Comparison between mothers and fathers in coping with autistic children: a multivariate model

The main purpose of this research is to compare the differences between how mothers and fathers cope with autistic children based on a multivariate model that describes the relationships between parental psychological resources, parental stress appraisal and parental adjustment. 176 parents who lived in Israel (88 mothers and 88 fathers) of children aged between 6 to 16 most of them (81%) were diagnosed as suffering from PDD and the rest (19%) as suffering from PDDNOS. The parents answered several questionnaires measuring parental psychological resources (social support, sense of coherence, locus of control), parental appraisal of stress (challenge vs. threat), and parental adjustment (mental health and marriage quality). The results show that all the variables entered the path analysis model with the same pattern. However, some links between the variables are quite similar for mothers and fathers while others are different. The results lead to several interesting suggestions for future research using dynamic systems framework and process-oriented methodological approaches.     

Classroom Learning Environment of City and Kibbutz Biology Classrooms in Israel

Summaries

English

The Learning Environment Inventory (LEI), adapted to conditions in Israeli schools and factor analysed on an Israeli sample, was administered to 572 students in 10th‐grade biology classes. Fourteen classes were in urban schools, six in Kibbutz district schools. All classes used the same BSCS (yellow version) curriculum. Seven out of the nine scales of the LEI Israeli version yielded significantly different scores for urban and Kibbutz samples indicating a more positive social learning climate in the Kibbutz than in the city. Differences were most marked on scales assessing cohesiveness, favouritism and cliquishness. Results were interpreted to indicate that social climate in classrooms is influenced by school‐wide policies regarding relationships in school, and not only by within‐class factors such as curriculum and teaching method.     

Group status and attitude change in desegregated classrooms

One thousand thirty-three ninth-grade students from Western and Middle-Eastern ethnic background in 30 classrooms responded to a questionnaire assessing ethnic attitudes. The questionnaire was administered at the beginning and again at the end of these students' first year in ethnically desegregated classrooms. No marked changes in ethnic attitudes were noted as a function of the students' individual academic or social status in the classroom, but there were noteworthy changes associated with the relative status in the classroom occupied by the students' ethnic groups. Positive attitude change among Western (majority) students occurred when both ethnic groups in the classroom were of equal status, and when the MiddleEastern (minority) group was of superior academic status to the Western group. Positive change among the Middle-Eastern group occurred when it occupied superior status in the classroom.     

Analogy construction versus analogy solution, and their influence on transfer

This study compares transfer performed by subjects trained to solve verbal analogies, with transfer by subjects trained to construct them. The first group (n = 57) received instruction in a strategy to solve verbal analogies and the second group (n = 66) was trained in strategies for constructing such analogies.Before and after intervention, all subjects received three analogical tasks: verbal, figural and numerical. The success rate was measured by an effectiveness measure. Even though both interventions improved performance, the construction group scored higher results in the numerical and figural analogy tasks. Following Sternberg's “componential sub-theory of intelligence”, the constructors' advantage is attributed primarily to higher-level activation of the three significant metacomponents: problem recognition, strategy planning and supervision in task performance.     

Changing organizational culture and instructional methods in elementary schools: Perceptions of teachers and professional educational consultants

The present study examines teachers’ perceptions of organizational changes in their elementary schools. These changes occurred following the implementation of a long-term comprehensive school improvement project (CSIP). One hundred and seventy one teachers who taught in six elementary schools located in two different school districts in Israel responded to a questionnaire both before and after a period of 3 years during which they participated in a CSIP. The teachers, assisted by six professional consultants, one in each school, studied cooperative learning as well as new forms of collaborative staff work. The study addressed two primary research questions: What changes in teachers’ perceptions of their schools’ organizational culture emerged from teachers’ participation in the project? How were the professional relationships between the schools’ supervisors and the teachers in the two districts reflected in the teachers’ perception of school organizational changes? Results indicated that teachers in three schools from one district recorded a significant improvement in their perceptions of their schools’ organizational culture at the end of the project, whereas the teachers from the other district indicated either no change, or a significant decline in their evaluation of their schools’ organizational culture. A cross-validation of the teachers’ data was performed through a content analysis of 500 reports written over the course of 2 years, submitted by six external consultants. The analysis yielded four categories: general difficulties to work with the school’s staff, problems implementing the project, teacher resistance, and cancellations of planned meetings. The analysis provided valuable information as to why the teachers from the two districts differed in their reactions to the project.