Teacher’s use of praise,clarity of school rules and classroom climate: comparing classroom compositions in terms of disruptive students

Clarity of school rules and teachers’ use of praise are strategies suggested to facilitate a positive classroom climate. Studies indicate difficulties for teachers to use such approaches in classrooms with higher levels of disruption. To study (1) if student-rated clarity of school rules, use of praise, and classroom climate differ between students in classes with lower numbers of disruptive students versus classes with higher numbers, (2) if clarity of school rules and teacher’s use of praise are longitudinally associated with classroom climate, (3) if the possible longitudinal association differs between groups, classes (n = 109) in school grades 5–7 were divided into two groups, based on head teacher ratings of disruptive students in class. Baseline and 12-month follow-up responses collected within a Swedish trial were used to perform multiple regression analysis, to compare groups and to investigate possible longitudinal associations. Students in classes with less disruption rated all variables more positively. Classroom climate deteriorated over time in both groups, even if the low disruption group perceived their climate as more positive at follow up. Clarity of school rules did not substantially contribute to classroom climate longitudinally, whereas teacher’s use of praise to some extent did. The difference in longitudinal associations between groups was marginal, hence our hypothesis on weaker associations in the high disruption group could not be confirmed. Clarity of school rules is not longitudinally associated with classroom climate, but teachers may positively influence the learning environment by giving praise, regardless of level of disruption.     

FACTOR ANALYSES OF AN INVENTORY OF BEHAVIOR IN SOCIAL SITUATION

Two samples of 178 boys and 238 girls answered a questionnaire dealing with nervous behavior in social situations. Factor analyses gave five factors in the study of boys and four in the study of girls. Rotation to a common structure showed at most four common congruent factors, which are interpreted and discussed.     

SYNTHESIS OF FACTOR ANALYSES: III Interbattery methods of synthesis of factor analyses

W erdelin , I. Synthesis of factor analyses. III. Interbattery methods of synthesis of factor analyses. Scand. J. Psyehol ., 1962, 3 , 196–204.—Methods of performing several factor analyses on a common sample, so that we arrive at invariant structures, are discussed. A method of rotating a factorial solution to a structure given by a previous study, and a method of checking whether two studies performed on the same sample are congruent, are given.     

PRECOGNITIVE PERCEPTION OF FACIAL PHOTOGRAPHS

Precognitive perception of photographic portraits was studied with the meta-contrast technique. The portraits were presented for successively increasing exposure times immediately before another stimulus with a constant, relatively long exposure time. The faces were masked, and their effect had therefore to be recorded in the form of impressions of modifications in the stimulus object appearing later. The effect was most evident at the beginning and end of the exposure series     

The Göteborg discothèque fire, 1998

Findings from a study of 563 adolescents’ reactions following a discotheque fire that killed 63 young people in Göteborg in October 1998 are presented. The group answered a questionnaire seven months following the disaster. The questionnaire included the Impact of Event Scale (IES) and the Birleson Depression Self‐Rating Scale (DSRS). The level of trauma was found to be very high, while depression scores were less elevated. A little under a third of the students scored above a clinical cut‐off point (> 35) on the IES, indicating high posttraumatic stress levels. Girls evidenced more depression and traumatic stress reactions than boys. Levels of reactions increased with more closeness (knowing victims personally) and if the adolescents were of non‐Swedish origin.     

Cognitive processing in literate and illiterate subjects: a review of some recent behavioral and functional neuroimaging data

The study of illiterate subjects, which for specific socio-cultural reasons did not have the opportunity to acquire basic reading and writing skills, represents one approach to study the interaction between neurobiological and cultural factors in cognitive development and the functional organization of the human brain. In addition the naturally occurring illiteracy may serve as a model for studying the influence of alphabetic orthography on auditory-verbal language. In this paper we have reviewed some recent behavioral and functional neuroimaging data indicating that learning an alphabetic written language modulates the auditory-verbal language system in a non-trivial way and provided support for the hypothesis that the functional architecture of the brain is modulated by literacy. We have also indicated that the effects of literacy and formal schooling is not limited to language related skills but appears to affect also other cognitive domains. In particular, we indicate that formal schooling influences 2D but not 3D visual naming skills. We have also pointed to the importance of using ecologically relevant tasks when comparing literate and illiterate subjects. We also demonstrate the applicability of a network approach in elucidating differences in the functional organization of the brain between groups. The strength of such an approach is the ability to study patterns of interactions between functionally specialized brain regions and the possibility to compare such patterns of brain interactions between groups or functional states. This complements the more commonly used activation approach to functional neuroimaging data, which characterize functionally specialized regions, and provides important data characterizing the functional interactions between these regions.     

The double awareness in Heidegger and Wittgenstein

International Library of Philosophy and Scientific Method, Routledge &; Kegan Paul, London 1962, 264 pp. 37s. 6d.     

FACTOR ANALYSES OF QUESTIONNAIRES OF ATTITUDES TOWARDS SCHOOL WORK

W erdelin , I. Factor analyses of questionnaires of attitudes towards school work. Scand. J. Psychol ., 1968, g, 117–128.—Two studies were carried out. (I) A questionnaire of 35 items was given to 178 boys and 238 girls in the ninth grade of American high schools. (2) A questionnaire of 52 items was given to 405 boys and 405 girls in the seventh grade of Swedish elementary schools. Factor analysis revealed a large number of factors. Some of these measured preference for a certain school subject, others attitudes towards school work across the domain of subjects. One measuring emotional reaction to school work and the individual subjects is particularly important. Two factors, which measured attitudes towards teachers and classmates, were found to be independent of factors measuring attitudes towards school work.