Naturalistic intervention for Asperger syndrome – a case study

On the basis of their cognitive abilities, children with Asperger syndrome are attractive candidates for inclusive education and, in Australia, most are in integrated settings. However, social interaction between children with Asperger syndrome and their peers remains problematic, with the children with Asperger syndrome often being left alone despite being among or near classmates. For classroom teachers, effective interventions in terms of class management are critical to facilitate positive social interaction between these two groups of children, and case studies can tell us a great deal about what works. In practice, a combination of intervention techniques may be best, in case a single one is ineffective, and in order to take advantage of potential synergies. In this article, Serene Choi, of the School of Education at the University of Newcastle (Australia) and Timo Nieminen, of the Centre for Biophotonics and Laser Science in the Department of Physics at the University of Queensland, report a naturalistic multiple-component intervention used to develop the social skills of a boy with Asperger syndrome in a mainstream school in Australia. This combined intervention, making use of social stories, simple peer modelling and individual lessons, appears to be a practical teaching method for inclusive education.     

In search for the ideological roots of non-formal environment-related education in Finland: the case of Helsinki Humane Society before World War II

So far the research on historical environment-related education has focused on scientific rather than ‘humanistic’ (including Romantic and religious) educational approaches and ideologies. In the field of non-formal education implemented by associations these have, however, been common. We used content analysis to study two membership magazines of a prominent Finnish animal welfare organization, Helsinki Humane Society, before the Second World War. Our results show that the educational ideology of Helsinki Humane Society was based on romanticist and humane ideas. They emphasized especially the development of a human being’s total personality and a kindness-to-animals ethic as a solution to social problems. In the early 1900s, humane education seems to have been an effective way of advancing the animal welfare cause, but its importance declined by the 1930s. We believe that today’s environmental and sustainability educators could benefit from a better understanding of how historical animal welfare organizations were able to combine romantic and humane ideas with environmental goals.     

Emerging phonological awareness differentiates children with and without familial risk for dyslexia after controlling for general language skills

Emerging phonological awareness was compared in two groups of 3.5-year-old children belonging to the Jyv?skyl? Longitudinal Study of Dyslexia (JLD): children with familial risk of dyslexia (at-risk group n = 98) and children without such risk (control group n = 91). Four computer animated tasks were used: Word-level and Syllable-level Segment Identification, Synthesis, and Continuation of Phonological Units. The control group children manifested higher mastery than children in the at-risk group in phonological awareness, and the proportion of children with a low phonological awareness mean score was 2.5 times higher in the at-risk group than in the control group. In both groups, phonological awareness at 3.5 years was predicted by early language skills assessed between 14 and 26 months of age, and it was also associated with concurrent language. The difference between the at-risk and control group at 3.5-year in phonological awareness remained significant, even when the effect of other language skills such as productive and receptive vocabulary, and mastery of inflections, measured both at earlier ages and concurrently were controlled for. Our findings indicate that familial risk for dyslexia is reliably reflected in emerging phonological awareness already at this early age and it can be assessed independently of other language skills.     

Ethik und Moralerziehung

Zusammenfassung In der Moralphilosophie findet derzeit eine historisch reflektierte Renaissance der antiken Tugendethik statt. Auch im moralp?dagogischen Diskurs wendet man sich wieder vermehrt Fragen der Tugend- und Charaktererziehung zu, aber es fehlt an historischen Studien zu dieser Thematik. Vor diesem Hintergrund befasst sich der Aufsatz mit der Grundlegung der abendl?ndischen Moralp?dagogik in der griechisch-r?mischen Antike. Zun?chst wird die unmittelbar moralerzieherische Intention der antiken Ethik herausgestellt. Die antiken Theoretiker sind daran interessiert, konkrete Antworten auf die Frage nach dem gelingenden Leben zu geben. Dieser Sachverhalt hat sich auch auf die p?dagogische Theorienbildung ausgewirkt. In einem zweiten Schritt wird die signifikant moralp?dagogische Ausrichtung der antiken Erziehungsphilosophie aufgezeigt. Von Demokrit an bis zur r?mischen Stoa orientierten sich die unterschiedlichen p?dagogischen Konzepte am Ideal des Guten und Tugendhaften.

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Summary Ethics and Moral Education — On the foundations of the discourse on moral education in the Greek antiquity A historic-reflexive Renaissance of moral ethics based on the ideas of antiquity can be observed in current moral philosophy. Questions of virtue and character are discussed in the educational discourse on morals. However, there is a lack of historical studies on this topic. In view of this discrepancy, this paper deals with the foundations of occidental moral philosophy in Greco-Roman antiquity. The first section of this paper will deal with the moral-educative intention of the ethics of this period. The theorists of the ancient world were interested in finding concrete answers to the question of a ‘good life’. This was also reflected in pedagogical theory formation. In the second section, the significant moral-pedagogical orientation of the educational philosophy in antiquity will be shown. From Democritus to the Roman Stoics, this orientation concerned pedagogical concepts based on the ideal of the good and virtuous.

     

Higher education teachers’ conceptions of sustainable development: implications for interdisciplinary pluralistic teaching

Abstract

An interdisciplinary and pluralistic approach to teaching and learning has been proposed as one solution to the lack of a consensus definition of sustainable development (SD). For teachers, such an approach requires an awareness of the interconnections among different dimensions of SD and their underlying value-based assumptions. In this article, we investigate whether higher education teachers’ conceptions of SD are consistent with these aims. We present the results of our interviews with five university teachers who are experienced in interdisciplinary SD in Finland. Our findings show that despite the teachers’ rich conceptions of cultural sustainability, including a variety of topics, concepts and value questions, their understanding of economic sustainability is rather limited and sketchy. We suggest that universities support the teachers’ social and peer learning based on reflections on unclear concepts and emerging SD ideas.     

Mothers of children with mild neurological disabilities: Adaptational outcomes

The relations of stress and coping over time were investigated among mothers of children (N=36) with mild neurological disabilities and mothers of matched non-disabled (ND) children (N=36). Separate stress groups were formed with respect to changes in adaptational outcomes for the mothers of disabled and ND children. Mothers of disabled children with better adaptational outcomes had considered their self-esteem higher and used problem-focused coping and social support more often than mothers of disabled children with worse adaptational outcomes. Decrease of negative affects seemed to presuppose use of problem-focused coping more often mothers of disabled children than for those of ND children.This study has received financial support from the Emil Aaltonen Foundation, Tampere, Finland, and from the University of Lapland, Rovaniemi, Finland. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Timo Virtanen, Institute of Migration, Piispankatu 3, SF-20500 Turku, Finland.     

What do I think about inclusive education? It depends on who is asking. Experimental evidence for a social desirability bias in attitudes towards inclusion

Recently, research has focused on attitudes towards inclusive education, and the majority of studies use questionnaires to measure this vital variable. In two consecutive experiments, we showed that attitudes towards inclusive education are not stable but instead are significantly influenced by social context. We manipulated information on the organisation conducting a survey regarding attitudes of participants towards inclusive education. The results show that the attitude of the organisation conducting the survey – as perceived by the participant – outperforms well-documented variables (e.g. sex, age, and contact to a person with disability) in predicting the attitudes of the participant towards inclusion. This one variable explains as much variance as all other predictors combined. We argue that social desirability is a neglected issue in research on attitudes towards inclusive education. Our findings challenge the validity of numerous studies on this topic because they show a positive bias in the attitudes of participants when they were surveyed by a university. Thus, we outline the first steps to reduce social desirability-induced validity problems in research on attitudes towards inclusion.     

Learning as the Construction and Re-mediation of Activity Systems: Environmental Management in Biogas Production

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to present theoretical tools for understanding the dynamics of change and learning during the emergence and development of environmental management activities. The methodology consists of a historical analysis of a case of biogas production that took place in the Southwest region of Finland. The theoretical tools used helped to see how the content of an activity guided the historical emergence and change of an EM activity. The practical implication of the paper is that environmental solutions should not be restricted to the adaptation of a system, but should also include the possibility of constructing a new activity, with a new object and means of production. The paper is original in presenting theoretical tools for grasping the content of learning in environmental management activities.     

Browne's composite direct product model for MTMM correlation matrices

This article is about the analysis of the multitrait‐multimethod (MTMM) correlation matrix with the composite direct product model proposed by Browne (1984). Campbell and Fiske's (1959) criteria for convergent and discriminant validity have a direct interpretation in the composite direct product model. The model has a multiplicative property suggested as appropriate for MTMM correlation matrices by Campbell and O'Connell (1967, 1982), and it can be fitted to the correlation matrix by means of conventional software.     

Using structural equation modeling to fit models incorporating principal components

The aim of this article is to consider models incorporating principal components from the perspective of structural equation modeling. These models include the principal component analysis of patterned matrices, multiple analysis of variance based on principal components, and multigroup principal component analysis. We demonstrate that these models can be fit readily using the programs LISREL 8 and Mx. The models and certain extensions are discussed, and several illustrations are given.