The Ecological Message of the Outdoor Magazines

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine (a) college students' attitudes and complexity of thinking about the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and (b) the effects of environment-based coursework on students' attitudes and thinking. Using self-report questionnaires in a pretest-posttest design, the authors examined attitudes in terms of their direction, extremity, ambivalence, and importance. Complexity of thinking was measured as integrative complexity. Results suggested that college students (N = 205) who had moderate and ambivalent attitudes toward the ESA wrote significantly more integratively complex essays about the issue than did students who had unambivalent attitudes. Students' integratively complex thinking was not related to the direction of their attitudes toward the ESA or its personal importance to them. Students who were enrolled in an environment-based, university-wide writing course showed a significantly greater increase in integratively complex thinking about the ESA than did students enrolled in a nonenvironment-based, university-wide writing course.     

Young Spanish-English speaking children’s reading attitudes in relation to language skills

Background: Reading attitudes are recognised as an influencing factor on the language and literacy achievement of school age monolingual English-speaking children. The relationship between reading attitudes and achievement in young Spanish-speaking English Learners (ELs) remains understudied.

Purpose: The aim of the current study was to describe reading attitudes of young Spanish-speaking ELs and to examine the relationship between attitudes and language performance.

Method: The investigators utilised the Elementary Reading Attitudes Survey (ERAS) with 204 participants: 100 ELs in kindergarten and 104 in first grade. Investigators administered standardised measures of language and literacy performance. Correlational analyses were conducted to examine the relationship between attitudes and performance on language assessments.

Findings: Significant mean differences were observed between girls and boys, with girls showing more positive attitudes towards recreational reading. Phonological awareness skills showed a significant strong correlation with academic reading attitudes for children in kindergarten. Spanish receptive vocabulary showed significant positive correlation with reading attitudes. No significant grade differences were found in overall mean reading attitudes.

Conclusions: Overall, students in both grades demonstrated generally positive attitudes towards reading, despite potential language barriers. Findings substantiate a positive relationship between reading attitudes and receptive vocabulary, and phonological awareness skills in young children.     

Student views regarding online freshmen physics courses

Background: Nationally, many public universities have started to move into the online course and program market that was previously associated with for-profit institutions of higher education. Public university administrators state that students seek the flexibility of online courses. But do students want to take courses online, especially freshmen-level science courses perceived to be difficult?

Purpose: This study investigated student views related to the potential of a physics course they were currently enrolled in being offered online.

Sample: This study took place at a large, public, mid-western university and involved students enrolled in either the first or second semester of a face-to-face flipped physics course for engineering technology majors.

Design and methods: Discussions with students during the semester about their online course experiences and expectations were used to develop the concourse and subsequently the Q sample to perform a Q methodology study about students’ views regarding taking physics courses online. Additional statements for the concourse and Q sample were taken from communications with administrators at the university. In this way, the statements sorted by the students included those from students and those from administrators. Factor analysis of the Q sorts resulted in three factors, each representing a unique perspective. Interpretations of these perspectives included the analyses of the Q sorts, the researcher’s interactions with students and administrators, and students’ written responses regarding their previous online course experiences and their sorting decisions.

Results: Three unique student views emerged were named: keeping it real and face-to-face, Online could be ok depending upon the course and instructor, and Online not for STEM classes. Consensus among the views is also discussed.

Conclusions: Overall, students’ views are negative concerning having physics courses, including labs, online and those views conflict with statements expressed by administrators regarding students’ desires for online courses at the university.     

Energy and Energy Waste: a Topic for Science Education

The Science Foundation Programme (SFP) was launched in 1991 at the University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa in an attempt to equip a selected number of matriculants from historically disadvantaged schools with the skills, resources and self-confidence needed to embark on their tertiary studies. Previous research within the SFP biology component suggests that a major contributor to poor achievement and low retention rates among English second language (ESL) students in the Life Sciences is the inadequate background knowledge in natural history. In this study, SFP student background knowledge was assessed along a continuum of language dependency using a set of three probes. Improved student performance in each of the respective assessments examined the extent to which a sound natural history background facilitated meaningful learning relative to ESL proficiency. Student profiles and attitudes to biology were also examined. Results indicated that students did not perceive language to be a problem in biology. However, analysis of the student performance in the assessment probes indicated that, although the marine course provided the students with the background knowledge that they were initially lacking, they continued to perform better in the drawing and MCQ tools in the post-tests, suggesting that it is their inability to express themselves in the written form that hampers their development. These results have implications for curriculum development within the constructivist framework of the SFP.     

Evidence‐Based Accommodation Decision Making at the Postsecondary Level: Review of the Evidence for Foreign Language Learning

Abstract This article reviews empirical evidence related to college students classified as learning disabled (LD) and foreign language (FL) learning by examining whether there are differences between: (a) students classified and not classified as LD enrolled in FL courses; (b) LD students with and without IQ‐achievement discrepancies and FL aptitude, proficiency, and achievement; and (c) students classified as LD who pass FL courses or receive course substitutions. Findings show that there are no cognitive and achievement differences between students classified as LD and non‐LD students enrolled in FL courses or between students classified as LD who pass FL courses or receive course substitutions. Findings have shown that there are no differences in FL outcomes between students classified as LD with and without discrepancies. Research findings over several years show that classification as LD is unimportant for determining whether or not a student will exhibit FL learning problems or fail FL courses.     

Personality characteristics differentiating and predicting the achievement of televised‐course students and traditional‐course students 1

Abstract

A large‐scale field study was conducted to 1) determine if the personality traits of students enrolled in televised college‐level courses differ from the personality traits of students enrolled in traditional college‐level courses and 2) identify the specific personality traits predictive of successful performance in televised classes. Results showed that students enrolled in telecourses do have a unique personality profile and that certain traits predicted success for these students. Implications of these results are discussed.     

An Analysis of the Predictive Validity of the New Ecological Paradigm Scale

Abstract

The widely used New Environmental Paradigm (NEP) scale was recently revised to address concerns about its dimensionality and validity. As an ever larger number of researchers from an increasing variety of disciplines incorporate environmental issues into their research, the need for environmental concern measures such as the NEP will broaden. The authors evaluated the predictive validity of the original and revised versions of the NEP scale, some abbreviated NEP-derived scales, and a non-NEP environmental attitudes scale. All of these scales explained a significant amount of the variance in a measure of intention to engage in proenvi-ronmental behavior. Based on the results, the authors suggest how researchers should use these scales in their research.     

Training Level, Acculturation, Role Ambiguity, and Multicultural Discussions in Training and Supervising International Counseling Students in the United States

This research partially replicated Nilsson and Anderson’s Professional Psychology: Research and Practice (2004) study on training and supervising international students. It investigated the relationships among international counseling students’ training level, acculturation, supervisory working alliance (SWA), counseling self-efficacy (COSE), role ambiguity (RA) and multicultural discussion (MD) in supervision. In the present study (N = 71), two acculturation variables and RA predicted SWA. SWA and MD did not predict COSE, while language use in acculturation did. Training level differences were only associated with COSE. Findings indicate that supervisors should attend to role ambiguity and multicultural issues when supervising international students, including acculturation issues and their impact on students’ performance. Results are discussed against Nilsson and Anderson’s original study and the implications for supervision of international counseling students.     

Managing the Change From On-Site to Online: Transforming ESL courses for teachers

In Canada, all regular K-12 teachers face the challenge of teaching both native and non-native English speaking students. Consequently, working with students who use English as a second language (ESL) has become everybody's business, irrespective of whether they are teaching language or mathematics, at elementary or secondary levels. As a result, it is essential for in-service teachers to gain knowledge and develop skills in working with ESL students. Teaching English as a second language (TESL) courses have been delivered traditionally at the Faculty of Education at Queen's University through on-site training and with opportunities for working with ESL students. These courses, however, are now delivered online to teachers in different locations across the province and even in other parts of the world. This paper addresses the challenges of converting the on-site courses to an online format.     

ESL TEACHER EDUCATION ABROAD AND AT HOME: A CAUTIONARY TALE

In this article, we compared teacher attitudes and beliefs about culturally appropriate language teaching resulting from an examination of two groups of preservice teachers. One group of preservice teachers enrolled in an English as a Second Language (ESL) study abroad program in Mexico; the other enrolled in a traditional on-campus ESL program. Our findings indicate that study abroad students gained a more empathetic understanding of language and cultural issues that affect language learners than their on-campus counterparts, but that they also developed some misconceptions about language learning based on their study abroad experience.     

Social and Dimensional Comparisons in the Formation of German Students’ Language Self-Concepts

Abstract

This study extended the internal/external reference model to multiple languages including students’ language of instruction, first foreign language, and second foreign language. We examined whether social and dimensional comparisons play similar roles in the formation of students’ self-concept related to different languages and whether dimensional comparisons result in contrast or assimilation effects. All students had German as the language of instruction and English as the first foreign language. Students were divided into a subsample (N?=?487) learning French as a second foreign language and a subsample (N?=?481) learning Latin. Invariance tests demonstrated that the achievement–self-concept relations were similar across the subsamples, but interesting group differences became apparent when analyzing the French and Latin subsamples separately.     

Do secondary school-leaving English examination results predict university students’ academic writing performance? A latent profile analysis

Abstract

Secondary school-leaving English examination results are often regarded as indicators of students’ competence to study in English-medium universities, which is usually demonstrated through source-based academic writing. In English as a second or foreign language (ESL/EFL) contexts, many English-medium universities require local undergraduates to enrol in an academic writing course, unless they received outstanding English results in secondary school-leaving examinations. This study investigates the relationship between ESL undergraduates’ secondary school-leaving English examination results and their academic writing performance through latent profile analysis. Results show that students can be grouped into four classes of academic writing performer (AWP), namely Complex-AWP, High-AWP, Medium-AWP and Low-AWP. Surprisingly, the Complex-AWP group had the highest means in structure, argument and language, but the lowest in citation. Secondary school-leaving English examination results can generally predict students’ class membership in language, argumentation and, to some extent, structure, but not citation. An important implication is that students with high English proficiency do not necessarily do well in all aspects of academic writing. This study can inform university senior management on how to set policies about who needs an academic writing course and provide appropriate training in various aspects of academic writing for university students with diverse English proficiency.     

The Development of an Environmental Science Degree Program in the United Kingdom

Abstract

The authors report a study that is based on the premise that, although it continues to be desirable to chart public attitudes toward the natural environment, the widely used 12-item New Environmental Paradigm (NEP) scale, published by R. E. Dunlap and K. D. van Liere in 1978, is in need of revision if it is to measure the public's more recent and sophisticated understanding of complex environmental issues. A quantitative and qualitative 2-stage international survey was conducted via the Internet in which respondents not only completed the NEP scale but also commented critically and in depth on the scale items. The authors determined that the NEP scale is limited with respect both to the anachronistic wording of items and its inability to capture people's increasingly thorough understanding of the nature, severity, and scope of environmental problems over the last 2 to 3 decades. Several suggestions are offered for updating the NEP scale if it is to continue to be a useful research tool.     

Troubling literacy: monolingual assumptions,multilingual contexts,and language teacher expertise

The current educational context in many English speaking countries is one where literacy is understood to be essentially monolingual in orientation; that is, an understanding of literacy around a single common language, with the emphasis on identifying universal, normative ‘standards’ and ‘benchmarks’, such as the National Assessment Program-Literacy and Numeracy in Australia, the Primary National Strategy in the United Kingdom, and No Child Left Behind in the United States. This paper aims to problematise such assumptions by examining how teachers, themselves, understand “teaching literacy” when their students come to the teaching/learning relationship with a first language other than English. With a focus on teachers working with bilingual and multilingual students in their early stages of acquiring English as a second language (ESL), the study thus acknowledges the increasingly diverse sociolinguistic profile of students in Australia and elsewhere in the varying degrees of communicative competence they bring to the mainstream in their use of ESL. Moreover, it draws on ESL teacher knowledge and expertise which has been identified as increasingly marginalised within mainstream educational discourse. Through case studies of three ESL teachers in the middle years, salient themes around the interrelated notions of literacy as learning, language for literacy and language as literacy were identified with respect to the literacy needs of second language learners.     

Revising a College 101 Course for Sustained Impact: Early Outcomes

ABSTRACT

In response to strikingly low completion rates in public 2-year colleges, including for students who are well-prepared academically, most community colleges across the country offer student success courses as one approach to improving outcomes for students. Some colleges have begun to revise these courses in response to research indicating that their impact fades over time. This article examines Bronx Community College’s efforts to restructure their student success course into a First Year Seminar (FYS) that integrates college orientation activities, disciplinary content, and academic success skills. The course emphasizes student-centered pedagogies in order to encourage learning that persists beyond the semester of participation. We use mixed methods to assess the early outcomes of students in FYS courses and understand whether and why the course’s impact has the potential to be sustained. Using propensity score matching to compare 1,138 FYS participants to 1,138 similar nonparticipants, we find early evidence that the FYS approach leads to positive outcomes, including higher grade point averages (GPA) and earning more credits. Using classroom observations (N = 40), instructor interviews (N = 10), and interviews with participants (N = 27), we find that FYS appears to facilitate student-centered, contextualized, and applied learning, thereby helping students apply their FYS-related skills in future courses. This study has implications for reforming student success courses in a way that achieves long-term positive student outcomes.     

Influence of an Environmental Studies Course on Attitudes of Undergraduates at an Engineering University

Studies suggest that at engineering universities, where the percentage of males and engineering majors is high, pro-environmental attitudes are likely to be weak and may not change. The 15-item New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) scale was used to measure differences in student attitudes before and after an environmental studies course. Results revealed students held more pro-environmental attitudes about the validity of the ecological crisis, the existence of resource constraints, and the delicacy of nature's balance after the course. Students did not shift their views regarding the domination of humans over the environment or their belief in human ingenuity to overcome resource limits. Engineering majors showed weaker endorsement of the NEP compared to non-engineering majors, but the increase in their endorsement after the course was statistically significant.     

Factors associated with students’ attitude change in online peer assessment – a mixed methods study in a graduate-level course

Abstract

Positive student attitude towards peer assessment can be demonstrated through high-quality peer assessment activities. Research findings on students’ attitudes before and after such activities were mixed. This study was conducted using a mixed-methods approach to investigate the underlying factors influencing students’ attitude change. Participants were students enrolled in an online graduate-level assessment course in the college of education in a university in the southeast United States in the fall of 2017 (N?=?31). Surveys and interviews were used to collect quantitative and qualitative data separately, both of which indicated that perceived accurate and specific feedback tended to help students shift to more positive attitudes towards online peer assessment. In addition, final task score improvement after the activity was correlated with positive attitude change. Qualitative results also identified other factors, such as communication with the peers’ work and logistic concerns. The current study offers insights for researchers and instructors to promote positive attitude changes in online peer assessment activities.     

Attitudes towards science and views of nature of science among elementary school students in terms of gender,cultural background and grade level variables

Background: There is a growing interest in investigating attitudes towards science and views of Nature of Science among elementary grade students in terms of gender, cultural backgrounds, and grade level variables.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine the attitudes toward science and views of Nature of Science among Spanish students, Spanish students of gypsy ethnicity and second-generation Spanish students with east-European heritage, and to determine if their attitudes are related to their views of Nature of Science.

Sample: Data for this study was gathered from seven elementary schools in Spain, forming a convenience sample of 149 students enrolled from 2nd to 5th grade.

Design and Methods: The Nature of Science Instrument (NOSI) and an adaptation of the Test of Science Related Attitudes scale (TOSRA) were used. Follow-up structured interviews were performed with 15 participants.

Results: Regarding gender, boys had better attitudes toward Science than girls but more naïve views of the empirical Nature of Science. In relation to cultural background, second generation Spanish students with east-European heritage reported significantly better attitudes toward Science than Spanish students and Spanish students of gypsy ethnicity. No differences in Nature of Science views were found. Concerning grade level, third graders had more positive attitudes toward Science than fifth and sixth graders and more informed views of the tentative Nature of Science. Finally, no relation between Nature of Science views and attitudes towards Science were identified.

Conclusion: This study stress the need to address the steady decline in positive attitude toward Science and to improve students’ views of Nature of Science from early elementary grades, and to use gender and culturally inclusive science teaching strategies.     

Evidence of reflective thinking across the curriculum: college experience versus individual courses

This study investigated how individual and course-level variables across the curriculum at a four-year college (college here refers to a higher education institution that offers undergraduate education but not graduate degrees) in the southeastern US impacted student reflective thinking as measured by Kember and colleagues' [2000. Development of a questionnaire to measure the level of reflective thinking. Assessment &; Evaluation in Higher Education, 25(4): 381–395] scale. The measure includes four constructs: (1) non-thinking (i.e., habitual action), (2) understanding, (3) reflection, and the deepest level (4) critical reflection. The construct of understanding – students' assessment of their thoughtful use of knowledge – was the only measure that increased with credit hours completed. Students (n?=?802) reported more thinking to comprehend in science courses compared to business and humanities courses. An interaction of subject areas and gender showed that males reported more reflection in business courses than the humanities or science courses, and females reported the opposite (i.e., more reflection in humanities and science courses and less in business courses). All students, and especially older ones, were more likely to report thinking habits as the result of an overall college experience than from an individual course. A small set (6.23%), however, who did not report reflecting critically as the result of college did indicate that the current course prompted them to do so. Deeper habits of thinking were reported in students who were awarded course credit for participation and for those enrolled in courses taught by more experienced faculty.     

Environmental Concern: A comparative analysis between students in Recreation and Park Management and other departments

Dunlap and Van Liere (1978) indicated that a paradigmatic change has evolved in which the general populace has shown a genuine level of concern as they have realized that ecological problems faced by the world today are the results of societal values, attitudes and beliefs. Based on this idea, Dunlap and associates offered the New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) scale, which is a general set of beliefs or attitudes towards the environment. To verify this change in thinking, this study employed the NEP scale among a sample of undergraduate students in the United States. The analysis revealed a support and a sympathetic attitude towards the environment, although this support was not overwhelming. Also, students seemed to express the importance towards environmental issues but lacked awareness. Finally, this study showed that Recreation and Park Management students show more favorable attitudes, give more importance to and are more aware of environmental issues than students from Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Management, and Science, Technology and Society departments, respectively.