Conditions affecting the usefulness of pre- and post-tests for assessment purposes

Interest in measuring and evaluating student learning in higher education is growing. There are many tools available to assess student learning. However, the use of such tools may be more or less appropriate under various conditions. This study provides some evidence related to the appropriate use of pre/post‐tests. The question of whether graded tests elicit a higher level of performance (better representation of actual learning gains) than ungraded post‐tests is examined. We examine whether the difficulty level of the questions asked (knowledge/comprehension vs. analysis/application) affects this difference. We test whether the student’s level in the degree programme affects this difference. Results indicate that post‐tests may not demonstrate the full level of student mastery of learning objectives and that both the difficulty level of the questions asked and the level of students in their degree programme affect the difference between graded and ungraded assessments. Some of these differences may be due to causes other than grades on the assessments. Students may have benefited from the post‐test, as a review of the material, or from additional studying between the post‐test and the final examination. Results also indicate that pre‐tests can be useful in identifying appropriate changes in course materials over time.     

“工厂的阴影”——兼论质性研究的实践与应用

全球化条件下急剧变化的经济结构给不同的社会群体带来冲击,一项关于一群生活在美国后工业化城镇中的中学生的前后跨度为15年的民族志追踪研究,揭示了如何从日常生活实践的角度理解阶级变迁过程,以及在去工业化时期,失去原有工作的白人工人群体如何在特定的社会结构与历史条件下,将自身重塑为一个独特的阶层。全球化时代的阶级重构过程与性别关系以及族群身份认同等因素之间存在极其错综复杂的关联。只有将社会群体置于具体的历史条件以及相邻群体关系中考察,才能深刻理解这些过程,这就是构图式分析法(compo-sitional study)。这一研究思路应当适用于不同国家与背景下的社会人群研究,而在全球化过程中受益的新兴国家如印度和中国开展类似研究,尤为重要。     

No Light at the End of Tunnel Vision: Steps for Improving Lesson Plans

The authors of this article believe that the current structure of lesson plans impede differentiation, individualization, and innovation and offer little in assessing the quality of teaching and learning. Concrete steps will be offered for planning to better respond to student diversity in meeting lesson objectives.     

Age-Related Effects of Study Time Allocation on Memory Performance in a Verbal and a Spatial Task

Past studies have suggested that study time allocation partially mediates age relations on memory performance in a verbal task. To identify whether this applied to a different material modality, participants ages 20–87 completed a spatial task in addition to a traditional verbal task. In both the verbal and the spatial task, increased age was associated with poorer utilization of study time, suggesting that age differences in study time allocation are qualitatively similar across material modality. Furthermore, age differences in how individuals allocated their study time partially mediated the age relations on memory performance in both tasks, indicating the importance of effective regulation of study time when learning information. Finally, age differences in study time allocation did not appear to be due to differences in awareness of performance. When a subset of participants was asked about their prior performance, awareness of previous performance was not associated with study time allocation on either task. Interestingly, asking participants about their prior performance tended to decrease recall performance. Overall, these results illustrate that how one allocates study time is related to subsequent memory performance in both a verbal and spatial modality, but knowledge about prior performance is not associated with study time utilization, and inquiring about past performance during study may disrupt rather than facilitate learning.     

Without dependence on welfare for life: Black women in the community college

This paper extends my previous analysis of data gathered in a year-long ethnographic investigation of a community college (Weis, 1985). Here, gendered subjectivity is explored through three themes: (1) motivation for attending Urban College, (2) perceived behavior of women and men within the institution, and (3) academic outcomes. The paper closes by positing why black female culture takes the shape and form that it does, and why the community college fails to promote social mobility for black females.