Assessing dialogic argumentation in online environments to relate structure,grounds, and conceptual quality

The national science standards, along with prominent researchers, call for increased focus on scientific argumentation in the classroom. Over the past decade, researchers have developed sophisticated online science learning environments to support these opportunities for scientific argumentation. Assessing the quality of dialogic argumentation, however, has proven challenging. Existing analytic frameworks assess dialogic argumentation in terms of the nature of students' discourse, formal argumentation structure, interactions, and epistemic forms of reasoning. Few frameworks, however, connect these assessments to conceptual quality. We present an analytic framework for assessing argumentation in online science learning environments that relates levels of opposition with discourse moves, use of grounds, and conceptual quality. We then apply the proposed framework to students' dialogic argumentation within a representative online science learning environment to investigate the framework's potential affordances as well as to assess issues of reliability and appropriateness. The results suggest that the framework offers significant affordances and that it also offers high interrater reliability for trained coders. The applicability of the framework for offline contexts and future extensions of the framework are discussed in light of these results. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 45: 293–321, 2008     

Telecommunications

R. Terry Ellmore The Illustrated Dictionary of Broadcast-CATV-Telecommunications (Blue Ridge Summit, Pa.: TAB Books, 1977—$14.95)

first is Edward L. Safford CBer's Handy Manual of SSB (Blue Ridge Summit, Pa.: TAB Books, 1977—$2.25, paper)

Victor F.G. Veley Third Class FCC License Study Guide (Blue Ridge Summit, Pa.: TAB Books, 1977—$9.95/6.95)

Communication by Satellite: Perspectives for Users (Institut International de la Communication, 3535 Chemin de la Reine-Marie, bureau 218, Montreal H3V 1H8, Quebec, Canada—$12.00, paper).

Paul Polishuk and Michael O'Bryant, Exposition Proceedings: Telecommunications and Economic Development (Horizon House, 610 Washington St., Dedham, Mass. 02026—$100 for the set of two volumes, paper).     

Development of anxiety disorders in a traumatized pediatric population: a preliminary longitudinal evaluation

OBJECTIVE: The current study was conducted to determine if post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptomatology predicted later development of non-PTSD anxiety disorders in children and adolescents victimized by interpersonal trauma. METHODS: Thirty-four children with a history of interpersonal trauma and no initial diagnosis of anxiety disorder participated in the study. Children were assessed at time one (T1) and then 12-18 months later at time two (T2). At T1, the Clinician Administered PTSD Scale for Children and Adolescents (CAPS-CA) and the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School-Age Children-Present and Lifetime Version (K-SADS-PL) were used to evaluate children's PTSD symptoms and comorbid non-PTSD anxiety disorder diagnosis. At T2, the CAPS-CA and the K-SADS-PL were repeated. RESULTS: The diagnosis of PTSD and PTSD symptoms in children exposed to interpersonal trauma at T1, particularly the symptoms associated with avoidance and constricted emotional expression (criteria C) as well as physiological hyperarousal (criteria D), predicted the development of other anxiety disorders at T2. CONCLUSION: Traumatized children with initial PTSD symptomatology may be at risk of later development of other anxiety disorders.     

Exploring the underlying factor structure of the home literacy environment (HLE) in the English and Spanish versions of the Familia Inventory: A cautionary tale

Few research-based measures of the family literacy environment are commercially available, especially in Spanish. One exception is the Familia Inventory (Taylor, 1995). The present study investigated the 10 subscales of this instrument and the factor structure they imply, using data from a low-socioeconomic (SES), largely Hispanic population. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to test the structure of the instrument as well as whether it is invariant across English and Spanish language versions. The scale was administered to 232 parents of preschoolers. Results of the CFA revealed that the a priori dimensions of the Familia Inventory were not supported for this sample. Follow-up analyses suggested poor fit both within and between subscales. The scale fit poorly within both English and Spanish, precluding testing of invariance across language. Supplemental analyses using exploratory factor analysis (EFA) on a subset of the items that had adequate variance suggested that a four-factor solution accounting for 53% of the variance best represented the English data and that a two-factor solution accounting for 43% of the variance best represented the Spanish data. Implications are discussed.     

Physical abuse during adolescence: Gender differences in the adolescents' perceptions of family functioning and parenting

OBJECTIVE: To examine the relationship between physical abuse of adolescents and parenting by mothers and fathers and whether the association differs by gender. METHODS: Subjects were adolescents, 51 girls and 45 boys, documented by Child Protective Services (CPS) as physically abused during adolescence. Comparison subjects were non-abused adolescents, 47 girls and 48 boys, from the same suburban communities. Subjects completed the following: Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scale, Parental Bonding Instrument, modified Conflict Tactics Scale (assessing physical abuse/punishment by each parent). RESULTS: Although CPS generally cited fathers as the abuse perpetrators, abused boys and girls often reported experiencing physical maltreatment from both parents. Not surprisingly, comparison subjects rated parents more positively than abused subjects. For both groups, mothers were perceived as more caring and less controlling, were reported to have closer relationships with their adolescents, and were less likely to use abuse/harsh punishment than were fathers. Differences between the adolescents' perceptions of mothers and fathers were more pronounced for abused than for comparison subjects. Boys' and girls' perceptions of parenting were generally similar except that girls, especially the abused girls, reported feeling less close to fathers. Abused girls also viewed mothers as less caring than the other groups viewed mothers. Abused girls were also less likely than abused boys to perceive that either parent, but particularly fathers, had provided them with an optimum style of parenting. CONCLUSIONS: Adolescents who experienced relatively mild physical abuse reported dysfunctional family relationships, which may place them at risk of poor adult outcomes. Adolescents' reports suggest that CPS reports may underestimate physical maltreatment by mothers.     

The power of a family archive

Traditionally, an archive of family letters provides primary source materials for historians. The family archive described in this article does provide detailed insight into the suffering of several Jews in Germany and France before and during World War II. It serves as a memorial to several individuals who were murdered by the Nazis. It is also a moving testimony of the cost of war. As such, it can be seen as contributing to the wider historical record of the Holocaust. But in addition, this family archive also opened an entire series of new relationships with previously unknown blood relatives scattered across the globe, with an artist drawing the archive into a creative remembrance project, and also with individuals interested in the history of their community in Germany, which was my father??s birthplace. This family archive demonstrates values of archives parallel to their historical significance. It provides a meaningful illustration for how they can, in an unanticipated and unpredictable fashion, serve as a device for forging contemporary and ongoing familial, interpersonal, and social relationships. Ultimately, this archive of family letters, created in the midst of pain and anguish and death, has laid a new foundation of commemoration and remembrance.     

Transforming American High Schools: Possibilities for the Next Phase of High School Reform

The next phase of high school reform is ripe with possibilities. Over the last 3 decades, educational research has identified a number of promising and effective high school models. Research demonstrates the benefits of career academies and early college schools. Schools that offer small, personalized environments; comprehensive approaches to schoolwide instruction and operations; and integrated opportunities to experience career and college have exhibited positive impacts on labor market outcomes, student achievement, or high school graduation. Guided by advances in research of high school reform and recent education policy, leaders and funders of reform and educational innovations should seek to further integrate structural arrangements and instructional practices with local employers and higher education institutions. Reforms should also search for ways to accelerate rapid and dramatic improvements in school performance.     

Por los ojos de madres: Latina mothers’ understandings of college readiness

In this study, data from six focus groups with 30 Latina mothers in South Texas were analyzed utilizing a “funds of knowledge” approach to uncover their understandings of college readiness and their role in ensuring their children are college ready. Findings indicate that Latina mothers perceived college readiness in a holistic fashion, similar to the concept of educación, in that being college ready encompasses academic preparation and other particular personal attributes that ensure success in college. Mothers also believed they had a shared responsibility in college readiness efforts by providing emotional, financial, and moral support while school personnel and students were responsible for other aspects. Such findings are crucial given that current college readiness research does not explicitly consider the role of parents in college readiness efforts or how parents perceive this notion.