Differentiation as measured by the Classroom Practices Survey: a validity study updating the original instrument     

Pereira  Nielsen  Tay  Juliana  Maeda  Yukiko  Gentry  Marcia 《Learning Environments Research》2019,22(3):443-460

The Classroom Practices Survey assesses educators’ use of differentiated instruction with students achieving at average and high levels. The purposes of this study were to investigate if the Classroom Practices Survey (1) yields reliable and valid data from the groups for which it was originally designed and (2) can be used to evaluate teachers’ differentiation practices for students who achieve at low levels. Participants included 648 elementary teachers who completed the Classroom Practices Survey for students achieving at high, average and low levels. Confirmatory factor analyses revealed that the original six-factor model was not supported by the current data. Model fit was improved with a four-factor model, but did not reach the recommended values for good model fit. Further research and possibly modifications are needed before this tool is used by researchers and schools. This study highlights the importance of periodically evaluating instruments and revising them if necessary.

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ANCHORING ADHD SYMPTOMS TO MENTAL AGE     

Callie Martin  Mardis Dunham  Samir H. Patel  Susana Contreras‐Bloomdahl 《Psychology in the schools》2016,53(9):926-937

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM‐5), requires that symptoms of ADHD must be developmentally inappropriate in order for an ADHD diagnosis to be considered. Because the DSM‐5 does not specifically outline procedure for determining developmental inappropriateness of behaviors, practitioners do not have guidance for making this consideration. To explore the relationship between mental age and behavior ratings of ADHD symptoms, the cognitive and behavioral data from 50 children who were evaluated in a school or clinic were compiled for this study. Cognitive ability scores were used to calculate mental age and behavior rating scores were then recalculated using the assessed mental age. Using the recalculated behavior ratings, scores based on mental age decreased significantly on the Attention Problems, Hyperactivity, and Atypicality scales of the BASC‐2. Additionally, as the discrepancy between mental and chronological age increased, larger differences in scores were found.  相似文献   

The Influence of Toy Design Activities on Middle School Students’ Understanding of the Engineering Design Processes     

Ninger Zhou  Nielsen L. Pereira  Tarun Thomas George  Jeffrey Alperovich  Joran Booth  Senthil Chandrasegaran  Jeffrey David Tew  Devadatta M. Kulkarni  Karthik Ramani 《Journal of Science Education and Technology》2017,26(5):481-493

The societal demand for inspiring and engaging science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) students and preparing our workforce for the emerging creative economy has necessitated developing students’ self-efficacy and understanding of engineering design processes from as early as elementary school levels. Hands-on engineering design activities have shown the potential to promote middle school students’ self-efficacy and understanding of engineering design processes. However, traditional classrooms often lack hands-on engineering design experiences, leaving students unprepared to solve real-world design problems. In this study, we introduce the framework of a toy design workshop and investigate the influence of the workshop activities on students’ understanding of and self-efficacy beliefs in engineering design. Using a mixed method approach, we conducted quantitative analyses to show changes in students’ engineering design self-efficacy and qualitative analyses to identify students’ understanding of the engineering design processes. Findings show that among the 24 participants, there is a significant increase in students’ self-efficacy beliefs after attending the workshop. We also identified major themes such as design goals and prototyping in students’ understanding of engineering design processes. This research provides insights into the key elements of middle school students’ engineering design learning and the benefits of engaging middle school students in hands-on toy design workshops.  相似文献   

Learning as the Construction and Re-mediation of Activity Systems: Environmental Management in Biogas Production     

Marco A. Pereira Querol  Timo Suutari  Laura Seppänen 《The Journal of Agricultural Education and Extension》2013,19(4):373-384

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to present theoretical tools for understanding the dynamics of change and learning during the emergence and development of environmental management activities. The methodology consists of a historical analysis of a case of biogas production that took place in the Southwest region of Finland. The theoretical tools used helped to see how the content of an activity guided the historical emergence and change of an EM activity. The practical implication of the paper is that environmental solutions should not be restricted to the adaptation of a system, but should also include the possibility of constructing a new activity, with a new object and means of production. The paper is original in presenting theoretical tools for grasping the content of learning in environmental management activities.  相似文献   

Media Plurality and the Intensity of Readers' Political Preferences     

Armando J. Garcia Pires 《Journal of Media Economics》2013,26(1):41-55

In this article, the author studied the effect of the intensity of readers' political preferences on the news firms' incentives to choose between a single- and a multi-ideology strategy (i.e., media uniformity vs. media plurality). The author shows that alternative formalizations of the intensity of readers' preferences alter the equilibrium level of media plurality, given that they affect demand for news. In particular, when the readers' disutility of consuming news that differs from their ideal variety is relatively high for politically close news, the media firms choose a multi-ideology strategy, because the increase in demand is large. On the contrary, when the readers' disutility of consuming news that differs from their ideal variety is relatively low for politically close news, media firms choose a single-ideology strategy because a multi-ideology strategy does not significantly increase demand.  相似文献   

Grammar and text: an experiment in teacher training / Gramática y texto: un experimento en la formación de profesores     

Adriana Cardoso  Susana Pereira  Encarnação Silva 《Cultura y Educación》2013,25(2):456-463

Abstract

The article describes an experiment in teaching training undertaken in the context of the Masters programme in Teacher Training (for primary school teachers) at the Lisbon College of Education. The training experiment was able to: (1) incorporate mother tongue teaching into the broader curriculum; (2) relate the teaching of texts and the teaching of grammar; and (3) integrate the theoretical and practical dimensions of teacher training. The didactic scheme adopted relies on theoretical assumptions such as the concept of the integrated curriculum, the model of didactic sequence and the principles of socio-discursive interactionism. This training experiment has proved to be particularly useful for all the participants in the process (teachers of the course; trainee teachers; children in the schools; and the form teachers of the classes where the trainees do their practice). As a result of it, there has been a clear improvement in the quality of the teaching provided by our trainees in the domains of writing and grammar. The main advantages of this approach are that: (1) it structures the teaching of writing and grammar; (2) it uses projects to socially contextualize writing tasks; (3) it develops various language skills in an integrated fashion, while at the same time working on different areas of knowledge; and (4) it defines forms of spiral progression.  相似文献   

Case Method in the Teaching of Food Safety     

Alfredo Gallego  María S. Fortunato  Susana L. Rossi  Sonia E. Korol  Juan A. Moretton 《Journal of Food Science Education》2013,12(3):42-47

One of the fundamental aims of education is the integration of theory and practice. The case method is a teaching strategy in which students must apply their knowledge to solve real‐life situations. They have to analyze the case described and propose the best possible solution. Although the case may be written, the use of new information and communication technologies can develop the case plan in ways that would achieve greater realism and widen the possibilities for discussion. This paper describes our experience in implementing the case method to teach food safety in the Chair of Hygiene. At first this methodology was used to improve the teaching of good practices in food preparation, later practical work was implemented where small groups of students designed and carried out the microbiological analysis of suspected food. This practical work was presented online as a multimedia activity; students were given face‐to‐face and on‐line tutoring. Evaluation was based both on students’ performance and on a survey they had to answer. More than 92% of students regarded the methodology used for the understanding of the unit as sound. Professors collaboration on providing guidance and multimedia presentation were also positively assessed. The bringing together of face‐to‐face and virtual tasks and small‐group discussion of cases under professors guidance contributed to making good use of the positive aspects of this methodology in order to improve the understanding of problems which do not always have a single answer.  相似文献   

Implicit indexing of natural language text by reorganizing bytecodes     

Nieves R. Brisaboa  Antonio Fari?a  Susana Ladra  Gonzalo Navarro 《Information Retrieval》2012,15(6):527-557

Word-based byte-oriented compression has succeeded on large natural language text databases, by providing competitive compression ratios, fast random access, and direct sequential searching. We show that by just rearranging the target symbols of the compressed text into a tree-shaped structure, and using negligible additional space, we obtain a new implicitly indexed representation of the compressed text, where search times are drastically improved. The occurrences of a word can be listed directly, without any text scanning, and in general any inverted-index-like capability, such as efficient phrase searches, can be emulated without storing any inverted list information. We experimentally show that our proposal performs not only much more efficiently than sequential searches over compressed text, but also than explicit inverted indexes and other types of indexes, when using little extra space. Our representation is especially successful when searching for single words and short phrases.  相似文献   

Short-term tracking of performance and health-related physical fitness in girls: The Healthy Growth in Cariri Study     

Simonete Pereira Da Silva  Gaston Beunen  António Prista  José Maia 《Journal of sports sciences》2013,31(1):104-113

Abstract

The main purpose of this study was to track the performance and health-related physical fitness of girls from Brazil's Cariri region. In the “Healthy Growth in Cariri Study”, 294 girls from public and private schools were divided into four age cohorts – 8, 10, 12, and 14 years – and followed for three consecutive years, with an assessment every 6 months. Shuttle run, hand grip, standing long jump, trunk lift, curl-up, 12-min run, and fatness were used to rate physical fitness performance and health-related components on each of six occasions. Tracking was done in a stepwise manner, using auto-correlation, by modelling the individual history of change in performance of each girl, and using Foulkes and Davies’ γ-coefficient. SPSS 18.0 and TIMEPATH were used for data analysis. Auto-correlations evidenced low-to-moderate values in almost all components of performance and health-related physical fitness. Intra-individual tracking analysis showed large variation in all fitness components as a result of a wide spread in individual history of change in fitness performance. Population estimates of γ were low in all tests. Our results show low-to-moderate tracking of physical fitness components of girls. A wide range of intra-individual and inter-variability in fitness development was observed.  相似文献   

Becoming a teacher: student teachers’ experiences and perceptions about teaching practice     

Susana Caires  Leandro Almeida  Diana Vieira 《欧洲师范教育杂志》2012,35(2):163-178

In an attempt to build a more comprehensive and holistic understanding of the complexity, dynamics and idiosyncrasies involved in becoming a teacher, this study focussed on the experiences of 295 student teachers. Their feelings, cognitions and perceptions regarding teaching practice were analysed using the short version of the Inventory of Experiences and Perceptions of the Teaching Practice. Results emphasise some of the difficulties experienced during this period (e.g., stress, sense of weariness and ‘vulnerability’), as well the positive perceptions of these student teachers regarding their growing knowledge and skilfulness, as well as their sense of efficacy, flexibility and spontaneity in their performance and interactions. Their perception of their accomplishments in achieving reasonable levels of acceptance and recognition within the school community and their positive evaluation of the guidance and support provided by their supervisors are also emphasised. Differences were found – in terms of gender and graduate course background – in the way these student teachers experienced some aspects of teaching practice.  相似文献