Rube Goldberg salad system: Teaching systems theory in communication

Courses: Undergraduate Organizational Communication, Communication Theory, and Small Group Communication courses.

Objectives: This single-class activity aims to engage students actively in explaining and applying systems components, processes, and properties.     

“We need to step it up—We are basically the future”: Latinx young women co-construct science storylines in high school chemistry

Researchers and practitioners in the United States increasingly promote phenomena-based instruction in science that supports the development of a coherent storyline throughout the unit. Questions about who is constructing the science storyline and how still remain. Employing a qualitative ethnographic case study approach, we explore how three Latinx female students authentically contribute in their high school chemistry class and change the science storyline originally developed by the teacher. Data include over 950 min of video recordings, student artifacts, and interviews collected from a unit about reaction rate, which was contextualized by students' experiences with a local wildfire. The analysis points to three instructional moves that appear to play an important role in shifting the collective storyline: connecting to Latinx students' personal concerns, moving across multiple figured worlds, and recognizing students' epistemological contributions. Implications for supporting minoritized students are discussed.     

GoPro as an ethnographic tool: A wayfinding study in an academic library

In this study, researchers sought to capture students’ authentic experience of finding books in the main library using a GoPro camera and the think-aloud protocol. The GoPro provided a first-person perspective and was an effective ethnographic tool for observing a student's individual experience, while also demonstrating what tools they use to find items. Using the think-aloud protocol, observers could hear students express their internal decisions, thoughts, and feelings about the process. Results confirmed trouble spots in the building and that directories are not typically used and need updating. GoPro footage revealed that there are certain qualities of the help-desk experience that can make a search more or less successful. No major sex differences were found in preference of wayfinding tools and behaviors, except that males appear to have used directories marginally more than females. In a debriefing survey, students still affirmed human help and online maps as the most useful wayfinding tools and advocated for better signage. Mapping of behaviors by floor also validated GoPro observations. At low cost to the library, the GoPro/think-aloud combination along with survey and mapping methodologies affirmed trouble spots in the building and provided suggestions for wayfinding improvements to library administration.     

An examination of male-female performance in a programmed achievement learning center

College students operated under different classroom contingencies. The Programmed Achievement (PA) condition required students to evidence criterion performance (100% mastery) on weekly quizzes. Failure to show mastery performance on any of the weekly quizzes resulted in course failure. The Standard Control (S-C) condition involved a more traditional college classroom structure where students took weekly quizzes with no requirement to evidence mastery. Male and female performances were analyzed to determine if different course structures interacted with sex of student. The results indicated that PA students demonstrated higher performance than controls on weekly quizzes and a major exam. It was also shown that PA females increased at a more rapid rate than PA males, while S-C males and females were not significantly different. Theoretical implications of the results are discussed.     

Learning to be a good orthographic reader

Recent years have brought about rapid advances in our understanding of reading and how it develops, particularly in relation to the importance of alphabetic coding skills. However, much less has been known about the transition from alphabetic decoding to the rapid and automatic orthographic recognition of words, which is the hallmark of skilled reading. The purpose of this special issue is to focus specifically on orthographic processes in reading and how they are acquired. The present paper provides an overview of the special issue, drawing attention to key themes that run through the various contributions.     

古代希伯来民族的美学思想及艺术表现

古代希伯来民族的美学思想可以概括为以上帝为美、以上帝的创造活动为美、以上帝看着是“好的”创造物为美三个方面,涉及到崇高、和谐、抽象、神秘、恐惧、理性之美、感性之美、美即真、美即善等美学范畴和观念体系。古代希伯来民族以上帝为中心的美学思想与犹太教教义及伦理道德内容的反对偶像崇拜,共同导致了犹太艺术形成摈弃具象写实、注重内在情感、意象思维与抽象主义相结合的传统精神,犹太艺术不是再现的艺术,而是表现的艺术,象征型艺术。古代犹太民族在语言、音乐等内在主情的抽象艺术方面取得了惊人的成就,而绘画、雕塑、建筑等直观造型艺术却黯然失色,戏剧舞台艺术甚至是一片空白。     

Narrated Dissection Videos and Peer-Mentoring to Enhance Anatomy Performance of Underrepresented Minority Students in Physical Therapy Education

Three-dimensional virtual technology (3DVT) educational tools and peer-tutoring have proven to be effective teaching strategies in improving student learning outcomes. The purpose of this study was threefold: (1) compare the anatomy academic performance between underrepresented minority (URM) and non-minority (non-URM) students, (2) compare the voluntary use of 3DVT dissection videos and peer-mentoring between these two cohorts, and (3) estimate the association between the use of these teaching strategies on anatomy examinations and course grades at a school of physical therapy. Three-dimensional virtual technology narrated dissection videos and peer-mentoring were made available to all students. Time accessing the video and attending peer-mentoring sessions was measured throughout the course for all students. Three practical and four written examinations and the final course grade were calculated. Numerous one-way ANOVAs were used to compare examination/course grades between student cohorts (URM and non-URM) and usage of the two educational strategies (3DVT and peer-mentoring). Multiple linear regressions were performed with teaching strategies as predictors and grades as outcomes. Underrepresented minority students demonstrated significantly lower practical examination scores (P = 0.04), lower final course grades (P = 0.01), and a greater use of mentorship hours (P = 0.001) compared to non-URM. The regression models with both predictors (3DVT and peer-mentoring) combined demonstrated the greatest association with grades for both URM and non-URM. For both groups of students, the association between predictors and practical examination scores, although fair, was not statistically significant. Peer-mentoring seems to be the most effective teaching strategy in helping URM students succeed in anatomy.     

Impression management messages and reactions to organizational reward allocations: The mediating influence of fairness and responsibility

In this scenario‐based experiment we examined the relationships among impression management messages, evaluations of reward allocations (fairness and responsibility) and reactions to rewards (anger, approval of manager and overall job satisfaction). The results suggest that impression management messages directly influence fairness and responsibility, and indirectly influence anger and approval. Specifically, justifications and enhancements increased evaluations of fairness, excuses decreased attributions of responsibility for unfair rewards, and entitling accounts increased attributions of responsibility for fair rewards. Also, justifications and enhancements indirectly decreased anger, increased approval, and increased job satisfaction through the mediating influence of fairness. Excuses and entitling accounts indirectly decreased anger and increased approval through the mediating influence of responsibility.