Environmental identity formation in nonformal environmental education programs

This paper explores experiences that remained salient in the memories of former participants in three nature-based programs in Colorado, five to forty years after childhood involvement. Interviews with program founders and staff, archival research, and observations of current activities provided an understanding of each program’s history, mission and educational approach. In this context, 18 former participants were interviewed about program experiences that they remembered and program impacts on their environmental identities and academic or career choices. Results were analyzed through the lens of social practice theory, which has significant implications for the design and evaluation of environmental education programs. Results showed that social practice theory is a useful framework for interpreting the development of a social environmental identity, but an ecological identity that forms through direct contact with the natural world is an important complementary concept.     

One-to-One Computing and Student Achievement in Ohio High Schools

This study explores the impact of one-to-one computing on student achievement in Ohio high schools as measured by performance on the Ohio Graduation Test (OGT). The sample included 24 treatment schools that were individually paired with a similar control school. An interrupted time series methodology was deployed to examine OGT data over a period of 5 to 8 years. Overall student performance and content-specific achievement in math, reading, science, social studies, and writing were not significantly affected by the introduction of 1:1 computing. Treatment schools using a netbook device produced the greatest overall change in scores.     

Zinc: what is its role in biology?

Zinc is as common as iron in biology. It is usually thought to be a trace element required only for catalysis. Here it is shown that the role of zinc is much more fundamental not only in catalysis but in inhibitory control. There may well be several such control elements—calcium, iron, manganese, magnesium, and zinc.     

Using Research Based Assessment Tools in Professional Development in Current Electricity

We present a practical way of adapting and using four research-based assessments for different purposes in an electricity and magnetism course for K-8 science teachers. The course is designed to accomplish conceptual change toward accepted scientific conceptions as well as introducing teachers to materials and activities appropriate for their classrooms. Our data support that using the research-based tests to identify alternative conceptions and discuss test results with teachers is a promising way to use the knowledge of alternative conceptions in professional development. We also identify some mismatches between the research of conceptual change and its use in programs of professional development.

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Open Source software in US higher education: Reality or illusion?

As institutions of Higher Education try to balance limited resources with the rising costs of technology, some institutions are turning to Open Source software for campus-wide applications such as course management systems and portals. The assumption is that Open Source will provide the flexibility to build pedagogically sound learning environments while increasing technology efficiencies. This paper outlines the current state of Open Source software deployment in US Higher Education based on a survey of 772 Chief Academic Officers and Chief Information Officers conducted in 2006. The results indicate that Carnegie classification is a critical differentiator of awareness, adoption, and perceptions of Open Source software applications, with perceived cost of ownership being the key driver of Open Source adoption. Moreover, the study shows that institutions have made little progress in the development of polices and procedures for Open Source regulatory compliance and security. The study serves as a baseline for future research into the conditions for successful use of Open Source for supporting integrated learning environments that deliver campus-wide efficiencies.

The role of gender constancy in early gender development

Kohlberg's (1966) hypothesis that the attainment of gender constancy motivates children to attend to gender norms was reevaluated by examining these links in relation to age. Ninety-four 3- to 7-year-old children were interviewed to assess whether and how constancy mediates age-related changes in gender-related beliefs. As expected, results indicated a general pattern of an increase in stereotype knowledge, the importance and positive evaluation of one's own gender category, and rigidity of beliefs between the ages of 3 and 5. Moreover, the stability phase, rather than full constancy, mediated some of these relations. After age 5, rigidity generally decreased with age, with relations primarily mediated by consistency.     

Evaluating electronic resources: Personal Development Planning resources at the Open University,a case study

This paper discusses the evaluation of Web‐based tools to support Personal Development Planning (PDP) in order to illustrate issues associated with the introduction and assessment of the effectiveness of online resources. The aims of the evaluation were based on concerns about the very complex situation that offering online resources including PDP poses for part‐time off‐campus students. In this paper the authors utilize a modified RUFDATA framework (Saunders, 2000 Saunders, M. 2000. Beginning an evaluation with RUFDATA: theorising a practical approach to evaluation planning. Evaluation, 1: 7–21.  [Google Scholar]) and consider the benefits a range of methods, including surveys and observational studies, can offer evaluations of electronic resources. They found that students used and valued some aspects of the provision but that even with best efforts of instructional designers, and user testing at the draft stage, students do not always behave as intended. This evaluation highlighted the need for a range of strategies for evaluating online resources and that regardless of student attitude there are real worries about eLearning imposing extra workload burdens on ‘time poor’ adults.     

Phonological processing and emergent literacy in younger and older preschool children

Phonological awareness, phonological memory, and phonological access to lexical storage play important roles in acquiring literacy. We examined the convergent, discriminant, and predictive validity of these phonological processing abilities (PPA) in 389 3-, 4-, and 5-year-old children. Confirmatory factor analysis supported the validity of each PPA as separate from general cognitive ability and separate from each other. Multigroup structural equation modeling (SEM) with mean structure demonstrated that older preschoolers have better developed latent PPA than younger preschoolers but that the structure of PPA is equivalent. RAN was found uniquely associated with letter knowledge and text discrimination in younger preschoolers, and PA was found uniquely associated with word reading skills in older preschoolers. Finally, general cognitive ability was only indirectly associated with emergent literacy via PPA. These results highlight the importance of PPA in the early literacy development of English-speaking preschool children.     

Old Enemies？

本专栏由英国大使馆文化处供稿,旨在让读者从中学习地道英文,体悟英文百味。本期介绍了英国的四个组成部分——英格兰、苏格兰、威尔士和北爱尔兰之间的“恩怨”与“宿仇”。由于英格兰地域广,政治、经济实力强,不了解英国的人通常误把英格兰当英国。但是,在体育上,其他几个“兄弟”可是要扳回一城的……     

CHE Principles: facilitating authentic and dialogical semi-structured interviews in educational research

This paper examines the values of the CHE principles of Connectivity, Humanness and Empathy as a guiding framework for maximizing the ethical and methodological advantages of semi-structured interview research practices. The authors draw from two separate educational studies and apply the CHE principles to analyse and evaluate the effectiveness of decision-making in facilitating sustainable relationships with the participants in each study. Findings highlight that dialogical relations with participants were evident in both studies, and identify significant junctures where decision-making and actions influenced effective rapport-building and respectful and reciprocal relationships with participants in the research. The CHE principles emerge as providing a robust framework for educational researchers to employ when auditing their decision-making prior to and during their engagement in qualitative interviews.