Effects of a training intervention to foster argumentation skills while processing conflicting scientific positions

Argumentation skills play a crucial role in science education and in preparing school students to act as informed citizens. While processing conflicting scientific positions regarding topics such as sustainable development in the domain of ecology, argumentation skills such as evaluating arguments or supporting theories with evidence are beneficial for developing deep understanding and well-grounded conclusions. We developed a 50-min training intervention to foster argumentation skills in the domain of ecology on topics related to sustainable development and analyzed its effects in a control-group design: (a) training intervention to foster argumentation skills (n = 41), (b) no such training intervention (n = 42). Results showed that this short-term training intervention successfully fostered three components of argumentation skills (i.e., evaluative knowledge, generative knowledge, and argument quality) and declarative knowledge about argumentation. The positive effect on declarative knowledge was stable 1 week after the training and it was mediated by learning processes during the training intervention: self-explaining the principles of argumentation underlying the video-based examples mediated the effect on declarative knowledge 1 week after the training. In short, the training intervention is an effective instructional method to enhance argumentation skills as well as declarative knowledge about argumentation.     

Trivializing the News? Affective Context Effects of Commercials on the Perception of Television News

This study examined whether affect induced by television commercials influences the perception of news programming. An experiment showed that viewers in positive moods generated by television commercials perceive news stories viewed both after and before watching the commercials as more entertaining, relaxing, realistic, and more credible than viewers exposed to neutral commercials do. Of interest, viewers in positive mood, as compared to neutral mood, perceived the topic presented in the news story as less important and serious.     

Advanced Nonlinear Latent Variable Modeling: Distribution Analytic LMS and QML Estimators of Interaction and Quadratic Effects

Interaction and quadratic effects in latent variable models have to date only rarely been tested in practice. Traditional product indicator approaches need to create product indicators (e.g., x ₁ ², x ₁ x ₄) to serve as indicators of each nonlinear latent construct. These approaches require the use of complex nonlinear constraints and additional model specifications and do not directly address the nonnormal distribution of the product terms. In contrast, recently developed, easy-to-use distribution analytic approaches do not use product indicators, but rather directly model the nonlinear multivariate distribution of the measured indicators. This article outlines the theoretical properties of the distribution analytic Latent Moderated Structural Equations (LMS; Klein & Moosbrugger, 2000) and Quasi-Maximum Likelihood (QML; Klein & Muthén, 2007) estimators. It compares the properties of LMS and QML to those of the product indicator approaches. A small simulation study compares the two approaches and illustrates the advantages of the distribution analytic approaches as multicollinearity increases, particularly in complex models with multiple nonlinear terms. An empirical example from the field of work stress applies LMS and QML to a model with an interaction and 2 quadratic effects. Example syntax for the analyses with both approaches is provided.     

Ratings of usability of didactic models: a comparative case study in Croatia and Germany

The study refers to the unfavourable reputation and status of general didactics as well as its decreasing importance in teacher education. This is a result of poor performance achieved in international tests by students. They score low on knowledge and arguments, and empirical studies indicate that didactic models are useless. In view of the above problem, the aim of this article is to examine the validity of the argument that didactic models are useless. It is necessary to examine if general didactics are being in an unfavourable position along with its possible successors in the international context. In order to achieve that, we conducted an empirical study into the usability of didactic models for lesson planning in Croatia and compared it with the results obtained in previous research in Germany. The term usability means the advantages of theory in practice. On the basis of the results of the empirical study, we concluded that didactic models are not generally unusable. Additionally, they are different according to their usability. These results open a path for further research on this topic in the international context.     

Robuste Indizes für Projection Pursuit

Die moderne und hoch komplexe Fertigung, z.B. in der Halbleiterindustrie, erfordert für die dabei anfallenden Messdaten der Anlagen- bzw. Prozessparameter multivariate Analysemethoden. Eine dieser m?glichen Analysemethoden ist Projection Pursuit (PP). Dieses Verfahren ist durch geschickte Wahl des so genannten Projektionsindex in der Lage, verschiedenste Datencharakteristika zu detektieren und diese auf anschauliche Weise zu visualisieren. Bei den Projektionsindizes handelt es sich um Funktionen, die eine Projektion auf unterschiedliche Merkmale hin bewerten und dabei jeder Projektion einen Funktionswert zuweisen. Dieser Funktionswert spiegelt die Aussagekraft der Projektion (in Abh?ngigkeit vom verwendeten Index) wider. Die Auswahl bzw. der Aufbau dieser Indizes ist hierbei von entscheidender Bedeutung. Alle hier vorgestellten Indizes zeichnen sich vor allem durch ihren robusten Charakter gegenüber durch Ausrei?er kontaminierte Daten, wie sie in realen Datenszenarien vorkommen, aus. Die durch Anwendung dieser Indizes gewonnenen Einblicke in die komplexe Struktur der Daten erm?glichen es, hochdimensionale Parameterabweichungen und komplexe Zusammenh?nge innerhalb der Daten zu finden.     

A ménage à trois: the eye, the hand and on-line processing

This review summarizes research conducted in our laboratories over the past 5 years aimed at determining the temporal and spatial relationships between eye and hand movements and the amount of central processing that must occur before performing a manual aiming movement, relative to the amount of processing that is done online. All of our research to date points to a two-component model of speed-accuracy control in manual aiming. Several studies have shown that eye and hand movements in manual aiming are inextricably linked both temporally and spatially. Typically, the eye arrives in the vicinity of the target first; this coincides with peak acceleration of the finger during the initial impulse phase of a movement. There is also significant temporal and spatial coupling of the finger, elbow and shoulder in aiming, and movements appear to evolve in a proximal-to-distal fashion. Movements are endpoint driven and variability is reduced with distal approximation to the target. This movement control strategy means that visual information is not only available for use in modifying responses, but there is sufficient time available for its use. In sequential complex aiming movements, the use of visual feedback and on-line processing become even more important. Practice does not diminish the need for on-line processing; rather, its use appears to ensure greater movement efficiency.     

The economic analysis and evaluation of information and documentation systems

Significant results of a project carried out by the Studiengruppe für System-forschung e.V. (Heidelberg, W. Germany) on the “Economy of Information and Documentation Systems” are described. The aims of this project in the framework of the German national “Program of the Federal Government for the Promotion of Information and Documentation (I&D-Program) 1974–1977” were to develop methods for measuring the efficiency of information and documentation systems and services and to test such methods in actual practice.     

Embedded Clinical Librarianship: Bringing Medical Reference Services Bedside

This article was written by Patti Gibbons and Debra A. Werner. Patti is the Head of Collection Management at the University of Chicago Library’s Special Collections Research Center and holds a MLIS from the University of Illinois and a MA from the University of Washington. Debra is the Librarian for Science Instruction & Outreach and Biomedical Reference Librarian at the University of Chicago Library and the University of Chicago’s Pritzker School of Medicine’s Director of Library Research in Medical Education and she holds a MLIS from Dominican University. This article covers an experimental project at the University of Chicago where the library’s medical librarian teamed up with the hospital’s clinical team during patient rounds to provide real-time reference services. The project’s effectiveness was studied by a medical student who found that the embedded librarian’s services improved the clinical team’s evidence-based medical decision-making abilities without increasing the length of bedside rounds.     

Neues zur beruflichen Anerkennung im EU-Bereich

Die berufliche Anerkennung im EU-Bereich war bisher durch ein Konvolut zahlreicher und wenig übersichtlicher Regelungen geprägt, weshalb sich eine Orientierung auf diesem Gebiet nicht gerade einfach gestaltete. Durch die neue RL 2005/36 über die Anerkennung von Berufsqualifikationen erfolgt nunmehr die bereits längst nötige Harmonisierung. Der folgende Beitrag bietet eine Übersicht zur beruflichen Anerkennung, wobei insbesondere die wichtigsten Inhalte der neuen RL – vom Anerkennungssystem bis zu den Kontaktstellen – zur Darstellung gelangen.     

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