Writing is more than ‘exciting’: equipping primary children to become reflective writers

This article describes work undertaken as part of a partnership programme initiated to encourage collaborative research between teachers and university tutors. In the Teaching Reading and Writing Links project (TRAWL) primary school teachers, working as research partners, explored ways of developing children as reflective writers. The research group wanted to know whether, through examining how texts are crafted by expert writers during literacy sessions, children might be encouraged to pay more attention to compositional rather than secretarial aspects of narrative writing during writing workshops. The overall writing achievement of 338 children was monitored over one school year and narrative writing from 60 case study children was evaluated at the beginning and end of the research period. In this article the impact on achievement is illustrated, some examples of writing are analysed and evidence of development in children's metacognition and confidence as writers is discussed.     

Self-instructional videocourses: a cost-effective approach to in-service training of teachers in special education

The article describes employing a short self-instructional videocourse as a form of in-service education for teachers of children with severe learning difficulties. The study examines the feasibility of training teachers to implement simple teaching games in the classroom, aimed at enhancing the basic number skills of children with severe learning difficulties. Teachers'attitudes to the materials were positive, and the videocourse was effective in helping to improve the counting ability of a sample of thirty children. The provision of training opportunities for teachers using videocourses is supported. The article concludes with a discussion of some of the features of the self-instructional model employed in the study.     

Reviews

Marzollo , J. and Lloyd , J. (1977). Learning through Play. Meek , M., Warlow , A. and Barton , G. (1977). The Cool Web: the Pattern of Children's Reading. Hoffman , M. (1977). Reading, Writing and Relevance. Jackson , S. (1977). Oxford Junior Workbook, 1A, 2A, 3A and 4A. Riddell , G. and Gulland , D. (1975). Teaching: Active or Passive. Lewis , L. (1977). Attack-a-track. Spooncer , F. A. (1976). The Development of Reading, The Evaluation of Reading. Williams , A. (1971). Reading and the Consumer. Zimet , S. G. (1977). Print and Prejudice.     

Gender differences in mathematics education in Zambia

This paper discusses whether gender differences in mathematics education exist in Zambia, and if so, what are their possible causes. Differences are found to be present both in terms of access, and in terms of performance. Possible reasons for such differences are examined, in the light of empirical data consisting of responses to an attitude questionnaire.     

Item Difficulty of Four Verbal Item Types and an Index of Differential Item Functioning for Black and White Examinees

In this study, the authors explored the importance of item difficulty (equated delta) as a predictor of differential item functioning (DIF) of Black versus matched White examinees for four verbal item types (analogies, antonyms, sentence completions, reading comprehension) using 13 GRE-disclosed forms (988 verbal items) and 11 SAT-disclosed forms (935 verbal items). The average correlation across test forms for each item type (and often the correlation for each individual test form as well) revealed a significant relationship between item difficulty and DIF value for both GRE and SAT. The most important finding indicates that for hard items, Black examinees perform differentially better than matched ability White examinees for each of the four item types and for both the GRE and SAT tests! The results further suggest that the amount of verbal context is an important determinant of the magnitude of the relationship between item difficulty and differential performance of Black versus matched White examinees. Several hypotheses accounting for this result were explored.     

Sex and Schooling: The sexual activity of young people and its implications for education

New Zealand has the second highest rate of teenage pregnancy among the developed Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development countries. There is evidence both that the age of sexual activity is falling, and that an increasing proportion of students are sexually active while at school. These quantitative changes are accompanied by other transformations in patterns of sexual behaviour. It seems that middle-class girls are asserting their right to be sexually active while some working-class girls, particularly those from the Polynesian communities, are separating their relations of friendship and sexual interaction with boys. It is suggested that this may be based on a refusal to accept oppressive forms of relationships and the male rules that define them. Some implications of these findings for family strategies of reproduction and school policies are discussed. The analysis draws on a longitudinal programme of research concerned with the progress of students at secondary school.     

Ohm’s law, Kirchoff ’s law and the Drunkard’s walk

Recall from Resonance, Vol. 1, No. 7 that when the Drunkard asks: “Will I ever, ever get home again?”, Polya answers: “You can’t miss, just keep going and stay out of 3D!” In this two-part article we show how to look at this question of recurrence and transience of random walks (which was originally asked and solved by George Polya) through electrical networks. In the first part we look at the related electrical networks.     

Effects of different ways of introducing a reading task on intrinsic motivation and comprehension

This study compared the effects of two brief prereading instructional practices – hands‐on activities and prior knowledge activation – on sixth‐graders' intrinsic motivation for reading a text and reading comprehension. Both hands‐on activities and prior knowledge activation substantially improved reading comprehension relative to a control condition where students just read to answer questions and take a test about the text content. These effects did not depend on preexisting individual differences in basic reading skill, reading motivation or topic knowledge. Hands‐on activities and prior knowledge activation did not differentially affect reading comprehension, however, nor did either of them have any effect on intrinsic motivation to read the text. If used regularly in classrooms, brief prereading practices in the form of hands‐on activities or prior knowledge activation may result in knowledge gains that accumulate to build a solid conceptual basis for further, self‐regulated learning from text.     

The development and use of a faculty salary model for a higher education system

Most of the earlier attempts to develop faculty salary models have been based on data from a single institution or from an undifferentiated group of institutions, without a data base adequate to support the design. The overall objective of this paper is to report on the development, characteristics, statistical findings, and utility of a faculty salary model employed over the period 1978–79 to 1980–81 for a higher education system containing 16 institutions ranging from a comprehensive university to a small rural community college in complexity and mission. The need for the model grew out of requirements for the governing board to: (1) deal with litigation and the issues of equity for minorities and females; (2) make interinstitutional salary comparisons as these relate to size, complexity, and mission; and (3) better understand the factors which determine faculty salaries.     

Photoresists for microlithography

Characteristics of photoresists used in microlithography are highlighted. The microstructure of the matrix polymer used in these photoresists is critical for ensuring good lithographic performance and the same can be evaluated by using modern NMR spectroscopic techniques. It is now well-known that highly ordered ‘alternate’ and ‘semi-alternate’ tailor-made novolaks lead to better performing photoresists.