The missing disciplinary substance of formative assessment

We raise concerns about the current state of research and development in formative assessment, specifically to argue that in its concentration on strategies for the teacher, the literature overlooks the disciplinary substance of what teachers and students assess. Our argument requires analysis of specific instances in the literature, and so we have selected four prominent publications for consideration as examples. These, we show, pay little attention to the student reasoning they depict, presume traditional notions of “content” as correct information, and treat assessment as distinct from other activities of learning and teaching, even when they claim the contrary. We then offer an alternative image of formative assessment centered on attention to disciplinary substance, which we illustrate with an example from a high school biology class. Assessment, we contend, should be understood and presented as genuine engagement with ideas, continuous with the disciplinary practices science teaching should be working to cultivate. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 48: 1109–1136, 2011     

BEHAVIORAL INTENTION OF TEACHERS,SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGISTS,AND COUNSELORS TO INTERVENE AND PREVENT HARASSMENT OF LGBTQ YOUTH

A national sample of educators were surveyed to identity the attitudes, beliefs, school culture, and perceived barriers that would predict whether educators would intervene to stop bias and harassment directed at lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, and questioning (LGBTQ) youth in schools. The survey questionnaire was organized according to the theory of planned behavior (TpB), a theoretical model linking attitudes to behavior. A sample of 968 teachers, school psychologists, and school counselors participated. Factor analysis indicated that the three TpB components (attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control) accurately predicted behavioral intention to advocate for LGBTQ youth. Path analysis supported the components of TpB in predicting behavioral intention, accounting for 21% of the variance. The path coefficients linking attitudes and subjective norm to behavioral intention were particularly robust and less so for perceived behavioral control. Implications for intervention and training of school personnel to improve advocacy for LGBTQ youth and reduce bias and harassment are discussed.     

Kinematic differences between front crawl sprint and distance swimmers at a distance pace

The purpose of the study was to determine whether there are differences in kinematics between sprint and distance front crawl specialists when swimming at a distance pace using a six beat kick. Seven sprint and eight distance male specialists performed one maximum 400 m swim through a 6.75 m3 calibrated space recorded by six gen-locked cameras. The following variables were calculated: average swim velocity, stroke length, stroke frequency, upper limb and foot displacement, elbow angle, the shoulder and hip roll angle, duration of the stroke phases and time corresponding to particular events within the stroke cycle relative to hand entry. Differences between the groups were assessed by an independent t-test and effect size (d) calculations for each variable. The groups only differed significantly with respect to the average swim velocity, with the distance swimmers maintaining a greater velocity throughout the 400 m. However, effect sizes were moderate for elbow angle range during the pull phase (d = 0.78) and the total hip roll magnitude (d = 0.76). There was little evidence to suggest that sprint and distance swimmers using a six beat kick pattern differ in technique when swimming at a distance pace and therefore coaches should not encourage the development of different techniques between these groups.     

Faculty and Academic Integrity: The Influence of Current Honor Codes and Past Honor Code Experiences

This survey of faculty at honor code and non-honor code institutions investigated the influence of honor codes on faculty attitudes and behaviors. As hypothesized, we found that honor code faculty have more positive attitudes toward their schools' academic integrity policies and are more willing to allow the system to take care of monitoring and disciplinary activities. Faculty in noncode institutions have less positive attitudes and are more likely to take personal actions designed to both catch and deal with cheaters. We also investigated the potential influence of a student honor code experience on faculty attitudes. We found that, in noncode environments, faculty who had an honor code experience as a student were more likely to believe that students should be held responsible for peer monitoring and to say that they deal personally with cheating. Implications for higher education institutions are discussed.     

The key kinematic determinants of undulatory underwater swimming at maximal velocity

The optimisation of undulatory underwater swimming is highly important in competitive swimming performance. Nineteen kinematic variables were identified from previous research undertaken to assess undulatory underwater swimming performance. The purpose of the present study was to determine which kinematic variables were key to the production of maximal undulatory underwater swimming velocity. Kinematic data at maximal undulatory underwater swimming velocity were collected from 17 skilled swimmers. A series of separate backward-elimination analysis of covariance models was produced with cycle frequency and cycle length as dependent variables (DVs) and participant as a fixed factor, as including cycle frequency and cycle length would explain 100% of the maximal swimming velocity variance. The covariates identified in the cycle-frequency and cycle-length models were used to form the saturated model for maximal swimming velocity. The final parsimonious model identified three covariates (maximal knee joint angular velocity, maximal ankle angular velocity and knee range of movement) as determinants of the variance in maximal swimming velocity (adjusted-r² = 0.929). However, when participant was removed as a fixed factor there was a large reduction in explained variance (adjusted r² = 0.397) and only maximal knee joint angular velocity continued to contribute significantly, highlighting its importance to the production of maximal swimming velocity. The reduction in explained variance suggests an emphasis on inter-individual differences in undulatory underwater swimming technique and/or anthropometry. Future research should examine the efficacy of other anthropometric, kinematic and coordination variables to better understand the production of maximal swimming velocity and consider the importance of individual undulatory underwater swimming techniques when interpreting the data.     

Relation of Rearing Environment to Adaptive Behavior of Egyptian Toddlers

2 questions were explored: (1) Do observed relations found in Western cultures between specific psychosocial environmental factors and toddlers adaptive behavior resemble the pattern of relations found in a non-Western setting? (2) Does the specificity of relations between environment and performance found in Western cultures also operate in a non-Western culture? Subjects were 153 Egyptian toddlers, 18–30 months of age, and their caregivers. Twice a month between 18 and 30 months toddlers were observed in naturalistic interactions with their caregivers, and measures of caregiver behavior and toddler functioning were coded. Replicating previous results from Western cultures, canonical analysis indicated that caregiver vocal stimulation was positively related to indices of toddler behavioral competence, while nonverbal response to vocalization and physical contact stimulation were negatively related. The salience of sib caregivers was also noted. Particularly for the age period between 24 and 29 months, results indicated specificity of environmental action such that measures of caregiver vocal stimulation were uniquely related to measures of toddler vocalization, while caregiver response to distress was uniquely related to toddler emotionality. The present pattern of results suggests at least some degree of cross-cultural generalizability of environment-development relations and of the specificity model of environmental action.     

Faculty responses to academic dishonesty: The influence of student honor codes

Cheating among college students has generally been studied from a student perspective. The research discussed here looks at student cheating from a faculty perspective. Utilizing the responses of 789 faculty members at 16 institutions located throughout the United States, it examines typical faculty responses to incidents of student cheating and how the presence of a student honor code influences faculty responses. These findings are compared to student perspectives on how faculty address incidents of cheating using data collected from over 3,000 students at the same 16 institutions in an earlier phase of this research project.     

Content integration across multiple documents reduces memory for sources

The current experiments systematically examined semantic content integration as a mechanism for explaining source inattention and forgetting when reading-to-remember multiple texts. For all 3 experiments, degree of semantic overlap was manipulated amongst messages provided by various information sources. In Experiment 1, readers’ source recognition was significantly poorer when the sources presented semantically-congruent compared to semantically-distinct messages. Experiment 2 replicated the findings, despite half of the participants receiving a pre-reading warning. Experiment 3 extended the examination to include longer argument-based texts; readers additionally wrote a comprehensive essay on the topic. The results indicated longer reading times and better recall memory for the claims and evidence statements from semantically-congruent compared to semantically-distinct texts, while still reproducing the poorer source recognition effects of Experiments 1 and 2. We discuss implications for contemporary accounts of multiple text comprehension as well as directions for future research.     

Hospital‐to‐school transition for children with chronic illness: Meeting the new challenges of an evolving health care system

Chronic illness is common and has a profound impact on the education of affected children. A variety of approaches and programs to facilitate the transition from hospital to school for children with chronic health problems has been described in the literature. Traditional transition plans may no longer be effective because medical service delivery has changed to reduce long‐term hospital stays while increasing outpatient care. As a result, comprehensive hospital‐to‐school transitions increasingly emphasize home and family involvement that includes homebound instruction strategies, flexible school days, using differentiated instructional strategies, increasing child autonomy, and addressing affective issues. This article describes the needs of children with chronic illness, identifies educational programming consistent with the current health care system, and describes current hospital‐to‐school transition plans that integrate systemic needs of schools and health care systems with the needs of children with chronic illness. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.