The Relation between Students’ Epistemological Understanding of Computer Models and their Cognitive Processing on a Modelling Task

While many researchers in science education have argued that students’ epistemological understanding of models and of modelling processes would influence their cognitive processing on a modelling task, there has been little direct evidence for such an effect. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the relation between students’ epistemological understanding of models and modelling and their cognitive processing (i.e., deep versus surface processing) on a modelling task. Twenty‐six students, working in dyads, were observed while working on a computer‐based modelling task in the domain of physics. Students’ epistemological understanding was assessed on four dimensions (i.e., nature of models, purposes of models, process of modelling, and evaluation of models). Students’ cognitive processes were assessed based on their verbal protocols, using a coding scheme to classify their types of reasoning. The outcomes confirmed the expected positive correlation between students’ level of epistemological understanding and their deep processing (r = 0.40, p = .04), and the negative correlation between level of epistemological understanding and surface processing (r = ?0.51, p = .008). From these results, we emphasise the necessity of considering epistemological understanding in research as well as in educational practice.     

Creativity in the training and practice of instructional designers: the Design/Creativity Loops model

This article presents a discussion of research and theoretical perspectives on creativity and instructional design, offering a conceptual model of the connection between these two constructs that was originally proposed in the dissertation work of the first author (Clinton, Creativity and design: A study of the learning experience of instructional design and development graduate students, Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Georgia, Athens, 2007) and that we call the Design/Creativity Loops (DCL) model. Central to the model is a representation of the iterative, looping problem-solving cycle that can include established stages of creative thinking. As an instructional designer is routinely confronted with the next task or design problem in a project, these tasks or problems spawn iterative mental excursions that are opportunities for creative thinking. This article also explores ways that the design and development process can benefit from an emphasis on creativity and offers suggested directions for future research.     

Support of the collaborative inquiry learning process: influence of support on task and team regulation

Regulation of the learning process is an important condition for efficient and effective learning. In collaborative learning, students have to regulate their collaborative activities (team regulation) next to the regulation of their own learning process focused on the task at hand (task regulation). In this study, we investigate how support of collaborative inquiry learning can influence the use of regulative activities of students. Furthermore, we explore the possible relations between task regulation, team regulation and learning results. This study involves tenth-grade students who worked in pairs in a collaborative inquiry learning environment that was based on a computer simulation, Collisions, developed in the program SimQuest. Students of the same team worked on two different computers and communicated through chat. Chat logs of students from three different conditions are compared. Students in the first condition did not receive any support at all (Control condition). In the second condition, students received an instruction in effective communication, the RIDE rules (RIDE condition). In the third condition, students were, in addition to receiving the RIDE rules instruction, supported by the Collaborative Hypothesis Tool (CHT), which helped the students with formulating hypotheses together (CHT condition). The results show that students overall used more team regulation than task regulation. In the RIDE condition and the CHT condition, students regulated their team activities most often. Moreover, in the CHT condition the regulation of team activities was positively related to the learning results. We can conclude that different measures of support can enhance the use of team regulative activities, which in turn can lead to better learning results.     

ONE MARRIAGE -- TWO DIVORCES: INTERNATIONAL COMPARISON OF GENDER DIFFERENCES IN ATTITUDES

This study examines the impact of gender on attitudes towardsmarriage and divorce in the United States, Great Britain, WestGermany, Austria, the Netherlands, Italy, and Ireland. The resultssuggest a basic similarity in attitudes across nations and genderdifferences only in relation to divorce attitudes. For theseseven countries at least, while gender is an important factorin explaining attitudes towards divorce, it has no significantimpact in relation to marriage attitudes.     

Effective teacher professionalization in networks?

Teacher professionalization has been focused to strongly on external experts and a one-size-fits-all set of solutions that often fail to distinguish between the needs of different teachers. This article describes a research into teacher networks that might be more successful vehicles for professional development of teachers. The results show that networks that focus on (self-) reflection, that exploit subgroups and networks meetings with a strong content focus, that stimulate enthusiasm and are instructive, that build a community of teachers and that make room for application of new materials/methods in the classroom, are the most promising ways for professional development and job motivation.     

Representations of single and compound stimuli in negative and positive patterning

In four experiments, rats were trained on different patterning discriminations before being tested with compounds composed of novel combinations of the trained stimuli. In Experiment 1, rats were trained on a negative-patterning schedule (A+ B+ AB-) intermixed with reinforced presentations of a second compound (CD+). On a subsequent test, the rats responded more to two novel compounds, AC and BD, than to A and B, but less than to CD. In Experiment 2, rats were trained on two concurrent negative-patterning discriminations (A+ B+ AB-, C+ D+ CD-). On test, they responded more to AC and BD than to AB and CD, but less than to the single stimuli. In Experiment 3, rats were trained on two concurrent positive-patterning discriminations (A-B- AB+, C- D- CD+). On test, their response rates to AC and BD were not different from the response rates to the trained compounds (AB and CD). Finally, in Experiment 4, rats were trained on a positive- and negative-patterning discrimination concurrently. Once again, on test, response rates to AC and BD were not different from responding on reinforced trials of the trained discriminations (A+, B+, and CD+). We discuss the implications of these findings for elemental and configural models of stimulus representation.     

The development and piloting of the ISPCAN Child Abuse Screening Tool—Parent version (ICAST-P)

ObjectiveChild maltreatment is a problem that has longer recognition in the northern hemisphere and in high-income countries. Recent work has highlighted the nearly universal nature of the problem in other countries but demonstrated the lack of comparability of studies because of the variations in definitions and measures used. The International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect has developed instrumentation that may be used with cross-cultural and cross-national benchmarking by local investigators.Design and samplingThe instrument design began with a team of expert in Brisbane in 2004. A large bank of questions were subjected to two rounds of Delphi review to develop the fielded version of the instrument. Convenience samples included approximately 120 parent respondents with children under the age of 18 in each of six countries (697 total).ResultsThis paper presents an instrument that measures parental behaviors directed at children and reports data from pilot work in 6 countries and 7 languages. Patterns of response revealed few missing values and distributions of responses that generally were similar in the six countries. Subscales performed well in terms of internal consistency with Cronbach's alpha in very good range (0.77–0.88) with the exception of the neglect and sex abuse subscales. Results varied by child age and gender in expected directions but with large variations among the samples. About 15% of children were shaken, 24% hit on the buttocks with an object, and 37% were spanked. Reports of choking and smothering were made by 2% of parents.ConclusionThese pilot data demonstrate that the instrument is well tolerated and captures variations in, and potentially harmful forms of child discipline.Practice implicationsThe ISPCAN Child Abuse Screening Tool – Parent Version (ICAST-P) has been developed as a survey instrument to be administered to parents for the assessment of child maltreatment in a multi-national and multi-cultural context. It was developed with broad input from international experts and subjected to Dephi review, translation, and pilot testing in six countries. The results of the Delphi study and pilot testing are presented. This study demonstrates that a single instrument can be used in a broad range of cultures and languages with low rates of missing data and moderate to high internal consistency.