Learner-centered inquiry in undergraduate biology: positive relationships with long-term student achievement

We determined short- and long-term correlates of a revised introductory biology curriculum on understanding of biology as a process of inquiry and learning of content. In the original curriculum students completed two traditional lecture-based introductory courses. In the revised curriculum students completed two new learner-centered, inquiry-based courses. The new courses differed significantly from those of the original curriculum through emphases on critical thinking, collaborative work, and/or inquiry-based activities. Assessments were administered to compare student understanding of the process of biological science and content knowledge in the two curricula. More seniors who completed the revised curriculum had high-level profiles on the Views About Science Survey for Biology compared with seniors who completed the original curriculum. Also as seniors, students who completed the revised curriculum scored higher on the standardized Biology Field Test. Our results showed that an intense inquiry-based learner-centered learning experience early in the biology curriculum was associated with long-term improvements in learning. We propose that students learned to learn science in the new courses which, in turn, influenced their learning in subsequent courses. Studies that determine causal effects of learner-centered inquiry-based approaches, rather than correlative relationships, are needed to test our proposed explanation.     

Action Learning and Research at George Washington University

Action learning has emerged as one of the most effective and powerful teaching and learning approaches used in graduate studies in human resource development at George Washington University (GWU). In this article, both faculty and student perspectives are presented to describe action learning teaching, research, and organizational interventions. First-hand experiences of doctoral students with action learning sets are presented in their own words. Students benefit from action learning experiences by building strong networks of personal and professional support. Improved group processes and greater interaction between executive level students and faculty have resulted in a strong doctoral cohort experience for Executive Leadership Program students at GWU. The initial energy to generate action learning programs in students' organizations requires active faculty involvement and follow-up to ensure that organizations accept and benefit from action learning programs. HRD (human resource development) faculty can profit from additional orientation and understanding of action learning to incorporate this methodology into their courses and problem-solving activities.     

Who should teach? A Chinese teacher candidate’s understandings of a good teacher and racialised experiences

Being a good teacher depends on many cultural and linguistic assumptions. Dominant definitions of a good teacher are often based on these implicit assumptions. Probing notions of a good teacher, we examine the endeavors of a Chinese international pre-service teacher, Ling, to become a “good teacher” through her encounters with micro-aggression in the context of her coursework and fieldwork at a U.S. university. The data presented here were collected through semi-structured interviews and field notes from 2014 to 2015 as part of a larger ethnographic case study. We find that the process of becoming a good teacher depends on many cultural and linguistic assumptions that are linked to micro-aggression. We conclude by reflecting on Ling’s understanding of a good teacher in light of dominant views on the matter and her ambivalence to speak up, and make recommendations for further research to allow for alternative views of good teachers to coexist.     

A Technical Note on IRT Simulation Studies: Dealing With Truth,Estimates, Observed Data,and Residuals

Simulation studies are extremely common in the item response theory (IRT) research literature. This article presents a didactic discussion of “truth” and “error” in IRT‐based simulation studies. We ultimately recommend that future research focus less on the simple recovery of parameters from a convenient generating IRT model, and more on practical comparative estimation studies when the data are intentionally generated to incorporate nuisance dimensionality and other sources of nuanced contamination encountered with real data. A new framework is also presented for conceptualizing and comparing various residuals in IRT studies. The new framework allows even very different calibration and scoring IRT models to be compared on a common, convenient, and highly interpretable number‐correct metric. Some illustrative examples are included.     

Bridging the distance: bibliographic instruction for remote library users

Electronic information resources are proliferating, library collections are increasingly accessible via the Internet, and the number of end users who access library resources remotely is on the rise. Changes in user behavior drives a corresponding change in the way instructional programs must be delivered to meet the needs of remote library users. This paper discusses some technologies currently available for remote instruction, assesses their use, and offers views on future trends.     

Motivation Profiles in Sport: A Self-Determination Theory Perspective

Abstract

The present study examined the link between motivation profiles among adult sports participants and the consequences of enjoyment, effort, positive and negative affect, attitude toward sport participation, intention to continue sport participation, satisfaction, and frequency of attendance in sport. Two samples of participants (n = 590 and n = 555) completed the Sport Motivation Scale and a range of self-report measures to assess the outcome variables. Exploratory cluster analyses applied to Sample I and confirmatory cluster analysis applied to Sample 2 identified two clusters of sport participants. The first comprised participants with high scores on both nonself-determined and self-determined motives. The second comprised participants with high scores on self-determined motives but low scores on nonself-determined motives. Participants in the first cluster scored higher on all outcome variables. The results are discussed with reference to a more in-depth understanding of the motivation dynamics of sport participation based on Self-Determination Theory.     

Recovery Responses to Maximal Exercise in Healthy-Weight Children and Children With Obesity

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine differences in heart rate recovery (HRRec) and oxygen consumption recovery (VO₂ recovery) between young healthy-weight children and children with obesity following a maximal volitional graded exercise test (GXTmax). Method: Twenty healthy-weight children and 13 children with obesity completed body composition testing and performed a GXTmax. Immediately after the GXTmax, HRRec and VO₂ recovery were measured each minute for 5 consecutive minutes. Results: There were no statistically significant group differences in HRRec for the 5 min following maximal exercise, Wilks’s Lambda = .885, F(4, 28) = 0.911, p = .471, between the healthy-weight children and children with obesity despite statistically significant differences in body fat percentage (BF%; healthy-weight children, 18.5 ± 6.1%; children with obesity, 41.1 ± 6.9%, p < .001) and aerobic capacity relative to body mass (VO₂ peak; healthy-weight children, 46.8 ± 8.2 mL/kg/min; children with obesity, 31.9 ± 4.7 mL/kg/min, p < .001). There were statistically significant differences in VO₂ recovery for the 5 min following exercise, Wilks’s Lambda = .676, F(4, 26) = 3.117, p = .032. There were no statistically significant correlations between HRRec and body mass index (BMI), BF%, VO₂peak, or physical activity. Conclusions: In a healthy pediatric population, obesity alone does not seem to significantly impact HRRec, and because HRRec was not related to obesity status, BMI, or BF%, it should not be used as the sole indicator of aerobic capacity or health status in children. Using more than one recovery variable (i.e., HRRec and VO₂ recovery) may provide greater insight into cardiorespiratory fitness in this population.     

Macroappraisal in Theory and Practice: Origins, Characteristics, and Implementation in Canada, 1950–2000

Macroappraisal as developed in Canada has had significant currency in archival literature over the past decade, and aspects of its program and ideas have been implemented in other jurisdictions. For the first time, this essay probes the theoretical and practical origins of macroappraisal in Canada since 1950 and why its originators no longer found convincing the predominant status quo on appraisal as articulated by T.R. Schellenberg. The essay then summarizes the theory of macroappraisal as articulated at the National Archives of Canada, and the strategic and program infrastructure developed in the 1990s to turn the new theory into operational reality. As no archival concept is universally locked in time, the evolution and changes in the macroappraisal program, both in theory and strategy, are also analysed in its Canadian home base over its first decade, as well as some internal and external criticisms of it. The essay intends to illuminate the deeper context of macroappraisal, so that an international audience may better understand its strengths and weaknesses. As the author is the principal architect of macroappraisal, the essay consists of equal parts of archival history, theoretical analysis, and personal reflection.