Pathways to Undergraduate Research Experiences: a Multi-Institutional Study

The positive impact of undergraduate research experiences on students’ post-secondary success is well-documented. However, these conclusions are drawn from undergraduate students who already participate; very little research has explored the pathways by which students enter these experiences. Using data from a multi-institutional survey, we examined students’ reasons for participating and differences across institutions and demographic groups. Overall, students cited social and experiential reasons as key motivators for participation and a perceived lack of research readiness as a key barrier. Differences were also found across academic year. Implications from this study address issues of access, preparation, and institutional policies around undergraduate research.     

Innovations in science education: infusing social emotional principles into early STEM learning

We report on the development of an after-school and summer-based science, technology, engineering, and mathematics curriculum infused with the arts and social emotional learning content (STEAM SEL). Its design was motivated by theory and research that suggest that STEM education is well-suited for teaching empathy and other emotion-related skills. In this paper, we describe the activities associated with the development and design of the program and the curriculum. We provide expert-ratings of the STEAM and social emotional elements of the program and present instructor and participant feedback about the program’s content and its delivery. Our results revealed that infusing the arts and social emotional learning content into science education created a holistic STEM-related curriculum that holds potential for enhancing young children’s interest in and appreciation for science and its applications. The data also suggested that the program was well-developed and, generally well-executed. However, experts rated the STEAM elements of the program more positively than the SEL elements, especially with regard to sequencing of lessons and integration among the lessons and hands-on activities, indicating that program revisions are warranted.     

Cycles of Research and Application in Education: Learning Pathways for Energy Concepts

ABSTRACT— We begin this article by situating a methodology called developmental maieutics in the emerging field of mind, brain, and education. Then, we describe aspects of a project in which we collaborated with a group of physical science teachers to design developmentally informed activities and assessments for a unit on energy. Pen-and-paper assessments, called teasers , were employed, along with interviews, to study how students learned about the physics of energy. Results were used to describe students' learning pathways and to design a scoring rubric for teacher use. We hypothesized that (a) teasers, by themselves, could be used effectively to evaluate the developmental level of students' reasoning about energy and (b) teachers could employ the scoring rubric with minimal instruction. Encouraged by our findings, we went on to create a freely available online version of the energy teaser , including a new rubric designed to improve the accuracy with which teachers can assess the developmental level of students' energy conceptions.     

Relationships among L1 print exposure and early L1 literacy skills, L2 aptitude, and L2 proficiency

Authors examined the relationship between individual differences in L1 print exposure and differences in early L1 skills and later L2 aptitude, L2 proficiency, and L2 classroom achievement. Participants were administered measures of L1 word decoding, spelling, phonemic awareness, reading comprehension, receptive vocabulary, and listening comprehension in 1?C5th grades, and then followed into 9?C10th grades where measures of L2 aptitude, L2 proficiency, and L1 print exposure were administered. Students?? responses on the L1 print exposure measure were used to divide them into High, Average, and Low Print groups. Findings showed significant differences between the High versus Low Print groups on all L1 skill measures, L2 aptitude and L2 proficiency tests, and L2 classroom achievement after controlling for IQ. L1 skill differences between the groups emerged as early as 1st grade. L1 phonemic awareness, L1 word decoding, and L1 spelling measures were the best discriminators of L1 print exposure among the three groups. Results suggest that early success in L1 reading and reading volume prior to L2 study may be related to differences in L2 aptitude, L2 proficiency, and L2 achievement several years later.     

Math fluency is etiologically distinct from untimed math performance, decoding fluency, and untimed reading performance: evidence from a twin study

The authors examined whether math fluency was independent from untimed math and from reading using 314 pairs of school-aged twins drawn from the Western Reserve Reading and Math Projects. Twins were assessed through a 90-min home visit at approximately age 10 and were reassessed in their homes approximately 1 year later. Results suggested that the shared environment and genetics influenced the covariance among math fluency, untimed math measures, and reading measures. However, roughly two thirds of the variance in math fluency was independent from untimed math measures and reading, including reading fluency. The majority of this independent variance was the result of genetic factors that were longitudinally stable across two measurement occasions. These results suggest that math fluency, although related to other math measures, may also be a genetically distinct dimension of mathematics performance.     

Longitudinal links between spanking and children's externalizing behaviors in a national sample of White, Black, Hispanic, and Asian American families

This study examined whether the longitudinal links between mothers' use of spanking and children's externalizing behaviors are moderated by family race/ethnicity, as would be predicted by cultural normativeness theory, once mean differences in frequency of use are controlled. A nationally representative sample of White, Black, Hispanic, and Asian American families (n = 11,044) was used to test a cross-lagged path model from 5 to 8 years old. While race/ethnic differences were observed in the frequency of spanking, no differences were found in the associations of spanking and externalizing over time: Early spanking predicted increases in children's externalizing while early child externalizing elicited more spanking over time across all race/ethnic groups.     

Development of an Online Orientation for an Instructional Technology Masters Program

Four graduate students were tasked with creating a real-world solution to a problem faced by the instructional technology masters program in which they were participating. While taking an online course in multimedia instructional product development, part of East Carolina University??s Masters of Science in Instructional Technology degree program, a team of students faced the challenges of being physically separated, lacking some software and hardware tools, and the relatively brief development period of a semester??s time, to produce supplemental instructional content for students new to the masters program. Working from locations scattered throughout North Carolina, the production team found the time and resources, and relied on the strengths of individual team members, to produce an online orientation for students new to the instructional technology masters program.     

Chiming in on Museums and Participatory Culture

Abstract The deep trove of information available on the Internet and the expanding connections it affords to new communities online have been a transforming force in museums in the recent past. A single individual can publish thoughts and ideas to an audience of millions with a few simple clicks of a button. The cultural sector has made great strides in adopting these same methods to advance the missions and content of our organizations; however, a rise in participatory culture poses a number of challenges for the role of museums and our place in the evolving culture of our community. A debate surrounding the changing nature of authority and the participatory expectations of society is central to defining how museums can meaningfully engage with contemporary audiences. When making decisions that define how audiences play a role or not in their organizations, museums must consider the far‐reaching consequences of these choices on the relationships they have with their communities.