Using Microcomputers in the Classroom

Drawing upon their practical experience as teachers and as teacher trainers, the authors describe development work done in a school for children with severe learning handicap. The project in question focused upon the communication and learning needs of a boy with athetoid cerebral palsy. Over a period of time, both the computer hardware (mainly communication devices) and software programmes were developed which have made an incalculable contribution to the boy's contact with his teachers and his fellow‐pupils. The work done has already been adapted and made available for other pupils.     

A Longitudinal Study of Intralimb Coordination in the First Year of Independent Walking: A Dynamical Systems Analysis

Using a dynamical systems approach, we examined the development of intralimb coordination over the first year of independent walking. The segmental motion of the thigh and shank and their intralimb coordinative relationship were modeled dynamically as a system of coupled limit cycles. To test the predictions of such a dynamic model in the development of intralimb coordination, 3 infants were filmed from the onset of their first upright independent walking steps, and weekly for the next month and then every month thereafter until they had been walking for 1 year. 3 adults also were included for comparison. Analysis of the kinematics data derived from the film revealed that at the emergence of walking, the limit cycle system displayed instability in several aspects. With walking experience, however, the limit cycle regime became more attractive, such that by 3 months of walking the infants appeared to have found an adult-like stable coordinative relationship between the 2 segments. This pattern of instability followed by stability is consisted with the transitional behaviors of dynamical systems. Several potential control parameters are discussed that might contribute to the stabilization of the walking behavior. The utility of employing a dynamical systems approach for understanding developing behavioral systems is discussed.     

An assessment of the extent to which subject variation between the Arts and Sciences in relation to the award of a First Class degree can explain the ‘gender gap’ in UK universities

There is a widely recognised national trend for girls to outperform boys at all levels of compulsory schooling. With few exceptions, however, most recent research has reported that, in relation to academic performance at university, men are proportionately over‐represented at the First Class level. A number of general hypotheses have been put forward to explain this phenomenon, including those that assume gender‐linked differences in cognitive and/or personality traits. A smaller proportion of research has given explanatory primacy to the broad subject area studied. More specifically, it has been alleged that the over‐representation of men within the First bracket is largely a function of a ‘compositional effect’ whereby men achieve proportionately more Firsts as there are more of them within the First‐rich Sciences. Based upon analysis of 1,707,408 students graduating between 1995 and 2002, this paper seeks to provide the most comprehensive exploration, to date, of this effect. It confirms that a substantial proportion of the ‘gender gap’ can be explained with reference to the male propensity to take degrees in first‐rich disciplines.     

Emphasising use over attributes in selection of educational software

Rejecting traditional checklist approaches to software selection, this paper discusses an approach emphasising classroom use of software over technical attributes. It proposes a way of thinking about software (the perspectives interactions paradigm) that takes the perspectives of the student, the teacher and the designer and uses interactions between pairs of these perspectives to generate broad questions and more specific issues to be considered when software is being assessed for purchase or classroom use. Some example packages are assessed using the paradigm for several different educational contexts, illustrating that this approach raises issues of classroom interactions and learning processes. These issues go beyond, and are more important for selection decisions than those generally considered with a checklist of software attributes.     

School Organizational Effectiveness and Chronic Absenteeism: Implications for Accountability

ABSTRACT

Chronic absenteeism in K-12 schools is strongly associated with critical educational outcomes such as student achievement and graduation. Yet, the causes of chronic absenteeism are complex, with environmental, family/individual, and school factors all affecting the likelihood of a student attending school regularly. This exploratory study examines whether school organizational effectiveness has the potential to moderate external influences on chronic absenteeism. Using school-level scores from the 5Essentials surveys, we find that, in traditional public schools, schools that are organized for effectiveness have lower rates of chronic absenteeism, while controlling for student demographics and grade level. In particular, schools with higher scores for “involved families” have lower chronic absenteeism. While charter schools in Detroit have significantly lower rates of chronic absenteeism than traditional public schools, we did not find an association between organizational effectiveness and chronic absenteeism in charter schools. This suggests that student sorting by school type may produce variation in chronic absenteeism rates that is not moderated by school actions. These findings have important implications for practice and policy, as educators seek to reduce chronic absenteeism in response to pressures from high-stakes accountability systems.     

Professional thinking in guided practice

The paper describes and analyzes the interactions between university tutors, cooperating teachers, and the student teachers in guided practice situations. The main aim of the study was to gain insights into the mode of interaction and the nature of massages transmitted in a variety of settings of practice teaching. The study reveals the dominance of evaluative comments made by cooperating teachers and their focus on issues of content. Alternative approaches and teaching modes were mentioned only rarely, cooperating teachers seem to rely mostly on their own wisdom of practice and tend to transmit traditions of “succesful” teaching modes. Student teachers were mostly passive and the mode of interaction authoritative. The paper suggests a distinction between an “incremental” versus a “comprehensive” practicum. It is suggested to focus on issue-specific post-lesson conferences which are planned jointly by student teachers, cooperating teachers, and university tutors.     

Defining maltreatment according to substantiation: distinction without a difference?

OBJECTIVE: To examine whether children with substantiated maltreatment reports between 4 and 8 years of age differ from children with unsubstantiated reports on any of 10 behavioral and developmental outcomes. METHOD: Longitudinal data from 806 children and their adult caregivers collected in four US study sites were pooled and analyzed using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and multivariate linear regression. RESULTS: There were no significant differences between the mean scores of children with unsubstantiated and substantiated maltreatment reports filed between 4 and 8 years of age for any of the 10 behavioral and developmental outcomes. In the multivariate analysis, substantiation status was not significantly associated with any of the 10 outcomes after adjusting for prior functioning, prior maltreatment status, and sociodemographic characteristics. Findings from within-site analyses were generally consistent with the pooled analyses in finding no association between substantiation status and the outcomes examined. CONCLUSIONS: In this high-risk sample, the behavioral and developmental outcomes of 8-year-old children with unsubstantiated and substantiated maltreatment reports filed between ages 4 and 8 were indistinguishable. Future research should attempt to replicate these findings on probability samples that represent the full range of childhood maltreatment risk and with models that control for the impact of social services.     

Educating Without Overwhelming: Authorial Strategies in Children's Holocaust Literature

This article reviews a number of works of fiction about the Holocaust intended for children and young adult readers and discusses the strategies used by their authors to educate their readers without overwhelming them with highly emotional information. Several popular and effective strategies are highlighted, along with examples of works of literature in this genre employing such strategies. The use of sensitive and age-appropriate literature as an important component in educating children about the Holocaust is emphasized.     

This is easy,you can do it! Feedback during mathematics problem solving is more beneficial when students expect to succeed

Instructional Science - Students’ problem-solving success depends on more than their knowledge and abilities. One factor that may play a role is the teacher’s expectations of students....