Effects of children\u27s literature on students\u27 on-task behavior during mathematics instruction.

Nationally, there are increasing numbers of students who are at-risk for academic and/or social failure (U.S. Department of Education, 2009). In an attempt to address this trend, the 2004 reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (PL 108-446) encouraged educators to provide early and appropriate interventions not only to identify and help children with disabilities, but to also provide additional supports for students with academic difficulties and challenging behaviors. Although there have been evidenced-based academic interventions pertaining to students with challenging behaviors, most of the literature has been focused on reading interventions rather than mathematics interventions (Bos & Vaughn, 2005). This study examined the effects of integrating children\u27s literature in mathematics instruction on the academic and behavioral outcomes of students with academic difficulty and challenging behaviors. A single subject, multiple baseline design across participants was implemented to examine the effects of this curricular approach on increasing student engagement, reducing disruptive behaviors, and increasing the teacher\u27s rate of providing opportunities to respond for four elementary students identified as exhibiting academic difficulty and challenging behaviors during Tier II mathematics instruction. In addition, two pretest/posttest designs were used to assess the academic achievement of the student participants. Results of this study suggest that integrating children\u27s literature in mathematics instruction is an effective curricular approach for increasing engagement for students with academic difficulties and challenging behaviors. Furthermore, results suggest that this curricular approach was effective in increasing the teacher\u27s rate of providing opportunities for students to respond. However, results were not definitive regarding the effectiveness of integrating children\u27s literature in mathematics instruction on decreasing disruptive behavior and there were no results of significance on student mathematics achievement. Directions for future research and educational implications are discussed

Improving Validity and Reliability in Children’s Self Reports of Technology Use

Researchers working in child computer interaction are constantly seeking new methods and new techniques that will enable them to carry out more valid and more reliable research. Much of this research typically considers the design and development of new products and of new interactive techniques and researchers seek to understand how easy such innovations are for children, how much fun they are to use and how attractive they may be for use. The impact of prior technology use on the children’s responses in those contexts is the core concern of this thesis. The thesis provides a set of tools (survey instruments and guidelines) that can be used by the CCI research community to ascertain the prior experience of children with any technology and with any task. These tools are generated using theory, experience and literature and are validated through user studies. The PETT survey tool comprises three questionnaires, CTEQ, CTUQ and CTHQ and an associated user guide that clearly articulates how to use PETT and demonstrates the flexibility of PETT to be used in many contexts. The guidelines (RWC, SWC and SRT) can be applied on three levels, for general use in research with children, in the design of surveys and in the specifics of designing self-report tools for prior technology experience

Social-Emotional Development Assessment: Scale Development for Kindergarten through Second Grade Youth Universal Screening

The goal of this project was to address a significant gap in the research literature with regard to available screening tools that allow young children to self-identify needs related to their social-emotional development. A review of current evidence-based social-emotional tools led to the identification of seven domains most frequently utilized: self-regulation, emotional regulation, social skills, self-concept, school connectedness, social responsibility, and optimism/positivity. To accomplish this endeavor, two studies were conducted to develop a screening measure that demonstrated adequate psychometric properties, but also minimized cost related to time for implementation. The first study was a review of 105 pilot scale items by kindergarten through second grade teachers (n = 12). Teachers ranked items based on importance that students demonstrate these skills at this developmental stage and also the readability of items. Rankings were then compared to that of the principal investigator. A balance of items from the seven domains with the highest rankings were taken to develop a 30-item pilot survey. The second study was a pilot of a self-report survey completed by kindergarten through second grade students (n = 384) from two different districts in the Northeast. This survey was completed by students via group administration. Special consideration was given to the survey design to maximize the likelihood that students would remain engaged and provide reliable information. Students were presented with visuals and additional prompts to aid in administration of the tool. Classic item analysis approaches found one item that was an outlier and was removed from analysis. The remaining 29 items were reviewed by an exploratory factor analysis. It was found that this scale presents with unidimensionality and explained 30.5% of the variance. Items were then compared utilizing a graded response model of item response theory. Following this review, 12 items were identified for future research from five of the seven original domains (self-regulation, social skills, school connectedness, social responsibility, and optimism). This scale will require future assessments to further validate the measure, but marks an important step in the potential development of a scale which allows young students to self-report social-emotional needs and receive early intervention supports

Adding Context to Automated Text Input Error Analysis with Reference to Understanding How Children Make Typing Errors

Despite the enormous body of literature studying the typing errors of adults, children's typing errors remain an understudied area. It is well known in the field of Child-Computer Interaction that children are not 'little adults'. This means findings regarding how adults make typing mistakes cannot simply be transferred into how children make typing errors, without first understanding the differences. To understand how children differ from adults in the way they make typing mistakes, typing data were gathered from both children and adults. It was important that the data collected from the contrasting participant groups were comparable. Various methods of collecting typing data from adults were reviewed for suitability with children. Several issues were identified that could create a bias towards the adults. To resolve these issues, new tools and methods were designed, such as a new phrase set, a new data collector and new computer experience questionnaires. Additionally, there was a lack of an analysis method of typing data suitable for use with both children and adults. A new categorisation method was defined based on typing errors made by both children and adults. This categorisation method was then adapted into a Java program, which dramatically reduced the time required to carry out typing categorisation. Finally, in a large study, typing data collected from 231 primary school children, aged between 7 and 10 years, and 229 undergraduate computing students were analysed. Grouping the typing errors according to the context in which they occurred allowed for a much more detailed analysis than was possible with error rates. The analysis showed children have a set of errors they made frequently that adults rarely made. These errors that are specific to children suggest that differences exist between the ways the two groups make typing errors. This finding means that children's typing errors should be studied in their own right

Preschool Children's Conceptualization of Safety and Moral Rules

Clinical Psycholog

An application of steady state visual evoked potential brain-computer interface as an augmentative alternative communication system for individuals with severe motor impairments

Thesis (M.S.)--Boston UniversityPURPOSE: Tbis study will look at the feasibility of Steady State Visually Evoked Potential (SSVEP) brain-computer interfaces (BCI) as possible augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) systems for individuals who are severely disabled such as those with Locked-in Syndrome (LIS). The study intended to test whether there is a difference in BCI performance between healthy and impaired individuals and why. Specifically, the study focused on the operational competency, such as ocular motor function, ofthe impaired individuals as it relates to performance. Further, the study also attempted to explore the contributions of environmental distracts to performance. The results oftbis investigation will provide insights valuable for future BCI-AAC development and the potential for their acceptance by the AAC and LIS communities. METHODS: The study consisted of 12 healthy adults and 5 severely disabled adults presenting with 4 different neurological disorders. Tbis study consisted to two parts. The first part was an assessment ofthe communicative abilities ofthe impaired subjects. The assessment was conducted through a video recorded interview, from which communication rates were calculated and behavioral observations of each impaired subject's communicative behaviors were made with a focus on ocular motor behavior. The second part involved testing of the SSVEP BCI. All subjects performed selection tasks from a choice of four directions in the UDLR task. For each trial, the subject was prompted to attend to a specific SSVEP stimulus. Each stimulus was selected at random to flash at one of four frequencies (12, 13, 14, or 15Hz) (Lorenz, 2012). After 4 seconds, the BCI predicted the attended cue direction (Up, Down, Left, Right). If the prediction was correct, a "thumbs-up" feedback signal was shown to the subject; a "thumbs-down" was shown for incorrect predictions. The UDLR data collected for each trial consisted of a table with two columns: one column recorded the ground truth, which was the target direction, and one column recorded the decoded, or classified direction. Two additional columns were added. One column indicated whether the subject had any ocular motor impairment with a 1 or 0. A binary logistic regression was completed to investigate the main effect of age, subject group, and ocular motor impairment with respect to BCI accuracy. Additionally, observations regarding the affect of environmental distractions were also made. [TRUNCATED

Interaction design for paediatric emergency VR training

Virtual reality (VR) in healthcare training has increased adoption and support, but efforts are still required to mitigate usability concerns. This study conducted a usability study of an in-use emergency medicine VR training application, available on commercially available VR hardware and with a standard interaction design. Nine users without prior VR experience but with relevant medical expertise completed two simulation scenarios for a total of 18 recorded sessions. They completed NASA Task Load Index and System Usability Scale questionnaires after each session, and their performance was recorded for the tracking of user errors. Our results showed a medium (and potentially optimal) Workload and an above average System Usability Score. There was significant improvement in several factors between users’ first and second sessions, notably increased Performance evaluation. User errors with the strongest correlation to usability were not directly tied to interaction design, however, but to a limited ‘possibility space’. Suggestions for closing this ‘gulf of execution’ were presented, including ‘voice control’ and ‘hand-tracking’, which are only feasible for this commercial product now with the availability of the Oculus Quest headset. Moreover, wider implications for VR medical training were outlined, and potential next steps towards a standardized design identified