to stressful life events. Most notably, findings provided support for employing an ecological-mediational perspective to understand patterns of linkage between socioeconomic disadvantage and levels of adjustment. Support for this viewpoint included the finding that proximal environmental experiences were significant predictors of adolescent adjustment, independent of shared variance with conditions of household disadvantage, whereas conditions of disadvantage in several instances were no longer related significantly to indices of adjustment once their association with proximal environmental conditions was taken into account. The discussion considers implications for the targeting and scope of ecologically oriented approaches to preventive intervention.     

Validity of the osu post‐traumatic stress disorder scale and the behavior assessment system for children self‐report of personality with child tornado survivors

Tornadoes and other natural disasters can lead to anxiety and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in children. This study provides further validity for the Oklahoma State University Post‐Traumatic Stress Disorder Scale–Child Form (OSU PTSDS‐CF) by comparing it to the Behavior Assessment System for Children Self‐Report of Personality (BASC‐SRP). Correlations were significant at 0.01 between BASC‐SRP scales of Anxiety, Atypicality, and Clinical Maladjustment, and at least 0.05 between OSU PTSDS‐CF scales for Social Stress, Depression, Inadequacy, and Emotional Symptoms Index (ESI). Analyses of variance (ANOVAs) yielded significant differences at 0.01 between children with and without PTSD, based on OSU PTSDS‐CF cut‐off scores, for BASC‐SRP Anxiety, Atypicality, and Clinical Maladjustment. ANOVAs were significant at 0.05 for Social Stress, Locus of Control, Relationship with Parents, and ESI. Results yielded moderate effect sizes, and BASC‐SRP means were within normal limits for all groups. Practitioners are encouraged to supplement the BASC‐SRP with PTSD measures in children who have experienced trauma. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Creating a Library Orientation Card Game to Reach New Transfer Students

Librarians and staff at a public university drew upon previous experience with instructional games to develop, implement, and assess a card game as a library orientation activity for new transfer students. This project was shaped by a desire to meet transfer students’ unique needs as well as the logistical constraints associated with the university’s transfer student orientation. The card game, modeled after Apples to Apples, presented information about the campus library system in a fun, informal way that allowed transfer students to socialize with each other while learning. Survey responses indicated that students found the game both enjoyable and helpful.     

Taking place: the social construction of place,time and space,and the (re)making of distances in distance education

This paper endeavours to link the notions of distance and place to distance education, using social scientific theories of distance. A selection of the work of geographers, historians and sociologists concerning theories of distance and place are related critically to the administration, management and practices of distance education. Distance and place are presented as a concept which individuals construct for themselves in relation to the broader social contexts of their lives. The relationships between students and their distance education institutions represent encounters between a variety of distance relations which are rarely considered by distance educationists.

It is argued that distance education institutions play a part in ‘choreographing’ the existences of their students. In effect, a series of movements in time‐space are choreographed in order for people to be ‘distance students’. Such a choreography is founded on unstated assumptions about place and distance and is constructed through the bureaucracies and processes of distance education, particularly through the use of non‐dialogic forms of communications.     

Engagement and knowledge building in an afterschool STEM Club: analyzing youth and facilitator posting behavior on a social networking site

Social networking sites (SNSs) are popular technologies used frequently among youth for recreational purposes. Increasing attention has been paid to the use of SNSs in educational settings as a way to engage youth interest and encourage academically productive discussion. Potential affordances of using SNSs for education include knowledge building, collaborative communities, and the ability to document and share processes and designs. In this study, the SNS, Edmodo, is examined as an educational tool used with Studio STEM. Results indicated that youth appropriated Edmodo to exhibit engagement and articulate knowledge through reciting facts, acknowledging learning, and documenting progress with the guidance of instructors and facilitators. Based on results, we suggest that efforts to include SNSs in integrative science, technology, engineering, and mathematics programming for youth prioritize consistent monitoring and guidance by supportive and more knowledgeable others as this serves to develop community and encourage youth engagement.     

A Cognitive Framework for the Analysis of Online Chemistry Courses

Many students now are receiving instruction in online environments created by universities, museums, corporations, and even students. What features of a given online course contribute to its effectiveness? This paper addresses that query by proposing and applying an analytic framework to five online introductory chemistry courses. Introductory chemistry was chosen because, as the central science, chemistry is a core component of scientific literacy as well as a long-established prerequisite for science, engineering, and medical fields. An online instructional delivery system has the potential to overcome the limitations of the traditionally large and passive lecture format characteristic of an introductory chemistry course by providing students with opportunities for active engagement and support in the learning process via self-pacing, dynamic expositions, interactive problem solving, and open ended or scaffolded explorations of new information. The proposed framework for addressing the effectiveness of online chemistry courses is informed by both cognitive and chemistry education research on examples, tasks, and explorations and includes a catalog of possible online resources. As a demonstration of the framework, an analysis was conducted on each course’s instruction in stoichiometry, a tool that is both challenging to students and fundamental to the solution-chemistry topics addressed during subsequent coursework. The application of this framework revealed characteristics of the courses that could affect their instructional effectiveness as well as students’ impressions of what it means to “do chemistry.”     

Variational analysis of electrical networks

A unified variational approach to network analysis is presented. From an initial classification of variables, expressed in topological terms, Lagrangian energy functions are generated which may be used in Hamilton's principles. This topological formalism allows extension into nonconservative networks and enables the complete retention of classical formalism in all networks.By using a topological version of the Brayton-Moser mixed potential function, several power variational principles are developed. These principles lead to comparison of the roles played by classical energy and power state functions in analytical mechanics.     

Responding to illustrations in picture story books

Illustrations are a fundamental feature in children’s picture books and the evidence suggests that they are more than simply window dressing to make books look more attractive. They work in partnership with print to create layers of meaning. Janet Evans here illustrates this by using the responses of a group of children to Angry Arthur. She shows convincingly how encouraging children to respond to books in this way deepens their understanding.