Comparison of computed tomography and chest radiography in the detection of rib fractures in abused infants

PURPOSE: Chest radiographs (CXR) are the standard method for evaluating rib fractures in abused infants. Computed tomography (CT) is a sensitive method to detect rib fractures. The purpose of this study was to compare CT and CXR in the evaluation of rib fractures in abused infants. METHODS: This retrospective study included all 12 abused infants identified from 1999 to 2004 who had rib fractures and both CXR and CT (8 abdomen CTs, 4 chest CTs). CT exams had been performed for clinical indications, and were obtained within one day of the CXR. Studies were reviewed by two pediatric radiologists to determine the number, locations, and approximate ages of the rib fractures. A total of 225 ribs were completely (192) or partially (33) seen by CT, and the matched ribs on CXR were used for the analysis. RESULTS: The mean patient age was 2.5 months (1.2-5.6), with seven females and five males. While 131 fractures were visualized by CT, only 79 were seen by CXR (p<.001). One patient had fractures only seen by CT. There were significantly (p<.05) more early subacute (24 vs. 4), subacute (47 vs. 26), and old fractures (4 vs. 0) seen by CT than by CXR. Anterior (42 vs. 11), anterolateral (21 vs. 12), posterolateral (9 vs. 3) and posterior (39 vs. 24) fractures were better seen by CT than by CXR (p<.01). Bilateral fractures were detected more often by CT (11) than by CXR (6). CONCLUSIONS: While this study group is small, these findings suggest that CT is better than CXR in visualizing rib fractures in abused infants.     

Models of influence on mathematics instructional coaches

In our study, we examine the factors influencing the implementation of a mathematics coaching initiative at four high schools including the assets an instructional coach brings to the position and the challenges unique to each school. In our case study we include data collected in individual interviews with instructional coaches, focus groups with Algebra I teams, and coaching logs. Four models of coaching behavior emerged from the data collected in the study: coach as facilitator, coach as mediator, coach as dictator, and coach as victim. No role was associated exclusively with any particular instructional coach. However, which role the coach assumed hinged on one or more factors: the coach’s leadership style, the context in which the coach served, and the dynamics of the situation.     

Effects of Academic Discipline and Teaching Goals in Predicting Grading Beliefs Among Undergraduate Teaching Faculty

Prior research reveals that differential grading patterns exist among the academic disciplines. One explanation may lie in discipline-related differences in teaching goals and beliefs about the meaning grades should convey. This study examined the effects of academic discipline and teaching goals on grading beliefs. A national sample (n = 442) of undergraduate teaching faculty provided responded to a survey measuring the importance of various teaching goals and orientations toward norm-referenced or criterion-referenced grading (Frame of Reference), and beliefs about using grades to sort and select students on the basis of achievement (Gatekeeping). Both teaching goals and academic discipline were significantly related to gatekeeping beliefs, but not to beliefs about frames of reference for grading. Higher gatekeeping scores were associated with faculty in the paradigmatic fields and those who emphasized analytic skills and time management. Lower gatekeeping scores were associated with the preparadigmatic disciplines and teaching goals of synthesis and integration and developing respect for others. Faculty who identified their primary teaching role as subject matter oriented were more gatekeeping than those who identified themselves primarily as being student/personal development oriented.     

A Study of Functional Literacy Skills in Young Adults with Down Syndrome

This paper presents data from a study of young adults with Down syndrome who were born either just before, or during the period when radical changes to special education services for people with intellectual disabilities were introduced. The specific aim of the study was to examine the development of language and literacy skills in a group of young adults with Down syndrome, some of whom had been educated at a time when there was an increase in expectations for achievement and opportunity to learn. Results showed that all but one of the young adults had learned to read, though for some, these skills were limited. In general, there was evidence of a positive relationship between age (for those born after 1970), attendance at an integrated school situation, and the achievement of more advanced reading and language skills. It was also evident that learning to read provides both a functional daily living skill and a satisfying recreational activity for young adults with Down syndrome.     

Problem Solving in a Middle School Robotics Design Classroom

Little research has been conducted on how students work when they are required to plan, build and evaluate artefacts in technology rich learning environments such as those supported by tools including flow charts, Labview programming and Lego construction. In this study, activity theory was used as an analytic tool to examine the social construction of meaning. There was a focus on the effect of teachers’ goals and the rules they enacted upon student use of the flow chart planning tool, and the tools of the programming language Labview and Lego construction. It was found that the articulation of a teacher’s goals via rules and divisions of labour helped to form distinct communities of learning and influenced the development of different problem solving strategies. The use of the planning tool flow charting was associated with continuity of approach, integration of problem solutions including appreciation of the nexus between construction and programming, and greater educational transformation. Students who flow charted defined problems in a more holistic way and demonstrated more methodical, insightful and integrated approaches to their use of tools. The findings have implications for teaching in design dominated learning environments.     

Constructing a new KS3 curriculum at Brooke Weston CTC: a review and commentary

This paper reviews changes to the key stage 3 curriculum at a leading comprehensive school. The nature and practical concerns of the changes are described. These move beyond a fresh approach to content; they include issues about engaging students actively in learning for the future, planning around the school's distinctive ethos and expertise in ICT, and using curriculum as a vehicle for providing energy for new staff and heads of department to engage in learning leadership. Theoretical models of curriculum are examined to locate thinking at Brooke Weston CTC in a conceptual framework. The paper suggests that futuristic curriculum development resonates with some classical curriculum models that have been ignored over the past two decades of the National Curriculum.     

Accountability in Partnership or Partnership in Accountability: Initial teacher education in Northern Ireland

This paper analyses accountability and partnership in Initial Teacher Education for the primary school sector in Northern Ireland. In considering teacher education, the paper focuses on three higher education institutions: Stranmillis University College, St Mary's University College and the University of Ulster. Of the three institutions, the Roman Catholic Church maintains St Mary's University College while the other institutions have no religious affiliations. The paper focuses on the reform of teacher education within the British Isles and sets Northern Ireland into a context of a system of teacher education which has developed new patterns of accountability. Three sources of evidence are used to analyse accountability; firstly the perception of schools that are partners in Initial Teacher Education; secondly, the views of the Education and Training Inspectorate who are responsible for accrediting teacher education in Northern Ireland; and thirdly, the views of the three university schools of education. The paper will demonstrate how teacher education in Northern Ireland is simultaneously similar to, and different from, teacher education in the rest of the developed world. It will illuminate the dimensions of accountability in the primary school sector and show how in Northern Ireland this is heavily segregated by religious denomination.     

Application of ICT and rubrics to the assessment process where professional judgement is involved: the features of an e‐marking tool

This paper describes a new ICT assessment tool that reduces multi‐handling of marks, comments and scores specifically where professional judgement is involved. Whereas previous ICT applications in most fields of education have focused on student learning, this tool focuses on the lecturer task of the assessment process. Unlike many ICT based assessment tools, it enables the assessor to make and record professional judgements. This tool moves the marking/recording sheet off the desk and onto the desktop (computer screen). The aim in using the tool is to reduce the unproductive busy work of marking such as adding up of marks, recording, and spell checking of comments by hand, also it allow for many different views of the information, and to increase the time spent on feedback, reflection and moderation. The tool combines features of the word processor, spreadsheet and database applications, and paper‐based marking. These features are described and discussed as working examples are presented. The paper also describes other features or possible uses of the tool, including the development and refinement of rubric‐based scales; the recording of feedback by markers about the quality of the marking key during and after marking; the ability to compare one’s marks with those of the coordinator electronically; the evaluating and analysing of results; and the printing out of many different views of the data.     

Evolution and validation of a personal form of an instrument for assessing science laboratory classroom environments

The research reported in this article makes two distinctive contributions to the field of classroom environment research. First, because existing instruments are unsuitable for science laboratory classes, the Science Laboratory Environment Inventory (SLEI) was developed and validated. Second, a new Personal form of the SLEI (involving a student's perceptions of his or her own role within the class) was developed and validated in conjunction with the conventional Class form (involving a student's perceptions of the class as a whole), and its usefulness was investigated. The instrument was cross-nationally fieldtested with 5,447 students in 269 senior high school and university classes in six countries, and cross-validated with 1,594 senior high school students in 92 classes in Australia. Each SLEI scale exhibited satisfactory internal consistency reliability, discriminant validity, and factorial validity, and differentiated between the perceptions of students in different classes. A variety of applications with the new instrument furnished evidence about its usefulness and revealed that science laboratory classes are dominated by closed-ended activities; mean scores obtained on the Class form were consistently somewhat more favorable than on the corresponding Personal form; females generally held more favorable perceptions than males, but these differences were somewhat larger for the Personal form than the Class form; associations existed between attitudinal outcomes and laboratory environment dimensions; and the Class and Personal forms of the SLEI each accounted for unique variance in student outcomes which was independent of that accounted for by the other form.