Will it work with my kids: Teachers' practical concept of effective reading instruction

This study explored six experienced, elementary classroom teachers' concept of effective reading instruction. In order to describe how teachers construct a repertoire of effective reading instruction practices, I observed reading instruction in each classroom and interviewed each teacher several times.The analysis of the observation and interview data revealed that teachers construct a practical concept of instructional effectiveness, framed by the context in which they teach and validated by direct, anecdotal information. The teachers' concept of effectiveness is guided by a theory of learning they have developed from their classroom experience. This theory emphasizes the importance of guided and independent practice in reading more than direct instruction to improve students' reading performance. The teachers evaluated their own practices by the degree to which the practices encouraged students to enjoy reading widely. The most powerful evidence of effective practices, for teachers, were examples of students who had made remarkable improvement in reading after having little success in other teachers' classes.The teachers' concept of effectiveness was manifest in the framework they use to select practices for their instructional repertoire. The essential components of the framework are: (a) a theory that students learn to read better by reading more; (b) a reliance on student interest and engagement as the main criterion for judging a practice; (c) a tendency to modify practices to fit specific classroom conditions; and (d) a belief in cases of extraordinary student improvement as evidence of effective practice. This framework was the primary basis on which teachers made instructional decisions.This study suggests that a concept of effective instruction that depends entirely on standardized tests results is not adequate for teachers' instructional practice decisions. Teachers found their observations of students' responses and engagement more useful information for constructing an instructional repertoire. A concept of effectiveness which does not take into account the teachers' concerns about encouraging students to read independently is unlikely to be adopted by teachers.U of I OnlyETDs are only available to UIUC Users without author permissio

On the logical integrity of children's arguments

The purpose of this study was to investigate properties of children's naturally occurring arguments. The arguments were sampled from transcripts of 20 discussions held in 4 fourth-grade classrooms. The principal findings were that children's arguments are filled with seemingly vague referring expressions; that the arguments sometimes do not contain explicit conclusions; and that the arguments almost never contain explicit warrants to authorize conclusions. However, the missing or obliquely identified information usually is given in the text or preceding discussion or is a commonplace from everyday life and readily inferable by actively-cooperative participants in the discussion. Children seldom back their arguments by appealing to general principles, except when the foundation for the argument is disputed or seems confusing. At a more general level, we conclude that it is possible to give a coherent account of children's arguments within the framework of informal deductivism augmented with speech act theory

Type I interferon responses in rhesus macaques prevent SIV infection and slow disease progression

Inflammation in HIV infection is predictive of non-AIDSmorbidity and death1, higher set point plasma virus load2 and virus acquisition3; thus, therapeutic agents are in development to reduce its causes and consequences. However, inflammation may simultaneously confer both detrimental and beneficial effects. This dichotomy is particularly applicable to type I interferons (IFN-I) which, while contributing to innate control of infection4–10, also provide target cells for the virus during acute infection, impairCD4T-cell recovery, and are associated with disease progression6,7,11–19.Herewe manipulated IFN-I signalling in rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) during simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) transmission and acute infection with two complementary in vivointerventions. We show that blockade of the IFN-I receptor caused reduced antiviral gene expression, increased SIV reservoir size and accelerated CD4 T-cell depletion with progression to AIDS despite decreased T-cell activation. In contrast, IFN-α2a administration initially upregulated expression of antiviral genes and prevented systemic infection. However, continued IFN-α2a treatment induced IFN-I desensitization and decreased antiviral gene expression, enabling infection with increased SIV reservoir size and accelerated CD4 T-cell loss. Thus, the timing of IFN-induced innate responses in acute SIV infection profoundly affects overall disease course and outweighs the detrimental consequences of increased immune activation. Yet, the clinical consequences of manipulation of IFN signalling are difficult to predict in vivo and therapeutic interventions in human studies should be approached with caution