Belonging in science classrooms: Investigating its relation to students' contributions and influence in knowledge building

Meaningful participation in science and engineering practices requires that students make their thinking visible to others and build on one another's ideas. But sharing ideas with others in small groups and classrooms carries social risk, particularly for students from nondominant groups and communities. In this paper, we explore how students' perceptions of classrooms shape their contributions to classroom knowledge building in science across a wide range of classrooms. We examine the claim that when students feel a sense of belonging in class, they contribute more and perceive their ideas to be more influential in knowledge building. Data comes from classroom exit tickets (n = 10,194) administered in 146 classrooms as part of a 10-state field test of a new middle-school science curriculum, OpenSciEd, which were analyzed using mixed effects models. We found that students' sense of belonging predicted the degree to which they contributed ideas out loud in class (Odds ratio = 1.57) as well as the degree to which they perceived their contributions as influencing others (Odds ratio = 1.53). These relationships were particularly strong for students who reported a lower a sense of belonging. We also found significant differences by both race and gender in whether students said they contributed and believed their ideas influenced those of others. These findings suggest that a learner's sense of belonging in class and willingness to contribute may be mutually reinforcing, highlighting the need to promote content-specific strategies to foster belonging in ways that support collaborative knowledge building.     

The empowerment of women dairy farmers in India

This study explores the role of communication in the empowerment process of female dairy farmers in India, through a program that particularly draws on the theoretical perspectives of Paulo Freire and Saul Alinsky regarding empowerment. Female dairy fanners who participated in this communication program were more empowered than female dairy farmers who did not participate.     

Effectiveness of the Slide and Cross-Over Steps In Volleyball Blocking—A Temporal Analysis

Abstract

Three initial step techniques for moving laterally are commonly used by middle blockers in volleyball. These three methods are (1) the slide step, (2) the cross-over step, and (3) the jab cross-over step. The purpose of the current investigation was to study the relationship between the three initial step techniques and selected time variables involved in the jumping and blocking action. Four criterion measures were extracted from film footage (100 frames/sec) using cinematographic data collection techniques. Six skilled volleyball players were used as subjects (3 men and 3 women). A split-split plot 3 (step method) × 2 (response direction) × 2 (sex) factorial design, with repeated measures on method and direction, were used to analyze the criterion measures. Results of the analysis revealed a clear relationship between step method and three of the time variables studied. Specifically, the cross-over steps (and in particular the jab cross-over) were observed to be superior to the slide step in terms of getting the athlete's body off the ground and into a blocking position quickly. While earlier investigations demonstrated that the slide step was superior in terms of getting from a middle blocking position to a floor switch mat (stationary target) it seems clear from the present investigation that the jab cross-over is superior in terms of actual jumping and blocking efficiency.     

The impact of the MARS curriculum on students' ability to coordinate theory and evidence

The Model-Assisted Reasoning in Science (MARS) project seeks to promote model-centered instruction as a means of improving middle-school science education. As part of the evaluation of the sixth-grade curriculum, performance of MARS and non-MARS students was compared on a curriculum-neutral task. Fourteen students participated in structured interviews in which they experimented with a balance apparatus that provided three manipulable variables (two affected balance, one was a non-causal distractor variable). Although both groups were equally able to identify and test variables, all MARS students discovered a quantitative rule to describe the operation of the balance, whereas only one non-MARS student did so. MARS students discovered this numerical relationship through experimentation, regardless of their scientific reasoning profile (i.e. theory-generating, theory-modifying, or theory-preserving). The critical components of MARS instruction that may foster the ability to flexibly coordinate theory and evidence include multiple opportunities to draw conclusions from data and an emphasis on the successive refinement of models.     

A Multidimensional Scaling Analysis of Students’ Attitudes about Science Careers

To encourage students to seek careers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields, it is important to gauge students’ implicit and explicit attitudes towards scientific professions. We asked high school and college students to rate the similarity of pairs of occupations, and then used multidimensional scaling (MDS) to create a spatial representation of occupational similarity. Other students confirmed the emergent MDS map by rating each of the occupations along several dimensions. We found that participants across age and sex considered scientific professions to be less creative and less people‐oriented than other popular career choices. We conclude that students may be led away from STEM careers by common misperceptions that science is a difficult, uncreative, and socially isolating pursuit.     

Designing Rural School Improvement Networks: Aspirations and Actualities

Rural school educators are often isolated and have few opportunities to learn from neighboring schools or colleagues. This is an especially daunting challenge for low-performing rural schools faced with implementing significant reform efforts (e.g., turnaround approaches, educator effectiveness systems, college- and career-ready standards and assessments). This paper discusses the design and start-up of a large-scale project to connect “like with like” rural and remote schools within the northwest region of the United States to identify and share promising and innovative school reform practices. The authors present a network design framework based on previous work supporting and studying similar educational networks for innovation and improvement in the United States and beyond. They also present lessons learned about designing and launching a network that others might consider when initiating a school improvement network.     

The Middle Ground in Education: A Rejoinder to the Plea

The mental and emotional state so very evident in the article entitled “A Plea for the Middle Ground in Education” is not an uncommon phenomenon among teachers who are engaged in the arduous task of changing habits and attitudes and standards. Nor is it limited to teachers. Among prison guards, army officers, college administrators, church deacons and vestrymen, policemen, parents, hospital nurses, and all other institutionalists, there are many persons whose feeling of security and certainty are rudely shaken by reforms or radical changes of procedure and aims.