Investigating relationships between features of learning designs and student learning outcomes

This article reports a study of eLearning in 21 courses in Hong Kong universities that had a blended design of face-to-face classes combined with online learning. The main focus of the study was to examine possible relationships between features of online learning designs and student learning outcomes. Data-collection strategies included expert reviews of the learning designs, student surveys of perceptions of the web environment and their own learning outcomes, and a SOLO (structure of observed learning outcomes) analysis of assessment evidence of student learning outcomes. The findings of this correlational study indicate mild relationships between features of learning design and student perceptions of their learning outcomes. Both the provision of learning resources and the engagement of students in online communication relate to aspects of learning (acquisition of knowledge and skills, and enhancement of learning motivation). Also, the relationship was stronger when eLearning strategies were more extensively used. However, no relationship was found between learning design and the student performance in assessment tasks, possibly because of the limited assessment data that was examined.     

Co-thought gestures: Supporting students to successfully navigate map tasks

This study considers the role and nature of co-thought gestures when students process map-based mathematics tasks. These gestures are typically spontaneously produced silent gestures which do not accompany speech and are represented by small movements of the hands or arms often directed toward an artefact. The study analysed 43 students (aged 10–12 years) over a 3-year period as they solved map tasks that required spatial reasoning. The map tasks were representative of those typically found in mathematics classrooms for this age group and required route finding and coordinate knowledge. The results indicated that co-thought gestures were used to navigate the problem space and monitor movements within the spatial challenges of the respective map tasks. Gesturing was most influential when students encountered unfamiliar tasks or when they found the tasks spatially demanding. From a teaching and learning perspective, explicit co-thought gesturing highlights cognitive challenges students are experiencing since students tended to not use gesturing in tasks where the spatial demands were low.     

The association between academic self‐beliefs and reading achievement among children at risk of reading failure

This paper investigates whether children's academic self‐beliefs are associated with reading achievement and whether the relationship is modified by gender and/or age. Data were collected from children at risk of reading failure, that is, emergent readers (6‐ to 8‐year‐olds) in socioeconomically disadvantaged areas reading at a level below the population mean. The authors' own measure of attitude to reading and perceived competence was used. The study found a significant positive association between attitude to reading in class and vocabulary and phonemic awareness and a significant negative association between perceived competence at reading in class and single‐word reading and spelling. Girls' attitude to reading and perceived competence were more positively associated with reading achievement, and this was most evident in the first grade. Perceived competence was inflated among those with the poorest reading and also among boys, in association with reading‐related skills found most challenging by children in this sample.     

School processes and the transition to higher education

Previous research has indicated significant variation between schools in the proportion of their students who go on to higher education. However, relatively little attention has been paid to the specific school characteristics influencing application and entry to tertiary education. This paper sets out to analyse the individual and school factors which influence the transition to higher education in the Irish context. The paper draws on a large‐scale study of 4,400 students within 108 secondary schools in the Republic of Ireland. Almost three‐quarters of the students in the sample applied for a higher education course. However, schools varied in the application rates of their students. These differences are found to be related to the background characteristics of students (in terms of gender, social class and prior ability) along with the institutional habitus of the school. It is found that school factors associated with increased college application rates do not necessarily appear to yield higher rates of college entry but rather that successful entry to tertiary education is related to general academic effectiveness in the school.     

Solving graphics tasks: Gender differences in middle-school students

The capacity to solve tasks that contain high concentrations of visual-spatial information, including graphs, maps and diagrams, is becoming increasingly important in educational contexts as well as everyday life. This research examined gender differences in the performance of students solving graphics tasks from the Graphical Languages in Mathematics (GLIM) instrument that included number lines, graphs, maps and diagrams. The participants were 317 Australian students (169 males and 148 females) aged 9-12 years. Boys outperformed girls on graphical languages that required the interpretation of information represented on an axis and graphical languages that required movement between two- and three-dimensional representations (generally Map language).     

The ethics of randomized controlled trials in social settings: can social trials be scientifically promising and must there be equipoise?

In a randomized controlled trial (RCT), treatments are assigned randomly and treatments are withheld from participants. Is it ethically permissible to conduct an RCT in a social setting? This paper addresses two conditions for justifying RCTs: that there should be a state of equipoise and that the trial should be scientifically promising. Illustrated with a discussion of the RCT evaluation of the Wizards of Words reading programme, this paper argues that, first, the two conditions can give rise to genuine moral conflicts, and second, efforts can be made to ensure RCTs in social settings are scientifically promising. The argument of this paper therefore is a departure from the current debate on RCTs, where it is assumed these two justifying conditions should not come into conflict, either because research ethics is derived from the professional's duty of care, or because there is a strong distinction between the ethics of research and the duty of care. This paper also addresses critics who argue that in social settings RCTs cannot be scientifically promising and for that reason they are ethically impermissible.     

A changing assessment landscape in Ireland: the place of oral language

Although not a new discussion in the Irish context, the value of oral language development has recently gained prominence again in Irish Post‐Primary English classrooms. In this article we present how the recent introduction of Junior Cycle English, which now includes an Oral Communication Classroom Based Assessment (CBA) is renewing efforts to promote speaking and listening and has the potential to change teachers’ understanding of assessment in English. The rationale for this change is presented here from the perspectives of the different stakeholders in Irish Education; educational researchers, policymakers, the Inspectorate, teachers and students. To cite the Junior Cycle Framework: ‘until the examination changes, nothing else will’ (NCCA 2011: 6). However, past efforts to implement an oral assessment element illustrate how change is complex and fostering an awareness of the centrality of ‘classroom talk’ involves a cultural shift for the teachers implementing the Junior Cycle English Specification.     

Energy system contribution to 1500- and 3000-metre track running

The aim of the present study was to quantify the contributions of the aerobic and anaerobic energy systems to 1500- and 3000-m track running events during all-out time-trials performed individually on a synthetic athletic track. Ten 3000-m (8 males, 2 females) and fourteen 1500-m (10 males, 4 females) trained track athletes volunteered to participate in the study. The athletes performed a graded exercise test in the laboratory and two time-trials over 1500 or 3000 m. The contributions of the energy systems were calculated by measures of race oxygen uptake, accumulated oxygen deficit (AOD), race blood lactate concentration, estimated phosphocreatine degradation and some individual muscle metabolite data. The relative aerobic energy system contribution (based on AOD measures) for the 3000 m was 86% (male) and 94% (female), while for the 1500 m it was 77% (male) and 86% (female). Estimates of anaerobic energy expenditure based on blood lactate concentrations, while not significantly different (P > 0.05), were generally lower compared with the AOD measures. In conclusion, the results of the present study conform with some recent laboratory-based measures of energy system contributions to these events.     

The Literacy Skills of Language-Impaired Children: Time for 'joined up' thinking?

Relatively little research has been completed into the nature of the association between language and literacy in language-impaired children. This study examines a group of children who attended language unit provision between the ages of 3 years 6 months and 7 years in an inner city education authority. At follow-up, the children were between 7 years 10 months and 13 years 3 months. Of the 24 children, five had transferred to mainstream school, 12 went to a Key Stage 2 language unit and seven went to special school. The links between the assessments of language, phonological skills and literacy development are described. The educational outcomes for this group are considered. Proposals are made for closer collaboration between educational psychologists, and speech and language therapists in the initial identification of children with language impairment, and the continued communication with teachers, so that the language and literacy development of such children can be viewed within the whole teaching context.