Detection of Differential Item Functioning with Nonlinear Regression: A Non‐IRT Approach Accounting for Guessing

In this article we present a general approach not relying on item response theory models (non‐IRT) to detect differential item functioning (DIF) in dichotomous items with presence of guessing. The proposed nonlinear regression (NLR) procedure for DIF detection is an extension of method based on logistic regression. As a non‐IRT approach, NLR can be seen as a proxy of detection based on the three‐parameter IRT model which is a standard tool in the study field. Hence, NLR fills a logical gap in DIF detection methodology and as such is important for educational purposes. Moreover, the advantages of the NLR procedure as well as comparison to other commonly used methods are demonstrated in a simulation study. A real data analysis is offered to demonstrate practical use of the method.     

Self-Determination and Goal Aspirations: African American and Latino Males’ Perceptions of Their Persistence in Community College Basic and Transfer-Level Writing Courses

This Grounded Theory study utilized Self-determination Theory to analyze the interview results of 18 community college African American and Latino males. The goal was to learn what helped participants to succeed and persist in developmental and transfer-level writing courses despite the obstacles that they faced. Three major themes emerged: (a) Male students of color continued to take and complete English courses because they were determined to achieve their academic goals; (b) they sought assistance and guidance from their English professors, from the writing lab attached to the basic skills course and from the writing tutoring staff; and (c) when they felt overwhelmed and considered dropping their English classes, their determination to achieve their goals and the assistance they received from faculty and other writing staff ultimately kept them from doing so. Therefore, first, community colleges should encourage students’ ability to be autonomous. Second, they can help students develop a sense of relatedness by providing a better sense of belonging. Third, institutions should develop strong faculty networks within the college to increase student motivation and self-determination by providing mentoring opportunities. Finally, institutions should consider utilizing faculty and other institutional agents to help students by providing information regarding various student support services that may help address issues students may be encountering.     

A posthumanist approach to environmental education in South Africa: implications for teachers,teacher development,and teacher training programs

As we enter the sixth great mass extinction event, an event that points to humanity’s exploitative attitude towards nature, posthumanist ethics offers a different way of engaging with the world, a way which has clear and extensive implications for the way environmental education is taught in South African schools. However, given the official curriculum and assessment practices currently in use in South Africa, can a posthumanist approach to environmental education actually work within the current educational framework of discrete discipline/subject areas and specializations? The paper diffractively engages with the Department of Basic Education National Curriculum Statement: Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement: Foundation Phase Grades R-3: Life Skills for South Africa (the phase where environmental education is most likely to take place), and superpositions this text with a research study on environmental education undertaken in Canada and key posthumanist notions as they relate to environmental education. The paper concludes with a section on the implications for teachers, teacher development, and teacher training programs (not solely in South Africa) of using such an approach in the teaching of environmental studies.     

Why Portuguese Students Go Abroad to Do Their PhDs1

The objective of this article based on interview data is focused on the mobility of Portuguese PhD students, mainly pointing to (i) their motivation for studying abroad and tackling with different foreign cultural environments; (ii) personal and professional interests; and (iii) their ability to face the mobility consequences encountered during both private lives and professional development processes. In addition, the author of this article attempts to put forward ideas on policy making and launching effective programmes that would enhance students' lives and scientific development as possible responses to current contradictory European political agendas in the field.     

The Bologna process and the search for excellence: between rhetoric and reality,the emotional reactions of teachers

ABSTRACT

There has been an overall change in higher education towards the achievement of outstanding patterns of quality and excellence that assure competitiveness at a global scale. Teachers feel the pressure of official regulations for achieving quality and excellence, based on questionable concepts of quality that do not take into account the experience and beliefs of teachers and lead to emotional states that may promote or hinder adjustment to changes.

The present study used a categorical content analysis to capture the emotions that twelve university teachers associate with the changes experienced and with the pursuit of quality emphasized in Portugal by the Bologna Process. The results show that participants revealed mixed emotions regarding change. Students elicit mostly positive emotions, whereas bureaucracy, marketization and career changes generate negative emotions that impede the quest for quality, although in a minority of participants they prompt resilience that stimulates engagement in quality.     

A reconstruction of development of the periodic table based on history and philosophy of science and its implications for general chemistry textbooks

The objectives of this study are: (a) elaboration of a history and philosophy of science (HPS) framework based on a reconstruction of the development of the periodic table; (b) formulation of seven criteria based on the framework; and (c) evaluation of 57 freshman college‐level general chemistry textbooks with respect to the presentation of the periodic table. The historical reconstruction of the periodic table showed that the periodicity of the elements could be construed as an inductive generalization or as a function of the atomic theory. There is considerable controversy with respect to the nature of Mendeleev's contribution, and various alternatives are discussed: ordered domain; empirical law; and a theory with limited explanatory power. Accommodation of the elements according to their physicochemical properties is considered to be the major contribution of the periodic table by all textbooks, followed by contrapredictions of previously unknown elements (30 textbooks), and novel predictions (corrections of atomic mass) of known elements (10 textbooks). The relative importance of accommodation and prediction within an HPS framework is generally ignored. Few textbooks have attempted to explore the possible cause of periodicity in the table and very few textbooks have explored the nature of Mendeleev's contribution. The development of the periodic table as a sequence of heuristic principles in the form of a convincing argument has been ignored. The textbook approach of emphasizing that the development of the periodic table was an inductive generalization, and that Mendeleev had no model or theory, does not facilitate the spirit of critical inquiry that led the scientists to grapple with alternative interpretations, conflicts, and controversies. It is concluded that the development of the periodic table went through a continual critical appraisal (conflict and controversy), in which scientists presented various tentative theoretical ideas to understand the observed phenomena. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 42: 84–111, 2005     

The relationship between life goals and fields of study among young European graduates

This paper analyses the relationships among life goals, job prospects and fields of study for a sample of young European higher education graduates. The results show that there is a characteristic pattern for each field of study with regard to the variables used. Graduates in a given field have similar life goals and job prospects, as well as a similar educational and social background, irrespective of cultural and labour market differences associated with their country of residence.     

Visual and phonological coding in working memory and orthographic skills of deaf children using Chilean sign language

Deaf children can improve their reading skills by learning to use alternative, visual codes such as fingerspelling. A sample of 28 deaf children between the ages of 7 and 16 years was used as an experimental group and another sample of 15 hearing children of similar age and academic level as a control group. Two experiments were carried out to study the possible interactions between phonological and visual codes and working memory, and to understand the relationships between these codes and reading and orthographic achievement. The results highlight the relationship between dactylic and orthographic coding. Just as phoneme-to-grapheme knowledge can facilitate reading for hearing children, fingerspelling-to-grapheme knowledge has the potential to play a similar role for deaf readers.     

Play in two societies: pervasiveness of process, specificity of structure

The present study compared Argentine (N = 39) and U.S. (N = 43) children and their mothers on exploratory, symbolic, and social play and interaction when children were 20 months of age. Patterns of cultural similarity and difference emerged. In both cultures, boys engaged in more exploratory play than girls, and girls engaged in more symbolic play than boys; mothers of boys engaged in more exploratory play than mothers of girls, and mothers of girls engaged in more symbolic play than mothers of boys. Moreover, in both cultures, individual variation in children's exploratory and symbolic play was specifically associated with individual variation in mothers' exploratory and symbolic play, respectively. Between cultures, U.S. children and their mothers engaged in more exploratory play, whereas Argentine children and their mothers engaged in more symbolic play. Moreover, Argentine mothers exceeded U.S. mothers in social play and verbal praise of their children. During an early period of mental and social growth, general developmental processes in play may be pervasive, but dyadic and cultural structures are apparently specific. Overall, Argentine and U.S. dyads utilized different modes of exploration, representation, and interaction--emphasizing "other-directed" acts of pretense versus "functional" and "combinatorial" exploration, for example--and these individual and dyadic allocentric versus idiocentric stresses accord with larger cultural concerns of collectivism versus individualism in the two societies.     

Learning to learn at university. The effects of an instrumental subject on learning strategies and academic achievement / Aprender a aprender en la universidad. Efectos de una materia instrumental sobre las estrategias de aprendizaje y el rendimiento académico

Self-regulated learning is very important at university, since students must manage the strategies and abilities necessary to be autonomous and effective in their learning. The aim of this study was to analyse the effects of a course designed for this purpose on learning strategies and students’ achievement of first-year university students. A quasi-experimental pre-test/post-test design was used, with an experimental group and a control group, applying measurement instruments before starting and after finishing the course. The learning process was analysed on this course, with students being trained in the use of relevant learning strategies — metacognitive strategies, strategies for processing and using information and affective and motivational strategies. The sample consisted of 47 students, 23 of them belonging to the experimental group and 24 of them to the control group, from various degrees at the University of Valencia. The results confirmed significant improvements in the learning strategy scores of the experimental group compared to the control group. There was also an improvement in academic achievement, but in this case the differences were not statistically significant.