How fast can we read in the mind? Developmental trajectories of silent reading fluency

The silent reading fluency is not an observable behaviour and, therefore, its evaluation is perceived as more challenging and less reliable than oral reading fluency. The present research is aimed to measure the silent reading speed in a sample of proficient students, assessed by an original silent reading fluency task, based on behavioural indicators of the silent reading speed. A total of 325 high school and university skilled students (age range 14–23 years) have been assessed using 3 tasks aimed to evaluate the oral reading speed (lists of words, lists of pseudowords and narrative text) and one task aimed to measure the silent reading speed. The average silent reading speed in our sample was around 12.5 syll/sec, almost double than the oral reading speed rate. The silent reading speed had an increase from 9.13 to 12.38 syll/sec from the first year of high school (ninth grade) to the fifth year of University. Conversely, the oral reading speed remained substantially unchanged for the entire academic course. Our results showed that the reading fluency in silent mode tends to increase up to the last years of University and it may be considered the most rapid and efficient reading mode. This study highlights the importance of including both silent and oral reading modes in the assessment of the older students and young adults, since silent reading is the main reading mode for proficient readers.     

Health literacy and consumer health information

The rigours of the past few years have demonstrated the importance of good health literacy levels with the imperative of being able to obtain and interpret information to maintain and improve one's health never more apparent. With this in mind, this issue is focused on consumer health information, the gender and population group differences that exist in information seeking behaviour, the challenges of understanding medical explanations and terminology, and existing criteria to assess and ultimately produce better consumer health information.     

Bully/Victim Problems Among Preschool Children: a Review of Current Research Evidence

Bullying in schools has been identified as a serious and complex worldwide problem associated with negative short- and long-term effects on children’s psychosocial adjustment (Smith 1999; Ttofi and Farrington, Aggressive Behav 34(4):352–368, 2008). Entering kindergarten is a crucial developmental step in many children’s lives mainly because it is within this context where they participate, for the first time, as members in a stable peer group and well-organized team activities. Consequently, preschool may be the first context beyond the home environment where children’s difficulties in social interactions with peers can be primarily detected and assessed by adults and professionals. This paper reviews recent empirical evidence over the nature and different aspects of bullying among preschool children. Recent findings concerning the development of preschool bullying and its prevalence, family and genetic factors, gender and age differences, participant and peripheral roles, school context, methodological issues, and prevention policies are reviewed while directions for future research are addressed.     

Preparing Students for Professional Roles by Simulating Work Settings in Counselor Education Courses

The authors describe a method for preparing novice counselors for professional environments by using classroom meetings of semester‐long courses to simulate college student affairs divisions, community agencies, school counseling offices, and other work settings.     

Students’ Views Regarding their Participation in University Governance: Implications for Distributed Leadership in Higher Education

The paper examines the views of students regarding the extent of their participation in the management of their university and their satisfaction with the degree of this participation. After an examination of the literature on student participation in university governance, the author presents the results of a survey based on data collected from 135 students of the University of Cyprus in 2002. According to the findings, respondents believed that their involvement in the management of their institution was very limited. This applied to both high and low levels of decision making, even though respondents recognised that their input was greater in less important decisions. The perceived limited involvement resulted in feelings of frustration and dissatisfaction among students, with the majority of respondents demanding a higher level of participation for all three decision making situations considered in the study. The paper discusses the implications of the findings for the practice of distributed leadership at contemporary universities, with emphasis on the need to abandon outdated leadership models. Specifically, it proposes measures for increasing student participation in university governance in the framework of a distributed leadership approach designed to empower the key stakeholders of higher education.     

School experience,relational justice and legitimation of institutional

This study analysis the relationship between perceptions of the justice of teacher’ behaviour and (a) the legitimation of school authority and (b) the legitimation of institutional authorities outside school. 448 adolescent students participated in the study. In questionnaire participants were asked about (a) perceptions of the justice of teachers’ behaviour; (b) evaluation of the school experience; and (c) evaluation of institutional authorities. Results show that the evaluation of the justice of teacher behaviour, in particular relational and procedural justice, have an impact on the legitimation of the authority of teachers and on the evaluation of institutional authorities outside school. Results also show that the legitimacy granted to teachers is a mediator variable between perceptions of justice in school and evaluation of authorities outside school. These results are discussed in the context of the studies on the relationship between school experience and adolescents attitudes towards authorities, and in the framework of the “Relational Model of Authority” and of the “Group Value Model”.     

Comparing Crosscutting Practices in STEM Disciplines

Science & Education - In the literature, there are multiple definitions of integrated STEM education, resulting in ambiguity and uncertainty of application. A firm conception of integrated STEM...