Motivational and academic effects of cultural experiences for indigenous minority students in New Zealand

Children aged seven to 10 from the indigenous Maori minority group in New Zealand participated in a year-long cultural intervention designed to increase self-esteem and locus of control. The intervention incorporated good teaching practices linked to self-esteem and locus of control with principles of culturally relevant teaching. Compared to matched children who did not participate in the intervention, the focus children had significantly more positive self-esteem and locus of control after the intervention than before. Parallel changes were apparent in a measure of scholastic aptitude, but not on measures of reading, mathematics, and listening achievement. The results are discussed in terms of the importance and effectiveness of using theoretically informed teaching practices in a culturally relevant way in low income, mainstream school settings.     

Peer teaching among physical therapy students during human gross anatomy: Perceptions of peer teachers and students

Despite nearly 200 accredited entry‐level physical therapist education programs in the United States that culminate in a doctoral degree, only a paucity of reports have been published regarding the efficacy of peer teaching in gross anatomy. No one has described the usefulness of peer teaching from the viewpoint of the peer teacher. An organized peer teaching method provided by four second‐year doctors of physical therapy (DPT) students in a semester course in gross anatomy had a positive impact on the academic performance in gross anatomy of first‐year DPT students. The unique feature of the weekly peer teaching sessions was a packet assembled by the second‐year peer teachers, which contained diagrams, fill‐in‐the blank questions, and helpful mnemonic devices. This study surveyed perceptions of first‐year DPT students in response to a peer teaching method, using a structured 10‐item questionnaire and a five‐point Likert scale. Second‐year DPT peer teachers provided written reflections about the benefits and challenges of serving as a peer teacher. Results revealed that 13 planned peer‐teaching experiences provided by four second‐year DPT students were valuable and promoted a firm understanding of anatomical relationships important for the clinical competence of physical therapist students. Moreover, peer teachers acknowledged acquiring clinically desirable teaching, academic, organizational, and time management skills from the experience. As a result, physical therapist educators may wish to consider this model of peer teaching to augment their teaching strategies for a class in gross human anatomy. Anat Sci Ed 1:199–206, 2008. © 2008 American Association of Anatomists.     

Qualitative analysis of parents' information needs and psychosocial experiences when supporting children with health care needs

OBJECTIVE: To identify the information needs of parents of children with health care needs. METHODS: A series of three focus groups and one in-depth interview were held with parents (n = 10, 90% female) in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, UK. RESULTS: Findings were grouped into four themes: delivery of information; levels of support; relationship between the family and professional; and management of events. Parents expressed a preference for information to be delivered on a verbal, 'one-to-one' basis by a professional, supplemented by accessible, written reference materials. The provision of a contact telephone number for a named professional, so further information could be obtained when required, was identified as a key source of support. Participants emphasized the importance of being consulted about the care of their child, the interaction between professional and child, and also of being treated as an individual by the professional. CONCLUSIONS: Delivery of information to parents may be most effective on a verbal, 'one-to-one' basis with a professional, in conjunction with written accessible general and child-specific reference materials. The importance to parents of the provision of contact details for a named professional and specialist nurse support is also emphasized. The psychosocial experiences of parents, along with the impact of the relationship between family and professional, and requirement for good channels of communication, must be taken into account by professionals during the care of children with health care needs. These findings have important implications for professionals and service providers for the future delivery of information to parents of children with health care needs.     

Enhancing Counseling Gatekeeping with Performance Appraisal Protocols

Academic and site supervisors of counselors-in-training perform the important function of serving as gatekeepers to the counseling profession. Their endorsement of a trainee implies that the trainee is capable of carrying out the role of a counselor in an ethical and effective manner, without endangering clients. Limited guidelines and training in the gatekeeping function pose a problem for supervisors. In the quest for improved gatekeeping processes, the counseling profession may achieve greater clarity and fairness by incorporating performance appraisal protocols from the business and management fields.     

Administrative perceptions of existing evaluation systems

Summary This research study focused on a number of issues related to the status and effectiveness of post-tenure evaluation practices within the two-year college sector.The results indicate that post-tenure evaluation exists in about 70 percent of the responding institutions who belong to the North Central Association. The stated purpose for the evaluation is formative and specifies that the evaluation is used as a basis for individual faculty development and for improvement purposes. There was, however, a sense that more emphasis should be given to reward systems in terms of merit compensation and/or merit recognition.Administrators generally indicate that a plan for improvement and professional growth is established and supported by institutional resources in their evaluation systems. Yet, there was ambivalence relative to the overall effectiveness of the post-evaluation process. The reasons for such a response centered on the perception that evaluation paid only lip service to faculty development and was not effective in measuring either competence or incompetence. It appears that much work needs to be accomplished in this area in order to improve the outcomes of evaluation systems. There was also significant concern expressed by administrators regarding the inadequacy of the system to identify and weed out poor or incompetent faculty members. Such action appeared to be lacking in those institutions participating in this study.Some well-defined recommendations were put forth by these administrators to improve the evaluation systems. The most prevalent recommendations centered on tying the system to faculty development and to a formative purpose, providing incentives (merit) for excellent performers, and lessening the importance of student evaluations.This study points out some of the gaps as perceived by administrators that exist in post-tenure evaluation systems today. It also provides some recommendations for improvement of evaluation systems for those individuals who are in positions to impact such change positively within institutions.In general, these data underscore the importance for individual institutions to assess the effectiveness of their evaluation systems from both a faculty and administrative perspective. The time and effort expended on an ineffective evaluation system might better be channeled into improving the system or into developing other quality college initiatives. Evaluation of tenured faculty should only be undertaken if it can improve the quality of life within the institution.     

Development of Episodic Prospection: Factors Underlying Improvements in Middle and Late Childhood

Episodic prospection is the mental simulation of a personal future event in rich contextual detail. This study examined age-related differences in episodic prospection in 5- to 11-year-olds and adults (N = 157), as well as factors that may contribute to developmental improvements. Participants’ narratives of past, future, and make-believe events were coded for episodic content, and self-concept coherence (i.e., how coherently an individual sees himself or herself) and narrative ability were tested as predictors of episodic prospection. Although all ages provided less episodic content for future event narratives, age-related improvements were observed across childhood, suggesting future event generation is particularly difficult for children. Self-concept coherence and narrative ability each independently predicted the episodic content of 5- and 7-year-olds’ future event narratives.     

“Children Who Speak in Their Parents’ Clichés”: Exploring the Broader Social Relationship Between Cultural Practices and Teacher Identity in Lithuanian Holocaust Education

This article examines how broader cultural practices influence teachers teaching the Holocaust in Lithuania. This article uses the concept of the “cultural curriculum” to examine how community “stories” intersect with formal education. It finds that teachers feel they have become responsible for challenging long-standing cultural practices as well now. This is not always welcome because most are uncertain how to engage with community behaviors and preserve their place in the community at the same time.