Does student learning style affect performance on different formats of biomechanics examinations?

Students' learning style preferences have been widely adapted into teaching and learning environments. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between self-reported and assessed learning style preferences (visual, auditory, reading/writing, kinesthetic: VARK) on performance in different types of multiple-choice examinations (T1: text only format and T2: visual format) given in an introductory biomechanics class. Students who enrolled in three biomechanics classes at a state university were recruited to participate in the study. Ninety students (47 males and 43 females) completed a learning style survey and two types of examinations. Results showed that approximately half of the students were assessed and self-reported as kinesthetic for their preferred learning style. There was no significant difference in test performance between students who preferred visual and reading/writing learning styles (self-reported and assessed). These students demonstrated similar learning and comprehension of biomechanical concepts regardless of whether the test material was presented in their preferred sensory mode or not. Interestingly, female students' perceptions of their learning style preference may have a positive effect on the test results when the test is presented in their preferred format.     

Children's Academic and Behavioral Adjustment as a Function of the Chronicity and Proximity of Peer Rejection

The experience of peer rejection is associated with a number of concurrent and later problems for children. However, we know very little about differences in risk relative to different experiences of rejection over time. This study examined later academic and behavioral problems as a function of two dimensions by which rejection may vary over time: chronicity and temporal proximity. 622 second- through fourth-grade children (ages 7–12) were tested in the spring of 4 consecutive years. The results indicated that both chronicity and proximity directly influenced later adjustment. Taken together, the findings suggest that all levels of rejection were associated with greater absenteeism from school, and more chronic and proximal experiences of rejection were associated with elevated externalizing behavior problems and teacher-rated internalizing behavior problems. There was evidence that initial level of adjustment, gender, and development moderated the relation among these dimensions of rejection and later adjustment.     

Missing children in educational research: investigating school-based versus household-based assessments in India

Including all children in large-scale educational studies is a pressing concern. Omitting certain types of children from studies can lead to skewed findings that promote inaccuracies about learning levels or educational quality. Increasingly, assessments are a method for investigating the quality of education systems, but national assessments are typically conducted in classrooms and may fail to accurately represent a country’s full range of children. Alternatively, households can be a site for testing or collecting data on children’s learning. Analysing the quantitative data from two studies in India that use both household-based and school-based methods alongside data from Government of India sources, the issues with child representation in school-based assessments are examined, and the benefits of household-based research as an alternative are explored.     

Critical race theory in India: theory translation and the analysis of social identities and discrimination in Indian schooling

This article examines ethical and philosophical considerations in theory translation, i.e. translating a theoretical framework from its original place to another national context. Critical race theory (CRT) was developed in the United States through significant struggle in order to analyze everyday racism. Marginalized groups have historically shared postcolonial critiques, conceptualizations of social justice, and methods for mass resistance across national borders. Through an analysis of the literature on CRT and contemporary India, this article explores whether CRT’s principles and methodology can be employed to research discrimination within India’s school system. Can CRT be sensitive to the differences in context and still retain its philosophical center? This analysis reveals that CRT may be particularly helpful in highlighting the educational discrimination experienced by Dalits via use of CRT’s social construction thesis to conceptualize caste and intersectionality to understand caste’s relationship to gender and class.     

Connecting Children's Stories to Children's Literature: Meeting Diversity Needs

Combining children's natural storytelling abilities with quality multicultural literature serves to enhance their language skills and students' appreciation of cultural differences. Narrative abilities—particularly stories—are a natural vehicle for building on children's oral language skills and develop literacy with print. If the stories have a multicultural focus, it is only natural that readers and participants will develop an appreciation of both cultural similarities and differences.     

Learning environment and anxiety for learning and teaching mathematics among preservice teachers

Learning Environments Research - The learning environment has been found to be related to mathematics anxiety at a variety of educational levels, including higher education, but to date has not...     

The School Counseling Supervision Model: An Extension of the Discrimination Model

It is well documented that clinical supervision in school settings is underutilized. One hypothesis for this situation is the lack of fit between current supervision models that emphasize the supervision of individual counseling and the multiple roles of school counselors within comprehensive school counseling programs (CSCPs). The authors propose the School Counseling Supervision Model (SCSM) as an extension of J. M. Bernard's (1979, 1997) Discrimination Model. The SCSM uses a 3 (focus of supervision) × 3 (supervisor role) × 4 (CSCP domain) matrix. Examples are provided for potential supervision interventions using the SCSM. Implications for training, practice, and research are discussed.     

Differences between WISC‐R and WISC‐III performance scale among children with ADHD

Reviews involving the Wechsler Scales for children suggest that Full Scale IQ scores on the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, Third Edition, average 5 to 6 points lower than scores on the second edition of the scale [WISC‐R, Wechsler, D. (1974). Zimmerman & Woo‐Sam, 1997], with the differences distributed disproportionately over subtests, i.e., with larger discrepancies found within the Performance Scale (Wechsler, 1991). Changes on the revised subtests of the WISC‐III Performance Scale may place children with ADHD at a disadvantage compared to their performance on analogous WISC‐R subtests. We examined IQ test performance in 122 unmedicated children with ADHD (61 given the WISC‐R, 61 given the WISC‐III), and 46 children from a healthy, comparison group (23 given the WISC‐R, 23 given the WISC‐III). The ADHD and comparison group samples were matched for sex and for Verbal IQ between WISC‐R and WISC‐III. Children with ADHD had significantly lower Performance IQ on WISC‐III compared to the WISC‐R, with the Picture Arrangement subtest showing the most significant difference. In contrast, there were no significant differences between the WISC‐R and WISC‐III cohorts on Performance IQ or any Performance subtests among the comparison group. These findings highlight the importance of examining the comparability of ability test revisions among clinical and non‐clinical populations, and will be especially salient when the WISC‐III is revised. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 40: 331–340, 2003.     

Executive functions in elementary school children with and without problems in written expression

This study examined the executive functioning of 55 elementary school children with and without problems in written expression. Two groups reflecting children with and without significant writing problems were defined by an average primary trait rating across two separate narratives. The groups did not differ in terms of chronological age, ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic status, special education status, or presence of attention problems or receptive vocabulary capabilities; however, they did differ in reading decoding ability, and this variable was controlled for in all analyses. Dependent measures included tasks tapping an array of executive functions grouped conceptually in accordance with a model of executive functioning reflecting the following domains: initiate, sustain, set shifting, and inhibition/stopping. Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) procedures revealed statistically significant group differences on the initiation and set shift domains, with the sustaining domain approaching significance. Children with writing problems performed more poorly in each of these domains, although the effect sizes were small. A multiple regression that employed these four factors and the reading decoding variable to predict the primary trait score from the written narratives revealed a statistically significant regression function; however, reading decoding contributed most of the unique variance to the writing outcome. These findings point out the importance of executive functions in the written language process for elementary school students, but highlight the need to examine other variables when studying elementary school-age children with written expression problems.     

Designing for Quality: Distance Education Rubrics for Online MSW Programs

ABSTRACT

There has been a rapid increase in the number of online MSW programs in the past decade without a commensurate body of literature on their administration. This article acquaints MSW program faculty and administrators with quality assurance rubrics, which are research-informed tools intended for use by distance education providers to develop, support and manage high quality online courses and programs. Graduate programs that are in the process of considering or actually designing an online delivery option, as well as those that are currently implementing online programs, may benefit from the use of such quality assurance rubrics.