The role of morphological awareness in reading achievement among young Chinese-speaking English language learners: a longitudinal study

The present study examined the development of morphological awareness and its contribution to vocabulary and reading comprehension among young Chinese-speaking English language learners (ELLs). We focused on two aspects of morphological awareness: derivational awareness and compound awareness. Participants included 46 kindergarteners (younger cohort) and 34 first graders (older cohort) of Chinese descent in Canada at the beginning of the study. Children were administered a battery of English measures including derivational awareness, compound awareness, phonological awareness, receptive vocabulary, and reading comprehension at two time points spaced 1?year apart. Results demonstrated a steady growth in Chinese-speaking ELL children??s derivational and compound awareness from kindergarten to Grade 2. Importantly, for the first graders, morphological awareness accounted for unique variance in vocabulary concurrently, and unique variance in both vocabulary and reading comprehension a year later. Generally speaking, the variance explained by morphological awareness increased with grade level, and derivational awareness accounted for more variance in vocabulary and reading comprehension than did compound awareness. These results underscore the emerging importance of morphological awareness, especially derivational awareness, in young Chinese-speaking ELL children??s English reading development.     

“Let's Get Physical”: Advantages of a physical model over 3D computer models and textbooks in learning imaging anatomy

Three‐dimensional (3D) information plays an important part in medical and veterinary education. Appreciating complex 3D spatial relationships requires a strong foundational understanding of anatomy and mental 3D visualization skills. Novel learning resources have been introduced to anatomy training to achieve this. Objective evaluation of their comparative efficacies remains scarce in the literature. This study developed and evaluated the use of a physical model in demonstrating the complex spatial relationships of the equine foot. It was hypothesized that the newly developed physical model would be more effective for students to learn magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) anatomy of the foot than textbooks or computer‐based 3D models. Third year veterinary medicine students were randomly assigned to one of three teaching aid groups (physical model; textbooks; 3D computer model). The comparative efficacies of the three teaching aids were assessed through students' abilities to identify anatomical structures on MR images. Overall mean MRI assessment scores were significantly higher in students utilizing the physical model (86.39%) compared with students using textbooks (62.61%) and the 3D computer model (63.68%) (P < 0.001), with no significant difference between the textbook and 3D computer model groups (P = 0.685). Student feedback was also more positive in the physical model group compared with both the textbook and 3D computer model groups. Our results suggest that physical models may hold a significant advantage over alternative learning resources in enhancing visuospatial and 3D understanding of complex anatomical architecture, and that 3D computer models have significant limitations with regards to 3D learning. Anat Sci Educ 6: 216–224. © 2013 American Association of Anatomists.     

Curriculum Adaptation in Special Schools for Students with Intellectual Disabilities (SID): A Case Study of Project Learning in One SID School in Hong Kong

Using a qualitative case study approach, the authors analyzed the curriculum adaptation process for one project learning activity in School K, which is a SID school in the context of school-university collaboration. Multiple sources of data were collected for triangulation, including interviews, documents and observations. Curriculum adaptation strategies in this study were analyzed from five perspectives: instructional goals, instructional content, instructional strategies, instructional settings, and student behavioral needs. It was found that curriculum adaptation efforts could help students with ID develop potential at their own level through project learning activates and teachers could also gain professional development during the university-school collaboration process. As for future studies, enlarging the sample size, involving teachers’ past orientations and motivations in the project learning process, and collecting quantitative data could all be taken into account.     

Promoting self-regulated learning through portfolio assessment: testimony and recommendations

Portfolio assessment (PA) has been extensively adopted for writing development in the past three decades. Much research on PA primarily investigates students’ and teachers’ perceptions of its benefits, and how it influences students’ motivation and general writing abilities. Despite its purported effectiveness, not much has been done to understand the relationship between PA and self-regulated learning (SRL) especially in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) or English as a Second Language (ESL) writing research. This paper contends that PA can productively foster SRL in EFL writing classrooms, and, more specifically, it develops a conceptual model of SRL within the context of writing portfolios and iterative feedback processes. Supporting evidence emphasising how PA can facilitate SRL is discussed and evaluated. The paper ends with six recommendations and implications proposing how SRL can be promulgated in EFL portfolio-based contexts. Finally, possible future research is suggested.     

Reachable set estimation and controller design for distributed delay systems with bounded disturbances

This paper is concerned with the problems of reachable set estimation and state-feedback controller design for linear systems with distributed delays and bounded disturbance inputs. The disturbance inputs are assumed to be either unit-energy bounded or unit-peak bounded. First, based on the Lyapunov–Krasovskii functional approach and the delay-partitioning technique, delay-dependent conditions for estimating the reachable set of the considered system are derived. These conditions guarantee the existence of an ellipsoid that contains the system state under zero initial conditions. Second, the reachable set estimation is taken into account in the controller design. Here, the purpose is to determine an ellipsoid and find a state-feedback controller such that the determined ellipsoid contains the reachable set of the resulting closed-loop system. Sufficient conditions for the solvability of the control synthesis problem are obtained. Based on these results, the problem of how to design a controller such that the state of the resulting closed-loop system is contained in a prescribed ellipsoid is studied. Finally, numerical examples and simulation results are provided to show the effectiveness of the proposed analysis and design methods.     

Simplified prototyping of perfusable polystyrene microfluidics

Cell culture in microfluidic systems has primarily been conducted in devices comprised of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) or other elastomers. As polystyrene (PS) is the most characterized and commonly used substrate material for cell culture, microfluidic cell culture would ideally be conducted in PS-based microsystems that also enable tight control of perfusion and hydrodynamic conditions, which are especially important for culture of vascular cell types. Here, we report a simple method to prototype perfusable PS microfluidics for endothelial cell culture under flow that can be fabricated using standard lithography and wet laboratory equipment to enable stable perfusion at shear stresses up to 300 dyn/cm² and pumping pressures up to 26 kPa for at least 100 h. This technique can also be extended to fabricate perfusable hybrid PS-PDMS microfluidics of which one application is for increased efficiency of viral transduction in non-adherent suspension cells by leveraging the high surface area to volume ratio of microfluidics and adhesion molecules that are optimized for PS substrates. These biologically compatible microfluidic devices can be made more accessible to biological-based laboratories through the outsourcing of lithography to various available microfluidic foundries.     

Preparation for Future Collaboration: Cognitively Preparing for Learning From Collaboration

In a study investigating different ways to engage students in an individual preparation activity, we assessed learning from collaboration with a peer. Learning was measured at pretest, individual preparation, collaboration, and posttest. Two conditions were compared: generative preparation and nongenerative preparation. With no differences in knowledge at pretest, we found that students who prepared by engaging in the generative compared to the nongenerative preparation task performed worse to a statistically significant degree in both the preparation and collaboration phases. However, in a postactivity transfer task, the students performed to a similar degree as the comparison group evidencing productive failure. In addition, students in the generative condition showed greater learning gains from the preparation to the collaboration phase. We introduce the notion that generative preparation may better invoke learning mechanisms that help students to learn from subsequent collaboration.     

On Generalization and Variation Theory

The variation theory developed by Marton has quickly become popular as a framework for providing guidance for making learning possible. However, the epistemological assumption behind the theory is often accepted without critical scrutiny. This paper poses an apparent problem of the possible occurrence of learning in the situation of generalization, where one aspect is kept invariant, while other aspects vary. Eventually some of the learners can learn the invariant aspect. However, variation theory entails that the experience of variation in an aspect is necessary for learners to discern that aspect. How then is it possible for the learners in a situation of generalization to fully discern the invariant aspect? Through scrutinizing the epistemological assumption, I hope to foster discussion toward further improvement of the theory.