Teachers use of writing to support students’ learning in middle school: A national survey in the United States

A random sample of middle school teachers (grades 6–9) from across the United States was surveyed about their use of writing to support students’ learning. The selection process was stratified so there were an equal number of English language arts, social studies, and science teachers. More than one-half of the teachers reported applying 15 or more writing to learn strategies at least once a month or more often. The most commonly used writing to learn strategies were writing short answers to questions, note taking for reading, note taking while listening, and completing worksheets. While teachers reported using a variety of writing to learn strategies, most of them indicated they received minimal or no formal preparation in college on how to use writing to learn strategies to support student learning, less than one-half of teachers directly taught students how to use the writing to learn strategies commonly assigned, and the most commonly used writing to learn strategies did not require students to think deeply about the material they were learning. We further found that teachers’ reported use of writing to learn strategies was related to their preparedness and the composition of their classroom in terms of above and below average writers, English Language Learners, and students with disabilities.     

‘I've had to swallow my pride’: help seeking and self‐esteem

One of the paradoxes confronting higher education teachers and other staff supporting students is that despite their perception that they offer students opportunities for support, students do not take advantage of them. Our research was based on the desire to understand the ways students cope and what resources they draw on. To this end, we interviewed students from a range of backgrounds and courses. We famed our analysis in terms of situated self‐esteem because the data revealed the strength of students' personal projects, together with clear evidence of the complexities of help seeking. Situated self‐esteem concerns proper and measured judgements about the self and the ability to cope rather than conceptualizing esteem in a therapeutic framework. We conclude by considering the ways in which institutional support for learning and teaching might strengthen students' resources, not undermine them.     

Children's Understanding of the Meaning and Functions of Verbal Irony

We investigated children's understanding of irony and sensitivity to irony's meanness and humor. In Study 1, 89 participants (5–6-year-olds, 8–9-year-olds, adults) heard ironic and literal criticisms, and literal compliments. Comprehension of irony emerged between 5 and 6 years of age. Ratings of humor increased with age; ratings of meanness did not (showing that all ages perceived irony as more muted than literal criticism). In Study 2, results from 135 participants (6–7-year-olds, 8–9-year-olds, and adults) replicated these findings and revealed the role of form and intonation. Thus, comprehension of irony emerges between 5 and 6 years of age, and sensitivity to the muting function develops prior to sensitivity to the humor function.     

Gender Differences in Faculty Member Job Satisfaction: Equity Forestalled?

Guided by Hagedorn’s (2000) theory of faculty job satisfaction, mindful of social and organizational structures of higher education, and acknowledging recent changes in the academic labor market, this study examines satisfaction for approximately 30,000 tenured and tenure-track faculty members in 100 US colleges and universities. Findings revealed similarity between female and male faculty members in some aspects of work satisfaction, but difference in other areas in which women reported lower satisfaction. Findings also revealed that perceptions of department fit, recognition, work role balance, and mentoring are more important to women faculty’s satisfaction than male peers. Implications for policy and practice are discussed.     

Student access of online feedback is modified by the availability of assessment marks,gender and academic performance

We used educational data mining to quantify student access of online feedback files and explore the underlying drivers of feedback file access in a learning management system (LMS). We collated LMS access logs for 32 individual pieces of assessment representing 1462 feedback files for 484 students (males = 45%, females = 55%) that originated across three undergraduate years, from 20 different degree pathways. Over a third of assessment feedback files (38%, 553 files) were never accessed by students. When students could obtain their assessment mark without opening the associated feedback file, 42% of feedback files were not accessed by students (513 of 1224 files). When assessment marks were integrated into the feedback file (and not reported within the LMS), the proportion of unopened feedback dropped significantly to only 17% of files (40 of 238 files). We uncovered strong gender-specific differences in how students accessed feedback within the LMS that were dependent upon academic performance and the integration of marks within the feedback file. Poorly performing males were less likely to access feedback; however, integrating marks into the feedback files meant that males were over 27 times more likely to access the feedback file. In contrast, females exhibited a much weaker and more variable response to marks being reported within feedback files. Assessments with deadlines earlier in the semester were also viewed more often than those later in the semester.     

The MMPI-2 profile of adults with learning disabilities in university and rehabilitation settings.

The primary purpose of this study was to compare the personality profiles of adults with learning disabilities attending a large state university (8 females, 8 males) to those participating in training programs in a rehabilitation setting (8 females, 18 males), in an attempt to identify affective variables that should be considered in transitional and postsecondary program planning. A secondary purpose of the study was to compare the performance of two groups of adults with learning disabilities (i.e., university and rehabilitation) to a normative group of college students. The mean age for all subjects was between 20 and 23 years. Findings from the study indicated that the personality profiles of individuals with learning disabilities in either a rehabilitation setting or seeking a university degree are significantly different from those of the normative population of normally achieving college students. The rehabilitation group in this study demonstrated feelings of social isolation, poor self-concept, self-doubt, and extreme restlessness. Somewhat different profiles were seen with the university group as they indicated feelings of fear, obsessive thoughts, lack of self-confidence, self-doubt, and extreme self-criticism. Both groups demonstrated profiles of individuals under extreme short- and long-term stress leading to anxiety. The study also reviewed the relevance and appropriateness of using the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) that will have direct application for the assessment and intervention of adults with learning disabilities either in a rehabilitation setting or seeking a university degree.     

Discrimination of relative numerosity by pigeons

In three experiments, pigeons were trained to discriminate between uniform arrays of two elements that differed in color, form, or size. They were then tested with arrays that contained different proportions of the two elements on these dimensions. In all cases, orderly discrimination gradients reflected these proportions. The discrimination readily transferred to new arrays with similar stimuli, but with different total numbers of elements. In Experiment 4, the pigeons were taught to discriminate between two groups of categorical stimuli: pictures of birds and pictures of flowers. A test with different proportions of each again produced a gradient based on relative numerosity. Experiment 5 demonstrated transfer of stimulus control on the numerosity dimension when pigeons were trained with one set of instances from two categories, and then were tested with new instances from the same categories.     

Student Engineers and Engineer Identity: Campus Engineer Identities as Figured World

The research reported here contributes to understanding how student engineers on an engineering campus in the US mid-continent not only talked about the kinds of people recognized as engineers on campus, but also juxtaposes their talk about “campus engineer identities” with two students' ways of presenting themselves as engineers through engineering project teamwork to argue that campus engineer identities framed on-campus interpretations of actions, and ultimately that identity production was a complicated process through which campus engineer identities (cultural knowledge learned on campus) provided a lens of meaning through which to “recognize” (or not) performances of engineer selves as engineers. This research adds to conversations about identity in practice, especially identity production in science education, by suggesting the importance of cultural forms for belonging, especially at an obdurate site of science practice like the campus studied.     

Effect of Maternal Social Support on Attachment: Experimental Evidence

The present study used an experimental format to evaluate the influence of maternal social support on the development of attachment. 46 WIC primigravidas were randomly assigned to an experimental or control condition. Volunteer coaches, trained to provide maternal support and information, met with experimentals prenatally and during the first postpartum year. Experimentals and controls did not differ on demographics, ego level, verbal ability, affect, or perceived social support. At 14 months, experimental infants scored higher on an Attachment Ratings cluster from Waters and Deane's new Q-sort procedure. This cluster was more sensitive than a Criterion Sort measure in detecting the effect of the manipulation and as or more sensitive to maternal affect, perceived support, and the HOME. These findings provide experimental evidence regarding the importance of social support on infant attachment and support for an alternative approach for reducing data from the attachment Q-sort.