Using Rating Augmentation to Expand the Scale of an Analytic Rubric

A method of expanding a rating scale 3-fold without the expense of defining additional benchmarks was studied. The authors used an analytic rubric representing 4 domains of writing and composed of 4-point scales to score 120 writing samples from Georgia's 11th-grade Writing Assessment. The raters augmented the scores of papers on which the proficiency levels appeared slightly higher or lower than the benchmark papers at the selected proficiency level by adding a “+” or a “?” to the score. The results of the study indicate that the use of this method of rating augmentation tends to improve most indices of interrater reliability, although the percentage of exact and adjacent agreement decreases because of the increased number of rating possibilities. In addition, there was evidence to suggest that the use of augmentation may produce domain-level scores with sufficient reliability for use with diagnostic feedback to teachers about the performance of students.     

Population Invariance and the Equatability of Tests: Basic Theory and The Linear Case

How does the fact that two tests should not be equated manifest itself? This paper addresses this question through the study of the degree to which equating functions fail to exhibit population invariance across subpopulations. Equating fimctions are supposed to be population invariant by definition. But, when two tests are not equatable, it is possible that the linking functions, used to connect the scores of one to the scores of the other, are not invariant across different populations of examinees. While no acceptable equating function is ever completely population invariant, in the situations where equating is usually performed we believe that the dependence of the equating function on the population used to compute it is usually small enough to be ignored. We introduce two root‐mean‐square difference measures of the degree to which the functions used to link two tests computed on different subpopulations differ from the linking function computed for the whole population. We also introduce the system of “parallel‐linear” linking functions for multiple subpopulations and show that, for this system, our measure of population invariance can be computed easily from the standardized mean differences between the scores of the subpopulations on the two tests. For the parallel‐linear case, we develop a correlation‐based upper bound on our measure that holds for all systems of subpopulations. We illustrate these ideas using data from the SAT I and from a concordance study of several combinations of ACT and SAT I scores, In the appendices, we give some theoretical results bearing on the other equating “requirements” of “same construct,”“same reliability” and one aspect of Lord's concept of equity.     

The functions of epideictic: The Boston massacre orations as exemplar

Existing theories of epideictic focus on the content of the speeches as “praise and blame,”; on the speaker's uses of the event or, more recently, on the audience's uses of the event. This essay argues that three pairs of functions define the epideictic experience for speakers and audiences and produce their characteristic message contents. Those pairs include definition/understanding, shaping of community, and display/entertainment. The utility of the perspective is indicated through an exemplary case of such “communal definition.”     

The histopathologic reliability of tissue taken from cadavers within the gross anatomy laboratory

The purpose of this study was to examine the histopathologic reliability of embalmed cadaveric tissue taken from the gross anatomy laboratory. Tissue samples from hearts, livers, lungs, and kidneys were collected after the medical students’ dissection course was completed. All of the cadavers were embalmed in a formalin‐based fixative solution. The tissue was processed, embedded in paraffin, sectioned at six micrometers, and stained with H&E. The microscope slides were evaluated by a board certified pathologist to determine whether the cellular components of the tissues were preserved at a high enough quality to allow for histopathologic diagnosis. There was a statistically significant relationship between ratings and organ groups. Across all organs, there was a smaller proportion of “poor” ratings. The lung group had the highest percentage of “poor” ratings (23.1%). The heart group had the least “poor” ratings (0.0%). The largest percentage of “satisfactory” ratings were in the lung group (52.8%), and the heart group contained the highest percentage of “good” ratings (58.5%) The lung group had the lowest percentage of “good” ratings (24.2%). These results indicate that heart tissue is more reliable than lung, kidney, or liver tissue when utilizing tissue from the gross anatomy laboratory for research and/or educational purposes. This information advises educators and researchers about the quality and histopathologic reliability of tissue samples obtained from the gross anatomy laboratory. Anat Sci Educ 11: 207–214. © 2017 American Association of Anatomists.     

A study of the use of “invitations to enquiry” and student attitude

This study was designed to isolate the attitude of high ability ninth grade BSCS students toward instruction utilizing “Invitations to Enquiry.” Both control and experimental groups received similar instruction with the addition of twenty “Invitations” to the experimental classes over an eight week period. No significant differences in attitudinal scores as measured by Remmer's A Scale to Measure Attitude Toward Any School Subject was found when the poststudy scores were adjusted for prestudy attitude, IQ and mid-study attitude or when the attitude at the end of four weeks of the study was adjusted using prestudy attitude and IQ.     

“生产经营型”新型职业农民胜任素质的要素构成研究——基于行为事件访谈法

“三农”问题是国家发展战略中的重难点,培育新型职业农民是中国实现农业现代化的必然选择。基于行为事件访谈法对样本区域的35名“生产经营型”新型职业农民进行研究,在此基础上建构其胜任素质的要素构成。结果表明,“生产经营型”新型职业农民的胜任素质包括“从农动机、职业承诺、团队建设与领导力、市场信息搜集与获取、成本收益评估能力、模式创新力、关系资本积累能力、农人新思维”等17项要素。新型职业农民胜任特征编码具有较高信度,胜任特征能对绩优组和绩平组进行有效鉴别与区分,具有较高效度。因此,采用行为事件访谈法对“生产经营型”新型职业农民胜任素质要素构成进行研究也是有效的。     

Where have all the skeptics gone?: Patterns of new age beliefs and anti-scientific attitudes in preservice primary teachers

Is belief in the paranormal alive and well within preservice teachers? In this survey 232 undergraduates (including 202 preservice primary teachers) were asked to react to a series of eight statements reflecting paranormal New Age beliefs rated earlier by a faculty panel as “totally unbelievable.” Overall, the students' modal response was expressed as “no particular opinion,” although for five of the eight items the modal respónse was “slightly believable.” It was found that only four students within the sample consistently rejected all eight statements. The frequency of ‘believers’ outnumbered the ‘skeptics’ in relation to three items (beliefs in UFOs, psychic seances, and Nostradamus). New Age factor scores were not significantly related to undergraduate faculty or year level, to holding anti-scientific beliefs or to a measure of TV-viewing, and did not correlate significantly with the personality scale Need for Cognition. Females evidenced higher New Age scores than males, but attitudes to science were unrelated to gender.     

Enhancing Science Learning Through the Introduction of Effective Group Work in Hong Kong Secondary Classrooms

This study compares the learning results of three groups of secondary two (grade eight) students of a similar academic standard who participated in a teaching intervention involving different pedagogies. One hundred and forty-nine Hong Kong secondary students were chosen and divided into three groups, “whole-class teaching approach”, “group work with no specific strategies” and “group work with effective strategies”, to study the “space travel” unit in their science curriculum. The first group was exposed to traditional whole-class instruction, and the latter two practised collaborative group work, with the third adopting four effective strategies derived from a UK-based quasi-experimental project. Analyses of the pre- and post-diagnostic assessments and audiotaped discussions revealed that group work comprising effective strategies not only raised students’ test scores, but also enhanced their joint construction of conceptual knowledge in science. The findings suggest that the effective strategies adopted in this study are contributory factors to superior student accomplishments and a stronger desire to seek clarification accruing from shared cognitive activities.     

网络时代高职学生主旋律教育阵地建设的思考--以网络文明志愿者队伍建设为例

高职院校在网络文明志愿者队伍建设方面下功夫、出实招,成为了弘扬和传播主旋律的有效抓手。在实践中,网络文明志愿者队伍建设面临着诸多挑战,应该精准定位,争取成为网络谣言的辟谣者、黑恶信息的智斗士、正面能量的宣传员。高职院校要以“学”为起点,设立网络文明志愿者学院;以“练”为基础,组建新媒体联动矩阵;以“做”为落脚,实行网络文明志愿者认证。通过这些有力措施,构建“学?练?做”为一体的网络文明志愿者队伍建设机制,为巩固大学生主旋律教育阵地作出积极努力。     

新词词典编纂视角下的英语“新词”界定

本文从词典学的角度出发,结合FUDGE标准,探讨"新词"的科学界定问题。时代的快速发展给"新词"的科学界定带来了新的挑战,笔者通过将新词界定的传统方法和新方法进行比对,发现"新词"的界定不是一个单凭几条规则或原则就能解决的问题,它是一项融考据和预测性研究于一体的工作,不仅涉及"新词"的频繁性、受众性、广泛性、衍生性、延续性,而且还涉及其他诸多因素。     

基于唐山城市人文精神视角下的志愿者服务--以2016年唐山“世园会”为契机

2016年唐山世界园艺博览会是中国首次在地级城市举办的世界园艺博览会,此项盛会离不开志愿者的奉献与参与,而志愿者精神与新唐山人文精神在某种程度上是一脉相承的。通过提出唐山志愿者服务相关对策,以服务世园会为契机,努力推动唐山志愿服务事业不断发展,弘扬唐山城市人文精神,进而提高唐山市的城市影响力、竞争力和知名度。     

时间副词“正、在、正在”的形式语义分析

“正、在、正在”是一组语义极其相近的时间副词。它们的核心语义都表示事件的进行或状态的存续,但着重点不同“。正”着重于事件发生的时间位置“,在”强调事件所处的进行、存续之状态,而“正在”则既表示事件发生的时位,又强调事件进行时所呈现的状态。在此基础上,结合事件语义学、范畴语法以及谓词逻辑等理论,对其语义进行形式化描述,更加验证了语义特征分析的准确性以及时态分析的可靠性,也向实现中文信息处理又迈进一步。     

Building and Application of the “Relay” Volunteer Teaching Model for Pre-service Teachers under “Internet Plus”

The educational practice of pre-service teachers is an essential part of teacher training. As an important form of educational practice, volunteer teaching can effectively improve the quality of teacher training and bridge the serving of basic education. Upon the literature review on existing volunteer teaching models, this paper develops a teaching community of teachers under “Internet Plus” and the prototype of a “relay” volunteer teaching model towards the integrated design of training undergraduate pre-teachers and improving the educational quality of small rural schools. The sound “relay” volunteer teaching model has been formed upon revisions around checking its completeness, optimizing its operability, and enhancing its stability using the design-based research paradigm according to the research path of “planning-application-reflection-improvement.” The practice has indicated positive effects of the new model in promoting the academic development of students in small rural schools, enhancing the classroom teaching competency of rural teachers, and improving the professionalism of pre-service teachers. The quality and efficiency of the new model can be improved through initiatives such as providing timely and efficient technical support, establishing a favorable and harmonious relationship between teachers and students, adopting guidance with double-qualified instructors for instant companionship, and implementing flexible incentives and restraints.     

A “Do‐It‐Yourself” interactive bone structure module: Development and evaluation of an online teaching resource

A stand‐alone online teaching module was developed to cover an area of musculoskeletal anatomy (structure of bone) found to be difficult by students. The material presented in the module was not formally presented in any other way, thus providing additional time for other curriculum components, but it was assessed in the final examination. The module was developed using “in‐house” software designed for academics with minimal computer experience. The efficacy and effectiveness of the module was gauged via student surveys, testing student knowledge before and after module introduction, and analysis of final examination results. At least 74% of the class used the module and student responses were positive regarding module usability (navigation, interaction) and utility (learning support). Learning effectiveness was demonstrated by large significant improvements in the post‐presentation test scores for “users” compared with “non‐users” and by the percentage of correct responses to relevant multiple choice questions in the final examination. Performance on relevant short answer questions in the final examination was, on average, comparable to that for other components. Though limited by study structure, it was concluded that the module produced learning outcomes equivalent to those generated by more traditional teaching methods. This “Do‐It‐Yourself” e‐learning approach may be particularly useful for meeting specific course needs not catered for by commercial applications or where there are cost limitations for generation of online learning material. The specific approaches used in the study can assist in development of effective online resources in anatomy. Anat Sci Educ 6: 107–113. © 2012 American Association of Anatomists.     

An Appraisal of the Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal

Abstract

Successful prediction of achievement involves, as a minimum, selecting significant variables, measuring them accurately, and finding a way of combining them to account for maximum achievement variance. Extending earlier work, this report is of two studies-one on developing a refined combination of predictors including ability, “likability,” and “motivation”; and the other aimed at validating this multiple regression equation against actual school achievement, Prediction is in terms of whether students would fall in “good” or “poor” categories determined by dichotomizing the rank-ordered list of actual achievement at a grade point average of 3.33. The biserial r between the dichotomized variable of actual achievement and predicted achievement scores is .882, which is highly significant. The importance and shortcomings of the method are discussed.     

“体验型”文学课教学评价方法初探

“体验型”文学课在应用时体现出来的特点,区别于传统的学生成绩测评方法,为“体验型”文学课量身制定了学生学习效果评定的四项内容,并根据其在教学过程中对学生知识内化的影响程度的大小界定了分值比例。     

The Effectiveness of Selected Visual Illustrations in Teaching Science Concepts to College Freshmen

Abstract

This study was an exploration of the effectiveness of three types of visual illustrations used to complement oral instruction. It also attempted to evaluate the reliability of the “realism continuum” as a predictor of learning effectiveness. One hundred eight students were randomly assigned to one of four groups, their achievement being evaluated in terms of total criterion test scores and in terms of four individual criterion tests designed to measure specific educational objectives. comparisons among the four treatment groups yielded significant differences in achievement on tests measuring different educational objectives. It was also noted that different continuums of learning effectiveness existed for each learning objective—these continuums being significantly different from those predicted by the realism continuum.     

The place of surface anatomy in the medical literature and undergraduate anatomy textbooks

The aims of this review were to examine the place of surface anatomy in the medical literature, particularly the methods and approaches used in teaching surface and living anatomy and assess commonly used anatomy textbooks in regard to their surface anatomy contents. PubMed and MEDLINE databases were searched using the following keywords “surface anatomy,” “living anatomy,” “teaching surface anatomy,” “bony landmarks,” “peer examination” and “dermatomes”. The percentage of pages covering surface anatomy in each textbook was calculated as well as the number of images covering surface anatomy. Clarity, quality and adequacy of surface anatomy contents was also examined. The search identified 22 research papers addressing methods used in teaching surface anatomy, 31 papers that can help in the improvement of surface anatomy curriculum, and 12 anatomy textbooks . These teaching methods included: body painting, peer volunteer surface anatomy, use of a living anatomy model, real time ultrasound, virtual (visible) human dissector (VHD), full body digital x‐ray of cadavers (Lodox^® Statscan^® images) combined with palpating landmarks on peers and the cadaver, as well as the use of collaborative, contextual and self‐directed learning. Nineteen of these studies were published in the period from 2006 to 2013. The 31 papers covered evidence‐based and clinically‐applied surface anatomy. The percentage of surface anatomy in textbooks' contents ranged from 0 to 6.2 with an average of 3.4%. The number of medical illustrations on surface anatomy varied from 0 to 135. In conclusion, although there has been a progressive increase in publications addressing methods used in teaching surface anatomy over the last six to seven years, most anatomy textbooks do not provide students with adequate information about surface anatomy. Only three textbooks provided a solid explanation and foundation of understanding surface anatomy. Anat Sci Educ 6: 415–432. © 2013 American Association of Anatomists.     

Motivation and Commitment to Volunteering in a Sample of Argentinian Adults: What is the Role of Generativity?

This study explores the motivations and commitment to volunteering in a sample of Argentinian adults, and it analyzes the role of generativity. The sample consisted of 200 volunteers who were purposively selected from five volunteer organizations in the city of Córdoba (Argentina). Participants were assigned to three age groups: young volunteers (18–39 years old), middle-aged volunteers (40–59 years old), and older volunteers (60 or plus years old). The motivations of “values” and “understanding” obtained the highest scores. No relevant differences were found between age groups in the motivations and commitment to volunteering. Generative concern showed more predictive value for motivations and commitment to volunteering than any of the sociodemographic variables considered in the study. The results are discussed at the light of considering volunteering as an expression of generativity in different stages of the life cycle.