Evaluation of a core team centred professional development programme for building a whole-school cooperative problem solving approach to conflict

This study evaluated a professional learning approach using a core team (CT) model to assist primary (elementary) schools to develop whole-school collaborative conflict resolution processes. Thirteen schools were matched and randomly assigned to the enhancing relationships in school communities programme (n?=?10) or a non-programme control group (n?=?3). Programme schools provided a core (professional learning) team, who attended professional learning days, and disseminated programme content throughout their schools. Programme schools also received one full school staff workshop. After one year, CT participants were more likely to apply a collaborative conflict resolution model to problem scenarios and report greater knowledge and skills compared to non-programme-school control participants. Compared to the non-programme control group, non-core team programme school staff described using more cooperative approaches to handling conflict, especially when they had received more professional development from their CT. Programme school teachers taught more hours conflict resolution curriculum, and increases in hours taught by programme (but not control) teachers were associated with teacher reported increases in student understanding and use of cooperative methods. Patterns also supported a role of self-efficacy in implementation. The potential usefulness of a CT professional learning model for assisting schools to develop cooperative conflict resolution approaches was supported.     

The Communication Anxiety Regulation Scale: Development and Initial Validation

A series of studies present the development and validation of the Communication Anxiety Regulation Scale (CARS), a self-report measure designed to assess the use of emotion regulation strategies to manage acute communication anxiety—in contrast to measures of general emotion regulation tendencies. Study 1 delineates the item derivation and selection process that yielded the final 12 CARS items. Results of an exploratory factor analysis supported the existence of four distinct subscales, each representing one of four anxiety regulation strategies (suppression, reappraisal, avoidance, and venting). Study 2 confirmed this factor structure and also examined correlations of the CARS with existing measures in an attempt to establish concurrent validity. Finally, Study 3 presents results of an item-sort task demonstrating the scale’s face validity and items’ substantive validity. Overall, findings provide preliminary support for the utility of the CARS as measure of communication anxiety regulation to be used by communication and psychology researchers.     

The new books on our shelf

An Art Outline for Grade Teachers. Compiled by American Art Aid (Stanford University, California). Pp. 34. Free.

The Third Great Plague. By John H. Stokes (University of Minnesota). Philadelphia: W. B. Saunders Co., 1920. Pp. 204.

Introduction to Rural Economies. By Paul L. Vogt. New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1925. Pp. xii + 377.

The Smedley and Olsen First Reader. By Eva A. Smedley and Martha G. Olsen. Chicago: Hall and McCreary Co., 1925. Pp. 192. Price, $0.64.

A Study of Child‐Accounting Records. By Arch O. Heck. Ohio State University Studies; Bureau of Educational Research Monographs, No. 2. Columbus, Ohio, 1925. Pp. xvi + 245. Price, $1.50.

An Introduction to the Study of Education. By Ellwood P. Cubberley (Stanford University). Cambridge, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1925. Pp. xix + 476.

Burton Holmes Travel Stories of Japan, Korea, and Formosa. By Eunice Tietjens. Edited by William H. Wheeler and Burton Holmes. Chicago: Wheeler Publishing Co., 1925. Pp. xi + 404. Price, $1.28. Manual free.

Burton Holmes Travel Stories of Egypt and the Suez Canal. By Susan Wilbur. Edited by William H. Wheeler and Burton Holmes. Chicago: Wheeler Publishing Co., 1925. Pp. vi + 404. Price, $1.28. Manual free.

Physiography. By Douglas C. Ridgley (Clark University) and Mabel P. Crompton (Illinois State Normal University). Normal, Ill.: McKnight & McKnight, 1925. Pp. 96.

The Branom Practice Tests in Geography. By Mendel E. Branom (Harris Teachers College, St. Louis). New York: The Macmillan Co., 1925. Pp. 225.

Graded Outlines in Hygiene. By Walter F. Cobb. Yonkers: World Book Co., 1923. Pp. viii + 214.

The Climates of the United States. By Robert De Couecy Ward (Harvard University). Boston: Ginn & Co., 1925. Pp. xvi + 518. Price, $4.     

Dumbing down educational research: a response to John Wilson

The scheme offers operational guides based upon identifiable behaviours in a number of technical subjects classified, for rating purposes, with cognitive, affective and motor‐manipulative taxonomies. Two dimensions are postulated for each taxonomy, (i) complexity and (ii) extensiveness. The stages are briefly illustrated by reference to skilled performance in a number of crafts. Instructions for using the rating schedule to derive three profiles relevant to attainment are provided. Interpretations of profiles are suggested, including a tentative method for aggregating numerical scores for comparison with established examination grades at ‘O’ level and CSE. The results from a trial run with a simple version of the scheme are reported and discussed.

     

A GROUNDED THEORY ANALYSIS OF OLDER ADULTS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

The study reported in this article used grounded theory methodology to investigate older adults accounts of their use of information technology (IT). A small number of SeniorNet Wellington members volunteered to be interviewed about their experiences with and opinions about computer technology. It was found that participants began using computers because technology was associated with modern life, leading them to recognize the potential that IT had to offer them. Their present, mostly positive, attitudes toward IT were strongly linked with the personal usefulness of IT and direct experience with and personal ownership of IT. Study findings illustrated how involvement with and use of IT by older adults is cyclic and serves to reinforce continuing involvement. The theoretical and practical implications of the results are also discussed.     

PEER GROUP COUNSELING FOR OLDER PEOPLE

>For a variety of reasons, psychological services are largely unavailable for older people who want help in coping with their interpersonal problems. Group counseling, when it is used, proves to be an effective and efficient method for meeting their needs. It also addresses the reality of the limited numbers of gerontologically trained professionals currently available in the field. A readily attainable, and largely untapped, resource for working with this population is older people themselves. The Continuum Center of Oakland University selects, trains, and supervises older men and women, who serve as paraprofessional group leaders in a self‐exploration program offered in a variety of community centers in the Detroit metropolitan area. The service and training programs, and some of the outcomes for clients and group leaders, are briefly described.     

Development of angle concepts by progressive abstraction and generalisation

This paper presents a new theory of the development of angle concepts. It is proposed that children progressively recognise deeper and deeper similarities between their physical angle experiences and classify them firstly into specific situations, then into more general contexts, and finally into abstract domains. An angle concept is abstracted from each class at each stage of development. We call the most general angle concept the standard angle concept. To investigate the role of the standard abstract angle concept in conceptual development, 192 children from Grades 2 to 8 were tested to find how they used it in modelling 9 physical angle situations and in expressing similarities between them. It was found that the standard angle concept first develops in situations where both arms of the angle are visible. Even at Grade 8, there are still significant proportions of students who do not use standard angles to represent turning and sloping situations. Implications for theory and practice are explored.This revised version was published online in September 2005 with corrections to the Cover Date.