Writing Characteristics of Students with Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder: A Meta‐Analysis

Students with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorders (ADHD) frequently experience significant difficulty mastering basic academic skills. This meta‐analysis focuses on one specific potential area of learning difficulties for these students: namely, writing. To identify the extent and depth of the potential writing challenges faced by students with ADHD, we conducted a meta‐analysis comparing the writing performance of grade 1 to 12 students with ADHD to their normally achieving peers. We located 44 papers, yielding 45 studies with 87 effect sizes. The average weighted effect sizes showed that students with ADHD obtained lower scores than their normally achieving peers for writing quality (–0.78), output (–0.64), number of genre elements (–0.69), vocabulary (–0.76), spelling (–0.80), and handwriting (–0.62). Contrary to expectations, moderator analyses found that neither study quality nor the source from which ADHD students were drawn (i.e., school/community vs. clinic/hospital) accounted for variability above sampling error alone.     

Technical analysis of a Central Asian wall painting detached from a Buddhist cave temple on the northern Silk Road

A great number of Central Asian wall paintings, archeological materials, architectural fragments, and textiles, as well as painting fragments on silk and paper, make up the so called Turfan Collection at the Asian Art Museum in Berlin. The largest part of the collection comes from the Kucha region, a very important cultural center in the third to ninth centuries. Between 1902 and 1914, four German expeditions traveled along the northern Silk Road. During these expeditions, wall paintings were detached from their original settings in Buddhist cave complexes. This paper reports a technical study of a wall painting, existing in eight fragments, from the Buddhist cave no. 40 (Ritterhöhle). Its original painted surface is soot blackened and largely illegible. Grünwedel, leader of the first and third expeditions, described the almost complete destruction of the rediscovered temple complex and evidence of fire damage. The aim of this case study is to identify the materials used for the wall paintings. Furthermore, soot deposits as well as materials from conservation interventions were of interest. Non-invasive analyses were preferred but a limited number of samples were taken to provide more precise information on the painting technique. By employing optical and scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, micro X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction analysis, and Raman spectroscopy, a layer sequence of earthen render, a ground layer made of gypsum, and a paint layer containing a variety of inorganic pigments were identified.     

Results of an assessment to identify potential barriers to sustainable agriculture on American Indian reservations in the Western United States

Purpose: This paper reports the results of survey research conducted with tribal producers between 2011 and 2012 on 19 of the largest American Indian reservations in Idaho, Nevada, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, and Washington. The purpose of the research was to identify potential barriers to sustainable agriculture on reservation lands. This article reports the results of this research in an effort to promote Extension professionals' understanding of these barriers, which may help to improve outreach programs on American Indian reservations. Understanding the obstacles to sustaining agriculture that American Indian tribes face may inform international agricultural outreach efforts to increase food security targeting indigenous and tribal peoples worldwide.

Design/Methodology/Approach: American Indian agricultural producers comprised the study group. Study objectives included: (1) identify agricultural and natural resource issues of greatest concern to a self-selected sample of tribal agricultural producers on reservation lands; (2) evaluate access to Extension and other US Department of Agriculture outreach and assistance programs; and (3) evaluate the quality of these programs in terms of their relativity to tribal needs.

Findings: Study results indicate that tribal agricultural producers surveyed ranked 29 of 39 agricultural and natural resource issues as a concern. Similarly, they rated access to and quality of outreach programs as fair. Further, tribal producers operating on reservation trust land rated issues more severely than did tribal producers operating on fee simple lands.

Practical Implications: Results of this research will help Extension and other outreach professionals to understand the barriers indigenous and tribal peoples face in sustaining agricultural operations, particularly tribal groups living on federally reserved trust lands, such as American Indians. An increased understanding can inform agricultural policy-makers and outreach professionals in improving programs designed to increase agricultural sustainability, improve food security, enhance economic well-being and improve quality of life of indigenous and tribal peoples worldwide.

Originality/Value: This research provides important information to agricultural policy-makers and Extension professionals striving to sustain agricultural productivity and enhance food security with indigenous and tribal peoples.     

Opening classroom interaction: the importance of feedback

Efforts to encourage ‘interactive practice’ in the National Literacy (NLS) and Numeracy (NNS) Strategies in the UK, have led to an emphasis on teacher questions. Recent research into classroom interactions, however, indicate that the pattern of interaction remains largely unchanged since the introduction of these strategies in terms of the type and amount of questions teachers are asking, and the opportunities for extended pupil participation. This article uses evidence gathered from a large‐scale research project examining classroom interactions during literacy and numeracy lessons, and the researchers' critical reflections upon this process, to examine conceptions of interactive pedagogy. It is argued that in order to ‘open’ classroom interaction, emphasis should be less on the questions teachers ask, and more on the manner with which teachers react to pupils' responses to questions. Episodes of classroom interaction from video recorded literacy and numeracy lessons taken as part of the study are used to support this argument. They present evidence of teacher behaviours in reaction to pupils' responses which succeed in facilitating a more interactive learning environment. The implication that such behaviour will contribute towards a model of effective interactive practice is also discussed.     

Expertise Differences in the Comprehension of Visualizations: a Meta-Analysis of Eye-Tracking Research in Professional Domains

This meta-analysis integrates 296 effect sizes reported in eye-tracking research on expertise differences in the comprehension of visualizations. Three theories were evaluated: Ericsson and Kintsch’s (Psychol Rev 102:211–245, 1995) theory of long-term working memory, Haider and Frensch’s (J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cognit 25:172–190, 1999) information-reduction hypothesis, and the holistic model of image perception of Kundel et al. (Radiology 242:396–402, 2007). Eye movement and performance data were cumulated from 819 experts, 187 intermediates, and 893 novices. In support of the evaluated theories, experts, when compared with non-experts, had shorter fixation durations, more fixations on task-relevant areas, and fewer fixations on task-redundant areas; experts also had longer saccades and shorter times to first fixate relevant information, owing to superiority in parafoveal processing and selective attention allocation. Eye movements, reaction time, and performance accuracy were moderated by characteristics of visualization (dynamics, realism, dimensionality, modality, and text annotation), task (complexity, time-on-task, and task control), and domain (sports, medicine, transportation, other). These findings are discussed in terms of their implications for theories of visual expertise in professional domains and their significance for the design of learning environments.     

Evaluation of the non‐formal forest education sector in the state of North Rhine‐Westphalia,Germany: organisations,programmes and framework conditions

Although a large number of different organisations offer various forest education programmes within Germany, specific information (i.e., sectoral and programme content and provision at a state level) is lacking. This study used a survey of all 61 forest education organisations (43 respondents) in the state of North Rhine‐Westphalia, Germany, to evaluate its forest education sector, with a specific focus on the organisations, demand for its services, forest educational programmes and framework conditions. Input from expert interviews was also used to develop recommendations. The study indicates that, especially with children as the main target group, many non‐formal programmes are offered to support the formal environmental education sector and to promote leisure activities in the forest. Yet, despite a high demand for forest education, low personnel resources restrict the number of visits and activities, principally owing to limited financial resource. We also discuss the provision of innovative new educational programmes and supplementary services, combined with increased quality management, that could be beneficial to the future development of the sector in NRW.