Paying attention to attention: New economies for learning

Challenging formal education's traditional monopoly over the mass-scale acculturation of youth, the technological infrastructure of the new economy brings in its wake a new " attentional economy" in which any "connected" adult or child owns and controls a full economic share of her or his own attention. For youth who have never known the text-bound world from which their elders have come, new technologies afford them far greater power and greatly expanded rights that enable them to decide for themselves what they can see, think, and do, as their teachers grapple with ways to attract, rather than compel, students' voluntary attention. This paper reviews various formulations of "attentional economy," and it urges the study of popular forms of technologically enabled play. These technologies effectively mobilize, direct, and sustain the engaged attention of youth, whose learning in and through play far exceeds the kind of glazed-eyed button-mashing complained of by those who have made little effort to understand the educative prospects of computer gaming.     

A comparison of generalizability theory and many-facet Rasch measurement in an analysis of college sophomore writing

A pilot study was conducted to evaluate and improve the rating procedure proposed for use in a research effort designed to assess the essay writing ability of college sophomores.Generalizability theory and the Many-Facet Rasch Model were each used to (a) estimate potential sources of error in the rating, (b) to obtain reliability estimates, and (c) to make recommendations for improving the rating process. Variance due to Task (writing prompt) and the Person-by-Task interaction were high while the variance attributable to Raters and Occasion was low. Twenty-two percent of the variability in the ratings was unexplained. The common and unique features of generalizability theory and the Many-Facet Rasch Model are described, and the advantages and disadvantages of each are discussed.     

Factors Affecting Science Teaching Efficacy of Preservice Elementary Teachers

Journal of Science Teacher Education -     

Skills inventory for early childhood personnel

Why is it that today's better trained, more observant, professionally-minded early childhood personnel are still subject to an age old dilemma? In spite of increased awareness of professional training and skills, early childhood personnel still see themselves as holding low status positions. When casual acquaintances ask what they work at, it is not unusual to hear the reply, “Ijust work with kids.” Perhaps it would serve us well, in fulfilling our roles, to acknowledge to ourselves and to others the wide range of skills possessed and displayed by providers of early childhood services.     

Pressing Issues in College Counseling: A Survey of American College Counseling Association Members

The authors conducted a survey of members of the American College Counseling Association to ascertain the experiences and opinions of college counselors on several pressing issues within the college counseling profession. Survey results from 133 respondents indicated that counseling centers may benefit from increasing the number of group counseling interventions by increasing the multicultural competence of services provided, by implementing crisis/disaster mental health initiatives, and by more effectively consulting with other professionals on campus.     

The influence of racial socialization practices on the cognitive and behavioral competence of African American preschoolers

The association between parent racial socialization and child competence was examined in a socioeconomically diverse sample of African American preschoolers living in an urban setting. Interviews were conducted in the homes of 200 families. Racial socialization was assessed by parent report as well as by observation of the sociocultural context of the home, and child outcomes were assessed using the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children and the Child Behavior Checklist. Results indicated that African American parents who provided homes that were rich in African American culture had preschool children who had greater amounts of factual knowledge and better developed problem-solving skills. African American parents who socialized their preschool children to be proud of their heritage reported fewer problem behaviors.