University Students’ Perceptions of and Attitudes Toward (Online) Peer Assessment

The use of peer assessment (PA) as an alternative form of evaluation method is reported to be helpful in learning and is increasingly being adopted in higher education settings. Through collecting data from 280 university students in Taiwan, a 20-item instrument was developed to investigate university students’ attitudes toward and perceptions of PA and online PA. Four subscales, Positive Attitudes, Online Attitudes, Understanding-and-Action, and Negative Attitudes, were extracted and reliabilities were calculated. Results revealed that participating students held positive attitudes toward the use of PA activities, but they viewed online PA as a technical tool to facilitate assessment processes, rather than as a learning aid. Male students had more positive attitudes toward PA than females did, and students with previous PA experiences had less negative attitudes toward PA. A majority of these students suggested that the PA score should be counted as a small part of the total course grade, and there was an effect of the perceived importance of PA score on students’ attitudes toward these four subscales.     

Digital play: a new classification

Abstract

This paper draws on an ESRC-funded study of play and creativity in preschool-aged children’s use of apps in the UK. The main objectives of the study were to collect information about access to and use of apps in the home, establish the most popular apps and identify the features of those apps that are successful in promoting play and creativity. A mixed-method approach was used to collect data, including video filming of children using the most popular apps. In identifying play types that emerged in the analysis of data, the team utilised an established taxonomy, which outlines sixteen play types. This taxonomy was reviewed and adapted to analyse data from the project relating to digital play. Through this process, an additional type of play, transgressive play, was identified and added to the taxonomy. The paper outlines the implications of the revised taxonomy for future studies of play.     

An Inexpensive Gel Electrophoresis-Based Polymerase Chain Reaction Method for Quantifying mRNA Levels

In order to engage their students in a core methodology of the new genomics era, an ever-increasing number of faculty at primarily undergraduate institutions are gaining access to microarray technology. Their students are conducting successful microarray experiments designed to address a variety of interesting questions. A next step in these teaching and research laboratory projects is often validation of the microarray data for individual selected genes. In the research community, this usually involves the use of real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR), a technology that requires instrumentation and reagents that are prohibitively expensive for most undergraduate institutions. The results of a survey of faculty teaching undergraduates in classroom and research settings indicate a clear need for an alternative approach. We sought to develop an inexpensive and student-friendly gel electrophoresis-based PCR method for quantifying messenger RNA (mRNA) levels using undergraduate researchers as models for students in teaching and research laboratories. We compared the results for three selected genes measured by microarray analysis, real-time PCR, and the gel electrophoresis-based method. The data support the use of the gel electrophoresis-based method as an inexpensive, convenient, yet reliable alternative for quantifying mRNA levels in undergraduate laboratories.     

Using ACRL's framework to support the evolving needs of today's college students

The threshold concepts of the Association of College and Research Libraries’ new framework dovetail with rapidly evolving trends in higher education. Adapting our library instruction classes for the new framework will require greater partnership with the teaching faculty and information technologists, as well as incorporating resources beyond our tried-and-true periodical databases. Having ready access to large sets of data, online primary resources, and multimedia files will be excellent tools for librarians to use both in teaching the threshold concepts and in preparing our students for research in a postacademic career.     

Can serious reading disorders be investigated and diagnosed by secondary school SEN staff?

By the time they transfer to secondary school, most young people who have serious obstacles to becoming literate will have been identified. The necessary procedures will have been completed by school and LEA staff to obtain a statement of SEND or EHC plan. Not all children are this fortunate however. Financial constraints, home, family and sometimes school circumstances may result in a child being overlooked. This article discusses the feasibility of conducting a detailed analysis of a child’s difficulties in Year 7 of the comprehensive school.     

Effects of Context on Students’ Molecular‐Level Ideas

In the studies reported here, we investigate the effects of context on students’ molecular‐level ideas regarding aqueous solutions. During one‐on‐one interviews, 19 general chemistry students recruited from a two‐year community college and a research university in the United States were asked to describe their molecular‐level ideas about various aqueous solutions in the contexts of conductivity and boiling‐point (BP) elevation. Results indicate that context is important for determining the molecular‐level ideas that students express. Specifically, students were significantly more likely to draw pictures of aqueous NaCl as separated ions in the conductivity context compared with the BP elevation context, for which they more often drew “molecular” NaCl. This phenomenon was particularly striking because the students drew molecular‐level NaCl(aq) pictures in the BP elevation context just minutes after completing the identical task in the context of conductivity. Additional data from laboratory assignments and course examinations further indicate that, even if students are able to correctly represent the molecular level in some contexts, their knowledge may remain inert in slightly different contexts. The results emphasise the importance of the context dependence of molecular‐level ideas and have implications for designing instruction in which students develop robust, coherent understandings that they can apply appropriately in new contexts.     

A National Profile of Teacher Education Faculty: The Construction of an Online Survey

The purposes of this study were to examine the test-retest reliability of the PACER 20-m, multistage shuttle run and to examine the equivalence reliability of the mile run/walk and PACER from both a criterion-referenced and norm-referenced framework. All fourth- and fifth-grade children (N = 266) from one public school were administered two trials of the PACER and one trial of the mile run/walk (mean age = 10.5 ± 0.5 years). The percent of boys that passed the PACER (68%) was similar to the percent of boys that passed the mile run/walk (66%); however, the percent of girls that passed the PACER (96%) far exceeded the percent of girls that passed the mile run/walk (65%). Criterion-referenced reliability was estimated with proportion of agreement (Pa) and modified kappa (Kq) using FITNESSGRAM® (Cooper Institute for Aerobics Research, 1992) standards. Pa = .97 (Kq = .94) for girls and Pa = .82 (Kq = .65) for boys. The high level of agreement for girls was found because of the low criterion-referenced standards, which allowed 99 of 104 girls to pass both trials of the PACER. Criterion-referenced equivalence reliability of the mile run/walk and PACER was moderate for boys (Pa = .83, Kq = .65) and low for girls (Pa = .66, Kq = .33). The low level of classification agreement for girls was also explained by the low standards for the PACER for this age group. Thirty-four percent of the girls that passed the PACER failed the mile run/walk. Norm-referenced test-retest reliability of the PACER was estimated with an intraclass correlation (R_xx) from a one-way analysis of variance model. Reliability estimates were high for two trials (R_xx = .89 for boys and R_xx = .89 for girls) and acceptable for one trial (R_xx = .80 for boys and R_xx = .79 for girls). Pearson correlations between the mile run/walk and PACER were moderate (-.59≤r≤-.67). The moderate correlations between the mile run/walk and PACER and the low criterion-referenced...