Special education and general education preservice teachers’ co-teaching experiences: a comparative synthesis of qualitative research

Co-teaching is commonly used to support students with disabilities in inclusive educational settings. However, there is often a gap between the potential effectiveness of co-teaching and actual classroom practice. This study examined preservice teachers’ co-teaching experiences to better understand this gap to identify potential practices for improving teacher training and service delivery. A review of 11 studies revealed that both special education and general education preservice teachers believed that co-teaching practices provided them opportunities to communicate and work collaboratively. Both groups agreed on the significant impact of personality in co-teaching as well as challenges in implementing co-teaching. Furthermore, special education preservice teachers noted that they lacked content knowledge, whereas general education preservice teachers thought they needed more training in the provision of accommodations and modifications. Study limitations, areas for future research, and implications for preservice teacher preparation are discussed.     

Chinese and Canadian Children's Evaluations of Lying and Truth Telling: Similarities and Dfferences in the Context of pro-and Antisocial Behaviors

The present study compared Chinese and Canadian children's moral evaluations of lie and truth telling in situations involving pro- and antisocial behaviors. Seven-, 9-, and 11-year-old Chinese and canadian children were presented 4 brief stories. Two stories involved a child who intentionally carried out a good deed, and the other2 stories involved a child who intentionally carried out a bad deed. When story characters were questioned by a teacher as to who had committed the deed, they either lied or told the truth. Children were asked to evaluate the story characters' deeds and their verbal statements. Overall, Chinese children rated truth telling less positively and lie telling more positively in prosocial settings than Canadian children, indicating that the emphasis on self-effacement and modesty in Chinese culture overrides Chinese children's evaluations of lying in some situations. Both Chinese and canadian children rated trugh telling positively and lie telling negatively in antisocial situations, reflecting the emphasis in both cultures on the distinction between misdeed and truth/lie telling. The findings of the present study suggest that, in the realm of lying and truth telling, a close relation between sociocultural practices and moral judgment exists. Specific social and cultural norms have an impact on children's developing moral judgments, which in turn, are modified by age and experience in a particular culture.     

Operationalizing and validating disciplinary literacy in secondary education

The goal of this study was to define the construct and establish the validity of disciplinary literacy, which has recently gained attention from the implementation of the Common Core State Standards (National Governors Association Center for Best Practices & Council of Chief State School Officers in Common Core State Standards for English language arts & literacy in history/social studies, science, and technical subjects [PDF]. Authors, Washington, DC, 2010). After defining disciplinary literacy in the four core disciplines of English language arts, science, history and social studies, and mathematics, scales were developed and administered to a snowball sample of professionals nationwide, with 857 respondents. The data showed evidence of disciplinary literacy as a multidimensional construct with three related factors: source literacy, analytic literacy, and expressive literacy. Based on EFA and CFA results, we can conclude that there are at least three types of literacy in operation among the four core disciplines. The three factors of literacy varied significantly by the four core disciplines of English/language arts (ELA), science, history and social studies, and mathematics, supporting the notion that each discipline uses literacy uniquely. This is the first study of its kind to attempt to define, quantify, and validate the construct of disciplinary literacy.     

Statistical Power of the Multiple Domain Latent Growth Model for Detecting Group Differences

The latent growth model (LGM) in structural equation modeling (SEM) may be extended to allow for the modeling of associations among multiple latent growth trajectories, resulting in a multiple domain latent growth model (MDLGM). While the MDLGM is conceived as a more powerful multivariate analysis technique, the examination of its methodological performance is very limited. Hence, the present study compared the power of the MDLGM with that of a set of univariate LGMs for detecting group differences in growth rates over time using a Monte Carlo study with a two-group and two-domain design. The results indicated that there were different scenarios where the power rates for the MDLGM were greater than that of the set of LGMs (and vice versa) due to a joint function of the two domains’ intercorrelation size and the group difference effect size.     

ADAPT<Superscript>IT</Superscript>: Tools for training design and evaluation

This article describes a set of computerized tools that support the design and evaluation of competency-based training programs. The training of complex skills such as air traffic control and process control requires a competency-based approach that focuses on the integration and coordination of constituent skills and transfer of learning. At the heart of the training are authentic whole-task practice situations. The instructional design tools are based on van Merriënboer's 4C/ID^* methodology (1997). The article describes a training design tool (Core) that supports the analysis and design for competency-based training programs and an evaluation tool (Eval) that supports the subsequent revision of this training design.     

Against the current: A grounded theory study on the estrangement experiences of a select group of Filipino gay older persons

According to Healthy People (2011), in order to understand the health concerns of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT), the oppression and discrimination that they have faced must be scrutinized. Among the many issues they face, their estrangement experiences are one of the most understudied. However, little is known about how it is experienced by the gay elderly population, hence, this investigation. This grounded theory purports to describe the process by which estrangement is experienced among the Filipino gay older adults. Strauss and Corbin’s Grounded Theory (1990) design was utilized. A total of 10 gay older persons were purposively chosen to participate in semi-structured interviews. Field texts were subjected to thematic analysis involving open, axial, and selective coding. The study generated The Sailing Model of Estrangement. Remarkably, three phases relative to estrangement emerged, namely: sequestering, striving, and surviving. Primarily, the sequestering phase involves the gay persons’ need to express self, search for acceptance, and its subsequent reactions. The striving phase typifies the struggle in dealing with estrangement leading to either feelings of depression, remorse and shame or positivity, hopefulness, and motivation. Finally, in the surviving phase, gay persons may either feel contented and fulfilled or sad, lonely, and remorseful as they acquiesce aging with estrangement. Findings of the study offer an understanding of how Filipino gay older adults employ coping strategies in response to estrangement.     

Large amplitude free vibration of a flexible panel coupled with a leaking cavity

This paper addresses the effect of leakage on the natural frequencies of a large amplitude vibrating panel backed by a cavity, which has not been considered in many other related studies. The structural-acoustic governing equations are employed to study this nonlinear problem. An elliptical integral method, which was recently developed for the nonlinear panel cavity problem, is introduced here to solve for the structural-acoustics responses. The present results agree reasonably well with those obtained from the classical harmonic balance method. Modal convergences of the nonlinear solutions are performed to verify the proposed method. The effects of vibration amplitude and leakage size are studied and discussed. It is found that (1) the edge leakages in a panel cavity system significantly affect the natural frequency properties, and (2) the edge leakages induce a low frequency acoustic resonance.