Bit by bit or all at once? Splitting up the inquiry task to promote children's scientific reasoning

This study examined whether and why assigning children to a segmented inquiry task makes their investigations more productive. Sixty-one upper elementary-school pupils engaged in a simulation-based inquiry assignment either received a multivariable inquiry task (n = 21), a segmented version of this task that addressed the variables in successive order (n = 21), or could formulate a task themselves (n = 19). Results showed that children are naturally inclined to pose single-variable inquiry questions. Segmented tasks, in addition, invoked more systematic but equally comprehensive investigations than a single, unsegmented task. More systematic experimentation was associated with more valid inferences and beliefs. These findings demonstrate that dividing a multivariable inquiry task into a series of single-variable subtasks facilitates the control of variables rather than the control of the learning process, and promotes inference performance and conceptual understanding.     

ONLINE ASYNCHRONOUS COLLABORATION IN MATHEMATICS TEACHER EDUCATION AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF MATHEMATICAL KNOWLEDGE FOR TEACHING

In this article the authors describe their efforts to support teachers' development of deep, connected understandings of school mathematics and to find ways to make use of the teachers' learning as a context for subsequent mathematical and pedagogical development. The authors detail the evolution of their model for Online Asynchronous Collaboration (OAC), which is grounded in current research in mathematics teacher education and that takes advantage of the collaborative nature of the Internet and the permanent nature of the online interactions. They believe that OAC is a promising practice in teacher education and will discuss both the rationale for their design decisions and provide examples of teachers' activity within OAC.     

Hospital Implementation of Patient-Centered Communication with Aging Minority Populations

The composition and needs of culturally diverse older populations should encourage hospitals to address the conflicting demands for access and delivery of ethnically sensitive services. Health communication that is patient-centered and provides culturally and linguistically appropriate care has the potential to reduce racial and ethnic health disparities. In order for ethnogerontological patient care to be translated into the adoption of treatment plans and services that meet culturally unique needs, hospitals need to develop, implement, and promote a written strategic plan that outlines goals, policies, and operational plans. This proposal becomes part of the hospital's mission for providing high-quality care that is reflected in training for knowledge, skill, and attitude change to meet these goals.     

The Arts as a Venue for Developmental Science: Realizing a Latent Opportunity

Children in all cultures readily engage in artistic activities, yet the arts (dance, drama, drawing, and music) have traditionally been marginal topics in the discipline of developmental science. We argue that developmental psychologists cannot afford to ignore such naturalistic activities that involve so many basic phenomena—attention, engagement, motivation, emotion regulation, understanding of others, and so on. Despite historical issues with research methodologies and overdrawn conclusions, a current wave of methodologically rigorous studies shows the depth of arts learning, as well as how arts engagement can be harnessed for transfer to other skills. Here, we present 21 exemplary research case studies, covering an age range of 18 months to 17 years old and discuss how the arts are no more difficult to study than other real‐world developmental phenomena and deserve a thorough examination.