Preservice teachers’ perceptions of learning environments before and after pandemic-related course disruption

Learning Environments Research - When the 2020 semester began in the USA in January, it was unimaginable that the near-total closure of educational system across the globe would become the new...     

Supporting optimal child development through Early Head Start and Head Start programs: Reflections on secondary data analyses of FACES and EHSREP

We are delighted to reflect on the 10 papers highlighted in this important special issue of Early Childhood Research Quarterly devoted to recent secondary data analyses of the FACES and EHSREP datasets. First, we provide some background on Head Start research and give an overview of the large-scale Head Start and Early Head Start datasets that are available for researchers to analyze. Then, we comment on the papers in this special issue from a methodological and statistical standpoint. Finally, we reflect on themes that stood out across the various papers. Throughout, we make recommendations for future large-scale data collection efforts and future research on Head Start and Early Head Start programs.     

蒌叶提取物增强5-氟尿嘧啶对结肠癌细胞HT29和HCT116的生长抑制作用(英文)

研究目的:探讨蒌叶(PB)提取物对5-氟尿嘧啶(5-FU)抑制结肠癌细胞HT29和HCT116生长的影响。研究方法:HT29和HCT116细胞分别给予PB、5-FU以及两种药物联合治疗24小时,应用等效线图法分析PB和5-FU的药效学相互作用,Annexin V/PI染色法检测HT29和HCT116细胞的凋亡情况,高效液相色谱法排除PB和5-FU间任何可能的相互化学作用。重要结论:联合PB,低剂量5-FU可以在短时间内起到细胞毒作用,而单独应用PB或5-FU治疗较联合治疗可以诱导更多细胞发生凋亡。进一步采用等效线图法分析显示PB和5-FU的联合作用在抑制结肠癌细胞HT29和HCT116的生长中分别体现出协同和拮抗作用。因此可以认为在HT29细胞中,PB使得较低剂量5-FU发挥最大抑制结肠癌细胞生长效果,然而在HCT116细胞中,PB没有显著降低5-FU的药物浓度,说明PB和5-FU的相互作用不仅仅体现在诱导细胞凋亡方面。     

Participation in asynchronous online discussion forums does improve student learning of gross anatomy

Asynchronous online discussion forums are common in blended learning models and are popular with students. A previous report has suggested that participation in these forums may assist student learning in a gross anatomy subject but it was unclear as to whether more academically able students post more often or whether participation led to improved learning outcomes. This study used a path model to analyze the contribution of forum participation, previous academic ability, and student campus of enrolment to final marks in a multicampus gross anatomy course for physiotherapy students. The course has a substantial online learning management system (LMS) that incorporates asynchronous forums as a learning tool, particularly to answer learning objectives. Students were encouraged to post new threads and answer queries in threads started by others. The forums were moderated weekly by staff. Discussion forums were the most used feature of the LMS site with 31,920 hits. Forty‐eight percent of the students posted at least once with 186 threads initiated by students and a total of 608 posts. The total number of posts made a significant direct contribution to final mark (P = 0.008) as did previous academic ability (P = 0.002). Although campus did not contribute to final mark, there was a trend for students at the campus where the course coordinator was situated to post more often than those at the other campus (P = 0.073). These results indicate that asynchronous online discussion forums can be an effective tool for improving student learning outcomes as evidenced by final marks in gross anatomy teaching. Anat Sci Educ. 7: 71–76. © 2013 American Association of Anatomists.     

Books of the Month

THE FIRST AMENDMENT AND THE FIFTH ESTATE: REGULATION OF ELECTRONIC MASS MEDIA by T. Barton Carter, et al. (Mineola, NY: Foundation Press, 1986—$26.00)

TELEPORTS AND THE INTELLIGENT CITY edited by Andrew D. Lipman, et al. (Homewood, IL: Dow Jones-Irwin, 1986—$55.00)     

Investigating Malaysian distance learners’ perceptions of their English proficiency courses

The paper describes a study that investigated Malaysian distance learners’ perceptions of their English proficiency courses. The approach used in this study was primarily a quantitative approach based on questionnaires, with a qualitative component based on semi‐structured interviews included to add depth and scope to the study. The questionnaires used were adapted from Entwistle and Ramsden’s Course Perception Questionnaire. ANOVA and factor analysis were used for analysing the questionnaire data. The interview data were analysed qualitatively by identifying main themes and patterns. While the analysis of the questionnaires and the interview data generated roughly comparable results, there were some interesting differences. The main difference was that the interviews demonstrated that the majority of the 13 distance learners interviewed would prefer more support and guidance rather than greater freedom as evident in the questionnaire data. The results of the interviews provide a useful supplement to the quantitative data and give us a better understanding of the factors that influence learners within a distance learning environment.     

Differential Item Functioning Analysis for Accommodated Versus Nonaccommodated Students

The No Child Left Behind act resulted in an increased reliance on large-scale standardized tests to assess the progress of individual students as well as schools. In addition, emphasis was placed on including all students in the testing programs as well as those with disabilities. As a result, the role of testing accommodations has become more central in discussions about test fairness and accessibility as well as evidence of validity. This study seeks to examine whether there exists differential item functioning for math and language items between special education examinees receiving accommodations and those not receiving accommodations.