How effective are working memory training interventions at improving maths in schools: a study into the efficacy of working memory training in children aged 9 and 10 in a junior school?

This study evaluates the validity of claims that Working Memory (WM) training is an effective and legitimate school-based maths intervention. By analysing the current developments in WM in the fields of neurology and cognitive psychology, this study seeks to analyse their relevance to the classroom. This study analyses memory profiles of children and maths performance previous to, and after a 3 week school-based, teacher led, intervention programme. Results indicate that although WM improved, it also improved for the control group, who did not undergo training. No significant far-transfer to maths results were demonstrated during the study.     

The relationship between term specificity in MeSH and online postings in MEDLINE

Hierarchically structured thesauri--including MeSH--were studied to test the assumption of an inverse relationship between term specificity and the number of postings in online databases. It was suggested that this assumption holds only for peripheral terms and that the opposite is true for the central terms of a discipline. The Environment tree structure of MeSH was used to test the "peripheral" hypothesis, which was supported at a .05 level of significance, but the scattergram on the Endocrine Diseases tree, which was run to test the "central" hypothesis, had an even better level, .02. The commonly held belief that specific terms are added to a thesaurus when more general ones get too many postings was also tested. The relationship between specificity and dates was supported in MeSH (.015). The corollary--that terms with later dates have fewer postings--was supported at a .001 level of significance. The results for MeSH were much more significant than for other hierarchically structured thesauri, which indicates that thesaurus development at NLM involves interaction with MEDLINE to preclude an excessive number of postings to any one term.     

社区教育的真谛

因为全球化、主权国家的弱化资金与劳动力的流动以及市场侵入我们的生活世界，我相信社区教育工作在今天的世界是首要的。市民社会在民主社会中一直是很重要的，因为市民需要积极参与影响他们生活品质的决策。今天我想谈的是强有力的市民社区的重要性，以及社会运动及市民行动在促进一个更民主的社会所扮演的角色，我也会谈到为何共同学习的观念在培养一般人成为知识创造者———我称之为有社会实践力的知识分子（organicintellectual）———的过程中日益重要。更重要的是我要强调作为成人教育者，我们的角色是什么，当我们说服务“社区”…     

What a Scientist Looks Like: How Community Colleges Can Utilize and Enhance Science Identity Development as a Means to Improve Success for Women of Color

ABSTRACT

This article explores the application of science identity development theory for women of color interested in the science disciplines; and it advocates for taking an intersectional approach to understanding how women of color form science identities. The article also challenges community college administrators and scholars to focus on redefining science identity development theory within the community college setting as a means to enhance success for women of color pursuing academic work in scientific disciplines.     

Investigating the validity of two widely used quantitative text tools

In recent years, readability formulas have gained new prominence as a basis for selecting texts for learning and assessment. Variables that quantitative tools count (e.g., word frequency, sentence length) provide valid measures of text complexity insofar as they accurately predict representative and high-quality criteria. The longstanding consensus of text researchers has been that such criteria will measure readers’ comprehension of sample texts. This study used Bormuth’s (1969) rigorously developed criterion measure to investigate two of today’s most widely used quantitative text tools—the Lexile Framework and the Flesch–Kincaid Grade-Level formula. Correlations between the two tools’ complexity scores and Bormuth’s measured difficulties of criterion passages were only moderately high in light of the literature and new high stakes uses for such tools. These correlations declined a small amount when passages from the University grade band of use were removed. The ability of these tools to predict measured text difficulties within any single grade band below University was low. Analyses showed that word complexity made a larger contribution relative to sentence complexity when each tool’s predictors were regressed on the Bormuth criterion rather than their original criteria. When the criterion was texts’ grade band of use instead of mean cloze scores, neither tool classified texts well and errors disproportionally placed texts from higher grade bands into lower ones. Results suggest these two text tools may lack adequate validity for their current uses in educational settings.     

Biotechnology awareness study, Part 2: Meeting the information needs of biotechnologists

The second part of the biotechnology awareness study focused on health sciences libraries and how well they are meeting the needs of biotechnologists working in the study's nine medical centers. A survey was conducted over a three-month period to assess the demand for biotechnology-related reference services at nine libraries and the sources the librarians used to answer the questions. Data on monographic and current serial holdings were also collected. At the end of the survey period, librarians were asked for their perceptions about biotechnology research at their institutions and in their geographic areas. Their responses were compared to the responses the scientists at the nine schools gave to the same or similar questions. Results showed few biotechnology-related reference questions were asked of the librarians. The recorded questions dealt with a range of biotechnology subjects. MEDLINE was used to answer 77% of the questions received during the survey period. More detailed notes in MeSH and a guide to online searching for biotechnology topics were suggested by the librarians as ways to improve reference service to this group of researchers. Journal collections were generally strong, with libraries owning from 50% to 87% of the titles on a core list of biotechnology journals compiled for this study. All libraries subscribed to the five titles most often cited by the scientists surveyed. Generally, librarians were unaware of the biotechnology-related research being done on their campuses or in their geographic areas.     

Breaking It Down: A Brief Exploration of Institutional Repository Submission Agreements

Institutional repositories typically have a submission agreement that is meant to protect the institution hosting the repository and inform submitters of their rights and responsibilities. This article examines how various libraries have created submission agreements, enquires as to issues surrounding them, and identifies commonalities and unique statements. The authors deployed a survey to institutional repository administrators listed in OpenDOAR in the United States. Approximately 7% of the 304 potential institutional repository managers responded. Library administrators, institutional repositories managers/architects, and legal counsel were the most likely to have input into the creation of the submission agreement; scholarly communications librarians were involved only 20% of the time. Although submission agreements averaged 282 words arranged in 9 sentences, their reading complexity requires a university degree. Commonalities include characterizing the agreement as a non-exclusive license, indicating the submitter's responsibility for obtaining permissions for any content that they did not produce, and confirming the right of the submitter to enter into the agreement. Submission agreements are generally complex and do not accommodate the common practice of mediated submission. Sharing submission agreements publicly may lead to simplified and standardized language and reduce barriers to submitters.