Effects of focus of attention on baseball batting performance in players of differing skill levels

This study addressed the question, what should baseball players focus their attention on while batting? Less-skilled and highly skilled (college) baseball players participated in four dual-task conditions in a baseball batting simulation: two that directed attention to skill execution (skill/internal [movement of the hands] and skill/external [movement of the bat]) and two that directed attention to the environment (environmental/irrelevant [auditory tones] and environmental/external [the ball leaving the bat]). Batting performance for highly skilled players was best in the environmental/external condition and worst in the skill/internal condition. Performance of less-skilled batters was significantly better in the two skill conditions than in either of the two environmental conditions. We conclude that the optimal focus of attention for highly skilled batters is one that does not disrupt proceduralized knowledge and permits attention to the perceptual effect of the action, whereas the optimal focus of attention for less-skilled batters is one that allows attention to the step-by-step execution of the swing.     

Reflecting on quiz placement in online tutorials: creating a more active learning experience

As the number of online library tutorials increases, so does the need to create active learning experiences and options for self-assessment. This article looks at embedding short Flash quizzes into tutorials created with Camtasia as a way to address this need. It also attempts to determine how quiz placement affects desire to view online tutorials and information retention.     

School Consultation to Counter Stereotype Threat

ABSTRACT

Perceptions teachers have regarding their students are associated with their students’ school performance. Similarly, students’ psychoeducational and psychosocial functioning are partly shaped by their beliefs about teachers’ opinions of them. Psychoeducational performance and psychosocial interactions are linked with perceived stereotype threats. Stereotype threat refers to how a person’s fear or anxiety about confirming a negative stereotype associated with being a member of a stigmatized group undermines their performance in evaluative contexts. This work offers a theoretical and practical prevention and intervention teaching and learning framework to ameliorate stereotype threat. We describe the stereotype threat interruption model (STIM) as a consultation model that delineates stereotype threat and provides teacher-focused, student-centered, and environment-applied consultation strategies to abrogate its effects. STIM is applicable in graduate training and in the professional environment. It highlights a prevention science teaching and learning framework that proactively encourages healthy student development and efficient consultation services.     

Assimilating newcomers into an organization: A cultural perspective

This study investigates the differences and similarities in communication practices between the public and private sectors. Through a survey of 976 government and corporate communicators, 12 organizational attributes previously identified in research on the government communication decision wheel (Liu & Horsley, 2007; Liu & Levenshus, 2008) were tested. The results indicated differences between the two groups in budgets, political influence, communication frequency, public pressure, interaction with other organizations, media coverage frequency, media coverage evaluation, and impact of legal frameworks as they relate to communication practices. No significant differences in diversity of publics, opportunities for professional development, participation in organizational leadership, or management support for communication between the two groups were found. The findings allowed for refinement of this developing model of government communication.     

Reflecting on Quiz Placement in Online Tutorials: Creating a More Active Learning Experience

As the number of online library tutorials increases, so does the need to create active learning experiences and options for self-assessment. This article looks at embedding short Flash quizzes into tutorials created with Camtasia as a way to address this need. It also attempts to determine how quiz placement affects desire to view online tutorials and information retention.     

Social and Emotional Competence in Children of Depressed Mothers

The relations between maternal unipolar major depression and children's self-concept, self-control, and peer relationships were studied in a middle-class, predominantly white sample of 96 families. Each family included a target child between the ages of 5 and 10. Depressed mothers varied on whether or not the child's father also had a psychiatric disorder. Well mothers all had spouses with no psychiatric disorders. Analyses controlled for marital status, age, and sex of child. Children completed measures of self-concept and peer relations skills; teachers completed measures of self-control and a rating of popularity with peers. Results supported the multiple risk factor model in that fathers' psychiatric status and parents' marital status explained much of the variability in children's social and emotional competence. Maternal depression alone, in the context of a well husband/father, was only related to children having been rated by their teachers as less popular. Results are discussed in terms of possible mechanisms by which maternal depression may interact with paternal psychopathology and divorce in relation to children's social and emotional competence. The findings may further indicate that older children are more vulnerable to these multiple risk factors than younger children.     

Articulating the validity evidence for a science alternate assessment

Students with the most significant cognitive disabilities (SCD) are the 1% of the total student population who have a disability or multiple disabilities that significantly impact intellectual functioning and adaptive behaviors and who require individualized instruction and substantial supports. Historically, these students have received little instruction in science and the science assessments they have participated in have not included age‐appropriate science content. Guided by a theory of action for a new assessment system, an eight‐state consortium developed multidimensional alternate content standards and alternate assessments in science for students in three grade bands (3–5, 6–8, 9–12) that are linked to the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS Lead States, 2013 ) and A Framework for K‐12 Science Education (Framework; National Research Council, 2012 ). The great variability within the population of students with SCD necessitates variability in the assessment content, which creates inherent challenges in establishing technical quality. To address this issue, a primary feature of this assessment system is the use of hypothetical cognitive models to provide a structure for variability in assessed content. System features and subsequent validity studies were guided by a theory of action that explains how the proposed claims about score interpretation and use depend on specific assumptions about the assessment, as well as precursors to the assessment. This paper describes evidence for the main claim that test scores represent what students know and can do. We present validity evidence for the assumptions about the assessment and its precursors, related to this main claim. The assessment was administered to over 21,000 students in eight states in 2015–2016. We present selected evidence from system components, procedural evidence, and validity studies. We evaluate the validity argument and demonstrate how it supports the claim about score interpretation and use.