The gifted child with attention deficit disorder: An identification and intervention challenge

Studies of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) often emphasize the problems, diagnosis and treatment, but rarely consider the characteristics which are remarkably similar to those of creativity. This study reviews the literature on ADHD traits, their similarity to gifted and creative behaviors, and the implications for educational interventions. A case study of a boy identified with ADHD provides the focus for our discussions. The conclusions point to the need for more varied instructional interventions, emotional and social support, and collaboration between educators and parents.     

Common coding in pigeons: Partial versus total reversals of one-to-many conditional discriminations

Common coding in pigeons was examined using a delayed conditional discrimination in which each sample stimulus was associated with two different comparison stimuli (one-to-many mapping). In Experiment 1, pigeons matched circle and dot samples to red and green hues and vertical and horizontal line orientations. In Experiment 2, the samples were red and green and the comparisons were vertical and horizontal spatial positions (up vs. down and left vs. right). Following acquisition to high levels of accuracy in each experiment, the associations between the samples and either both sets or only one set of comparisons were reversed. Pigeons learned the total reversals faster than the partial reversals. These results suggest that when different comparisons are associated with a common sample, they may become functionally equivalent.     

Evidenced Based Practices that Promote Transition to Postsecondary Education: Listening to a Decade of Expert Voices

As increasing numbers of students with disabilities access postsecondary education, research studies and literature reviews have investigated the needs of these students who chose to pursue postsecondary education. These articles included studies that (a) asked students with disabilities to identify needs and (b) summarized needs in literature reviews about students with disabilities in postsecondary education. This article summarizes needs and recommendations from college students with disabilities and authors who reviewed related literature from 1995–2006. The summary includes needs in five areas: self-determination, social skills, academic preparation, accommodations, and assistive technology (AT). Each of these areas of need is described and recommendations for practice are discussed. The purpose of this article is to identify a set of evidence-based transition practices that will address these needs and increase the likelihood of success for students who enroll in postsecondary education institutions.     

Perspectives on the Contribution of Social Science to Adapted Physical Activity: Looking Forward,Looking Back

ABSTRACT

In this article, we reflect on the contributions of the social sciences to the field of adapted physical activity by examining the theories and methods that have been adopted from the social science disciplines. To broaden our perspective on adapted physical activity and provide new avenues for theoretical and empirical exploration, we discuss and evaluate broad ideas/tensions arising from the social science literature—the individual versus social/ecological, and social science of adapted physical activity versus social science in adapted physical activity. We intentionally focus discussion on the application of specific lines of inquiry in the social sciences that have not yet emerged (or have done so only in limited applications) in the field of adapted physical activity. Such untapped areas of scholarship in the social sciences can lead to broader understanding, innovations, and new lines of inquiry when applied to an adapted physical activity context.     

A typology of causal models for plate tectonics: Inferential power and barriers to understanding

Forty-seven fifth grade students (40 group-tested and 7 individually interviewed) read a text describing plate tectonics. At four points they drew diagrams of the spatial, causal, and dynamic processes inside the earth. These diagrams along with students' corresponding explanations, think-aloud protocols (for those individually interviewed), and answers to inference questions were analysed in order to characterize students' models of the interior of the earth, and models of its causal and dynamic processes. Types and characteristics of models, and reasoning associated with them are presented. Additionally, data from two exemplary students are presented as case studies. One student has considerable misunderstandings regarding both her understanding of the spatial layout of the interior of the earth and its causal mechanisms. The second student is more typical in terms of his initial models, but makes large gains in revising his understanding about the causal and dynamic processes inside the earth. In both cases, data are used to infer how each student used their diagrams as artefacts for externalizing knowledge, inference making, and model-revision.     

ASSESSING STUDENT PERFORMANCE USING VIDEO IN COMBINATION WITH SELF,PEER, AND INSTRUCTOR EVALUATION CHECKLISTS

Abstract

In this article, the authors propose six standards for the work of Intergenerational Specialists in an emerging field of professional practice. These standards are intended to guide students in academic settings who are preparing to work as Intergenerational Specialists in direct service roles, administrative capacities, or the supervision and training of others in the field. In addition, they might also be considered useful guidelines for program developers who want to ensure mutually beneficial interactions between younger people and older adults in any kind of organized intergenerational context. The proposed Standards for Intergenerational Practice are currently being piloted by students in a graduate degree program, and eventually will be submitted to Generations United for endorsement and widespread acceptance by the field. These basic principles are consistent with NAEYC's Developmentally Appropriate Practices for early childhood programs, and they are also consistent with ethical practices in programs for older adults.     

Equality and Education: Fact and Fiction

This paper reports on a series of statistical analyses carried out on some of the National Curriculum tests in mathematics for 11-year-olds in England. In England all 7-, 11- and 14-year-olds are tested in English, mathematics and science (11- and 14-year-olds only). The tests for 11-year-olds are very high stakes, in that the results are published in a school-by-school basis in newspapers etc. The analyses were prompted by the suggestion (from governmental organisations) that the balance of the curriculum content in the mathematics tests should be changed to accommodate better the require ments of the government-initiated National Numeracy Strategy. The analyses were carried out on two datasets, involving nationally representative samples of 11-year-old pupils. The analyses reveal some interesting patterns of change in the overall outcomes when Handling Data questions were statistically replaced by Number items of various kinds and also some interesting changes at the individual level, which could potentially affect the Level outcomes of a significant number of children nationally. However, the final conclusion reached is that, given an appropriately sized and structured pool of items across the curriculum content areas, tests can be constructed which are of an appropriate level of difficulty and discrimination power and which still allow year-on-year calibration of the national standards in mathematics.     

Crowding and Classroom Learning,

The effects of density and other situational factors on perceptions of and responses to crowding in classroom learning environments was examined in three separate and concurrent investigations. Experiment I examined the effects of various demographic variables, learning environments, and room design variables on perceptions of ideal, crowded, and intolerable learning conditions. Results indicated that all subjects agreed on what constitutes an ideal learning environment while perceptions of crowded and intolerable learning conditions depended on the subject’s vocational perspective (e.g., teacher, student, administrator, etc.). Effects were also observed for type of learning environment as well as room design variables (noise level, ceiling height, and esthetic quality of the room). These latter effects, however, were weaker and conditional on sex of subject. In Experiment II, the effect of two levels of density on classroom achievement was examined in the laboratory. Two levels of motivation and three levels of learning environment were also manipulated. Results were consistent with a modified form of Zajonc’s (30) theory of social facilitation which treated both density and motivation as manipulations of arousal. That is, a curvilinear relation between density motivation conditions and achievement was obtained indicating moderate levels of density may benefit student achievement. Finally, Experiment III examined classroom achievement as a function of class size over a 24-year period in two community school districts. Results indicated that over the period studied, classroom density was always within the ideal perceptual ranges established by Experiment I. Furthermore, a strong positive relation between classroom density and schievement was obtained. These findings were highly consistent with the modified version of Zajonc’s theory since ideal conditions should produce low to moderate arousal which should in turn facilitate performance. Implications based on the pattern of results for all three experiments were discussed.