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The purpose of the present study was to examine the effects of a program that offered sustained strategic reading instruction on reading abilities of third and fourth graders. The study was conducted among 1,469 children from 40 schools in the Netherlands. Schools were randomly assigned to either the experimental or control group. Multilevel analyses showed positive effects on knowledge of reading strategies after one year of intervention at the end of Grade 3. At the end of Grade 4, there were also positive intervention effects on reading comprehension. No significant interaction effects were determined for age, gender, SES, or ethnic/linguistic background. The intervention effects were also not dependent on the level of the student's nonverbal intelligence, vocabulary, or decoding skills.

New learning theory, underpinning the idea of teaching for self-directed learning, provides new conceptions of learning: the self-regulation of learning, the construct-character of knowledge, the social nature of learning and a dynamic model of intelligence. What conceptions teachers hold may be related to their tolerance of uncertainty. We constructed a Learning Inventory and administered this to teachers in Dutch senior secondary education, where an innovation is heading for more independent learning. We found empirical confirmation of the five dimensions underlying teachers' conceptions of learning, both for student learning and for their own learning. Tolerance of uncertainty explained the other four dimensions in conceptions of student learning, but not in teachers' conceptions of their own learning. Teachers generally endorse the process-oriented conceptions, although some differences are noted between teachers' conceptions of student learning and their own learning. (Contains 4 notes, 5 tables and 1 figure.)

Studied the factor structure of the On-Line Motivation Questionnaire (M. Boekaerts, 2002) in a sample of 780 Dutch seventh graders. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed that seven of eight presupposed factors could be distinguished empirically. The internal structure appeared invariant over the academic tasks studied. (SLD)

Follows the writing skill development of 154 Finnish-speaking children. Focuses on predictive associations between preschool writing readiness skills and later mechanics of writing, as well as between word recognition skill, mechanics of writing, and composition coherence. Indicates that both mechanics of writing and composition coherence could be predicted from performance on the same skill at an earlier point in time. (SG)

Examined teaching behavior in Dutch secondary schools in the early phase of an innovation promoting self-directed learning. Observation data indicated that teachers did not spend much time teaching students how to learn. Activating features of teaching were more predominant than the mere transmission of knowledge, but process-oriented teaching occurred very little. (SM)

Examines the relationships among phonological awareness, phonological memory, and development of reading skills in a longitudinal study, by following 222 Finnish preschoolers through grade 2. Focuses on the role of phonological memory in word recognition and comprehension. Underlines the stability of development of phonological memory, phonological awareness, word recognition, listening and reading comprehension. (SG)

Examined the effects of phonological memory and native-language (NL) literacy acquisition on learning English as a foreign language. Subjects were Finnish first graders, who were age 7 at the beginning of the study. Results suggest NL literacy is highly significant for foreign-language learning and that one way to promote foreign-language learning is diagnosing NL literacy early. (Author/VWL)

In this longitudinal study, the writing skill development of 154 Finnish-speaking children was followed from preschool to the third grade. The focus was on predictive associations between preschool writing readiness skills and later mechanics of writing, as well as between word recognition skill, mechanics of writing, and composition coherence. In addition, comparisons were made between boys and girls to see to what extent writing skill development is gender-specific. Multi-group structural equation modeling was used for statistical analysis. The results indicated that both mechanics of writing and composition coherence could be predicted from performance on the same skill at an earlier point in time. Preschool measures of phonological and visual-motor skills predicted later mechanics of writing. Word recognition worked as a predictor of later mechanics of writing and composition coherence, but only starting from second grade, when the development of the word recognition skill had become stabilized at a high enough level. Furthermore, first grade mechanics of writing predicted second grade composition coherence, but only at this early stage of productive writing when there were still difficulties in the mechanics of writing. Girls were better at tasks measuring mechanics of writing and wrote more coherent stories than boys. The gender difference in the mechanics of writing at the first grade level was explained by the presented model. Educational implications were discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to build a model for the public image and visibility of the police. These variables were seen as central to successful community policing. Explanatory variables included were contacts with the police, victimisation and background characteristics of the respondents. Questionnaire data were obtained from a sample of 3271 adults (mean age 42) and 986 youngsters (mean age 15.5) in two Finnish cities. Using multi-sample structural equation modelling, a four-factor model with two image factors (Friendliness and Closeness) and two visibility factors (Patrol-Car-Related and Police-on-Foot Activities) was confirmed by the data. As hypothesised, for both adults and youngsters, seeing police-on-foot activities was positively correlated with both image factors, while seeing Patrol-Car-Related Activities was negatively correlated with police image. Relationships of explanatory variables with image factors were to a large extent but not completely mediated by the visibility factors. Some differences were found between adults and youngsters in factor means and in regression relationships. Quality of police visibility proved to be an important factor from the point of view of community policing, in which one of the main purposes is to improve the relationship between the police and the public. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study examined the effects of exercise on symptoms and activity in chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS)., Methods: Twenty CFS patients and 20 neighborhood controls performed an incremental exercise test until exhaustion. Fatigue, muscle pain, minutes spent resting, and the level of physical activity were assessed with a self-observation list. Physical activity was assessed with an actometer as well. Data were obtained 3 days before the maximal exercise test (MET) up to 5 days thereafter., Results: For CFS patients, daily observed fatigue was increased up to 2 days after the exercise test. For controls, self-observed fatigue returned to baseline after 2 h. Both CFS patients and controls spent more minutes resting on the day before and on the day after the MET. For CFS patients, self-observed minutes resting increased on the day of the exercise test. For neither group, a decrease of actometer recorded or self-observed physical activity after exercise was found., Conclusion: Fatigue in CFS patients increased after exercise, but the level of actual physical activity remained unchanged.