Writing Prompts: The Role of Various Priming Conditions on the Compositional Fluency of Developing Writers

This study addressed two questions related to the writing of second graders (n=195). The first examined the effects of writing prompts on the compositional fluency of second-grade students. The second considered whether these effects are different based on spelling achievement and handwriting fluency. Students wrote six narratives in response to writing prompts presented in different ways (copying, dictation, discussion, discussion-copying, discussion-dictation, and topic). An analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) with repeated measures showed that priming condition and writing occasion were significant effects. Interactions were found between priming condition, occasion, and each of the covariates (handwriting fluency and spelling achievement). Analysis of the sample based on the covariates revealed differential effects for the slowest and fastest writers and poorest and best spellers.     

Promoting field trip confidence: teachers providing insights for pre-service education

Pre-service teachers need experiences in practical matters as a part of field trip preparations programmes. For 14 years, a private, non-profit university in Turkey has involved pre-service teachers in field trip planning, implementation and evaluation. A programme assessment was conducted through a case study to examine the long-term effects of pre-service field trip preparation. Through a survey created for the study, teachers shared their field trip activities and reported confidence levels. The survey was administered to 44 alumni of the biology education department with a response rate of 72.7% (N = 32). This study will help researchers learn which programme areas need to be improved and can serve as a model for other institutions interested in evaluating field trip preparation programmes.     

Visual Attention Movements: A Developmental Study

The pattern of attention movements underlying reorientation of visual selective attention independent of eye movements was studied developmentally in 2 experiments. In Experiment 1, 8-year-old, 11-year-old, and college-age subjects first oriented their attention to a central location and were then cued to direct their attention either to the left or the right peripheral field. Following variable intervals, the target appeared at the cued location and reaction times were recorded. The data were interpretable in terms of the attentional spotlight theory since there was an interaction between distance of the target from fixation and SOA. In terms of this theory, the data indicate that the velocity of attention movements increases throughout the age range studied. Experiment 2, in contradiction to attentional spotlight theory, failed to find evidence of an interaction between distance and SOA. This experiment suggested that young children can covertly orient their attention by including valid, neutral, and invalid cues, and that these cues can both facilitate and inhibit attentional orientation. This experiment also extended the findings to central as well as peripheral cues.     

Dimensions of student success: a framework for defining and evaluating support for learning in higher education

ABSTRACT

The capabilities students need for success during and beyond higher education extend far beyond specific discipline skills to include the development of productive mindsets, the management of life circumstances and the way they relate to others and identify with their profession. The provision of support for these capabilities at university can be both diverse in scope and diffuse in delivery. Consequently, the development of streamlined and integrated evaluation strategies to measure the extent to which these capabilities are being successfully delivered can be challenging. This paper describes how one Australian university used a collaborative process to design an evaluation framework for student learning services. The framework, a first for this university, represents the breadth of student support, including a typology of support for learning: connectedness, mindsets, self-management, professional identity and academic capabilities. These terms, coined as dimensions, form the scaffold of university-wide delivery of support for learning initiatives.     

Probing the Effects of Policy Changes by Evaluating Circulation Activity Data at Columbia University Libraries

Circulation data sets at Columbia University Libraries were organized, analyzed, and visualized by examining types of patrons and their circulation activities. Patrons examined included: Graduate students, Undergraduate students, Officers and Faculty, and Visitors. Circulation activities are defined as: charges, renewals, holds, and recalls. Policy decisions, usage patterns, and learning curves were detected system-wide, and those concerning loan periods and borrowing permissions impacted activity immediately. The data validated common understandings of usage patterns and verified that faculty hold books longest, that overall activity has declined, and that patrons have adapted to online transactions. This article discusses academic years 2003–04 to 2009–10.     

BASES 2006: “From education to application”

The dependence of power on aerobic and anaerobic energy metabolism and on force production was studied in maximal leg exercise. National and international level male rowers (n = 9) performed four modified (legs‐only) rowing ergometer exercises: a progressive test, 2‐min (T2), 12‐min (T12) and 6‐min (T6) all‐out tests. In T2, significant correlations were observed between power in T2 (P_T2) and oxygen debt (r = 0.83, P<0.05) and between P_T2 and average force production (F_av) during the last 30 s (r = 0.85, P<0.05). These parameters explained 93% of the variation in P_T2. The highest correlations between power in T6 (P_T6) and physiological parameters were as follows: maximal oxygen uptake (VO₂ max: r = 0.87, P<0.01), blood bicarbonate concentration before the test ([HCO^‐ _3before]: r=0.85, P<0.05) and blood lactate concentration on anaerobic threshold (BL_anT: r= —0.82, P<0.05). Together, these parameters explained 92% of the variation in P_T6. In T12, the total power (P_T12) correlated with power of anaerobic threshold #OPP_ANT’. r = 0.95, P< 0.001) and with the highest VO₂ value in this test (VO₂ peak: r = 0.92, P<0.001). These two parameters explained 96% of the variation in P_T12.

The decrease of at least one of the force parameters during each test was taken as a sign of fatigue. The decline in force was compensated for by an increase in stroke rate at the end of T6 and T12 (P<0.01, P<0.001). Consequently, the power remained unchanged or even increased at the end of T6 and T12. The term ‘power endurance’ is introduced to describe the ability to resist and to compensate for local muscular fatigue.     

Impulsivity and Academic Cheating

The authors examined the relations between academic cheating and impulsivity in a large sample of adolescents enrolled in high school health education classes. Results indicated that impulsivity predicts academic cheating for students who report extensive involvement in cheating. However, students who engage in extensive cheating are less likely to report cheating when they perceive a mastery goal structure. In addition, both moderate and extensive cheaters report less cheating when they perceive the teacher as being credible.     

The complexities of supporting Asian international pre‐service teachers as they undertake practicum

Increasing numbers of Asian international students are choosing to undertake their tertiary studies in English‐speaking countries. For universities, international students are an important source of revenue. However, Asian international students face multiple challenges in adapting to a foreign culture, understanding the expectations of their role, and adjusting to language, communication and cultural differences. These challenges are manifested, in particular, during practicum or field experience. This paper investigated the concerns of twenty Asian pre‐service teachers before and after their practicum in Australian schools by drawing upon data from focus group interviews. Although language barriers and cultural differences were identified concerns before the practicum, concerns about their relationship with their supervising teachers and the limited time in which they had to learn also emerged after the practicum. Whilst the findings are limited to the present study, implications for supporting Asian international pre‐service teachers during practicum are discussed.