Parental Participation in Paired Reading: a controlled study

Abstract A double‐blind controlled study of the effects of Paired Reading was carried out with 33 failing readers and their parents. The children were aged 8 to 11 and had reading delays of at least 18 months. After a mean time of 7.6 hours of Paired Reading at home, spread over six weeks, the children made gains of 2.43 months for reading accuracy and 4.36 months for reading comprehension compared with a control group which experienced respective gains of 0.81 months and 1.69 months. The differences were statistically significant for accuracy but not for comprehension. The conclusions of previous Paired Reading studies are discussed in the light of these results and suggestions are made for the evaluation of future, similar projects.     

The residual impact of information technology exportation on Thai higher education

Educational technology research and development -     

The Relations of Parental Characteristics and Practices to Children''s Vicarious Emotional Responding

We examined the relation of parental empathy-related characteristics and emotion-related child-rearing practices to third and sixth graders' vicarious emotional responding. Children's heart rate, skin conductance, facial, and self-reported reactions to a sympathy-inducing film were assessed, as were their dispositional sympathy, empathy, and self-monitoring. Parental sympathy was positively related to low levels of personal distress in same-sex children and, for both parents, with sons' dispositional sympathy or empathy. Parental emphasis on problem-focused coping strategies when their sons were anxious was positively correlated with indexes of sons' situational and dispositional sympathy. Same-sex parental restrictiveness in regard to the control of inappropriate, hurtful emotional displays was associated with sons' and daughters' dispositional and situational sympathy, whereas maternal restrictiveness in regard to emotions that are unlikely to hurt others was correlated with nonverbal indexes of personal distress and self reports of low distress. Parental emphasis on control of the child's own negative emotion was associated with children's self-monitoring.     

Differences between WISC‐R and WISC‐III performance scale among children with ADHD

Reviews involving the Wechsler Scales for children suggest that Full Scale IQ scores on the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, Third Edition, average 5 to 6 points lower than scores on the second edition of the scale [WISC‐R, Wechsler, D. (1974). Zimmerman & Woo‐Sam, 1997], with the differences distributed disproportionately over subtests, i.e., with larger discrepancies found within the Performance Scale (Wechsler, 1991). Changes on the revised subtests of the WISC‐III Performance Scale may place children with ADHD at a disadvantage compared to their performance on analogous WISC‐R subtests. We examined IQ test performance in 122 unmedicated children with ADHD (61 given the WISC‐R, 61 given the WISC‐III), and 46 children from a healthy, comparison group (23 given the WISC‐R, 23 given the WISC‐III). The ADHD and comparison group samples were matched for sex and for Verbal IQ between WISC‐R and WISC‐III. Children with ADHD had significantly lower Performance IQ on WISC‐III compared to the WISC‐R, with the Picture Arrangement subtest showing the most significant difference. In contrast, there were no significant differences between the WISC‐R and WISC‐III cohorts on Performance IQ or any Performance subtests among the comparison group. These findings highlight the importance of examining the comparability of ability test revisions among clinical and non‐clinical populations, and will be especially salient when the WISC‐III is revised. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 40: 331–340, 2003.     

The use of virtual reality simulation to improve technical skill in the undergraduate medical imaging student

In recent years, simulation has increasingly underpinned the acquisition of pre-clinical skills by undergraduate medical imaging (diagnostic radiography) students. This project aimed to evaluate the impact of an innovative virtual reality (VR) learning environment on the development of technical proficiency by students. The study assessed the technical skills of first year medical imaging students. The learning experience by each student was either via traditional laboratory-based simulation or VR simulation, for two specified anatomical protocols. Following the learning experience, the students performed role-plays and were assessed on their technical proficiency. The type of learning environment, laboratory-based or VR simulation, was recorded for each radiographic procedure, as well as demographic data. Data demonstrated an improved total role-play skill score for those students trained using VR software simulation compared with the total role-play skills score traditional laboratory simulation. Demographic multivariable analysis demonstrated no statistically significant association of age, gender, gaming skills/activity with the outcome. The novel medical imaging VR simulation learning tool facilitated technical skill acquisition, equal to, or slightly better than traditional laboratory training. Ongoing data collection will evaluate the impact this VR software has on the undergraduate medical imaging student.

Abbreviations: QUT: queensland university of technology; VR: virtual reality; SLE: simulated learning environment; PA: posterio-anterior; DP: dorsi-plantar; CP: central point; CR: central ray; SID: source image distance; HWA: health workforce Australia     

Banners for Books: “Mighty-Hearted” Kindergartners Take Action through Arts-Based Service Learning

Teaching about the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948, is one way to support students’ learning about issues of fairness. However, learning about this document is not enough. Students need to have experiences where they explore issues of justice and equity in order to learn about respect and dignity for others. The present study explored an arts-based project in a kindergarten classroom about the Universal Declaration of Human Rights Article 26—The Right to Education. Over the course of several months, nineteen kindergarten students learned about educational inequities around the world and specifically about an under-resourced partner school in El Salvador. Children’s literature about human rights became the catalyst for critical conversations, written responses, and drawings inspiring action. Students worked to address injustice by screen printing images they drew about their beliefs regarding a child’s right to education on fabric banners to raise awareness about school inequity. These banners were then displayed in their school and in the partner school. Overall findings from students’ discussions, writing, illustrations, and interviews indicated that the kindergartners were able to recognize their own rights and educational privilege. Through the project they demonstrated active citizenship centered on care and sought further connections with children at the partner school. In using arts-based service learning, educators involved in the study discovered how art can be used as a creative process and a teaching method to support young learners raising awareness about global inequities.     

Proactive interference by cues presented without outcomes: Differences in context specificity of latent inhibition and conditioned inhibition

This report is part of a larger project examining associative interference as a function of the nature of the interfering and target associations. Lick suppression experiments with rats assessed the effects of context shifts on proactive outcome interference by latent inhibition (LI) and Pavlovian conditioned inhibition (CI) treatments on subsequently trained Pavlovian conditioned excitation treatment. LI and CI were trained in Context A during Phase 1, and then excitation treatment was administered in Context B during Phase 2, followed by tests for conditioned excitation in Contexts A, B, or C. Experiment 1 preliminarily established our LI and CI treatments and resulted in equally retarded acquisition of behavioral control when the target cue was subsequently trained as a conditioned excitor and tested in Context A. However, only CI treatment caused the target to pass a summation test for inhibition. Centrally, Experiment 2 consisted of LI and CI treatments in Context A followed by excitatory training in Context B. Testing found low excitatory control by both LI and CI cues in Context A relative to strong excitatory control in Context B, but CI treatment transferred to Context C more strongly than LI treatment. Experiment 3 determined that LI treatment failed to transfer to Context C even when the number of LI trials was greatly increased. Thus, first-learned LI appears to be relatively context specific, whereas first-learned CI generalizes to a neutral context. These observations add to existing evidence that LI and CI treatments result in different types of learning that diverge sharply in transfer to a novel test context.     

Sleep and Academic Performance in U.S. Military Training and Education Programs

ABSTRACT— This review examines the effects of military training regimes, which might include some degree of sleep deprivation, on sleep–wake schedules. We report a 4-year longitudinal study of sleep patterns of cadets at the United States Military Academy and the consequences of an extension of sleep from 6 to 8 hr per night at the United States Navy's Recruit Training Command. These studies provide an opportunity to observe sleep in a college-age population and also to record sleep patterns over an entire 4-year college experience, adding to our understanding of the changes in sleep patterns over the life span.     

Teachers’ journeys towards critical use of ICT

Teachers have a central role in developing new learning models in schools. This paper describes a study that explored teachers’ confidence and competence in using Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) as they participated in an ICT development project conducted by an Australian education system in 12 primary schools. The project aimed to develop ICT integrated teaching practices by providing in‐class equipment and teacher professional development in ICT use, curriculum development and teaching strategies. The study used qualitative data from teacher records of Professional Development and Action Learning to identify three of four stages proposed to describe teachers’ ICT learning. Teachers moved from gaining basic ICT skills, to conducting ICT‐focused lessons and eventually appropriate ICT integration. Teachers who progressed to the third stage were able to exploit additional learning opportunities and begin to make fundamental changes to their pedagogy, but needed more time to reach the final stage of challenging existing pedagogical structures.     

Teaching the biological consequences of alcohol abuse through an online game: impacts among secondary students

A multimedia game was designed to serve as a dual-purpose intervention that aligned with National Science Content Standards, while also conveying knowledge about the consequences of alcohol consumption for a secondary school audience. A tertiary goal was to positively impact adolescents' attitudes toward science through career role-play experiences within the game. In a pretest/delayed posttest design, middle and high school students, both male and female, demonstrated significant gains on measures of content knowledge and attitudes toward science. The best predictors of these outcomes were the players' ratings of the game's usability and satisfaction with the game. The outcomes suggest that game interventions can successfully teach standards-based science content, target age-appropriate health messages, and impact students' attitudes toward science.