Teacher characteristics and pupil outcomes in secondary science classrooms

Conclusion The present research employed data collected in two separate studies related to ASEP to investigate relationships of changes in seven pupils learning outcomes with four teacher characteristics and four instruction-teacher interactions. A significant relationship (p<.05) emerged between changes in a learning outcome and a teacher characteristic in the following three cases: changes in critical thinking in science were more favourable in classes with less pupil-centredness teachers, and changes in attitude to science were more favourable in classes with female teachers and those with more pupil-centredness teachers. A significant relationship also emerged between changes in a learning outcome and the interaction of the instructional variable (ASEP/control) with a teacher characteristic in four cases, and these were interpreted in the paper. In addition to the specific findings outlined above, two more general tentative conclusions can be advanced. First, the use of common samples in separate studies appears useful for allowing the investigation of worthwhile questions which go beyond the bounds of the individual studies. Second, in view of the number of interesting relationships found between changes in learning outcomes and teacher and instruction-teacher interaction variables, it could be useful to replicate the present study.     

Birth Order Effects on Early Language Development: Do Secondborn Children Learn from Overheard Speech?

The language development of 16 firstborn and 16 secondborn children of English-speaking families was compared at the age of 21 months in order to investigate whether secondborn children benefit from overheard conversations between caregivers and older siblings in learning personal pronouns. The child's spontaneous language data as well as controlled tasks were used to measure production of first- and second-person pronouns. The mean length of utterance, total number of intelligible utterances, total vocabulary (types), and total number of words (tokens) were calculated as measures of general language development. A follow-up study was conducted 3 months later to examine the subsequent language development of 10 firstborn and 10 secondborn children using the same procedures and measures as used at 21 months. The results indicated that secondborn children were more advanced than firstborn children at both ages in pronoun production, while not differing in general language development. It is argued that overheard conversations between caregivers and older siblings in addition to child-directed speech are important resources for secondborn children learning personal pronouns.     

Differences in feeding ecology predict differences in performance between golden lion tamarins (Leontopithecus rosalia) and Wied’s marmosets (Callithrix kuhli) on spatial and visual memory tasks

Golden lion tamarins (Leontopithecus rosalia) and Wied’s marmosets (Callithrix kuhli) exhibited adaptive differences in performance on several distinct memory tasks. On both an open-field analogue of a radial arm maze and a spatial delayed matching-to-sample task, the marmosets performed better than the tamarins after short (5-min) retention intervals, but only the tamarins continued to perform above chance after long (24- or 48-h) retention intervals. The marmosets also required less training than the tamarins did to learn a color memory task, but again only the tamarins performed above chance when the retention interval was increased to 24 h. The results of these experiments are consistent with predictions based on knowledge of the feeding ecology of these species in the wild and raise the possibility that they possess different visuospatial memory abilities specialized for tracking the spatial and temporal distribution of their principal foods.     

Use of Data Mining Methods to Detect Test Fraud

Data mining methods have drawn considerable attention across diverse scientific fields. However, few applications could be found in the areas of psychological and educational measurement, and particularly pertinent to this article, in test security research. In this study, various data mining methods for detecting cheating behaviors on large‐scale assessments are explored as an alternative to the traditional methods including person‐fit statistics and similarity analysis. A common data set from the Handbook of Quantitative Methods for Detecting Cheating on Tests (Cizek & Wollack) was used for comparing the performance of the different methods. The results indicated that the use of data mining methods may combine multiple sources of information about test takers' performance, which may lead to higher detection rate over traditional item response and response time methods. Several recommendations, all based on our findings, are provided to practitioners.     

The relative contributions of the Cattell‐Horn‐Carroll cognitive abilities in explaining writing achievement during childhood and adolescence

This study examined the relative contributions of measures of Cattell‐Horn‐Carroll (CHC) cognitive abilities in explaining writing achievement. Drawing from samples that covered the age range of 7 to 18 years, simultaneous multiple regression was used to regress scores from the Woodcock‐Johnson III (WJ III; Woodcock, McGrew, & Mather, 2001) that represent CHC broad and narrow abilities onto the WJ III Basic Writing Skills and Written Expression cluster scores. At most age levels, Comprehension‐Knowledge demonstrated moderate to strong effects on both writing clusters, Processing Speed demonstrated moderate effects on Basic Writing Skills and moderate to strong effects on Written Expression, and Short‐Term Memory demonstrated moderate effects. At the youngest age levels, Long‐Term Retrieval demonstrated moderate to strong effects on Basic Writing Skills and moderate effects on Written Expression. Auditory Processing, and Phonemic Awareness demonstrated moderate effects on only Written Expression at the youngest age levels and at some of the oldest age levels. Fluid Reasoning demonstrated moderate effects on both writing clusters only during some of the oldest age levels. Visual‐Spatial Thinking primarily demonstrated negligible effects. The results provide insights into the cognitive abilities most important for understanding the writing skills of children during the school‐age years. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Behavioral profiles of children with epilepsy: Parent and teacher reports of emotional,behavioral, and educational concerns on the BASC‐2

The Behavior Assessment Scale for Children – Second Edition (BASC‐2) was administered to 108 parents and 37 teachers of children with epilepsy (mean age of 10.6 years; 51% female, 49% male). Results demonstrated high mean scores on the Atypicality, Attention Problems, Withdrawal, and Adaptive Skills scales and a high percentage of At‐Risk or Clinically Significant scores on the majority of scales. Ratings were correlated with level of functioning, age of onset, and number of antiepileptic medications. In addition, children with poor seizure control had higher ratings on the Depression, Somatization, and Withdrawal scales, and children with temporal lobe seizures had higher scores on the Depression scale. These results confirm a high rate of behavioral concerns in children with epilepsy. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Grip pressure distributions and associated variability in golf: a two-club comparison

Teaching and playing professionals offer multiple theories concerning the manner in which forces should be applied to the handle of the club during the golf swing. This study extends recent research concerning grip pressures and forces in golf, with the purpose of exploring the similarities and differences between force profiles for a 7-iron and driver swung by proficient golfers. A secondary purpose was to further analyze the way that golfers use grip forces to manipulate the club. Grip forces were measured on eight low handicap golfers (USGA indexes 0 to 7) swinging their own 7-irons and drivers. In total, lead-hand and trail-hand grip forces were isolated as well as anatomically specific forces within the hands. Force profile variability across multiple swings for each golfer and between golfers characterized consistencies and important differences. Correlations between 7-iron and driver force profiles characterized force ‘signatures.’ The data highlight large fluctuations in grip forces during the swing. Marked differences between participants were observed, involving force magnitudes and phasing. Dominant forces arose primarily from the lead hand, specifically the last three fingers. Force profiles were highly repeatable across swings for a golfer (standard deviations < 7% of total force) and force profile correlations between 7-iron and driver for a golfer were remarkably high (r² = 0.86). Notably, within swing force variability was greatest during club acceleration, but dramatically decreased at impact.     

An electromyographic comparison of a modified version of the plank with a long lever and posterior tilt versus the traditional plank exercise

The purpose of the study was to compare core muscle activation of the tradition prone plank with a modified version performed with a long-lever and posterior-tilt using surface electromyography. To further determine if a specific component of this modified plank was more effective than the other in enhancing muscle activity, the plank with a long lever and the plank with a posterior pelvic tilt were studied individually. Nineteen participants performed all four variations of the plank for 30 seconds in a randomized order with 5-minute rest between exercise bouts. Compared to the traditional prone plank, the long-lever posterior-tilt plank displayed a significantly increased activation of the upper rectus abdominis (p < 0.001), lower abdominal stabilizers (p < 0.001), and external oblique (p < 0.001). The long-lever plank showed significantly greater activity compared to the traditional plank in the upper rectus abdominis (p = 0.015) and lower abdominal stabilizers (p < 0.001), while the posterior tilt plank elicited greater activity in the external oblique (p = 0.028). In conclusion, the long-lever posterior-tilt plank significantly increases muscle activation compared to the traditional prone plank. The long-lever component tends to contribute more to these differences than the posterior-tilt component.     

Reducing Patron Information Overload in Academic Libraries

Information overload interferes with our abilities to use information effectively. It represents a challenge in searching print as well as online collections. Academic librarians have developed strategies to help their patrons reduce the effects of information overload. This article provides best practices employed by academic librarians to reduce their users’ information overload. Five themes emerged in a review of the literature: information presentation, library instruction, user strategies, librarian roles, and software technologies. Information literacy instruction remains particularly important in combating information overload since the promotion of users’ research skills facilitates their search competencies. Research on information problem solving that focuses on metacognitive strategies may help decrease information overload among users searching digital libraries.