This paper discusses the question of why and how class size can make a difference to teaching and learning from the students' perspective. Secondary school contexts and, in particular, the students' own voice on the issue of class size represent an under-researched area for class size studies. This paper draws on data from three case studies that…

Background: This study investigated associations between the presence of a child with autism or Asperger's disorder in the family, family functioning and grandmother experiences with the goal of better understanding grandparent involvement in the lives of grandchildren on the autism spectrum and their families. Methods: Mothers and grandmothers of…

Data from a study of 81 exemplary secondary school teachers across the United States provide a portrait of how these teachers have become leaders whose influence and partnerships extend well beyond their classrooms and schools. Propelled by a deep personal desire to learn and a commitment to help students learn, the teachers are learners first,…

In practice, the sum of the item scores is often used as a basis for comparing subjects. For items that have more than two ordered score categories, only the partial credit model (PCM) and special cases of this model imply that the subjects are stochastically ordered on the common latent variable. However, the PCM is very restrictive with respect…

Children's sensitivity to the quality of epistemic reasons and their selective trust in the more reasonable of 2 informants was investigated in 2 experiments. Three-, 4-, and 5-year-old children (N = 90) were presented with speakers who stated different kinds of evidence for what they believed. Experiment 1 showed that children of all age groups…

Over-imitation, which is common in children, is the imitation of elements of an action sequence that are clearly unnecessary for reaching the final goal. A variety of cognitive mechanisms have been proposed to explain this phenomenon. Here, 48 3- and 5-year-olds together with a puppet observed an adult demonstrate instrumental tasks that included…

The Autism Mental Status Examination (AMSE) described here is an eight-item observational assessment that prompts the observation and recording of signs and symptoms of autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The AMSE is intended to take place seamlessly in the context of a clinical exam and produces a total score. Subjects were independently…

Interviews and observations were conducted in five schools using a Response to Instruction and Invention framework to investigate (a) changes in role-expectations and functions for educators, (b) perceptions about their changing roles, and (c) skills needed to be effective in this systemic effort to improve literacy instruction for all students.…

This study examines the evolutionary function of children's pretence. The everyday, cultural environment that children engage with is of a highly complex structure. Human adaptation, thus, becomes, by analogy, an equally complex process that requires the development of life skills. Whilst in role play children engage in "mimesis" and…

The exact roles of the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) in conditional choice behavior are unknown and a visual contextual response selection task was used for examining the issue. Inactivation of the mPFC severely disrupted performance in the task. mPFC inactivations, however, did not disrupt the capability of perceptual discrimination for visual…

Wilderness therapy (WT) provides an alternative treatment modality for a number of mental health issues. It holds particular appeal for at-risk youth, a population that is often less responsive to traditional psychotherapeutic interventions. Anecdotal accounts on the effectiveness of WT often show positive outcomes. Still, some researchers have…

Although observation largely takes into account the needs and abilities of individuals with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities, several difficulties are related to this assessment method as well. Our aim in this study was to investigate what possibilities the use of physiological measurements make available to validate alertness…

We report a within-teams experiment testing the effects of fit between team structure and regulatory task demands on task performance and satisfaction through average team member positive affect and helping behaviors. We used a completely crossed repeated-observations design in which 21 teams enacted 2 tasks with different regulatory focus…

This study describes a researcher-educator collaborative intervention that aimed to promote identity exploration among 9th-grade students in a literature lesson. The intervention focused on an introductory lesson about a poem from the curriculum, and involved designing educational activities anticipated to trigger identity exploration, promote a…

The purpose of this study was to enhance the teaching and learning of matter and its properties for grade 6 students. The development of a conceptual change approach instructional unit was undertaken for this purpose. Pre- and post-concept surveys, classroom observations, and student and teacher interviews were used to collect data. The teaching…