The Regular Classroom Interactions of Learning Disabled Adolescents and Their Teachers

This research was published by the KU Center for Research on Learning, formerly known as the University of Kansas Institute for Research in Learning Disabilities.Research on the process of teaching indicates that students who are low achievers, hyperactive, defiant, and dependent receive less approval and support and more criticism and disapproval from their teachers. Further, students discriminate teacher approval and disapproval and form corresponding attitudes toward the teacher and learning which influences performance and adjustment. Since the implications are quite serious for learning disabled students in regular classrooms, this study tested these findings through direct observation of learning disabled adolescents in regular classrooms. Results indicated that teachers were equitable in their interactions with learning disabled and non-learning disabled students and did not perceive learning disabled students as more hyperactive, defiant, or dependent than non-learning disabled students. Even though learning disabled students were treated like non-learning disabled students, they perceived less approval and more disapproval from their teachers and were happy in their regular classrooms significantly less often than non-learning disabled students

Formal Reasoning Abilities of Learning Disabled Adolescents: Implications for Mathematics Instruction

This research was published by the KU Center for Research on Learning, formerly known as the University of Kansas Institute for Research in Learning Disabilities.Modern mathematics education relies heavily upon the cognitive theories of Jean Piaget and Jerome Bruner. These theories provide the basis for explanations of levels of development as well as direction for instructional procedures. Research related to cognitive abilites in learning disabled adolescents, specifically in mathematics, are virtually nonexistent. The present investigation sought to determine the level of formal reasoning in mathematics of LD adolescents. The results of the study suggest that LD junior high school students are functioning at the concrete operations stage of Piaget's developmental sequence. The need for mathematics interventions which use interactive and iconic, as well as verbal/symbolic, representations is stressed

Categorization by Organizations: Manipulation of Disability Categories in a Racially Desegregated School District

The authors propose and test the concept of categorical manipulation, a process in which subordinate group demands for greater access to high-status categories are met with reversals in the hierarchy of existing categories. The analysis addresses a school district’s response to pressure from a racial desegregation movement to improve black access to a high-status majority-white disability category. The district complied, but it also allowed whites to migrate to a low-status majority-black category, from which blacks then were excluded. This category was enhanced with benefits desirable to whites. The original categorical hierarchy was restored during resegregation 20 years later. In categorical manipulation, subordinate groups gain greater access to high-status categories, but these categories suffer in value as dominant groups reaffiliate with previously low-status categories, which may be revised for improvements. This is different from more familiar forms of resistance to change such as symbolic compliance, ritualization, and tokenism

Categorization by Organization: Manipulation of Disability Categories in a Racially Desegregated School District

We propose and test the concept of categorical manipulation, a process in which subordinate group demands for greater access to high status categories are met with reversals in the hierarchy of existing categories. The analysis addresses a school district’s response to pressure from a racial desegregation movement to improve black access to a high status majority-white disability category. The district complied, but it also allowed whites to migrate to a low status majority-black category, from which blacks then were excluded. This category was enhanced with benefits desirable to whites. The original categorical hierarchy was restored during resegregation 20 years later. In categorical manipulation, subordinate groups gain greater access to high status categories, but these categories suffer in value as dominant groups reaffiliate with previously low status categories, which may be revised for improvements. This is different from more familiar forms of resistance to change such as symbolic compliance, ritualization, and tokenism.Division of Social and Economic Sciences of the National Science Foundation under Grant Number 1154843

Inclusive School Community: Why is it so Complex?

This paper addresses the question: why is it so hard for school communities to respond to diversity in learners, staff and parents in inclusive ways? The authors draw on theory and recent professional experience in Queensland, Australia, to offer four guiding principles that address traditional assumptions about learning that result in inequality of opportunity and outcomes for students. The authors suggest these principles to support the development of a more inclusive school community: (1) develop a learning community incorporating a critical friend; (2) value and collaborate with parents and the broader community; (3) engage students as citizens in school review and develop¬ment; and (4) support teachers’ critical engagement with inclusive ideals and practices. The authors describe how the principles can work in concert in a school community

Non-local models for the formation of hepatocyte-stellate cell aggregates

Liver cell aggregates may be grown in vitro by co-culturing hepatocytes with stellate cells. This method results in more rapid aggregation than hepatocyte-only culture, and appears to enhance cell viability and the expression of markers of liver-specific functions. We consider the early stages of aggregate formation, and develop a new mathematical model to investigate two alternative hypotheses (based on evidence in the experimental literature) for the role of stellate cells in promoting aggregate formation. Under Hypothesis 1, each population produces a chemical signal which affects the other, and enhanced aggregation is due to chemotaxis. Hypothesis 2 asserts that the interaction between the two cell types is by direct physical contact: the stellates extend long cellular processes which pull the hepatocytes into the aggregates. Under both hypotheses, hepatocytes are attracted to a chemical they themselves produce, and the cells can experience repulsive forces due to overcrowding. We formulate non-local (integro-partial differential) equations to describe the densities of cells, which are coupled to reaction-diffusion equations for the chemical concentrations. The behaviour of the model under each hypothesis is studied using a combination of linear stability analysis and numerical simulations. Our results show how the initial rate of aggregation depends upon the cell seeding ratio, and how the distribution of cells within aggregates depends on the relative strengths of attraction and repulsion between the cell types. Guided by our results, we suggest experiments which could be performed to distinguish between the two hypotheses.J. E. F. Green, S. L. Waters, J. P. Whiteley, L. Edelstein-Keshet, K. M. Shakesheff and H. M. Byrn