Syllable-based reading improvement: Effects on word reading and reading comprehension in Grade 2

This study examined the effects of a syllable-based reading intervention for German second graders who demonstrated difficulties in the recognition of written words. The intervention focused on fostering word reading via syllable segmentation. The materials consisted of the 500 most frequent syllables typically read by 6- to 8-year-old children. The aims were to practice phonological recoding, consolidate orthographic representations of syllables, and routinize the access to these representations. Compared to children randomly assigned to a wait-list group, poor readers in the treatment condition showed significant improvements in standardized measures of phonological recoding, direct word recognition, and text-based reading comprehension after the 24-session intervention. Poor readers in the treatment condition also showed greater improvements in development of word recognition compared to children with efficient word recognition skills. The results provide evidence that a syllable-based reading intervention is a promising approach to increase struggling readers’ word recognition skills, which in turn will improve their reading comprehension.     

‘I would say nine times out of 10 they come to the LSA rather than the teacher’. The role of teaching assistants in supporting children's mental health

This research explored how seven primary school teaching assistants (TAs) experienced their role in supporting children's mental health. Interviews were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). The participants believed that they supported children's mental health and particularly referenced the close relationships that they formed with children. Throughout their accounts of supporting children, the TAs referenced helpful factors (e.g. support from other staff) and challenges (e.g. hierarchy) within the school system. Supporting children’s mental health was an emotional experience for the TAs; they discussed the rewarding element, however, the topic also elicited fear. The findings provide several implications for school staff and external professionals about how TAs can be supported in their role. These include involving TAs in training opportunities, providing TAs with supervision, considering communication systems in schools, and introducing a mental health policy.     

Modelling the long-run learning impact of the Covid-19 learning shock: Actions to (more than) mitigate loss

This paper uses a calibrated “pedagogical production function” model to estimate the potential long-term losses to children’s learning from the temporary shock of Covid-19 related school closures. It then models possible gains from two mitigation strategies. Without mitigation, children could lose more than a full year’s worth of learning from a three-month school closure because they will be behind the curriculum when they re-enter school and will fall further behind as time goes on. Remediation when children return to school reduces the long-term learning loss by half, but still leaves children more than half a year behind where they would have been with no shock. Remediation combined with long-term reorientation of curriculum to align with children’s learning levels fully mitigates the long-term learning loss due to the shock and surpasses the learning in the counterfactual of no shock by more than a full year’s worth of learning. Systems need to begin planning now for remediation programmes, and as they do so they should build programmes and train teachers in ways that can continue to produce benefits beyond the period immediately following reopening.     

巧用概念图开展小学数学教学研究

概念图是小学课堂中重要的教学手段,它可以通过图片的形式,将数学知识点之间的联系表达出来,有利于培养学生的数学学科综合素养。本次研究根据小学生的特点,帮助学生培养运用概念图的习惯,以期获得良好的小学数学教学效果。     

Discrete Choice Modeling in Education: An Innovative Method to Assess Teaching Practices

Self‐reported measures are an easy, time‐efficient, and low‐cost way to collect research data compared to other assessment methods. They are, however, characterized by several limitations regarding the quality and the clarity of the data they produce, especially when they are implemented in education. The main purpose of the current study was to use a method called discrete choice modeling (DCM) in education, in order to develop a self‐reported instrument that will reduce the bias for socially desirable responses and to assess teachers’ practices in physical activity. DCM method has the ability to overcome the respondents’ tendency to answer in a socially desirable way. A nationally representative sample of 531 Greek early educators participated in this study and were administered a self‐assessment questionnaire based on DCM. Results showed that the DCM based newly developed instrument manages to assess effectively educators’ practices and provided evidence of the applicability of the method in education. Further implications and future recommendations regarding the effective application of DCM in education are discussed.     

Evaluating the international dimension in an undergraduate curriculum by assessing students’ intercultural sensitivity

This formative, outcome-oriented, theory-based evaluation research study assessed the effectiveness of requiring an international (‘I’) course by measuring students’ intercultural sensitivity (IS) at the start and end of a semester. Findings revealed that students’ IS scores did not change regardless of the type of class in which the student was enrolled and were not significantly different based on gender, age, ethnicity, undergraduate classification, or number of ‘I’ courses taken. There were significant differences in IS based on religion, traveling outside the US, participating in a study abroad course, and the number of cultural events in which the student had participated. Regression analysis confirmed that religious affiliation and number of times traveled outside the US were significant predictors of IS. This study is an example of the use of theory-based evaluation in an educational system and provides important insights into what experiences affect college students’ IS.     

高职院校顶岗实习管理机制构建探析

顶岗实习是实现高职人才培养目标的重要途径。鉴于当前高职顶岗实习中学校、学生及教师各层面都存在的问题,重新设计了顶岗实习的流程体系,通过校、企、师、生、家五方联动,构建了五途径保障实习岗位、两维度驱动实习成效、四层次规范实习管理、三主体强化实习评价的“五二四三”顶岗实习模式,实现学生、企业、教师、家长、导师和学校的六方共赢。     

大学生孤独感对手机成瘾倾向的影响:生命意义感的调节作用

为了探究大学生孤独感、手机成瘾倾向和生命意义感之间的关系,采用UCLA孤独量表、大学生手机成瘾倾向量表、人生意义感问卷,选取408名大学生作为被试进行问卷调查。结果发现:(1)孤独感与手机成瘾倾向呈显著性正相关,生命意义感与手机成瘾倾向呈显著性负相关,孤独感和生命意义感相关性不显著;(2)孤独感和生命意义感都显著预测手机成瘾倾向,生命意义感在孤独感和手机成瘾倾向之间的调节效应显著,低生命意义感大学生的孤独感对手机成瘾倾向的预测力更强。因此,大学生的孤独感能正向预测手机成瘾倾向,生命意义感能调节二者之间的关系,低水平的生命意义感会加剧孤独感对手机成瘾倾向的预测作用,而高水平的生命意义感会使孤独感对手机成瘾倾向的影响较小。     

A Bioethos for Bodies: Respecting a Priceless Resource

The value that willed body donors provide to medical education is priceless. Their precious gift helps to teach anatomy, spatial relationships between morphological structures, anatomical variation, and professionalism to medical students in a way that plastic models, podcasts, and lectures cannot. They are also an important resource for medical research and a wide variety of postgraduate training opportunities. While many body donation programs throughout the world are nonprofit organizations, there are body donation companies in the United States that sell donors for-profit. These “body brokers” have accumulated large profits from this business. It is incongruous that others would profit from such a priceless, freely donated gift. To prevent this incongruity, it is proposed that the international anatomical community develop a normative culture (a bioethos) for body donation programs. This would involve the conscious and systematic development of ethical principles for the day-to-day policies and practices of institutions that collect and use human bodies. With the development of this bioethos, a cultural shift in how donors are treated would occur and, over time, this would become the normal practice. These principles would become fundamental and foundational for the procurement and use of priceless human tissues.