Revisiting “power in the classroom”: exploring online learning and motivation to study course content

Online learning is growing in popularity among students (Allen &; Seaman, 2015 Allen, I. E., &; Seaman, J. (2015). Grade level: Tracking online education in the United States. Newburyport, MA: Sloan Consortium. [Google Scholar]. Grade level: Tracking online education in the United States. Newburyport, MA: Sloan Consortium), and online course opportunities seem to be increasing. Thus, it is important to examine classroom management behaviors such as power and its impact on motivation to study and student learning outcomes. The purpose of this study is to partially replicate Richmond’s (1990) work in the online learning context. Based on the findings, practical implications are presented for online instructors.     

Transitions to school-college partnership: a phenomenological inquiry

This study took place during the first 2 years of a partnership between three cooperating elementary schools and a college of education. The purpose of the interpretive phenomenological study was to learn from cooperating teachers, student-teachers and college instructors about the transitions that accompanied the change in the culture of schooling they experienced through the newly established partnership, and to attempt to understand their experiences through their explanations of the transitions they identified. On the basis of the data analysis, we identified seven transitions experienced by the participants: From discrete processes to parallel, open processes. From individual work to collaboration. From seeing the other as an object to seeing the other as a critical friend. From leading to responding. From the conception of knowledge as an object to the conception of knowledge as a process. From viewing learning as a linear process to viewing it as a spiral process. From viewing their work environment as a closed system to viewing it as an open system. In this paper, we describe and provide examples of each of these transitions and show how they are interrelated and how each one is both a cause and an effect of the others. These findings increased our knowledge about how the school and college altered each others consciousness.     

Realizing critical business information literacy: Opportunities,definitions, and best practices

What does it mean to be an ethical businessperson, and how does an ethical businessperson create, locate, organize, and evaluate business information? Critical business information literacy (CBIL) is the application of social justice to business information literacy. This article seeks to define, discuss, and realize CBIL by tracing the literatures of critical librarianship, critical management, and corporate social responsibility. To establish best practices, the authors drew upon applications of CBIL at four institutions of different size, geography, and scale. The intent is to provide spaces and foundations for further CBIL application and discussion.     

The effectiveness of a high-intensity games intervention on improving indices of health in young children

This study assessed the effectiveness of a 6-week, high-intensity, games-based intervention on physiological and anthropometric indices of health, in normal weight (n = 26; 32.5 ± 8.9 kg) and obese (n = 29; 49.3 ± 8.9 kg) children (n = 32 boys, 23 girls), aged 8–10 years. Children were randomised into an exercise or control group. The exercise group participated in a twice-weekly, 40 min active games intervention, alongside their usual school physical education classes. The control group did not take part in the intervention. Before and after the intervention, participants completed both a maximal and submaximal graded exercise test. The submaximal exercise test comprised of a 6 min, moderate- and 6 min heavy-intensity bout, interspersed with a 5 min recovery. The exercise group demonstrated improvements in maximal oxygen uptake (51.4 ± 8.5 vs 54.3 ± 9.6 ml · kg^?1 · min^?1) and peak running speed (11.3 ± 1.6 vs 11.9 ± 1.6 km · h^?1), and a reduction in the oxygen cost of submaximal exercise between assessments (P < .05). A decrease in waist circumference and increase in muscle mass were observed between assessments for the obese participants randomised to the intervention (both P < .05). This study demonstrates that a short-term, high-intensity games intervention may elicit positive changes in physiological and anthropometric indices of health in normal weight and obese children.     

Undergraduate students' experiences of using information at the career fair: A phenomenographic study conducted by the libraries and career center

Information literacy is vital to students seeking employment following their undergraduate education. Yet little is known about how students approach using information as part of their career search. This phenomenographic study examined how students experience using information as part of a career fair, or on-campus job expo. Researchers interviewed undergraduate students after a major campus career fair. The findings suggest that students may experience using information in a career fair context as: 1) navigators completing a series of steps, 2) performers seeking to connect with the right person, or 3) aligners determining if a company is a match for them.     

Sensitivity to linguistic stress,phonological awareness and early reading ability in preschoolers

Recent research has found that sensitivity to linguistic stress is related to phonological awareness and reading development. This study investigated the roles of two types of linguistic stress sensitivity (lexical and metrical stress) in the phonological awareness and reading development of young children. Forty‐five kindergarten children were tested on a battery of tasks that examined linguistic stress sensitivity and early reading ability. Results indicated that lexical stress, but not metrical stress sensitivity, is significantly related to phonological awareness and early reading ability. However, lexical stress is not able to predict unique variance in early reading ability once phonological awareness is controlled for. The relationships of both lexical and metrical stress sensitivity with phonological awareness and early reading development are discussed.     

Young Children From Three Diverse Cultures Spontaneously and Consistently Prepare for Alternative Future Possibilities

This study examined future-oriented behavior in children (3–6 years; N = 193) from three diverse societies—one industrialized Western city and two small, geographically isolated communities. Children had the opportunity to prepare for two alternative versions of an immediate future event over six trials. Some 3-year-olds from all cultures demonstrated competence, and a majority of the oldest children from each culture prepared for both future possibilities on every trial. Although there were some cultural differences in the youngest age groups that approached ceiling performance, the overall results indicate that children across these communities become able to prepare for alternative futures during early childhood. This acquisition period is therefore not contingent on Western upbringing, and may instead indicate normal cognitive maturation.     

Tutor-student interaction in undergraduate chemistry: a case of learning to make relevant distinctions of molecular structures for determining oxidation states of atoms

ABSTRACT

In this study, we explore the issues and challenges involved in supporting students’ learning to discern relevant and critical aspects of determining oxidation states of atoms in complex molecules. We present a detailed case of an interaction between three students and a tutor during a problem-solving class, using the analytical tool of practical epistemology analysis (PEA). The results show that the ability to make relevant distinctions between the different parts of a molecule for solving the problem, even with the guidance of the tutor, seemed to be challenging for students. These shifts were connected to both purposes that were specific for solving the problem at hand, and additional purposes for general learning of the subject matter, in this case how to assign oxidation states in molecules. The students sometimes could not follow the additional purposes introduced by the tutor, which made the related distinctions more confusing. Our results indicate that in order to provide adequate support and guidance for students the tutor needs to consider how to sequence, move between, and productively connect the different purposes introduced in a tutor-student interaction. One way of doing that is by first pursuing the purposes for solving the problem and then successively introduce additional, more general purposes for developing students’ learning of the subject matter studied. Further recommendations drawn from this study are discussed as well.     

Im perfect tools for a difficult job: colposcopy, 'colpocytology' and screening for cervical cancer in Brazil

The quasi-totality of social scientists who studied screening for cervical tumours identified such screening with a single method: the Pap smear (exfoliative cytology). This article explains that this method was not valid everywhere. The history of screening for cervical cancer in Brazil displays an alternative method for detecting cervical malignancies: a direct observation of the cervix with a specific instrument--the colposcope. The development of this method in Brazil in the 1940s and 1950s reflected a complex mixture of professional interests, government policies, and regional, local and charitable initiatives. While the use of colposcopy for cervical tumour screening was phased out in the 1970s and 1980s, the long lifespan and widespread diffusion of this method illuminates the irreducible contingency of specific developments in science, technology and medicine. Seen from the vantage point of Brazil, the Western model for preventing cervical malignancies no longer appears self-evident Alternative choices might have led to the development of different material and visual cultures of medicine, stimulated different patterns of medical specialization and division of medical labour, produced different links between malignancies, women, gynaecologists, epidemiologists and public health experts, and shaped different health policies.