Addressing career barriers for high risk adolescent girls: the PATHS curriculum intervention.

The study evaluated a gender-specific comprehensive career development curriculum designed to target career barriers faced by high risk adolescent girls - those with disabilities and at risk for school failure. The goal of the curriculum was to promote social cognitive career and self determination outcomes associated with adaptive career development and adjustment. A pre-post control group design was used to evaluate the curriculum. Findings suggest that participation in the curriculum resulted in significant and large gains in autonomy and in disability and gender-related knowledge. Meaningful gains were noted in perceptions of social support and relevance of school. Participants in a high fidelity sample made significant and large gains in vocational skills self-efficacy and disability and gender-related knowledge. Meaningful improvements were noted in self-advocacy, autonomy, and vocational outcome expectations. The findings suggest that the curriculum can improve important indicators of positive career development and adjustment in high risk adolescent girls.

Learning to Teach Again: What Professional Development Approach Matters?

Purpose: Informed by the constructivist learning theory, the purpose of this study was to determine the impact of three continuing professional development (CPD) approaches on student learning in a healthful living physical education curriculum. Methods: Physical education teachers (n = 19) received one of the following CPD trainings: (a) Full Training, (b) Expedited Training, or (c) Self-Training. The effect of each CPD method was determined by tracking student learning (N = 3,418) with a two-level linear mixed model. Results: The results showed that Full Training CPD was able to generate the largest knowledge gain in both the Healthy Lifestyles Unit (ß = 0.214, p < .001) and Cardio Fitness Club Unit (ß = 0.184, p < .01) in comparison with the other two CPD approaches. Discussion: These findings advance our understanding of the role different CPD approaches play in enhancing student learning in the subjects of cardiorespiratory fitness and health lifestyles. Conclusions: The Full-Training CPD appears to benefit student learning the most followed by the Expedited-Training. The Self-Training would yield the least learning achievement.

Learners' motivational response to the Science, PE, & Me! curriculum: A situational interest perspective.

BACKGROUND: The Science, PE, & Me! (SPEM) curriculum is a concept-based physical education curriculum that offers students coherent educational experiences for constructing health-related fitness knowledge through movement experiences. The purpose of this study was to evaluate students' motivational response to the SPEM curriculum from the situational interest perspective. METHODS: The study used a cluster randomized controlled design in which 30 elementary schools in one of the largest metropolitan areas in the eastern United States were randomly assigned to an experimental or comparison condition. Although all students in the 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades in the targeted schools were eligible to participate in the study, a random sample of students from the experimental (n = 1749; 15 schools) and comparison groups (n = 1985; 15 schools) provided data. Students' motivational response to the SPEM curriculum or comparison curriculum was measured using the previously validated Situational Interest Scale-Elementary. Data were analyzed using structural mean modeling. RESULTS: The results demonstrated that the experimental group (as reference group) showed significantly higher enjoyment (z = -2.01), challenge (z = -6.54), exploration (z = -12.195), novelty (z = -8.80), and attention demand (z = -7.90) than the comparison group. CONCLUSION: The findings indicate that the SPEM curriculum created a more situationally interesting context for learning than the comparison physical education curriculum.

Examining Heterogeneity in the Impacts of Socio-Emotional Curricula in Preschool: A Quantile Treatment Effect Approach.

We examine treatment effect heterogeneity using data from the Head Start CARES study, in which a sample of preschool centers was randomly assigned to either one of three curricula interventions targeting socio-emotional (SE) skills (i.e., emotional knowledge, problem-solving skills, and executive functions) or to continue using their "business-as-usual" curriculum. Most existing research estimates only mean differences between treatment and control groups, and uses simple subgroup analyses to assess treatment heterogeneity, which may overlook important variation in treatment effects across the ex post outcome distribution. We use quantile treatment effects analyses to understand the impacts of these curricular interventions at various parts of the outcome distribution, from the 1st percentile to the 99th percentile, to understand who benefits most from SE curricula interventions. Results show positive impacts of the curricula interventions on emotional knowledge and problem-solving skills, but not equally across the full skill distribution. Children in the upper half of the emotional knowledge distribution and at the higher end of the problem-solving skills distribution gain more from the curricula. As in the study's original mean-comparison analyses, we find no impacts on children's executive function skills at any point in the skills distribution. Our findings add to the growing literature on the differential effects of curricula interventions for preschool programs operating at scale. Importantly, it provides the first evidence for the effects of SE curricula interventions on SE outcomes across children's outcome skill levels. We discuss implications for early education programs for children with different school readiness skills.

Integrating Health Literacy Into Core Curriculum: A Teacher-Driven Pilot Initiative for Second Graders.

BACKGROUND: Limited research has addressed the effects of health literacy interventions in elementary schools. However, school-aged children's health literacy is critical because children make decisions about their health every day. The purpose of the pilot project was to explore the feasibility of integrated health literacy lesson plans for second graders. METHODS: A pretest-posttest evaluation was conducted with second grade students following implementation of health literacy lessons that were integrated into core curriculum (language arts, science, and social studies). RESULTS: Health educators, a hospital/health care system, and a school district developed a partnership. A research team of teachers, administrators, health literacy experts and health care organizations designed and implemented health literacy lesson plans. A developmentally appropriate measure of health literacy was adapted from the Newest Vital Sign. Data showed that students' health literacy scores significantly increased after implementation of 4 lesson plans. CONCLUSIONS: This was an exploratory, pilot project that provided a useful starting point for discussing how to integrate health literacy into elementary school curriculum. An interdisciplinary team developed integrated health literacy materials that acknowledged the needs of teachers, the resources available, and the developmental stages of children. This intervention serves as a model for future health literacy initiatives in schools.

The Impact of Meeting Patients with Neurological Disorders on Medical Student Empathy.

PURPOSE: Empathy tends to decline during medical education, typically beginning in the third year of medical school and often continuing throughout residency and the physician's medical career. The purpose of this study was to determine if first year medical student empathy is affected by small group interactions with patients with neurological disorders, and to investigate if changes in empathy persisted over time. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Eighty first year medical students participating in a Neuroscience Module interacted with a variety of neurological patients in a small group informational session. Prior to the experience, participants completed the Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy-Student (JSPE-S) version. After the experience, students completed a post-test JSPE-S questionnaire, and a final post-post-test JSPE-S questionnaire was completed 5 weeks later. Empathy scores were compared with a repeated measures MANOVA. The relationship between gender and empathy, and the effect of the age of the neurological patients on empathy scores were also examined. RESULTS: Empathy scores for seventy-one students who completed the JSPE-S questionnaires were analyzed. Students had significantly higher empathy immediately after the patient interaction experience, and the change in empathy was sustained over the course of 5 weeks (p = 0.015). The age of the neurological patients had a significant effect on empathy scores. There was no significant difference between empathy scores and gender. CONCLUSIONS: This study supports the incorporation of a group patient interaction experience into the medical school curriculum as an inexpensive and practical method of enhancing medical student empathy in a non-clinical setting.

Evaluation of a concept-based physical education unit for energy balance education.

BACKGROUND: Physical education (PE) is a key channel that impacts children's decisions and behaviors for healthful living. This study evaluated the effects of a concept-based PE (CBPE) instructional unit, featured by energy balance (EB) education, on students' knowledge learning, situational interest, cognitive, and physical engagements as well as teachers' perceptions. METHODS: Fourth and 5th grade students (n = 468) in a mid-western state of the United States were recruited as the participants. Four elementary schools were randomized to the CBPE or control groups. Students' EB knowledge, situational interest, cognitive engagement, and physical engagement were measured by a knowledge test, the Situational Interest Scale-Elementary, written task sheets, and accelerometers, respectively, while teachers' perceptions of the CBPE unit were captured by individual interviews at the end of the experiment. RESULTS: The CBPE group showed a significant increase in EB knowledge, while the control did not. Both groups showed a similar increasing trend for situational interest over time, although the statistical results favored the control group. For physical engagement, the CBPE group demonstrated a statistically different but substantively similar level of in-class physical activity compared to the control group. The CBPE group also showed a moderate level of cognitive engagement throughout the unit. The PE teachers reported overall positive perceptions about teaching the CBPE unit. CONCLUSION: These results support the utility of the CBPE unit in enhancing EB education along with facilitating positive student interest and engagement as well as positive teaching experiences.

Evaluation of a Decision-Making Curriculum for Teaching Adolescents with Disabilities to Resist Negative Peer Pressure.

This study was designed to assess the impact of a decision-making curriculum (PEER-DM) on the social peer relationship knowledge and self-protective decision-making skills of adolescents with disabilities in hypothetical situations involving negative peer pressure. A randomized design was used to assign students with disabilities from self-contained special education classes to an intervention group (n = 22) or a wait-list control group (n = 20). ANCOVA analyses, using pretest scores as covariates, indicated that students who were trained on PEER-DM had significantly higher effective decision-making action and correct risk perception scores, relative to participants in the control group. This study provides supporting evidence that PEER-DM is a promising intervention for students with disabilities, including those with identified autism spectrum disorders, during transition years to help them develop a better understanding of positive and negative peer relationships and learn systematic decision-making skills for improved handling of social situations in the school and community, especially situations involving negative peer pressure. The study adds credence to using systematic, strategy-based decision making interventions designed to address the cognitive, emotional and motivational processes underlying adolescent decision making in sensitive interpersonal situations involving peer pressure. The study points to the lack of preparedness to handle situations of negative peer pressure as a serious social and health risk for adolescents with disabilities that deserves urgent and concerted attention in transition services programming. Implications for future curriculum-development efforts and replication of treatment findings are discussed. Future research examining disability-specific patterns of decision-making in peer situations and comparisons with typically developing populations is recommended.

Randomized Controlled Trial to Evaluate an Abuse Prevention Curriculum for Women and Men With Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities.

This study was designed (a) to assess the impact of the ESCAPE-DD curriculum on the decision-making skills of adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) in hypothetical situations of abuse, (b) to examine the role of problem awareness, and (c) to identify factors associated with posttest decision-making performance. Fifty-eight women and men with IDD were randomly assigned to an intervention group or a wait-list control group. Participants who experienced ESCAPE-DD made significantly greater gains on measures of overall effective decision making and safe-now effective decision-making relative to participants in the control group. Problem awareness was related to decision making, but it did not improve as a result of the intervention. Implications of the findings for future curriculum-development efforts are discussed.