A Preliminary Investigation of Supplemental Computer-Assisted Reading Instruction on the Oral Reading Fluency and Comprehension of First-Grade African American Urban Students

This preliminary investigation examined the effects of a computerized supplemental reading program on the oral reading fluency, reading growth rates, and comprehension of 8 African American first graders. Participants were selected for this study according to scores within risk categories on the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) oral reading fluency (ORF) winter benchmark, indicating the potential for reading failure. Participants engaged in a supplemental, computer-based reading program designed to improve reading fluency and comprehension. Treatment sessions were conducted 3–4 times per week, for 14–16 weeks. Following the treatment, each participant received the DIBELS ORF spring benchmark as a post-test measure. A pre-intervention/post-intervention analysis showed that all of the participants increased their reading fluency, 5 of the 8 participants reduced their risk status, and 7 of the 8 students increased their reading rate. All of the students improved their comprehension scores. The results support supplementary interventions and computer-based reading programs. The findings are discussed in the context of reading needs and instruction for African American primary-aged students.     

Children's mappings of large number words to numerosities

Previous studies have suggested that children's learning of the relation between number words and approximate numerosities depends on their verbal counting ability, and that children exhibit no knowledge of mappings between number words and approximate numerical magnitudes for number words outside their productive verbal counting range. In the present study we used a numerical estimation task to explore children's knowledge of these mappings. We classified children as Level 1 counters (those unable to produce a verbal count list up to 35), Level 2 counters (those who were able to count to 35 but not 60) and Level 3 counters (those who counted to 60 or above) and asked children to estimate the number of items on a card. Although the accuracy of children's estimates depended on counting ability, children at all counting skill levels produced estimates that increased linearly in proportion to the target number, for numerosities both within and beyond their counting range. This result was obtained at the group level (Experiment 1) and at the level of individual children (Experiment 2). These findings provide evidence that even the least skilled counters do exhibit some knowledge of the form of the mapping between large number words and approximate numerosities.     

Validating a brief pupil evaluation inventory

A shortened version of the Pupil Evaluation Inventory (PEI) was evaluated. The shortened version consists of nine items and was administered to 381 third-, fourth-, and fifth-graders in Chicago area Catholic schools. A factor analysis revealed the same factor structure as the original measure. Correlations with other sociometric ratings and the Achenbach Teacher Report Form were moderate to strong. A series of ANOVAs was used to compare the factors of the PEI to the five social status groups calculated from a peer nominations measure, and significant differences were found. Rejected children received higher scores on Aggression and Withdrawal than any other group, and popular children scored significantly higher on Likability.Special thanks to Loisa Bennetto for reading the many drafts of this paper and to Jay Johnson, who helped with some of the initial analyses. Thanks also to the generous financial suppport from the National Institute of Mental Health (grant 40851).     

Temporal control of periodic schedules: signal properties of reinforcement and blackout

Pigeons were exposed to periodic food-reinforcement schedules in which intervals ended with equal probability in either reinforcement or brief blackout. The effects on the pattern of key pecking of sequential probability of reinforcement, interval duration, and time to reinforcement opportunity were investigated in three experiments. The major results were: (1) at short absolute interval durations, time to reinforcement opportunity determined both postreinforcement and postblackout pause (time to first key peck within an interval); (2) at long intervals, postblackout pause was consistently shorter than postreinforcement pause, even if both events signalled the same time to the next reinforcement opportunity (omission effect); (3) when reinforcement and blackout signalled different times to the next reinforcement opportunity, within the same experiment, there was some evidence for interactions analogous to behavioral contrast.     

Looking in the Mirror: Images of Abnormally Developed Infants

Observational drawing provides a means of focusing on anomalous infant bodies. Time required by drawing connects the artist to the humanity of the subjects rather than to the deformities that make them, initially, frightening.     

Research Report: Students' knowledge of abnormal psychology

The present study aims to compare whether final year psychology students (n = 26) could answer more items on a multiple choice questionnaire (MCQ) correctly on abnormal psychology than prospective psychology candidates (n = 77) and final year engineering students (n = 26). The three groups of students completed MCQs in five different fields of abnormal psychology namely; eating disorders, schizophrenia, anxiety disorders and depression, sexual disorders, and personality and compulsive disorders, respectively. They were also asked to indicate their confidence level in relation to the accuracy of the answers they had given. The results showed that final year psychology students scored higher on levels of accuracy, as well as confidence on all measures compared to the two other groups. On the subject of sexual disorders, engineering students scored higher than prospective psychology students. Implications of the present findings are discussed.