Quantitative reasoning,complexity, and additive structures

Six fifth-grade children participated in a four-day teaching experiment on complex additively-structured problems, which was followed by in-depth interviews of individual children. The teaching experiment was meant to investigate children's difficulties in holding in mind at once situations in which one or more items played multiple roles. Two important difficulties were identified: (1) distinguishing between difference as the result of subtracting and difference as the amount by which one quantity exceeded another; and (2) indirect evaluation of an additive comparison. Sources of these difficulties, along with pedagogical and curricular recommendations for addressing them, are discussed.Research reported in this paper was supported by National Science Foundation Grants NO. MDR 89-50311 and 90-96275, and by a grant of equipment from Apple Computer, Inc., Office of External Research. Any conclusions or recommendations stated here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect official positions of NSF or Apple Computer.     

Early transition into adult roles: some antecedents and some outcomes

The transition to adult roles usually occurs within a normative age span. By focusing on preadolescence to late adolescence using 2-wave panel data, this research seeks to develop a more informed picture of how "early" exit from the student role and "early" entry into the adult role of parent or spouse reflect factors operating prior to adolescence. The short term consequences of adult role transition on teenage status aspirations, life plans, other psychological orientations, and parental influence are also examined. Even though multiple role transition is frequently observed, only leaving school early appears to be related to preadolescent career decisions and academic performance in high school. The determinants of early transition to the role of parent or spouse do not appear to be socioeconomic origins, parental child rearing techniques or other specific influences, academic ability or performance, or preadolescent aspirations, as has generally been hypothesized in the literature. Research dilemmas and policy implications are discussed.     

A developmental analysis of the relationship between response strength and punishment

Two levels of training (100 vs. 500 trials) and two ages of rats (young and adult) were used in a developmental analysis of the relationship between response strength and the effects of punishment. The apparatus was a Y maze with three discriminably different arms. After 100 or 500 reinforced trials, subjects were shocked each time they responded in one arm. The recovery sessions followed the punishment session. Results from the punishment day indicated that: (a) young rats received a greater amount of shock, and (b) additional training increased the amount of shock received by the young but decreased it in the adults. The recovery data showed that: (a) the suppressive effects of punishment were greater for the adults than for the young, and (b) the recovery scores were not influenced by degree of overtraining. The Age by Overtraining interaction suggested that the relationship between response strength and punishment is age dependent. The age differences found with the amount-of-shock and recovery measures provided additional support for the position that younger rats are less competent than adult rats in inhibiting responses.

     

Does teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge affect their fluency instruction?

The relation is studied between teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge of reading and the quality of their subsequent classroom behaviour in teaching fluent reading. A confirmatory factor analysis model with two latent variables is tested and shows adequate goodness-of-fit indices. Contrary to our expectations, the results of structural equation modelling reveal a small but significant γ-value of .29, indicating that only 8% of the variance in teachers’ classroom behaviour in teaching fluent reading is accounted for by teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge of reading. Presumably teacher knowledge is not as stable and conclusive as one might think. More research is needed in determining the factors that work restricting for teachers in putting their knowledge into classroom practice. It is recommended that preservice and in-service teacher training should not be limited to transfer of knowledge, but should also assist teachers in designing and performing effective fluent reading instruction.     

Personality structure,instructional outcomes,and instructional preferences

Four instructional treatments differing in structure and student responsibility were used with 60 abstractthinking and 60 concrete-thinking students. As predicted, abstract students preferred those treatments with less structure and more responsibility; however, abstract and concrete students showed similar achievement levels as a result, of each treatment. The differentiated outcomes hypothesis is offered to account for the findings.

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Résumé Quatre méthodes de traitement pédagogique de structure et de responsabilité des étudiants ont été employées avec 60 étudiants pensant abstraitement et 60 étudiants pensant de manière concrète. Ainsi que prévu, les étudiants pensant abstraitement préféraient les méthodes ayant moins de structure et plus de responsabilité. Les deux catégories d'étudiants ont toutefois obtenu des niveaux d'accomplissement pareils avec chaque méthode de traitement. L'hypothèse des aboutissements différenciés est offerte comme explication des conclusions.

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This study was based in part on the doctoral dissertation of the junior author. The authors would like to thank the students and staff of the County College of Morris, Morristown, N.J., for their cooperation.     

Occupational and educational aspirations and attainment of young adults with and without LD 2 years after high school completion

A national longitudinal database was used to compare the aspirations and attainment of individuals with and without learning disabilities (LD) 2 years after high school completion. Analyses revealed that individuals with LD reported lower graduation rates, were more likely to aspire to moderate- (men) or low-prestige (women) occupations, and were more likely to be employed and less likely to be enrolled in some type of postsecondary education program than their nondisabled peers. High educational aspirations in Grade 12 and successful completion of an academic or college-prep high school program were equally important in predicting 2-year postsecondary status for adolescents enrolled in postsecondary education regardless of disability status. However, depending on disability status, different predictors were identified for individuals who were either employed or out of the workforce. These results point to a continued need for transition planning and support for young adults with LD and suggest ways in which professionals can anticipate and adjust for identified differences in aspirations and postsecondary attainment.