Order Matters: Sequencing Scale-Realistic Versus Simplified Models to Improve Science Learning

Teachers choosing between different models to facilitate students’ understanding of an abstract system must decide whether to adopt a model that is simplified and striking or one that is realistic and complex. Only recently have instructional technologies enabled teachers and learners to change presentations swiftly and to provide for learning based on multiple models, thus giving rise to questions about the order of presentation. Using disjoint individual growth modeling to examine the learning of astronomical concepts using a simulation of the solar system on tablets for 152 high school students (age 15), the authors detect both a model effect and an order effect in the use of the Orrery, a simplified model that exaggerates the scale relationships, and the True-to-scale, a proportional model that more accurately represents the realistic scale relationships. Specifically, earlier exposure to the simplified model resulted in diminution of the conceptual gain from the subsequent realistic model, but the realistic model did not impede learning from the following simplified model.     

Criteria for the selection,evaluation and application of traditional knowledge in contemporary health practice,education, research and policy: A systematic review

Background

Traditional and complementary medicine (T&CM) is highly utilised and draws on traditional knowledge (TK) as evidence, raising a need to explore how TK is currently used.

Objectives

Examine criteria used to select, evaluate and apply TK in contemporary health contexts.

Methods

Systematic search utilising academic databases (AMED , CINAHL , MEDLINE , EMBASE , SSCI , ProQuest Dissertations Theses Global ), Trip clinical database and Google search engine . Citations and reference lists of included articles were searched. Reported use of TK in contemporary settings was mapped against a modified ‘Exploration-Preparation-Implementation-Sustainment’ (EPIS) implementation framework.

Results

From the 54 included articles, EPIS mapping found TK is primarily used in the Exploration phase of implementation (n = 54), with little reporting on Preparation (n = 16), Implementation process (n = 6) or Sustainment (n = 4) of TK implementation. Criteria used in selection, evaluation and application of TK commonly involved validation with other scientific/traditional evidence sources, or assessment of factors influencing knowledge translation.

Discussion

One of the difficulties in validation of TK (as a co-opted treatment) against other evidence sources is comparing like with like as TK often takes a holistic approach. This complicates further planning and evaluation of implementation.

Conclusion

This review identifies important criteria for evaluating current and potential contemporary use of TK, identifying gaps in research and practice for finding, appraising and applying relevant TK studies for clinical care.     

Computer‐assisted tutoring: Teaching letter sounds to kindergarten students using incremental rehearsal

The profound consequences of early reading failure necessitate the provision of early literacy interventions to struggling readers. Many schools struggle, however, to address early reading difficulties because of insufficient human resources. Accordingly, the present study investigated the effectiveness of incremental rehearsal (IR) as a Tier 3 intervention to improve letter sound knowledge and fluency with four kindergarten students. Four participants not making adequate progress toward letter sound fluency benchmarks were selected for an IR intervention targeting letter sounds that was delivered via a computerized tutoring program. All four students improved their letter sound knowledge and fluency. Overall, results indicated that a computer‐aided IR intervention is an effective, efficient, and acceptable intervention. Implications for research and practice are discussed. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Explaining Chinese students' academic motivation: filial piety and self‐determination

This study investigated the relevance of filial piety and the three components of self‐determination, namely, competence, autonomy and relatedness, on academic motivation among Hong Kong Chinese secondary school students. A total of 461 students completed the questionnaire which consisted of five scales assessing attitudes towards filial piety, perceived scholastic competence, perceived autonomous support from parents, relatedness with parents and academic motivation. By using structural equation modelling, a predictive model of academic motivation, with filial piety, competence, autonomy, relatedness, age and gender as antecedents, was developed. All variables explained the prediction of academic motivation, with competence acted as the strongest effect, followed by relatedness and filial piety. The findings highlight the important contribution of the three self‐determination theory (SDT) components and the value of filial piety for Chinese adolescents' academic motivation. The implications of the findings for future research and educational practice were discussed.     

Gendered communities of practice and the construction of masculinities in Turkish physical education

This paper analyses the construction of masculinities in Turkish physical education through Carrie Paechter's conceptualisation of gendered communities of practice. According to Paechter, educational communities of practice operate as sites of gendered activity. Membership within these communities contributes to the construction of a gendered identity. We suggest that this model is useful for conceptualising how Turkish young men come to engage with physical education classes which can be considered as masculine communities of practice. In one Turkish secondary class, we found that football was the most valued practice, determining boundaries of participation and differentiating levels of participation in the learning community. Young men who were immersed and excelled in football took up ‘full’ learning trajectories and became accepted as ‘fully masculine’ while those who were uninterested or non‐competitive in football took up marginalised learning trajectories. We suggest that these diverse learning trajectories came to reflect differentiated versions of masculinity.     

Efforts to Address the Aging Academic Workforce: Assessing Progress Through a Three-Stage Model of Institutional Change

The aging of the academic workforce is becoming more relevant to policy discussions in higher education. Yet there has been no formal, large-scale analysis of institutional efforts to develop policies and programs for aging employees. We fielded a representative survey of human resource specialists at 187 colleges and universities across the United States and found that most institutions did not identify the aging workforce as a primary concern. Still, three out of every eight campuses had made some effort to implement age-targeted policies and programs; and these efforts were more likely to occur at institutions with a greater number of employees and with human resources staff who had training in issues related to an aging workforce.     

Seeing Like a State: How Educational Policy Misreads What is Important in Schools

In this study, we examine how the standardizing effects of federal and state education policies in the United States reflect particular ways of understanding the structure and function of education and schooling. This understanding impacts how policies affect schools and those who work and depend upon them. We argue that the disparity between how policy makers see and control schools and how those who live and work in them experiencing this pressure leads to serious problems based on what we argue are the misunderstandings of the needs of local school communities. Standardization attempts to bring a simplistic and linear map to an intrinsically complex ecology, resulting in needless stress, distraction, and dehumanization in schools.     

Young Children's Self‐Concepts Include Representations of Abstract Traits and the Global Self

There is debate about the abstractness of young children's self‐concepts—specifically, whether they include representations of (a) general traits and abilities and (b) the global self. Four studies (N = 176 children aged 4–7) suggested these representations are indeed part of early self‐concepts. Studies 1 and 2 reexamined prior evidence that young children cannot represent traits and abilities. The results suggested that children's seemingly immature judgments in previous studies were due to peculiarities of the task context not the inadequacy of children's self‐concepts. Similarly, Studies 3 and 4 revealed that, contrary to claims of immaturity in reasoning about the global self, young children update their global self‐evaluations in flexible, context‐sensitive ways. This evidence suggests continuity in the structure of self‐concepts across childhood.     

Relationship between language proficiency and growth during reading interventions

Many English language learners (ELLs) experience difficulties with basic English reading due in part to low language proficiency. The authors examined the relationship between English language proficiency and growth during reading interventions for ELLs. A total of 201 second- and third-grade students with a variety of home languages participated. The students were identified as needing a targeted intervention, because scores on the fall oral reading fluency screening measure fell below the benchmark criterion. Thus, all participating students received reading interventions approximately four times each week throughout the school year. Results indicated that those students identified in the lowest English proficiency stage on the Assessing Comprehension and Communication in English State-to-State (ACCESS) made the highest growth as indicated in the spring benchmark assessment, and the ACCESS score added negligible variance beyond baseline reading skills. Implications for practice and research are discussed.     

Mathematical Language in Early Childhood Settings: What Really Counts?

Previous research indicates that, prior to entering kindergarten, most children are exposed to some type of formal or direct mathematics instruction. However, the type of mathematical language and the frequency of its use vary greatly in terms of its emphasis on academic content. This study investigated the types and frequency of mathematical language used in six classrooms for children ranging in age from birth to five years. The study site was a quality early childhood setting at a state university in Southwest. Results indicated that utterances pertaining to spatial relations exceeded any other type of mathematical concepts by approximately twice the frequency. In addition, there was a paucity of higher level mathematical concepts observed. These data suggest a need for enhanced attention to higher level mathematical concepts explored in early childhood settings.