Perceptions of Science and Technology: A Comparison of Criminal Justice and Traditional Science and Technology Majors

Due to the increased demands for science and technology (S&T) in criminal justice (CJ) occupational preparation and in response to the growing interest of students in forensics, this study explores the attitudes of CJ majors towards S&T. Despite the acknowledgment that S&T skills are helpful in gaining employment, CJ majors reported less favorable attitudes than S&T majors, reporting: less interest in gaining S&T knowledge, fewer social benefits of S&T, and greater concerns that S&T are dangerous to society than traditional forensic science majors. While these findings raise some fundamental questions about the suitability of increased representation of S&T courses within CJ curriculum, authors argue that CJ curricular goals must continue to evolve to foster innovative students who are academically prepared to meet the twenty-first century challenges of their future careers.     

Changing the Tire Instead of Reinventing the Wheel: Customizing an Existing Online Information Literacy Tutorial

ABSTRACT

Information literacy instruction has become a core responsibility of many academic librarian positions in recent years. Online information literacy tutorials have gained increasing popularity among librarians struggling to keep up with the growing demand for this type of instruction. The availability of high-quality, open source tutorials has prompted some librarians to customize existing tutorials rather than build their own resource from scratch. This article provides an overview and checklist for librarians who are considering customization of an existing online tutorial as a means of meeting student information literacy needs.     

Do Consonant Sonority and Status Influence Syllable-Based Segmentation Strategies in a Visual Letter Detection Task? Developmental Evidence in French Children

This article queries whether consonant sonority (sonorant vs. obstruent) and status (coda vs. onset) within intervocalic clusters influence syllable-based segmentation strategies. We used a modified version of the illusory conjunction paradigm to test whether French beginning, intermediate, and advanced readers were sensitive to an optimal “sonorant coda–obstruent onset” sonority profile within the syllable boundaries as a cue for a syllable-based segmentation. Data showed that children used a syllable-based segmentation that improved with reading skills and age. The results are discussed to support that the visual letter detection within pseudowords primarily and early relies on acoustic-phonetic cues within the syllable boundaries, whereas the syllable effect seems to be developmentally constrained by reading skills and age.     

Change in Myself-As-a-Learner Scale (MALS) scores as pupils transfer to and progress through secondary school

Longitudinal changes in pupils’ academic self-perception (as measured by Myself-As-a-Learner Scale [MALS]) were investigated between Year 6 and Year 10. The possibility of there being gender and attainment differences was also explored. There was a significant drop in mean MALS scores between Years 6 and 7. There was a further drop between Years 7 and 8 but this was small and not statistically significant. MALS scores remained largely stable between Years 7 and 10. Girls scored lower than boys on this measure and this difference reached significance in the Years 6 to 7 data. The results showed that higher attaining pupils (as measured by the Key Stage 2 levels in English, Maths and Science) had higher average MALS scores. Implications for the standardisation arrangements of the MALS test are discussed, with particular reference to the desirability to include norms to incorporate attainment, age and sex.     

Assessing the integration of audience response system technology in teaching of anatomical sciences

The goals of our study were to determine the predictive value and usability of an audience response system (ARS) as a knowledge assessment tool in an undergraduate medical curriculum. Over a three year period (2006–2008), data were collected from first year didactic blocks in Genetics/Histology and Anatomy/Radiology (n = 42–50 per class). During each block, students answered clinically oriented multiple choice questions using the ARS. Students' performances were recorded and cumulative ARS scores were compared with final examination performances. Correlation coefficients between these variables were calculated to assess the existence and direction of an association between ARS and final examination score. If associations existed, univariate models were then constructed using ARS as a predictor of final examination score. Student and faculty perception of ARS difficulty, usefulness, effect on performance, and preferred use were evaluated using a questionnaire. There was a statistically significant positive correlation between ARS and final examination scores in all didactic blocks and predictive univariate models were constructed for each relationship (all P < 0.0001). Students and faculty agreed that ARS was easy to use and a reliable tool for providing real‐time feedback that improved their performance and participation. In conclusion, we found ARS to be an effective assessment tool benefiting the faculty and the students in a curriculum focused on interaction and self‐directed learning. Anat Sci Educ 2:160–166. © 2009 American Association of Anatomists.     

Development and initial investigation of a self-report measure of teachers’ readiness to implement

This paper describes development and piloting of a self-report measure of teachers’ readiness to implement evidence-based programs. Using mixed methods, this project proceeded in two phases. In the first phase, a program-independent self-report measure of readiness to implement was developed and piloted with N?=?53 teachers. Results of quantitative analyses offer initial support for the structure and utility of this scale. In the second phase, qualitative interviews were conducted with a subset of the overall sample in order to more thoroughly understand teachers’ experiences of readiness and implementation. Together, results contribute to further scale development and offer preliminary support for the validity of this measure in assessing readiness.     

Blank Canvas and Glass Ceiling: Using Visual Metaphors and Narratives to Examine Preservice Teacher Development

When preparing college-age teacher candidates to teach in diverse contexts, knowing how they reconcile knowledge, self-author, and negotiate social relationships can enhance pedagogy and inform program design. In this article, the authors use a developmental framework they created to examine how teacher candidates’ visual metaphors about White privilege provide insight into the developmental nature of their conceptual thinking.     

Understanding children's reading activities: Reading motivation,skill and child characteristics as predictors

This study examined the extent to which a range of child characteristics (sex, age, socioeconomic status, reading skill and intrinsic and extrinsic reading motivation) predicted engagement (i.e., time spent) in different reading activities (fiction books, factual books, school textbooks, comics, magazines and digital texts). In total, 791 children (aged 8–11 years) participated. There was considerable variation in the factors predicting engagement in different reading activities. Although intrinsic reading motivation was a good predictor of recreational book reading, age was a stronger predictor of engagement with digital texts. Furthermore, specific dimensions of motivation predicted engagement in different reading activities; being motivated to read challenging texts predicted recreational book reading, whereas being motivated to achieve good grades predicted schoolbook reading. On the other hand, social reasons predicted engagement with magazines and comics. Implications for education and the relationship between child characteristics and choice of reading activities are discussed.     

The Stigma of Tenure Denied: An Exploration of Individual and Institutional Implications

Research in Higher Education - Although tenure denial is a familiar feature of the faculty profession, the dearth of specific research on the subject indicates that it is a phenomenon not...