The effects of virtual human gesture frequency and reduced video speed on satisfaction and learning outcomes

Educational technology research and development - Educators use various strategies to increase listening comprehension for nonnative English speakers in the classroom and multimedia environments....     

Investigating the impact of flexible furniture in the elementary classroom

Learning Environments Research - Educators are beginning to consider the physical learning environment as an additional resource in meeting learning outcomes in modern classrooms. In order to...     

Cultural Components of Sex Differences in Color Preference

Preferences for pink and blue were tested in children aged 4–11 years in three small-scale societies: Shipibo villages in the Peruvian Amazon, kastom villages in the highlands of Tanna Island, Vanuatu, and BaYaka foragers in the northern Republic of Congo; and compared to children from an Australian global city (total N = 232). No sex differences were found in preference for pink in any of the three societies not influenced by global culture (ds − 0.31–0.23), in contrast to a female preference for pink in the global city (d = 1.24). Results suggest that the pairing of female and pink is a cultural phenomenon and is not driven by an essential preference for pink in girls.     

The educational attainment and intergenerational mobility of black males: The 1970s and 1980s

The primary interest of this study is to discover the extent to which black males are gaining or losing ground educationally relative to other male populations. The findings of this study show that the relative difference in the percent of black and white males with a high school or associate's degree has converged considerably, but the relative gap between black and white males receiving a bachelor's, or graduate degree has remained constant. The data showed much upward and downward intergenerational educational mobility for black males. Finally the data showed that the educational attainment of black males was significantly associated with their age, their father's educational attainment level, and the size of the place in which they lived at age 16.     

Exploring employee perceptions of Six Sigma as a change management program in higher education

Change initiatives in higher education are frequently guided by an institutional change management program which provides employees with a framework and set of skills to better understand problems and facilitate change at the organisational level. In this paper, we explore employee perceptions of Six Sigma as a tool for facilitating change at one public institution of higher education in the southeast United States. Unlike previous research studies that focused on specific results of change initiatives using Six Sigma, our research team considered how individuals, trained in the implementation of Six Sigma techniques and strategies, viewed the potential of the Six Sigma model to enact and sustain change initiatives in a higher education setting. In this case study, we describe Six Sigma as a change management program in higher education based on Lewin’s Three-Phase Model of Change.     

On the many metaphors of learning … and their associated educational frames

Current landscapes of curriculum discourse and educational practice are examined by focusing on co-evolutions of metaphors for knowledge, learning and teaching across four prominent ‘frames’—namely, Standardized Education, Authentic Education, Democratic Citizenship Education and Systemic Sustainability Education. It is argued that these frames become compelling and resilient (or repulsive and nonsensical)—not because of what they explicitly assert, but because of the coherence of their implicit webs of vocabulary, metaphor, image and ideological association. While some of these frames/webs may be embraced as complementary, more often they are treated as conflicting or incoherent—in part, it would seem, because of tensions among their mainly implicit substrates of figurative association.     

Barriers and facilitators of physical education participation for students with disabilities: an exploratory study

The purpose of this study was to explore the barriers and facilitators to participation in physical education (PE) for students with disabilities (SWD) from the perspectives of in-service physical educators. A convenience sample of 168 physical educators (72% female, 94% Caucasian) from the United States completed a short questionnaire. After data collection was completed, data were compiled into a spreadsheet and the first and third authors independently open-coded the responses. Cohen’s κ was computed to determine the inter-rater agreement on the open-coding process of the teacher responses. In total, 741 facilitators and 652 barriers were identified, and the most commonly reported barriers and facilitators centered on either teacher- or program-related responses. Barrier and facilitator categories were positively correlated (φ?=?.42 and Cramer’s ν?=?.16, p?=?.00); however, neither years of teaching experiences (r_barriers?=?.01, p?=?.89; r_facilitators?=?.05, p?=?.45) nor frequency of teaching SWD (τ_barriers?=?.05, p?=?.49; τ_facilitators?=?.05, p?=?.47) was significantly associated with the number of barriers or facilitators reported. Unique to other research in this arena, teachers frequently reported that personal-related variables were also as barriers to PE participation.     

Non-crystalline materials

Non-crystalline materials have recently made an impact on solid state physics that threatens to relegate the role of the single crystal from its venerable position in this field to that of a particular, and not very common, example of condensed matter. The discovery that glasses need not necessarily be insulators, but can be semiconductors and even metals, has opened up a whole new field of fundamental investigation, in addition to promising a host of possible uses. In this article, some of the properties of non-crystalline materials will be described, with emphasis on current and potential applications.     

Human contact in the classroom: Exploring how teachers talk about and negotiate touching students

In a “risk society,” as defined by Beck [(1992). Risk society, towards a new modernity (M. Ritter, Trans.) Newbury Park, CA: Sage, see also Castel, R. (1991). From dangerousness to risk. In G. Burchell, C. Gordon & P. Miller (Eds.), The Foucault effect: Studies in governmentality (pp. 281–298). Chicago: The University of Chicago Press], teachers are risky individuals who, “must become permanent objects of their own suspicion” [Jones, A. (2003b). Touching children: Policy, social anxiety, and the ‘safe’ teacher. Journal of Curriculum Theorizing, 19(2), 112]. The purpose of this study was to explore how four experienced, female teachers for whom “touching” students is a natural component of their teaching, talked about how they made choices about when and how to engage in the risky behavior of touching children. Findings are organized along two axes. The first represents how participating teachers perceived contexts as facilitating or constraining human contact. The second illustrates what conversations about human contact revealed about participants’ teaching selves. This study contributes to the literature on teacher–student relationships as well as the literature on teachers’ decision-making. Implications for future research in teacher decision-making, teacher–student relationships, and teacher education are discussed.