Improving the Memory Sections of the Standardized Assessment of Concussion Using Item Analysis

The purpose of the study was to improve the immediate and delayed memory sections of the Standardized Assessment of Concussion (SAC) by identifying a list of more psychometrically sound items (words). A total of 200 participants with no history of concussion in the previous six months (aged 19.60 ± 2.20 years; N?=?93 men, N?=?107 women) volunteered to participate in this study. An observation research design was used. Participants were tested once with a verbal interview that took approximately five minutes to complete. Classic item analysis including three parts: (1) Item difficulty, (2) item discrimination, and (3) item determination was used to assess the psychometric properties of the new items on the alternative word list for the SAC test. Overall, 80.0% of the items in the immediate memory section were acceptable. In the delayed memory section, 90.0% of the items were acceptable. The mean total SAC scores were 17.96 ± 2.45 (of a possible 30). The majority of new items have acceptable psychometric properties that would improve the validity of baseline SAC score for the assessment of the effects from concussions.     

Game-based practice versus traditional practice in computer-based writing strategy training: effects on motivation and achievement

Achieving sustained student engagement with practice in computer-based writing strategy training can be a challenge. One potential solution is to foster engagement by embedding practice in educational games; yet there is currently little research comparing the effectiveness of game-based practice versus more traditional forms of practice. In this study, the ARCS model (Keller, Perform Instr 26(8):1–7, 1987b) was used to investigate the motivational characteristics of different practice conditions. To this end, 175 students were randomly assigned to one of four experimental conditions: game-based, question-based, model-based, and writing-based practice. All students first learned strategies to write an essay introduction. Subsequently, students practiced using the strategies in the four different conditions. Game-based practice was expected to positively affect ARCS-related motivation toward practice. Results showed that students perceived game-based practice as significantly more interesting and engaging than question-based practice. However, although game-based practice was perceived more positively, only model-based and question-based practice demonstrated a beneficial impact on students’ ability to implement the writing strategies. These results underline the necessity of interconnecting motivational and instructional design when developing practice methods for computer-based writing strategy training.     

‘We’re so lucky’: meeting challenges to deliver benefits to children in immigration detention

Under pressure from crowded immigration detention centres and an election commitment to remove children from detention, in 2010 the Australian government opened a low security immigration detention facility for families and children in the Adelaide Hills. Children from this alternative place of detention (APOD) attend nine local schools. However, many local residents feared their enrolment would create conflict, reduce educational outcomes for local students, and overburden teachers and school resources. To answer these concerns we conducted an ethnography of the schools and interviewed school teachers, principals, parents, the education managers in the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) and the Department of Education and Children’s Services (DECS). This paper reports our findings on the impacts of the new arrivals on school finances, teacher time and resources, the local children, and the broader Hills community. As did previous quantitative studies, we found no negative effects. Rather, the new arrivals created a newly enriched learning environment and social experiences. The schools also played an integral role in changing the initially hostile community attitudes towards asylum seekers. Our qualitative research approach allowed us to explore factors that created this outcome. We found that the absence of negative impacts was the result of the funding for specialised support staff, the social justice orientation of the school’s leaders and staff, and a school-wide commitment to values of inclusivity and diversity. This research provides further empirical evidence on the impacts of immigration on education, increases our understanding of the factors that mediate these impacts, and provides a useful case study for schools that teach asylum seeker children.     

Moral rationality and intuition: An exploration of relationships between the Defining Issues Test and the Moral Foundations Questionnaire

Explorations of relationships between Haidt’s Moral Foundations Questionnaire (MFQ) and indices of moral decision-making assessed by the Defining Issues Test have been limited to correlational analyses. This study used Harm, Fairness, Ingroup, Authority and Purity to predict overall moral judgment and individual Defining Issues Test-2 (DIT-2) schema scores using responses from 222 undergraduates. Relationships were not confirmed between the separate foundations and the DIT-2 indices. Using the MFQ moral judgment items only, confirmatory factor analyses confirmed higher order constructs called Individualizing and Binding foundations. Structural models using these higher order factors fitted the data well, and findings indicated that the Binding foundations significantly positively predicted Maintaining Norms and negatively predicted both overall moral judgment (N2) and the Postconventional Schema. Neither Individualizing nor Binding foundations significantly predicted Personal Interest. While moral judgments assessed by DIT-2 may not be evoking the MFQ foundations, findings here suggest the MFQ may not be a suitable measure for capturing more advanced moral functioning.     

A Person-Centered Approach to Child Temperament and Parenting

The aim of this study was to examine how variations in children's temperamental reactivity and mothers’ parenting stress relate to parenting behavior. A sample of 3,001 mother–child dyads was assessed when children were 14, 24, 36, and 54 months. Latent profile analysis identified a group of temperamentally “easy” children whose mothers experienced little parenting stress, along with two groups of highly reactive children differentiated by mothers’ stress levels. Maternal negative regard over time was highest in the group of reactive children with highly stressed mothers. Mothers in this group also perceived more child behavior problems and had less knowledge of child development. Results are discussed relative to Person × Environment interactions and the complex interplay between parent and child characteristics.     

Linking theoretical models to actual practices: A survey of teachers in gifted education

A regional survey of teachers of gifted and talented (G/T) programs, grades kindergarten through nine, in a southeastern state, was carried out. The principle foci of the survey were on theoretical models identified and used by teachers, and the importance of perceived outcome goals for children who are gifted. Respondents claimed awareness of several models of intervention but varied widely in the use of these models. Implications of the disparity between awareness and use of models are discussed. Outcome goals ranked by respondents varied in order, based on three grade level groupings of the teachers, most likely indicating changing perceptions of developmental needs as children progress through grade levels.     

Using the taxonomy of cognitive learning to model online searching

In this research, we investigated whether a learning process has unique information searching characteristics. The results of this research show that information searching is a learning process with unique searching characteristics specific to particular learning levels. In a laboratory experiment, we studied the searching characteristics of 72 participants engaged in 426 searching tasks. We classified the searching tasks according to Anderson and Krathwohl’s taxonomy of the cognitive learning domain. Research results indicate that applying and analyzing, the middle two of the six categories, generally take the most searching effort in terms of queries per session, topics searched per session, and total time searching. Interestingly, the lowest two learning categories, remembering and understanding, exhibit searching characteristics similar to the highest order learning categories of evaluating and creating. Our results suggest the view of Web searchers having simple information needs may be incorrect. Instead, we discovered that users applied simple searching expressions to support their higher-level information needs. It appears that searchers rely primarily on their internal knowledge for evaluating and creating information needs, using search primarily for fact checking and verification. Overall, results indicate that a learning theory may better describe the information searching process than more commonly used paradigms of decision making or problem solving. The learning style of the searcher does have some moderating effect on exhibited searching characteristics. The implication of this research is that rather than solely addressing a searcher’s expressed information need, searching systems can also address the underlying learning need of the user.