Black Faculty Facilitating Difficult Dialogues in the College Classroom: A Cross-Disciplinary Response to Racism and Racial Violence

The Urban Review - This article examines how three Black tenure-track faculty from different academic disciplines prioritized and facilitated discussions on racism and racial violence with graduate...     

Integrating actual time usage into the assessment of examination time extensions provided to disabled college engineering students

Abstract

In this study, we suggest combining the monitoring of actual examination time used with grades in order to assess examination time extensions in terms of access provision and expected outcome. Using naturally-occurring data collected from a large sample (N?=?2315) of undergraduate engineering students, we argue that extended examination time may be regarded as providing equal access when a disabled student actually utilizes more examination time than a normally achieving student, regardless of the grade obtained. We further argue that extended examination time may be regarded as resulting in the expected outcome when a disabled student either (a) utilizes less or equal examination time and achieve grades that are lower than a normally achieving student, or (b) utilizes more examination time and achieve grades that are equal to a normally achieving student. In our data, equal access was provided in all courses (i.e. disabled students utilized more time than normal achievers), but the expected outcome (i.e. equal grades) was not observed in software and English examinations. The results of this study emphasize the importance of monitoring actual time usage in addition to performance measures when assessing examination time extensions.     

A Study of Two Instructional Sequences Informed by Alternative Learning Progressions in Genetics

Learning progressions (LPs) are hypothetical models of how learning in a domain develops over time with appropriate instruction. In the domain of genetics, there are two independently developed alternative LPs. The main difference between the two progressions hinges on their assumptions regarding the accessibility of classical (Mendelian) versus molecular genetics and the order in which they should be taught. In order to determine the relative difficulty of the different genetic ideas included in the two progressions, and to test which one is a better fit with students’ actual learning, we developed two modules in classical and molecular genetics and alternated their sequence in an implementation study with 11th grade students studying biology. We developed a set of 56 ordered multiple-choice items that collectively assessed both molecular and classical genetic ideas. We found significant gains in students’ learning in both molecular and classical genetics, with the largest gain relating to understanding the informational content of genes and the smallest gain in understanding modes of inheritance. Using multidimensional item response modeling, we found no statistically significant differences between the two instructional sequences. However, there was a trend of slightly higher gains for the molecular-first sequence for all genetic ideas.     

THIRD INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS FOR HOME EDUCATION

The study aimed to trace teachers’ role behaviors that religious teachers perceive as mandatory versus discretionary and non-prescribed at work. Based on interviews with 15 teachers working in the Israeli religious state education, it was found that teaching the subject matter, preparing students for national exams, encouraging students to learn, and teaching religious values unrelentingly is perceived as in-role tasks, while helping students and colleagues, committing to the school as a whole, and refraining from wasting learning time is perceived as extra-role activities. Most interesting is the impact of Jewish heritage and belief on our interviewees’ tendency to perform extra-role activities.     

‘A different kind of reading’: the emergent literacy practices of a school‐based graphic novel club

This paper explores the possibilities for pedagogy inherent in the reading practices which emerged from an extra‐curricular graphic novel reading group set up in a Scottish secondary school. The research is presented within the framework of the new literacy studies and its focus on ‘practices’ and ‘events’ but, more specifically, it uses the framework developed by researchers working on the Literacies for Learning in Further Education Project conducted recently in the United Kingdom. This framework allows a more detailed exploration of ‘events’ by unpacking the fine‐grained aspects that compose a literacy practice. This paper aims to identify, trace and analyse the aspects of the emerging new practice of this reading group. While the framework it employs is based on an opposition between curricular and non‐curricular practices, the data presented in this paper derives from an extra‐curricular activity uniquely positioned inside the school but outside of the official curriculum. By focusing on notions of identity and process in particular, the paper presents a critique of the ways in which literacy practices which take place outside of the classroom have been undervalued or ignored by educational policy and practice.     

Reasoning across ontologically distinct levels: Students' understandings of molecular genetics

In this article we apply a novel analytical framework to explore students' difficulties in understanding molecular genetics—a domain that is particularly challenging to learn. Our analytical framework posits that reasoning in molecular genetics entails mapping across ontologically distinct levels—an information level containing the genetic information, and a physical level containing hierarchically organized biophysical entities such as proteins, cells, tissues, etc. This mapping requires an understanding of what the genetic information specifies, and how the physical entities in the system mediate the effects of this information. We therefore examined, through interview and written assessments, 10th grade students' understandings of molecular genetics phenomena to uncover the conceptual obstacles involved in reasoning across these ontologically distinct levels. We found that students' described the genetic instructions as containing information about both the structure and function of biological entities across multiple organization levels; a view that is far less constrained than the scientific understandings of the genetic information. In addition, students were often unaware of the different functions of proteins, their relationship to genes, and the role proteins have in mediating the effects of the genetic information. Students' ideas about genes and proteins hindered their ability to reason across the ontologically distinct levels of genetic phenomena, and to provide causal mechanistic explanations of how the genetic information brings about effects of a physical nature. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 44: 938–959, 2007     

Career decision-making self-efficacy and institutional integration of underprepared college students

This investigation applied, as the theoretical base, a model of student persistence and departure (Tinto, 1987) to explore the nature of the relationship between career decision-making self-efficacy and integration. Career decision-making self-efficacy identifies students' perceived confidence (self-efficacy) in their ability to plan and execute vocationally relevant tasks in the educational environment. The sample comprised 418 underprepared students. Data were analyzed using correlation, analysis of variance, and multiple regression. There is an interrelationship between perceived career decision-making self-efficacy and integration (overall, social, and academic) for underprepared college students. The variance in students' integration can be explained by their career decision-making self-efficacy and by their initial goals and commitments. Career decision-making self-efficacy surpassed all other variables in explaining the variance in overall and academic integration. Based on these research results, career decision-making self-efficacy should be considered as a variable in future studies of integration, a longitudinal study should be conducted to determine the direct relationship of career decision-making self-efficacy to persistence and attrition, and if a relationship to persistence is found, then the rationale exists for the design and experimental testing of interventions aimed at increasing career decision-making self-efficacy.     

Synergistic scaffolds as a means to support preservice teacher learning

This study investigates the role of synergistic scaffolds in supporting preservice teachers’ knowledge of self-as-teacher. Data include preservice teacher papers written before and after the introduction of scaffolds, surveys, and interviews. Quantitative and qualitative methods were used to analyze differences in the quality of the papers, the relationship between the scaffolds and the preservice teachers’ revisions, and the preservice teachers’ perceptions of which scaffolds best supported their learning. We conclude that carefully designed synergistic scaffolds can support preservice teachers in their exploration of self-as-teacher. Implications of our findings for teacher education and suggested areas for further research and development are discussed.