Beneath discussions about race and ethnic relations is an unease, "a whispering in our hearts" these debates that need to be understood "otherwise". In more recent times, they seem increasingly complex and dangerous as the essential differences that underpin modern notions of identity appear negotiated, contingent, and…

Home educators are often stereotyped by concerned professionals and others who make statements based upon their beliefs rather than research. Characteristics such as eccentric, arrogant, ignorant, middle-class and hippy are often associated with home educators. Increasingly too, they are represented as a potential danger to their children, either…

This article seeks to illuminate a crossover area between subject research and "scholarship of teaching". It proposes that a strategic bridge between discipline as body of knowledge and discipline as pedagogy is the formation and socialization of the student through practices that are at once social, rhetorical, and intellectual. While…

The present series of studies sought to develop and conceptually validate a taxonomy of reasons that give rise to academic amotivation and to investigate its social antecedents and academic consequences. In Study 1 (N = 351), an exploratory factor analysis offered preliminary support for an academic amotivation taxonomy comprising four dimensions:…

This investigation is a comprehensive acoustic study of 4 voiceless fricatives (/f [theta] s [esh]/) in English produced by adults and pre-and postpubescent children aged 6-14 years. Vowel duration, amplitude, and several different spectral measures (including spectral tilt and spectral moments) were examined. Of specific interest was the pattern…

Atypical vocabulary has been reported as one of the most notable features of the language of adolescents and adults with Williams syndrome (WS), including use of unusual or low frequency words. Two hypotheses were identified regarding the developmental origins of this phenomenon. The "intra-lexicon" hypothesis views the cause in terms of…

In this article, the author explains how librarians can ensure that their Web site visitors find the information they need. The pros and cons of four options used to help people find information on a Web site are explored. These options are: (1) redesigning the site; (2) creating drop-down, second-level menus for second-level pages; (3) adding a…

Following pretraining with everyday objects, 10 children aged from 1 to 4 years were given common vocal tact training with a set of three pairs of arbitrary stimuli of differing shapes; Set 1. Nine children learned to tact one stimulus as "zog" and the other as "vek" in each pair, and all passed subsequent pairwise tests for…

The second edition of "Professional Issues in Therapeutic Recreation: On Competence and Outcomes" is greatly expanded to include a wider variety of introductory materials and updates on current professional issues. The second edition represents a timely review of the state of affairs in the profession of therapeutic recreation. This book contains…

During a fieldstudy of children's gardens in the United States in 2005, the author became aware that possibilities for providing learning experiences in children's gardens are bountiful and different styles are emerging. Anecdotally this appears to be a contested area with some within the discipline favoring a narrower definition of children's…

This paper explores "meaningful learning" as influenced by "constructivism." The study focused on assessing and comparing the quality of essays written by students who learnt a given topic in a classroom setting ("control") to those who learnt the same topic in the field ("experimental"). The objective was…

This guest editorial describes ways teachers can use guessing games about an unknown item in a "mystery box" to help children improve their abilities to listen to others, recall information, ask purposeful questions, classify items by class, make inferences, synthesize information, and draw conclusions. The author presents information…

Holland's [Holland, J. L. (1959). A theory of occupational choice. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 6, 35-45; Holland, J. L. (1997). Making vocational choices: A theory of vocational personalities and work environments (3rd ed.). Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources, Inc.] RIASEC types were initially developed using a restricted range…

Two inherently contradictory forces are pushing for reform in portfolio assessment. On the one hand there is a felt need for creating more rigid standards that operate to promote uniformity of ratings in appraisal practice to certify achievement. However, on the other hand, critical questions are being raised about separating acclaimed portfolio…

Like other public schools, California charter schools are judged primarily by one measure: student test scores. Though necessary, the Academic Performance Index and Average Yearly Progress scores can't assess charter schools' broad dimensions of student learning, program effectiveness and school operations. The state's accountability system…