Evaluating the Impact of a Performance‐Based Methodology on Transfer of Training

Transfer of training is the degree to which trainees can apply the knowledge, skills, and attitudes gained in training to the job. Currently only between 5% and 20% of what is learned in training is ever applied on the job. At this time, little is known about the effects of work environment factors, such as support, feedback, and goal setting, on training transfer. We utilized a quasi‐experimental between‐groups design using surveys, interviews, and behavioral measures to evaluate the impact of performance‐based work environment factors on training transfer. Results indicated that participants in the experimental group reported a higher level of training transfer than those in the control group. These findings suggest that a performance‐based approach to training can be an effective method to increase the likelihood that employees transfer training knowledge to the job context.     

Increased fruit and vegetable intake among older adults participating in Kentucky’s congregate meal site program

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to determine if the amount and variety of fruits and vegetables consumed increased among community-dwelling older adults participating in Kentucky’s congregate meal site program following a series of five nutrition education lessons. A convenience sample of older adults attending senior centers (n = 35)—two intervention (n = 19) and two control (n = 16) centers—participated in this quasi-experimental pilot study. Following the intervention there was a significant increase in actual fruit and vegetable intake in the intervention group (p < .05) as assessed by platewaste measurements of the congregate lunch meal. In addition, from pre- to post-intervention, a trend towards increased self-reported intake in the variety of fruit and vegetables was observed among the intervention group. As well, a significant increase in the number of days intervention participants self-reported consuming at least 4.5 cups of fruits and vegetables in the last 7 days (2.44 ± 2.09 days to 4.28 ± 1.99 days (p = .004)) was observed; and knowledge pertaining to phytochemicals increased (p < .05). The phytochemical index (PI) score of the lunch meal, taking into account that the older adults' consumption of meal components, including phytochemical-rich foods, was 26.9. Overall, study results indicated that a short theory-based nutrition education program offered to community-dwelling older adults was linked to an increase in fruit and vegetable consumption and phytochemical knowledge.     

Black Mathematics Educators: Researching Toward Racial Emancipation of Black Students

This article focuses on the scholarship of Black mathematics education researchers whose work focuses on Black students in P–20 mathematics spaces. We conducted a metasynthesis literature review of empirical studies by Black mathematics education researchers. The authors utilized critical theories of race and racism to aid in the synthesis of the literature. The Black researchers we reviewed challenged the perspective that failure and limited persistence in Black students who are learning and participating in mathematics is normative. As a critical defense, these scholars offer research that problematizes test score data, race and racism, opportunities to learn mathematics, identity considerations, and other constructs that produce unequal effects in mathematics learning. We found that Black mathematics education researchers strategically disrupt the deficit narrative about Black students. Black scholars select theoretical frameworks that allow them to focus on race and how racism operates in mathematics education. We present this research to incite dialogue among all mathematics educators about improving the mathematical context for Black students.     

Online discussion in schools: Towards a pedagogical framework

In this paper, we draw on Bernstein's [1996. Pedagogy, symbolic control and identity: Theory, research, critique. London: Taylor and Francis] notion of framing of pedagogical communication to propose a framework for use in specific literacy contexts. Here, we illustrate how this framework has emerged from an examination of text response online discussions in the English/Language Arts curriculum in primary and secondary school contexts ostensibly concerned with the development of critical literacies. We focus on the selection of the literary texts and the prompts around those, the pacing and sequencing of the discussion, and the way in which responses are negotiated online. Using this framework in two specific contexts, we find that the more mediated, but less interactive framing in one institutional context tends to support the development of desired critical literacy practices, while the less mediated but more interactive framing of the online discussions in the second context is less supportive of such literacy practices. We suggest that this analytical framework could be adapted for use in a range of online contexts in order to make more visible the extent to which the intended forms of literacy are realised and which interactional affordances are exploited in the process.     

Colorism as a Salient Space for Understanding in Teacher Preparation

In this article, we posit the salience of colorism as an important aspect of race in the knowledge construction and preparation of teachers. Although many more teacher education programs across the United States have begun to infuse aspects of race into their curricula, there is sparse literature about the role of colorism in teacher preparation and its potential impact. This article explicitly focuses on darker-skinned students, who experience trauma differently from lighter-skinned students. This research chronicles the particular experiences of African American female students who endure deep-seated biases and attitudes regarding their skin color, both outside of and within school environments. We argue that teacher education programs should include learning opportunities on construction of race as a phenotype (the physical construction of skin tone, hair texture, facial features, and body physique) as an influence on the thinking, beliefs, and consequent practices of teachers in P–12 classrooms. The article concludes with an explicit recommendation for teacher education programs to prioritize colorism in the preparation of teachers.     

Giving Birth: “We Just Don’t Talk About It”

In this column, Alyson Grauer, a young woman recently embarking on her postuniversity career, shares her experiences with friends who do not talk about childbirth. She contrasts their fear and their unwillingness to talk and learn about birth with her own experience being the daughter of a Lamaze Certified Childbirth Educator and doula. Grauer’s experiences provide a backdrop for a deeper understanding of young adults’ beliefs about childbirth. Judith Lothian provides insight related to when and why women and men stopped talking about birth and the implications for childbirth education.     

REFLECTING ON THE USE OF METAPHOR: TWO PROFESSORS' PROCESSES OF DISCOVERY

This article summarizes the literature concerning the use of visual and textual metaphors and describes outcomes of a project designed to help teacher education candidates begin integrating their personal beliefs about teaching with their growing professional knowledge and emergent practice. By using metaphors, teacher educators have the opportunity to help candidates solidify convictions and meanings and uncover “tacit or unarticulated” beliefs (Clandinin & Connelly, 1995 Clandinin, D. J. and Connelly, F. M. 1995. Teachers' professional knowledge landscapes, New York: Teachers College, Columbia University.  [Google Scholar], p. 6) that can lead to frame conflict (Reddy, 1993 Reddy, M. 1993. “The conduit metaphor: A case of frame conflict in our language about language.”. In Metaphor and thought , 2nd ed., Edited by: Ortony, A. 164–201. Cambridge, , England: Cambridge University Press. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]), that is, dueling metaphors. For example, there is a frame conflict in the conception of student value in the metaphors of teacher-as-police-officer and teacher-as-gardener. In one metaphor, students are perceived as deficit “others” who must be carefully watched by authorities; in the gardening metaphor, student potential is recognized as “more than” what can be seen on the surface. This article demonstrates how one university faculty explores textual and visual metaphor to encourage discourse among the candidates, other peers, and professors in a school of education. This extended dialogue gives candidates the opportunity to “compare their own characterizations to those of their peers, and depending on the responses of others, either maintain their own construals or bring theirs in line with those of the others” (Petrie & Oshlag, 1993 Petrie, H. and Oshlag, R. 1993. “Metaphor and learning.”. In Metaphor and thought , 2nd ed., Edited by: Ortony, A. 579–609. Cambridge, , England: Cambridge University Press. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar], p. 602). This is the educative process of frame restructuring. As an added benefit of this project, the authors have found that using an artistic format combined with a written explanation of their work requires candidates to become more thoughtful, reflective practitioners.     

Reported Occurrence and Perceptions of Violence in Middle and High Schools

The purpose of this study was to document and compare rates of reported and perceived crime and violence within schools. With highly publicized acts of school violence prevalent in the minds of the American public, there is a perception that schools are unsafe. Reports of school crime and violence from teachers, administrators, and students differ in severity and in nature from what is perceived by the public. Few studies are available on the frequency of these or other types of reported violence or the relationship between actual and perceived violence in schools. Extant data on reported violence in schools from the database of North Carolina were analyzed and compared to data reflecting perceptions of violence. The public perceptions of the types of school crime and violent acts differed greatly from actual occurrences reported by school administrators. Limitations and implications for research and practice are discussed.