Taking Children Seriously

One of the timeless messages of early childhood education is to treat children with respect and value their unique perspectives on the world. This editorial tells the stories of three young children who wanted to be helpful and accept responsibility. It also tells the story of three professionals who identified with the child and responded supportively.     

An investigation of the construct validity of the personality trait of self-directed learning

Based on samples of 398 middle school students, 568 high school students, and 1159 college students, self-directed learning was found to be related to cumulative grade-point-average at all levels as well as to Big Five personality traits (Openness, Conscientiousness, Emotional Stability, and Extraversion), narrow personality traits (Optimism, Career-Decidedness, Work Drive, and Self-Actualization), vocational interests (Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, and Conventional, as well as Science, Medicine, and Mathematics), cognitive aptitudes, and life as well as college satisfaction. Based on an additional sample of 4125 college students, a confirmatory factor analysis was used to verify a single factor structure for our 10-item measure of self-directed learning. Results were discussed in terms of personality characteristics of self-directed learners, the trans-situational validity of self-directed learning in academic settings, multiple forms of evidence of the construct validity of self-directed learning, and implications for future research and practice.     

Students’ Learning with the Connected Chemistry (CC1) Curriculum: Navigating the Complexities of the Particulate World

The focus of this study is students’ learning with a Connected Chemistry unit, CC1 (denotes Connected Chemistry, chapter 1), a computer-based environment for learning the topics of gas laws and kinetic molecular theory in chemistry (Levy and Wilensky 2009). An investigation was conducted into high-school students’ learning with Connected Chemistry, based on a conceptual framework that highlights several forms of access to understanding the system (submicro, macro, mathematical, experiential) and bidirectional transitions among these forms, anchored at the common and experienced level, the macro-level. Results show a strong effect size for embedded assessment and a medium effect size regarding pre-post-test questionnaires. Stronger effects are seen for understanding the submicroscopic level and bridging between it and the macroscopic level. More than half the students succeeded in constructing the equations describing the gas laws. Significant shifts were found in students’ epistemologies of models: understanding models as representations rather than replicas of reality and as providing multiple perspectives. Students’ learning is discussed with respect to the conceptual framework and the benefits of assessment of learning using a fine-tuned profile and further directions for research are proposed. Electronic supplementary material  The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Examining the Effects of Jyoti Meditation on Stress and the Moderating Role of Emotional Intelligence

The authors examined whether Jyoti meditation (JM), a spiritually based meditation (Singh, 2012 ), influenced student counselors' (N = 60) level of stress and emotional intelligence (EI). Results from a randomized controlled trial and growth curve analysis provided a multilevel model in which JM reduced stress and EI moderated the effect.     

Building discovery relationships and expertise at Oxford University Press

Key points

• Centralizing discovery knowledge can improve operational efficiencies while educating and empowering publisher staff.
• Streamlining publishers’ metadata creation and distribution can help improve relationships across the supply chain.
• Working together to optimize discovery workflows benefits publishers, discovery service partners, and institutional customers.

     

U.S. Virtual School Trial Period and Course Completion Policy Study

Abstract

Variation in policies virtual schools use to calculate course completion and retention rates impacts the comparability of these quality metrics. This study surveyed 159 U.S. virtual schools examining the variability in trial period and course completion policies—two policies that affect course completion rates. Of the 86 respondents, almost 70% had trial periods that varied from 1 day to 185 days. Course completion definitions varied from remaining in the course irrespective of the final grade to receiving an A– in the course. Such wide variation renders the completion and retention rate metrics useless. We recommend virtual schools adopt consistent measures for calculating student retention to allow meaningful comparisons among virtual schools and between virtual and brick-and-mortar schools.     

Sexual Harassment in the News: The United States and France

This article documents and accounts for important differences in press coverage of sexual harassment in the United States and France. Compared to French press coverage, American reporting on sexual harassment has been much more extensive and more likely to focus on domestic sexual harassment scandals involving political individuals or institutions. This is attributed largely to the American press greater reliance on business, greater journalistic freedom, stronger traditions of investigative journalism, as well as more inclusive legal definitions of sexual harassment. While silent on French scandals, due to global political realities, the French press has reported extensively on American sexual harassment scandals and has been more dismissive of the problems of sexual harassment and (American) feminist activists when reporting on the United States. This article further analyzes how each press has framed the problem of sexual harassment and how such framing varies by story and over time.