Effects of conceptual systems and instructional methods on general chemistry laboratory achievement

Conceptual systems theory predicts four system orientations. System 1 individuals are highly concrete in their reasoning ability and beliefs. System 2 individuals are strongly negative toward authority and institutions and tend to be autonomous and rebellious. System 3 individuals are more abstract than System 1 or System 2 individuals and have strong need to maintain secure relationships. System 4 individuals have the most abstract, flexible, and open-minded orientation and have an analytical approach to problem solving. Conceptual systems orientations of subjects taking a general chemistry laboratory were determined using the “This I Believe” test. Subjects were classified into Systems 1, 2, 3, 4, or admixtures. Laboratory sections were assigned randomly to three instructional methods (traditional approach, learning cycle, computer simulation) for teaching a three-hour laboratory covering spectrophotometry principles. Factorial analysis of covariance indicated no significant conceptual system by instructional method interaction. The main effect for conceptual system was significant, and pairwise comparisons of adjusted mean posttest scores indicated that System 4 subjects as well as System 3 subjects scored significantly higher than System 1 subjects. There was no significant difference in scores between System 4 and System 3 individuals. Conceptual systems orientation is an attribute variable that may influence chemistry learning.     

Preschool Self-Regulation and Preacademic Skills as Mediators of the Long-Term Impacts of an Early Intervention

This study explores children's early academic and self-regulatory skills as potential pathways through which a preschool enrichment program—the Chicago School Readiness Project (CSRP)—may contribute to low-income children's long-term outcomes (N = 466; M_age at baseline = 4.10 years). We find that CSRP's impact on high school grades may be partially explained by early gains in vocabulary and math skills. Although impacts on high school executive function (EF) were more equivocal, our results suggest that early improvements in math skills attributable to the intervention may, in turn, predict long-term gains in EF skills. These results complement the existing literature on preschool fade out, while also shedding light on the cross-domain relations between academic and self-regulatory skills.     

Students' recognition of educational demands in the context of a socioscientific issues curriculum

Students' difficulties in interpreting what counts as knowledge have been addressed in past research on science education. The implementation of progressivist pedagogy in terms of more student-active classroom practice and the introduction of a variety of discourses into the science classroom deepens students' difficulties. The integration of different forms and demands of knowledge and discourses typified by Science-in-Context initiatives, such as within the socioscientific framework, exemplifies this development in science education. Here, the diffuse boundaries between school subjects and other silos of knowledge lead to considerable difficulties for students to interpret what is expected from them. Such contexts having diffuse boundaries between, for example, subject discourses and other forms of knowledge, have been describes as contexts with weak classification. The present study aims to explore students' interpretation of what knowledge or meaning they are requested to produce in contexts with weak classification, here exemplified within an SSI-task. We use Bernstein's concepts of recognition rules and classification to analyze how 15- to 16-year-old students develop their discussions in groups of 4–6 students. This study reports how students' recognition of the educational demands enabled integration of different discourses in their discussion, and that the use of both universalistic and particularistic meanings can produce new understandings. Students who had not acquired recognition rules were found to keep discourses apart, expressed either as rejection of the relevance of the task, answering questions as in a traditional school task, or just exchange of personal opinions. Furthermore, they included discourses irrelevant to the issue. An important outcome of the study was that socioscientific thinking was hampered when students kept universalistic and particularistic meanings apart. This hampering results from the inhibition of dynamic exploration during SSI discussions. The results provide new insights with relevance for teachers' guiding students toward a fruitful SSI-discourse.     

Recommendations for effective university study based on students’ point of view

This research examined what university students recommend for effective university study and whether their recommendations differ by gender, faculty or study programme degree. The research was based on 985 questionnaires. The following words were most commonly used in advice for freshmen: Go, Lectures, Learn, Continuously, Be, Prepare, Information, Have, Do, Materials. The fundamental advice seems to be: to go to lectures, to have needed materials and information and to learn and prepare continuously. Some stated recommendations react to the development of information and communication technologies and the massive usage of the Internet (such as obtaining a laptop and a cell phone or setting up a Facebook profile). Quite a lot of advice was connected with health, such as to sleep enough, to eat regularly, to not smoke, to relax and to restrict alcohol consumption. The recommendations gained in this survey were categorised by thematic similarities to characteristics, knowledge, skills, behaviour and background. The findings highlight the fact that given recommendations for effective study differ by the respondent’s gender and faculty. Women concentrated more on recommendations on how to behave and men mentioned more often what personality characteristics are important for effective university study. Students of the Faculty of Multimedia Communications highlighted the necessity of creativity and practical experience more often than others.     

Plants have a chance: outdoor educational programmes alter students' knowledge and attitudes towards plants

Outdoor educational programmes are generally believed to be a suitable alternative to conventional biology settings that improve participants' environmental attitudes and knowledge. Here we examine whether outdoor educational programmes focused solely on practical work with plants influence participants' knowledge of and attitudes towards plants. It was found that mean scores of participants' attitudes towards and knowledge of plants significantly increased after the outdoor programme. These effects remained significant even after three months' post‐testing. No similar patterns were found in the control group. Interestingly, the proportion of participants who liked biology as a school subject also significantly increased after the outdoor programme in the experimental group. Females showed better knowledge of plants than males, but attitudes towards plants were similar between genders. Having a garden at home was not associated with better knowledge or attitudes towards plants. Our results reveal that outdoor programmes significantly relieve ‘plant blindness’ and make biology more attractive to pupils.     

Challenging Stereotypes of Eating and Body Image Concerns Among College Students: Implications for Diagnosis and Treatment of Diverse Populations

The authors describe a study that was conducted to provide better understanding of eating and body image concerns among clients in university counseling centers. First, they explored the prevalence of such concerns among stereotype‐congruent (White, heterosexual, female) and stereotype‐incongruent groups (e.g., ethnic/sexual minorities, men). Then, because some groups may use compensatory behaviors not adequately captured by current definitions of eating disorders, they specifically examined body image disturbance among these groups.     

Collecting Multidimensional Client Data Using Repeated Measures: Experiences of Clients and Counselors Using the CCAPS‐34

Many college counseling centers do not collect client data at each session because of perceived burdens. This study explored 55 clients’ and 16 doctoral counselor trainees’ experiences collecting and using data on client distress at each session over the course of counseling at a large public university's counseling center. Results indicated that the majority of both clients and counselors found the process convenient and clinically useful. Findings, clinical implications, and future directions are discussed.     

Who teaches mathematics content courses for prospective elementary teachers in the United States? Results of a national survey

This article reports on a national survey of higher education institutions in the United States to answer the question, “Who teaches mathematics content courses for prospective elementary teachers, and what are these instructors’ academic and teaching backgrounds?” We surveyed 1,926 institutions, and a faculty member from each of 825 institutions (42.8?%) participated in the survey. The survey results demonstrate that the majority of institutions are not meeting the recommendations of the Conference Board of the Mathematical Sciences (The mathematical education of teachers. American Mathematical Society, Providence, RI, 2001), the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (Professional standards for teaching mathematics. National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, Reston, VA, 2005), and the National Council on Teacher Quality (Greenberg and Walsh 2008) for prospective elementary teachers to take at least nine credits of mathematics content designed specifically for them. Additionally, most instructors for these courses do not have elementary teaching experience and have likely not had opportunities to think deeply about the important ideas in elementary mathematics, and most institutions do not provide training and/or support for these instructors.     

The social competence of highly gifted math and science adolescents

Involving 740 highly gifted math and science students from two different countries, Korea and the United States, this study examined how these gifted adolescents perceived their interpersonal ability and peer relationships and whether there were differences between these two groups by demographic variables. Based on the survey data, results showed that our gifted students perceived their interpersonal ability and peer relationships at levels comparable to or higher than those of their non-gifted counterparts. They were satisfied and confident with their peer relationships and did not identify negative effects of being gifted when forming and maintaining friendships. Differences were found between Korean and American students by gender in their profiles of interpersonal ability and peer relationships. Positive self-portrayal of social competence found for our sample disputed previous studies suggesting that highly gifted students tend to struggle with social relationships. Given that each group of students had different educational, linguistic, and cultural backgrounds, the results should also be interpreted with caution.