Running the STEM Gauntlet: The Complicity of Four-Year Universities in the Transfer Penalty

Research in Higher Education - Students who transfer between institutions of higher education often experience a transfer penalty or a decrease in the odds of degree completion. While...     

Skills for Life: insights from the new ‘professionals’

This article originates in a networking project that facilitated the coming together of a group of Skills for Life (SfL) teachers from different Further Education (FE) contexts across the West Midlands region of England. The original impetus was to explore and develop a model of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) that was shaped by the needs of SfL teachers. The project created a forum in which the participants were empowered to share their experiences outside their college settings. Through this discursive process a textured picture emerged of similar experiences and common concerns. The congruence of these experiences suggested that, in certain respects, there was a degree of commonality across the various FE institutions the participants were working in, at least in the way that SfL provision was taking place. Furthermore, the data yielded specific insights into the meaning of professionalism for SfL practitioners. Foremost amongst these findings was the sense that the participants felt marginalised and perceived their professional identity as situated on the bottom rung in a hierarchy of subject specialisms. Another important outcome that related to CPD was that through participation in the network project, these teachers reported feeling that despite the managerialised nature of their workplaces, their agency was re‐energised and their sense of themselves as teachers affirmed.     

The relationship between student engagement with online content and achievement in a blended learning anatomy course

Blended learning has become increasingly common in higher education. Recent findings suggest that blended learning achieves better student outcomes than traditional face‐to‐face teaching in gross anatomy courses. While face‐to‐face content is perceived as important to learning there is less evidence for the significance of online content in improving student outcomes. Students enrolled in a second‐year anatomy course from the physiotherapy (PT), exercise physiology (EP), and exercise science (ES) programs across two campuses were included (n = 500). A structural equation model was used to evaluate the relationship of prior student ability (represented by grade in prerequisite anatomy course) and final course grade and whether the relationship was mediated by program, campus or engagement with the online elements of the learning management system (LMS; proportion of documents and video segments viewed and number of interactions with discussion forums). PT students obtained higher grades and were more likely to engage with online course materials than EP and ES students. Prerequisite grade made a direct contribution to course final grade (P < 0.001) but was also mediated by engagement with LMS videos and discussion forums (P < 0.001). Student learning outcomes in a blended anatomy course can be predicted the by level of engagement with online content. Anat Sci Educ 11: 471–477. © 2017 American Association of Anatomists.     

Ethnic stigma, academic anxiety, and intrinsic motivation in middle childhood

Previous research addressing the dynamics of stigma and academics has focused on African American adolescents and adults. The present study examined stigma awareness, academic anxiety, and intrinsic motivation among 451 young (ages 6-11) and diverse (African American, Chinese, Dominican, Russian, and European American) students. Results indicated that ethnic-minority children reported higher stigma awareness than European American children. For all children, stigma awareness was associated with higher academic anxiety and lower intrinsic motivation. Despite these associations, ethnic-minority children reported higher levels of intrinsic motivation than their European American peers. A significant portion of the higher intrinsic motivation among Dominican students was associated with their higher levels of school belonging, suggesting that supportive school environments may be important sources of intrinsic motivation among some ethnic-minority children.     

Scientific Inquiry in Educational Multi-user Virtual Environments

In this paper, we present a review of research into the problems of implementing authentic scientific inquiry curricula in schools and the emerging use of educational Multi-User Virtual Environments (MUVEs) to support interactive scientific inquiry practices. Our analysis of existing literature in this growing area of study reveals three recurrent themes: (1) with careful design and inclusion of virtual inquiry tools, MUVE-based curricula can successfully support real-world inquiry practices based on authentic interactivity with simulated worlds and tools, (2) Educational MUVEs can support inquiry that is equally compelling for girls and boys, and (3) research on student engagement in MUVE-based curricula is uneven. Based on these themes, we suggest that future large-scale research should investigate (1) the extent to which MUVE-based inquiry learning can be a viable substitute for the activities involved in real-world inquiry; (2) the impact of MUVEs on learning and engagement for currently underserved students, and (3) the impact on engagement and learning of individual aspects of MUVE environments, particularly virtual experimentation tools designed to scaffold student inquiry processes and maintain engagement. Additionally, we note that two identified issues with integrating scientific inquiry into the classroom are currently not addressed by MUVE research. We urge researchers to investigate whether (1) MUVE-based curriculum can help teachers meet state and national standards with inquiry curricula; and (2) scientific inquiry curricula embedded in MUVE environments can help teachers learn how to integrate interactive scientific inquiry into their classroom. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0310188. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.     

Operation ARA: A computerized learning game that teaches critical thinking and scientific reasoning

Operation ARA (Acquiring Research Acumen) is a computerized learning game that teaches critical thinking and scientific reasoning. It is a valuable learning tool that utilizes principles from the science of learning and serious computer games. Students learn the skills of scientific reasoning by engaging in interactive dialogs with avatars. They are tutored by avatars with tutoring sessions that vary depending on how well students have responded to questions about the material they are learning. Students also play a jeopardy-like game against a feisty avatar to identify flaws in research and then generate their own questions to determine the quality of different types of research. The research examples are taken from psychology, biology, and chemistry to help students transfer the thinking skills across domains of knowledge. Early results show encouraging learning gains.     

DEVELOPMENTALLY APPROPRIATE PRACTICES IN TEACHER EDUCATION: LESSONS FROM ONE SEMESTER

Abstract

A major challenge for teacher preparation programs and future teachers is learning to work skillfully with the diversity of children in American classrooms. This paper describes a tool developed to address this challenge: the Learning and Teaching Assessment System (LTAS). The LTAS is a performance‐based, curriculum‐embedded assessment tool designed to uncover young children's strengths in different curricular areas as well as their approaches to learning. Developed for use with children 3–8 years of age, the LTAS helps teachers understand what children know in relation to key concepts in the different disciplines as well as how they learn in order to further their learning in subsequent days and weeks of teaching. The development of the LTAS is based primarily on two theoretical frameworks: Leont'ev's activity theory and Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences. To examine the efficacy of the LTAS in its proposed objectives, a pilot study was conducted; results point to the potential of the LTAS for helping student teachers uncover new information about children to guide future instruction.     

Playful Postmodernism: Building with Diversity in the Postmodern Classroom

The authors surveyed program directors at all bachelor of social work and master of social work programs accredited by the Council on Social Work Education using an online tool that assessed whether and how their respective social work programs are covering content related to HIV/AIDS. Of the 650 program directors, 153 (24%) participated in the survey. Programs reported coverage of HIV/AIDS content in various foundation content areas, including human behavior in the social environment, populations at risk, and social work practice. The authors also surveyed use of various pedagogical methods, and respondents reported the most use of guest speakers, lectures, and readings in delivering HIV/AIDS content. More than 70% of bachelor and master of social work programs reported having at least 1 field placement specific to HIV/AIDS. In addition, the authors evaluated social work textbooks for specific content on social work with HIV/AIDS, and recommendations are made for inclusion of more HIV/AIDS specific content.