The influence of race–ethnicity and physical activity levels on elementary school achievement

The authors used structural equation modeling to map the relationships between student race–ethnicity via the mediating variable physical activity on English language arts (ELA) and mathematics achievement among 964 fourth- and fifth-grade students. The students attended a New York City Metropolitan area school district and completed the Physical Activity Questionnaire for Older Children, which measured weekly average activity levels. Confirmatory factor analysis validated the use of this instrument. Physical activity had a significant, substantive effect on both ELA and mathematics achievement for students, but was most pronounced among White students on ELA and among Black students on mathematics. Hispanic ethnicity had significant direct and indirect negative associations with ELA and mathematics achievement via their decreased physical activity levels relative to White and Black students. These findings help confirm the important link between physical activity and academic achievement and the need to foster more healthy physical activities for students of all races and ethnicities.     

Lexical and nonlexical processes in the skilled reading and spelling of Persian

The objective of the present study was to examine the contribution of lexical and nonlexical processes to skilled reading and spelling in Persian. Persian is a mixed orthography that allows one to study within one language characteristics typically found in shallow orthographies as well as those found in deeper orthographies. 61 senior high-school students (mean age = 17; 8, SD = 4 months) attending schools in Iran were tested on reading and spelling of words and nonwords. The word stimuli differed in terms of reading transparency (transparent when all phonemes have corresponding letters vs. opaque when short vowels were not marked with a letter) and spelling polygraphy (nonpolygraphic phonemes vs. polygraphic phonemes). The nonwords were transparent and nonpolygraphic. The reading results showed that both transparent and opaque words were read faster than nonwords, and that transparent words were read faster than opaque words. Moreover, both transparent and opaque words were affected by word frequency. These findings suggest that skilled readers of Persian relied on lexical processes to read words. In contrast, the spelling results failed to show a word-advantage effect suggesting that skilled spellers of Persian rely on nonlexical processes to spell words. Moreover, orthographic complexity also affected spelling. Specifically, nonpolygraphic words were spelled faster than polygraphic words for both transparent and opaque words. Taken together, the findings showed that skilled reading and spelling in Persian rely on different underlying processes.     

Correspondence between rats and humans in the utilization of retrospective and prospective codes

Rats were presented with 2, 4, 6, 8, or 10 spatial locations on a 12-arm radial maze and on a subsequent test were required to choose between a place previously visited and a novel place. The animals were reinforced for entering the novel spatial location. During learning, animals showed an increase in errors as the number of places to be remembered increased from 2 to 8, indicating the use of a retrospective memory code. These animals also showed a decrease in errors as the number of places to remember increased from 8 to 10, indicating the use of a prospective memory code. In an analogous mnemonic task, college students were presented with 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, or 14 Xs, shown one at a time, marked on a grid of 16 squares. On a subsequent test, the college students were asked to choose between a novel X and one that had appeared previously. Subjects were asked to circle the novel X. On the basis of their verbal reports, the subjects were divided into two groups reflecting different memory coding strategies. The subjects who reported a retrospective coding strategy showed an increase in errors as the list length increased. The subjects who reported a retrospective and prospective strategy showed an initial increase in errors for list lengths of 2 to 8 items followed by a decrease in errors for list lengths of 8 to 14 items. The results are interpreted to reflect a correspondence between animals and humans in the use of coding strategies aimed at facilitating memory performance for long lists of information.     

Modeling Spelling Acquisition: The Effect of Orthographic Regularities on Silent-Letter Representations

In this report, we propose a model of spelling acquisition inspired by statistical learning and a frame-like model of orthographic representations: the fuzzy representation model. To provide an initial test of the model’s predictions for inconsistent words, 107 French-speaking children in Grades 1 to 3 were asked to spell words ending with a silent letter. Half of the words ended with the frequent silent t and half with the less frequent silent d. As predicted, children accurately spelled more t- than d-words. Most errors were omissions and substitutions of the silent letter. Consistent with statistical learning, there was some evidence that children used the preceding orthographic context when making substitution errors. The proportion of omissions, however, was not consistent with the statistical properties of French. These findings are discussed in light of the fuzzy representation model, whereby inconsistencies in words are more likely to be underspecified, if represented at all.     

The anonymous reviewer: the relationship between perceived expertise and the perceptions of peer feedback in higher education

Peer feedback often has positive effects on student learning processes and outcomes. However, students may not always be honest when giving and receiving peer feedback as they are likely to be biased due to peer relations, peer characteristics and personal preferences. To alleviate these biases, anonymous peer feedback was investigated in the current research. Research suggests that the expertise of the reviewer influences the perceived usefulness of the feedback. Therefore, this research investigated the relationship between expertise and the perceptions of peer feedback in a writing assignment of 41 students in higher education with a multilevel analysis. The results show that students perceive peer feedback as more adequate when knowing the reviewer perceives him/herself to have a high level of expertise. Furthermore, the results suggest that students who received feedback from a peer who perceives their expertise as closer to the reviewee’s own perceived expertise was more willing to improve his or her own assignment.     

Evaluating admission criteria effects for under-represented groups

The effects that admission criteria may have for under-represented groups are an important concern for programs seeking to improve access to post-secondary education. Using data from a large preservice teacher education program in the Canadian province of Ontario, we demonstrate two approaches to evaluating the effects of admission criteria. The first approach uses survival analysis to compare the effects of minimum admission criteria for determining the admissibility of applicants. The second approach compares the actual admission decisions with the decisions that would have been made using eight alternative sets of rules with varying emphases on academic preparation, ratings of applicants’ essays and applicants’ demographic information. Both approaches offer insights into the roles of specific admission criteria in addressing under-representation.     

Ethnic diversity in schools and bi-ethnic Dutch students’ educational outcomes and social functioning

The present study examined the relationship between ethnic diversity in school and educational outcomes, social-emotional functioning, and citizenship competences for bi-ethnic students. The focus of this study is bi-ethnic children with 1 non-migrant parent (with 2 non-migrant grandparents) and 1 migrant parent (with 2 foreign grandparents). It was found that the educational outcomes, social-emotional functioning, and citizenship competences of bi-ethnic students were not related to ethnic diversity. We also focused on the relationship between ethnic diversity in school and educational outcomes, social-emotional functioning, and citizenship competences for mono-ethnic students to determine whether this relationship is different for bi-ethnic and mono-ethnic students. Whereas the relationship was not significant for mono-ethnic minority students, mono-ethnic majority students’ educational outcomes, social-emotional functioning, and citizenship competences were related to a school’s ethnic diversity. This study indicates that the outcomes and social functioning of bi-ethnic students are not related to attending an ethnically diverse school.     

Exploring the links between students' engagement in cooperative learning, their goal preferences and appraisals of instructional conditions in the classroom

Previous research suggested that social support, belongingness and mastery goals were related to the quality of cooperative learning (CL). In this in-depth study we explored how to differentiate between four effective CL teams and four ineffective CL teams, in terms of students' goals and perceptions of instructional conditions. Apart from the earlier mentioned goals we found students' preference for social responsibility, learning for a certificate and entertainment goals to be salient in the CL setting. Mastery and social responsibility goals were prevalent in effective teams, while learning for a certificate and entertainment goals were prevalent in ineffective teams. Moreover, the type of task, group composition and teacher support were mentioned as reasons for effective or ineffective CL.     

CRIS Power! Taming the Reporting Requirements of Open Access

In the United Kingdom, librarians are adapting their roles to support researchers with the Open Access publication of their research in a post-Finch world, including grappling with reporting requirements at the institutional level. Particularly challenging is the need to provide high-level analysis for strategy makers while also extracting low-level detail for service provision and reporting in order to meet the needs of stakeholders across the university and numerous national external bodies. David Walters of Brunel University London describes how the library maximized its reporting capability by using the research management information in the university’s instance of Symplectic Elements, along with other Open Access data sources to establish the effective management of the institution’s Open Access publications data. Monitoring institutional data in real-time is guiding the development of library services and has allowed library staff to tailor appropriate training to researchers in very different disciplines.     

Solving math problems: Where and why does the solution process go astray?

This article describes a model of adaptable learning which takes account of the interaction between affective and cognitive variables in learning situations. In addition, an instrument for measuring the relevant aspects of this model is introduced. We present some initial results of the application of this instrument in the domain of mathematics learning by students in the final year of primary education. Emphasis is placed on differences between boys and girls.