Database publishing statistics

The database industry was initiated in the early 1970s by the abstracting and indexing (A&I) or secondary publishers as they converted their print products to computer-readable form. In the 1980s a number of primary publishers followed suit and introduced the first full-text databases—first on magnetic tapes and then on CD-ROMs. CD-ROM was responsible for accelerating the growth of full-text databases. The majority of the early databases were produced by government and not-for-profit organizations. In the mid-1980s the commercial sector started large-scale production of databases and now produces the majority of all publicly available databases. This paper traces the growth of the computer-readable database industry from the 1970s to the present.     

Reflection as a core student learning activity in higher education - Insights from nearly two decades of academic development

ABSTRACT

Experiential learning (EL) has great potential to prepare students to work on interdisciplinary and global challenges across traditional boundaries, as well as support them in the development of reflective skills. In this study, we explore reflection as a central element for EL in the university wide interdisciplinary course Experts in Teamwork (EiT). Based upon 17 years of experience with the development of EiT, perspectives from the literature, and critically analyzing current practices, we describe two key findings from this ongoing exploration: the need to develop a framework for such a course and the need for training of teaching staff.     

Using the Sociology of Associations to Rethink STEM Education

Using three constructs taken from Latour's 2005 book, Reassembling the Social, we consider our work in 2 contexts that were part of a project to support science teachers working with English learners: an 8th-grade physical science class in a summer science enrichment academy, and a 6th-grade Earth science class in a public middle school. We utilize Latour's constructs of (a) group formation, (b) mediators and intermediaries, and (c) traces of intentionality to interpret the interactions that occur in these spaces. We analyze these interactions to make a broader argument about the limitations of improvement science perspectives that are increasingly influential in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education research in the U.S. context.     

Child‐rearing practices and children's communicative interactions in a village in Botswana

Increasingly, research is indicating the need to consider language development in the particular cultural, socio‐economic and child‐rearing context in which it is occurring. The observations in this paper, conducted over a period of nine months while the first author lived with a family in a village in Botswana, highlight the need for a more thorough understanding of the ‘local’ child‐rearing practices and the nature of typically developing children's communicative interactions. Mothers' orientation towards interacting with their babies, as well as the interaction style with their young children, is described. Implications for further research are discussed.     

Building Instructional Leaders’ Capacity to Deliver Constructive Feedback to Teachers

The aim of this action research study was to enhance the instructional leadership capacity of aspiring school leaders, through a practical learning experience. The participants observed classes, collected classroom-based data, prepared and delivered written constructive feedback to teachers. Findings suggest that aspiring school leaders need to develop a knowledge foundation related to quality instruction, teachers respond in a positive way and appreciate the feedback offered, constructive feedback has potential to guide teachers’ professional development, aspiring instructional leaders must be professional as they deliver feedback, and schools need to set up system for the effective delivery of constructive feedback to teachers so that teaching and learning excellence can be achieved.     

Framing climate change communication to prompt individual and collective action among adolescents from agricultural communities

Climate communication research suggests strategic message framing may help build public consensus on climate change causes, risks and solutions. However, few have investigated how framing applies to adolescents. Similarly, little research has focused on agricultural audiences, who are among the most vulnerable to and least accepting of climate change. Among 950 high school agriculture students in North Carolina, we found agriculture and environment framing of climate change, but not community and health frames, elicited feelings of worry, and these together with community frames elicited hope. Further, students feeling more worry were more supportive of individual and collective action. Those accepting climate change and females had more emotive responses and higher support for all action measures, and acceptance of human causes predicted more worry and support for collective action. We find these results encouraging as agriculture teachers likely employ agriculture and environment frames when following best teaching practices.     

The Relationship Between Teacher Beliefs and Practices, and Head Start Classroom Quality

Within early childhood research considerable emphasis has been placed on examining teachers' beliefs about developmentally appropriate practices in the classroom. The purpose of this study was to describe Head Start teacher beliefs and self-reported practices as they relate to classroom quality and examine the potential differences in the beliefs of those teaching in high, average, and low quality classrooms. Scores on two subscales, appropriate and inappropriate, for both self-reported beliefs and practices were used as the dependent variables. Analysis of variance was used to examine differences between the self-reported beliefs and practices of teachers in classrooms of differing quality. The results for both the appropriate beliefs and appropriate activities subscales were statistically nonsignificant. However, the results for the two inappropriate subscales were statistically significant. These results would seem to indicate that teachers in the low quality group tended to respond more favorably to statements about inappropriate beliefs and practices than did those teachers in either the high or average quality classrooms. These findings provide important information about offering professional development opportunities for Head Start teachers that focus on providing theoretical perspectives on children's development and instructional practices aimed at changing beliefs about teaching practices.     

Children''s Sex-related Stereotyping of Colors

4 studies addressed children's sex-related stereotyping of colors. Study 1 examined preschoolers' awareness of color stereotypes. Children were presented with 6 toy animals, identical except for color, and were asked to identify the sex of each animal and to select a favorite. Both sex identifications and toy preferences were highly consistent with adult color stereotypes. Study 2 demonstrated that clothing color influences preschool, kindergarten, and first-grade children's impressions of other children whose sex is known. Studies 3 and 4 indicated that the effects of stereotyping based on color are modest in comparison to the effects of stereotyping based directly on sex. In addition, color stereotyping did not show the regular age-related increase that is characteristic of sex-role stereotyping.     

Assessment of progressively delayed prompts on guided skill learning in rats

We examined the controlling factors that allow a prompted skill to become autonomous in a discrete-trials implementation of Touchette’s (1971) progressively delayed prompting procedure, but our subjects were rats rather than children with disabilities. Our prompted skill was a left-right lever-press sequence guided by two panel lights. We manipulated (a) the effectiveness of the guiding lights prompt and (b) the presence or absence of a progressively delayed prompt in four groups of rats. The less effective prompt yielded greater autonomy than the more effective prompt. The ability of the progressively delayed prompt procedure to produce behavioral autonomy depended upon characteristics of the obtained delay (trial duration) rather than on the pending prompt. Sequence accuracy was reliably higher in unprompted trials than in prompted trials, and this difference was maintained in the 2 groups that received no prompts but yielded equivalent trial durations. Overall sequence accuracy decreased systematically as trial duration increased. Shorter trials and their greater accuracy were correlated with higher overall reinforcement rates for faster responding. Waiting for delayed prompts (even if no actual prompt was provided) was associated with lower overall reinforcement rate by decreasing accuracy and by lengthening trials. These findings extend results from previous studies regarding the controlling factors in delayed prompting procedures applied to children with disabilities.