Effects of Early Intervention on Intellectual and Academic Achievement: A Follow-up Study of Children from Low-Income Families

Follow-up data, obtained 4–7 years after intervention ended, are presented for the Carolina Abecedarian Project, an experimental study of early childhood educational intervention for children from poverty families. Subjects were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 intervention conditions: educational treatment from infancy through 3 years in public school (up to age 8); preschool treatment only (infancy to age 5); primary school treatment only (age 5–8 years), or an untreated control group. Positive effects of preschool treatment on intellectual development and academic achievement were maintained through age 12. School-age treatment alone was less effective. Results generally supported an intensity hypothesis in that scores on cognitive and academic achievement measures increased as duration of treatment increased.     

A contribution to the discussion on participant readiness for action learning

The authors explore their experience of a course for long-term unemployed people and reflect as to whether the traits identified by Tom Bourner on readiness for action learning actually relate to their experience. They conclude that based on the obvious development by the members of the group over the course, they observed, in some small way, the kind of evolutionary process of becoming ready for action learning that Bourner seems to imply.     

道德教育中教师的作用：教师们对早期学校生活的回忆

在道德教育中，教师可以起到直接的教育作用，但是，其隐性的教育作用才是学生永远记得的。研究教师们对早期学校生活的记忆，对于理解教师在道德教育中的作用，开发新的方法培养教师，使他们在道德教育中发挥积极作用，是一种有益的方式。     

Impact of the collaboratives for excellence in teacher preparation program

This study investigated the national impact of the Collaboratives for Excellence in Teacher Preparation program (CETP). Impact of the program was examined in two different settings: institutions of higher education, and K–12 science and mathematics classrooms. The focus of this study was to determine the impact of the CETP program on the institutional culture and collaborations among faculty, and changes in instructional techniques used by higher education faculty and K–12 teachers. Data were gathered over a 3‐year period from 12 different CETP projects. At the higher education level faculty reported more collaboration and a slight increase in the use of standard‐based teaching. At the K–12 level, students of teachers who were prepared by the CETP program viewed classroom instruction as slightly more standards‐based than comparable students of non‐CETP prepared teachers. Additionally, external observers rated classes taught by teachers educated in CETP projects as more standards‐based than classes taught by non‐CETP teachers educated in other programs. Implications of the results for national large‐scale reform of science and mathematics education are discussed. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 44: 1348–1369, 2007     

DEVELOPMENTAL TESTING OF AV MATERIALS

Developmental Testing of Open University multi‐‐media packages as described in this paper is in its infancy. The project is unique in that the testing includes some evaluation of the radio programmes beforefinalisation. This paper concentrates on the testing of the radio component of the course     

Aptitude treatment effects of laboratory grouping method for students of differing reasoning ability

This study examines aptitude treatment effects in an inquiry/learning cycle based physical science class for elementary education majors. The aptitude was formal reasoning ability and the students were arranged into three groups: high, middle, and low ability reasoners. The treatment was method of forming groups to work in the laboratory. Students in each of three classes were grouped according to reasoning ability. In one class the laboratory groups were homogeneous, i.e., students of similar reasoning ability were grouped together. In the second class the students were grouped heterogeneously, i.e., students of different reasoning ability were grouped together. In the third class, the student choice pattern, the students chose their own partners. The findings were that there were no aptitude treatment interaction for achievement or for gain in formal reasoning ability, that grouping students of similar cognitive ability together for laboratory work in the class was more effective in terms of science achievement than grouping students of differing cognitive ability together or than allowing students to choose their own partners, and that students at different levels of reasoning ability experienced differential gains in that ability over the semester.