LOVE STORIES OF LATER LIFE: A NARRATIVE APPROACH TO UNDERSTANDING ROMANCE By Amanda Smith Barusch

The numbers and proportions of ethnic and minority aged are increasing more rapidly than their age cohorts among nonminorities. This is particularly true among the old‐old, where increasing incidences of frailty and functional dependence increase the demand for health care services. In these circumstances the need for health care professionals to develop sensitivity to cultural and ethnic factors that impinge the health care of the aged is compelling. Barriers to effective cross‐cultural communication are discussed, and guidelines for culturally sensitive communication are provided.     

Enhancing e-Learning with Media Rich Content and Interactions. Richard Caladine

The purpose of this project was to evaluate an online course in child development in which active learning strategies were infused. Preservice teachers taking the course were future elementary teachers seeking initial prekindergarten to sixth-grade teaching certification. Sixty-one persons were enrolled in a traditional face-to-face section of the course, and fifty-four were enrolled in an online section of the same course. Online discussion postings and reflective journals were analyzed to determine the preservice teachers’ use of higher-level thinking skills. Mastery of course content was measured through final course grades. Results showed no significant difference between the two groups in overall achievement, but a significant difference was seen in the use of higher-level thinking. Preservice teachers in the online class showed a significant increase in the use of higher-level thinking from the beginning of the course to the end; however, those in the face-to-face course did not. In addition, higher-level thinking for all preservice teachers in the study was positively correlated with greater course achievement. Finally, preservice teachers in the online course experienced the most higher-level thinking when posting to the online discussion board.     

Learning to look through the eyes of our students: action research as a tool of inquiry

Abstract

The story we are about to tell occurred when Gayle was a middle school science teacher and graduate student in Joanne's seminar on the study of teaching. Gayle was trying to make sense of her science students' indifference toward the environment, an attitude that concerned her as an environmentalist. She turned her inquiry into an action research project that sought to answer the question, ‘What are the assumptions that my middle school students have about their relationship with the environment?’ Joanne was mentoring Gayle in her action research study, and at the same time exploring Gayle's perspective as an action researcher. Now, several years later, we are both action researchers and teacher educators and understand that we have been looking through the eyes of our students in order to become scholars of our own teaching.     

Construction and Validation of an Eight-Iron Approach Test

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to construct a golf test which would be usable for assessing the ability to perform an eight-iron approach shot at a distance of 12 yards from the pin. A good approach shot was defined as one which is high enough to avoid potential hazards between the point of contact and the pin and which comes to rest at or near the pin. Pilot studies were conducted to determine target size, number of trials and days of testing, hitting distance, objectivity, and reliability. The revised test was administered to 424 beginning golfers. Reliability estimates determined by analysis of variance procedures and by correlation techniques indicated that the test was reliable for the subjects involved. Logical validity was claimed and was further supported by comparing mean scores of a beginning and an experienced group. The test confidently differentiated the performance of the two groups.     

The impact of a thinking skills intervention on children's concepts of intelligence

The study reported was part of a large thinking skills intervention for 11–12-year-old children. This paper focuses on the impact of a thinking skills intervention on children's understandings of intelligence. A total of 178 children (n = 86 girls and n = 92 boys) across six schools participated in the study. Children were individually pre-tested in the classroom using written tasks designed to tap concepts of intelligence (definitions, characteristics, causes of intelligence, and the stability of intelligence: entity versus incremental concepts) and a variety of thinking skills. Schools were allocated into one of three intervention conditions: control condition; individual condition; collaborative learning condition. Children in the individual and collaborative learning conditions participated in an 8-week thinking skills intervention. Children in the individual condition worked individually on tasks to apply the thinking skills whereas learners in the collaborative condition applied the thinking skills on tasks in groups of four. Following the thinking skills intervention all children were individually post-tested using the pre-test measures. The results showed that the intervention had an impact on children's understanding of intelligence. In particular, the collaborative learning intervention led to most improvement in concepts of intelligence. The results are discussed with reference to theories of intelligence concepts and thinking skills interventions.     

Evaluation of two interventions to reduce aggressive and antisocial behavior in first and second graders in a resource-poor setting

We conducted a three-arm cluster randomized controlled trial (n = 2491) to evaluate a teacher delivered intervention to reduce aggressive and antisocial behavior and increase prosocial behavior in the classroom. A second aim of this trial was to establish whether combining this intervention with an intervention for parents was better than the teacher-only intervention. This evaluation was conducted in a resource-poor setting (Pereira, Colombia). The findings show that both interventions prevented increases in aggressive and antisocial behavior. However, the teacher-only intervention also had a positive impact on increasing prosocial behavior.