Canine Visitors: The Influence of Therapy Dogs on Young Children's Learning and Well-Being in Classrooms and Hospitals

Trained therapy dogs are becoming an increasingly common sight in many educational and health care settings. This article, coauthored by a college professor, a Therapy Dogs International, Inc., Evaluator and local program director, and a registered nurse reviews the research on using registered therapy dogs as adjuncts in school programs and health care treatment plans for children ages 5–8. It addresses to the most commonly raised objections to allowing dogs in classrooms and patient rooms and offers practical guidelines for maximizing the positive outcomes of animal-assisted activities and therapy (AAA/T).     

Settling In: Facilitating the transition to an inclusive middle school for students with mild disabilities

The present qualitative study examined the experiences of nine students with mild disabilities during their first year in an inclusive middle school in a Midwestern state of the United States (US). Data were gathered through interviews with students, teachers, and parents; classroom observations; and document analysis. Following the data analysis, three themes were identified: how the demands of navigating a new environment increased students’ anxiety; how students satisfied their need for belonging; and how students’ perceptions of school influenced their attitude towards help. Suggestions for facilitating school transitions for early adolescents with mild disabilities are provided.     

Metricon 2.0关注安全度量

2007年IEEE在波士顿召开了Metricon2.0工作会议,同时进行的还有第十六届Usenix安全研讨会.与会人员被问到的首要问题是:"度量事关重大吗?"你可以想象,与会者对这一问题的直觉问答会是"yes",但是经过会议当天的一番激辩,支持这一回答的人数在数量上只是稍占上风.     

Investigating morphological awareness and the processing of transparent and opaque words in adults with low literacy skills and in skilled readers

For adults with low literacy skills, the role of phonology in reading has been fairly well researched, but less is known about the role of morphology in reading. We investigated the contribution of morphological awareness to word reading and reading comprehension and found that for adults with low literacy skills and skilled readers, morphological awareness explained unique variance in word reading and reading comprehension. In addition, we investigated the effects of orthographic and phonological opacity in morphological processing. Results indicated that adults with low literacy skills were more impaired than skilled readers on items containing phonological changes but were spared on items involving orthographic changes. These results are consistent with previous findings of adults with low literacy skills reliance on orthographic codes. Educational implications are discussed.     

Operations Course Icebreaker: Campus Club Cupcakes Exercise

Campus Club Cupcakes is an in‐class ‘introduction to operations management’ experiential learning exercise which can be used within minutes of starting the course. After reading the one‐page mini case, students are encouraged to meet each other and collaborate to determine if making and selling cupcakes to fellow business students would be a viable fundraising activity for a student club interested in completing a community development project in a developing country. The exercise is a variation and extension of the popular Kristen's Cookie Co. Harvard case which addresses capacity and bottlenecks. Campus Club additionally incorporates supply chain management and risk management concepts while also revealing how operations management integrates with the functional areas of marketing, accounting, and finance.     

Differences in science students' view of ideal and actual role behavior according to success and gender

Information about how success and gender affect students' views of ideal and actual classroom role behavior can help both researchers and teachers better understand classroom components such as achievement and curriculum. A 20-item double Q sort was used to measure differences in perceptions of high school science students according to letter grades and gender. Individual Q sort item rankings of 160 students were tested for significant differences according to letter grade received; item ratings were compared according to gender for 215 students. Differences in perception according to success were found for both ideal and actual behavior; 8 and 5 items, respectively, out of each 20-item sort were found to be significant at the p = < 0.05 level. No such overall patterns of difference in view were found between boys and girls, although three ideal student items and one actual self-report item were found to be significantly different at the p = < 0.05 level.     

Challenges in operationalizing cultural practices in classroom and peer communities

This paper explores challenges encountered in a study of culturally relevant pedagogy that examines numeracy practices of under-served youth in secondary mathematics classrooms and in their peer communities at school. Taking a sociocultural stance toward studying under-served youths’ cultural practices as valuable resources for mathematics learning poses several methodological challenges, including identifying distinct cultural groups; adopting a view of mathematics as a social practice; and examining youth cultural practices to identify what counts as a viable example of practice relevant to mathematics practices and knowledge. Two dimensions of cultural practices are the focus: (1) communication, interaction, and language-use patterns that youth develop as they engage in the cultural practices of their peer communities; and (2) mathematical funds of knowledge that youth have developed over time. The complexities of identifying mathematical practices in youth peer communities and leveraging them in schooled mathematics are discussed, as are implications for further research.     

Teacher licensure status and student achievement: Lessons from private schools

Data from the National Education Longitudinal Survey of 1988 (NELS:88) were used to investigate the effect of teacher licensure status on private school students’ 12th grade math and science test scores. This data includes schooling and family background information on students that can be linked to employment information on teachers. We find that, contrary to conventional wisdom, private school students of fully certified 12th grade math and science teachers do not appear to outperform students of private school teachers who are not fully certified.     

Individual differences in achievement goals: A longitudinal study of cognitive, emotional, and achievement outcomes

Within achievement goal theory debate remains regarding the adaptiveness of certain combinations of goals. Assuming a multiple-goals perspective, we used cluster analysis to classify 1002 undergraduate students according to their mastery and performance-approach goals. Four clusters emerged, representing different goal combinations: high mastery/performance (i.e., multiple goals), dominant mastery, dominant performance, and low mastery/performance (i.e., low motivation). In a longitudinal analysis over one academic year, the clusters were compared on cognitive appraisals (expected achievement, perceived success), achievement-related emotions (enjoyment, boredom, anxiety), and objective measures of academic achievement (final grade in Introductory Psychology, GPA). The low-motivation cluster demonstrated the least adaptive profile across all outcomes. The multiple-goals, mastery, and performance clusters showed equivalent levels of achievement; however, students in the performance cluster were more psychologically and emotionally vulnerable than the multiple-goals and mastery clusters. Our discussion focuses on the immediate and potentially long-term implications of specific goal combinations for students and educators, with particular attention to understanding the cognitive and emotional vulnerabilities of students in the performance cluster which appear despite satisfactory achievement levels.     

Supporting young children's explanations through inquiry science in preschool

This study examines the ways in which preschool teachers support the development of children's explanatory language through science inquiry. Two classrooms in a preschool center using a science inquiry curriculum were videotaped during a 5-week unit on color mixing. Videotapes were analyzed for how teachers facilitated children's explanatory language. An assessment of explanatory language was administered to 47 children in the center before and after the color mixing unit. Analysis of discourse revealed that teachers engaged children as conversational partners and as scientific investigators responsible for their own learning. Explanations were dynamically co-constructed by adults and children within the context of participation in scientific inquiry. By the end of the unit, children produced more on-topic responses, more standard color-mixing terms, and more causal connectives in their responses to the assessment of explanatory language.