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Distribution by Scientific Domains

Medical Sciences	60%
Education	40%

Selected Abstracts

Gender differences in reading ability and attitudes: examining where these differences lie

JOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN READING, Issue 2 2009
Sarah Logan
The aim of this study was to investigate gender differences in the relationship between reading ability, frequency of reading and attitudes and beliefs relating to reading and school. Two hundred and thirty-two 10-year-old children (117 male) completed a reading comprehension test and a questionnaire exploring the following areas: frequency of reading, attitude to reading, attitude to school, competency beliefs and perceived academic support (from peers and teacher). Overall, girls had better reading comprehension, read more frequently and had a more positive attitude to reading and school. However, smaller gender differences were found in reading ability than in attitudes and frequency of reading. Indeed, effect sizes for gender differences in reading were found to be small in this and other studies. Reading ability correlated with both boys' and girls' reading frequency and competency beliefs; however, only boys' reading ability was associated with their attitude to reading and school. Notably, gender differences were found predominantly in the relationship between factors, rather than solely in the factors themselves. Previous research has neglected to study these relationships, and has focused instead on the gender differences found in individual factors. Conclusions are made regarding the applicability of these findings to the school situation. [source]

Walter Cronkite High School: A Culture of Freedom and Responsibility

LEARNING DISABILITIES RESEARCH & PRACTICE, Issue 3 2006
Catherine Cobb Morocco
Walter Cronkite High School is a comprehensive high school of nearly 4,000 students, located in New York City. The population of students with disabilities includes many students with severe and low-incidence disabilities, including 70 students with visual or hearing impairments and 20 students with orthopedic impairments. Cronkite High School's academic program reflects the belief that if students with disabilities can choose among a motivating set of intellectual options, receive appropriate academic support, and assume responsibility for their learning, they will be successful. The school puts that belief into practice through an "assembled puzzle" of academic opportunities, academic supports, and social opportunities designed to respond to highly varied student interests and academic needs. We describe "how the school works" through case studies of three students with learning disabilities and through an analysis of the high school transcripts of 36 students with disabilities who are recent graduates. [source]

Development and evaluation of a peer-tutoring program for graduate students,

BIOCHEMISTRY AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY EDUCATION, Issue 2 2005
H. Liesel Copeland
Abstract Many interdisciplinary Ph.D. programs admit students of different educational backgrounds who receive a first year of a general curriculum education. However, student preparation for this curriculum varies, and methods are needed to provide academic support. Graduate student peer tutoring was piloted as an initiative funded by a National Institutes of Health (NIH) Initiative for Minority Student Development award to the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey,Robert Wood Johnson Medical School (UMDNJ-RWJMS) and is now offered to all students in the interdisciplinary Molecular Biosciences Ph.D. program between Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, and UMDNJ-RWJMS. Tutoring occurs individually or in small groups and has grown over the past 5 years in the number of students tutored and hours of tutoring. The program was evaluated by surveying and interviewing both tutors and students concerning process variables (e.g. awareness, frequency) and impact variables (e.g. perceived benefits, motivators), as well as by assessing changes in exam scores for the four core courses of the first-year graduate curriculum. [source]

Being old-for-grade and drug use: Not such a clear connection

ACTA PAEDIATRICA, Issue 12 2005
Joan-carles Surís
Abstract Aim: To assess whether repeating a grade was associated with drug use among adolescents after controlling for personal, family and school-related variables, and whether there were differences between students in mandatory and post-mandatory school. Methods: Data were drawn from the Catalonia Adolescent Health Survey, a cross-sectional study of in-school adolescents aged 14,19 y. The index group included 366 subjects who were repeating a grade at the time the survey was carried out (old-for-grade, OFG). A control group matched by gender, school and being one grade ahead was randomly chosen among all the subjects who had never repeated a grade. All statistically significant variables in the bivariate analysis were included in a multivariate analysis. In a second step, all analyses were repeated for students in mandatory (14,16 y) and post-mandatory (17,19 y) school. Results: After controlling for background variables, subjects in the index group were more likely to perceive that most of their peers were using synthetic drugs and to have ever used them, to have bad grades and a worse relationship with their teachers. OFG students in mandatory school were more likely to have divorced parents, bad grades and have ever used synthetic drugs, whereas they were less likely to be regular drinkers. OFG students in post-mandatory school were more likely to have below average grades, to be regular smokers and to perceive that most of their peers used synthetic drugs. Conclusions: When background variables are taken into consideration, the relationship between repeating a grade and drug use is not so clear. By increasing the familial and academic support of adolescents with academic underachievement, we could reduce their drug consumption. [source]