Information-seeking behavior and the use of online resources: a snapshot of current health sciences faculty

Objective:

The research assesses the information-seeking behaviors of health sciences faculty, including their use of online databases, journals, and social media.

Methodology:

A survey was designed and distributed via email to 754 health sciences faculty at a large urban research university with 6 health sciences colleges.

Results:

Twenty-six percent (198) of faculty responded. MEDLINE was the primary database utilized, with 78.5% respondents indicating they use the database at least once a week. Compared to MEDLINE, Google was utilized more often on a daily basis. Other databases showed much lower usage.

Conclusions:

Low use of online databases other than MEDLINE, link-out tools to online journals, and online social media and collaboration tools demonstrates a need for meaningful promotion of online resources and informatics literacy instruction for faculty.

Implications:

Library resources are plentiful and perhaps somewhat overwhelming. Librarians need to help faculty discover and utilize the resources and tools that libraries have to offer.     

Negotiating diversity: an empirical investigation into family,school and student factors influencing New Zealand adolescents’ science literacy

The purpose of this study was to examine a factor triad consisting of family, school and student variables contributing to New Zealand adolescents’ science literacy performance on Programme for International Student Assessment 2006. Results indicated that the selected variables in our study explained 25% of total differences in New Zealand students’ science achievement. Family socio-economic status (SES) as well as adolescents’ motivation to learn science and general value of science were influential factors in students’ science achievement. Findings also revealed a statistically significant interaction effect between SES and first-generation immigrant students but not between SES and second-generation immigrant students. Although parents’ perception of general value of science showed a positive effect on adolescents’ scientific performance, its predictive power was relatively weak.     

Data use by Flemish school principals: impact of attitude,self-efficacy and external expectations

There is an increasing expectation that school principals use data to develop and justify school policy. There is also a strong belief among a wide variety of stakeholders that the quality of decisions within the school increases in proportion to the extent to which these decisions are based on good data. In most schools, however, it appears that data use is still quite limited. Research shows that the school principal plays a key role in data use in schools. In the present study, we examine the impact of external expectations, attitude and self-efficacy on the use of data by principals. The results of a survey among 451 school principals in Flanders show that affective aspects of attitude exhibit the strongest correlation with data use by principals. The impact of cognitive attitude and self-efficacy is statistically significant, but quite limited. The same applies to the perception of external school development-orientated and accountability-orientated expectations to use data.     

Shared academic values: testing a model of the association between Hong Kong parents’ and adolescents’ perception of the general value of science and scientific literacy

This study investigated parent general value of science operationalized in the 2006 questionnaire of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), as a determinant of adolescents’ scientific literacy performance. The transmission of academic values literature is small. To the best of our knowledge, no previous studies to date have examined the transmission of valuing of science. Study data were drawn from PISA 2006, which focused on science. The study sample comprised 4645 15-year-old adolescents in Hong Kong. Results from the conceptual structural model indicated that parental academic values (general value of science): (a) positively and directly affected adolescents’ valuing of science and in turn further influenced adolescents’ science performance, (b) positively and directly affected adolescents’ science performance, and (c) stimulated adolescents’ motivation to study science and in turn further influenced their science performance. Implications for school-level policy and practice include: (a) promoting parental valuing of science via parent involvement and (b) producing culturally and contextually grounded evidence on strategies for enhancing the transmission of academic values using research methodologies such as action research.     

Expected versus actual responses to disclosure in relationships of HIV‐positive African American adolescent females

Ten HIV‐positive African American adolescent females were interviewed regarding disclosure of their HIV infection in various relationships. Communication Boundary Management (Petronio, 1991) provided a framework for understanding disclosure patterns in these relationships. Participants described expected (n = 113) and actual (n = 94) responses to disclosing an HIV diagnosis. The findings indicate that expected response and the target of disclosure affect adolescents’ disclosure decisions. Participants expected targets of disclosure to respond as follows: experience negative emotional reactions, provide support, treat them differently, tell others, or were unsure of a target's response. On the basis of these findings, five themes were identified related to actual responses to disclosure of HIV infection: different treatment, negative emotional reaction, received support, target told others, and treated no differently. Implications, limitations, and directions for future research are discussed.     

The View from Above

Abstract

In South Africa the education system for black children is fraught with problems. These problems are the direct result of apartheid and have been compounded by poverty and illiteracy. In this article the problem of poorly qualified or unqualified teachers is discussed especially with regard to the teaching of map skills to children in their fifth school year. The project team needed to develop affordable materials which could be used in large classes by teachers after a very short period of training. Books and other materials which are available commercially were examined, but for various reasons were found to be unsuitable for local conditions. After determining the extent of the problem, the project team followed a grassroots process of developing a flip chart which teachers learnt to use with confidence and which enabled pupils to master the concepts and skills necessary for understanding a map.     

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