C2STEM: a System for Synergistic Learning of Physics and Computational Thinking

Journal of Science Education and Technology - Synergistic learning combining computational thinking (CT) and STEM has proven to be an effective method for advancing learning and understanding in a...     

Wie fach(un)abhängig ist bildungswissenschaftliches Wissen?

General pedagogical knowledge (GK) as part of teachers’ professional knowledge has been receiving increasing attention in empirical research. Current results are based on the assumption that GK is conceptualized and acquired during teacher education independent from the subjects being studied. Therefore, we examine whether GK can be measured comparably across subjects and whether differences exist among teachers from different subject specializations concerning their level of GK. Results from 2616 preservice teachers starting their induction phase indicate that knowledge can be invariantly measured across three subject groups, i.?e., science, languages/humanities and a combination of these subjects. However, teachers vary systematically depending on their subject specializations (controlling for gender, language, grade point average, and school track). Science teachers achieve higher test scores for diagnostic/evaluation and lower scores in fields more removed from direct instruction (e.?g., theory of education). There are no differences concerning knowledge directly related to instruction (e.?g., learning/development). Results are discussed with reference to subject-related factors of socialisation, selection and development in the profession.     

The Role of a Caring-Based Intervention in a Physical Activity Setting

This preliminary study examined the effect of a caring-based versus a traditionally-focused physical activity intervention on underserved adolescents’ perceptions of the caring climate, the motivational climate, empathetic concern, enjoyment, and future anticipated participation. Multiethnic youth (N = 353) aged 9 to 17 involved in two National Youth Sports Program (NYSP) sites participated in the study. The Caring Group (n = 90) participated in a program infused with themes of caring while the Traditional Group (n = 263) followed prototypical NYSP training, practices, and procedures. Self report assessments were gathered after 5 weeks in either setting. After accounting for demographic differences findings revealed that the Caring Group perceived significantly higher levels of a caring climate, empathetic concern, future expected participation, and lower levels of perceptions of an ego-involving motivational climate. The relevance of these findings with respect to the optimal development of youth is discussed. Dr. Maria Newton is a faculty member in the Department of Exercise and Sport Science at the University of Utah. She is interested in optimizing the impact of physical activity on the psychosocial and social-emotional development of underserved youth. She teaches courses in sport psychology, motivation, and character development. Dr. Doris Watson is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sports Education Leadership at the University of Nevada Las Vegas. Dr. Lori Gano-Overway is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Health and Exercise Science at Bridgewater College. Dr. May Fry is affiliated with Department of Health, Sport and Exercise Sciences, The University of Kansas, Lawrence. Dr. Mi-Sook Kim is an Associate Professor in the Department of Kinesiology at San Francisco State University and Dr. Michelle Magyar is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Kinesiology at CSU-Long Beach. Bio and teaching/research interests available upon request.     

Children's Transition Into Full-Time Schooling: Black/White Comparisons

The transition from “home child” to “school child” is an important social milestone and encompasses a life period that has not received as much attention as it may deserve. Poor black children, who are those with the most social interaction disabilities, seem particularly vulnerable in the early part of this transition. A further complication is that “summer learning” helps mainly well-off children, and blacks in the population-at-large are less likely to be well off than whites. Although schools do seem to be making up for the dearth of academic socialization resources in many young children's households, and in this sense are most beneficial for those who need them most, more work is needed on why schools are not filling the bill as well for the neediest blacks as they are for the neediest whites.     

Educating and Measuring Choice: A Test of the Transfer of Design Thinking in Problem Solving and Learning

Educators aim to equip students with learning strategies they can apply when approaching new problems on their own. Teaching design-thinking strategies may support this goal. A first test would show that the strategies are good for learning and that students spontaneously transfer them beyond classroom instruction. To examine this, we introduce choice-based assessments (CBAs). CBAs measure how people learn when there is minimal guidance and they must make decisions as independent learners. Here, sixth-grade students completed multiple design activities that emphasized either seeking constructive criticism or exploring a space of alternatives. Afterward, they completed the CBAs, which measured strategy transfer. Results showed that lower-achieving students benefitted most from instruction, exhibiting a relative increase in their use of design-thinking strategies. In addition, strategy choices correlated with prior achievement measures and appeared to mediate performance in and learning from the CBAs. The choices to use the two strategies themselves were not correlated, which indicates that they are not subsets of a larger construct, such as growth mindset. In sum, CBAs enabled a double demonstration: design-thinking strategies may improve learning and problem solving, and design-thinking instruction may improve the likelihood of lower-achieving students choosing to use effective strategies in novel settings that require new learning.     

The psychometric properties of the Trauma Symptom Checklist For Children (TSCC) in a sample of Swedish children

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the psychometric properties of the Swedish version of the Trauma Symptom Checklist for Children (TSCC) and to study traumatic symptoms in a normative group of Swedish children and adolescents. METHOD: A normative group of 728 children and adolescents age 10-17 and a clinical group of 91 children and adolescents known to have experienced sexual abuse participated in the study. A test-retest procedure was conducted with 79 participants from the normative group. RESULTS: Good reliability such as internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha) for the total scale .94 (ranging in the clinical scales .78-.83) and test-retest for the total scale r=.81 (ranging in the clinical scales .67-.81) were found. The confirmatory 6-factor analysis explained 50.7% of the variance. Other validity measures such as concurrent validity and criterion related validity were also shown to be satisfactory. The normative sample of Swedish children and adolescents showed lower means on the subscales than has been reported in previous studies from a number of other countries. CONCLUSION: The Swedish version of TSCC has been shown to be a screening instrument with satisfactory psychometric qualities that is capable to identify trauma symptoms among children and adolescents who have themselves self-reported experiencing trauma or for whom clinicians have identified traumatic experiences.     

The effects of learning style on grades of first-year college students

This study compared the grade point averages of 796 first-year students in five institutions of higher education in a southern state with learning typologies set forth in theLearning Styles Inventory by Canfield. Results of the analysis of variance reflected an effect of learning style, sex, and race. Grades of students with social, conceptual, and social/applied styles differed significantly from those of students having the neutral preference. Whites tended to have better grades than blacks had. Females learned best with social and independent/applied styles; however, males learned best with social/applied and social/conceptual styles. Although there were no race differences in the proportions of students in the various learning styles, there were sex differences. Except for mathematics, the effect of major on the association of sex and learning style was moderate to none. Findings from the study suggest a need for administrative and instructional changes.     

First-Grade Classroom Behavior: Its Short- and Long-Term Consequences for School Performance

Effects of children's classroom behavior on school performance over a 4-year period are examined for a large, representative panel of beginning first graders. Scales developed from homeroom teachers' ratings of children in the spring of their first, second, and fourth years of school are used to predict spring marks in reading and math and spring scores on verbal and quantitative subtests from the CAT battery. The teachers' ratings cluster in three domains: Interest-Participation (I-P), Cooperation-Compliance (C-C), and Attention Span–Restlessness (A-R). The I-P and A-R ratings, but not C-C ratings, affect test score gains in first grade and marks in all 3 years. Behavior ratings from Year I also affect Year 2 and Year 4 performance, with indications that effects are understated over single-year periods. The importance of assessing classroom behavior in a longitudinal framework that allows for lagged and cumulative effects is discussed.     

Comparability of Data Gathered from Evaluation Questionnaires on Paper and Through the Internet

Collecting feedback from students through course, program and other evaluation questionnaires has become a costly and time consuming process for most colleges. Converting to data collection through the internet, rather than completion on paper, can result in a cheaper and more efficient process. This article examines several research questions which need to be answered to establish that results collected by the two modes of administration are equivalent. Data were gathered for a program evaluation questionnaire from undergraduate students at a university in Hong Kong. Students were able to choose between completion on paper or through the internet. In six of the seven Faculties the number of responses through each mode was roughly the same. Students in the Engineering Faculty favored the internet. Scores on the 14 out of 18 scales in the instrument showed small differences by mode of response, which became smaller still with controls for pertinent demographic variables. The main response question addressed in the study was whether there was any difference in the way respondents to the two modes interpreted the questions. The study demonstrated the equivalence of the two data sets by showing that both could be fitted to a common model with structural equation modeling (SEM). Five levels of tests of invariance further confirmed the comparability of data by mode of administration. This study, therefore suggests that changing to internet collection for course and program evaluations will not affect the comparability of ratings.     

Written narratives of normal and learning disabled children

Writing samples of children in grades one through three were collected in two midwestern elementary schools using the Picture Story Language Test. Each story was scored for productivity, syntax, and level of abstraction. Results indicated that performance in all aspects of written language improved with age. A second study was conducted to compare the writing of normal children who were average readers in grades one through three with learning disabled children who were reading at comparable levels. The results indicated no significant differences in productivity but there were differences in syntax. Problems were noted particularly in morphology. Further observations indicated the learning disabled poor readers also had more problems with handwriting and spelling than average readers.