Regular class teachers' perceptions of transition programs for EMR students and their impact on the students

This study was designed to obtain the perceptions of regular class teachers who taught children who had been in EMR programs, but had been decertified (D) and returned to regular classes in response to court cases and recent legislation. A cohort of regular class (RC) students were selected for comparative purposes. It was found that D students were placed into low ability classes; yet, teachers perceived D subjects to be significantly lower than RC students in both academic achievement and social acceptance. Only a small proportion of teachers indicated that the enrollment of D students had much impact on the regular class instructional program. However, the teachers were rather critical of the services received under the auspices of a transitional program, indicating in large part that the services were either not apparent or ineffective.     

Ethical issues of behavior modification research in schools

Behavior modification research in the classroom was examined by the National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects because of the increasingly widespread use of behavioral procedures in the schools, the effectiveness of these procedures in changing academic and social behavior, and the consequent concern about potential misuse. In order to foster the responsible use of behavior modification procedures in the schools on a practical as well as a research basis, the following ethical issues being considered by researchers and the involved public are discussed: informed consent, determination of classroom goals, legitimacy of rewards and aversive controls in the classroom, conceptions of behavior modification as manipulative and mechanistic, who can implement the procedures, research design, and accountability. The authors conclude that the issues regarding protection of human subjects in behavior modification research are no different from other treatment-oriented research with children. However, the high degree of parental and teacher involvement in both research and practice requires shared responsibility for the prevention of misuse of behavior modification procedures.     

Does living with a female head-of-household affect the arithmetic achievement of black fourth-grade pupils?

It was the purpose of this investigation to examine the effects of living with a male or female head-of-household upon the arithmetic performance of fourth graders. No significant differences were found in mean scores between male and female pupils. Significant differences were found favoring those pupils living with male heads-of-households, particularly for female pupils and for pupils with IQ scores greater than 100. These findings should not be considered as simple cause and effect relationships, but rather as indicative of potential difficulty for some pupils.     

Fertilization in flowering plants

After the pollen grain reaches the stigma through outsourced agents (pollinators), the next step before fertilization is to select the right type of pollen. Similar to a marriage in human beings, fiowering plants also have evolved elaborate screening process to select the right pollen grains and to reject the wrong ones. Even after initial screening for the right pollen, the pistil imposes a tough competition amongst them, comparable to a swayamvara of Indian mythology, to select the best available pollen. Flowering plants have evolved into a matriarchal society. The selection of the male partner is totally the prerogative of the mother (pistil); the boy (pollen grain) and the girl (ovule) has no say in this selection.