Specification Search for Identifying the Correct Mean Trajectory in Polynomial Latent Growth Models

This study investigated the optimal strategy for model specification search under the latent growth modeling (LGM) framework, specifically on searching for the correct polynomial mean or average growth model when there is no a priori hypothesized model in the absence of theory. In this simulation study, the effectiveness of different starting models on the search of the true mean growth model was investigated in terms of the mean and within-subject variance-covariance (V-C) structure model. The results showed that specifying the most complex (i.e., unstructured) within-subject V-C structure with the use of LRT, ΔAIC, and ΔBIC achieved the highest recovery rate (>85%) of the true mean trajectory. Implications of the findings and limitations are discussed.     

Content,domain, and word knowledge: Relationship to comprehension of narrative and expository text

The influence of background knowledge on reader's comprehension of text has become a fundamental assumption associated with text processing. Background knowledge has been represented in a variety of constructs including specific text knowledge, general world knowledge, discourse knowledge, and domain knowledge. Our interest in the present study was to examine background knowledge and strategy knowledge from a broad view to better understand how they contribute to elementary-age students' reading comprehension of both narrative and expository texts. Constructs of domain, content, and word knowledge were developed based on the extant literature. These knowledge constructs were measured with researcher-developed tests consisting of both narrative and expository passages ranging from 1000 to 2000 words (2–4 pages) in length. Comprehension of each passage was measured with a 25-item subtest. All students in Grades 3 through 6 were administered the knowledge and comprehension tests. A two-stage analysis procedure was used. Exploratory factor analysis was used to examine empirically the internal structures of the comprehension questions. Factor scores were constructed and then treated as a multivariate set, with a second set comprised of the background and strategy factors. A canonical analysis was then performed to relate the two sets and canonical functions and structure coefficients were interpreted substantively. Our findings indicated that background knowledge specific to the content of the text being read begins to diminish in importance at about Grade 4. Strategy knowledge and use in comprehension of text begin to play a more important role at Grade 4 and above. Grade 6 analyses support a conclusion that the reading development process in elementary grades has been completed, and that reading comprehension at this grade is primarily an indicator of students' proficiency in selecting efficient ways to gain meaning from text.     

“Everybody’s hard times are different”: country as a political investment in white masculine precarity

Recognizing the complex interplay between country music, lifestyle, and identity, and the disparate nature of these texts and their producers, we center our analysis of the politics of contemporary “country” in the accounts of country music listeners. Through this lens, “country” foregrounds a portrait of precarious labor and white rural economies. Precarity is held up as aspirational, facilitated by the relative structural support of whiteness and masculinity that simultaneously leverages economic hardship to obfuscate these privileged positions. “Country” elides experiences of class marginalization, white rurality, and masculinized labor with mythologized narratives that position simplicity and work as “the good life.”     

Where Students Start and What They Do When They Get Stuck: A Qualitative Inquiry into Academic Information-Seeking and Help-Seeking Practices

This study investigates two questions key to academic library resources and services: Which sources are students most likely to use to begin their academic work? Whom do students tend to consult for research assistance? In-depth interviews conducted with 15 undergraduate and graduate students were thematically analyzed through a three-step process. The findings indicate that students are most likely to consult faculty and peers for assistance and are largely unaware of librarians' roles, while they tend to begin research using library databases and do not necessarily start with Google. In addition, student use of small study groups as learning networks and reliance upon alternate sites to conduct research emerged as unanticipated themes.     

Cognitive and Developmental Effects on Item Performance in Intelligence and Achievement Tests for Young Children

Performance on items in intelligence and achievement tests can be represented in terms of child development and information processes. Research is reviewed on item performance that supports developmental and information processing effects, particularly in children. Some suggestions for item development in intelligence and achievement tests are presented.     

Pigeons discriminate pictures of a geographic location

Four pigeons previously trained to home to the roof of the University of British Columbia psychology building and 4 nonhoming pigeons were trained to discriminate between two sets of color slides projected onto a pecking panel of a Skinner box. One slide set consisted of photographs taken in the vicinity of the psychology building; the other set consisted of similar views taken at locations not previously visited by the homing subjects. All subjects were rewarded for pecking during slides from the first but not the second set. Every few sessions, new “Home” and “Away” slides were introduced during transfer tests. In a final transfer test, a completely new tray of Home and Away slides was introduced. The homing pigeons were slightly (but not statistically significantly) better at discriminating Home from Away slides. The implications of these results for understanding pigeons’ homing behavior, concept attainment, and spatial memory are discussed.     

Effects of structural features on word recognition development of hispanic and non-hispanic second graders

Reading and Writing - Do Hispanic and non-Hispanic second graders acquire knowledge ofstructural features of words in the same order and at the same rate? Doesthe order and rate of acquisition of...