University students’ strategies and criteria during self-assessment: instructor’s feedback,rubrics, and year level effects

European Journal of Psychology of Education - This study explores the effects of feedback type, feedback occasion, and year level on student self-assessments in higher education. In total, 126...     

Developmental trajectories of behavioral inhibition from infancy to age seven: The role of genetic and environmental risk for psychopathology

The present study leveraged data from a longitudinal adoption study of 361 families recruited between 2003 and 2010 in the United States. We investigated how psychopathology symptoms in birth parents (BP; M_age = 24.1 years; 50.5–62.9% completed high school) and adoptive parents (AP; M_age = 37.8 years; 80.9% completed college; 94% mother–father couples) influenced children's behavioral inhibition (BI) trajectories. We used latent growth models of observed BI at 18 and 27 months, and 4.5 and 7 years in a sample of adopted children (Female = 42%, White = 57%, Black = 11%, Multi-racial = 21%, Latinx = 9%). BI generally decreased over time, yet there was substantial variability in these trajectories. Neither BP nor AP psychopathology symptoms independently predicted systematic differences in BI trajectories. Instead, we found that AP internalizing symptoms moderated the effects of BP psychopathology on trajectories of BI, indicating a gene by environment interaction.     

Situational interest impacts college students’physical activity in a design-based bike exergame

Background:Active videogames or exergames have been used as an innovative way to promote physical activity(PA)among various populations.A player’s interest in active videogames is associated with the fun and entertaining nature of the games and may trigger situational interest,thus increasing engagement.The goal of this study was to examine the impact of situational interest dimensions on college students’PA when playing the design-based bike exergame Greedy Rabbit(Vescape,Berlin,Germany).Methods:Sixty undergraduate students(age:20.8±1.3 years,mean±SD,18-25 years old;51.7%males)were recruited from the kinesiology department of a university located in the southern region of Belgium.The participants were assigned to an experimental group(n=41)or a control group(n=19)based on an incremental cycling test.Students in the experimental group engaged in 1 session of Greedy Rabbit(Vescape)while students in the control group engaged in 1 session of a placebo version of Greedy Rabbit(Vescape).The length of the sessions ranged from 24 min to 31 min.Results:Results for the control group indicated that the players’PA metrics(cadence:F(19,360)=1.43,p=0.11;heart rate:F(19.360)=1.16,p=0.29;oxygen consumption:F(19,360)=0.83,p=0.67)were stable during the exergame.Results for the experimental group demonstrated the effects of time on the players’PA metrics and revealed significant associations between the change in the players’situational interest dimensions and PA metrics(cadence:F(19,800)=26.30,p<0.01;heart rate:F(19,800)=19.77,p<0.01;oxygen consumption:F(19,800)=10.04,p<0.01).Conclusion:An approach using a design-based exergame may be a relevant strategy for promoting levels of PA that yields positive health-related outcomes among college students.     

Book industry statistics from the R. R. Bowker Company

The R. R. Bowker Company has been compiling and publishing statistics on the book industry for more than a century. The history of this effort is reported, with details on how the collection, classification, and publication of data have evolved. Bowker provides statistics on book title output, booksellers (retail and wholesale), and libraries. Jean Peters is the librarian at the Frederic G. Melcher Library, Cahners Publishing Company, formerly the library of the R. R. Bowker Company.     

Customer prioritization in higher education: targeting ‘right’ students for long-term profitability

As competition for students, faculty and financial support has increased, so has the application of marketing in the field of higher education. One critical application of marketing all too often neglected, misunderstood and mismanaged in higher education is targeting customers for profitability. The purpose of this paper is to enrich the marketing practices of academic institutions as they face increasing competition for students, faculty and funding by presenting a discussion of ‘right,’ ‘at-risk right’ and ‘wrong’ customers for higher education. This paper reviews marketing paradigms as they have evolved over time, explains the concepts of right, at-risk right and wrong customers as they apply to higher education and identifies managerial implications critical to today's higher education administrators.     

Scaffolding Narrative Skills: A Meta-Analysis of Instruction in Early Childhood Settings

Research Findings: Children’s ability to tell stories and to understand the stories of others typically emerges in early childhood, supported by primary caregivers and educators. This article reviews instruction designed to foster children’s narrative skills in preschool and kindergarten settings and examines the effects using meta-analysis. The review covers more than 3 decades (1980–2013) of experimental research (k = 15 studies, 28 effects). The findings showed that verbal scaffolding, alone or in combination with other strategies, was the predominant teaching approach. The meta-analysis revealed average effects (weighted for sample size) for narrative expression (.50) and a slightly larger effect for comprehension (.58). These effects were unrelated to the duration of instruction. However, when verbal strategies were combined with nonverbal ones, such as engaging children in enacting stories or in telling stories with props, the effects for expression increased (i.e., children’s storytelling improved more from pretest to posttest). Practice or Policy: The review indicates promising strategies for supporting narrative skills. Furthermore, the studies identified can serve as a resource for practitioners by suggesting diverse kinds of verbal scaffolds, complementary nonverbal approaches, and storybooks that have been used effectively to foster narrative competencies among young children.     

Teachers’ and Their Pupils’ Performance on Plant Nutrition: a Comparative Case

Research in Science Education - The research compares teachers’ and their pupils’ performance on plant nutrition. The misconceptions of 89 primary school children from one state school...