The Effect of Teaching General Education Courses on Deep Approaches to Learning: How Disciplinary Context Matters

Building on work examining differences in the emphasis faculty place on effective educational practices, this study uses data from nearly 8,000 faculty members from the 2007 Faculty Survey of Student Engagement to explore how disciplinary area moderates the effect of teaching a general education course (GEC) on the emphasis faculty place on deep approaches to learning. Results showed that the GEC effect was strongest in hard-applied-life fields and weakest in hard-pure-life and soft-applied-life fields, suggesting that proponents of general education reform need to temper their efforts by a clearer understanding of disciplinary differences.     

Teacher identity in the context of literacy teaching: Three explorations of classroom positioning and interaction in secondary schools

This article presents the results of three separate studies of literacy teaching and learning in the U.S. that explore the social functions of language, specifically focused on the identity development of literacy learners and teachers. Each study offers a detailed account of how literate identities are constructed and enacted and the positive and negative consequences that occur for teachers and students when they are enacted. Taken together, these three studies demonstrate how teachers' and students' understandings of identity can promote or inhibit literacy teaching and learning.     

Arithmetic processing in children with spina bifida: Calculation accuracy, strategy use, and fact retrieval fluency

Three studies compared 98 children with spina bifida myelomeningocele (SBM)-a disorder associated with high rates of math disability and spatial deficits-to 94 typically developing children on multidigit subtraction and cognitive addition tasks. Children with SBM were classified into those with reading decoding and math disability, only math disability, and no reading or math disability. Study 1 showed that visual-spatial errors in multidigit arithmetic were not elevated in children with SBM. In Study 2, deficits in accuracy, speed, and strategy-use in single-digit addition characterized groups with math disability regardless of reading status. Accuracy and speed on single-digit addition was strongly related to performance on multidigit subtraction. A math-level matching design in Study 3 revealed less mastery of math facts by the group with SBM. The results are discussed with reference to cognitive and neuropsychological models of math disability.     

Dietary supplements during pregnancy

In this column, the author addresses the use of dietary supplements and prenatal vitamins during pregnancy.     

阳光妈妈像蛋挞

方格格除了喜欢吃草莓味蛋挞,还喜欢听音乐。方格格写作业的时候,喜欢戴着手机上的耳麦听音乐,一边写一边听,两不耽误。方格格摇头晃脑,随着音乐的节奏自顾自地陶醉着。     

Examining organizational learning in schools: The role of psychological safety, experimentation, and leadership that reinforces learning

This study draws upon theory and methods from the field of organizational behavior to examine organizational learning (OL) in the context of a large urban US school district. We build upon prior literature on OL from the field of organizational behavior to introduce and validate three subscales that assess key dimensions of organizational learning that build upon and extend prior education research: psychological safety, experimentation, and leadership that reinforces learning. Data from 941 teachers across 60 schools in this urban district suggest that organizational learning is an underlying condition which is expressed by teacher perceptions of subfactors of psychological safety, experimentation, and leadership that reinforces learning. Implications for adopting the conceptual framework and methods employed in this research for studying organizational learning and school change are discussed.