Book review

Miteinander Reden: Kommunikationspsychologie für Führungskräfte (Talking with another: Communication psychology for leaders). by F. Schulz von Thun, J. Ruppel and R. Stratmann (2000), Reinbek, RoRoRo Sachbuch 60687, ISBN 3 499 60687 9, DM 16.90.     

An Evaluation of a Pilot Service‐Learning Course for Criminal Justice Undergraduate Students*

This article focuses on a pilot service‐learning program implemented with undergraduate students enrolled in a juvenile delinquency course. An evaluation of the service‐learning program on students’ attitudes toward diversity, interpersonal skills, personal and intellectual development, and citizenship behavior using qualitative analysis is presented. The results indicate that the majority of students came to view the youth in a positive light, reported learning how to work with youth, experienced a reduction in stereotypes, gained career insights, learned how to apply academic theory to real‐life experiences and developed attitudes about how society addresses delinquency that were sympathetic to the youths’ condition.     

Estimation of MIMIC Model Parameters with Multilevel Data

The purpose of this simulation study was to assess the performance of latent variable models that take into account the complex sampling mechanism that often underlies data used in educational, psychological, and other social science research. Analyses were conducted using the multiple indicator multiple cause (MIMIC) model, which is a flexible and effective tool for relating observed and latent variables. The data were simulated in a hierarchical framework (e.g., individuals nested in schools) so that a multilevel modeling approach would be appropriate. Analyses were conducted accounting for and not accounting for the nested data to determine the impact of ignoring such multilevel data structures in full structural equation models. Results highlight the differences in modeling results when the analytic strategy is congruent with the data structure and what occurs when this congruency is absent. Type I error rates and power for the standard and multilevel methods were similar for within-cluster variables and for the multilevel model with between-cluster variables. However, Type I error rates were inflated for the standard approach when modeling between-cluster variables.     

Attitudes Towards and Limitations to ICT Use in Assisted and Independent Living Communities: Findings from a Specially-Designed Technological Intervention

Much literature has been devoted to theoretical explanations of the learning processes of older adults and to the methods of teaching best utilized in older populations. However, there has been less focus on the education of older adults who reside in assisted and independent living communities (AICs), especially with regards to information and communication technology (ICT) education. The purpose of this study is to determine whether participants' attitudes and views towards computers and the Internet are affected as a result of participating in an eight-week training program designed to enhance computer and Internet use among older adults in such communities. Specifically, we examine if ICT education specially designed for AIC residents results in more positive attitudes towards ICTs and a perceived decrease in factors that may limit or prevent computer and Internet use. We discuss the implications of these results for enhancing the quality of life for older adults in AICs and make recommendations for those seeking to decrease digital inequality among older adults in these communities through their own ICT classes.     

Collaborative learning in university grammar courses

An innovative collaborative learning model, used for the teaching of modern English grammar classes, combined elements from peer teaching and cooperative learning. This model is innovative for higher education since it involved students and instructor co-laboring to master knowledge as a socially held phenomenon without any authoritarian leveling. It involved: 1) Student lectures explaining assigned readings from the text(s); 2) Daily quizzes of the material from the assigned reading; and 3) Student grading of the daily quizzes and exams with the instructor checking for accuracy. Student attitudinal surveys revealed positive perceptions of students on the whole toward the conduct of the class. An even greater positive aspect of the collaborative learning model used here is the attainment of a high level of mastery of the subject matter and almost perfect classroom attendance.He obtained his Ed.D. at the University of Michigan in 1963. His major areas of interest include the teaching of written composition and TESL.     

Multiple regression analysis of sib-pair data on reading to detect quantitative trait loci

A simple extension of the DeFries and Fulker multiple regression model for twin analysis is applied to the problem of detecting linkage in a quantitative trait. The method, employing sib pairs, is based on that of Haseman and Elston. Reading data from 19 extended pedigrees were analyzed employing RLFPs as markers on chromosome 15 and using the widely available statistical applications software package, SAS. A number of possible linkages were detected, indicating that this approach is both powerful and effective, especially in the case of selected samples. Detecting genotype-environment interaction and the issue of power are briefly discussed. The programs used are available upon request.     

Early intervention for reading disabilities: teaching the alphabet principle in a connectionist framework

Forty-eight children referred by teachers at the end of first grade for difficulty in reading were randomly assigned to three treatments, all of which modeled connections between written and spoken words but did not teach phonics rules, for eight half-hour individual tutoring sessions. The children were taught 48 words of varying orders of spelling-sound predictability (Venezky, 1995) using a whole-word method, for making connections between a word's name and its constituent letters; a subword method, for making connections between each color-coded spelling unit and its corresponding phonemes; or a combined whole-word and subword method. Regardless of the method used, children improved reliably on standardized reading measures and the taught words, showing that they could make connections between written and spoken words at the whole word and subword levels, even when rules were not taught. By posttest, the subword method showed a reliable advantage on a standardized test of real word reading. Knowledge of sounds associated with both multiletter and single-letter spelling units predicted reading achievement. Order of spelling-sound predictability (easy, moderate, difficult) was correlated with standardized measures of reading at pretest and posttest, and the magnitude of the relationship increased as a result of the intervention. Individual differences in verbal intelligence, rapid automatized naming, and phonological and orthographic skills predicted response to the intervention. Instructional implications of the results are discussed.     

Constructivism deconstructed

This paper examines the doctrine of constructivism as presented by Ernst von Glasersfeld (1989). Part I attempts to elicit a clearer statement of the concepts, positions and arguments for the latter than is immediately available in the paper. Part II discusses the problem of intersubjectivity in constructivism. The general conclusions drawn from these sections is that the basic concepts and theses of constructivism are, mostly, at best very obscure, that there is very little argument involved, and that where there is it is quite unsatisfactory. Part III ventures an explanation of at least some of the weaknesses in the doctrine, this involving a brief independent treatment of some relevant epistemological questions.