Engaging Earth- and Environmental-Science Undergraduates Through Weather Discussions and an eLearning Weather Forecasting Contest

For students who major in meteorology, engaging in weather forecasting can motivate learning, develop critical-thinking skills, improve their written communication, and yield better forecasts. Whether such advances apply to students who are not meteorology majors has been less demonstrated. To test this idea, a weather discussion and an eLearning weather forecasting contest were devised for a meteorology course taken by third-year undergraduate earth- and environmental-science students. The discussion consisted of using the recent, present, and future weather to amplify the topics of the week’s lectures. Then, students forecasted the next day’s high temperature and the probability of precipitation for Woodford, the closest official observing site to Manchester, UK. The contest ran for 10 weeks, and the students received credit for participation. The top students at the end of the contest received bonus points on their final grade. A Web-based forecast contest application was developed to register the students, receive their forecasts, and calculate weekly standings. Students who were successful in the forecast contest were not necessarily those who achieved the highest scores on the tests, demonstrating that the contest was possibly testing different skills than traditional learning. Student evaluations indicate that the weather discussion and contest were reasonably successful in engaging students to learn about the weather outside of the classroom, synthesize their knowledge from the lectures, and improve their practical understanding of the weather. Therefore, students taking a meteorology class, but not majoring in meteorology, can derive academic benefits from weather discussions and forecast contests. Nevertheless, student evaluations also indicate that better integration of the lectures, weather discussions, and the forecasting contests is necessary.     

Stability of psychometric questionnaires

In 1999, Wilson and Batterham proposed a new approach to assessing the test–retest stability of psychometric questionnaires. They recommended assessing the proportion of agreement – that is, the proportion of participants that record the same response to an item – using a test–retest design. They went on to use a bootstrapping technique to estimate the uncertainty of the proportion of agreement. The aims of this short communication are (1) to demonstrate that the sampling distribution of the proportion of agreement is well known (the binomial distribution), making the technique of ‘bootstrapping’ redundant, and (2) to suggest a much simpler, more sensitive method of assessing the stability of a psychometric questionnaire, based on the test–retest differences (within-individuals) for each item. Adopting methods similar to Wilson and Batterham, 97 sport students completed the Social Physique Anxiety Scale on two occasions. Test–retest differences were calculated for each item. Our results show that the proportion of agreement ignores the nature of disagreement. Items 4 and 11 showed similar agreement (44.3% and 43.3% respectively), but 89 of the participants (91.8%) differed by just - 1 point when responding to item 4, indicating a relatively stable item. In contrast, only 78 of the participants (80.4%) recorded a difference within - 1 point when responding to item 11, suggesting quite contrasting stability for the two items. We recommend that, when assessing the stability of self-report questionnaires using a 5-point scale, most participants (90%) should record test–retest differences within a reference value of - 1.     

Screening for harsh punishment in a pediatric primary care clinic

ObjectivesTo determine: (1) the prevalence of harsh punishment among parents in a pediatric clinic, and (2) the sensitivity, specificity, predictive values, and stability of a brief screening measure.MethodsA subset of families involved in a study of child maltreatment prevention were recruited for this study. Two items in a parent screening questionnaire (PSQ) were related to child punishment. Comparisons were made between parents’ responses on the PSQ and on the Parent-Child Conflict Tactic Scale (CTSPC).ResultsOn the PSQ, 7% of parents of infants and 32% of parents of toddlers/preschoolers reported that their child was difficult to take care of or needed to be hit or spanked. On the CTSPC, 14% of the infants had experienced physical assault and 21% psychological aggression. For older children, subscales were modified to exclude common discipline measures, resulting in 20% experiencing physical assault and 19% psychological aggression. Sensitivities for the PSQ were relatively poor for infants, but moderate for older children. Specificities were good. Stability was adequate.ConclusionsHarsh punishment experienced by older children was similar to that in published studies. Punishment of infants is concerning. The PSQ can be used to screen out parents who are not using harsh discipline measures.Practice implicationsThe PSQ has variable utility in determining which families are using harsh punishment. Until the measure can be further refined, universal counseling is needed.     

Development and validation of a mood measure for adolescents

The aim of this study was to develop and validate a shortened version of the Profile of Mood States suitable for use with adolescents. The Profile of Mood States-Adolescents (POMS-A) was administered to 1693 participants from two populations: school children and young athletes. Confirmatory factor analysis supported the factorial validity of a 24-item six-factor model using both independent and multi-sample analyses. Correlations of POMS-A scores with previously validated inventories, which were consistent with theoretical predictions, provided evidence of criterion validity. It is proposed that the POMS-A is a valid instrument for the assessment of mood in adolescents.     

Schoolin’ Black Girls: Politicized Caring and Healing as Pedagogical Love

The Urban Review - This article explores Black feminist pedagogical practices as a viable intervention alternative to traditional methods of educating Black girls. The authors highlight two...     

The Impacts of System and Human Factors on Online Learning Systems Use and Learner Satisfaction

Success in an online learning environment is tied to both human and system factors. This study illuminates the unique contributions of human factors (comfort with online learning, self‐management of learning, and perceived Web self‐efficacy) to online learning system success, which is measured in terms of usage and satisfaction. The research model was tested employing SEM on a sample of 674 college students enrolled in at least one online course. The factors of comfort with online learning and perceived Web self‐efficacy were significant predictors of satisfaction. Comfort with online learning was significant in predicting usage. The impact of demographic variables was examined.     

Reclaiming Our Queendom: Black Feminist Pedagogy and the Identity Formation of African American Girls

Approaches to rectifying the inequities Black female students encounter in U.S. educational institutions are rarely discussed in the body of research in which these individuals are the foci. In this critical race feminist auto-ethnography, the author used qualitative data from a two-year study of a girls' empowerment program that she established at an urban public high school. Through an analysis of Black feminist curricula, in-class video footage, student artifacts, and interviews with former participants, the author argues that Black feminist pedagogy may promote the development of positive social and academic identities among African American female youth. Concrete, research-based guidelines for developing culturally responsive pedagogical interventions are discussed.