Episodic and individual effects of elementary students' optimal experience: An HLM study

The authors defined optimal experience as a functional state of a relatively high level of concentration, time distortion, satisfaction, and enjoyment (Csikszentmihalyi, 1992 Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1992). The flow experience and its significance for human psychology. In M. C. I. S. Csikszentmihalyi (Ed.), Optimal experience: Psychological studies of flow in consciousness. London, England: Cambridge University Press. [Google Scholar]) and collected data through the Day Reconstruction Method. In three random days, 147 fifth-grade students answered questionnaires for each school event in the previous day resulting repeated data from 2,288 episodes. Several hierarchical linear models were conducted. The authors found that elementary students perceived better quality of optimal experience during break time versus classes taught by activity, seatwork or lecture methods. Unexpectedly, more optimal experience was reported in the events when students perceived themselves as having high skill but low challenge, contradictory to the original expectation of skill–challenge balance. Four additional flow conditions were more effective than primary flow condition and instructional methods in predicting optimal experience. Finally, optimal experience varied much more across event-episodes than among individuals meaning that teachers have rooms to improve students' optimal experience in elementary school days.     

From Data Collectors to Data Producers: Shifting Students’ Relationship to Data

This paper contributes a theoretical framework informed by historical, philosophical and ethnographic studies of science practice to argue that data should be considered to be actively produced, rather than passively collected. We further argue that traditional school science laboratory investigations misconstrue the nature of data and overly constrain student agency in their production. We use our “Data Production” framework to analyze activity of and interviews with high school students who created data using sensors and software in a ninth-grade integrated science class. To understand the opportunities for students to develop act with and perceive agency in data production, we analyze in detail the case of one student as she came to use unfamiliar technologies to produce data for her own personally relevant purposes. We find that her purposes for producing data emerged as she worked, and that resistances to her purposes were opportunities to act with and perceive her own agency, and to see data in new ways. We discuss implications for designing science learning experiences in which students act as agents in producing and using data.     

Reading comprehension of immigrant students in Germany: research evidence on determinants and target points for intervention

International studies, such as the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), have shown that, in most participating countries, students who do not typically speak the test language at home reach lower levels of reading comprehension than students using the test language at home (Stanat & Christensen, 2006). Results from PISA indicate that Germany is among the countries with the most pronounced differences in reading comprehension between immigrant students and students from native families. The present article summarizes these findings and shows that the reading achievement gap persists even when the socioeconomic and educational background of students?? families are controlled. Furthermore, although controlling for background factors reduces the effect of the language spoken at home on reading, it continues to be substantial. Using these findings as a starting point, the article addresses the question of what should be done to close this gap. It summarizes research findings indicating that oral proficiency presents an important determinant of reading comprehension in a second language. This suggests that effective general approaches to second-language teaching are needed to promote reading literacy in a L2. The article closes with a discussion of the available evidence on the effectiveness of such approaches and outlines the need for further research.     

The natural provenance: ecoliteracy in higher education in Mississippi

Researchers suggest there is an increasing apathy in the study of natural history in academic settings and in the scientific community. However, most studies of environmental knowledge do not address knowledge of local flora and fauna; they are concerned with the knowledge of environmental issues or broad ecological knowledge. Ecoliteracy established local natural history as fundamental to environmental knowledge and seeks to determine the knowledge of local environments and factors associated with that knowledge. This study investigated ecoliteracy in Mississippi, determining knowledge of local flora and fauna of undergraduate and graduate students at the largest universities. Ecoliteracy levels in Mississippi were low. Students had a rudimentary knowledge of local flora and fauna, despite coursework in natural history. Students majoring in wildlife and fisheries and biology had more advanced knowledge of local flora and fauna than non-biology majors. Students were most knowledgeable of reptiles and amphibians, and least of fish and endangered species. The number of environmental courses taken and environmental sensitivity were positively correlated with ecoliteracy, and were strong predictors of ecoliteracy. Ecoliteracy was influenced by coursework and experience with degree programs including fieldwork. Natural history knowledge was deficient at Mississippi universities. Researchers suggest reintroducing coursework focused on ecoliteracy.     

Robespierre: High priest of the Jacobins

During the turbulence of the French Revolution, a small foppish provincial lawyer arose to preach a rhetoric of virtue designed to legitimize Jacobin rule. Assuming a Christlike ethos, Maximilien Robespierre inspired a cult that met weekly to read his speeches and sing hymns of praise. The Festival of the Supreme Being marked the climax of Robespierre's reign of virtue.     

The Value of Communication Science

In communication science, the distinction between applied and basic research is often accompanied by a discussion of the relative value of each. However, the idea that there is a value distinction to be made between applied and basic research is fundamentally inconsistent with scientific epistemology. Rather than different modes of inquiry with different relative value, communication science is a whole, constituted by applied and basic researchers who focus on different goals of science: to explain, to predict, and to control. An example is provided of a highly successful communication intervention created via the cooperation between applied and basic scholars.     

Web 2.0 Support for Residents' and Fellows' Patient Care and Educational Needs

This article discusses librarian support of medical education programs and patient care with blogs and wikis. Pedagogical background for using Web 2.0 tools in educational settings is explored and example applications given. A survey of health sciences libraries usage of blogs and wikis was conducted in 2009–2010. Using the results from the survey plus five years of experience using blogs and wikis at the University of Washington Health Sciences Library, best practices were compiled and are presented for guidance in establishing new blogs and wikis.     

Simulation games in science education‡

The astronomy concepts of 345 young people were studied over a 10‐year period using a multi‐media, multi‐modal methodology in a research design where survey participants were interviewed three times and control subjects were interviewed twice. The purpose of the research was to search for evidence to clarify competing theories on conceptual coherence versus knowledge‐in‐pieces, distinguishing between coherence as revealed in the representational systems at any particular stage in a young person’s development and the changes evident in mental growth thereafter. Thus five research questions concerned with the elements and structure of understanding were investigated: (1) conceptual coherence shown as patterns of high correlation of concept representations between the media used to assess subjects’ understanding within a survey, as well as (2) coherence revealed as consistency of representation of those concepts across media and modalities; (3) enhanced conceptual understanding and skill through repeated interviews across (longitudinal) surveys, as young people develop their knowledge; (4) cultural similarity in subjects’ representations of basic static concepts (e.g. the shape of the Earth); and (5) improved understanding of basic dynamic concepts (e.g. the motion of the Earth) and complex dynamic concepts (e.g. seasons and eclipses), through “knowledge‐skill compounding”. The research findings supported conceptual coherence and rejected the counter argument of knowledge‐in‐pieces (at an alpha level of .05). Further research is recommended to replicate current research in cultures other than those of China and New Zealand studied here to confirm the view that cognition and knowledge are inherently coherent in young people.     

Where Theory and Law Meet: Trends in establishment clause jurisprudence in the US federal courts and implications for science education

In this study, federal court opinions and writings of legal scholars, spanning 63 years of establishment clause jurisprudence in the US federal courts were analysed in an effort to determine dominant trends in judicial philosophy that are of significance to science educators. The study's findings suggest that the dominant legal theory underpinning the adjudication of establishment clause cases on the US Supreme Court has undergone a shift from one that emphasizes separation of church and state to one that favours integration of religion in the public sphere. This development poses significant challenges to science educators who are charged with the task of teaching in accordance with state science standards that emphasize topics that are considered controversial (e.g. evolution and global climate change) by many in the faith-based community. These findings constitute a basis for forecasting future actions in US courts regarding the role of government in establishing religious practices in the public sphere—particularly where such actions intersect with the roles of teachers in the nation's public K-12 science classrooms. Finally, we argue that scientists and science educators must adopt an assertive stance in defining science in curricular frameworks, providing something for the courts to draw upon in future decisions.