The effects of strategic counting instruction,with and without deliberate practice,on number combination skill among students with mathematics difficulties

The primary purpose of this study was to assess the effects of strategic counting instruction, with and without deliberate practice with those counting strategies, on number combination (NC) skill among students with mathematics difficulties (MD). Students (n = 150) were stratified on MD status (i.e., MD alone versus MD with reading difficulty) and site (proximal versus distal to the intervention developer) and then randomly assigned to control (no tutoring) or 1 of 2 variants of NC remediation. Both remediations were embedded in the same validated word-problem tutoring protocol (i.e., Pirate Math). In 1 variant, the focus on NCs was limited to a single lesson that taught strategic counting. In the other variant, 4–6 min of practice per session was added to the other variant. Tutoring occurred for 16 weeks, 3 sessions per week for 20–30 min per session. Strategic counting without deliberate practice produced superior NC fluency compared to control; however, strategic counting with deliberate practice effected superior NC fluency and transfer to procedural calculations compared with both competing conditions. Also, the efficacy of Pirate Math word-problem tutoring was replicated.     

The effects of computer-assisted instruction on number combination skill in at-risk first graders

The purpose of this pilot study was to assess the potential for computer-assisted instruction (CAI) to enhance number combination skill among children with concurrent risk for math disability and reading disability. A secondary purpose was to examine the effects of CAI on spelling. At-risk students were assigned randomly to math or spelling CAI, which they received in 50 sessions over 18 weeks. Acquisition and transfer effects were assessed. The results indicated that math CAI was effective in promoting addition but not subtraction number combination skill and that transfer to arithmetic story problems did not occur. Spelling CAI effects were reliable on acquisition and transfer spelling measures, with small to moderate effect sizes on transfer to reading measures. These results provide the basis for additional work with larger samples.     

Card Games and Chemistry Teaching Organometallic Reactions Through Card Games

We present a card game suitable for classroom use to provide an interactive and lively experience while studying organometallic reactions, synthesis and catalysis. It is based on a deck of playing cards, and we call it CARS (Catalysis and Reaction Sequences). The object is to arrange a set of random cards served to the player in a correct sequence. The correct sequence is based on the sequence of steps found in the catalytic cycle of a set of reactions. The game is similar to the popular multiplayer card game rummy. We illustrate the game with a set of cards based on the C—C bond forming reactions, but it can be modified by the teacher to suit the topics being taught and could even be converted to a web-based version or a stand-alone study tool operating on a computer.     

Beyond educational semiotics: A response to Cunningham

The case is made that the theoretical propositions and instructional recommendations that Cunningham attributes to semiotics are shared with other perspectives. However, the theoretical and instructional positions Cunningham favors must be evaluated more completely if they are to be acceptable to the educational psychology community, which is generally more positivist in its orientation than the semiotics community. Nonetheless, we emphasize that the methodological approaches favored by Cunningham have the potential for permitting rapid progress in understanding and evaluating the instructional beliefs and practices consistent with semiotic analyses.     

Developing Multicultural Competence Using the Structured Peer Group Supervision Model

Interest in the role of supervision in counselor training has increased concurrent with the interest in effective strategies for developing multicultural counseling competency. L. D. Borders (1991) proposed a model of group supervision appropriate for use with supervisees of differing skill levels; however, the model does not overtly provide for supervisees' development of multicultural awareness and skills. This article presents a format of peer group multicultural supervision in which supervisees work to increase their multicultural competencies while engaging in helper roles important for working with culturally diverse clients.     

Building research capacity collaboratively: Can we take ownership of our future?

This presidential address argues that there is a pressing need in the UK to build educational research capacity at system level and to do so collaboratively. It advances three main arguments for doing so. These are (i) the increasing concentration of research resources; (ii) the dangers of increasing separation of research and initial teacher education; and (iii) the complexity of the links between research, policy and practice. Drawing on evidence about research quality and on demographic trends of academic staff in education departments, it illustrates one approach to collaborative capacity building in Scotland, the Applied Educational Research Scheme. It concludes by drawing attention to the nascent Strategic Forum for Research in Education as an important forum for monitoring the health of educational research.     

Preparing novice teachers to develop basic reading and spelling skills in children

This study examined the word-structure knowledge of novice teachers and the progress of children tutored by a subgroup of the teachers. Teachers’ word-structure knowledge was assessed using three tasks: graphophonemic segmentation, classification of pseudowords by syllable type, and classification of real words as phonetically regular or irregular. Tutored children were assessed on several measures of basic reading and spelling skills. Novice teachers who received word-structure instruction outperformed a comparison group of teachers in word-structure knowledge at post-test. Tutored children improved significantly from pre-test to post-test on all assessments. Teachers’ post-test knowledge on the graphophonemic segmentation and irregular words tasks correlated significantly with tutored children’s progress in decoding phonetically regular words; error analyses indicated links between teachers’ patterns of word-structure knowledge and children’s patterns of decoding progress. The study suggests that word-structure knowledge is important to effective teaching of word decoding and underscores the need to include this information in teacher preparation.     

The problem with women? Challenges posed by gender for career guidance practice

Institutionalised discrimination continues to perpetuate deep rooted social divisions, with gender inequality persisting as a pervasive feature of labour markets across the world. Despite the depth and breadth of gender inequality, there is limited acknowledgement in career theory that the career support needs of women are distinctive. A qualitative international comparative study into the career trajectories of older women (aged 45–65) has been conducted across six countries (Australia, Argentina, Germany, Italy, England and South Africa). The results provide an international understanding of women’s careers and offer insight into career theory and practice for women that are culturally relevant.     

The Role of Classroom-Level Child Behavior Problems in Predicting Preschool Teacher Stress and Classroom Emotional Climate

Research Findings: Despite the abundance of research suggesting that preschool classroom quality influences children's social-emotional development, the equally important and related question of how characteristics of children enrolled in a classroom influence classroom quality has rarely been addressed. The current article focuses on this question while also considering teacher stress as a mediator of the relationship between child behavior problems and classroom emotional climate. Data came from 2 low-income samples. Ordinary least squares regression revealed that higher levels of child externalizing behavior problems in the fall predicted higher teacher stress in the spring. Teacher stress was nonlinearly related to classroom emotional climate in the spring: Moderate levels of teacher stress were associated with higher (i.e., more positive) classroom emotional climates, and low and high levels of teacher stress were associated with lower classroom emotional climates. Contrary to expectations, higher levels of child externalizing behavior problems were related to higher classroom emotional climates. There was no evidence that teacher stress mediated this relationship. Practice or Policy: These results are discussed in terms of strategies to reduce the disruptive influence of child behavior problems on the classroom emotional climate as well as strategies to limit high levels of preschool teacher stress.