Spatial and temporal matching ability among subgroups of disabled readers

Spatial and temporal matching abilities of 67 male and female fifth and sixth grade average (18) and severely disabled readers (49) were investigated. Subjects were classified according to the Boder Diagnostic Screening Procedure readers: dysphonetic, dyseidetic, and alexic. Results of the matching task indicated that average and dyseidetic readers were better able than dysphonetic and alexic readers to match purely temporal information. When order of difficulty among the spatial and temporal tasks was analyzed, dysphonetic and alexic readers demonstrated greater difficulty with temporal information. Matching abilities were found to be less related to integration ability than to an ability to sequence temporal information. The existence of possible memory and neurological correlates is discussed.     

Toward a constructivist perspective: The impact of a mathematics teacher inservice program on students

A constructivist-oriented inservice program provided teachers of mathematics (K-12) with intensive two-week summer institutes and weekly classroom follow-up. Pre- and post-program data on student outcomes indicate that, along with transformations in the nature and quality of mathematics activity in the classroom, students' beliefs about learning mathematics changed and elementary students' attitudes toward mathematics improved. Although the instruction they now received focused more on conceptual understanding and less on computational skill, students' scores on standardized tests assessing routine knowledge were maintained.An earlier version of this paper appeared in R. Underhill (ed.),Proceedings of the Thirteenth Annual Meeting of the North American Chapter of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education 1, 43–49, Backsburg, VI.     

Children born at risk: What's happening in kindergarten?

Many studies examine the development of infants born at risk for medical and developmental problems during the early years of life, but far fewer follow these children into their school years. This project compared high-risk vs. low-risk children in their performance on the WPPSI at pre- and postkindergarten levels. In general, both groups of children demonstrated increases in performance; however, their patterns of performance were different. The high-risk children showed increases predominantly in the Performance areas of the test, whereas the low-risk children demonstrated increases predominantly in the Verbal areas.     

Teaching practices in kindergarten and first grade: different strokes for different folks

This study assessed the nature of instruction in 314 kindergarten and first-grade classrooms from 155 schools in 48 school districts in three states. The schools served a relatively high proportion of low-income children and children of color. Despite the restricted range in student populations served, qualities of the schools and observed classroom instruction were associated with the demographics of the student body. Schools serving relatively high proportions of low-income children and children of color were rated by teachers to have more negative social climates. Teachers in these schools emphasized basic skills more and engaged in more didactic teaching and less constructivist teaching practices. At the classroom level, teaching approaches were predicted by teachers’ goals, the ethnic composition of their classroom, and the degree to which teachers perceived the families of the children in their classroom to have challenges associated with poverty. Didactic teaching was particularly common in classrooms with a high proportion of African–American students and in which teachers believed poverty-related problems inhibited parent involvement in their children's education; constructivist teaching was high in classrooms with a high proportion of Caucasian children.     

Bridging the gap: Towards a model of children's self assessment

This article discusses the importance of self assessment as a means of children controlling their own learning. It starts from the premise that in order to be meaningful, all assessment should be integral to the teaching and learning cycle, rather than being ‘bolted on’ to the curriculum. A variety of strategies are suggested to enable teachers to build children's self assessment into ordinary classroom routines.     

Young children's near and far transfer of the basic theory of natural selection: An analogical storybook intervention

Misconceptions about adaptation by natural selection are widespread among adults and likely stem, in part, from cognitive biases and intuitive theories observable in early childhood. Current educational guidelines that recommend delaying comprehensive instruction on the topic of adaptation until adolescence, therefore, raise concerns because children's scientifically inaccurate theories about species may be left unchallenged for many years, allowing them to entrench and become difficult to overcome. In consequence, this investigation sought to explore whether classrooms of kindergartners and second graders could acquire a basic but comprehensive understanding of adaptation from an intervention constructed around two picture storybooks that mechanistically explain natural selection. Learning was assessed in near and far transfer contexts both immediately and a month later. Kindergartners and second graders demonstrated substantial learning of biological information; however, second graders showed pronounced abilities to near and far generalize, immediately and over time. Results suggest that causally cohesive interventions with an emphasis on mechanistic explanation facilitate children's classroom learning of complex counterintuitive scientific ideas.     

Transformative Social and Emotional Learning (SEL): Toward SEL in Service of Educational Equity and Excellence

This article seeks to develop transformative social and emotional learning (SEL), a form of SEL intended to promote equity and excellence among children, young people, and adults. We focus on issues of race/ethnicity as a first step toward addressing the broader range of extant inequities. Transformative SEL is anchored in the notion of justice-oriented citizenship, and we discuss issues of culture, identity, agency, belonging, and engagement as relevant expressions of the Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning 5 core competencies. We also point to programs and practices that hold promise for cultivating these competencies and the importance of adult professional development in making these efforts maximally effective for diverse children and youth. We conclude by offering a few next steps to further advance transformative SEL research and practice.     

The Impact of Gatekeeper Training for Suicide Prevention on University Resident Assistants

Resident assistants (RAs) can serve as important suicide prevention gatekeepers. The purpose of the study was to determine if training improved RAs’ crisis communications skills and suicide‐related knowledge and to determine if the knowledge elements predicted crisis communications skills. New RAs showed significant improvement in all areas from pretest to posttest, whereas returning RAs showed no significant increase in any of the areas. None of the knowledge areas predicted communications skills for either group.