Teacher Training In Using Effective Strategies For Preschool Children With Disabilities In Inclusive Classrooms

Research has shown that inclusion benefits children with disabilities and typical developing peers. Children with disabilities enrolled in inclusive settings were found to achieve better developmental outcomes than children with similar abilities enrolled in traditional special education settings (Hundert, Mahoney, Mundy, & Vernon, 1998), higher scores in language development, social, and academic skills (Downing & Peckham-Harding, 2007; Rafferty, Piscitelli, Boettcher, 2003), improved behavioral outcomes (Lee & Odom, 1996), development of friendships and social networks (Fryxell & Kennedy, 1995; Hall & McGregor, 2000), and happiness behaviors (Ryndak, Morrison, & Sommerstein, 1999). Studies also suggested that inclusion benefits typically developing children (Bentley, 2007; Cross, Traub, Hutter-Pishgahi, and Shelton, 2004; Guralnick, 1990; Mclean & Hanline, 1990; Peck, Staub, Gallucci, & Schwartz, 2004). The most commonly mentioned advantages include character development of typically developing children into more accepting, tolerant, and sympathetic individuals. While assisting their peers with disabilities, they also pick up additional skills such as sign language or assistive technology (Downing & Peckham-Harding, 2007). Moreover, Bentley (2007) observed through interviews with typical peers, that they find a teacher and role model in their friend with disabilities. As our field continues to make significant progresses in legislation (e.g., Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act, 2004, 2007) as well as evidence-based practices to serve diverse learners, inclusion for children with disabilities remains a challenge in the classroom practices. Many classroom teachers felt inadequate in teaching children with disabilities (Leyser & Kirk, 2004). However, once teachers experienced successful inclusion with children with disabilities, they became stronger advocate themselves in supporting the merit and practices of inclusion (Cross et al., 2004). The key to making inclusion successful is the availability of effective inclusion strategies and teacher training. More successful inclusion stories and experiences will then attract more teachers to include children with moderate to severe disabilities in their classrooms. There is a need to bridge the gap between research and practice by investigating the extent to which practitioners view strategies supported by research as useful and relevant in their classroom practice. In this survey study, 26 early childhood/early childhood special education practitioners shared their views on a list of peer-mediated strategies in serving children with disabilities in the general education classrooms. By investigating educators’ views on these naturalistic peer-mediated strategies derived from several research projects (Schepis, Reid, Ownbey, & Clary, 2003; Thompson et al., 1993; Yang, 2000), this study was designed to obtain practitioners’ input on the practicality and observed usage of strategies in the classroom practices. Research-based strategies supported by educators’ feedback will also be shared in this paper

Using Debate As A Pedagogical Tool In Enhancing Pre-Service Teachers Learning And Critical Thinking

Research has shown that using debate in higher education as a pedagogical tool has effect on promoting higher order and critical thinking (Camp & Schnader, 2010; Ng et al., 2004; Roy & Macchiette, 2005; Ryan & College, 2006). Debate has been implemented in various disciplines with adult learners, such as psychology (Budesheim & Lundquist, 1999), medicine (Koklanaris, Mackenzie, Fino, Arsland, & Seubert, 2008 ), political science (Omelicheva, 2005), marketing (Roy & Macchiette, 2005), accounting (Camp & Schnader, 2010), science & technology (Scott, 2008). Based on the previous studies, students viewed the use of debate as a new and innovative way to teaching and learning, while being more informative, and eye-opening (Kennedy, 2009; Munakata, 2010). The non-traditional method of teaching also increased students motivation and interest level (Munakata, 2010) as it gave a real sense of drama (Roy & Macchiette, 2005, p. 271). However, in teacher preparation, the implementation of debate as a pedagogical tool to promote learning as well as the research on this topic is relatively limited (Erduran, Ardac, & Yakmaci-Guzel, 2006; Ng, Lan, & They, 2004; Munakata, 2010; Sadler, 2006).  This study aims to implement debate as pedagogical tool to enhance pres-service teachers learning on the subject matter and investigate the effect of using debate in teacher training in Singapore context. The following research questions were posed in the study: (1) whether debate stimulated students thinking on the subject matter more than textbook readings and lectures (traditional teacher-directed methods), (2) to which extent students found debate helpful to their learning on the subject matter, (3) to which extent debate helped students to make connections between the subject matter and the real life, and (4) what was the qualitative feedback from students in their learning through the debate activity. Fifty-six pre-service teachers participated in a course evaluation survey to provide feedback on their learning. The results have shown that 83.9% of teachers agree that debate stimulated their thinking more than textbook readings and lectures, while 14.3% of teachers felt neutral, and 1.8% of teachers strongly disagree. Eighty two percent of teachers found debate very helpful to their learning while 16.1% felt neutral. In addition, 80.4% of teachers agree that debate helps them to make connections between the subject matter and the real life experiences while 17.9% of teachers felt neutral. Several observations emerged from students qualitative feedback on using debate in learning. Students expressed that the debate activity helped them to expand the understanding of the subject matter, retention of crucial concepts and knowledge, and comprehension of essential issues on the subject matter. Students felt debate helped them to understand different perspectives, and reduce bias. Some students reported change of their positions and perspectives after the debate. More importantly, many students stated that debate helped them develop critical thinking and higher order thinking skills in comparison to traditional methods

Barriers to Implementing Large-Scale Online Staff Development Programs for Teachers

This is the publisher's version, which may also be found here: http://www.westga.edu/~distance/ojdla/winter64/meyen64.pdfThis study on barriers to online staff development for classroom teachers was conducted as part of the planning activities of a delivery models project designed to develop guidelines for implementing large-scale online staff development programs. The study involved engaging 54 general and special educators in several professional roles from nine states in a series of focus groups to identify the barriers to online staff development. An instrument was designed to rank order the barriers in terms of perceived significance. Twenty-two barriers were identified. This project was in follow-up to the Online Academy (H029K73002) funded by the Office of Special Education Programs in the U.S. Department of Education (OSEP/USDOE)

Efficacy of the intracorporeal one-hand tie technique for renal pedicle control during hand-assisted retroperitoneoscopic nephroureterectomy

AbstractObjectiveThis study examined the efficacy of the intracorporeal one-hand tie technique for renal pedicle control during hand-assisted retroperitoneoscopic nephroureterectomy (HARN).MethodsThe intracorporeal one-hand tie technique was conducted in 32 consecutive patients with upper tract urothelial cancer that underwent HARN and open bladder cuff excision.ResultsAll suture ligatures were successful in securing the renal vessels, except one minor venous bleeding that occurred during vessel transection, which was then controlled by additional clips. The process of controlling the renal pedicle took an average of 12.4 minutes (range, 8–30 minutes). No pedicle control related morbidities were noted. By sparing the usage of endovascular clips and staplers, operative costs were reduced and associated malfunctions eliminated.ConclusionThe intracorporeal one-hand tie technique is an easy, reliable, and cost-effective method in controlling the renal pedicle during HARN. Its efficacy in pedicle control is beyond doubt

Acquisition of skills in digital rectal examination through supervised patient examination with real-time feedback in transrectal sonography room

AbstractObjectiveTo assess the acquisition digital rectal examination (DRE) skills by medical students through an alternative teaching method.Materials and methodsMedical students at the National Cheng-Kung University Hospital, Tainan, Taiwan in 2009 were assigned to receive training through supervised rectal examination (DRE) with real-time feedback in a transrectal sonography room during their standard urologic rotation. Students completed a questionnaire (before and after the training) regarding their experiences in performing DRE to assess their confidence levels. Direct observation of practical skills (DOPS) was used to assess the students' competence in performing DRE at the end of urologic rotation.ResultsA total of 75 students received the questionnaire, of which 72 (96%) responded. On average, every student had an experience of 6.6 supervised patient examinations with real-time feedback in a transrectal sonography room. Following the training, students were more confident in their ability to give an opinion based on their findings related to DRE. The overall rate of the students' ability to interpret the DRE findings after urologic rotation improved from 69% to 100% for identification of the prostate, from 14% to 60% for assessment of prostate size, from 32% to 95% to describe prostate consistency accurately, and from 9.8% to 64% to identify overt prostate cancer from benign prostate hyperplasia. All students met expectations or were above expectations according to the grading scale of performing DOPS.ConclusionStudents' skills and confidence with regard to performing DRE were improved significantly through supervised examination with real-time feedback in a transrectal sonography room

Using Webquest As A Universal Design For Learning Tool To Enhance Teaching And Learning In Teacher Preparation Programs

Developed by Dodge (1995), WebQuest is an inquiry-based teaching tool, in which students of all ages and levels participate in an authentic task that use pre-designed, pre-defined internet resources, though other print resources can also be used.  Learners will put the focus on gathering, summarizing, synthesizing, and evaluating the information within clearly defined parameters in order to accomplish an authentic task set by the instructor.  WebQuest takes a problem-solving approach and exhibits a clear structure that guides the learning processes and interactions (Dodge, 2001), and can be used for different subject areas across age levels, from young children to adult learners (Ezell, Klein, Hines, & Hall, 2003).  In teacher preparation, research has shown that WebQuest enhanced problem-solving skills, higher order thinking, motivation, creativity, critical thinking, active learning, connection to authentic contexts (Abu-Elwan, 2007; Allan & Street, 2007; Lim & Hernandez, 2007) and assisted in bridging the theory to practice gap (Lim & Hernandez, 2007).  It should be noted that most studies were conducted on the subject areas of Math, literacy, or science.  In Singapore context, many local teachers still haven’t heard of WebQuest and learned about using WebQuest in their teaching.  Further, few research studies have focused on establishing WebQuest as an evidence-based practice in enhancing teaching and learning or a pedagogy promoting Universal Design for Learning and inquiry based learning.  This research project intends to introduce WebQuest, to be modelled and integrated in a course training special education pre-service teachers (allied educators) in Singapore. Specifically, the following research questions were posed: (1) Does the use of WebQuest in teacher preparation promote special education teachers’ understanding on Universal Design for Learning (UDL) in accommodating students with diverse learning needs? (2) Does WebQuest a useful tool to enhance teacher’s higher order thinking, engagement, creativity, and collaborative learning skills? (3) Does the use of WebQuest in teacher preparation foster stronger desires for teachers to integrate ICT in teaching and learn more about WebQuest?  Forty one teacher responded to a survey questionnaire after experiencing WebQuest developed by the course instructor in teacher preparation program.  Teachers also learned about WebQuest as an Universal Design for Learning tool for students with diverse learning needs.  The majoirty of teachers indicated strong favors over WebQuest activities over traditional teacher-directed learning methods.  All participants found WebQuest helpful in accommodating individual differences and learning styles (Agree: 68.3%; Strongly agree: 31.7%).  Forty teachers (N=41) reflected that they used more critical thinking and problem solving skills when they engaged in the WebQuest activities developed by the instructor (39% strongly agree and 56.1% agree).  Thirty nine teachers agreed that they were required to use more creativity when they engaged in the WebQuest activities (24.4% of teachers stronly agree and 68.3% agree). The majority of teachers (26.8% strongly agree and 68.3% agree) felt that they know more about ways to incorporate technology for teaching and learning after experiencing WebQuest in this class.  They also indicated that they would like to use more technology and web resources in teaching in the future after learning about WebQuest (41.5% strongly agree and 53.7% agree)

Integrating SPC and EPC for Multivariate Autocorrelated Process

Statistical process control (SPC) is a widely employed quality control method in industry. SPC is mainly designed for monitoring single quality characteristic. However, as the design of a product/process becomes complex, a process usually has multiple quality characteristics related to it. These characteristics must be monitored by multivariate SPC. When the autocorrelation is present in the process data, the traditional SPC may mislead the results. Hence, the autocorrelated data must be treated to eliminate the autocorrelation effect before employing SPC to detect the assignable causes. Besides, chance causes also have impact on the processes. When the process is out of control but no assignable cause is found, it can be adjusted by employing engineering process control (EPC). However, only using EPC to adjust the process may make inappropriate adjustments due to external disturbances or assignable causes. This study presents an integrated SPC and EPC procedure for multivariate autocorrelated process. The SPC procedure constructs a predicting model using group method of data handling (GMDH), which can transfer the autocorrelated data into uncorrelated data. Then, the Hotelling’s T2 and multivariate cumulative sum control charts are constructed to monitor the process. The EPC procedure constructs a controller utilizing data mining technique to adjust the multiple quality characteristics to their target values. Industry can employ this procedure to monitor and adjust the multivariate autocorrelated process

New records of Benthesicymus Bate, 1881 (Dendrobranchiata, Penaeoidea, Benthesicymidae) from the abyssal depths of Taiwan

The deep-sea Benthesicymus shrimps generally inhabit waters deeper than 1000 m deep. Recent deep-sea cruises off Taiwan collected two species of Benthesicymus Bate, 1881 from the abyssal depths greater than 3,000 m. They are B. crenatus Bate, 1881 and B. laciniatus Rathbun, 1906. Both of them are new records for Taiwan, with B. crenatus also representing the deepest (5,314 m) marine animal so far known for the island. The major distinguishing characters of these two species are described and illustrated

When Social Influence Meets Item Inference

Research issues and data mining techniques for product recommendation and viral marketing have been widely studied. Existing works on seed selection in social networks do not take into account the effect of product recommendations in e-commerce stores. In this paper, we investigate the seed selection problem for viral marketing that considers both effects of social influence and item inference (for product recommendation). We develop a new model, Social Item Graph (SIG), that captures both effects in form of hyperedges. Accordingly, we formulate a seed selection problem, called Social Item Maximization Problem (SIMP), and prove the hardness of SIMP. We design an efficient algorithm with performance guarantee, called Hyperedge-Aware Greedy (HAG), for SIMP and develop a new index structure, called SIG-index, to accelerate the computation of diffusion process in HAG. Moreover, to construct realistic SIG models for SIMP, we develop a statistical inference based framework to learn the weights of hyperedges from data. Finally, we perform a comprehensive evaluation on our proposals with various baselines. Experimental result validates our ideas and demonstrates the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed model and algorithms over baselines.Comment: 12 page