An analysis of high impact scholarship and publication trends in blended learning

Blended learning is a diverse and expanding area of design and inquiry that combines face-to-face and online modalities. As blended learning research matures, numerous voices enter the conversation. This study begins the search for the center of this emerging area of study by finding the most cited scholarship on blended learning. Using Harzing’s Publish or Perish software (http://www.harzing.com/pop.htm), we determined the most frequently cited books, book chapters, and articles on the subject of blended learning, as well as the journals in which these highly cited articles appeared. Through these findings we offer some conclusions about where the conversations about blended learning are happening, which scholars are at the forefront of these conversations, and other emerging trends in blended learning scholarship.     

Development of the Overarm Throw: Movement and Ball Velocity Changes by Seventh Grade

Abstract

Children studied longitudinally from kindergarten through second grade were refilmed in seventh grade as they performed 10 trials of the forceful overarm throw. The horizontal ball velocities of the 22 boys and the 17 girls were compared with predictions made when the children were in second grade. The original estimate of an annual rate of change (a “developmental year”) of 5–8 feet/sec/year (1.52–2.44m) remained accurate for the boys; the original estimate for the girls had to be increased to 2–4.5 feet/sec/year (.61–1.37m). While the gap between the sexes increased throughout elementary school, it increased at a slower rate from second to seventh grade than it had during the primary years. By seventh grade, however, the girls were 5 developmental years behind the boys. The data also suggested a difference in the degree to which the sexes maintained their relative positions within their groups: girls appeared more stable than boys across the elementary years. Change was also assessed in the developmental levels exhibited by the children as they threw. The girls' rate of development was 5–6 years behind the boys' rate. Few boys, however, had reached an advanced level in all movement components by seventh grade. Self-reports suggested that the boys had participated in more overarm throwing than had the girls.     

Students’ Expectations of Teaching in Undergraduate Physics

This article reports on a phenomenographic‐based study of the expectations of teaching among undergraduate physics students. Data are drawn from a range of course‐contexts at each of two quite different universities — one South African and one Swedish — and five qualitatively different expectations of physics teaching are identified and exemplified. These range from presenting knowledge to facilitating personal development and agency. Implications of possible mismatches between students’ and lecturers’ expectations of physics teaching are discussed in relation to students’ learning experiences.     

Outcome evaluation of a community center-based program for mothers at high psychosocial risk

OBJECTIVE: This study reported the outcome evaluation of the "Apoyo Personal y Familiar" (APF) program for poorly-educated mothers from multi-problem families, showing inadequate behavior with their children. APF is a community-based multi-site program delivered through weekly group meetings in municipal resource centers. METHOD: A total of 340 mothers referred by the municipal social services of Tenerife, Spain were assessed; 185 mothers participated in the APF program that lasted 8 months, and 155 mothers were in the control group. Pre-post test comparisons for the intervention group and post-test comparisons with the control group on self-rating measures of maternal beliefs, personal agency and child-rearing practices were performed. Multivariate tests, t tests and effect sizes (ES) were calculated to determine the program effectiveness on the outcome measures. RESULTS: Mothers' support of nurturist and nativist beliefs and the reported use of Neglect-permissive and Coercive practices significantly decreased after program completion whereas the reported use of Inductive practices significantly increased. Increases in self-efficacy, internal control and role difficulty were also significant in relation to those of the control group. The program was especially effective for older mothers, with fewer children, living in a two-parent family, in urban areas and with either low or medium educational levels. CONCLUSION: The program was very effective in changing the mothers' perceived competences and modestly effective in changing their beliefs about child development and education and reported child-rearing practices. Changes in personal agency are very important for at-risk parents who feel helpless and with no control over their lives.     

Development of Motor Patterns in Young Children

A predominant area of instruction in school physical education programs is game play. Effective decision making is important to the successful execution of skills. Unfortunately, the task of teaching effective decision making in varying game situations is not easy. The demands of the game require far more than simply physical skillfulness. Game play is interwoven with numerous decision-making opportunities for the participant. Successful game players must make these decisions in an effective and timely manner. The purpose of this article is to compare two models of game instruction: the technique model and the “games for understanding” model. This analysis indicates that the games for understanding model provides a more viable way of teaching strategic decision making for game players. Included will be discussions on the various theories that contrast the two approaches. A final section provides suggestions for future research into the validity of the “games for understanding model.”     

Digital Art Making as a Representational Process

In this article I bring artistic production into the learning sciences conversation by using the production of representations as a bridging concept between art making and the new literacies. Through case studies with 4 youth media arts organizations across the United States I ask how organizations structure the process of producing autobiographical digital art through a focus on representational tasks and how learning can be traced by examining youth artists' representations over time. Using a distributed cognition framework I analyze data on the process of making digital art in terms of the macro and micro tasks performed in order to identify occasions for external representation construction and use across organizations. I then examine how individual youth engage in these macro and micro tasks by producing representations that demonstrate their understanding. These analyses show that youth media arts organization production processes engage young artists in a representational trajectory that begins with developing a story about the self, moves toward a focus on how the tools of the medium afford representation of that story, and culminates in digital representations that reflect an understanding of the relationship between story and tools.     

The learners’ experience of variation: following students’ threads of learning physics in computer simulation sessions

This article attempts to describe students’ process of learning physics using the notion of experiencing variation as the basic mechanism for learning, and thus explores what variation, with respect to a particular object of learning, that students experience in their process of constituting understanding. Theoretically, the analysis relies on analytic tools from the phenomenographic research tradition, and the recent group of studies colloquially known as the variation theory of learning, having the notion of experiencing variation as a key for learning at its core. Empirically, the study relies on video and audio recordings of seven pairs of students interacting in a computer-simulation learning environment featuring Bohr’s model of the atom. The data was analysed on a micro-level for the emergence of student-recognised variation, depicted in terms of ‘threads of learning’. This was done by linking variation around aspects of the object of learning present in the situation, and attended to by the students, to new ways of seeing—characterised as an expanding anatomy of awareness, and hence as learning. The students’ threads of learning are characterised in terms of two stages of learning progress: (1) discerning variation, and (2) constituting meaning from this experience of variation (experienced as holistically relevant in the students’ conceptual domain of physics and the Bohr model). Two groups of threads of learning were identified: one where the variation experienced by students was within an aspect of the object of learning, and one where variation was across several aspects.     

Developing cohesion and building positive relationships through storytelling in a culturally diverse New Zealand classroom

Educational research highlights the importance of positive teacher student relationships and recommends teachers adopt teaching strategies that are more culturally inclusive, and allow for reciprocal teaching and learning where student prior knowledge is legitimized. Participants in this study experienced such an approach. Through a storytelling process they fostered empathy, compassion, tolerance and respect for difference. This paper introduces four interrelated factors that enhanced participant understanding of themselves, others and cultural perspectives: developing the ways of working, establishing a caring supportive environment, privileging student voice through personal stories, and enhancing participant connectedness and relationship change. These results have potential relevance for teachers and teacher educators who face the challenge of catering for the learning needs of culturally diverse students in their classrooms.     

Equitable Written Assessments for English Language Learners: How Scaffolding Helps

This study investigated the effects of the use of scaffolds in written classroom assessments through the voices of both native English speakers and English language learners from two middle schools. Students responded to assessment tasks in writing, by speaking aloud using think aloud protocols, and by reflecting in a post-assessment interview. The classroom assessment tasks were designed to engage students in scientific sense making and multifaceted language use, as recommended by the Next Generation Science Standards. Data analyses showed that both groups benefitted from the use of scaffolds. The findings revealed specific ways that modifications were supportive in helping students to comprehend, visualize and organize thinking, and elicit responses. This study offers a model for both sensitizing teachers and strengthening their strategies for scaffolding assessments equitably.