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This paper will describe a five year research project of a teaching strategy whereby pre-service credential students at a southern California university were taught to develop and apply science curriculum to parents of elementary-aged English as a Second Language students. The paper will elaborate upon the importance of parental engagement in science pedagogy as it relates to working with under-represented minority groups. Moreover, the focus of this teacher research centers upon the implementation of teaching strategies that are culturally sensitive, contextually rich, and scientifically accurate. The article will conclude upon general findings and suggestions for further research and pre-service teacher education as it relates to teaching science pedagogy in a way that better serves minority children and their parents and/or guardians. Here, we are defining minority children as those that come from non-mainstream Anglo-American culture and are second language learners.

The authors describe an activity they developed for teacher candidates that: (1) demonstrated the natural tendency of the brain to engage in subjective analysis of human behavior; (2) instructed them on the difference between subjective and objective processing and the basic neurology underlying these cognitive functions; (3) engaged them in a repetition of the original activity to illustrate their ability to process information in an objective fashion; and (4) reflected on the consequences that these subjective perceptions may have on their interactions with students. In short, the purpose of this activity is to help teachers develop the ability to engage in objective assessment of student behavior, and to differentiate that from subjective assessment. A list of references and suggested readings is included.

This study investigated the vulnerability of lexical processing in individuals with aphasia. Though classical teaching of aphasia syndromes holds that people with Broca's aphasia have intact comprehension at the single-word level, the nature and extent of this purported sparing were explored under suboptimal processing conditions. A combination of acoustic distortions (low-pass filtering and time compression) was used to probe for "break points" in lexical comprehension in a group of individuals with aphasia. Results suggest that accurate and efficient lexical processing is vulnerable to suboptimal listening climates, and that processing under these conditions reveals the continuous nature of the impairment of linguistic behaviors observed in individuals with aphasia. (Contains 1 figure, 3 notes and 2 tables.)

The utility of single-case vs. group studies has been debated in neuropsychology for many years. The purpose of the present study is to illustrate an alternative approach to group studies of aphasia, in which the same symptom dimensions that are commonly used to assign patients to classical taxonomies (fluency, naming, repetition, and comprehension) are used as independent and continuous predictors in a multivariate design, without assigning patients to syndromes. One hundred twenty-six Italian-speaking patients with aphasia were first classified into seven classic aphasia categories, based on fluency, naming, auditory comprehension, and repetition scales. There were two goals: (1) compare group analyses based on aphasia types with multivariate analyses that sidestep classification and treat aphasic symptoms as continuous variables; (2) present correlation-based outlier analyses that can be used to identify individuals who occupy unusual positions in the multivariate "symptom space." In the service of the first goal, group performance on an external validation measure (the Token Test) was assessed in three steps: analyses of variance based on aphasia type, regressions using the same cut-offs for fluency, naming, comprehension and repetition as independent but dichotomous predictors, and regressions using the same subscales as continuous predictors (with no cut-offs). More variance in Token Test performance was accounted for when symptoms were treated as continuous predictors than with the other two methods, though use of independent but dichotomous predictors accounted for more variance than aphasia taxonomies. Thus, if we by-pass classical taxonomies and treat patients as points in a multidimensional symptom space, better predictions are obtained. Outlier analyses show that group results depend on heterogeneity among patients, which can be used as a search tool to identify potentially interesting dissociations. Hence this multivariate group approach is complementary to and compatible with single-case methods.

Purpose: The holistic approach to admissions includes an evaluation of traditional measures (e.g., cumulative grade-point average), attributes unique to the applicant (e.g., leadership), and variables important to the field (e.g., interpersonal skills). Outlined in this clinical focus article is an innovative approach to holistic admissions that includes evaluation of a video-recorded response to a case-based prompt and a live interview that includes application of knowledge, demonstration of critical thinking skills, and assessment of personal attributes. Conclusions: This comprehensive process includes evaluation of an applicant's knowledge, skills, and professional dispositions. Planning, implementation, outcomes, evaluation, and challenges of this approach are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is well accepted that the development of reading and writing are correlated with phonological decoding skills. The limitations that children who are deaf and hearing impaired experience in phonological perception have also been purported to impact their developing literacy skills. The challenges that these children face may be difficult for teachers to truly appreciate without first hand experience. This paper presents an experiential learning activity geared towards raising an understanding and appreciation for the challenges that children with hearing impairment face in performing literacy tasks in the classroom. Details of how to implement the activity are provided, along with prompts for stimulating discussion and reflection. A brief appraisal of our experiences with this activity is provided for the reader. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]