A study was conducted to examine the implementation of reciprocal teaching with fourth-and fifth-grade students as they read their social studies and science textbooks. A distinctive feature of the study was that reciprocal teaching procedures were used in a whole-class, rather than a small-group instructional setting. Three teachers and 67 students participated in the study. Observations revealed that as reciprocal teaching instruction proceeded, more responsibility for initiating and sustaining discussion was transferred from the teachers to the students. After 20 days most of the reciprocal teaching procedures were implemented flexibly and in an appropriate manner. A variety of assessment measures were administered at intervals throughout the study to evaluate the effects of the procedure on students' comprehension. (4 table of data and three figures are included; 14 references and appendixes contain scoring keys for strategy measures are attached.) OHUO
Background
Central nervous system (CNS) germinomas are treatment‐sensitive tumors with excellent survival outcomes. Current treatment strategies combine chemotherapy with radiotherapy (RT) in order to reduce the field and dose of RT. Germinomas originating in the basal ganglia/thalamus (BGTGs) have proven challenging to treat given their rarity and poorly defined imaging characteristics. Craniospinal (CSI), whole brain (WBI), whole ventricle (WVI), and focal RT have all been utilized; however, the best treatment strategy remains unclear.
Methods
Retrospective multi‐institutional analysis has been conducted across 18 institutions in four countries.
Results
For 43 cases of nonmetastatic BGTGs, the 5‐ and 10‐year event‐free survivals (EFS) were 85.8% and 81.0%, respectively, while the 5‐ and 10‐year overall survivals (OS) were 100% and 95.5%, respectively (one patient fatality from unrelated cause). Median RT doses were as follows: CSI: 2250 cGy/cGy(RBE) (1980–2400); WBI: 2340 cGy/cGy(RBE) (1800–3000); WVI: 2340 cGy/cGy(RBE) (1800–2550); focal: 3600 cGy (3060–5400). Thirty‐eight patients (90.5%) received chemotherapy. There was no statistically significant difference in the EFS based on initial field extent (p = .84). Nevertheless, no relapses were reported in patients who received CSI or WBI. Chemotherapy alone had significantly inferior EFS compared to combined therapy (p = .0092), but patients were salvageable with RT.
Conclusion
Patients with BGTGs have excellent outcomes and RT proved to be an integral component of the treatment plan. This group of patients should be included in future prospective clinical trials and the best RT field should be investigated further.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.