Advances in designing instruction based on examples

This commentary reviews the evidence for nine principles for how to design effective example-based instruction, drawing from the articles in this special issue.     

Experimentelle Untersuchungen über das Ordnen von Gegenständen

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Rescuers and the Rescued

ABSTRACT: There is a fairly widespread but unverified belief that persons working on certain taboo areas may be similar to the population they serve and drawn to such work by their own personal problems in these areas. Two groups, 51 suicide prevention volunteers and 31 suicide attempters, were compared with respect to demographic characteristics and for psychological attitudes and experiences pertaining to suicide, death, and mental status by means of a death questionnaire developed by Shneidman. Comparative analysis revealed substantial differences between volunteers and clients. Demographically, the volunteers were older, better educated, more affluent, and contained a greater proportion of Protestants. Psychologically, the volunteers were distinctly different in regard to suicide. In contrast to their clients, the volunteers reported greater emotional stability, much less fantasy about suicide, almost no actual suicide attempts, and a disinclination to consider suicide as a justifiable problem-solving option.     

Parents of the Battered Child: A Multidisciplinary Group Therapy Approach to Life-Threatening Behavior

ABSTRACT: This paper reports the demographic findings and the experience of a three-year, multidisciplinary group psychotherapy program, with 31 child-abusing families. No predictive demographic characteristics were identified. The abuse of children ranged from mild bruising to severe brain damage and multiple fractures. Group therapy as an intervention procedure had its successes and failures. The dynamics of male-female co-therapists, the peer group sharing, and the capacity to ultimately verbalize inadequacies in the parenting role were crucial factors in therapy. As an experiential encounter the study gives a poignant insight into the personal and family pathology of parents who abuse their children.     

The self-help clearinghouse concept: An evaluation of one program and its implications for policy and practice

Many clearinghouses have been organized within the last decade to promote mutual aid and to provide referral information about self-help groups to potential members. Few of the assumptions that underpin the operation of these programs have been evaluated, however. This paper presents an evaluation of the Self-Help Information Service, a clearinghouse integrated with a generic information and referral service. The results were generally positive with respect to operator and consumer satisfaction, community responsiveness, and the system's capacity to undertake numerous service and research functions. They also pointed up several changes that might be made to improve the system's impact. It is concluded that a new practice specialty might be developed within a clearinghouse context, and that the clearinghouse concept might serve as one cornerstone of a funding policy that supports the self-help approach.