Simple Versus Elaborate Feedback in a Nursing Science Course

Feedback techniques, including computer-assisted feedback, have had mixed results in improving student learning outcomes. This project addresses the effect of type of feedback, simple or elaborate, for both short-term comprehension and long-term outcomes. A sample of 75 graduate nursing students was given a total of ten examinations. Four examinations provided tutorials in which the students received one of two types of feedback, simple or elaborate. Five examinations provided tutorials with no feedback. A comprehensive final examination compared initial content and final scores. This study found no significant differences between the types of feedback the students received. The mean scores were significantly higher on the four examinations where the students received feedback than on the five examinations with no feedback on tutorials. The comparison between the individual examinations and the similar content portion of the final examination indicated a significant drop in each of the four examinations where feedback was given and a significant improvement in four of the five examinations where no feedback was given.     

Bringing Dinosaur Science to the Junior Girl Scouts Through a College Service-Learning Project

Undergraduate students in an introductory-level geoscience course successfully designed and conducted a science badge day for the Junior Girl Scouts. With national concerns that girls turn away from science at a young age, a service-learning project was incorporated into a college course with the end result providing a group of girls a positive and fun science-learning experience. A number of science and technology badges exist for the Girl Scouts, yet not many of these badges have been completed because of a lack of confidence the troop leaders have in teaching science and a paucity of scheduled science events for the leaders to take their girls. Junior Girl Scout troops were invited to the Pennsylvania State University Delaware County campus to complete a series of hands-on dinosaur science activities that allowed them to earn the Science in Everyday Life badge. At the conclusion of the badge event, the girls reported a greater interest in science, a desire to learn more science, and a desire to complete additional science-related Girl Scout badges.     

Disorganized Infant Attachment Classification and Maternal Psychosocial Problems as Predictors of Hostile-Aggressive Behavior in the Preschool Classroom

This study of 62 lowincome families examined the relation between maternal and infant measures assessed at 18 months infant age and child behavior problems at age 5 as rated by preschool teachers. The infancy assessments included measures of mother-infant interaction, maternal psychosocial problems, infant cognitive development, and infant attachment security, including the disorganized/disoriented classification. The strongest single predictor of deviant levels of hostile behavior toward peers in the classroom was earlier disorganized/disoriented attachment status, with 71% of hostile preschoolers classified as disorganized in their attachment relationships in infancy. Maternal psychosocial problems independently predicted hostile aggressions in preschool and combined additively with infant attachment security in prediction. Results are discussed in relation to the asymmetry of forward and backward prediction that characterized the findings and in relation to the potential significance of disorganized attachment behavior as a precursor to later maladaptation.     

Transition time: Make it a time of learning for children

Young children spend much of their day in transition, passing from one place or activity to another. Caregivers can use this time for planned activities which reinforce learning.Betty Ruth Baker is Assistant Professor of Curriculum and Instruction and Director of Early Childhood Education at Baylor University in Waco, Texas.     

grocery Shopping

随着北京越来越国际化,不觉间老外就忽然变成了你的邻居,你的朋友。他们和你住在一条街上,去相同的超市购物,去同一间酒吧消遣,去同一家健身房健身……目前长期生活在北京的老外已经达到十几万,而在北京做短暂停留的老外每天也有十来万人,部分地区还出现了外国人聚集区。当你走在北京街头,身后那个操着一口流利普通话的人说不定就是金发碧眼的外国人。在他们之中不乏怀揣着志向,不远万里来到北京实现自己人生理想的人们。北京也逐渐变成了梦想家的乐园,各项服务设施也逐渐完善,与国际接轨,为各国人民提供了方便、快捷的服务。加拿大美女 Betty 将在本期跟大家分享自己的假期旅行和在北京杂货店购物的经历。     

The Tao of Empowerment

After all the trendy approaches to improving performance have failed, where can we look for the wisdom we need to advise management on how to overcome employee apathy? The concept of employee empowerment is far from new. Five thousand years ago, the sages of ancient China first formulated the principles of Tao, the primal power that forges all phenomena in the universe. They believed that each individual was a microcosm of the universe. Twenty–five hundred years ago, gifted Chinese scholar Lao-tzu eloquently and concisely described the power that comes from being in harmony with the evolving force of nature. The principles Lao-tzu set forth in Tao Te Ching are as valid today as they were 26 centuries ago. They challenge us to use nature as our model, balancing the extremes in life and work, not causing them; to discover intellectual independence, relying on our own inspiration and instincts; to practice simplicity; to build personal power through awareness and knowledge, and to direct events without resorting to force.