THE POWER OF PERFORMANCE IN DEVELOPING PROBLEM SOLVING AND SELF ASSESSMENT ABILITIES

Students of Alverno College develop problem solving as one of eight abilities they are required to demonstrate in order to graduate. They must also demonstrate self assessment ability as an important part and over‐riding outcome of their educational process.

In ongoing studies, the research staff of the college found that students show increasing sophistication in their performance of these abilities and identify them as significant aspects of their education. Faculty contribute to their own developing educational theory and practice by analysing student performance and judging it by criteria they have articulated to describe expert performance. In requiring students to integrate self assessment into their problem solving process, faculty have found that students show increasing understanding of inter‐relationships of ability, content, and context. Students take responsibility for their learning as a dynamic, continuing process. They gradually internalise their practice of both problem solving and self assessment ability.     

Interactions among children in scholastic contexts and knowledge aquisition in biology

This article presents the first results of an investigation in a scholastic context aimed a determining the conditions that favour the acquisition of knowledge in biology within interactions in groups of 4 pupils. There were three work sessions in small groups, and some sessions in class groups. The pupils’ conceptions were assessed at the beginning and the end of learning as well as at the beginning of the first and second group sessions. The pupils had to compare their ideas and draw one or several pictures with a caption or some sentences to explain if necessary. Interactional analysis showed that the co-development-type interactive dynamics (according to Gilly) contribute to constructing the conceptual field studied owing to the questions the pupils ask one another. Conflicting comparison-type dynamics are benficial providing that each pupil does not put forward only arguments that contribute to confirminghis own opinions. Moreover, it seems that the quality of the interactions depends on the tasks the pupils are requested to accomplish.     

Gender differences in cognitive abilities of learning-disabled females and males

Gender differences in level and pattern of cognitive abilities were examined in 28 LD college-able females (CA 18–25) as compared to 21 LD college-able males (CA 18–25). Both groups were in the average IQ range as measured by the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, with LD males significantly higher on the Full Scale IQ and three out of the four subtests, Picture Completion, Block Design, and Information. The LD females performed significantly better on the Digit Symbol subtest. The hierarchies of subtest performance and Bannatyne and ACID category scores were compared. LD females have strengths in visual-motor abilities and verbal conceptualization, while the LD males’ highest abilities were nonverbal visual-spatial confirming earlier studies on younger LD individuals and non-LD males and females. Performance on the Digit Symbol subtest was the next to the lowest for the males, the highest for females. However, for both groups, short-term and long-term memory for digits and factual knowledge and mental arithmetic problem solving were relative weaknesses. Results indicate different patterns of cognitive abilities in LD females and males which have implications for identification, service, and prognosis for the learning disabled, especially females.     

Issues in phonological awareness assessment

Awareness of the internal phonological structure of words is a causal factor in success with the alphabetic principle in word recognition. However, findings with the Lindamood Auditory Conceptualization (LAC) Test reveal 25–30% of the population show deficiency in a subtle component of phonological awareness termed comparator function. We argue that this comparator function—an ability to hold the phoneme and/or syllable segments of two phonological structures in mind and compare and represent any variations in the number, identity, or order of their segments—is a primary sensory-cognitive function underlying the secondary function of self-correction in word recognition and spelling. And since word recognition correlates highly with comprehension, comparator function also indirectly impacts this basic purpose for reading. We suggest that the needs of many individuals, including educators themselves, for development and refinement of phonological awareness/comparator function may be misdiagnosed and underaddressed unless more sensitive measures of phonological awareness are used. The consequence of inadequate assessment/remediation of these deficiencies in educators is that they may be less able to assess and address these deficiencies in their students. Standard phonics instruction is known to be ineffective in developing phonological awareness for many individuals. However, phonological deficits can be addressed both preventively and remedially using procedures that are fundamentally different from typical phonics instruction.     

Instructional Design as a Professional Development Tool-of-Choice for Graduate Teaching Assistants

Institutions need effective and efficient methods of professional development for preparing graduate students to teach. These skills are important both for their immediate roles as teaching assistants (TAs) and for their eventual roles in the professoriate. An iterative process model from instructional design can function as a cognitive organizational framework for the development of teaching expertise. It facilitates expertise by supporting TAs in connecting new and existing knowledge about teaching and learning in meaningful ways that reflect the cognitive processes of expert teachers. Thus, it can support both the current and future development of teaching expertise and facilitate the application of knowledge in the form of teaching strategies. Patricia L. Hardré earned her Ph.D. in Education at the University of Iowa. She specializes in Instructional Design and Technology with emphases on cognition and instruction, human motivation, and educational assessment. She is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Educational Psychology at the University of Oklahoma. Her current research pursuits include K-12 teacher education, TA training and development, high school students' motivation to learn and persist in school, and the effects of computer-based administration of research instruments.     

Examining the Relationship Between Parental Involvement and Student Motivation

Parent involvement has a sound research base attesting to the many potential benefits it can offer in education. However, student motivation as an academic outcome of parental involvement has only recently been investigated. The purpose of this article is to show how parent involvement is related to students motivation. Studies of students from the elementary school to high school show a beneficial relationship between parental involvement and the following motivational constructs: school engagement, intrinsic/extrinsic motivation, perceived competence, perceived control, self-regulation, mastery goal orientation, and motivation to read. From the synthesis of the parent involvement and motivation literature, we offer potential explanations for their relationship. Directions for areas of continued research are also presented.     

The Relationship of Classroom Organisation to Cross‐age and Cross‐sex Friendships

The friendship nominations of 40 standard 2 children (aged 8‐10 years), 20 in multi‐level and 20 in single‐level classes, were examined. Children nominated friends, including age and whether they went to the same school, by writing down friends’ names in class and stating them verbally in an interview situation. Children were asked in the interview about their best friends, their views on cross‐sex and cross‐age friendships, and what friends do together. Results showed that 65% of interview‐nominated and 56% of class‐nominated friends were of the same age, while 91% of interview‐nominated and 81% of class‐nominated friends were of the same sex. Children from multi‐level classes had significantly more different aged friends on class and interview measures, and more different sexed friends on the class measure, than children from single‐level classes. Children's out‐of‐school friendships were more likely to be with cross‐age or cross‐sex children than were their in‐school friendships. Children tended to give positive reasons for playing with different aged friends, such as learning from more skilled older friends and feeling responsible when nurturing younger children, but few positive reasons were given for playing with opposite sex friends. Most children expressed a lack of interest or even a dislike for the activities and characteristics of the opposite sex.     

Cross-Racial Friendships and Social Distance Between Racial Groups on a College Campus

This study examined the effectiveness of curriculum-focused diversity initiatives on a college campus by determining the relationships between GPA, social class, year in school, residential status, racial diversity courses taken, and cross-racial friendships on the level of social distance between Whites-Blacks, Whites-Hispanics, Hispanics-Whites, Hispanics-Blacks, Blacks-Whites, and Blacks-Hispanics. The data suggest that, while the institution does a good job of bringing diverse groups of students to the campus, it does not effectively reduce the level of social distance among many members of the different racial groups on campus. Using the Intergroup Contact Hypothesis, the article concludes by suggesting means by which social distance among racial groups on campus might be decreased.     

Relative effectiveness of reading practice or word-level instruction in supplemental tutoring: how text matters

In this quasi-experimental study, which is part of a series of investigations on supplemental reading tutoring variations, the relative effectiveness of more intense decoding instruction or text reading practice was examined. Fifty-seven first-grade students scoring in the lowest quartile for reading skills received either classroom reading instruction or one of two treatments: tutoring in word study with text reading practice, or word study tutoring alone. Individual instruction was provided by trained paraprofessional tutors. At the end of first grade, treatment students significantly outperformed their nontutored peers on measures of reading accuracy, reading comprehension, reading efficiency, passage reading fluency, and spelling. Differential treatment effects on passage reading fluency are examined, taking into consideration pretest skill levels and text reading practice characteristics.