Using argumentation as a learning strategy to improve student performance in engineering Statics

ABSTRACT

Research suggests that a significant reason that a large number of students earn low grades in the fundamental engineering science course Statics is that they may be entering the course with incorrect conceptual knowledge of mathematics and physics. The self-explanation learning approach called collective argumentation helps k-12 students to understand their misconceptions of mathematical principles that often appear abstract to them. This study investigated collective argumentation as an instructional approach that helps engineering students identify and correct their misconceptions of topics taught in Statics. Results suggest that argumentation improves student performance as measured by grades earned on semester exams. Survey and focus group results suggest that students did not understand the argumentation process. Therefore, the students did not like using it as a learning approach.     

Using Early Learning Standards to Provide High-Quality Education for All Children: The Early Learning Guidelines Toolkit

Today with the rise in the number of 3- to 6-year-old children enrolled in center-based early childhood programs, and a focus on program quality, it becomes imperative for educators to have a better understanding of the role research plays in establishing high-quality programs as these programs provide much of the foundation that supports early learning and development (Child Trends, 2014). Although psychology, and the role of child development research in particular, has always been integral to the field of early childhood education beginning with the seminal works of Piaget, Bronfenbrenner, Bruner, and others (Lickona,1971), the field had never fully embraced the use of research to inform practice, until the 1990s. This had been, in part, because the field of early childhood education originally viewed itself as a field of practitioners that provided for the everyday care and needs of young children, whereas it viewed child development researchers as scientists who paid little attention to the practical needs of classroom teaching (Takanishi, 1981 Takanishi, R. (1981). Early childhood education and research: The changing relationship. Theory into Practice, 20, 86–92.[Taylor & Francis Online] , [Google Scholar]). Although, today, there is no longer this ideological divide between the two areas, with the child development research being used to inform educational practice and policy (Center for the Developing Child, 2007), nevertheless there still remains a gap in the ability of educators to effectively implement evidence-based practices. Given the increased focus on providing young children with access to high-quality education, and the need for teachers to implement evidence-based practices the present paper attempts to bridge the gap by providing a brief overview of the science of early childhood development, its importance for development of early learning standards, and an overview of the Early Learning Toolkit which was developed to provide early learning educators guidance and resources to support the implementation of early learning standards within their own states as well as well across the nation. The goal of this article is to bridge theory and practice in early childhood education.     

Using student norms to create positive learning environments

Ever since brash young students goaded one another to race chariots through the streets of the ancient world, elders have tried to understand and harness the energy of late adolescent normative group behavior. John Braxton and Timothy Caboni introduce a perspective and survey instrument that may help today's educators do just that.     

UK data from 197 undergraduates for the Nelson Denny Reading Test

The Nelson Denny Reading Test (Brown, Fishco & Hanna, 1993) provides measures of comprehension, reading rate and vocabulary. It is widely used in research studies with high school and undergraduate students and for assessment purposes in the USA. No widely used test of this kind exists for adults in the UK. The present paper reports data from 197 undergraduates from the University of Essex on the Nelson Denny test. Analyses were carried out of the data in terms of degree type and year of study. The scores obtained with the present sample were higher than those reported in the manual of the Nelson Denny test for a subset of the standardisation sample. Possible reasons for this difference are discussed. Overall, the results suggest that the Nelson Denny test is suitable for use with UK undergraduate students.     

Online or Face-to-Face: Do Mission-Related Student Learning Outcomes Differ?

This study investigated how an authentic assessment program was used to examine student learning outcomes within the context of a Christian university’s institutional mission, core values, and distinctive qualities. For the purposes of this study, an authentic assessment program is defined as assessing student-produced work within the context of the institutional mission. A sample of 1,814 undergraduate students taking one or more general education courses at the university during the 2007–2009 academic years was examined for any significant differences in student learning outcomes. A univariate analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) indicated the Student Assessment System (SAS) scores for the online students were not significantly different from the SAS scores for the face-to-face (F2F) students after controlling for course grade. These results suggest that online students achieved the same critical mission-related educational outcomes that the university required of its F2F students. An implication of this finding is that the university just as effectively articulated its faith-based mission and vision to the online students as it did to its students taking classes F2F.     

Are “no-drug” cues discriminated during drug-discrimination training?

Rats were trained in a two-lever operant chamber to discriminate the presence versus the absence of a drug. During drug sessions, the training procedure involved reinforcing presses on lever 1 with saccharin-sweetened water but not reinforcing presses on lever 2. During no-drug sessions, only presses on lever 2 were reinforced. After this discrimination was learned, each rat was trained to discriminate presence versus absence of a second drug. All rats learned this second discrimination. Finally, the rats were tested to determine whether they could still discriminate the first drug, as well as other pharmacologically related compounds; most rats could. Training drugs were phenobarbital 30–35, nicotine 0.4, amphetamine 0.4, cyproheptadine 7, phencyclidine 4, cyclazocine 1.5, fentanyl 0.04, and scopolamine 0.2 mg/kg. The results indicate that drug versus no-drug discrimination training does not disrupt discriminative control previously established with a different drug. When considered in combination with the results obtained during substitution tests conducted after drug-versus-no-drug training, the data suggest that, instead of discriminating drug cues versus no-drug cues, rats discriminate presence versus absence of particular drug cues.     

Concurrent and Longitudinal Contributions of a Brief Assessment of Reading‐Specific Executive Function to Reading Comprehension in First and Second Grade Students

Executive function (EF) contributes significantly to reading comprehension across the lifespan. Emerging research indicates domain‐specific assessments of EF are better suited for assessment and intervention in academic contexts. For example, graphophonological‐semantic cognitive flexibility (GSF), the ability to flexibly switch between the graphophonological and semantic components of printed words, contributes uniquely to reading comprehension across the lifespan, and GSF training improves children's reading comprehension. This study compared the original GSF measure, which is problematic for use in schools due to its subjectively interpreted explicit explanation component, to an abbreviated implicit task that is better suited for assessment of GSF in practical contexts in 68 first and second grade students. Implicit and explicit GSF contributed uniquely to reading comprehension concurrently and longitudinally when children (n = 31) were in third and fourth grades, beyond verbal ability, decoding ability, and matrix reasoning.