Autism Spectrum Disorders: Neurobiology and current assessment practices

This study reviews recent research related to the neurobiology of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) an provides an empirical analysis of current assessment practices. Data were collected through a survey of 117 school psychologists. The Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS), Gilliam Autism Rating Scale (GARS), and Gilliam Asperger's Disorder Scale (GADS) were the most frequently used measures. Among the less popular, but more intensive instruments, the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS) appears to be gaining popularity within school‐based evaluations. Generally, respondents approached the assessment of ASDs from a traditional psychoeducational perspective and reported the use of a very narrow range of ASD‐specific instruments. Concerns are raised regarding the inconsistent inclusion of developmental questionnaires, parent/guardian interviews, and medical professionals in the ASD evaluation process. Implications for practice and the training of school psychologists are discussed. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Captain America, Tuskegee, Belmont, and Righteous Guinea Pigs: Considering Scientific Ethics through Official and Subaltern Perspectives

With an eye towards a potential scientific ethics curriculum, this paper examines four contrasting discourses regarding the ethics of using human subjects in science. The first two represent official statements regarding ethics. These include the U.S.’s National Science Education Standards, that identify ethics with a professional code, and the Belmont Report, that conceptualizes ethics in three principles to guide research oversight boards. Contrasting this view of ethics as decorum and practice in line with a priori principles is the conception of ethics from unofficial sources representing populations who have been human subjects. The first counter-discourse examined comes from Guinea Pig Zero, an underground magazine for professional human subjects. Here ethics emerges as a question of politics over principle. The good behavior of the doctors and researchers is an effect of the politics and agency of the communities that supply science with subjects. The second counter-discourse is a comic book called Truth, which tells the story of Black soldiers who were used as guinea pigs in World War II. Ethics is both more political and more uncertain in this narrative. Science is portrayed as complicit with the racism of NAZI Germany; at the same time, and in contrast to the professional guinea pigs, neither agency nor politics are presented as effective tools for forcing the ethical conduct of the scientific establishment. The conclusion examines the value of presenting all of these views of scientific ethics in science education.     

Effect of acquisition rates on off‐task behavior of kindergarten students while learning sight words

Assessing a student's acquisition rates (ARs) is a reliable way to determine how many new words should be taught in one lesson without reducing retention. Exceeding a student's AR can result in frustration and problem behaviors. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of AR on the off‐task behavior of kindergarten students while participating in a commonly used sight‐word instruction video. Participants included 39 kindergarten students whose ARs were assessed before showing the sight‐word video. Behavior was measured as on‐ and off‐task using momentary time‐sampling with 10‐s intervals. Results indicated that students' time off task increased after exceeding their ARs, with a noticeable immediate increase. The implications and limitations of these results are discussed.     

Examining the Psychometric Properties of a New Integrative Learning Scale

Research in Higher Education - Integrative learning is the ability to connect, apply, and/or synthesize. A highly valued skill for the knowledge economy and combating false narratives, integrative...     

"An expedition to heal the wounds of war". The 1919 eclipse and Eddington as Quaker adventurer

The 1919 eclipse expedition's confirmation of general relativity is often celebrated as a triumph of scientific internationalism. However, British scientific opinion during World War I leaned toward the permanent severance of intellectual ties with Germany. That the expedition came to be remembered as a progressive moment of internationalism was largely the result of the efforts of A. S. Eddington. A devout Quaker, Eddington imported into the scientific community the strategies being used by his coreligionists in the national dialogue: humanize the enemy through personal contact and dramatic projects that highlight the value of peace and cooperation. The essay also addresses the common misconception that Eddington's sympathy for Einstein led him intentionally to misinterpret the expedition's results. The evidence gives no reason to think that Eddington or his coworkers were anything but rigorous. Eddington's pacifism is reflected not in manipulated data but in the meaning of the expedition and the way it entered the collective memory as a celebration of international cooperation in the wake of war.     

Remembering Gregg Schraw

Educational Psychology Review -     

Visual Learning and the Brain: Implications for Dyslexia

ABSTRACT— The central and peripheral visual fields are structurally segregated in the brain and are differentiated by their anatomical and functional characteristics. While the central field appears well suited for tasks such as visual search, the periphery is optimized for rapid processing over broad regions. People vary in their abilities to make use of information in the center versus the periphery, and we propose that this bias leads to a trade-off between abilities for sequential search versus contemporaneous comparisons. The parameter of periphery-to-center ratio (PCR) describes the degree of peripheral bias, which evidence suggests is high in many people with dyslexia. That is, many dyslexics favor the peripheral visual field over the center, which results in not only search deficits but also (more surprisingly) talents for visual comparison. The PCR framework offers a coherent explanation for these seemingly contradictory observations of both deficit and talent in visual processing. The framework has potential implications for instructional support in visually intensive domains such as science and mathematics.     

A theory of instruction for introductory programming skills

ABSTRACT

Background and Context: Current introductory instruction fails to identify, structure, and sequence the many skills involved in programming.

Objective: We proposed a theory which identifies four distinct skills that novices learn incrementally. These skills are tracing, writing syntax, comprehending templates (reusable abstractions of programming knowledge), and writing code with templates. We theorized that explicit instruction of these skills decreases cognitive demand.

Method: We conducted an exploratory mixed-methods study and compared students’ exercise completion rates, error rates, ability to explain code, and engagement when learning to program. We compared material that reflects this theory to more traditional material that does not distinguish between skills.

Findings: Teaching skills incrementally resulted in improved completion rate on practice exercises, and decreased error rate and improved understanding of the post-test.

Implications: By structuring programming skills such that they can be taught explicitly and incrementally, we can inform instructional design and improve future research on understanding how novice programmers develop understanding.     

Economic Sectors as Discursive Resources for Civil Society Collaboration

This study explores the communication processes of civil society collaboration, with particular attention to the ways in which sectoral differences are managed communicatively and how sectoral differences among members are implicated in the processes of collaboration. Findings from a 10-month qualitative investigation of a civil society collaboration of social service providers indicate that sector differences are discursive resources that people draw upon to make sense of uncertainty and frame arguments. Findings also demonstrate how sector differences are managed communicatively through practices of recognition, resistance, translation, and mediation. This study builds on previous scholarship that conceptualizes civil society collaboration as a series of communicative processes and discursive practices (versus economic or structural characteristics), as well as research that advocates a processual approach to the study of organizational collaboration.