Document familiarity, relevance, and bradford''s law: The getty online searching project report no. 5

The Getty Online Searching Project studied the end-user searching behavior of 27 humanities scholars over a 2-year period. Surprising results were that a number of scholars anticipated—and found—that they were already familiar with a very high percentage of the records their searches retrieved. Previous familiarity with documents has been mentioned in discussion of relevance and information retrieval (IR) theory, but it has generally not been considered a significant factor. However, these experiences indicate that high document familiarity can be a significant factor in searching. Some implications are drawn regarding the impact of high document familiarity on relevance and IR theory. Finally, some speculations are made regarding high document familiarity and Bradford's Law.     

Can generating representations enhance learning with dynamic visualizations?

This study explores the impact of asking middle school students to generate drawings of their ideas about chemical reactions on integrated understanding. Students explored atomic interactions during hydrogen combustion using a dynamic visualization. The generation group drew their ideas about how the reaction takes place at the molecular level. The interaction group conducted multiple experiments with the visualization by varying the amount of energy provided to ignite the reaction. The generation group integrated more ideas about chemical reactions and made more precise interpretations of the visualization than the interaction group. Embedded assessments show that generation motivated students to interpret the visualization carefully and led to more productive explanations about ideas represented in the dynamic visualization. In contrast, the interaction group was less successful in linking the visualization to underlying concepts and observable phenomena and wrote less detailed explanations. The study suggests that drawing is a promising way to help students interpret complex visualizations and integrate information. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 48: 1177–1198, 2011     

The Association Between Adverse Childhood Experiences and Child Telomere Length: Examining Self-Regulation as a Behavioral Mediator

Childhood adversity is linked to shortened telomere length (TL), but behavioral indicators of telomere attrition remain unclear. This study examined the association between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and child TL, and if ACEs were indirectly associated with TL through children’s self-regulatory abilities (i.e., effortful control and self-control). Hypotheses were tested using national data from teachers, parents, and their children (N = 2,527; M_age = 9.35, SD = .36 years). More ACEs were uniquely associated with short TL, and low self-control mediated the association between more ACEs and short TL. While longitudinal studies are needed to strengthen claims of causation, this study identifies a pathway from ACEs to TL that should be explored further.     

Knowledge construction and diverging thinking in elementary & advanced mathematics

This paper begins by considering the cognitive mechanisms available to individuals which enable them to operate successfully in different parts of the mathematics curriculum. We base our theoretical development on fundamental cognitive activities, namely, perception of the world, action upon it and reflection on both perception and action. We see an emphasis on one or more of these activities leading not only to different kinds of mathematics, but also to a spectrum of success and failure depending on the nature of the focus in the individual activity. For instance, geometry builds from the fundamental perception of figures and their shape, supported by action and reflection to move from practical measurement to theoretical deduction and euclidean proof. Arithmetic, on the other hand, initially focuses on the action of counting and later changes focus to the use of symbols for both the process of counting and the concept of number. The evidence that we draw together from a number of studies on children's arithmetic shows a divergence in performance. The less successful seem to focus more on perceptions of their physical activities than on the flexible use of symbol as process and concept appropriate for a conceptual development in arithmetic and algebra. Advanced mathematical thinking introduces a new feature in which concept definitions are formulated and formal concepts are constructed by deduction. We show how students cope with the transition to advanced mathematical thinking in different ways leading once more to a diverging spectrum of success.This revised version was published online in September 2005 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

图档博领域的智慧数据及其在数字人文研究中的角色

近年来,随着“大数据”的飞速发展,一个重要却鲜为人知的概念“智慧数据”应运而生,智慧数据已经并将持续在数字人文领域发挥巨大作用。图书馆、档案馆和博物馆（简称“图档博”）所拥有的数据资源是数据时代各个领域,尤其是数字人文领域的无价之宝。如果采纳大数据的模式和思维方式、智慧数据的实现方式,以非结构化数据到结构化数据的组织和整合过程为手段,产生机器可理解并可采取行动的、一源多用、高效率运作的数据,图档博以及相关行业将携带这些丰富的资源进入数字时代的主流。本文在阐释智慧数据的概念、方法论的转变、数字人文及其与图书馆关系的基础上,通过一些范例来展示信息服务的新思路,特别是针对文本型和非文本型原始数据的结构化和语义化处理新方法,由此证明:在语义网和大数据时代,图档博机构不仅是智慧数据的提供者也是直接受益者,智慧数据建设不仅能有效促进数字人文的发展,也将成为图档博机构最重要的新兴工作。     

The accuracy of teacher predictions of student reward preferences

This study investigated the accuracy of teacher predictions of student reward preferences on the Children's Reinforcement Survey Schedules. Student-participants were 49 5th and 6th graders. Correlation coefficients calculated for each student-teacher pair indicated that teachers were only moderately successful in selecting rein-forcers consistent with individual student self-selections. Teachers as a group predicted the reward preferences of students as a group with a high degree of accuracy, however. The correlation between teacher selections and the reward preferences of girls was higher than that between teacher selections and the preferences of boys as a group. Comparison of teacher and student choices suggested that teachers tended to overrate the popularity of certain classroom-related rewards. Findings suggest that students need to be involved in selecting their own rewards when planning behavioral interventions, and that for some students, particularly boys, rewards available outside the classroom may be most effective in changing behavior.