A naturalistic study of children and their parents in family learning courses in science

During the 1960s and 1970s a number of family learning projects evolved, most of which focused on pre-schoolers and their parents. The goal of some of these programs was to provide enjoyable, structured experiences in which parents and their children learned together. Recently, a number of institutions have been sponsoring enrichment science classes or learning experiences for parents and older children. The study described here is based on a project funded by the National Science Foundation (DISE No. 07872) which was attempting to show that it was possible to increase scientific literacy of two different age groups by simultaneously exposing parents and their middle school children to short courses in science. The project is an outgrowth of a study previously reported (Gennaro, Bullock, & Alden, 1980) carried out at the Minnesota Zoological Gardens. The study is based on data obtained during the first two years of the project and used various data gathering procedures such as the use of questionnaires, interviews, observations, and cognitive testing. It was found that children register for the courses primarily because of interest in the subject matter of the courses and that parents register because of their desire to nurture the child and the child's interest in the subject matter of the course. Both parents and children made significant gains in learning as measured by subject matter tests. Participants reported that the experience was both enjoyable and valuable. Children's attitudes toward their parents and the course were significantly higher if the children perceived a highly cooperative learning environment with their parents. Parents who scored in the medium or high range on the pretest had significantly more interactions with their children concerning information about course tasks than those who scored low on the pretest.     

Relating self reports of writing behaviour and online task execution using a temporal model

Current theory about writing states that the quality of (meta)cognitive processing (i.e. planning, text production, revising, et cetera) is, at least partly, determined by the temporal distribution of (meta)cognitive activities across task execution. Put simply, the quality of task execution is determined more by when activities are applied than by how often they are applied. Planning and revising are two extreme writing styles, in which (meta)cognitive activities are temporally differently distributed across the writing process. Planners are writers who generate plans before text production. Revisers use text production as a means to arrive at a content plan. The present study investigates the question whether the online (meta)cognitive processing of secondary school students during writing tasks, as measured by think aloud techniques and keystroke logging, can be predicted by their responses to an offline questionnaire which measures to what degree students considered themselves to be planners and revisers. It was expected that different reported writing styles would entail different temporal distributions of six (meta)cognitive activities: reading the assignment, planning, text production, reading own text, evaluating own text and revising. This hypothesis was partly confirmed. The results show that the online temporal distributions of reading the assignment and planning are different for different degrees of reported writing styles. On the basis of these results, the validity of both the questionnaire and the concept of planner and reviser styles are discussed.     

Students’ confidence in their performance judgements: a comparison of different response scales

We report results of two studies on metacognitive accuracy with undergraduate education students. Participating students were asked to judge their personal performance in a multiple-choice exam as well as to state their confidence in their performance judgement (second-order judgement [SOJ]). In each study, we compared four conditions that differed in the type of the presented 5-point confidence scale for SOJs. In Study 1, four bipolar scales with different labels were applied; in Study 2, unipolar and bipolar scales were implemented. The results of Study 1 with N?=?420 students show that undergraduates on average provided accurate performance estimations. However, students were not aware of their judgement accuracy, shown by a low fit of SOJ and judgement accuracy. In addition, the type of provided scale significantly influenced the SOJs. Study 2 with N?=?348 students replicated the findings of the first study and gave further insight into the effects of uni- vs. bipolar response scales.     

Scholarly Productivity Redefined in Counselor Education

In this study, counselor educators responded to a survey about their scholarly productivity over a 3‐year period. Their involvement in 7 scholarly activities is reported by category and by type of institution, tenure status, academic rank, and gender. Using a more comprehensive definition of scholarly productivity, this study documents that counselor educators are involved in a much broader, more diversified spectrum of scholarly activities than prior studies of scholarly productivity have indicated. Implications for tenure and promotion decisions, along with recommendations for training and mentoring of future counselor educators as well as future directions for research, are discussed.     

An evaluation of daylight distribution as an initial preventive conservation measure at two Smithsonian Institution Museums, Washington DC, USA

This paper presents the results of a light levels survey conducted at the Donald W. Reynolds Center for American Art and Portraiture in Washington DC. The museum space is shared by the National Portrait Gallery and the Smithsonian American Art Museum. After six years of extensive renovations, the building reopened to the public in July 1, 2006. The structure was not originally designed to house a museum collection since it contains numerous openings such as windows, doors and skylights, which provide a path for natural radiation to enter the building and come in contact with the artworks. From a preventive conservation standpoint, this is an important problem since sensitive works of art in the collection may be subjected to damage caused by light exposure. Environmental data loggers installed throughout the museum were programmed to take successive measurements every 10 min for 24 h a day, 7 days a week and 52 weeks a year. This light levels assessment started in November 1, 2007 and finished in October 31, 2008. This study presents a new method for determining natural radiation exposures registered in exhibition spaces that rely on both electric lighting and natural lighting, considering the growing trend of using daylight illumination in museums.     

Education the Foundation for Freedom and National Strength

One of the most pressing problems facing the nation today is the need to improve and enlarge our higher education system. Many of our college facilities and faculties are already overburdened, yet the number of students seeking higher education will double in the next decade. This paper points out the steps that must be taken to increase the number of potential teachers and to induce sufficient numbers of them to choose teaching as a career. A greater effort must also be made to see that more of our most able high school graduates have an opportunity to pursue a higher education; at present, one third of the top quarter of our high school graduates do not go on to college. A recent study of Russian education made by the U. S. Office of Education is reported and the relative emphasis which Russia and America are placing on education is discussed. The cost of meeting the increased educational needs in America will be immense by current standards, but the cost of not meeting these needs will be far greater.     

Written artefacts in post-conference feedback sessions: the running commentary as a support for teacher learning

Written artefacts often form a significant part of teacher education activities and play a crucial role in the dialogue between tutor and student teacher in a post-observation feedback session. However, although the dialogue of feedback sessions has been extensively researched, the role of the artefact has been less explored. This research examines how the written artefact of a running commentary guides or constrains the pedagogical conversation between tutor and student teachers, as well as how it represents the power and authority of the tutor and the teacher education establishment. The article concludes with implications for pre-service teacher education practice.