Developing and validating science education videodiscs

The development of videodiscs for science instruction in public schools requires a recognition of the unique characteristics of the public school environment and a sensitivity to the persistent problems associated with science instruction. This report discusses the conceptualization, development, and formative evaluation of a series of science education videodiscs. The discs were designed to enhance the efforts of teachers working in both individual and group instructional settings. In presenting the content, particular attention was given to the “effective instruction” research literature and more subject-matter–specific problems such as those associated with the use of terminology and the fragmentation of information. The formative data indicated that videodisc programs can enhance the effectiveness of teachers and substantively impact student achievement and attitudes.     

Making connections in mathematics

Math textbooks, which usually represent the mathematics curriculum, seem to be linked to the poor math performance of U.S. students. The major shortcomings of math textbooks are described in this article; then an alternative perspective is offered (the sameness analysis), along with research conducted with students with learning disabilities and at-risk students. The article then presents a detailed illustration of the sameness analysis--how to teach the addition-subtraction and multiplication-division relationships and their interrelationships in the context of solving word problems in mathematics.     

Intergenerational transmission of gender segregation: How parents’ occupational field affects gender differences in field of study choices

The study explores how parents’ occupational field affects gender differences in educational fields. On the one hand, the theory of direct transfer predicts that adolescents enter fields similar to those of their parents because of intergenerational transmission of occupation‐specific resources and that adolescents are more likely to draw upon the resources provided by the higher‐status parent. On the other hand, the theory of sex‐role learning predicts that boys and girls are more likely to choose more gender‐stereotypical fields of study because they learn ‘appropriate’ gender‐role behaviour from their parents’ occupational field and that boys are more likely to learn this behaviour from their father and girls from their mother. We use longitudinal data collected from adolescents and their parents in the Netherlands (N = 2,497) and tested our hypotheses using multiple‐group structural equation modelling and multinomial regression analyses. In line with sex‐role learning, results show that especially mothers who are employed in a more feminine occupational field influence their daughters to enter a more feminine field of study (health, biology, agriculture and veterinary) and their sons to enter a more masculine field of study (science and technology). Mothers’ occupational field therefore not only influences girls’ field of study, but also boys’. This study highlights the role of horizontal characteristics when examining which field of study adolescents enter. Contrary to the stratification literature, which primarily focuses on fathers, this study concludes that mothers play a more important role in gender differences in fields of study.     

Identities of special needs education in the discourse of Finnish professors of the field

This article examines both the discourses upon which Finnish special needs education professors draw when speaking about their field, and the consequent identities for it. The research material consists of theme interviews with 10 professors of special needs education and is analysed from a socio-constructionist, discourse analytical perspective. The results show that the professors defined special needs education from two separate viewpoints: on the basis of their own personal views, or on the basis of the classical definitions of special needs education. The professors spoke about the field through five different discourses: professional, emancipatory, relativistic, autonomous and critical. The majority of these discourses constructed special needs education as an important part of the science field, although the relativistic discourse problematised its position as an independent discipline.     

Dopingkontrollen in Deutschland

The aim of the present study was to gather information from athletes and doping control officials about their satisfaction and acceptance concerning the accomplishment of the doping control system (DCS) in Germany. 761 high elite athletes and 101 doping control officers took part in a written survey. Special attention was given to the subjective estimation of knowledge about the DCS as well as to their experiences during doping controls (DC) and on the whereabouts system.Three quarters of the responding athletes stated to have control experience; many of them were controlled several times a year. The majority of athletes confirmed to be familiar with the sampling procedure. But every second mentioned deficits regarding their rights during the collection or the functioning of the whereabouts system. Athletes and control officials evaluated their communication and coordination among each other mainly positive. By the majority of athletes, control officials’ attitude was judged to be friendly and open minded and their behavior neutral and discreet. A strong and internationally comparable accomplishment of the DCS was demanded especially from athletes belonging to higher testing pools. Doping control officials appreciated athletes’ generally high willingness to cooperate and, predominantly, felt well instructed for their duty.     

Efficiency differences of finnish senior secondary schools: An application of DEA and Tobit analysis

We studied efficiency differences among Finnish senior secondary schools by Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). Four model variants were used. Average efficiencies in the most extensive models were 82–84 per cent. When parents' educational level was treated as an additional input, average efficiency increased to 91 per cent. The efficiency rankings of schools changed to some extent when simplest quantitative inputs and outputs were augmented by measures of teacher quality and national matriculation examination results. As a second stage after DEA analysis, we explained the degree of inefficiency (100-efficiency score) by a statistical Tobit model. Schools with small classes and heterogenous student bodies were inefficient whereas school size did not affect efficiency. Surprisingly, private schools were inefficient relative to public schools. When parents' educational level was only included in the Tobit model, it affected efficiency positively.     

Building a gold standard to construct search filters: a case study with biomarkers for oral cancer

Objective:

To support clinical researchers, librarians and informationists may need search filters for particular tasks. Development of filters typically depends on a “gold standard” dataset. This paper describes generalizable methods for creating a gold standard to support future filter development and evaluation using oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) as a case study. OSCC is the most common malignancy affecting the oral cavity. Investigation of biomarkers with potential prognostic utility is an active area of research in OSCC. The methods discussed here should be useful for designing quality search filters in similar domains.

Methods:

The authors searched MEDLINE for prognostic studies of OSCC, developed annotation guidelines for screeners, ran three calibration trials before annotating the remaining body of citations, and measured inter-annotator agreement (IAA).

Results:

We retrieved 1,818 citations. After calibration, we screened the remaining citations (n = 1,767; 97.2%); IAA was substantial (kappa = 0.76). The dataset has 497 (27.3%) citations representing OSCC studies of potential prognostic biomarkers.

Conclusions:

The gold standard dataset is likely to be high quality and useful for future development and evaluation of filters for OSCC studies of potential prognostic biomarkers.

Implications:

The methodology we used is generalizable to other domains requiring a reference standard to evaluate the performance of search filters. A gold standard is essential because the labels regarding relevance enable computation of diagnostic metrics, such as sensitivity and specificity. Librarians and informationists with data analysis skills could contribute to developing gold standard datasets and subsequent filters tuned for their patrons'' domains of interest.     

Children's developing ability to adjust their beliefs reasonably in light of disagreement

Two preregistered experiments (N = 218) investigated children's developing ability to respond reasonably to disagreement. U.S. children aged 4–9, and adults (50% female, mostly white) formed an initial belief, and were confronted with the belief of a disagreeing other, whose evidence was weaker, stronger than, or equal to participants' evidence. With age, participants were increasingly likely to maintain their initial belief when their own evidence was stronger, adopt the other's belief when their evidence was weaker, and suspend judgment when both had equally strong evidence. Interestingly, 4- to 6-year-olds only suspended judgment reliably when this was assessed via the search for additional information (Experiment 2). Together, our experiments suggest that the ability to respond reasonably to disagreement develops over the preschool years.