I’d Rather be Reading: Creating Lifelong Readers in School Libraries

Abstract

The importance of reading for school and career success is well documented, but there are countless benefits to reading for quality of life. This column explores the goal of creating lifelong readers in school libraries, the characteristics avid readers share, and ideas to develop these readers.     

Expanding Role and Potential of Curation in Education: A Systematic Review of the Literature

ABSTRACT

Advances in computing power have accelerated the growth of knowledge and created opportunities. However, the resulting tidal wave of information presents challenges, including vast quantity with varying quality. In higher education, curation offers one solution as librarians and faculty, as educators and researchers, increasingly curate knowledge for students, colleagues, and other stakeholders. Using integrative and systematic methods, the purpose of this literature review was to examine curation in education. This article presents major findings related to the panorama, perspective, people, product, place, purpose, and process of curation in education. We also discuss major themes including the changing and expanding landscape of curation from curating artifacts to content and data, from non-formal to formal learning contexts, from individual to collaborative curation, and the role of curation in education in bridging people, communities, and knowledge.     

Identification-Based Multiple-Choice Assessments in Anatomy can be as Reliable and Challenging as Their Free-Response Equivalents

Multiple-choice (MC) anatomy “spot-tests” (identification-based assessments on tagged cadaveric specimens) offer a practical alternative to traditional free-response (FR) spot-tests. Conversion of the two spot-tests in an upper limb musculoskeletal anatomy unit of study from FR to a novel MC format, where one of five tagged structures on a specimen was the answer to each question, provided a unique opportunity to assess the comparative validity and reliability of FR- and MC-formatted spot-tests and the impact on student performance following the change of test format to MC. Three successive year cohorts of health science students (n = 1,442) were each assessed by spot-tests formatted as FR (first cohort) or MC (following two cohorts). Comparative question difficulty was assessed independently by three examiners. There were more higher-order cognitive skill questions and more of the course objectives tested in the MC-formatted tests. Spot-test reliability was maintained with Cronbach’s alpha reliability coefficients ≥ 0.80 and 80% of the MC items of high quality (having point-biserial correlation coefficients > 0.25). These results also demonstrated guessing was not an issue. The mean final score for the MC-formatted cohorts increased by 4.9%, but did not change for the final theory examination that was common to all three cohorts. Subgroup analysis revealed that the greatest change in spot-test marks was for the lower-performing students. In conclusion, our results indicate spot-tests formatted as MC are suitable alternatives to FR tests. The increase in mean scores for the MC-formatted spot-tests was attributed to the lower demand of the MC format.     

Teaching Multiplication with Regrouping to Students with Learning Disabilities

The Common Core Standards require demonstration of conceptual knowledge of numbers, operations, and relations between mathematical concepts. Supplemental instruction should explicitly guide students with specific learning disabilities (SLD) in these skills. In this article, we illustrate implementation of the concrete‐representational‐abstract (CRA) sequence and the Strategic Instruction Model (SIM) for teaching multiplication with regrouping to students with SLD. CRA combined with SIM has been shown to be effective in teaching computation for students with SLD, specifically for developing conceptual understanding. Four elementary students with SLD participated in this study. The researchers used a multiple‐probe design to show a functional relation. Students demonstrated increases in computational fluency; skills were maintained and generalized.     

The Relation of Christian Education to the Inter‐church World Movement

A report on a church college that takes seriously worship, morality, and an interracial structure     

Is Skill Type the Key to the PreK Fadeout Puzzle? Differential Associations Between Enrollment in PreK and Constrained and Unconstrained Skills Across Kindergarten

This study examines whether associations between enrollment in public and non-public PreK and children’s (N = 508; M_age = 5.60 years in fall of kindergarten) math and language and literacy outcomes were more likely to be sustained through the spring of kindergarten for unconstrained versus constrained skills. Associations between public PreK and language, literacy, and math outcomes were more strongly sustained through the spring of kindergarten for unconstrained skills, relative to constrained skills. Only associations between non-public PreK and unconstrained language skills were sustained through the spring of kindergarten. Associations in the fall of kindergarten differed by family income and dual language learner (DLL) status but there was no subgroup variation by the spring of kindergarten. Implications for policy and practice are discussed.     

Socioeconomic status and physical fitness in youth: Findings from the NHANES National Youth Fitness Survey

ABSTRACT

This study examined the associations between socioeconomic status (SES) and musculoskeletal (MSF) and cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) in youth. The sample consisted of boys and girls between 3-15 years. SES was categorized utilizing family-income-to-poverty ratio (FIPR). All analyses were standardized for age and sex. For each test of physical fitness, SES was used to estimate mean fitness test percentile and 95% confidence intervals, controlling for race/ethnicity and physical activity. Odds ratios were calculated for the likelihood of having low fitness by SES category. In general, the high SES group had a better composite MSF, body composition, and CRF profiles than low and moderate SES groups. Statistically significant differences were identified for relative grip strength, plank, body mass index, and cardiovascular endurance time (all p < 0.05). Additionally, the odds of low/poor MSF fitness were 1.7 and 1.6 times higher in the low and moderate SES groups (respectively) compared to the children from high SES families. The moderate SES group had an odds of poor CRF 1.6 times higher than the high SES group as well. Children and adolescents from high SES families tend to have higher mean fitness and were less likely to have low/poor fitness.     

Culture Shock and Higher Education Performance: Implications for Teaching

The globalisation of higher education brings together learners and teachers from differing systems, creating a heterogeneous and diverse environment. Yet many higher education institutions typically rely on foreign students themselves to adapt to their new higher education environments. An investigation was undertaken as to whether traditional approaches are effective and efficient in meeting the needs of the internationally mobile student. Using data from the last ten years (1999 to 2009) from a post‐1992 University in the North West of England an analysis of over 15,000 postgraduate assessments found a significant performance difference between home country students and international mobile students. Results found that home country students perform significantly better than international students, although the latter perform better in examinations than in coursework. However, there is a substantive improvement during the dissertation stage for both groups. Possible reasons for such variations in performance are explored.     

INTERGENERATIONAL COMMUNITY SCHOOLS: A NEW PRACTICE FOR A NEW TIME

This article outlines the concept and initial implementation of an intergenerational learning community (ILC), a new charter school concept, and reviews relevant literature. We discuss the mission, curriculum, educational design, philosophy, and lessons learned from initial implementation of The Intergenerational School (TIS). Such multiage communities of learners represent a conceptual and organizational response to the challenges that rapid cultural and environmental change and resultant alienation are posing for human societies.