An investigation of young children's academic arithmetic contexts

Research findings concerning students' interpretations of the equals sign appear to conflict with three recently developed models of early number development. It was hypothesized that the two groups of researchers investigated students' arithmetical understandings in situations that are, for most children, different contexts. Analysis of video-taped interviews conducted with 34 ending first grade children, drawn from five classrooms, supported this hypothesis. Interviews were conducted with the five classroom teachers and it was possible to relate the students' interpretations of the equals sign to social interaction patterns that typified classroom life during arithmetic instruction.     

基于位置识别的移动学习系统5R自适应框架

如何利用移动设备的位置识别功能开发创新性的移动应用系统,是众多研究者和商业应用开发者关注的焦点。基于位置识别的移动学习系统5R自适应框架为实现自适应移动学习环境提供了一套解决方案和标准化结构。5R自适应框架能够根据学习者、位置、时间、移动设备等因素自动生成学习者所需要的学习内容,增强学习者与学习情境之间的交互。5R自适应框架的实施需要描述基于位置的学习内容并使之标签化,建立自适应约束条件和学习内容之间的关系。在基于位置识别的地理课实地考察移动学习过程中,5R自适应框架能够很好地支持这一应用,而且在实现过程中体现出高度的灵活性。     

Teaching Science Through Pictorial Models During Read-Alouds

This study examines how three elementary teachers refer to pictorial models (photographs, drawings, and cartoons) during science read-alouds. While one teacher used realistic photographs for the purpose of visually verifying facts about crystals, another employed analytical diagrams as heuristic tools to help students visualize complex target systems (rainbow formation and human eye functioning). Another teacher used fictional cartoons to engage students in analogical storytelling, communicating animal camouflage as analogous to human “blending in.” However, teachers did not always explicitly convey the representational nature of pictorial models (analog and target as separate entities). It is argued that teachers need to become more aware of how they refer to pictorial models in children’s science books and how to promote student visual literacy.     

Spreadsheet Modeling of () Inventory Policies

This teaching brief describes a method for finding an approximately optimal combination of order quantity and reorder point in a continuous review inventory model using a discrete expected shortage calculation. The technique is an alternative to a model where expected shortage is calculated by integration, and can allow students who have not had a calculus‐based statistics course to better understand how uncertainty affects inventory decisions.     

School Choice in a Post-Desegregation World

In contrast to unregulated school choice, regulated choice programs oversee the assignment of students to schools with equity in mind. This article puts forth evidence for three claims with respect to unregulated and regulated school choice: (c) Unregulated choice plans tend to exacerbate the stratification of students along race, class, and achievement lines; (b) regulated choice programs have the potential to increase the integration of schools and, at the very least, to prevent further social stratification; and (c) the evidence that suggests unregulated choice programs lead to improved academic achievement or curriculum innovation is unconvincing. By influencing the racial and social class composition of schools, choice programs help determine the human capital obtained by students and families. Exposure to new cultural and social forms of human capital can lead to enhanced life opportunities for all children, but particularly to those who do not otherwise have access to such capital in a hegemonic society. Considerations of social justice suggest that policymakers should continue to search for ways to design school choice programs that promote integration.     

Water-filled training tubes increase core muscle activation and somatosensory control of balance during squat

This study examined trunk muscle activation, balance and proprioception while squatting with a water-filled training tube (WT) and a traditional barbell (BB), with either closed (CE) or open eyes (OE). Eighteen male elite Gaelic footballers performed an isometric squat under the following conditions: BB-OE, BB-CE, WT-OE and WT-CE. The activity of rectus abdominis (RA), external oblique (EO) and multifidus (MF) was measured using electromyography, along with sway of the centre of pressure (CoP) using a force platform. Only the EO and the MF muscles exhibited an increased activity with WT (p < 0.01). In the medio-lateral direction both the velocity and range of the CoP increased significantly with WT (p < 0.01). Interestingly, the range of the CoP for the WT-CE condition was significantly lower than WT-OE (p < 0.05, d = 0.44), whilst the velocity of the CoP was marginally reduced (d = 0.29). WT elicited a greater level core muscle activation and created a greater challenge to postural stability when compared to a BB. It appears that WT does not benefit from vision but emphasises the somatosensory control of balance. The use of WT may be beneficial in those sports requiring development of somatosensory/proprioceptive contribution to balance control.     

‘Should I use it?’ Assessing the value of online supplemental course materials and their influence on student performance

As a result of the ever-growing list of course technologies and software programs, higher education faculty and administration often debate which new tools are most valuable to students. This article investigates whether the use of an online textbook supplemental program (MindTap®) has a positive influence on student performance. The impact of goal achievement orientations is also discussed and factored into the analysis, as it provides insight into the motivations that drive the usage of online supplemental course materials. Results found that usage of MindTap® is positively predicted by a mastery approach goal orientation. More importantly, it was shown that usage of MindTap® positively predicts student performance, above and beyond the impact of age, gender, SAT score and goal achievement orientation.