Understanding and Controlling Learning Operations in Special Education

Developments arising from recent theory‐directed attempts to understand learning are exposing weaknesses in the monopoly position attained by the operant model in special education. These new developments attest to the importance, the primacy and the functional significance of learning to use and to relate events (stimuli) in the environment. They also highlight the way in which the operant model excludes important learning details from consideration, not because they are intrinsically unmeasurable, but because measurable manifestations of them are not available at the time learning is taking place. Instructional technology, when updated to take into account these new developments, should be able to provide more reliable and more successful acquision, more precision in task analyses and, especially, more success in complex, longitudinal learning domains. Developing new technologies to supplement the successful operant ones should enable us to set higher expectations for success with, for example, intellectually disabled people in those domains in which they traditionally fail.     

Modeling the impacts of child care quality on children's preschool cognitive development

The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Study of Early Child Care compared 3 statistical methods that adjust for family selection bias to test whether child care type and quality relate to cognitive and academic skills. The methods included: multiple regression models of 54-month outcomes, change models of differences in 24- and 54-month outcomes, and residualized change models of 54-month outcomes adjusting for the 24-month outcome. The study was unable to establish empirically which model best adjusted for selection and omitted-variable bias. Nevertheless, results suggested that child care quality predicted cognitive outcomes at 54 months, with effect sizes of .04 to .08 for both infant and preschool ages. Center care during preschool years also predicted outcomes across all models.     

Perceptions and experiences of annual report preparers

Between 1986 and 1993, tertiary education institutions, [TEIs] in New Zealand have transformed their annual reports from being uninformative, untimely and unobtainable documents, to ones that are well-presented, comprehensive and readily available in a timely fashion (Coy, Tower & Dixon, 1994). This paper reports a study of the events and experiences according to report preparers in bringing about this change, including the incentives and difficulties that they have been facing.The study uses data collected from 48 staff involved in report preparation at 15 of the 37 TEIs that are in New Zealand. These data are qualitative, and are analysed from a realist perspective mixing causal analysis and interpretive understanding (Silverman 1985).The study suggests that the mandated changes to reporting are seen as one facet of several recent public sector reforms in New Zealand. Interviewees felt that the changes to reporting were driven externally by legislation, and internally by the stances taken by some chief executive officers and by the professional ardour of some accountants. Moreover, the Audit Office was seen as a prominent agent of change.The general reactions of preparers of reports to the reforms range from strong support to resentment and scepticism. A major concern voiced was the potential for data reported by TEIs to be used for political purposes. On the other hand, improved staff motivation was noted in many institutions as well as greater cost consciousness and awareness of student, needs. However, these positive attributes were probably derived from the reforms in general, and not just from the changes to reporting.     

The Structure of Achievement and Behavior across Middle Childhood

This research used data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) to describe and model developmental trajectories across middle childhood. Our sample consisted of approximately 1,000 children of NLSY women who were aged 6 to 7 years in either 1986 or 1988. Assessments of PIAT math and reading scores and the mother-reported Behavior Problem Index in 1986, 1988, 1990, and 1992 provided data for middle-child trajectories of children aged 6 to 7 in 1986. Assessments in 1988, 1990, 1992, and 1994 provided data for children aged 6 to 7 in 1988. We used the raw score form of these data to estimate LISREL-based models of their autoregressive structure. As with other samples, average math and reading achievement trajectories were parabolic for NLSY children, with scores increasing at a decreasing rate over this period. Average behavior-problem trajectories were flat. Behind these average shapes was extreme diversity in level (and in some cases, slopes), of individual trajectories and a pronounced tendency for above average changes between two adjacent assessments to be followed by opposite-signed changes in the subsequent period. Estimates from our structural models showed great heterogeneity in the average level of achievement and behavior for all three outcomes and heterogeneous slopes for reading scores as well. Boys but not girls were found to have heterogeneous slopes for math and behavior problems, whereas girls but not boys showed a significantly higher degree of persistence if "shocked" off of their expected trajectories.     

Three‐year results of the Friendly Schools whole‐of‐school intervention on children's bullying behaviour

A group randomized controlled trial tested the efficacy of the Friendly Schools program to reduce student bullying behaviour. This socio‐ecological intervention targeted the whole school, classroom, family, and individual students to reduce bullying behaviour. Self‐report data were collected in 29 schools over three years from a cohort of 1968 eight to nine‐year‐olds. Surveys measured frequency of being bullied, bullying others, telling if bullied and observing bullying. Results indicate that intervention students were significantly less likely to observe bullying at 12, 24 and 36 months and be bullied after 12 and 36 months, and significantly more likely to tell if bullied after 12 months than comparison students. No differences were found for self‐reported perpetration of bullying. The findings suggest whole‐of‐school programs that engage students in their different social contexts appear to reduce their experiences of being bullied and increase their likelihood of telling someone if they are bullied.     

Images of Injury: Graphic News Visuals’ Effects on Attitudes toward the Use of Unmanned Drones

In this study, sanitized coverage of the United States’ use of military drone strikes in foreign countries is pitted against more graphic news images in an experimental setting to determine effects on attitudes toward the use of U.S. military drones. In addition, multiple news exposures are tested to determine whether individuals can become emotionally inured to such coverage, even when images are more graphic. Key results find those who viewed graphic news visuals did not show evidence of desensitization after repeated viewing and expressed higher levels of concern regarding drone use but not reduced support for U.S. drone policy.     

Cultivating Conceptions of Masculinity: Television and Perceptions of Masculine Gender Role Norms

The potential of television to both reflect and shape cultural understandings of gender roles has long been the subject of social scientific inquiry. The present study employed survey methodology with 420 emerging adult respondents (18–25 years old) in a national U.S. sample to explore associations between amount of time spent viewing television and views about “ideal” masculine gender roles. The viewing of particular television genres was explored in addition to (and controlling for) overall amount of time spent with the medium, using cultivation theory as the theoretical foundation. Results showed significant statistical associations between viewing sitcoms, police and detective programs, sports, and reality television and scores on the Masculine Roles Norms Inventory–Revised scale. Biological sex of respondent (which very closely approximated gender identity in the sample) moderated a number of these relationships, with positive associations between viewing some genres and endorsement of traditional masculine gender roles stronger for biological male compared to biological female respondents.     

Establishing a practical treadmill sprint as an alternative to the Wingate anaerobic test

This study examined the validity and reliability of a 30-second running sprint test using two non-motorized treadmills compared to the established Wingate Anaerobic Test. Twenty-four participants completed three sessions in a randomized order on a: (1) manual mode treadmill (Woodway); (2) specialized interval training treadmill (HiTrainer); and (3) Wingate cycle ergometer. In a subset of 15 participants, 2 additional sessions were completed on both treadmills to establish the test–retest reliability. Peak (Woodway: r = .68; HiTrainer: r = .58; p < .003), average (Woodway: r = .82; HiTrainer: r = .72, p < .001), and minimum (Woodway: r = .64; HiTrainer: r = .42, p < .043) speed indices were moderately to very strongly correlated with corresponding Wingate Anaerobic Test outputs and had excellent test–retest reliability (all intraclass correlation coefficients > .75). Fatigue index during the Wingate Anaerobic Test (51.20 ± 7.14%) was moderately correlated with the Woodway (32.9 ± 10.9%, r = .55, p = .005) only. This 30-second running sprint test may be a valid and reliable mode-specific alternative to the Wingate Anaerobic Test.     

2005年最值得期待的10部电影

2004年电影五彩纷呈,各类电影争妍斗奇,2005 年的电影势头必将更加猛烈。让我们捕捉最值得期待 的10部电影,先睹为快。