Vocational-technical programs: follow-up of students with learning disabilities

Recent research has examined the role of vocational-technical training in facilitating the transition from school to work of adolescents with learning disabilities. The present study provided 6-, 12-, and 24-month follow-up data on such students who had attended vocational-technical programs. Matched groups of students without disabilities from vocational-technical programs, as well as randomly selected students without disabilities from regular high schools, were also included for comparisons. Results of the study raised several questions about the value and purpose of vocational-technical training for adolescents with learning disabilities.     

Operationalizing and validating disciplinary literacy in secondary education

The goal of this study was to define the construct and establish the validity of disciplinary literacy, which has recently gained attention from the implementation of the Common Core State Standards (National Governors Association Center for Best Practices & Council of Chief State School Officers in Common Core State Standards for English language arts & literacy in history/social studies, science, and technical subjects [PDF]. Authors, Washington, DC, 2010). After defining disciplinary literacy in the four core disciplines of English language arts, science, history and social studies, and mathematics, scales were developed and administered to a snowball sample of professionals nationwide, with 857 respondents. The data showed evidence of disciplinary literacy as a multidimensional construct with three related factors: source literacy, analytic literacy, and expressive literacy. Based on EFA and CFA results, we can conclude that there are at least three types of literacy in operation among the four core disciplines. The three factors of literacy varied significantly by the four core disciplines of English/language arts (ELA), science, history and social studies, and mathematics, supporting the notion that each discipline uses literacy uniquely. This is the first study of its kind to attempt to define, quantify, and validate the construct of disciplinary literacy.     

Classifications of college students’ protean and boundaryless orientation to work

Increasingly, individuals navigate their own careers in self-directed (protean) and boundaryless contexts. These concepts have been applied to adult employees but have seen limited application with young adults. Therefore, 205 college students were assessed on the Protean and Boundaryless Career Attitudes scales (Briscoe, Hall, and DeMuth, 2006); i.e., self-directed career management, values-driven, boundaryless mindset, and organizational mobility preferences. Scale items were reworded to focus on college experience. Cluster analysis organized respondents into five distinct protean-boundaryless career types. Three types were similar to those hypothesized for adults, while two types were unique to our sample.     

开放在线课程教法的适应性变革:从OCW到MOOC

文章旨在通过对OCW和MOOC所采用的教学方式的对比,探索开放在线课程在由"重资源"向"重服务"变革的过程中,其教学方法所发生的适应性变化。文章通过四个常用的开放在线课程搜索引擎,随机抽样出51门OCW课程和51门MOOC课程作为研究样本,并从课程说明中获取课程周数、建议学时、学习方式、教学手段等信息。结果表明:与OCW相比,MOOC建议以较短的周数、每周投入较多的时间来完成课程,以提高课程完成率;少量课程采用了基于项目、基于研究和基于团队的学习方式,但MOOC环境下的在线协作学习仍存在难度;在线论坛和讲座视频是MOOC中使用较多、发展较成熟的教学手段;社会媒体和位置地图等则是OCW中未出现而在MOOC中发展形成的。最后,文章根据研究结果提出了相应的教学建议。     

Florida and Puerto Rico Secondary Science Teachers’ Knowledge and Teaching of Climate Change Science

Misconceptions about climate change science are pervasive among the US public. This study investigated the possibility that these misconceptions may be reflective of science teachers’ knowledge and teaching of climate change science. Florida and Puerto Rico secondary science teachers who claim to teach extensively about climate change were surveyed in regard to their conceptions of climate change science and the climate change-related topics they teach. Results show that many teachers hold naïve views about climate change (e.g. that ozone layer depletion is a primary cause of climate change) and climate change science (e.g. that it must be based on controlled experiments for it to be valid). In addition, teachers in both groups neglect crucial topics such as how evidence for climate change is developed and the social, political, and economic dimensions of climate change. Our results suggest the need for teachers to understand how to teach climate change and the nature of climate change science using authentic contexts that promote effective socioscientific decision-making and climate change mitigation.     

Effects of reward amount and reward omission on short-term retention

A series of four experiments studied the retention of the response made on a just-preceding trial as a function of the presence, and amount, of food reward given on that trial. Rats were trained to alternate arm choices in a T-maze, and then were tested for alternation with 5- or 30-sec delays between runs. When the subjects had received prior experience with the reward amounts used in testing, larger rewards led to better retention than did small or no rewards. However, when reward omission first occurred during the test phase, it produced more alternation on the following trial than did reward presence. The results suggest that both reward amount and surprisingness determine short-term retention of responses paired with the rewards.