Individualised college teaching

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/23357/1/0000301.pd

Meta-analytic Findings on Grouping Programs

Meta-analytic reviews have focused on five distinct instructional programs that separate students by ability: multilevel dasses, cross-grade programs, within-class grouping, enriched classes for the gifted and talented, and accelerated classes. The reviews show that effects are a function of program type. Multilevel classes, which entail only minor adjustment of course content for ability groups, usually have little or no effect on student achievement. Programs that entail more substantial adjustment of curriculum to ability, such as cross-grade and within-class programs, produce clear positive effects. Programs of enrichment and acceleration, which usually involve the greatest amount of curricular adjustment, have the largest effects on student learning. These results doe not support recent claims that no one benefits from grouping or that students in the lower groups are harmed academically and emotionally by grouping.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/67315/2/10.1177_001698629203600204.pd

The concept of meta-analysis

Keeping up with the literature of education becomes a more difficult task each year. The Current Index to Journals in Education last year listed more than 17,000 articles published in 700 journals. Research in Education indexed an additional 9000 documents, and Comprehensive Dissertation Abstracts listed more than 6000 dissertations in education. The number of research studies published next year will undoubtedly be greater, and in the year after next, an even larger number of studies is likely to be added to the literature.Researchers have long been aware of the need for organizing this vast literature so that it will be more useful to policy makers, administrators, teachers, and other researchers. But the case for research synthesis has seldom been made as convincingly as it was in Gene Glass's 1976 presidential address to the American Educational Research Association.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/28156/1/0000608.pd

Review of recent research literature on computer-based instruction

Separate meta-analyses have been completed recently on the effectiveness of computer-based education (CBE) in elementary schools, high schools, colleges, and nontraditional postsecondary institutions. Several general conclusions can be drawn from these meta-analyses. First, CBE programs usually have positive effects, as measured by several different criteria of instructional effectiveness. Effects are not uniformly high, however, for all types of CBE programs at all instructional levels. Second, effects vary as a function of the evaluation design used to measure CBE effectiveness. And third, study outcomes also vary as a function of the type of publication in which the results are found. Important questions about ways to improve instruction now await increased research attention.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/26657/1/0000201.pd

Effectiveness of computer-based instruction: An updated analysis

A meta-analysis of findings from 254 controlled evaluation studies showed that computer-based instruction (CBI) usually produces positive effects on students. The studies covered learners of all age levels -- from kindergarten pupils to adult students. CBI programs raised student examination scores by 0.30 standard deviations in the average study, a moderate but significant effect. Size of effect varied, however, as a function of study feature. Effects were larger in published rather than unpublished studies, in studies in which different teachers taught experimental and control classes, and in studies of short duration. CBI also produced small but positive changes in student attitudes toward teaching and computers, and it reduced substantially the amount of time needed for instruction.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/29534/1/0000622.pd

Effectiveness of computer-based education in elementary schools

A meta-analysis of 32 comparative studies showed that computer-based education has generally had positive effects on the achievement of elementary school pupils. These effects have been different, however, for programs of off-line computer-managed instruction (CMI) and for interactive computer-assisted instruction (CAI). The average effect in 28 studies of CAI programs was an increase in pupil achievement scores of 0.47 standard deviations, or from the 50th to the 68th percentile. The average effect in four studies of CMI programs, however, was an increase in scores of only 0.07 standard deviations. Study features were not significantly related to study outcomes.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/25814/1/0000377.pd

Children with Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis at School

Parents of 135 children with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA) completed a mailed questionnaire about problems at school. Writing was the most frequently reported difficulty, with hand involvement causing more problems than decreased mobility. Compared to children with pauciarticular JRA, those with polyarticular or systemic JRA were significantly more likely to miss school, experience problems, participate less in physical education, have an Individualized Educational Plan (IEP) developed, and receive related services. Only 39 parents had heard of PL 94-142, and only 21 of those could define the federal law. Twenty children had an IEP within the previous two years. Possible deficiencies in the implementation of PL 94-142 were discovered. This study demonstrates that the treatment of children with JRA should include efforts to: 1) identify and remediate potential performance limitations before they become problematic at school; 2) communicate this information to parents and school personnel; 3) and improve parents' awareness and understanding of PL 94-142.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/67045/2/10.1177_000992288902801104.pd

Research on audio-tutorial instruction: A meta-analysis of comparative studies

The present article describes a statistical synthesis of results from 48 comparative studies of an innovative method of college teaching, Postlethwait's Audio-Tutorial or A-T approach. The analysis showed that in general A-T instruction has a significant but small overall effect on student achievement in college courses, and it has no significant effect on student course evaluations or on course completions. Findings were similar for well-designed and less-well-designed studies included in this analysis, and they were also similar for studies carried out at different types of schools and in different subject areas. Results reported in journals, however, were more favorable to A-T than results found in dissertations and other unpublished reports.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/43586/1/11162_2004_Article_BF00975623.pd

Search for Kaluza-Klein Graviton Emission in ppˉp\bar{p} Collisions at s=1.8\sqrt{s}=1.8 TeV using the Missing Energy Signature

We report on a search for direct Kaluza-Klein graviton production in a data sample of 84 ${pb}^{-1}$ of \ppb collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 1.8 TeV, recorded by the Collider Detector at Fermilab. We investigate the final state of large missing transverse energy and one or two high energy jets. We compare the data with the predictions from a $3+1+n$-dimensional Kaluza-Klein scenario in which gravity becomes strong at the TeV scale. At 95% confidence level (C.L.) for $n$=2, 4, and 6 we exclude an effective Planck scale below 1.0, 0.77, and 0.71 TeV, respectively.Comment: Submitted to PRL, 7 pages 4 figures/Revision includes 5 figure