Beliefs about teaching and uses of technology among pre‐service teachers

In the current learning environments, technology is integrated in different ways. Teachers acting in the capacity of main change agents bring with them beliefs about teaching which effects their use of technology in the classroom. This study aims to examine the possible relationship between teachers' beliefs about teaching and uses of technology. Unlike past research on this issue, the results from this study show that belief in constructivist teaching correlates significantly with both constructivist and traditional uses of technology. However, a belief in traditional teaching is only significantly correlated (negatively) with constructivist use of technology. Implications for teaching training and future research are discussed.     

Virtual cerebral ventricular system: an MR-based three-dimensional computer model

The inherent spatial complexity of the human cerebral ventricular system, coupled with its deep position within the brain, poses a problem for conceptualizing its anatomy. Cadaveric dissection, while considered the gold standard of anatomical learning, may be inadequate for learning the anatomy of the cerebral ventricular system; even with intricate dissection, ventricular structures remain difficult to observe. Three-dimensional (3D) computer reconstruction of the ventricular system offers a solution to this problem. This study aims to create an accurate 3D computer reconstruction of the ventricular system with surrounding structures, including the brain and cerebellum, using commercially available 3D rendering software. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans of a male cadaver were segmented using both semiautomatic and manual tools. Segmentation involves separating voxels of different grayscale values to highlight specific neural structures. User controls enable adding or removing of structures, altering their opacity, and making cross-sectional slices through the model to highlight inner structures. Complex physiologic concepts, such as the flow of cerebrospinal fluid, are also shown using the 3D model of the ventricular system through a video animation. The model can be projected stereoscopically, to increase depth perception and to emphasize spatial relationships between anatomical structures. This model is suited for both self-directed learning and classroom teaching of the 3D anatomical structure and spatial orientation of the ventricles, their connections, and their relation to adjacent neural and skeletal structures.     

Visualisation to support children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder learning to solve mathematical word problems: A randomised controlled trial

This randomised controlled trial experimental study compared the effectiveness of using two different types of visualisation – self-constructed visualisation (SCV) and passively received visualisation (PRV) – to help children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) solve mathematical word problems. While SCV refers to drawings that children create to help solve given word problems, PRV refers to pre-made images that accompany word problems. Twenty children with ADHD in Kuwait, aged nine to 11 years, were randomly assigned to either the SCV or PRV group, where they were taught to use either SCV or PRV to solve word problems across 20 daily one-to-one sessions. The results showed that regardless of the visualisation type, children's word problem-solving ability significantly improved. Children with ADHD should thus be encouraged to use visualisation to help make the word problem-solving process more accessible to them.     

When the Ink Runs Dry: Implications for Theory and Practice When Educators Stop Keeping Reflective Journals

In this article we report on a study that explored educators’ past and current use of reflective journals and if and how these practices influence their pedagogical use of such journals with their own students. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 8 educators who had kept reflective journals in the past but were no longer doing so; however, they require their own students to keep journals. Several interesting themes emerged including the temporal relevance of using reflective journals in professional practice, the significance of alternative methods of reflection, implications of the “teaching as you’ve been taught” phenomenon, and the importance of lower levels of reflection in development as a professional.     

INFORMANT EFFECTS ON BEHAVIORAL AND ACADEMIC ASSOCIATIONS: A LATENT VARIABLE LONGITUDINAL EXAMINATION

Discrepancies among informants’ ratings of a given child's behavior complicate the study of linkages between child behavior and academic achievement. In the current study, we examined the potential moderating effect of informant type on associations between behavior and two types of achievement in a longitudinal growth model that captured children's development from 54 months of age through fifth grade. Latent internalizing and externalizing behavioral constructs, as separately measured by mothers and teachers, were modeled as time‐varying predictors of achievements to capture changes that occur as children progress through different developmental stages. Behavioral ratings obtained by both informants explained largely equivalent levels of reading achievement variance, and teachers’ ratings of child behavior explained more variance in analytic type achievements than did those of mothers.     

Adolescent risk factors for child maltreatment

We investigate adolescent risk factors, measured at both early and late adolescence, for involvement in child maltreatment during adulthood. Comprehensive assessments of risk factors for maltreatment that use representative samples with longitudinal data are scarce and can inform multilevel prevention. We use data from the Rochester Youth Development Study, a longitudinal study begun in 1988 with a sample of 1,000 seventh and eighth graders. Participants have been interviewed 14 times and, at the last assessment (age 31), 80% were retained. Risk factors represent 10 developmental domains: area characteristics, family background/structure, parent stressors, exposure to family violence, parent–child relationships, education, peer relationships, adolescent stressors, antisocial behaviors, and precocious transitions to adulthood. Maltreatment is measured by substantiated reports from Child Protective Services records. Many individual risk factors (20 at early adolescence and 14 at later adolescence) are significantly, albeit moderately, predictive of maltreatment. Several developmental domains stand out, including family background/structure, education, antisocial behaviors, and precocious transitions. In addition, there is a pronounced impact of cumulative risk on the likelihood of maltreatment. For example, only 3% of the youth with no risk domains in their background at early adolescence were involved in later maltreatment, but for those with risk in 9 developmental domains the rate was 45%. Prevention programs targeting youth at high risk for engaging in maltreatment should begin during early adolescence when risk factors are already at play. These programs need to be comprehensive, capable of addressing the multiple and interwoven nature of risk that is associated with maltreatment.     

Temporal integration and instrumental conditioned reinforcement

Stimuli associated with primary reinforcement for instrumental behavior are widely believed to acquire the capacity to function as conditioned reinforcers via Pavlovian conditioning. Some Pavlovian conditioning studies suggest that animals learn the important temporal relations between stimuli and integrate such temporal information over separate experiences to form a temporal map. The present experiment examined whether Pavlovian conditioning can establish a positive instrumental conditioned reinforcer through such temporal integration. Two groups of rats received either delay or trace appetitive conditioning in which a neutral stimulus predicted response-independent food deliveries (CS1→US). Both groups then experienced one session of backward second-order conditioning of the training CS1 and a novel CS2 (CS1–CS2 pairing). Finally, the ability of CS2 to function as a conditioned reinforcer for a new instrumental response (leverpressing) was assessed. Consistent with the previous demonstrations of temporal integration in fear conditioning, a CS2 previously trained in a trace-conditioning protocol served as a better instrumental conditioned reinforcer after backward second-order conditioning than did a CS2 previously trained in a delay protocol. These results suggest that an instrumental conditioned reinforcer can be established via temporal integration and raise challenges for existing quantitative accounts of instrumental conditioned reinforcement.     

IDENTIFYING STUDENTS WITH EMOTIONAL DISTURBANCE: SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGISTS’ PRACTICES AND PERCEPTIONS

From its inception as a disability category in the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, serving students under the special education category Emotional Disturbance (ED) has been a challenging task for school psychologists. In particular, the vague and ambiguous federal definition has created an environment in which inconsistent assessment practices and decision making are almost inevitable. In this study, we examined school psychologists’ (N = 214) assessment practices when determining initial eligibility for ED, as well as their perceptions regarding the language contained within the federal ED definition. Findings indicated that although school psychologists recognize the need for a multimethod, multisource assessment model when ED is a classification consideration, in many instances, their actual assessments are missing commonly recommended sources of data for making eligibility decisions, including classroom observations; parent, teacher, and student interviews; and behavior rating scales. The results from the study provide a useful overview of school psychologists’ assessment practices and are couched within the questions and confusion that have surrounded the federal ED definition since its codification into law.