Measuring Effectiveness of Health Education in a Web‐based Learning Environment: a preliminary report

Driven by claims of efficacy, flexibility and resource effectiveness, higher education is increasingly utilising the Web as an instructional tool. The claims for pedagogical effectiveness are often just that – claims — and appear not to have been proven in the reality of subject presentation and evaluation. Thus, it is necessary to examine assumptions regarding the benefits of Web‐based instruction in terms of effectiveness. This article discusses aspects of an investigation which examined and compared the effectiveness of HIV/AIDS related collaborative tutorial activities carried out in both a Web‐based learning environment and a face‐to‐face class situation within an undergraduate health education subject. Effectiveness of the pedagogical strategy and the different learning environments were measured in terms of observed learning outcomes and reported perceptions of the learners regarding their learning experience. Preliminary results based on measured learning outcomes related to the subject matter, HIV/AIDS, demonstrated that collaborative learning activities were significantly more effective in the Web‐based than in the class environment. Additionally, the vast majority of learners perceived the Web‐based environment to be as effective or more effective than the face‐to‐face, class environment in terms of facilitating their understanding of the issues explored in the subject.     

Power Dynamics and Questioning in Elementary Science Classrooms

We describe the dynamic discourse interactions between a teacher and her students in a third-grade science classroom. We focused on how the teacher and students initiate, prompt, respond, and provide feedback; use questioning and power strategies; and how questions are associated with power dynamics. We relate the consequences of teacher use of power to the engagement of student with subject matter. Two classroom sessions were observed and teacher?Cstudent interactions audio recorded. Data were transcribed and a method was developed for analyzing teacher-student interactions, power dynamics, and types of questions asked. Results revealed that teacher talk was twice as frequent as students?? talk; questions were primarily closed-ended and task-oriented; and students asked few questions. The teacher exercised power by keeping activities organized and conventional, and utilizing subject matter. The developed methods showed us the complexity of question and power dynamics in classroom discourse and have implications for professional development and research.     

Assessing Precollege Science Education Outreach Initiatives: A Funder's Perspective

We describe an assessment of the collective impact of 35 grants that the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) made to biomedical research institutions in 1999 to support precollege science education outreach programs. Data collected from funded institutions were compared with data from a control group of institutions that had advanced to the last stage of review but had not been funded. The survey instrument and the results reveal outcomes and impacts that HHMI considers relevant for these programs. The following attributes are considered: ability to secure additional, non-HHMI funding; institution buy-in as measured by gains in dedicated space and staff; enhancement of the program director''s career; number and adoption of educational products developed; number of related publications and awards; percentage of programs for which teachers received course credit; increase in science content knowledge; and increase in student motivation to study science.     

Scaffolding the Appropriation of Self-regulatory Activity: A Socio-cultural Analysis of Changes in Teacher–student Discourse about a Graduate Research Portfolio

This study informs the design and development of pedagogical agents that can flexibly support self-regulation by calibrating guidance to specific phases and facets of self-regulated learning (SRL) as individuals encounter challenges and develop more sophisticated understandings of the task and content. From a socio-cultural perspective of self-regulation, we examine the transition of self-regulatory control from teacher to graduate student during naturalistic instructional conferences. Three goals included (a) examining teacher–student dialogue about a complex task to see if fading actually occurs, (b) examining whether support and fading of support are calibrated to specific phases of the self-regulatory process at a given point in time, and (c) examining techniques used for scaffolding and fading scaffolding directed toward specific phases and facets (behavioral, cognitive, metacognitive and motivational) of the self-regulatory cycle. Findings support a socio-cultural perspective of SRL demonstrating a transition from teacher to student regulation across phases and facets of SRL. The paper concludes with an examination of how our findings can inform the design of computer-based scaffolds that can support SRL.     

Impact of a statewide home visiting program to prevent child abuse

OBJECTIVES: To assess the impact of a voluntary, paraprofessional home visiting program in preventing child maltreatment and reducing the multiple, malleable psychosocial risks for maltreatment for which families had been targeted. METHODS: This collaborative, experimental study focused on 6 Healthy Families Alaska (HFAK) programs; 325 families were enrolled in 2000-2001, randomized to intervention and control groups, and interviewed to measure baseline attributes. Follow-up data were collected when children were 2 years old (85% follow-up rate). Outcomes included maltreatment reports, measures of potential maltreatment and parental risks, for example, poor mental health, substance use, and partner violence. HFAK records were reviewed to measure home visiting services. Home visitors were surveyed to measure perceived effectiveness and training adequacy. RESULTS: Parental risks were common at baseline, and one-sixth of families had a substantiated child protective services report in the child's first 2 years of life. There was no overall program effect on maltreatment reports, and most measures of potential maltreatment. Home visited mothers reported using mild forms of physical discipline less often than control mothers. The groups were similar in their use of more severe forms of physical discipline. There was no program impact on parental risks. There was no impact on outcomes for families with a 'high dose' of home visiting. Home visitors often failed to address parental risks and seldom linked families with community resources. Contradictions in the model compromised effectiveness. CONCLUSIONS: The program did not prevent child maltreatment, nor reduce the parental risks that had made families eligible for service. Research is needed to develop and test strategies to improve the effectiveness of home visiting.     

The Effect of School Culture on Science Education at an Ideologically Innovative Elementary Magnet School: An Ethnographic Case Study

This ethnographic case study investigated the science practices of teachers at one public elementary magnet school in light of how school culture influenced science curriculum design and instruction. The purpose of the study was to address how school culture impacted the school??s overall treatment of science as a viable content area. Key informant teachers were interviewed to explore their personal beliefs and values, teaching, access to materials, and views of the adopted integrated thematic curriculum model and magnet structure. The resulting data, triangulated with informal observation and artifact collection, were analyzed using a theoretical framework that emphasized five interdependent school culture indicators (values, beliefs, practices, materials, and problems). Findings suggest that the school??s culture adversely influenced the treatment of science.     

Using the Blended Learning Approach in a Quantitative Literacy Course

The efforts to improve the quantitative reasoning (quantitative literacy) skills of college students in the United States have been gaining momentum in recent years. At the same time, the blended learning approach to course delivery has gained in popularity, promising better learning with flexible modalities and pace. This paper presents the results of an exploratory study that compares student learning outcomes and student attitudes over several semesters of blended versus traditional delivery in the upper-division quantitative literacy course at Point Loma Nazarene University.     

Aerobic exercise and type a behaviour

The Type A behaviour pattern is a well‐documented, if controversial, risk factor for coronary heart disease. Surprisingly, relatively little work has been reported on ways of modifying this behaviour pattern. Aerobic exercise, with its demonstrated benefits for both cardiovascular reactivity and psychological ‘well‐being’, is a promising treatment. The literature is reviewed and recommendations are made for practical applications and future research.     

Who's Responsible for the Digital Divide? Public Perceptions and Policy Implications

Addressing the reasons for—and the solutions to—the “digital divide” has been on the public agenda since the emergence of the Internet. However, the term has meant quite different things, depending on the audience and the context, and these competing interpretations may in fact orient toward different policy outcomes. The goals of this article are twofold. First, the authors unpack the term “digital divide” and examine how it has been deployed and interpreted across a range of academic and policy discourses. Second, through a framing experiment embedded within a nationally representative survey, the authors demonstrate how presenting respondents with two different conceptual frames of the digital divide may lead to different perceptions of who is most accountable for addressing the issue. From this, they discuss the dynamic relationship between the construction and communication of policy discourse and the public understanding of the digital divide, as well as implications for effective communication about the digital divide and information and communication technology policy to the general public.