Timing of Homework Completion vs. Performance in General Chemistry

The goal of this study was to investigate the timing of online homework completion and its effects on student performance. Data was collected from two large, first-semester general chemistry sections at a southwestern university. Specifically, this study aims to explore the link between when students complete their homework relative to the date the material was covered in lecture and student performance in that class. Topics covered in the study included VSEPR, Lewis structures, and molecular geometry. Performance was measured by different variables, namely in-class clicker scores (short-term) and exam grade (long-term). Students were divided into three groups: students who completed the relevant homework within 2 days after the lecture (before the next lecture), those who completed the homework 2 to 4 days after the lecture, and students who completed the homework more than 4 days after the material was covered in lecture. The study also took into consideration student reasoning abilities, as measured by the Test of Logical Thinking (TOLT), with a focus on at-risk students (low TOLT students). Results showed promising findings for low TOLT students. Instructors can employ results from this study to help their students better utilize the online homework resources.

     

Assessing Quality in Toddler Classrooms Using the CLASS-Toddler and the ITERS-R

Many very young children attend early care and education programs, but current information about the quality of center-based care for toddlers is scarce. Using 2 observation instruments, the Infant/Toddler Environment Rating Scale–Revised (ITERS-R) and the Classroom Assessment Scoring System, Toddler Version (CLASS-Toddler), 93 child care classrooms for toddlers across the state of North Carolina, representing a range of quality, were assessed to determine overall quality, and associations between observed quality and teachers' ratings of child behavior problems and competence outcomes using the Brief Infant Toddler Social Emotional Assessment. Research Findings: Findings indicated that overall, toddler classrooms were rated as being of moderate quality. Associations between observed quality and teacher-reported child behavior problems and competence outcomes indicated that CLASS-Toddler ratings were positively associated with fewer behavior problems; specifically, children in classrooms with higher levels on the CLASS-Toddler domains of Emotional and Behavioral Support as well as Engaged Support for Learning were reported to have fewer behavior problems. Similarly, the ITERS-R subscales of Interaction and Listening and Talking were positively related to fewer reported behavior problems. Regression models showed that the CLASS-Toddler Emotional and Behavioral Support domain predicted differences in child behavior problems. Practice or Policy: Findings suggest the need for additional research related to very young children's experiences in center-based child care to examine associations between quality and child experiences and outcomes. Children's experiences over time need to be examined to understand how these early child care experiences are related to children's later school adjustment and performance. On a related note, professional development for teachers in toddler classrooms needs to be addressed in terms of preparing effective teachers for young children during the toddler developmental period.     

Education recoded: policy mobilities in the international ‘learning to code’ agenda

Abstract

Education policy increasingly takes place across borders and sectors, involving a variety of both human and nonhuman actors. This comparative policy paper traces the ‘policy mobilities,’ ‘fast policy’ processes and distributed ‘policy assemblages’ that have led to the introduction of new computer programming practices into schools and curricula in England, Sweden and Australia. Across the three contexts, government advisors and ministers, venture capital firms, think tanks and philanthropic foundations, non-profit organizations and commercial companies alike have promoted computer programming in schools according to a variety of purposes, aspirations, and commitments. This paper maps and traces the evolution of the organizational networks in each country in order to provide a comparative analysis of computing in schools as an exemplar of accelerated, transnationalizing policy mobility. The analysis demonstrates how computing in schools policy has been assembled through considerable effort to create alignments between diverse actors, the production and circulation of material objects, significant cross-border movement of ideas, people and devices, and the creation of strategic partnerships between government centres and commercial vendors. Computing in schools exemplifies how modern education policy and governance is accomplished through sprawling assemblages of actors, events, materials, money and technologies that move across social, governmental and geographical boundaries.     

Two years' experience with recording equipment

THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION AND TRANSITION 1960–1961. Edited by Paul T. David. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution, 1961; pp. x+353. $3.75.

THE GREAT DEBATES: BACKGROUND, PERSPECTIVE, EFFECTS. Edited by Sidney Kraus. Bloomington, Ind.: Indiana University Press, 1962; pp. 439. $7.95.

REPORT OF THE COUNTY CHAIRMAN. By James A. Michener. New York: Random House, 1961; pp. 310. $3.95.

SIX CRISES. By Richard M. Nixon. New York: Doubleday, 1962; pp. xvi+459. $5.95.

THE MAKING OF THE PRESIDENT 1960. By Theodore H. White. New York: Atheneum Publishers, 1961; pp. viii+393. $6.95.     

An Investigation into the Nature of Inclusion Problem-Solving Teams

This investigation addressed the use of problem-solving teams (PST) to support general education teachers working in inclusive classrooms. Eight teams in a high-poverty elementary school that had recently implemented an inclusive program were the focus of the study. Teachers noted several benefits of PSTs, including social support, learning new instructional approaches, obtaining practical help with problems, and improving practice through reflection. However, there were several problems with the teams, primarily related to the logistics of team meetings. Finally, analysis of teacher dialogue revealed several features of meetings that contributed to meeting productivity. The implications of these findings for practice are discussed.     

Media Education in the University: enhancing media literacy through first‐year undergraduate coursework

This article provides a case study of a first‐year university subject designed to assist the development of media literacy. The context is one of ongoing debate about the purpose and role of media courses. In what ways do new communications technologies alter our understanding of media literacy? How can media subjects be most relevant to students following increasingly different educational pathways? The subject in question responded to such questions by seeking to promote independent capacities for research and writing in the changing media communications field. It used flexible learning techniques to encourage students to apply and reflect on writing formats drawn from professional fields such as journalism and screen production. In doing so, it aimed to encourage interest in the broader social conditions affecting media practices and the diverse settings in which these forms can operate. Through the case study, the article draws out some of the problems encountered in resource‐based learning and suggests some strategies for dealing with them in media education.     

Paint and Pedagogy: Anton Ehrenzweig and the Aesthetics of Art Education

Anton Ehrenzweig's work training art teachers at Goldsmiths College in London was groundbreaking in its field. The work of the studio fed back into Ehrenzweig's writings through his reflections on teaching and the work produced in end of year shows. In The Hidden Order of Art (1967), he theorised the creative process in psychoanalytic terms and elsewhere likened the task of the art teacher to that of a psychotherapist. In this article I argue that, by taking psychoanalytic art theory into the teaching studio, Ehrenzweig provided a psychic space within which students were freed from convention and encouraged to pursue their own practice.     

Young adults and everyday-life information: The role of news media

There is a paucity of research examining the everyday-life information seeking of young people, especially investigating the role that the news media has in providing information to young people for use in their everyday lives. A qualitative, interpretivist approach is adopted, involving 34 students, ages 18 to 25, from an Australian university. First, 20 students were interviewed about their news seeking (including topics and sources). Then 14 students participated in verbal protocol analysis, which involved a series of tasks concerning online and print newspapers. Lastly, students were interviewed about how they sought everyday-life information and whether they thought that they had incidentally acquired or encountered information on everyday-life topics in online or print newspapers in the recent past. Findings indicated that, contrary to expectations, traditional print media still played a role for young people, and social media were perceived as important for communication with friends, rather than for news gathering. Purposeful information seeking was more likely to occur online, but both print and online newspapers retained an incidental role in providing information to students for their everyday lives. Participants used a range of media to suit their particular needs and purposes. Thus, access to a wide variety of sources is important for everyday-life information seeking (ELIS) by young people.