Agency and conformity in school-based teacher training

Concern has been expressed that the current climate in schools militates against trainee teachers’ self-directed development. This article explores the issue of trainees’ capacity for self-direction through the analysis of interviews with 32 trainees, investigating their perceived proactive social strategies. Three proactive strategies were identified: ‘tactical compliance’, personalising advice, and seeking out opportunities to exercise control. It is argued that these strategies are indicative of trainees’ drive to establish a personal teaching identity through self-directed development and the creation of individual development agendas. The article concludes by emphasising the importance of the development of proactive social skills in beginning teachers.     

Online Versus Face-to-Face Training of Critical Time Intervention: A Matching Cluster Randomized Trial

This study examined the effectiveness of online education to providers who serve people experiencing homelessness, comparing online and face-to-face training of Critical Time Intervention (CTI), an evidence-based case management model. The authors recruited 184 staff from nineteen homeless service agencies to participate in one of two training conditions: (a) Online Training + Community of Practice or (b) Face-to-Face Training + Telephone Consultation. Each group received twenty-four hours of instruction and support. Through baseline, follow-up, and nine-month posttraining surveys, the authors examined satisfaction, knowledge gains, knowledge retention, and readiness to implement CTI. Although satisfaction rates were higher among participants in the face-to-face group, the two training conditions produced comparable pre/postknowledge gains. Furthermore, both groups showed increased knowledge retention scores at nine-month follow-up, with the online group scoring higher than the face-to-face group.     

我记得，我记得

我记得．我记得 我常去荡秋千的地方． 心想那扑向飞翔着的燕子的清风． 毕竟是同样的令人心旷神恰; 我的心啊．那时犹如插翅飞翔, 现在却沉重无比． 即使夏日的水潭也难以 消退我额头上的高热!     

Seeing Iconic Gesture Promotes First- and Second-Order Verb Generalization in Preschoolers

This study investigated whether seeing iconic gestures depicting verb referents promotes two types of generalization. We taught 3- to 4-year-olds novel locomotion verbs. Children who saw iconic manner gestures during training generalized more verbs to novel events (first-order generalization) than children who saw interactive gestures (Experiment 1, N = 48; Experiment 2, N = 48) and path-tracing gestures (Experiment 3, N = 48). Furthermore, immediately (Experiments 1 and 3) and after 1 week (Experiment 2), the iconic manner gesture group outperformed the control groups in subsequent generalization trials with different novel verbs (second-order generalization), although all groups saw interactive gestures. Thus, seeing iconic gestures that depict verb referents helps children (a) generalize individual verb meanings to novel events and (b) learn more verbs from the same subcategory.     

Inflicted skeletal trauma: the relationship of perpetrators to their victims

OBJECTIVE: Although inflicted skeletal trauma is a very common presentation of child abuse, little is known about the perpetrators of inflicted skeletal injuries. Studies exist describing perpetrators of inflicted traumatic brain injury, but no study has examined characteristics of perpetrators of inflicted skeletal trauma. METHODS: All cases of suspected child physical abuse evaluated by the child abuse evaluation teams at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (January 1996 to August 2000) and at the Children's Hospital at Denver (January 1996 to December 1999) were reviewed for the presence of fractures. All children with inflicted fractures were entered into the study, and demographic data, investigative data, and identity of perpetrators were collected. RESULTS: There were a total of 630 fractures for 194 patients. The median number of fractures per patient was 2, and the maximum was 31. Sixty-three percent of children presented with at least one additional abusive injury other than the fracture(s). Perpetrators were identified in 79% of the cases. Nearly 68% of the perpetrators were male; 45% were the biological fathers. The median age of the children abused by males (4.5 months) significantly differed from the median age of those abused by females (10 months) (p=.003). CONCLUSION: In the cases where a perpetrator of inflicted fractures could be identified, the majority were men, most commonly the biological fathers. Children injured by men were younger than those injured by women.     

University teacher preparation programmes as a quality enhancement mechanism: evaluating impact beyond individual teachers’ practice

Conceptually, practically and rhetorically teaching is at the core of quality in higher education. University teaching preparation programmes (TPPs) are regularly advocated to foster enhancement of teaching but there remains limited evidence to demonstrate their effectiveness or impact as a quality improvement mechanism. Support for such programmes is largely a matter of faith amongst their advocates. This paper presents an analysis of the impact of one initial TPP to add to the body of evidence on the efficacy of such programmes. The results reinforce other research indicating that such programmes do have beneficial effects on individual academics. The benefits extend to work groups and have value to the institution. However, the transfer of learning by academics to practice takes time and is mediated by many factors. Nevertheless, where institutional and local departmental cultures value teaching, TPPs provide a useful strategy for quality enhancement in higher education.     

Development of dyslexic subgroups:

There is a consensus that dyslexia is on a continuum with normal reading skill and that dyslexics fall at the low end of the normal range in phonological skills. However, there is still substantial variability in phonological skill among dyslexic children. Recent studies have focused on the high end of the continuum of phonological skills in dyslexics, identifying a “surface” dyslexic, or “delayed” profile in which phonological skills are not out of line with other aspects of word recognition. The present study extended this work to a longitudinal context, and explored differences among subgroups of dyslexics on a battery of component reading skills. Third grade dyslexics (n=72) were classified into two subgroups, phonological dyslexics and delayed dyslexics, based on comparisons to younger normal readers at the same reading level (RL group). The children were tested at two points (in third and fourth grade). The results revealed that the classification of dyslexics produced reliable, stable, and valid groups. About 82 percent of the children remained in the same subgroup category when retested a year later. Phonological dyslexics were lower in phoneme awareness and expressive language. Delayed dyslexics tended to be slower at processing printed letters and words but not at rapid automatic naming of letters, and relied more heavily on phonological recoding in reading for meaning than did phonological dyslexics. A subset of the delayed dyslexics with the traditional “surface dyslexic” pattern (relatively high pseudoword and low exception word reading) was also identified. The surface subgroup resembled the RL group on most measures and was not very stable over one year. The results are discussed in light of current models of dyslexia and recent subgrouping schemes, including the Double-Deficit Hypothesis.     

Effects of positive college classroom motivational environments on procrastination and achievement

Learning Environments Research - Understanding factors within college learning environments that can ameliorate maladaptive academic behaviours such as procrastination could contribute to enhancing...     

The development and application of affective assessment in an upper‐level cell biology course

This study exemplifies how faculty members can develop instruments to assess affective responses of students to the specific features of the courses they teach. Means for assessing three types of affective responses are demonstrated: (a) student attitudes towards courses with differing instructional objectives and methodologies, (b) student self‐efficacy (confidence) in completing tasks common to practicing experts, and (c) interests in subject‐specific topics and associated intellectual skills. The iterative processes used in refining the instruments and performing the statistical analyses of their effectiveness are detailed. An analysis of data obtained using these instruments is also included. Positive attitudes towards courses emphasizing analytical thinking increased significantly over the course of a 14‐week semester, as did the measures of self‐efficacy. Despite the rigorous analytical nature of the course experience, the initial strong interest in cell biology topics and higher order thinking skills remained unchanged. There were no significant differences based on gender in any of the affective measures. We discuss the apparent dichotomy, revealed in these assessments, between students' idealistic, academic attitudes towards the course's effectiveness and their opinions of its effects on them personally. We conclude by reporting how insights garnered both from these formal assessments and from anecdotal communications have prompted experimental modifications in the design and conduct of the course. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 44: 1057–1087, 2007