From divergent evolution to witting cross-fertilisation: the need for more awareness of potential inter-discursive communication regarding students' extended historical writing

History education stakeholders in England have consistently judged that some students find formal historical writing prohibitively difficult due to the demands of constructing an extended argument. While policy makers have agreed students need support in their historical writing, recurring themes in centralised resourcing have been wastage, incoordination and replication. Furthermore, two concurrent but largely disconnected discourses have developed and promulgated initiatives relevant to students’ extended historical writing: ‘genre theorists’ and the ‘history teachers’ extended writing movement’. Despite certain goals held in common participants in the two discourses have tended to talk past one another with concomitant issues in resourcing. Unsystematic, cross-fertilisation between the discourses has led to cycles of genre theory being collectively discovered, forgotten, and rediscovered by history teachers with knowledge not being built cumulatively. Furthermore both discourses have independently developed similar initiatives in a form of convergent evolution resulting in duplication of labour. Finally, divergent evolution has occurred where genre theorists have advocated approaches that are increasingly redundant for history teachers’ requirements. A more activist stance is therefore required to ensure meaningful inter-discursive communication between genre theorists and the history teachers’ ‘extended writing movement’ to ensure efficacy in developing approaches to improving students’ extended historical writing.     

Identifying Unobserved Hazard Functions in Discrete-Time Survival Mixture Analysis

This Monte Carlo simulation adds to the growing body of enumeration index performance research in continuous response variable mixture models by addressing the issue of the performance of these indexes in discrete-time survival mixture analysis (DTSMA) models. Results showed that although all enumeration indexes performed very well in identifying a homogeneous DTSMA model (i.e., k = 1 hazard function in the sample data), the findings also showed that the enumeration indexes performed poorly in identifying the correct number of unobserved hazard functions present in a heterogeneous (i.e., k = 3) DTSMA model. More important, the performance of the enumeration indexes for the heterogeneous DTSMA models did not improve as the sample size, the effect of time-invariant covariates, or adjacent hazard function separation distance increased, which is inconsistent with some previous Monte Carlo simulation results. The limitations of this Monte Carlo simulation study and future empirical investigation possibilities are both discussed.     

The effect of self-regulated learning strategies on performance in learner controlled computer-based instruction

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of self-regulated learning strategies (SRLS) on performance in a learner-controlled and a program-controlled computer-based instruction (CBI). SRLS was measured using a self-regulated learning strategies questionnaire. Seventh-grade subjects were divided into high and low levels of SRLS and then randomly assigned to one of two versions of a CBI lesson: one allowing learner control over the sequence and content of the instruction and the other having the learners follow a linear instructional sequence. Results revealed that the performance differences between learners with high SRLS and those with low SRLS were greater under learner control than under program control (p<.05). Poor performance by subjects with low SRLS under learner control indicates a strong need for learners to possess self-regulatory learning strategies to achieve success under learner control. Program control, however, seems to minimize the performance differences between low and high levels of SRLS.     

Socio-economic status,cultural diversity and the aspirations of secondary students in the Western Suburbs of Melbourne,Australia

Using data from a recent survey of Australian secondary students, we find that those from higher socio-economic backgrounds are more likely to aspire to attend university. The same can be said for students who do not speak English at home. We find that students with an ethnic minority background are more likely to perceive higher levels of support from parents. However, we find that all students believe they receive encouragement from their parents to do well at school (rather than discouragement or disinterest), and that there is little difference in the level of importance placed on the views of parents between students from English and non-English speaking background. While interest in university education is strong across all socio-economic groups, particularly for students who do not speak English at home, there is a considerable gap between aspirations and enrolment levels. We suggest that this ‘aspirations gap’ is larger for students from low socio-economic backgrounds. This analysis also supports growing evidence that the postcode methodology for allocating socio-economic status to individuals is unreliable.     

Is the diagnosis of physical abuse changed when Child Protective Services consults a Child Abuse Pediatrics subspecialty group as a second opinion?

ObjectivesTo characterize the changes regarding the diagnosis of physical abuse provided to Child Protective Services (CPS) when CPS asks a Child Abuse Pediatrics (CAP) specialty group for a second opinion and works in concert with that CAP group.MethodsSubjects were reported to CPS for suspected physical abuse and were first evaluated by a physician without specialized training in Child Abuse Pediatrics (non-CAP physician). Subjects were then referred to the area's only Child Abuse Pediatrics (CAP physician) group, located in a large metropolitan pediatrics center in the United States, for further evaluation. The diagnoses regarding abuse provided by CAP physicians working in concert with CPS were compared to those provided to CPS by other physicians.ResultsTwo hundred consecutive patients were included in the study. In 85 (42.5%) cases, non-CAP physicians did not provide a diagnosis regarding abuse, despite initiating the abuse report to CPS or being asked by CPS to evaluate the child for physical abuse. Of the remaining 115 cases, the diagnosis regarding abuse differed between non-CAP physicians and CAP physicians working in concert with CPS in 49 cases (42.6%; κ = .14; 95% CI, ?.02, .29). In 40 of the 49 cases (81.6%), CAP assessments indicated less concern for abuse when compared to non-CAP assessments. Differences in diagnosis were three times more likely in children from a nonurban location (OR 3.24; 95% CI, 1.01, 11.36).ConclusionsIn many cases of possible child physical abuse, non-CAP providers do not provide CPS with a diagnosis regarding abuse despite initiating the abuse investigation or being consulted by CPS for an abuse evaluation. CPS consultation with a CAP specialty group as a second opinion, along with continued information exchange and team collaboration, frequently results in a different diagnosis regarding abuse. Non-CAP providers may not have time, resources, or expertise to provide CPS with appropriate abuse evaluations in all cases.Practice implicationsThough non-CAP providers may appropriately evaluate many cases of physical abuse, the diagnosis regarding abuse provided to CPS may be changed in some cases when CAP physicians are consulted and actively collaborate with CPS investigators. Availability of Child Abuse Pediatrics subspecialty services to investigators is warranted.     

Finding the law: A criminal justice guide to basic legal research techniques

Either by choice or by necessity, criminal justice students, educators, researchers, administrators, and practitioners frequently seek information or engage in conduct that somehow concerns the law. There are numerous reasons why persons interested in criminal justice theory and practice may want or need legal knowledge, but a lack of familiarity with the basic techniques for conducting legal research may inhibit access to this knowledge. This article describes the reference materials available for legal research, explains how they are used, and suggests why it is important that more people who are involved with criminal justice become skilled in the basic techniques of legal research.     

Digital Rhetoric: Toward an Integrated Theory

This article surveys the literature on digital rhetoric, which encompasses a wide range of issues, including novel strategies of self-expression and collaboration, the characteristics, affordances, and constraints of the new digital media, and the formation of identities and communities in digital spaces. It notes the current disparate nature of the field and calls for an integrated theory of digital rhetoric that charts new directions for rhetorical studies in general and the rhetoric of science and technology in particular.     

Supporting Teaching Faculty as Scholars: A Developmental Model

Professors from across the academic disciplines at Council for Christian College & Universities (CCCU) institutions have traditionally excelled in their teaching. In recent years, CCCU faculty have also increasingly been expected to conduct research and to publish scholarly work. As CCCU institutions expand research and scholarship expectations for faculty, we must also provide the requisite support for professors to be effective in this work. In this article, we highlight institutional practices to encourage, support, and celebrate scholarly writing and research by faculty. Drawing upon findings from Zuidema's 2016 survey of CCCU chief academic officers, we offer benchmark practices for communicating expectations, offering tangible supports and resources, augmenting accountability measures with formative feedback, and recognizing and celebrating scholarship. Against this backdrop, we highlight practical, affordable strategies used at Point Loma Nazarene University (PLNU) in California and Dordt College in Iowa, two CCCU institutions that have increased expectations for scholarship in recent years. Through these illustrations, we aim to inspire new and creative strategies for supporting scholarship by showing how these practices are an outgrowth of a developmental philosophy of leadership that seeks to invest in the core resource of CCCU institutions: the faculty.     

A developmental review of response time data that support a cognitive components model of reading

The present article provides a review of numerous studies that measured response times for cognitive tasks related to six components of the reading process. The component processes were single-letter recognition, multi-letter unit identification, word and pseudoword identification, semantic access/concept activation, phrase and sentence comprehension, and text comprehension. The response time data are presented in tables and summarized in the text. The data provide support for a componential view of reading.