Michael A. R. Townsend

Promoting the Social Acceptance of Young Children With Moderate–Severe Intellectual Disabilities Using Cooperative-Learning Techniques

The effects of a cooperative-learning program on the social acceptance of children with moderate to severe intellectual disabilities by young children without disabilities were examined. Children without disabilities were assigned to a cooperative-learning program or a social-contact program involved with the special class children or to a control (no classroom contact) condition. Significant pretest-posttest changes over a 10-week period in the cooperative-learning context indicated that children without disabilities gave the special class children higher peer acceptance ratings, greater popularity indices, and lower social-distance ratings. There were also more frequent interactions with the children without disabilities. These changes did not occur in either the social-contact or the control groups.

Environments, Processes, and Mechanisms in Peer Learning.

Abstract This chapter explores the dynamics and processes of peer group influences in learning settings from a social constructivist perspective. A two-tiered model of peer influences is presented, in which environments for learning are linked with mechanisms and processes most likely to underpin student learning. A distinction is drawn between more structured “tutorially configured” environments for learning, and more informal “ambient” environments through which peers influence the learning of others. Examples from classroom instruction are used to show that configured environments may be seen along a continuum of interactive structure based on the extent to which knowledge is socially constructed through reciprocal interaction, and to indicate the learning processes and mechanisms most likely to be operating. Similarly, research on peer influences in the ambient environment, and the likely associated processes and mechanisms, are also discussed. It is argued that the effects from both environments are interactive and that their influences are exerted both directly on learning and indirectly through proximal indicators of achievement.

Self‐concept and Anxiety in University Students Studying Social Science Statistics Within a Co‐operative Learning Structure

Abstract Students enrolled in an educational psychology course, which included a laboratory component in social science statistics, were assessed for mathematics self‐concept and mathematics anxiety at the beginning and end of the course. The laboratory teaching practices emphasised co‐operative learning activities and full‐class discussion in an attempt to provide a positive environment. Self‐concept improved significantly over time, as did student confidence in dealing with statistical problems, but mathematics anxiety did not show a significant reduction. These attitudinal factors were mediated by prior experience in mathematics. It is important that such attitudinal factors be considered alongside curriculum issues when designing instruction in mathematics‐related areas, particularly where strong negative attitudes are known to exist for some groups of students.

Popularity and Intimacy as Determinants of Psychological Well-Being in Adolescent Friendships

A great deal of research has shown that childrens friendship is linked with mental health. Much of this research has placed a heavy reliance on determining popularity by a sociometric technique in which children nominate their friends, but this procedure fails to identify the intimacy component of friendship known to be important in adolescent relationships. The current study combined measures of popularity and intimacy in an orthogonal, factorial design to determine their relationship to two separate measures of psychological adjustment, self-esteem and sex-role orientation, in early adolescents. The results showed intimacy to be more predictive of psychological adjustment than popularity. The results are discussed in terms of the need to differentiate the components of friendship.

Discussion: Modeling and Maximizing Peer Effects in School.

Abstract This chapter discusses issues that are common across the literatures and makes connections across the different levels of inquiry to develop a conceptual model of peer influences on learning. Based on the premise that compositional effects operate through a nested series of hierarchical layers, the chapter proposes a multi-layered model with effects propagating from school-level influences to class-level influences to group-level influences to ambient and configured environments for learning among peers. It is proposed that many of the effects are indirect. Hence, peer effects ‘look’ smaller the further we move away from the instructional coalface because they are mediated by intervening layers. It is also noted that there may be reciprocal effects whereby peers influence teachers and school organization and management. Finally, the chapter describes four instructional approaches that utilize peer resources to maximize learning. These approaches demonstrate additional ways of capitalizing on peer effects beyond altering student composition.

Motivational and academic effects of cultural experiences for indigenous minority students in New Zealand

Children aged seven to 10 from the indigenous Maori minority group in New Zealand participated in a year-long cultural intervention designed to increase self-esteem and locus of control. The intervention incorporated good teaching practices linked to self-esteem and locus of control with principles of culturally relevant teaching. Compared to matched children who did not participate in the intervention, the focus children had significantly more positive self-esteem and locus of control after the intervention than before. Parallel changes were apparent in a measure of scholastic aptitude, but not on measures of reading, mathematics, and listening achievement. The results are discussed in terms of the importance and effectiveness of using theoretically informed teaching practices in a culturally relevant way in low income, mainstream school settings.

Facilitating Children's Comprehension through the Use of Advance Organizers

Recent investigations of Ausubels advance organizer technique, a prereading instuctional intervention which serves to link new material with existing prior knowledge, have examined the interaction between learner characteristics and the characteristics of an advance organizer. However, this research fails to make eplicit the relationship between the advance organizer and the existing prior knowledge of the learner. The current study investigated the effects on comprehension of verbal and pictorial advance organizers with 8-year-old children having high or low prior knowledge relative to a science topic. In Experiment 1 a verbal advance organizer assisted the comprehension of only the children in the strong prior knowledge group. In Experiment 2 the addition of a pictorial component to the verbal advance organizer facilitated the comprehension of children in the weak prior knowledge group.

Reconsidering the Issue of Cooperative Learning With Gifted Students

This paper addresses the discussion regarding whether or not cooperative learning methods are good for gifted students by considering the processes of task-related interaction within different cooperative structures. Differences and similarities in the nature and type of task-related interactions that are promoted by different cooperative learning structures are discussed. Furthermore, the congruence between the types of student interaction that are promoted by different structures and theories of how students learn are considered. The implications of these points for gifted students are addressed. Finally, it is suggested that collaborative learning—an extension of cooperative group structures that is premised on social-constructivist theories of learning—can provide rich learning opportunities for gifted students in mixed-ability groupings.

Schema Shifting: Children's Cognitive Monitoring of the Prose-Schema Interaction in Comprehension.

Abstract Facility in shifting between familiar schemata in a listening comprehension task was examined in children from the third and sixth grades (8 and 11 years old, respectively). The children heard two consecutively presented ambiguous passages about very familiar daily activities. Comprehension of both passages demanded precisely timed activation of a schema appropriate to each passage. Half of the children were not explicitly cued to the passage shift, thus requiring that they spontaneously recognize the need for a schema shift. Analyses of free recall and interview responses showed that although the younger children had more difficulty than the older children, children at both grade levels demonstrated deficiencies in their cognitive monitoring of the prose-schema interaction.

Classroom interactions of mildly intellectually disabled children in special and regular classrooms

The nature and conduct of learning activities in reading and mathematics was surveyed in eight special classes for mildly intellectually disabled children, and eight regular classes, each of which contained a midly intellectually disabled child. It was found that the children attending special classes spent most instructional time in individualized activities whereas mildly intellectually disabled children in regular classes spent conspicuously little time in individualized activities. In all cases, the reading and maths programs were judged to be appropriate (by independent judges) for the mildly intellectually disabled children concerned, and the mode of interaction of the disabled children with both teachers and peers was similar in special and regular ciasses. While the percentage of individual learning time during which pupil interactions with teachers occurred, was lower for the special class pupils than for the disabled children attending regular classes, the special class pupils still spent substa...