The effects of features of examination questions on the performance of students with dyslexia

This research investigated whether features of examination questions influence students with dyslexia differently to others, potentially affecting whether they have a fair opportunity to show their knowledge, understanding and skills. A number of science examination questions were chosen. For some questions two slightly different versions were created. A total of 54 students considered by their teachers to have dyslexia and a matched control group of 51 students took the test under exam conditions. A dyslexia screening assessment was administered where possible and some students were interviewed. Facility values and Rasch analysis were used to compare performance between the versions of the same question and between those with and without dyslexia. Chi‐square statistics found no statistically significant differences in performance between groups or between question versions. However, some tentative implications for good practice can be inferred (e.g. avoiding ambiguous pronouns, using bullet points).     

Do Social Stories Benefit Children with Autism in Mainstream Primary Schools?

The winner of the 1998 Stanley Segal Award, Carol Rowe, a specialist teacher with the Kent Behaviour Support Service who works in primary schools, reports on a small scale research project to investigate the possible benefits of a technique, 'social stories', for a pupil with an autistic spectrum disorder in a mainstream primary school.     

Self-controlled learning benefits: exploring contributions of self-efficacy and intrinsic motivation via path analysis

Research has shown learning advantages for self-controlled practice contexts relative to yoked (i.e., experimenter-imposed) contexts; yet, explanations for this phenomenon remain relatively untested. We examined, via path analysis, whether self-efficacy and intrinsic motivation are important constructs for explaining self-controlled learning benefits. The path model was created using theory-based and empirically supported relationships to examine causal links between these psychological constructs and physical performance. We hypothesised that self-efficacy and intrinsic motivation would have greater predictive power for learning under self-controlled compared to yoked conditions. Participants learned double-mini trampoline progressions, and measures of physical performance, self-efficacy and intrinsic motivation were collected over two practice days and a delayed retention day. The self-controlled group (M = 2.04, SD = .98) completed significantly more skill progressions in retention than their yoked counterparts (M = 1.3, SD = .65). The path model displayed adequate fit, and similar significant path coefficients were found for both groups wherein each variable was predominantly predicted by its preceding time point (e.g., self-efficacy time 1 predicts self-efficacy time 2). Interestingly, the model was not moderated by group; thus, failing to support the hypothesis that self-efficacy and intrinsic motivation have greater predictive power for learning under self-controlled relative to yoked conditions.     

Towards National Security and Peace: The Strategic Role of Libraries

This article is aimed at examining the causes of insecurity and violence in Nigeria and around the world. It discusses the active roles libraries play in promoting peace and security in different countries. It highlights the fact that several threats to lives, ranging from terrorism, communal and tribal clashes, kidnapping, pollution, health, physical and environmental hazards, and economic crisis among others, can be curbed through information and intelligence services. Premised on these, this article seeks to analyze and make recommendations for the promotion of literacy by libraries, build collaborative relationships between librarians and security operatives, and provide suggestions for the provision of current information against terrorism and security of lives and properties. It also seeks to provide current news on terrorism and intelligence services in Nigeria and around the world, and on social and national security for peaceful co-existence in communities.     

Relation of wait-time and rewards to the development of language,logic, and fate control: Part II-Rewards

In Part I it was shown that by varying the duration of pauses in two locations the length of student statements increased, the number of alternative explanations offered multiplied, and the overall probability of receiving a reply increased. It was noted, as well, that in natural situations where there was a high incidence of teacher sanctioning behavior, regardless of whether it was predominantly positively toned, the verbal performance of students engaged in inquiry appeared to be negatively influenced even when there were reasonable wait-times. That is, even in those rare naturally occurring cases where pauses were longer than the mean of one second, and in experiments where pauses and rewards were independently manipulated if sanctioning behaviors were intense, the positive influence on inquiry of the longer pauses appeared to be somewhat mitigated. It became necessary, then, to study reward patterns in the context of inquiry in order to discover whether, in general, overt verbal rewards which we found occurring with tremendous frequency in natural settings, helped or hindered the progress of student inquiry.     

PUPILS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS ART TEACHING IN PRIMARY SCHOOL: AN EVALUATION TOOL

Pupils’ attitudes influence both learning and teaching processes and affect the way pupils will engage with art as adults. This article introduces an attitude scale, the Attitude Scale for Art Experienced in School (ASAES), which comprises four subscales: enjoyment, confidence, usefulness, and support. A three-step procedure was followed for the construction and validation of the scale which was administered to 420 primary school pupils in Cyprus. The scale's psychometric properties are evaluated through Confirmatory Factor analysis. The findings indicate that teachers’ art specialisation and attitudes towards art teaching, pupils’ perceived competence and pupils’ gender are three important variables that influence the formation of pupils’ attitudes. Important interactions between these variables are also reported.     

Politics,religion and morals: the symbolism of public schooling for the urban middle-class identity

Research points to sections of the middle-class repopulating the ‘ordinary’ urban public school and whilst there are key differences in how they are navigating public school choices, from ‘seeking a critical mass’ to resisting traditional methods of choice and going ‘against-the-grain’, or collectively campaigning for a brand new public school, the urban middle-class are developing contemporary methods to challenge the existing ways of thinking about middle-class choice. Drawing on this literature, this paper explores the symbolism of public schooling for relatively affluent choosers in the city of Melbourne, Australia. The positioning of public schooling as essentially secular and liberal indicates how the public school is valorised within the contemporary market place. Within a market that tends to undersell the public school, the perceived lack of organised religion and progressivism may be the unique selling point for the cosmopolitan, globalised consumer.     

Phantoms and fabrications:young children's detection of implausible lies

The present study investigated whether young children are gullible and readily deceived by another's lies. Specifically, this study examined whether young children believe a lie teller's statement when the statement violates their developing knowledge of a distinction between reality and fantasy. In the first three experiments 3- to 6-year-olds (N = 293) were presented with either a story or a live staged event in which an individual made an implausible statement about a misdeed (claiming that a ghost jumped out of a book and broke a glass). A significant age effect was obtained: 5- and 6-year-olds tended to report that the individual who made the implausible statement had actually committed the misdeed, whereas 3- and 4-year-olds tended to accept the claim of the protagonist. Experiment 4 revealed that 5- and 6-year-olds (N = 43) not only disbelieved an individual's implausible statement but also inferred that the individual was lying and had a deceptive intent. In contrast, Experiment 5 revealed that 3- and 4-year-olds (N = 41) had difficulty disbelieving an individual's implausible claim about an inanimate object (i.e., the claim that a chair came alive and broke the glass). The findings suggest that 5- and 6-year-olds are not so gullible as previously thought, and that they use their well-developed real-world knowledge to detect scapegoating lies. In contrast, many younger children tend to believe another's implausible lies, perhaps due to the fact that the knowledge needed to detect such lies has not yet been consolidated.