The influence of pictures on the derivation of meaning from children's reading materials

This discussion is a review of experimental work designed to determine whether pictures have an effect upon the derivation of meaning from the text printed in children's reading materials. Many reading schemes emphasize the use of illustration, but for a number of different purposes ranging from the provision of a referent for a specific word, to the provision of' contextual support, and the generation of motivation for reading. Experimental studies of the interactions between pictures arid words in the cognitive system go some way to supporting three uses of illustration in (a) the provision of meanings against which the print may be compared, (b) in the development of an organized understanding of the meaning of the text, and (c) in the enhancement of subsequent recall. The danger of distraction arising from the pictures has also been investigated, and been found to lead to decoding errors in young children presented with one word at a time. An analysis of mutual interference effects between pairs of pictures and words leads to the conclusion that the cognitive representations of meanings arc organized in a semantic system common to pictures and words. Thus, any decoding errors due to interference effects are of more than local importance—they can affect comprehension and influence the stored representation.     

Students’ perceptions of vocabulary knowledge and learning in a middle school science classroom

This study investigated eighth-grade science students’ (13–14-year-olds) perceptions of their vocabulary knowledge, learning, and content achievement. Data sources included pre- and posttest of students’ perceptions of vocabulary knowledge, students’ perceptions of vocabulary and reading strategies surveys, and a content achievement test. Students’ perceptions of vocabulary knowledge were compared before and after instruction to see whether students believed they gained knowledge and the ability to explain categories of technical science terms. Students’ perceptions of vocabulary knowledge increased as a result of instruction. The participants had favorable views of the vocabulary and reading strategies implemented and believed the literacy approaches were important for their developing science knowledge. In addition, students’ content achievement was compared to a national data set. Students in this study outperformed a national data set on all content knowledge items assessed. Students’ perceptions of their knowledge and vocabulary and reading strategies were congruent with their content achievement. This study is one of the first to highlight the pivotal role students’ perception of vocabulary knowledge and vocabulary and reading strategies plays in science content learning.     

Factors influencing early adolescents’ mathematics achievement: High-quality teaching rather than relationships

This study used data from the Assessment Tools for Teaching and Learning project, which involved data on the academic performance of more than 90,000 New Zealand students in six subjects (i.e. reading, writing and mathematics in two languages). Two sub-samples of this dataset were included for detailed re-analysis to test the general applicability of the Australian model of Quality of School Life (Ainley et al. 1986) in the New Zealand context. The first sample comprised 336 year 8 students from elementary schools and the second sample consisted of 272 year 10 students from high schools. Furthermore, two structural equation models were developed and tested, expressing relationships between students’ quality of school life perceptions, students’ attitudes to mathematics, and their effects on mathematics achievement. The quality of school life questionnaires scales [Ainley and Bourke, in Res Pap Educ 7(2):107–128, 1992] were used as indicators of students’ perceptions regarding learning, teachers and peer relationships. The model proposed that perceived quality of school life would affect students’ attitudes of liking and confidence in mathematics, which would in turn affect their academic performance. After controlling for other variables in the model, students’ perception about their self-efficacy to learn mathematics was more directly related to outcomes than to perceptions of teacher quality or peer involvement. Data analyses revealed no apparent relationships of these factors to mathematics achievement. Moreover, results for both samples led to the conclusion that the perceived quality of learning is connected with ‘confidence in’ and ‘liking mathematics’, which in turn predict students’ mathematics achievement.     

Ratings by Counselors Without Teaching Experience And Their Principals Regarding Performance of Guidance Functions

This study compared principal and self ratings of performance of guidance functions for practicing counselors who did not have teaching experience. The sample consisted of 43 counselors and their principals from throughout the United States. The ratings indicate better-than-average initial counselor acceptance by administrators, teachers, students, and parents with the degree of acceptance being greater after they had counseled for a while. Principal and self ratings differed significantly on initial acceptance by students and present acceptance by other counselors. Ratings of acceptance by both school psychologists and social workers were below average. There was no significant difference in counselor and principal ratings of counselor understanding of various school procedures and policies or of their ability to perform basic guidance activities. A majority of the principals who had worked with the counselors with non-teaching backgrounds indicated they would recommend the hiring of such a person to their school board.     

The Support Code: An Inclusive Partnership in Safety

The Family Service Units is a national charity working in some of the most deprived areas of the country. This paper is concerned with one part of its work, The Connections Project. This project aims to develop non-punitive anti-bullying partnerships between young people, schools, adults in the community and other agencies. This article focuses on a particular aspect of this project, the Support Code, which seeks to promote an ethos of proactive mutual support. The development is described and the teachers' reactions are explored. Though this work is currently being undertaken in primary schools, much is applicable to the early years of secondary education too.     

From retrieval to robotics: The national science foundation's support of information research

This article describes how the National Science Foundation's support of information research has evolved from NSF's original mission of improving the dissemination of scientific and technical information to its present interest in information robotics and intelligent systems. The pattern of grant support, since a major reorganization of the information science division in 1978, is analyzed in terms of the institutions, the investigators, and the disciplines that have been major grant recipients.