Parental Plurilingual Capital in a Monolingual Context: Investigating Strengths to Support Young Children in Early Childhood Settings

Parents who are plurilingual have a portfolio of assets they can use to support the language development of their children. This portfolio of assets is positioned as a strength that parents bring into their partnership with early childhood educators. However, not all parents who are plurilingual have the same assets in their language portfolios. Our study, using case studies of parents who have multiple languages and a desire to raise their children with more than one language, demonstrates that previous parental experiences with multiple languages, and intra-familial support for multiple languages combine to impact on parental language strengths and the expectations parents have of early childhood professionals. To build effective partnerships with parents, early childhood professionals need to understand the assets in parental language portfolios.     

Implementation of a peer‐led team learning instructional approach in an undergraduate organic chemistry course

This study focuses on the implementation of a peer‐led team learning (PLTL) instructional approach for all students in an undergraduate organic chemistry course and the evaluation of student outcomes over 8 years. Students who experienced the student‐centered instruction and worked in small groups facilitated by a peer leader (treatment) in 1996–1999 were compared with students who experienced the traditional recitation section (control) in 1992–1994. Quantitative and qualitative data show statistically significant improvements in student performance, retention, and attitudes about the course. These findings suggest that using undergraduate leaders to implement a peer‐led team learning model that is built on a social constructivist foundation is a workable mechanism for effecting change in undergraduate science courses. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 39: 606–632, 2002     

Self‐definition of women experiencing a nontraditional graduate fellowship program

Women continue to be underrepresented in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). One factor contributing to this underrepresentation is the graduate school experience. Graduate programs in STEM fields are constructed around assumptions that ignore the reality of women's lives; however, emerging opportunities may lead to experiences that are more compatible for women. One such opportunity is the Graduate Teaching Fellows in K–12 Education (GK–12) Program, which was introduced by the National Science Foundation in 1999. Although this nontraditional graduate program was not designed explicitly for women, it provided an unprecedented context in which to research how changing some of the basic assumptions upon which a graduate school operates may impact women in science. This exploratory case study examines the self‐definition of 8 women graduate students who participated in a GK–12 program at a major research university. The findings from this case study contribute to higher education's understanding of the terrain women graduate students in the STEM areas must navigate as they participate in programs that are thought to be more conducive to their modes of self‐definition while they continue to seek to be successful in the historically Eurocentric, masculine STEM fields. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 43: 852–873, 2006     

Instruction-first and problem-solving-first approaches: alternative pathways to learning complex tasks

According to cognitive load theory, using worked examples is an effective and efficient instructional strategy for initial cognitive skill acquisition for novice learners, as it reduces cognitive load and frees up cognitive resources to build task competence. Contrary to this, productive failure (as well as invention learning, desirable difficulties and other problem-solving-first) frameworks suggest that scaffolded problem-solving activities (a generation phase) preceding explicit instruction enhance learners’ performance. The reported experimental study investigated the effectiveness of different levels of instructional guidance provided to students during the learning phase preceding explicit instruction in standard solution procedures in enhancing students’ engagement and transfer problem-solving skills. Specifically, the study compared partially-guided or unguided attempts at generating problem solutions as opposed to comprehensive guidance, in the form of a worked example. Levels of experienced cognitive load and learner motivation were evaluated in addition to delayed post-test performance scores. There were no differences between the three groups on the transfer post-test outcomes, even though the condition with fully-guided worked examples prior to the explicit instruction expectedly reduced cognitive load relative to the conditions without such guidance. There were also differences between the conditions on some sub-dimensions of the motivation scale. In general, the findings indicate that similar overall outcomes (delayed transfer performance) could be achieved by different sequences of instructional tasks aimed at achieving different sets of specific goals.     

Preservice Teachers' Knowledge of Difficulties in Decimal Numeration

In this study we investigated preservice elementary school teachers' content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge of decimal numeration. The preservice teachers completed a decimal comparison test, marked items they thought would be difficult for students, and explained why. Only about 80 percent of the sample tested as experts, indicating that a significant proportion of preservice teachers have inadequate content knowledge of decimals. Confusion about the size of decimals in relation to zero was a significant and unexpected difficulty, leading to concerns about the fragmentary nature of the preservice teachers' knowledge. Most preservice teachers were aware of longer-is-larger misconceptions in students, but had little awareness of shorter-is-larger misconceptions. Preservice teachers' explanations for the reasons students might have difficulty demonstrated that many are good at identifying features that make comparisons difficult but less able to explain why these cause trouble. Results point to the need for teacher education to emphasise content knowledge that integrates different aspects of number knowledge, and pedagogical content knowledge that includes a thorough understanding of common difficulties. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

When Classroom Situation is the Unit of Analysis: The Potential Impact on Research in Mathematics Education

In this commentary, I will critically elaborate on the potential impact of the coordinated papers of this volume on further development of research in mathematics education. The papers, which share common theoretical frameworks, will be categorized into three different classes: ‘demolishers of illusions’, ‘economizers of thought’ and ‘energizers of practice’. I will analyze the role played by psychology and related sciences as a possible enrichment of the frameworks, especially where technologies are concerned. Finally, I will discuss the possible conflict between the need to consider the phenomena elicited in this kind of studies and the sophistication required by the theoretical constructs, which makes the results of these studies very difficult to communicate to the international community.     

Documenting the Aspiration Gap in Institutional Language About Undergraduate Research,Scholarship, and Creative Work

We conducted a content-analysis of the websites of 100 institutional members of the Council of Undergraduate Research in order to examine the relationship between messages communicated on websites as compared to messages expressed within institutional procedures and policies. Findings show that public research institutions were more likely than baccalaureate institutions to have an Office of Undergraduate Research. Further incentives and supports provided by such offices are predominantly directed to students. Lastly, our analysis of promotion and tenure policies reveals that only 14 institutions out of the 100 in our sample explicitly mentioned mentoring undergraduate researchers in the evaluation criteria for faculty members. We offer implications for research and practice.     

The relationship between citation errors and library anxiety: An empirical study of doctoral students in education

The present study investigated whether levels of library anxiety predict simultaneously the citation error rate and quality of reference lists in doctoral dissertation proposals among 93 doctoral students in education. This study was unique for at least two reasons. First, it was one of the first studies to examine bibliographic citation inaccuracies in doctoral research proposals. Second, the current investigation was one of the first to investigate the psychological characteristics of doctoral students who commit such errors. A canonical correlation analysis revealed a multivariate relationship between levels of library anxiety and both the citation error rate and quality of reference lists. This finding suggests that level of library anxiety plays an important role in students’ ability to construct accurate reference lists. The implications of these findings are discussed.     

An Australian study comparing the use of multiple-choice questionnaires with assignments as interim,summative law school assessment

To the author’s knowledge, this is the first Australian study to empirically compare the use of a multiple-choice questionnaire (MCQ) with the use of a written assignment for interim, summative law school assessment. This study also surveyed the same student sample as to what types of assessments are preferred and why. In total, 182 undergraduate property law students participated in this study. Results showed that scores for the MCQ (assessing five topics) and assignment (assessing one topic) followed a similar distribution. This indicates that an MCQ does not necessarily skew students towards higher grades than an assignment. Results also showed significant but low correlations of test scores across instruments. When asked which instrument best assessed their knowledge of property law, students expressed a strong preference for an assignment over an MCQ or examination. Comments revealed a strong belief that, because lawyers write, law schools must assess legal writing – a skill not captured by MCQs. This study is important as many Australian law schools face increasing marking loads due to higher student numbers and compulsory mid-term assessments. This article endorses the use of MCQs but only as part of a diverse suite of law school assessment.