Uncovering the effect of text structure in learning from a science text: An eye-tracking study

This study examined whether reading a refutational or non-refutational text would induce different cognitive processing, as revealed by eye-movement analyses. Unlike a standard expository text, a refutational text acknowledges a reader’s alternative conceptions about a topic, refutes them, and then introduces scientific conceptions as viable alternatives. Forty university students read one or the other type of text about the phenomenon of the tides. All had alternative conceptions about the topic. Findings showed that at post-test (off-line measure) refutational text readers learned more than non-refutational text readers. Outcomes regarding indices of visual behavior (on-line measures) during reading revealed that refutational text readers fixated the text segments presenting scientific concepts for a longer time overall than non-refutational text readers, in particular during the second-pass reading. Refutational text readers also fixated the refutational segments for a shorter time than non-refutational text readers for the control segments. Furthermore, all indices of visual attention predicted learning only for the refutational text readers. The more the students’ reading of the refutational text was strategic, the better they learned from it. Implications about eye-tracking methodology and the refutational effect are drawn.     

The Ineffectiveness of our Effective Schools

The values and principles underpinning the ‘Leadership for Learning: Cambridge Network’ support the distribution of leadership to all members of the school community. This paper introduces the HCD (Highest Common Denominator) Student Partnership as a key way in which the ‘Leadership for Learning’ team learns from, explores and extends student leadership and participation within the current educational context. The paper opens with a consideration of current issues within the field of student voice before locating the contribution of the HCD Student Partnership within this field. Examples from recent projects with primary- and secondary-aged students are used to reflect on and illustrate the work of the Partnership with a view to sharing new practice and collaborating with new partners.     

Public and Academic Library Cataloging Collaboration in Ohio's NACO Funnel Project

Catalogers at The Ohio State University (OSU) Libraries, Columbus Metropolitan Library (CML), and Cleveland Public Library (CPL) are collaborating through the Ohio Name Authority Cooperative (NACO) funnel to create personal name authority records that directly benefit library patrons. Although OSU provides training and review, all three libraries receive value from the collaboration. There have been obstacles, however, such as cataloging training and workflow differences between public and academic libraries. This article will discuss the challenges and benefits of this inter-library cataloger collaboration from the point of view of all three libraries, plans for the future, and best practices for other libraries that are interested in public/academic library collaborations of this kind.     

Work Spouses: Defining and Understanding a “New” Relationship

Despite a spate of media attention in recent years and implications for both work and family relationships, communication scholars have yet to study work-spouse relationships. Since popular press sources have often focused on the nature of and propriety of such relationships, the purpose of this study was to empirically examine how work spouses characterized their relationships. We analyzed 269 participants’ open-ended responses to a survey, which yielded five categories: (a) characteristics of a work spouse, (b) conditions for the work-spouse relationship, (c) characteristics of the work-spouse relationship, (d) functions of work spouses, and (e) ways of managing the work-spouse relationship. From this analysis, we construct a definition of the relationship and chart a course of future research for communication scholars.     

Gendered Relationships on Television: Portrayals of Same-Sex and Heterosexual Couples

Although intimate heterosexual couples often exhibit power imbalances in gender role behaviors, with one partner more dominant and the other more submissive, it is unclear whether the same is true for homosexual relationships. Anecdotal evidence, however, suggests that television portrays both heterosexual and homosexual couples as gendered. This content analysis of intimate relationships on television examined whether heterosexual and homosexual couples are portrayed as gendered, finding evidence of gendering for both homosexual couples and heterosexual couples. Possible implications of these gendered portrayals for viewers' perceptions and behaviors include cultivation of negative stereotypes and modeling of gender-typed behaviors.     

Social processes and outcomes of in-school contact between deaf and hearing peers

Studies of social processes and outcomes of the placement of deaf students with hearing peers cannot be easily summarized, but can be grouped into a least four major categories of focus: social skills, interaction and participation, sociometric status and acceptance, and affective functioning. We review 33 studies available since 1980 in which a mainstreamed or included deaf sample was compared to another group. Studies indicated (1) that hearing students were more socially mature than deaf students in public schools, (2) that deaf students interacted with deaf classmates more than hearing ones, (3) that deaf students were somewhat accepted by their hearing classmates, and (4) that self-esteem was not related to extent of mainstreaming. There was a tendency for studies to use observational methods with very young children, teacher evaluations with middle school children, and questionnaires with older children. Three major areas of methodology limit general conclusions: samples, measurements of variables, and experimental manipulations. The reviewed studies provide a basis for understanding the social processes and outcomes in these placement situations; however, it is not possible to make broad generalizations about effects of placement.     

Reliability of estimating active drag in swimming using the assisted towing method with fluctuating speed

The reliability of active drag values was examined using a method that compared free swim speed with measurements taken by towing swimmers slightly faster than their maximum swim speed, while allowing their intra-stroke speed fluctuations. Twelve national age and open level swimmers were tested on two alternate days (Day 1 and Day 2). All participants completed four maximum swim speed, three passive drag and five active drag trials on each of the days. The reliability was determined using within-participant intra-class correlation coefficients (ICC) within each day and between the days. The ICCs for Day 1 and Day 2 were 0.82 and 0.85, respectively, while the comparison of the mean active drag values between days was 0.93. The data showed that the assisted towing method (ATM) with fluctuating speed was only moderately reliable within a single test. However, this method was more reliable when using the average value of active drag from both days (ICC = 0.93). This study identified that the ATM method with fluctuating speed had moderate reliability within-participant trials on values in a single day but high reliability for the average active drag values across different days.