A University–School Partnership to Examine the Adoption and Implementation of the Ohio Community Collaboration Model in One Urban School District: A Mixed-Method Case Study

School improvement models are expanding to incorporate priorities around positive youth development, safe and supportive school climates, school mental health, and school–family community partnerships. A partnership was formed between researchers and district/school leaders to examine the 3-year adoption and implementation of 1 such exemplary model, the Ohio Community Collaboration Model for School Improvement, in a Midwest urban district serving a large number of students at-risk. Researchers and district/school leaders examined what types of system-level capacities developed, and explored student- and school-level outcomes that occurred over the course of implementation. Multiple innovations resulted, such as strengthened policies, improved partnerships and collaborations, and enhanced funding streams. Students' perceptions of academic press, school climate, and academic motivation improved over the 3 years. Academic report cards show progress toward districtwide improvement. Implications are drawn for researchers and school leaders, especially in relation to the design, implementation, and evaluation of collaborative models of school improvement.     

Animation as feedback in a computer-based simulation: Representation matters

The purpose of this study was to explore how users interact and learn during a computer-based simulation given graphical and textual forms of feedback. In two experiments, university students interacted with a simple simulation that modeled the relationship between acceleration and velocity. Subjects interacted with the computer simulation using a discovery-based approach: no formal instruction on the science concepts was presented. Subjects had control over the acceleration of a simple screen object—a ball—in a game-like context. Three simulation conditions were studied, each differing on how feedback of the ball's speed, direction, and position was represented: graphical feedback, textual feedback, and graphical plus textual feedback. Results showed that subjects learned more tacit knowledge when provided with animated graphical feedback than with textual feedback, although gains in explicit understanding of these science principles did not depend on the way the feedback was represented. Patterns of interactivity and frustration are also discussed. Reiber says, “I thank Mack Smith and Faris Spahi for their help with various parts of this research.”     

The participation of Australian Indigenous students in higher education: a scoping review of empirical research, 2000–2016

While access to higher education has increased for Indigenous Australians, participation and completion rates remain lower than those of non-Indigenous Australians. A sound evidence base is needed to ground equity initiatives if they are to address the specific needs of Indigenous students. This paper presents the results of a scoping review of empirical research focusing on the participation of Indigenous students in higher education. The purpose of the scoping review was to synthesise empirical research on aspirations for, and barriers and enablers to, higher education that were published between 2000 and 2016 (n = 57), and identify areas where further research is needed. Despite a recent increase in research on this topic, relatively little attention has been paid to Indigenous students’ aspirations while they are at school. We argue that future research should take account of school students’ aspirations for higher education, including primary school students; the similitude of barriers and enablers across the student life cycle; differences within Indigenous community and among Indigenous students; and, the insights emerging from Indigenous methodologies and scholarship.     

Psychological foundations of instructional design for emerging computer-based instructional technologies: Part II

Although considerable research has been published concerning learning and cognition in general, little impact has been reported on the design of computer-based instruction (CBI). In addition, CBI designs have been influenced negatively by technocentric perspectives, where technological capabilities dictate lesson activities, rather than a more reflective view on the relationship among learner, learning task and performance requirements, and the selective use of media capabilities. Attempts to extrapolate the relevance of non-CBI research and theory to advance a comprehensive and integrated view of the design of CBI have been rare. An integrated meta-model derived from both CBI and non-CBI research and theory is presented in this article.     

Format-free databases and the construction of knowledge in primary school science projects

Most current science education reform documents are placing much emphasis on having students become competent in identifying, accessing and operating upon relevant information sources and in using the information to construct new knowledge. One of the means they suggest for achieving these aims is science project work. However, a review of the research literature indicates that little knowledge construction occurs during science projects. This article reports on a study in which a teacher used the collaborative development of a format-free computer database to facilitate the construction of knowledge by a group of three Year 6 students during a science project.     

A comparison of reading and listening performance: computer-controlled speech and printed text presentations

Print-handicapped people enrolled at any level of the education system are expected to acquire the same information as their peers who are readers of printed text. Research which compares performance rates of reading print with auding of materials read onto tape generally reports substantially higher performance by readers of print. The different strategies employed by readers and listeners are said to be responsible for the variation in performance.
This article describes the development of one method and the associated instrumentation which permits a more exact comparison of reading and listening performance. It ensures that important factors such as word rate, timing, inter-word pauses, and overall presentation duration are identical for visual or audio presentations. The inclusion of these factors enables a more direct comparison of reading performance with listening performance at a range of presentation speeds, including accelerated presentations from time-compressed tapes. An investigation which employed this technique for comparing reading and listening performance has provided new findings on how readers and listeners operate. This should provide a more complete understanding of the benefits and limitations of accelerated reading and listening techniques in the educational context.     

Psychological foundations of instructional design for emerging computer-based instructional technologies: Part I

Computer-based instruction (CBI) has strong historical roots in behavioral psychology. In many cases, behavioral CBI is very effective in meeting instructional needs. Criticisms of CBI, centering around inadequate attention to higher-level learning, underline some of the shortcomings of rigid adherence to behavioral design paradigms. Recent advances in cognitive psychology have revealed alternatives rarely applied outside of experimental settings. Whereas both behavioral and cognitive influences are potentially important, few attempts have been made to extrapolate the contributions of both to the design of CBI. In this article, the contributions of behavioral and cognitive psychology to the design of CBI are reviewed and analyzed.