A survey of school psychologists' knowledge and training in child psychopharmacology

A national sample of 320 school‐based, practicing members of the National Association of School Psychologists provided information on (a) their caseloads receiving medications, (b) types of school psychopharmacology training opportunities available and perceptions of their current training in child psychopharmacology, and (c) information about consultative efforts in monitoring medication effects on school functioning. Results indicated that almost one of every four cases seen by survey participants were being treated with psychotropic medications; nearly all respondents have engaged in consultation related to medication evaluations. Professional workshops and independent reading were the most utilized training opportunities, and participant responses indicated an overwhelming need for basic educational training to improve knowledge and consultation in this area. Implications of these findings on training in evidence‐based interventions and current practice are discussed as school psychologists experience legislative pressure to diminish their collaborative involvement in medication treatment consideration and evaluation. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 43: 623–633, 2006.     

How farmers learn: Different approaches to change

This paper presents findings of an Australian study that investigated how farm- management teams go about learning to manage their businesses, including how they learn in order to make strategic and tactical changes. The Australian farming context is one of increasing complexity and risk that demands greater sophistication and professionalism in farm management. Learning is related to increased capacity to manage successful change. Farm-management teams employ four different learning patterns when making changes to their management and marketing practices. Learning patterns are termed local focussed, people focussed, outward looking and extensive networking. These patterns appear to be related to ongoing learning practices of farm-management teams as well as to learning for change. Local focussed management teams learnt for change by accessing only local sources (including government extension services) or a single individual. People focussed farm-management teams preferred to learn for change principally by seeking information and advice on a one-to-one basis from more than one person, most frequently experts, but often other farmers. The remaining farm businesses accessed a variety of sources. The group classed as extensive networkers accessed a large number of varied sources in learning for change. Others who used a less extensive range were termed outward looking.     

Education and training: Impacts on farm management practice

Abstract

This paper presents the results of a large Australia‐wide survey which collected farm financial information and information about changes to farm‐management practices, as well as information about education and training, and a smaller survey of farmers who attended one of three training courses for farmers. The paper considers the relationship between education and training outcomes at macro and micro levels. At the macro level, education and training as well as prompts for change are considered, while at the micro level the influence of training on changes to practice is examined. Education and training enhance farmers’ ability and willingness to make successful changes to their management practice. The training program is generally only one of several factors which influence participants to make changes in their practice. Training events are opportunities for interaction between participants and with expert trainers. This interaction assists in altering values and attitudes toward new practices.     

Popular Illustration

Susan E. Meyer's America's Great Illustrators (New York: Harry Abrams, 1978—$35.00)

Donald Walton's A Rockwell Portrait: An Intimate Biography (Kansas City: Sheed, Andrews & McMeel, 1978—$12.95)

William Hillcourt's Norman Rockwell's World of Scouting (New York: Harry Abrams, 1977—$17.95)

Leonard S. Marcus' The American Store Window (New York: Whitney Library of Design/ Watson-Guptill, 1978—$25.00)

J.C. Cooper's An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Traditional Symbols (New York: Thames and Hudson, 1978— $14.95)

Cathy Guisewite's The Cathy Chronicles (Kansas City: Sheed, Andrews & McMeel, 1978—$12.95/7.95)

Frank Lohan's Pen and Ink Techniques (Chicago: Contemporary Books, 1978—$5.95)

Allen Hurlburt's The Grid: A Modular System for the Design and Production of Newspapers, Magazines, and Books (New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1978—$16.95)

Edward Booth-Clibborn, ed. European Illustration 78/79 (New York: Hastings House, 1978— $47.50)

Ken Kesey's Sorcercers: A Collection of Fantasy Art (New York: Ballantine, 1978—$7.95, paper)

Rock Art: The Golden Age of Record Album Covers (New York: Ballantine, 1977—$8.95, paper)

David Sandison's Rockvisions: The Art of David Oxtoby (New York: Dutton, 1978—$8.95, paper)

Byron Preiss, ed. The Illustrated Roger Zelazny (New York: Baronet Publishing Co., 1978—$8.95, paper)

Ian Summers, ed. Tomorrow and Beyond: Masterpieces of Science Fiction Art (New York: Workman Publishing Co., 1978—$19.95/9.95)

Jose Pierre's An Illustrated Dictionary of Pop Art (London: Eyre Methuen/Woodbury, N.Y.: Barron's Educational Series, 1977—$3.95, paper)

Gene Baro's Graphicstudio U.S.F.: An Experiment in Art and Education (Brooklyn, N.Y.: Brooklyn Museum, 1978—price not given, paper)

Joni K. Miller & Lowry Thompson's The Rubber Stamp Album (New York: Workman Publishing Co., 1978—$12.50/6.95)     

Intermanual transfer of shapes in preterm human infants from 33 to 34 + 6 weeks postconceptional age

This study investigated the ability of preterm infants to learn an object shape with one hand and discriminate a new shape in the opposite hand (without visual control). Twenty-four preterm infants between 33 and 34 + 6 gestational weeks received a tactile habituation task with either their right or left hand followed by a tactile discrimination task in the opposite hand. The results confirmed that habituation occurred for both shapes and both hands. Infants subsequently held the novel shape longer in the opposite hand. The results reveal that preterm infants are capable of intermanual transfer of shape information. In spite of the immaturity of the corpus callosum in preterm infants, its development seems to be sufficient to allow some transfer of information between both hands.     

Student Decision-Making about a Globally Familiar Socioscientific Issue: The value of sharing and comparing views with international counterparts

This paper focuses on the views of 16–17-year-old science students from England, Germany, Hong Kong and Sweden on whale hunting, and their perceptions of the views of their international counterparts. The students were all provided with the same decision-making task, discussed the issue in small groups and then presented their views on video, which were shared with their counterparts. The findings show that the decision-making task served to deepen and modify students' views across all nationalities, and the students generally valued and learned from the sharing of views with students of the same age from around the world. However, an important discovery was that the German students' opinions often ran counter to those from the other 3 locations, and the paper cautions against making broad-sweeping generalisations about students' views on socioscientific issues.     

Can more become less? Effects of an intensive assessment environment on students’ learning performance

Online interactive systems offer the beguiling prospect of an improved environment for learning at minimum extra cost. We have developed online interactive tutorials that adapt the learning environment to the current learning status of each individual student. These Adaptive Tutorials (ATs) modify the tasks given to each student according to their previous responses. Feedback, assessment and remediation are also adapted. Over a three-year period we progressively blended ATs into notoriously challenging courses in introductory Engineering Mechanics. We assessed the impact of this initiative by reviewing three lines of data: (i) the built-in diagnostics of the system, (ii) changes in student grades from year-to-year and (iii) supplementary surveys. Generally, students liked the new blended system and grades improved. Detailed analysis revealed nuances in the measures of student learning, such as differences between high-performing and low-performing students. With these insights we are able to further adapt the system to meet the learning needs of our students.