Stories from the Field: Challenges of Science Teacher Education Based on Interdisciplinary Approaches

Journal of Science Teacher Education -     

Methodological concerns: the feeling-of-knowing task affects resolution

In traditional feeling-of-knowing procedures, participants make judgments on unrecalled items only (e.g. Hart 1965). However, many researchers elicit feeling-of-knowing judgments (FOKs) on all items. When FOKs are made on all items, participants may use recall as a basis for judgments, leading to higher magnitude judgments for recalled items, but causing a relative floor effect for judgments for unrecalled items. We suspected that resolution (relative accuracy) would be better when FOKs are made on all items than when they are made on unrecalled items only. We examined the issue by comparing across studies, reanalyzing data from another experiment, and by conducting an original experiment. In the literature review, we included 83 conditions across 52 studies. We found that feeling-of-knowing judgments made on all items showed higher resolution than feeling-of-knowing judgments made on unrecalled items. This was replicated in the reanalysis of existing data of a single study that used both methods. In the original experiment, we collected feeling-of-knowing judgments for general-information questions. The experiment confirmed that resolution for predicting recognition was higher when feeling-of-knowing judgments were made on all items than when they were made only on unrecalled items. We discuss both methodological and theoretical implications of these data.     

A Planning Tool for Incorporating Backward Design,Active Learning,and Authentic Assessment in the College Classroom

Backward course design is a compelling strategy for achieving results-based, student-centered learning. The backward course-design approach is first to identify student-learning outcomes, then the means of assessing the outcomes, and lastly the classroom activities that would support the learning outcomes. With demonstrated success at improving teaching and learning at K–12 levels, this design approach is receiving increasing attention at the college level. Yet college faculty, who receive comparatively little instruction in course design, may find it challenging to enact the principles of backward course design into day-to-day lecture planning. To help address this challenge, we developed a backward design-inspired lesson planner to assist in restructuring college course periods for more active, learner-centered activities that align with course goals. We describe the planner and its application to a non-majors college biology class, and we share student and instructor perceptions of classroom structure and use of classroom time before and after implementation. Benefits of implementing the backward design planner included enhanced ability to prioritize content delivery to students, better time management in and out of the classroom, improved experience of lecture preparation, more engaged students, and more frequent feedback on student comprehension.     

Infant Attachment and Maternal Sensitivity in the Arab Minority in Israel

This study is the first to examine infant–mother attachment in the Arab culture. Eighty‐five Arab 1‐year‐old infants from Israel were observed in the strange situation, and maternal sensitivity was assessed from home observations. Supporting attachment theory's normativity hypothesis, no differences were found between the Arab‐Israeli attachment distribution and Jewish‐Israeli, Western, and non‐Western distributions when examined at the two‐way secure versus insecure level, although a few differences emerged when examined at the four‐way ABCD level. Supporting the sensitivity hypothesis, mothers of secure infants were more sensitive than those of insecure infants but only in the case of Christian (and not Muslim) mothers. The findings provide support to attachment theory's generalizability but raise questions regarding the assessment of maternal sensitivity cross‐culturally.     

How Effective is Example Generation for Learning Declarative Concepts?

Declarative concepts (i.e., key terms and corresponding definitions for abstract concepts) represent foundational knowledge that students learn in many content domains. Thus, investigating techniques to enhance concept learning is of critical importance. Various theoretical accounts support the expectation that example generation will serve this purpose, but few studies have examined the efficacy of this technique. We conducted three experiments involving 487 undergraduates to investigate the effects of example generation on concept learning and examined factors that may moderate its effectiveness. Students read a short text that introduced eight concepts. Some students were then prompted to generate concrete examples of each concept followed by definition restudy, whereas others only restudied definitions for the same amount of time. Two days later, students completed final tests involving example generation and definition cued recall. Meta-analytic outcomes indicated that example generation yields moderate improvements in learning of declarative concepts, relative to restudy only. Each experiment also included additional groups to investigate potential moderators. Example generation tended to be more effective with spaced versus massed restudy. Despite strong correlations between the quality of examples generated during practice and final test performance, experimental manipulations that improved example quality did not improve learning. In sum, the current work establishes that example generation enhances concept learning and provides an important foundation for further investigating factors that moderate its benefits to learning.     

Open-Skilled Sport,Sport Intensity,Executive Function,and Academic Achievement in Grade School Children

ABSTRACT

Research Findings: The present study examines connections among participation in open- and closed-skilled sports; the metabolic intensity of each sport; and executive function (EF), literacy, and math achievement in a sample of 3rd-grade children. Utilizing data from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development, we categorized 15 youth sports (e.g., soccer, tennis, swimming, running track) as open or closed skilled and assigned them a metabolic intensity value. Results showed that the connection between sport intensity and EF was curvilinear, with a positive association between EF and sport intensity below 25 metabolic equivalents (METs) and a negative association with METs above 25. For math, results differed for the number of open-skilled sports and the intensity of a sport, with higher intensity associated with lower math scores and playing more open-skilled sports associated with higher math scores. Literacy skills were not significantly related to sport participation. Practice or Policy: The preschool years may offer a promising opportunity to encourage participation in both complex and intense physical activity. These findings highlight domain-specific connections among sports and EF and math achievement and offer insight into connections among sport intensity (METs), the type of sports children play, and cognitive development.