Water Quality Statistics

Water quality experiments, especially the use of macroinvertebrates as indicators of water quality, offer an ideal context for connecting statistics and science. In the STAR program for secondary students and teachers, water quality experiments were also used as a context for teaching statistics. In this article, we trace one activity that uses virtual streams and repeated sampling to develop the notion of a hypothesis test for one proportion.     

Formative peer assessment in a CSCL environment: a case study

In this case study our aim was to gain more insight in the possibilities of qualitative formative peer assessment in a computer supported collaborative learning (CSCL) environment. An approach was chosen in which peer assessment was operationalized in assessment assignments and assessment tools that were embedded in the course material. The course concerned a higher education case‐based virtual seminar, in which students were asked to conduct research and write a report in small multidisciplinary teams. The assessment assignments contained the discussion of assessment criteria, the assessment of a group report of a fellow group and writing an assessment report. A list of feedback rules was one of the assessment tools. A qualitative oriented study was conducted, focusing on the attitude of students towards peer assessment and practical use of peer assessment assignments and tools. Results showed that students’ attitude towards peer assessment was positive and that assessment assignments had added value. However, not all students fulfilled all assessment assignments. Recommendations for implementation of peer assessment in CSCL environments as well as suggestions for future research are discussed.     

Negotiating meanings and scaffolding learning: writing support for non‐English speaking background postgraduate students

Language and learning advisers and non‐English speaking background (NESB) postgraduate students negotiate complex territory when working together to improve students’ texts. However, the individual writing consultation is sometimes conceptualised one‐dimensionally by faculty as a form of editing. The writing consultation with NESB postgraduate students has also received only sporadic attention in the higher education literature. This paper provides a contextual, discourse analytical account of one writing consultation between a faculty‐based language adviser and a Master of Public Health NESB student. The findings show that the consultation was a dynamic exchange druing which a range of meanings were negotiated. The findings also show that the adviser scaffolded the student’s academic writing and learning in a number of ways. More research is needed in different teaching contexts and at various stages of students’ writing in order to provide a greater understanding of the writing support consultation to inform guidelines for providing individual language support to NESB postgraduate students.     

The use of touch devices for enhancing academic achievement: A meta‐analysis

Touch devices such as tablets and smartphones are widely adopted in educational settings and have many desirable features. However, research supporting the use of touch devices to improve academic achievement is emergent and has not been evaluated through a meta‐analysis. We conducted a meta‐analysis of 65 group and single case design research studies, published 2010–2018, to evaluate the effects of touch device implementation on academic achievement. The overall mean effect sizes were moderate for group design and single case design studies. Participant, intervention, and study attributes were also evaluated to describe the research and how these attributes may moderate the results. Overall, results suggest that touch devices may be an effective tool for enhancing academic achievement. The need to conduct additional, rigorous research on the use of touch devices as well as implications for researchers and practitioners are discussed.     

Text genre as a factor in the formation of scientific literacy

Learning using primary literature may be a way of developing a capacity for scientific ways of thinking among students. Since reading research articles is a difficult task for novices, we examined the possible benefits of learning using primary literature versus secondary literature, particularly with respect to their influence on the creation and formation of scientific literacy. We report on a comparison between four groups of high school students, each with differing degrees of prior knowledge in biology, who read a domain‐related text written in either the scientific research article genre (adapted primary literature) or the popular‐scientific genre (secondary literature). Although there was no significant difference in the students' ability to summarize the main ideas of each text, indicating that there was no eminent distinction in their content, we found that students who read adapted primary literature demonstrated better inquiry skills, whereas secondary literature readers comprehended the text better and demonstrated less negative attitudes toward the reading task. Since the scientific content of the two texts was essentially identical, we suggest that the differences in students' performances stem from the structure of the text, dictated by its genre. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 42: 403–428, 2005     

Implementing a school‐based health center: The Winston‐Salem/Forsyth County experience

This article traces the inception and implementation of school‐based health centers in the Winston‐Salem/Forsyth County (NC) school system. The challenges that arose during implementation are discussed, along with the opportunities that SBHCs provide to enhance the provision of comprehensive services for children. The involvement of the several school psychologists in the initial planning, organization and implementation of these centers is delineated as an example for other school psychologists who are interested in working with school‐based health centers. School‐based health centers represent an opportunity for school psychologists to assume a leadership role in the delivery of enhanced health and mental health services for children and families. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 40: 289–296, 2003.     

A Four Year Follow‐up Study of Low Socioeconomic Status,Latin American Children with Reading Difficulties

This paper presents the results of a follow‐up study of reading difficulties among Spanish‐speaking Latin American children of low socioeconomic background (SES) over four school years. The research started with a group of 93 children with reading difficulties (RD) by 2nd and 3rd grade teachers in four schools and a control group of 63 children without reading difficulties (ND), belonging to the same schools. Both groups were equivalent in age, grade, gender and SES. All children were tested on reading decoding and comprehension, reading and writing pseudo‐words, verbal abilities, visual perception, phonological processing, and the WISC‐R. Neither SES nor IQ accounted significantly for the reading difficulties in the RD group. The most predictive variables of the final reading level in the RD group were phonological processing, verbal abilities, and the initial level of decoding. After four years, 17% of the initial RD children had reached an average level of reading, but 11% of this group remained with severe reading difficulties and may be considered as dyslexic children. The RD children who became average readers were not significantly different from the control group in verbal abilities, nor in phonological processing. Nevertheless, they were significantly different in terms of IQ scores. The neuropsychological characteristics of the children with severe reading difficulties appear similar to those found in children with dyslexia in more developed countries.     

Professional Development Schools: New Opportunities for Training School Counselors

The authors examine how counselor educators can become involved in professional development schools to create enhanced training opportunities for school counseling internship students. The benefits of collaboration between university and public school faculties are explored, and research opportunities are discussed. Counselor educators' expertise in research and program evaluation, combined with school counselors' pragmatic experience in dealing with real‐life issues, may promote best practices in the schools and improved training for school counselors and can set the stage for collaboration as an educational team at the preservice level.     

Breaking out,breaking through: accessing knowledge in a non‐western overseas educational setting—methodological issues for an outsider

This paper is concerned with processes of international enquiry. It focuses upon the relationship between a research problem and access to conduct research in a country. It uses data from an ethnographic study of primary education in a Northern Indian District. Conceptually drawing upon the insider‐outsider debate within the sociology of knowledge, the paper raises issues about the relationship between the research problem, accessing knowledge and being an outsider to a research setting. It considers problems facing a particular form of outsider—a foreigner. The paper maintains that when researchers who are outsiders embark on designing research in non‐western international educational settings, then questions considering the relationship between the research problem, access strategies and the culture of the research setting are vital. Grappling with such questions allows for the development and promotion of new forms of partnership, alongside a deeper understanding of culture and context, when developing comparative and international research policy agendas.