Adopting E-Readers with a Purpose: Surveying Users to Develop a Recreational Reading Kindle Lending Program

Studies have shown that students and faculty have reservations about the performance and usability of e-readers in an academic setting. However, incorporating e-readers on college campuses for recreational reading purposes has proven to be quite popular. These trends held true in a study conducted by librarians at St. Mary's College of Maryland. Students, faculty, and staff were surveyed on their use of and familiarity with e-books, e-readers, and tablet devices with e-reader functionality. Information gathered from this survey resulted in the launch of a pilot Kindle lending program focused exclusively on promoting recreational reading.     

Determinants and patterns of physical activity practice among Spanish university students

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the socio-demographic and lifestyle determinants of physical activity practice, as well as the motivations for being or not being physically active in Spanish university students. A representative sample of students from a Spanish university (n = 2,051; 42.1% males; mean age 21.9, s = 4.8 years) participated in the present cross-sectional study. A questionnaire including questions regarding lifestyle, dietary habits, parents' characteristics, and physical activity habits was administered to the students. The socio-demographic and lifestyle determinants of physical activity practice were assessed using multivariable logistic regression. 68.4% of men and 48.4% of women reported to practise physical activity in the present sample. Those who practised physical activity consumed more fruits and were less likely to be smokers compared to non-physically active students. Also, physically inactive men spent more time in front of the computer and physically inactive women spent more time in front of the TV and were more likely to be frequent alcohol consumers. Maternal educational level and maternal physical activity habits were also important determinants of physical activity practice among men and women respectively. In conclusion, physically active students tended to engage in other healthy habits in the present population, suggesting the clustering of healthy or unhealthy lifestyle factors among specific subgroups.     

Promoting social inclusion in the early years of elementary school: a focus on children’s epistemic beliefs for moral reasoning

As classrooms continue to diversify, there is an increasing need to understand children’s inclusive behaviours and moral reasoning. Research shows that epistemic beliefs (beliefs about knowing and knowledge) can influence reasoning for adults, but we know little about this relationship in younger children or how classroom contexts relate to epistemic beliefs for moral reasoning. Thirty-one elementary school children (mean age 6.5 years) participated in epistemic beliefs and moral reasoning tasks in the first year of a three-year longitudinal study. Findings showed that while children described objectivist epistemic beliefs (right/wrong answers) about social inclusion, their justifications revealed an unexpected, more complex set of epistemic beliefs. Implications for moral pedagogies are discussed.     

Applying the technology acceptance model to a Spanish City Hall

This paper examines the relative importance and significance of the four technology enablers introduced by Davis (1989) in the technology acceptance model (TAM) (perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, attitude towards using and behavioural intention) for use on four different levels of citizen engagement in e-government (null, publish, interact and transact). An extended technology acceptance model (TAM) is developed to test citizen engagement towards online e-government services from a sample of 307 citizens who used the benefits advisor tool within a Spanish City Hall. Although the proposed model follows TAM and explains the intention towards the actual use of e-government by postulating four direct determinants, “A, PU, PEOU and BI” have been considered as parallel processes, meaning that each can have separate influence in different levels of citizen engagement. To achieve this goal, a multinomial logistic regression is developed and tested to confirm the explanatory power of the four technology enablers on the four different levels of e-government. Our findings further suggest that in order to implement e-government, some of the enablers matter more than others to move from one level of citizen engagement to another. The main contribution of the paper is to question the use of existing models which seek to represent the relationship between technology enablers and the adoption of e-government services without considering their impacts on citizens’ engagement. The implications of the findings are discussed and useful insights are provided in relation to policy recommendations geared to create appropriate conditions to build citizens’ engagement intent of use of e-government services.     

Market-level information and the diffusion of competing technologies: An exploratory analysis of the LAN industry

Market-level information diffused by print media may contribute to the legitimation of an emerging technology and thus influence the diffusion of competing technological standards. After analyzing more than 10,000 trade media abstracts from the Local Area Networks (LAN) industry published between 1981 and 2000, we found the presence of differential effects on the adoption of competing standards by two market-level information types: technology and product availability. The significance of these effects depends on the technology's order of entry and suggests that high-tech product managers should make strategic use of market-level information by appropriately focusing the content of their communications.     

EXTENDING THE VALIDITY OF THE FAMILY INVOLVEMENT QUESTIONNAIRE–SHORT FORM FOR CULTURALLY AND LINGUISTICALLY DIVERSE FAMILIES FROM LOW‐INCOME BACKGROUNDS

The construct validity of the Family Involvement Questionnaire–Short Form (FIQ‐SF) was examined in an independent sample of ethnically and linguistically diverse low‐income families (N = 498) enrolled in an urban Head Start program in the Southeast. A series of exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses replicated the three‐factor structure identified in initial validation studies with Northeast samples: home‐school conferencing, home‐based involvement, and school‐based involvement. Findings from multiple group confirmatory factor analyses provided evidence that the three‐factor structure was invariant across family ethnicity. multivariate analyses of variance also confirmed hypothesized mean differences on FIQ‐SF dimension scores across family demographic variables such as caregiver ethnicity, primary home language, caregiver education, employment, and marital status. Findings replicate and extend prior construct validity evidence to support the use of the FIQ‐SF by early childhood education programs such as Head Start serving diverse families from low‐income backgrounds. Implications for future research, practice, and policy applications in early childhood are discussed.     

¡No cierren nuestra escuela! farm worker mothers as cultural citizens in an educational community mobilization effort

Mexican immigrant farm-worker mothers’ class, race, citizenship status, and jurisdictional status of their town in a Northern California community rendered them invisible. However, when the school board decided to close the elementary school the mothers mobilized. Drawing on these mothers’ fototestimonios we examine how they, as cultural citizens, resisted local practices of educational inequity. They wanted to ensure an education for their children. The fototestimonios reveal how farm-worker mothers: (1) negotiated as a collective with the school board; (2) sought negotiation and schooling alternatives; and (3) expressed cultural citizenship through collective efforts to be included within the US polity.     

Bathrooms without Borders: Transgender Students Argue Separate is not Equal

Title IX guidelines governing equal access to collide with state legislation around gender identity and multiple use bathrooms and changing facilities. This policy review of literature argues for a stronger voice from Washington, protecting the rights of all students to feel safe using private spaces at school. The many court rulings offer a fair perspective upon which to act. State laws are inconsistent and at times challenge the Constitutional limits on individual rights.     

STEM Integration in Middle School Life Science: Student Learning and Attitudes

In many countries around the world, there has been an increasing emphasis on improving science education. Recent reform efforts in the USA call for teachers to integrate scientific and engineering practices into science teaching; for example, science teachers are asked to provide learning experiences for students that apply crosscutting concepts (e.g., patterns, scale) and increase understanding of disciplinary core ideas (e.g., physical science, earth science). Engineering practices and engineering design are essential elements of this new vision of science teaching and learning. This paper presents a research study that evaluates the effects of an engineering design-based science curriculum on student learning and attitudes. Three middle school life science teachers and 275 seventh grade students participated in the study. Content assessments and attitude surveys were administered before and after the implementation of the curriculum unit. Statewide mathematics test proficiency scores were included in the data analysis as well. Results provide evidence of the positive effects of implementing the engineering design-based science unit on student attitudes and learning.     

Internal and External Time Conflicts in Adolescents: Sleep Characteristics and Interventions

ABSTRACT— Daytime fatigue and lack of sleep seem to increase throughout adolescent years. Several environmental, psychological, and biological factors have been associated with the development of sleep across adolescence. The aim of the present article is to summarize these factors and to give examples of various outcomes in sleep patterns among adolescents studied in different cultural settings. It is obvious from earlier work that many adolescents have displaced circadian rhythms and lack of adaptation to school hours due to an early school start or additional burdens for work. Several interventions have aimed to help the adaptation process by supporting sleep processes and changing scheduling, in this way promoting classroom alertness. In summary, adolescents worldwide shorten their sleep due to schoolwork hours and additional work, especially by disturbing their sleep due to circadian misalignment.