Fostering Social Participation in Inclusive Classrooms of Students who are Deaf

ABSTRACT

Research indicates that children with hearing impairment are at higher risk regarding their social participation in school compared to their hearing peers. The purpose of this study was to investigate the social participation of 7th Grade students with hearing impairment in inclusive classrooms. Data from 62 7th Grade students across three classrooms and teachers were collected via paper-and-pencil questionnaires and from regular and special needs teachers via interviews. Results from the single case studies in three classrooms indicate that students with hearing impairment feel less socially integrated and less accepted by their peers. They do, however, interact more with other students with special needs and most students with hearing impairment have friends in their class. Teachers evaluated social integration, acceptance, interaction and friendships of their students with hearing impairment as average or as above average. The teachers’ evaluations only partly correspond to the self-perceptions of the students. Factors that either promote or hinder participation on an institutional, teacher, teaching and student level were exposed, which may have important practice and policy implications.     

Evaluating Training Outcomes in Corporate E-Learning and Classroom Training

The study contributes to training evaluation research by systematically comparing training outcomes between corporate e-learning and classroom training. We investigated a sample of vocational trainees (N?=?86) in a field experiment with a time-lag design and examined their subjective as well as objective training success. While training success was subjectively perceived to vary in effectiveness depending on the setting right after the training, with higher scores for trainees in classroom training, it was perceived similarly effective in both training settings after six to eight weeks. With regard to objective training success, we found that whereas declarative and procedural knowledge scores increased for e-learning trainees, they decreased for trainees in classroom training. However, strengths of e-learning become more prevalent six to eight weeks after the training. Thus in the end, e-learning is as effective as classroom training for procedural knowledge and more effective than classroom training for declarative knowledge as e-learning trainees catch up on previous differences across time. We conclude that it is not the training setting or delivery media per se that leads to higher levels of trainings success in the long run but in order to be effective, trainings should be designed taking especially the type of learning content (declarative or procedural knowledge) into account.     

Predictors of self-reported and peer-reported victimization and bullying behavior in early adolescents: the role of school,classroom, and individual factors

European Journal of Psychology of Education - The purpose of the present study was to examine individual and contextual predictors of victimization and bullying on a sample of early adolescents....     

The premise,promise and disillusion of the ADHD categorisation – family narrative about the child’s broken school trajectory

ABSTRACT

This study presents co-narrated school experiences of a young Finnish girl diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and those of her parents. The discourse analysis of the family interview focused on the discrepant ways family members gave meanings to and mobilised the ADHD categorisation while narrating their broken school trajectory. The results showed that the ADHD diagnosis was laden with the promise of the whole family being recognised differently by the school. However, this cultural promise proved disillusioning as daughter’s support needs and parents’ expertise were not recognised nor did the diagnostic category emancipate from stigmatising identities and blame. Interestingly, the parents leaned more on the diagnostic categorisation while accounting for the disillusion of these promises, whereas the daughter aimed at distancing herself from the ADHD category and behaviour characteristics related to it. The discussion concludes by comparing the viewpoints of cure and care when catering to children’s needs.     

Does training with 3D videos improve decision-making in team invasion sports?

We examined the effectiveness of video-based decision training in national youth handball teams. Extending previous research, we tested in Study 1 whether a three-dimensional (3D) video training group would outperform a two-dimensional (2D) group. In Study 2, a 3D training group was compared to a control group and a group trained with a traditional tactic board. In both studies, training duration was 6 weeks. Performance was measured in a pre- to post-retention design. The tests consisted of a decision-making task measuring quality of decisions (first and best option) and decision time (time for first and best option). The results of Study 1 showed learning effects and revealed that the 3D video group made faster first-option choices than the 2D group, but differences in the quality of options were not pronounced. The results of Study 2 revealed learning effects for both training groups compared to the control group, and faster choices in the 3D group compared to both other groups. Together, the results show that 3D video training is the most useful tool for improving choices in handball, but only in reference to decision time and not decision quality. We discuss the usefulness of a 3D video tool for training of decision-making skills outside the laboratory or gym.     

“Can do!” Teacher Promotion of Optimism in Response to Student Failure Expectation Expressions in Classroom Discourse

ABSTRACT

This study offers detailed observational analyses of how teachers use optimism as an instructional resource when responding to students’ failure expectation displays in classroom situations. The results were based on video-recordings of 25 lessons in two Finnish part-time special education settings, analysed by means of applied conversation analysis. The results showed that the teachers boosted optimism by inverting students’ negative utterances, giving examples of successful experiences of peers, offering praise for students’ earlier performance or focusing on problems through instructional support. The study underlines the importance of addressing and elaborating students’ negative learning-related self-assessments in classroom interactions.     

Long-term effects of acoustic reafference training (ART)

In sport visual feedback is often used to enhance performance, mostly neglecting the auditory modality. However, athletes produce natural sounds when they move (acoustic reafferences) which they perceive and use to control their movements. We examined the short- and long-term effects of a training intervention on a complex movement by using acoustic reafferences. Natural step sounds produced during hurdling were recorded and played back to the participants immediately before each trial, with an increase (fast group), decrease (slow group), or no manipulation (control group) in the tempo. All groups increased their hurdling performance regarding overall running time, with the slow group showing the best performance development. After a 10-week retention, the fast and slow group further increased performance, whereas the control group declined. The repeated experience with acoustic information associated with the rhythmic pattern of hurdling may have helped developing a cognitive representation of that movement, especially regarding long-term effects.     

Radial and tibial bone indices in athletes participating in different endurance sports: a pQCT study†

Low magnitude bone-loading sports may benefit bone structure and strength in the exercised limbs. This study compared peripheral quantitative computed tomography measures of radial and tibial diaphyseal strength (strength–strain index, SSI), structure (total area (ToA) and cortical area (CoA), density (CoD) and thickness (CT), and circumferences), muscle cross-sectional area (MCSA) and strength (one-repetition maximum, 1-RM) in male endurance athletes taking part in (i) non-weight-bearing and non-impact sports: swimmers (SWIM, n?=?13) and road cyclists (RC, n?=?10), (ii) non-weight-bearing, impact sport: mountain bikers (MB, n?=?10), (iii) weight bearing and impact sport: runners (RUN, n?=?9). All athlete groups were also compared to sedentary controls (CON, n?=?10). Arm MCSA, 1-RM and radial bone size and strength tended to be greater in SWIM than CON and/or RC (ToA, %difference ±?95%CI, SWIM-CON: 14.6%?±?12.7%; SWIM-RC: 12.9%?±?10.7%) but not different to MB and RUN. RUN had bigger tibial CoA than CON, SWIM and RC (CoA, RUN-CON: 12.1%?±?10.7%; RUN-SWIM: 10.9%?±?9.4%; RUN-RC: 15.8%?±?9.5%) without marked changes in tibial strength indices, lower-limb MCSA or 1-RM. Both MB and RC failed to display any difference in tibial indices, lower-limb MCSA and 1-RM compared to CON. In swimmers, the bone structure and strength of the primary exercised limbs, the arms, is greater than controls and road cyclists. Conversely, although runners experience impact and weight-bearing loading, tibial structure is greater without a substantial difference in tibial strength compared to controls and non-impact sports. Failure to observe a difference in tibial indices in MB and RC compared to controls is unexpected.