Multicollinearity and testing questions of sex equity

Multiple regression is being used by some investigators to determine the unique statistical relevance of potential sex bias for various groups of individuals. The following article shows that the presence of multicollinearity among the independent variables can cause misleading interpretations of the resulting regression weight for sex coded as a dummy variable. An alternative approach is proposed with an example to demonstrate the interpretation of the results. Questions are raised concerning the interpretation of some previous research.     

Criterion-referenced and norm-referenced assessments: compatibility and complementarity

The tension between criterion-referenced and norm-referenced assessment is examined in the context of curriculum planning and assessment in outcomes-based approaches to higher education. This paper argues the importance of a criterion-referenced assessment approach once an outcomes-based approach has been adopted. It further discusses the implementation of criterion-referenced assessment, considering to what extent the criteria and standards adopted are implicitly norm referenced. It introduces a compatible interpretation of criterion-referenced and norm-referenced assessments in higher education, and illustrates how their combined use can avoid grade inflation and also provide useful information to educators, employers and learners. Instead of seeing criterion referencing and norm referencing as a dichotomy, assessment in higher education benefits from their synthesis through a feedback loop that emphasises alignment between learning and assessment; such feedback and alignment are essential features of quality assurance and enhancement.     

Children's Linguistic Difficulties in a Pitch Directionality Task Involving Cross‐modal Stimuli

Many children perform poorly on traditional tests of pitch discrimination which require them to identify the higher or lower of successive notes. It is proposed that linguistic ambiguity, inherent in the application of spatial terms to auditory domains, contributes to these difficulties. An experiment is reported which compares children's (aged 6 to 11 years) and adults’ recognition of pitch directions in conditions where consonant or dissonant visual cues are presented, with a condition in which only the sounds are presented. Younger children perform best when visual and auditory directions are consonant. Older children show evidence of superior performance in both visual conditions in comparison with peers tested in the audio‐only condition, suggesting that materials making the linguistic ambiguity salient may help promote their awareness of the auditory dimension. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for interventions to facilitate early musical education.     

Educating children to environmental behaviours with nudges: the effectiveness of social labelling and moderating role of age

Abstract

Relying on a nudge—a simple, non-paternalistic tool that spontaneously triggers behaviours in a volitional, predictable and expected way—as an education instrument, and more particularly relying on social labelling, this paper demonstrates that an extremely frugal protocol can foster children’s intentions to behave pro-environmentally. In an experiment conducted among 115 children (aged between 7 and 12?years), whose gender and levels of environmental perception before the experiment were controlled for, we show that applying an ‘eco-friendly’ label is sufficient to trigger more subsequent intentions to behave ecologically than what was observed in the control group. We also provide evidence that the most effective age for using this nudge is above 10. Our results show that the intentions to behave ecologically persist a week after labelling. This on-going effect suggests that the influence of social labelling is not limited to the immediate response. An ethical discussion on the issue closes the paper.     

Protégé Perceptions of High Mentorship Quality Depend on Shared Values More Than on Demographic Match

Mentoring, particularly same-gender and same-race mentoring, is increasingly seen as a powerful method to attract and retain more women and racial minorities into science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and careers. This study examines elements of a mentoring dyad relationship (i.e., demographic and perceived similarity of values) that influenced the perceived quality of mentorship, as well as the effect of mentorship on STEM career commitment. A national sample of African American undergraduates majoring in STEM disciplines were surveyed in their senior year. Overall, perceived similarity, rather than demographic similarity of values, was the most important factor associated with protégé perceptions of high-quality mentorship, which in turn was associated with higher commitment to STEM careers. We discuss the implications for mentoring underrepresented students and broadening participation in STEM.     

Development of a Questionnaire Assessing Teacher Perceived Support for and Attitudes About Social and Emotional Learning

Research Findings: In the past 20 years school districts have increasingly adopted classroom-based social and emotional development programs. The dissemination of these programs, however, has surpassed our understanding of and ability to assess factors that influence program implementation. The present study responded to this gap by developing a questionnaire that focuses on teacher perceptions of implementation support and teacher attitudes about social–emotional learning and by assessing its psychometric properties. One hundred forty-five Baltimore City Head Start preschool teachers completed the questionnaire. Factor analyses suggested 6 underlying constructs, which we termed administrative support, training, competence, program effectiveness, time constraints, and academic priority. Several of these scales predicted teacher reports of program implementation. Practice or Policy: The questionnaire holds significant promise as a tool for assessing readiness and barriers to social and emotional program implementation.     

An Analogy‐Based Computer Tutor for Remediating Physics Misconceptions

We describe a computer tutor designed to help students understand physics concepts. The tutor uses a teaching strategy called “bridging analogies” that previous research has demonstrated to be successful in one‐on‐one tutoring. The strategy is designed to remedy misconceptions by appealing to existing correct intuitions, and extending these intuitions by encouraging analogical thinking. Students were videotaped while using the program and were encouraged to think aloud. The strategy was successful in changing beliefs for some students. We outline suggestions for improving the tutor using artificial intelligence technology.     

Validating a teaching survey which drives increased response rates in a unit survey

At Curtin University, student perceptions of teaching and learning are gathered and reported online through eVALUate, a system that includes separate unit and teaching surveys. This article reports the development and validation of one of those surveys, the eVALUate teaching survey, which was developed based on the research literature on excellent teaching and evaluation. Since its development in 2006, repeated statistical testing using progressively larger samples has shown that the survey is valid and reliable. Moreover, the way in which the teaching survey is deployed within eVALUate, appended to the unit survey, which provides crucial institutional data, has significantly increased university response rates. This validated instrument is used for self-reflection, professional development, and rewarding staff.     

Sexual resourcefulness and the impact of family,sex education,media and peers

Building on a recently developed theoretical model of sexual self-control, 178 undergraduate women completed measures of learned resourcefulness, reasons for consenting to unwanted advances, and sexual self-efficacy – variables consistently shown to be unique predictors of sexual resourcefulness. Additional measures assessed in this investigation included media internalisation, peer values, parental and school discussions of sexual topics, body image preoccupation, body image satisfaction, and perceived timing of pubertal development. Along with the aforementioned unique predictors of sexual resourcefulness, receiving more information from the mother about dealing with unwanted sexual advances emerged as another direct contributor. Also in concurrence with past research, it was found that women scoring lower in sexual resourcefulness and having more reasons for consenting were more likely to engage in unwanted non-coercive sexual activities, with greater media pressures, higher appearance orientation and lower learned resourcefulness having a shared impact. Implications, limitations, and directions for future research are discussed.