Music in Liberal Studies

Summary

Music appreciation deals with the development and application of that general factor in aesthetic judgments described in the main by Burt and Eysenck. This has little to do with appreciation in terms of the assessments of Wing et al.

For purposes of identification one might describe seven basic approaches in teaching method. Though each method has its place in success, two methods seem to promise the better result. These methods, the ‘Activity’ and the ‘General discriminative’ might be profitably supplemented by the other five.

The effect of a student's appreciation of music is likely to be reflected in his personality and might be termed a measure. It is therefore likely that by studying a student's musical preferences the teacher might better understand his personality which in turn might facilitate sound appreciation of music.     

Reading to Children and Listening to Children Read: Mother–Child Interactions as a Function of Principal Reader

Research Findings: Although storybook reading has received considerable research attention, listening to children read has been the source of much less inquiry. In this study, 40 mother–child dyads were videotaped during adult-to-child and child-to-adult reading. Relations between book-related themes (e.g., types of talk), maternal evaluative feedback (e.g., praise, criticism), maternal miscue feedback (e.g., graphophonemic clues, terminal feedback), and child engagement (e.g., laughter, questions) were analyzed. The results suggest that the development of literacy appreciation and literacy skill can occur during the same storybook-reading session. Specifically, when mothers read to their children, communication about the illustrations was associated with increased child engagement, yet a positive correlation was also observed between text-related productions and child engagement. When children read to their mothers, text-related productions were featured more prominently. After children made reading errors (miscues), graphophonemic and terminal feedback were the 2 most frequent responses by mothers. In addition, graphophonemic cues were positively associated with child engagement. Practice or Policy: In sum, the results demonstrate that adult-to-child and child-to-adult reading serve the goals of both literacy acquisition training and literacy appreciation; furthermore, orienting children toward the text during either session did not hamper child engagement.     

An exploration of undergraduate students’ views on the effectiveness of academic and pastoral support

Background: Academic and pastoral support is fundamental to the achievement of a high-quality student learning experience.

Aim: This study reports on full-time undergraduate students’ views on the effectiveness of academic and pastoral support in one higher education institution. The intent of the study was to explore how academic and pastoral support is provided and gain an appreciation of the value placed on each method of support used.

Method: 935 students from a range of subject disciplines responded to a Bristol-on-Line Survey questionnaire.

Findings: Analysis of quantitative data revealed that a wide range of support strategies are used and valued by students.

Conclusions: Of significance was the emphasis placed on peer support and the skills required by staff providing support. Implications for policy and practice to enhance the student learning experience are discussed.     

Assess as you go: the effect of continuous assessment on student learning during a short course in archaeology

A continuous classroom assessment technique, ‘Five‐minute’ essays, was applied during a short course called Scientific Methods in Archaeology—Applications and Problems, given at the Archaeological Research Laboratory, Department of Archaeology and Classical Studies, Stockholm University, Sweden. There was a strong positive and statistically significant correlation between the grades obtained by the students and time into the course. The results showed no significant difference based on gender but there might be a gender‐based difference in approach. The ‘Five‐minute’ essay was generally appreciated by the students even though some found it stressful. There was no significant difference in this appreciation based on gender. Several advantages of this assessment procedure in comparison with the more traditional final exam are presented.     

Marketing Maps: Illustrating How Marketing Works

ABSTRACT

Today's colleges and universities may tolerate the idea of marketing more easily, but marketers must continue to educate campus communities about marketing theories and practice. To promote a useful appreciation of how theories translate into initiatives, we propose incorporating marketing maps–user-friendly graphic representations of how marketing works–into marketing plans and presentations.     

Some Reflections on Golby and Governors

It is suggested that, pace Michael Golby, recourse to metaphor has little role to play in enabling governing bodies to come to terms with their new and onerous responsibilities. The better way forward is a clearer appreciation of what is demanded of them by law.     

宋人刘敏求诗歌辑考

诗人刘敏求生活于两宋之交,曾因黄庭坚称赏而知名,《宋诗纪事》误定其为宋末人,《全宋诗》未录其诗歌,亦不见于《全宋诗》诸家补遗之作,然《泰和县志》存其诗18首。     

The threat of #RhetoricNotSoWhite

In seeking an alternative to objectivity in criticism we often characterize the critical experience as something produced by the critic's mind. Such an assumption causes us to embrace the very metaphysics that justifies objectivity in the first place. We can escape the dilemma by recognizing the role of appreciation in some criticism. The appreciative critic cares for what‐is‐as‐it‐is and so is open to the disclosures of sensual(aesthetic) revelation.     

Readers' Reactions to "Yang Bailao's Discomfiture Today"

Zhan Qiu of Research Team Number One, Beijing P. O. Box 981, maintains: The fact that "The White-Haired Girl" finds no appreciation in the 1990s reflects a fairly serious social problem—one that we cannot ignore, but neither should we get all stirred up about. We should, however, give a good deal of thought to the following matters.     

Students' Perception of Biology Fieldwork: The example of students undertaking a preliminary year at a UK university

It is widely held among biology teachers that fieldwork is valuable, but little is heard about students' perception of fieldwork or about the reasons for their liking or disliking fieldwork. This paper uses data from students to explore the hypotheses (1) that biology students with a positive perception of fieldwork have a less positive perception of laboratory work and vice versa and (2) that perception of fieldwork is related to demographic/personal factors and/or to pre-university perceptions and experience of fieldwork. Numeric indices of appreciation of biology field and laboratory work (I _field and I _lab) were determined using questionnaire information from 54 students. I _field and I _lab were positively correlated and there was no evidence of polarization of views; the problem that some students have a poor perception of both needs to be addressed. Mature students had a more positive view of fieldwork than 18–20-year-olds. However, regression analysis of I _field against principal components suggested that demographic/personal factors had relatively little overall influence (< 20%) on appreciation of fieldwork. Perception of fieldwork at university was related to the rank given to fieldwork when choosing a university course. However, students who had participated in pre-university fieldwork did not have a more positive perception of university fieldwork; although students who recalled a worst memory of pre-university fieldwork had a less positive perception of fieldwork at university. The seeming mixed relevance of pre-university fieldwork suggests that the relationship between perception of fieldwork undertaken at university and quality of pre-university fieldwork is an area for future research.     

Behavior of Asymptotically Distribution Free Test Statistics in Covariance Versus Correlation Structure Analysis

The asymptotically distribution free (ADF) method is often used to estimate parameters or test models without a normal distribution assumption on variables, both in covariance structure analysis and in correlation structure analysis. However, little has been done to study the differences in behaviors of the ADF method in covariance versus correlation structure analysis. The behaviors of 3 test statistics frequently used to evaluate structural equation models with nonnormally distributed variables, χ² test T_AGLS and its small-sample variants T_YB and T_F(AGLS) were compared. Results showed that the ADF method in correlation structure analysis with test statistic T_AGLS performs much better at small sample sizes than the corresponding test for covariance structures. In contrast, test statistics T_YB and T_F(AGLS) under the same conditions generally perform better with covariance structures than with correlation structures. It is proposed that excessively large and variable condition numbers of weight matrices are a cause of poor behavior of ADF test statistics in small samples, and results showed that these condition numbers are systematically increased with substantial increase in variance as sample size decreases. Implications for research and practice are discussed.     

Use of Ethnographic Fiction in Social Justice Graduate Counselor Training

Ethnographic fiction is a technique for educating counseling students about the relationship of social justice to counseling practice. Preliminary data indicate it is an effective tool, with counseling students (N= 48) reporting an increased understanding and appreciation of clients’ life experiences from a holistic perspective. Furthermore, students reported that they were more motivated to address social justice issues in counseling.     

The Philosophical Aspects of IRT Equating: Modeling Drift to Evaluate Cohort Growth in Large‐Scale Assessments

Calibration and equating is the quintessential necessity for most large‐scale educational assessments. However, there are instances when no consideration is given to the equating process in terms of context and substantive realization, and the methods used in its execution. In the view of the authors, equating is not merely an exhibit of the statistical methodology, but it is also a reflection of the thought process undertaken in its execution. For example, there is hardly any discussion in literature of the ideological differences in the selection of an equating method. Furthermore, there is little evidence of modeling cohort growth through an identification and use of construct‐relevant linking items’ drift, using the common item nonequivalent group equating design. In this article, the authors philosophically justify the use of Huynh's statistical method for the identification of construct‐relevant outliers in the linking pool. The article also dispels the perception of scale instability associated with the inclusion of construct‐relevant outliers in the linking item pool and concludes that an appreciation of the rationale used in the selection of the equating method, together with the use of linking items in modeling cohort growth, can be beneficial to the practitioners.     

Associations of Number Line Estimation With Mathematical Competence: A Meta‐analysis

The number line estimation task is widely used to investigate mathematical learning and development. The present meta‐analysis statistically synthesized the extensive evidence on the correlation between number line estimation and broader mathematical competence. Averaged over 263 effect sizes with 10,576 participants with sample mean ages from 4 to 14 years, this correlation was r = .443. The correlation increased with age, mainly because it was higher for fractions than for whole numbers. The correlation remained stable across a wide range of task variants and mathematical competence measures (i.e., counting, arithmetic, school achievement). These findings demonstrate that the task is a robust tool for diagnosing and predicting broader mathematical competence and should be further investigated in developmental and experimental training studies.     

Universal and Specific Services for University Students with Specific Learning Disabilities: The Relation to Study Approach,Academic Achievement,and Satisfaction

In recent years, an increasing number of students with specific learning disabilities (SLDs) have enrolled in universities. The present exploratory study examined the frequency of use and appreciation of universal (open to every student) and specific services (offered to students with SLDs) and their relation to age, academic achievement, satisfaction, self-efficacy, and use of self-regulated learning (SRL) strategies. Participants were 147 Italian university students with SLD diagnoses (42 males; mean age: 22.49, SD = 3.29). Results showed that, overall, the frequency of use and appreciation of specific services were positively related to academic satisfaction, self-efficacy, and SRL strategies. Furthermore, frequency of use of compensatory tools and dispensatory measures was positively associated with academic achievement. These findings suggest that universities play an important role in supporting students with SLDs during their academic years by providing them with useful services and accommodations.     

Young Children Give Priority to Ownership When Judging Who Should Use an Object

This study provides evidence that children give priority to ownership when judging who should use an object. Children (N = 269) and adults (N = 154) considered disputes over objects. In disputes between a character using an object and the owner of the object, children, as young as 3 years and as old as 7 years, sided with the owner, and did so more than adults. However, children aged 4 and older disregarded owners' rights in dilemmas where these were pitted against the need to prevent harm. These findings suggest that ownership is central in children's judgments about object use and constrain developmental accounts of how children acquire an appreciation of ownership.     

Reflecting Caring and Power in Early Childhood Education: Recalling Memories of Educational Practices

This paper examines university social science and education students' views of research methodology, especially asking whether a negative research orientation towards quantitative methods exists. Finnish (n?=?196) and US (n?=?122) students answered a questionnaire concerning their views on quantitative, qualitative, empirical, and theoretical methods, their readiness to use quantitative and qualitative methods in their own research, and the difficulties they experienced in quantitative methods' learning. Students were clustered in groups according to their views. Students had varying combinations of views on the methods, that is different research orientations towards methods were found in both countries. Some of the students had a dichotic attitude towards quantitative and qualitative methods; they seemed to “choose their side” between these methods. In both countries a negative research orientation towards quantitative methods was found. It was connected with either difficulties in quantitative methods' learning or with a lower appreciation of empirical methods than that of other students. Major subject and study year had no effect, so the views were not discipline‐specific and students seemed to already have them on entering university. Views were quite stable during the course. A reduction in difficulties experienced with quantitative methods' learning was connected with a lowered over‐appreciation of qualitative methods at the end of the course.     

Treating children's aggressive behavior problems using cognitive behavior therapy with virtual reality: A multicenter randomized controlled trial

This multicenter randomized controlled trial investigated whether interactive virtual reality enhanced effectiveness of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) to reduce children's aggressive behavior problems. Boys with aggressive behavior problems (N = 115; M_age = 10.58, SD = 1.48; 95.7% born in Netherlands) were randomized into three groups: CBT with virtual reality, CBT with roleplays, or care-as-usual. Bayesian analyses showed that CBT with virtual reality more likely reduced aggressive behavior compared to care-as-usual for six of seven outcomes (ds 0.19–0.95), and compared to CBT with roleplays for four outcomes (ds 0.14–0.68). Moreover, compared to roleplays, virtual reality more likely enhanced children's emotional engagement, practice immersion, and treatment appreciation. Thus, virtual reality may be a promising tool to enhance CBT effectiveness for children with aggressive behavior problems.     

‘Coherence at Last’: Percival Gurrey’s Contribution to English

Reacting to incoherent English teaching in the 1930s, Percival Gurrey probed the psychological processes involved in literary appreciation. He sought ways of teaching poetry that avoided lifeless tasks such as labelling ‘poetic devices’. Later, in the 1950s, he wrote about the processes involved in learning to write. At a time when psychology dominated educational discourse, he was in touch with new developments in both literary criticism and linguistics, and he evolved a bridging theory of language, learning and development that spanned philosophy, psychology and literary theory. I connect Gurrey’s sense of wholeness of response to his reading in Coleridge. By returning to debates surrounding Coleridge I show how a new appreciation of what language accomplishes emerged. Gurrey discovered that writing has a central place in children’s development as a whole. From such hard-won discoveries a unified theory of development in talking, reading and writing duly emerged.