Chapter 8

PIE-J [Presentation and Identification of E-Journals] is a set of developing National Information Standards Organization–recommended practices that tries to resolve some of the “pain points” associated with electronic journals. Regina Reynolds, at the Mississippi State University Libraries eResource & Emerging Technologies Summit in August 2012, presented these pain points and the attempts of PIE-J to overcome the obstacles.     

‘RUSSIA WINS SPACE RACE’

This article traces the development of the British press narrative from the launching of Sputnik in October 1957 to the Soviets' second satellite, containing a dog, in early November. It argues that there was an initial outpouring of surprise, combined with celebration of humankind's achievement. There was also a sense of loss of national prestige, due to Britain's lack of an equivalent space programme and the decline of her empire. The launch of the dog prompted widespread condemnation, mixed with frivolous popular coverage. The article provides an insight into how this moment impacted on British society and understanding of national identity in the 1950s with imperial superiority, religion and perceived decline being recurring themes.     

Assessing,Analyzing, and Adapting: Improving a Graduate Student Instruction Program Through Needs Assessment

This article highlights an assessment of library instruction needs among graduate students in the social sciences. The article addresses the development and implementation of the assessment and the application of assessment results to an established set of library instruction workshops. The article provides a detailed summary of assessment findings and a discussion of how the findings were successfully used to create a user-centered instruction program. The findings were used to make significant changes in workshop content, as well as refinements in the overall number and format of workshops offered, schedule of workshops, and marketing of the instruction program.     

Using higher order thinking questions to foster critical thinking: a classroom study

To determine if quizzes containing higher order thinking questions are related to critical thinking and test performance when utilised in conjunction with an immersion approach to instruction and effort-based grading, sections of an Educational Psychology course were assigned to one of three quizzing conditions. Quizzes contained factual multiple-choice questions, factual essay questions or essay items requiring higher order thinking. Critical thinking was measured with a pre-test–post-test design and the Watson–Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal (Short Form). Classroom learning was assessed via multiple-choice and essay tests. Critical thinking increased equally across all sections. The section receiving higher order thinking quizzes performed significantly better than the other two sections on both the multiple-choice and essay portions of the classroom tests. The implications of these findings are discussed in the context of methodological approaches to encouraging critical thinking.     

Linking School Effectiveness Knowledge and School Improvement Practice: Towards a Synergy

A survey is undertaken of the ‘paradigms’ of the academic communities of school effectiveness and school improvement researchers, practitioners and scholars. It is argued that the two ‘paradigms’ are very different, and that this has hindered the improvement of educational practice. Examples are given of programmes which are a ‘blend’ of the two different approaches, and detail is given as to how the school effectiveness and school improvement communities can meet the knowledge needs necessary for improving the quality of schooling.     

School Effectiveness and Teacher Effectiveness in Mathematics: Some Preliminary Findings from the Evaluation of the Mathematics Enhancement Programme (Primary)

In this study the effect of teacher behaviours and classroom organisation on pupils' progress in mathematics was studied in years 1, 3 and 5 of primary schools in the UK participating in a mathematics intervention programme. Data on a total of 78 teachers and 2,128 pupils was collected. Teacher behaviours were measured using a classroom observation instrument developed for the project, and pupils were tested in March and July of 1998 using a curriculum-appropriate Numeracy test developed by the National Foundation for Educational Research. Background data on pupils was also collected at both testing occasions. Using multilevel modelling techniques it was found that teacher behaviours were able to explain between 60% and 100% of pupils' progress on the Numeracy tests. Amount of time spent teaching the whole class was not related directly to pupils' progress, but structural equation models were tested in which time spent teaching the whole class was found to be related to effective teaching behaviours and thus indirectly to pupil progress. The implications of the study for British educational policies and for educational research more generally are discussed.     

University students’ grasp of inflection points

This paper describes university students’ grasp of inflection points. The participants were asked what inflection points are, to mark inflection points on graphs, to judge the validity of related statements, and to find inflection points by investigating (1) a function, (2) the derivative, and (3) the graph of the derivative. We found four erroneous images of inflection points: (1) f ′ (x)?=?0 as a necessary condition, (2) f ′ (x)?≠?0 as a necessary condition, (3) f ″ (x)?=?0 as a sufficient condition, and (4) the location of “a peak point, where the graph bends” as an inflection point. We use the lenses of Fischbein, Tall, and Vinner and Duval’s frameworks to analyze students’ errors that were rooted in mathematical and in real-life contexts.