Teachers and local sure start programmes — Their numbers,roles and some issues surrounding their appointment

This paper examines the numbers and roles of those teachers employed as teachers in 249 Sure Start local programmes. It looks at their roles and the numbers appointed in relation to: regions of the country; the length of time programmes have been running and the lead agency of the programme. It discusses the perceptions of respondents, through narrative discourse, and throws light on the attitudes of some staff within programmes on the concept of including teachers in integrated centres delivering children's services. This information may be useful for strategic planners and programme managers when discussing the issues surrounding the employment of teachers in Children's Centres.     

Computer-based instruction for improving student nurses’ general numeracy: is it effective? Two randomised trials

In response to concern over the numeracy skills deficit displayed by student nurses, an online computer programme, “Authentic World®”, which aims to simulate a real-life clinical environment and improve the medication dosage calculation skills of users, was developed (Founded in 2004 Authentic World Ltd is a spin out company of Glarmorgan and Cardiff Universities, Cardiff, Wales UK.). Two randomised controlled trials were conducted, each at a UK University, in order to investigate the impact of Authentic World® on student nurses’ general numeracy abilities. All first year nursing students who gave consent were randomised equally into an intervention or control group. The intervention group were given access to Authentic World®. The primary outcome measure was the students’ scores on a general numeracy test. The Intention to Treat (ITT) analysis in both trials revealed a small negative effect of Authentic World® on general numeracy, which was statistically significant in one trial. However, compliance with the intervention was very low in both trials, with only 24 and 12% of students allocated to the intervention groups spending more than 15 minutes using the programme. Providing nursing students with access to Authentic World® is not an effective use of resources since use of the programme appears to be very low.     

Exploring the Association Between Integrated Therapy and Inclusive Education

Sue Mackey (Lecturer and Course Co-ordinator, Child Health Therapy Programme) and Jill McQueen (Lecturer and Research Fellow, Rehabilitation Research Unit) at the University of Southampton, consider the terms 'integrated therapy' and 'inclusive education' (as indicators of emerging philosophies in education and therapy), explore the links between them, and assess the extent of their success in practice.     

Monstrous Methods for Teaching Central Tendency Concepts

This article describes an interactive way to help students learn to evaluate central tendency measures using a fictional story. The use of humour and fictional dire consequences may increase student understanding and engagement while reducing anxiety.     

Mapping two new points on the tennis expertise continuum: tactical skills of adult advanced beginners and entry-level professionals during competition

Research examining problem representations of individuals during task performance is advancing our understanding of information processing and expertise in a variety of sports. However, few studies using similar methodology have been conducted on individuals of various competitive standards in one domain in similar contexts. This study examined problem representations of adult advanced beginners and entry-level professionals accessed during singles tennis competition (n = 12). These groups were selected to represent players with performance skills that were different from those studied previously (i.e. adult beginners and varsity players). Immediate recall and planning interviews were conducted between points during singles tennis competition. Players competed within their respective expertise groups. Verbal reports were transcribed verbatim and concepts were scored according to a model of protocol structure. Several multivariate analyses of variance were conducted on rank scores for measures of concept content and structure using the L-statistic. Entry-level professionals exhibited more advanced problem representations than advanced beginners regardless of interview type. These findings together with those of previous research suggest adaptations in long-term memory profiles with increases in performance skills. For example, beginners lacked action plan and current event profiles because they generated goals and reiterated game events during both interviews. Advanced beginners, who had better performance skills than beginners, exhibited rudimentary action plan profiles and deficient current event profiles because they generated and monitored several detailed actions related to the current context during recall interviews and generated only a few goals during planning interviews. In contrast, varsity players and professionals processed tactical information in the current context and beyond denoting the existence of both action plan and current event profiles. Varsity players, with inferior performance skills than professionals, exhibited fewer and less associated tactical concepts than professionals during both interviews.     

A comparison of WISC-R score profiles of students placed in special education and those referred,but not placed

This study investigated the similarity in the pattern of strengths and weakness on the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R) subtest scores between those students evaluated and placed in special education programs and those students evaluated but not placed in special programs. Subjects were 585 students in grades 1–6 from three county school systems in eastern Kentucky who were referred for evaluation for possible special education placement. A multiple profile analysis using a MANOVA technique was used to test two hypotheses for each of the two profiles created for both study groups. Comparisons also were made between each group in the rank order of the various scores. The findings revealed that the two groups were similar in the pattern of their relative strengths and weaknesses on the WISC-R. Implications of these findings for teaching strategies for the two groups were discussed.