Differential effects of a long teacher training internship on students’ learning-to-teach patterns

To become a lifelong learner as a teacher, student teachers already have to learn how to direct their own learning during initial teacher education programmes. Previous empirical research has shown that student teachers differ in their patterns of learning-to-teach, but few is known about the changeability of these learning patterns throughout teacher education and the role of teacher training internships in this. In this study, the changes in student teachers’ patterns of learning-to-teach amongst pre-service teachers were investigated using a longitudinal design. 253 student teachers were asked to complete the ‘Inventory Learning To Teach Process’ questionnaire at two points during the last semester of a three-year teaching programme: immediately prior to and immediately following a long teacher training internship. The results of this study demonstrate that learning-to-teach patterns are subject to a relative degree of change. In particular, survival-oriented student teachers appear to have undergone a greater degree of change after the long teacher training internship.     

Testing the effectiveness of handwriting interventions: introduction to the special issue

This special issue was born within the COST Action IS1401ELN—Strengthening Europeans’ Capabilities by Establishing the European Literacy Network, with the major goal of disseminating evidence-based practices to promote handwriting and motivate researchers to move this research field forward. This issue includes five articles testing a different range of interventions to promote handwriting in students with and without disabilities from kindergarten to middle grades, across multiple contexts (viz., United States, Switzerland, Belgium, and Portugal). A final commentary paper closes the special issue with a discussion on the importance of acquiring fluent and legible handwriting along with the contributions and limitations of the investigations presented in the special issue.     

Public‐Private Substitution in Higher Education: Has Cost‐Sharing Gone Too Far?

This paper looks at the current challenge facing higher education by exploring the historical relationship between higher education funding and long economic cycles in the UK, USA and France. It examines the consequence of the transformation of public‐private income in higher education that followed the 1970s downturn, questioning whether the rise of private resources acted as additional or substitutive resources for public spending. The paper suggests that there is a risk that the cost‐sharing strategy could be turned into a policy of public‐private substitution of funding and provision, leading to a transfer rather than an increase of resources with strong implications on quality and equity. However, the Kondratiev cycle suggests an alternative route by designating the impact of the 1970s economic downturn on education as unique. Previous economic crises were contemporary of accelerations of public funding towards education which in fact contributed to economic recovery. The current crisis could represent an opportunity to revive counter‐cyclical policy by looking not only at efficient public spending but also at developing fairer taxation. A revival of public funding complemented by an additional rather than substitutive diversification of income would rebalance the public‐private structure of funding and drive a sustainable higher education system capable of playing a key part in these counter‐cyclical transformations.     

Leadership and Leader Behavior in Counseling: Neglected Skills

Leadership and leader behavior are important topics for any professional discipline. However, these issues have been neglected throughout the entire short history of counseling. Despite the fact that many counselors attain various leadership positions, little attention has been paid to training for leadership. While much has been written about the various roles of counselors, leadership and the behavior of leaders are rarely the focus. It is our contention that counselors, because of their unique training, can be effective leaders in a wide variety of settings. This article argues for a greater emphasis by counselor education on the role of counselor as leader.     

Graduate students' administration and scoring errors on the Woodcock‐Johnson III Tests of Cognitive Abilities

The interpretation of cognitive test scores often leads to decisions concerning the diagnosis, educational placement, and types of interventions used for children. Therefore, it is important that practitioners administer and score cognitive tests without error. This study assesses the frequency and types of examiner errors that occur during the administration and scoring of the Woodcock‐Johnson III Tests of Cognitive Abilities (WJ III COG). Data from 36 graduate students across 108 test records revealed a total of 500 errors across all records. Further analyses indicated three frequently occurring errors, including the use of incorrect ceilings, failure to record errors, and failure to encircle the correct row for the total number correct. The results of this study may be used to inform training programs so that appropriate steps can be taken to decrease the number of examiner errors on the WJ III COG and similar cognitive test batteries. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Looking at Eye Gaze Processing and Its Neural Correlates in Infancy—Implications for Social Development and Autism Spectrum Disorder

The importance of eye gaze as a means of communication is indisputable. However, there is debate about whether there is a dedicated neural module, which functions as an eye gaze detector and when infants are able to use eye gaze cues in a referential way. The application of neuroscience methodologies to developmental psychology has provided new insights into early social cognitive development. This review integrates findings on the development of eye gaze processing with research on the neural mechanisms underlying infant and adult social cognition. This research shows how a cognitive neuroscience approach can improve our understanding of social development and autism spectrum disorder.     

Extracting the hydrodynamic resistance of droplets from their behavior in microchannel networks

The overall traffic of droplets in a network of microfluidic channels is strongly influenced by the liquid properties of the moving droplets. In particular, the effective hydrodynamic resistance of individual droplets plays a key role in their global behavior. Here we propose two simple and low-cost experimental methods for measuring this parameter by analyzing the dynamics of a regular sequence of droplets injected into an “asymmetric loop” network. The choice of a droplet taking either route through the loop is influenced by the presence of previous droplets that modulate the hydrodynamic resistance of the branches they are sitting in. We propose to extract the effective resistance of a droplet from easily observable time series, namely, from the choices the droplets make at junctions and from the interdroplet distances. This becomes possible when utilizing a recently proposed theoretical model based on a number of simplifying assumptions. Here we present several sets of measurements of the hydrodynamic resistance of droplets, expressed in terms of a “resistance length.” The aim is twofold: (1) to reveal its dependence on a number of parameters, such as the viscosity, the volume of droplets, their velocity as well as the spacing between them. At the same time (2), by using a standard measurement technique, we compare the limitations of the proposed methods. As an important result of this comparison, we obtain the range of validity of the simplifying assumptions made in the theoretical model.