Investigating Supervisory Relationships and Therapeutic Alliances Using Structural Equation Modeling

The authors used structural equation modeling to examine the contribution of supervisees' supervisory relationship levels to therapeutic alliance (TA) scores with their clients in practicum. Results showed that supervisory relationship scores positively contributed to the TA. Client and counselor ratings of the TA also differed.     

Training reading and phoneme awareness skills in children with Down syndrome

The authors report a short-term reading intervention study involving 15 children with Down syndrome (DS) who attended mainstream schools. The intervention programme taught children phoneme segmentation and blending skills in the context of learning letter-sounds and working with words in books. The children were taught by their learning support assistants, who received special training for this purpose. Compared to a waiting group, a group of eight children with DS improved significantly on measures of early literacy skills (letter-sound knowledge, Early Word Recognition) following eight weeks of intervention. The waiting group started to make progress once they received the intervention. Both groups maintained progress on the literacy measures five months after the intervention had finished. The results suggest that children with DS can benefit from structured, phonics-based reading intervention.     

Should We Be Testing Civics? Examining the Implications of the Civic Education Initiative

Given the importance of developing civically engaged and knowledgeable citizens, many have sought to improve the quality of students’ civic education experiences. This article examines one particular effort spearheaded by the Joe Foss Institute, the Civic Education Initiative (CEI). Since the CEI was announced, 18 states have passed legislation that includes a civics test component embedded in the CEI. This conceptual article examines the CEI against research-based practices for teaching civics. It then introduces the policy design framework as a tool for analyzing civic policies like CEI. This political science theory recognizes that policies themselves send important signals that have implications for students’ civic development. We utilize the policy design framework to analyze CEI and, in particular, how CEI is likely to shape students’ civic and political engagement. We conclude with a proposal for future research on civic education using the policy design framework.     

Literacy-based behavioural interventions delivered by peers: a teaching strategy for students with severe disabilities

Many children with severe disabilities do not perform basic daily living skills needed for typical school and home environments. Previous research on literacy-based behavioural interventions (LBBIs) has shown promise for promoting skill acquisition and maintenance in some learners; however, only one study has examined the effectiveness of this intervention when delivered by peers. In this study, peer classmates were taught to deliver an LBBI story that highlighted hand-washing skills in three students with severe disabilities. Results showed that the accuracy of students’ new skills increased dramatically after their peers delivered the stories with pictures and printed words, and these skills maintained after the LBBI stories were removed. Further, each of the students demonstrated accurate hand-washing in novel environments using different sinks. This study builds on previous LBBI studies by incorporating peers into the story delivery, and using the intervention to teach new self-care skills.     

Impairments in learning due to motivational conflict: situation really matters

Although many theories mention distractions by conflicting alternatives as a problem for self-regulation, motivational conflicts are rarely considered when explaining impairments in learning. In two studies, we investigate the assumption of motivational interference theory that students show different amounts of impairments in learning depending on the presence and motivational strength of conflicting alternatives. In Study 1 (N?=?221), the subjective value attributed to a respective alternative in a study–leisure conflict scenario partially accounted for differences in self-regulated learning while controlling for interindividual differences. Study 2 (N?=?112) demonstrated that this pattern applies to both when the respective alternatives refer to ‘liking to’ (want conflicts) and ‘having to’ (should conflicts) do something. Moreover, it is demonstrated that impairments due to motivational conflict are higher than impairments inherent in the studying activity itself (baseline). The results emphasise the importance of concurring action alternatives for explaining difficulties in self-regulated learning.     

Education in the Field Influences Children’s Ideas and Interest toward Science

This paper explores the idea of informal science education in scientific field laboratory (The Science Field Centre). The experimental group of pupils (N = 153) was experienced with approximately 5-day lasting field trips and experiments in the Field Centre in Slovakia. After finishing the course, two different research methods were used to discover their interest and ideas toward science. Pupils from the experimental group showed significant differences from those that did not experience education in the Field Centre (control group, N = 365). In comparison to the control group, pupils of the experimental group highly preferred book titles that were related to their program in the Field Centre. There were differences between the drawings of ideal school environment from both pupils groups. In the drawings of the experimental group, we found significantly more items connected with the educational environment of the Field Centre (e.g. laboratory equipment, live animals). We suppose field science education would be one of the most effective ways to increase interest of pupils to study science and to invaluable intrinsic motivation at the expense extrinsic motivation.     

Utilizing Federal Funds for Experiential Education: The Job Location and Development Program

The way in which the government defines financial need does not always account for the individual decisions families make when sending a student to college. Many students who do not qualify for federal financial aid must still pay for part of their educational expenses, and need a part-time job in order to do so. The Job Location and Development (JLD) program was designed to help these students find the employment they need, to pick up where federal work study leaves off. Since 1979, the MU Career Center and the Office of Student Financial Aid at the University of Missouri–Columbia have together operated a JLD program on campus that, since its inception, has helped more than 25,000 students find employment while in school. Those employment opportunities serve to not only assist students in funding their education, but also to provide students the opportunity to learn about themselves—their strengths and weaknesses, their career interests, perhaps what major they ought to choose—as well as valuable skills they can use after graduation.     

A Dual Identity Approach for Conceptualizing and Measuring Children's Gender Identity

The goal was to test a new dual identity perspective on gender identity by asking children (n = 467) in three grades (M_age = 5.7, 7.6, 9.5) to consider the relation of the self to both boys and girls. This change shifted the conceptualization of gender identity from one to two dimensions, provided insights into the meaning and measurement of gender identity, and allowed for revisiting ideas about the roles of gender identity in adjustment. Using a graphical measure to allow assessment of identity in young children and cluster analyses to determine types of identity, it was found that individual and developmental differences in how similar children feel to both genders, and these variations matter for many important personal and social outcomes.