Insights into the Integration of Traditional Filipino Arts in Art and Design Education: Voices from the Academe

This article presents the first segment of a qualitative study that explores the feasibility of integrating traditional arts in Philippine art and design education. The views of educators on traditional arts were sought to provide an impetus for the study and a springboard for discussion regarding the relevance of traditional Filipino arts in a predominantly Westernised educational system. The educators’ views and opinions on the central question, ‘Why and how should the study of traditional Filipino arts be integrated in the art and design programme?’ will be used to guide a trial integration of the learning of traditional arts in tertiary art and design classes. They will form part of the multiple perspectives that will be gathered from various sectors throughout the course of research. This phenomenological study, on the whole, seeks to uncover the potentials of traditional arts as a rich resource for learning, particularly for students of art and design.     

A QUALITATIVE STUDY OF FACILITATORS AND BARRIERS RELATED TO COMPREHENSIVE AND INTEGRATED SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGICAL SERVICES

Recent studies indicate that the majority of school psychologists’ time continues to be dedicated to SPED related activities. Despite ongoing calls for school psychologists to expand their roles, why many practitioners do not deliver more comprehensive services is not well understood. This qualitative study investigated facilitators of and barriers to comprehensive and integrated services using the National Association of School Psychologists Model for Comprehensive and Integrated School Psychological Services as the guiding framework. Thirteen full‐time, school‐based practitioners from across the US participated in semi‐structured interviews. Constant‐comparative analysis was used to generate themes. Results indicated that practitioners experienced a number of systemic barriers to (e.g., heavy caseload; inconsistent district policies, priorities, and role definitions; lack of stakeholder involvement) and facilitators of (e.g., resources, graduate training and professional development) comprehensive and integrated service delivery. Participants’ perspectives regarding changes needed to expand their services focused on systemic issues as well. Implications for research and practitioners’ efforts to advocate for systems change are discussed.     

The Use of Different Translation Devices to Analyze Knowledge-Building in a University Chemistry Classroom

Research in Science Education - This research draws on Legitimation Code Theory (LCT) to understand the epistemic dimension of the higher education classroom discourse of a professor who is well...     

Mental attention in gifted and nongifted children

The relationship between the construct of mental attention and “giftedness” is not well established. Gifted individuals could make effective use of their executive functions and this could be related to their mental attentional capacity. The dialectic constructivist model developed by Pascual-Leone introduced the concept of mental attention or “effort”, relating it to mental capacity. The aim of this study is to investigate whether the measurement of mental capacity (M-measurement) is differential for a group of children with high IQs. 110 students between 4 and 18 years old participated in this study. Some were Gifted (n=70) and others Non-Gifted (n=40). Wechsler-R Scale and the Figural Intersection Test were administered to all participants. An interesting pattern was found in the younger groups. The gifted scored higher than the non-gifted in the Figural Intersection Test and much higher than their theoretical M. The non-gifted scored quite close to their theoretical M (based on age). In the oldest group, the gifted again achieved higher scores, but now they scored at the theoretical level, and the non-gifted underperformed.     

Two studies of low income parents' involvement in schooling

An interview and an intervention study are reported. Interview findings extend research on the positive relationship of parent involvement to school success. That is, although most of the low income families reported low-moderate participation, a postive relationship was found between parent involvement and school adjustment as early as kindergarten. With respect to negative valuing and barrier interpretations of low participation, the data support the latter; all but a few parents reported positive attitudes toward school involvement, while the majority indicated significant barriers. In comparing Latino and non-Latino groups, the former reported more barriers. Within the Latino group, parents whose children had made a good school adjustment indicated the most participation. Non-English proficient parents reported more barriers than those proficient in English but comparable degrees of involvement. In the intervention study, a simple strategy resulted in more treatment than control parents attending a school event. Differences in attendance were related to ethnicity and language.This work was carried out in conjunction with a dropout prevention demonstration project conducted as a collaborative effort of the School Mental Health unit (Janelle Munn, Director) and Dropout Prevention unit (Pete Martinez, Director) of the Los Angeles Unified School District and the School Mental Health Project at UCLA (Howard Adelman and Linda Taylor, Co-directors). Partial support for the project came from the U.S. Department of Education. The authors, of course, assume full responsibility for the contents, but we want to take this opportunity to acknowledge the contributions of participating schools and project staff (especially Mary Beth DiCecco and Alison McAlpine). And although she declined author credit, this work could not have been accomplished with the many contributions of Linda Taylor, the project director. We would also like to thank Regina DeWitter, Teresa Gonzales, Kathy Eides and the many other UCLA students who assisted in various phases of the research.     

Psychologic implications of the maltreated-child syndrome

A retrospective investigation of 97 psychologically maltreated children showed a clear relationship between clinical symptoms and the intensity of the abuse. Parental neglect resulted in impairment of intellectual and locomotor development and emotional and behavioral disorders. Neurotic manifestations of regressive type appeared in nearly half the preadolescents who suffered severe psychological abuse. Children under 6 years of age presented functional symptoms, including regression in toilet training and sleep disorders secondary to inadequate mothering.     

Design Research as a Mechanism for Consultants to Facilitate and Evaluate Educational Innovations

Schools across the nation are implementing innovative practices; however, questions remain regarding how to facilitate quality implementation. Research designs that emphasize high degrees of control over independent variables result in findings with internal validity, but that may not generalize to complex, dynamic educational systems. The purpose of this article is to propose a design research framework as a mechanism for consultants to facilitate and evaluate innovation implementation. Information on design research principles and processes is provided, and issues to consider when applying the framework are discussed. An illustration of how a design research framework was applied in a large-scale initiative to implement and evaluate Response to Intervention (RtI) implementation is also provided. Finally, issues and questions to consider relative to consultants' use of design research principles are explored.     

A Remote Sensing Class Exercise to Study the Effects of El Niño in South America

Satellite remote sensing techniques can be used for conducting environmental change detection studies following a natural disaster. Modern computer technology and free access to global satellite imagery allows educators to introduce undergraduate students to the fields of remote sensing and encourage their scientific participation through a research assignment that also serves as an educational exercise. The undergraduate physical science laboratory manuals used in higher education that contain printed remote sensing material often fail to effectively achieve these goals. This class exercise utilizes digital satellite imagery for studying the floods that resulted in the Paraná River region in South America during El Niño 1997–98. In addition, it examines vegetation cover and spectral profiles from the study area in order to further understand and assess the changes that were caused by this recurrent climatic anomaly.     

Teaching strategies to create visual representations of key ideas in content area text materials: A longterm intervention inserted in school curriculum

This paper describes a long-term research in which middle-grade school children were taught how to represent visually text key ideas through idea-mapping techniques. It consists of three studies, one for each year of our research. Children were at sixth grade when the instruction began, and they were at eighth grade when it finished. Another group of children from a different public school served as control group. Instruction was very close to the real school conditions: instructors were ordinary teachers, instruction was inserted in the content area curriculum, and ordinary textbooks were regularly employed, though combined with specially elaborated materials. Results were positive in the case of the first and third year, depending on instructional conditions. Positive effects were found on recall, comprehension and learning, but they were different in the three studies. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.