Richard T. Walls

Teachers' Beliefs and Technology Practices: A Mixed-Methods Approach.

Abstract In a sequential mixed methods design, we sought to examine the relationship between teachers’ beliefs and their instructional technology practices among technology-using teachers who worked at technology-rich schools to ultimately describe if change in practice toward a student-centered paradigm occurred. The integrated mixed-methods results provide evidence for the following: (a) teachers use technology most frequently for preparation, management, and administrative purposes; (b) teachers’ use of technology to support student-centered practice is rare even among those who work at technology-rich schools and hold student-centered beliefs; (c) teachers in technology-rich schools continue to use technology in ways that support their already existing teacher-centered instructional practices. We conclude that future technology professional development efforts need to focus on integration of technology into curriculum via student-centered pedagogy while attending to multiple contextual conditions under which teacher practice takes place. Future technology research must use mixed methods and consider teachers’ beliefs if change in practice is the desired outcome.

Employer benefits from making workplace accommodations

BACKGROUND This study explored workplace disability accommodations and their benefits. The participants were employers and human resource professionals who had not used the services of the Job Accommodation Network (JAN). The companies included large businesses (more than 499 employees) and small businesses (fewer than 500 employees). OBJECTIVE/HYPOTHESIS The intent of this investigation was to assess the disability accommodations and benefits for the employers. METHODS The study used responses to online survey from194 employers to discuss disability-related accommodations for an employee or potential employee. The survey included 128 employers who reported having had a person with a disability who requested an accommodation. RESULTS As reported by the employers, the most frequently mentioned direct benefits from implementing workplace accommodations were (a) retained a qualified employee, (b) increased worker productivity, and (c) eliminated the cost of training a new employee. The most frequently mentioned indirect benefits from accommodations were (a) improved interactions with coworkers, (b) increased overall company morale, and (c) increased overall company productivity. The most frequently reported types of implemented accommodations were buying equipment and changing work schedules. Most of the respondents estimated the direct benefits of having made an accommodation at more than

Child and Adolescent Knowledge and Attitudes about Older Adults across Time and States.

1000. CONCLUSIONS The findings heighten awareness of benefits associated with making accommodations for people with disabilities in the workplace. These benefits signify value for business, coworkers, and individuals with disabilities for whom accommodations are critical for successful employment.

Forward and Backward Chaining, and Whole Task Methods: Training Assembly Tasks in Vocational Rehabilitation

The original Palmores Facts on Aging Quiz was modified and presented to 954 elementary, middle, and high school students (grades 3, 6, 9, 12) in West Virginia and Texas. Three separate experiments were summarized involving the Child Adolescent Facts on Aging Quiz (CAFAQ). Similar student responses on number of correct items and bias were noted in 1983 and 1998. Adolescents showed positive bias, but elementary school children showed negative bias toward older adults. Female adolescents tended to show more positive bias than male adolescents. With regard to ethnicity, White adolescents answered more correct items than Hispanic adolescent students. Hispanic adolescents tended to show more negative bias than White or Black adolescent students. No relationship between weekly contact with an older adult and accuracy or bias was observed.

Effects of interactive instructional techniques in a web-based peripheral nervous system component for human anatomy

The effects of training by whole task, forward chaining, and backward chaining methods were examined in teaching vocational rehabilitation clients the construction of three assembly tasks. Clients learned to assemble a bicycle brake, a meat grinder, and a carburetor on three successive days by the three training methods in a counterbalanced design. The percentage of responses that were errors was, on the average, more than twice as great for subjects in the whole task method as for subjects in either chaining method (which did not differ). Total time to criterion did not differ among chaining and whole methods. Slower learning subjects benefited substantially from the systematic chaining procedures.

Perceived ability and level of education as predictors of traditional and practical adult problem solving.

Background: This study investigated the effects of interactive instructional techniques in a web-based peripheral nervous system (PNS) component of a first year medical school human anatomy course. Method: Existing data from 9 years of instruction involving 856 students were used to determine (1) the effect of web-based interactive instructional techniques on written exam item performance and (2) differences between student opinions of the benefit level of five different types of interactive learning objects used. The interactive learning objects included Patient Case studies, review Games, Simulated Interactive Patients (SIP), Flashcards, and unit Quizzes. Results: Exam item analysis scores were found to be significantly higher (p < 0.05) for students receiving the instructional treatment incorporating the web-based interactive learning objects than for students not receiving this treatment. Questionnaires using a five-point Likert scale were analysed to determine student opinion ratings of the interactive learning objects. Students reported favorably on the benefit level of all learning objects. Students rated the benefit level of the Simulated Interactive Patients (SIP) highest, and this rating was significantly higher (p < 0.05) than all other learning objects. Conclusion: This study suggests that web-based interactive instructional techniques improve student exam performance. Students indicated a strong acceptance of Simulated Interactive Patient learning objects.

TOOLS, TIME, AND STRATEGIES FOR INTEGRATING TECHNOLOGY ACROSS THE CURRICULUM

Sixty adults (ages 19 to 80) were divided into three age groups. Each individual completed the Problem Solving Inventory (PSI), which assesses an individuals self-perception of problem-solving ability, prior to completing two types of problems, including concept-identification tasks and six everyday, practical problems. When the level of education across the younger, middle-aged, and older adults was controlled, older individuals perceived themselves as better problem solvers, and they were more confident in their problem-solving abilities than the other age groups. Additionally, these older adults with relatively high levels of education took more time to complete the concept-identification tasks but did not make more errors or need more choices to solve these tasks. Similarly, the older participants performed as well as either of the other age groups on the everyday, practical problems.Sixty adults (ages 19 to 80) were divided into three age groups. Each individual completed the Problem Solving Inventory (PSI), which assesses an individuals self-perception of problem-solving ability, prior to completing two types of problems, including concept-identification tasks and six everyday, practical problems. When the level of education across the younger, middle-aged, and older adults was controlled, older individuals perceived themselves as better problem solvers, and they were more confident in their problem-solving abilities than the other age groups. Additionally, these older adults with relatively high levels of education took more time to complete the concept-identification tasks but did not make more errors or need more choices to solve these tasks. Similarly, the older participants performed as well as either of the other age groups on the everyday, practical problems.

Charting the Links Between Mathematics Content and Pedagogy Concepts: Cartographies of Cognition

Educational constructivism concepts of active engagement (learning-by-doing), realistic context (authentic, situated cognition), and collaborative learning (shared process) were emphasized for (a) three-teacher teams designing interdisciplinary lesson plans that integrate technologies across the curriculum, and (b) students engaging in construction of knowledge through problem solving and discovery. Each teacher team in the West Virginia Turnkey Solution (U.S. Department of Education Technology Innovation Challenge Grant) received laptop computers, engaged in an intensive training-development week, posted a minimum of 10 constructivist-based, technology-integrated, cross=discipline lesson plans to http://www.thesolutionsite.com, and carried the benefits back to their home schools. The results indicated statistically significant increases in (a) teacher use (frequency and skill) of technologies, (b) student use of technologies, (c) classroom observations of interdisciplinary, constructivist, and technology categories, and (d) pre- and post-student learning with technology versus no technology. Additionally, the units of instruction (lesson plans) posted on the Internet were evaluated positively (learning and motivation) by the students who used them.

Disability Benefits as Disincentives to Rehabilitation

Abstract Links between content knowledge in the mathematics domain and in pedagogical reasoning were compared for university mathematicians, mathematicsmethods professors, high school teachers, middle school teachers, and elementary school teachers. Because of their experience in both mathematical content and pedagogical concepts, mathematics-methods professors were expected to integrate those domains into a coherent pedagogical content-knowledge structure. That was the case. Although university mathematicians possessed integrated content-knowledge structures, they tended to represent teaching as transmission of knowledge and learning as accumulation of knowledge. Mathematics-methods professors, high school teachers, elementary school teachers, and, in most instances, middle school teachers appeared to conceptualize teaching as facilitation of conceptual change and learning as an interactive process. In addition, pathfinder network analysis showed concept maps to yield more logically coherent representati...

autobiographical memory of school

The relations among physical disability, governmental and voluntary benefit programs, and rehabilitation outcome are more complex than has generally been assumed. Factors of motivation and functional capacity are not adequately accommodated by current methods and level of benefit provision. Preliminary investigation shows that programs may, in fact, deter some of the disabled from return to work. Proposed congressional legislation does not appear to likely to resolve conflicting goals and expectations of the labor market, the disabled, and the taxpayer.