A Place to Protest

The national media converged on Baltimore, Charleston, and Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014 and 2015 to cover protests in response to police violence toward African American males. Although national and local media covered the events and the aftermath, alternative media sought to provide additional viewpoints and spur readers to respond. This study analyzed the practices, content, and public discourse connected to alternative weekly newspapers in Baltimore, Charleston, and St. Louis. The study examined whether the publications reflected ideal roles of alternative media, including representing different viewpoints, using non-traditional methods of content, and providing a space for the public to challenge systems of power and oppression. The authors also studied the online forums associated with all three publications, including each organization’s website and Facebook page, as potential spaces for alternative publics to emerge around a shared interest in collective action. The publications showed some characteristics of the ideal form of alternative media, but most lacked the diverse voices and critical calls to action needed to represent the normative standard. The discourse the news organizations spurred also fell short of the ideal. The forums lacked rational and critical engagement, and commenters largely failed to promote sincere attempts to engage in community conversation.     

Accuracy of elevation recording using sport watches while walking and running on hilly and flat terrain

Elevation gain (EG) is a significant contributor to the total workload in many endurance sports. Hence, the aim of this study was to evaluate the accuracy of elevation recording as assessed by popular sport watches. Eighteen participants walked and ran at different speeds in various weather conditions in two terrain types: on a hilly 2490 m course with a total EG of 90 m and on a flat 1200 m outdoor track with 0 m EG. In total, 180 recordings from each sport watch were analyzed and compared according to two processing types: filtered and unfiltered EG data. Compared to the reference values, regarding default settings, on hilly terrain, EG was underestimated by ?3.3 to ?9.8 %, and on flat terrain, EG was overestimated by 0.0–4.8 m per 1200 m. These errors could be reduced to ?3.3 to +0.4 %, when filtering conditions were adjusted according to the terrain. Gait speed (ranging from 1.47 to 4.89 m s^?1) or fluctuations in weather conditions between- or within-trials did not influence EG accuracy. A straightforward comparison between manufacturers is hampered as the filter conditions set by default differ. In conclusion, all devices measure EG adequately; however, the displayed default feedback on EG data is not always the most accurate measurement. Consequently, accuracy in elevation recordings could be increased if users appropriately post-process EG data.     

High-Ability Grouping: Benefits for Gifted Students’ Achievement Development Without Costs in Academic Self-Concept

Effects of full-time ability grouping on students’ academic self-concept (ASC) and mathematics achievement were investigated in the first 3 years of secondary school (four waves of measurement; students’ average age at first wave: 10.5 years). Students were primarily from middle and upper class families living in southern Germany. The study sample comprised 148 (60% male) students from 14 gifted classes and 148 (57% male) students from 25 regular classes (matched by propensity score matching). Data analyses involved multilevel and latent growth curve analyses. Findings revealed no evidence for contrast effects of class-average achievement or assimilation effects of class type on students’ ASC. ASC remained stable over time. Students in gifted classes showed higher achievement gains than students in regular classes.     

On reliability and robustness of scientometrics indicators based on stochastic models. An evidence-based opinion paper

In the present paper we give an overview over the opportunities of probabilistic models in scientometrics. Four examples from different topics are used to shed light on some important aspects of reliability and robustness of indicators based on stochastic models. Limitations and future tasks are discussed as well.     

Knowledge about the mind: links between theory of mind and later metamemory

This longitudinal study combined, in a single study, different aspects of children's knowledge about mental phenomena and thus could investigate relations among the development of language, theory of mind, and later metamemory. In total, 183 German children were tested at ages 3, 4, and 5. Each time of testing included a set of theory-of-mind tasks, a battery of language development, and additionally, at Time 3, a set of metamemory questions. The findings demonstrate strong relationships between children's language abilities and their theory of mind (both first- and second-order false beliefs). Moreover, both theory-of-mind and language competencies significantly predicted later metamemory, with their relative contribution changing over time. Language may influence metamemory developmentally both directly and indirectly (through theory of mind).     

Die Arbeitsgemeinschaft als partizipative Regulationsform

This contribution focuses on Alfred Mann’s program of qualitative teaching and learning research within the context of debates on adult education in the 1920s looking for the “right” form of adult learning. Following some brief notes on Mann himself, we will present his programmatic considerations on researching lessons in the Volkshochschule and investigate the interpretive potential of his verbatim lesson documentation on the basis of an extract from a lesson journal. Central to Mann’s planned and partially realized program was the—at the time avant garde and little discussed—link between practiced lessons, empirical foundations and further education based on self-reflection.     

An investigation of the need for sign language assessment in deaf education

The attitudes of educators of the deaf and other professionals in deaf education concerning assessment of the use of American Sign Language (ASL) and other sign systems was investigated. A questionnaire was distributed to teachers in a residential school for the deaf in California. In addition to questions regarding the availability of sign language assessment at their schools, participants responded to items concerning their motivation to use a test for sign language measurement. Of the 100 distributed surveys, 85 were completed and returned. Results showed overwhelming agreement among respondents concerning the importance of sign language assessment, along with the need for tools that appropriately measure signing skills.     

Why finding entities in Wikipedia is difficult,sometimes

Entity Retrieval (ER)—in comparison to classical search—aims at finding individual entities instead of relevant documents. Finding a list of entities requires therefore techniques different to classical search engines. In this paper, we present a model to describe entities more formally and how an ER system can be build on top of it. We compare different approaches designed for finding entities in Wikipedia and report on results using standard test collections. An analysis of entity-centric queries reveals different aspects and problems related to ER and shows limitations of current systems performing ER with Wikipedia. It also indicates which approaches are suitable for which kinds of queries.     

Consequences of media information uptake and deliberation: focus groups' symbolic coping with synthetic biology

Whenever a new, potentially controversial technology enters public awareness, stakeholders suggest that education and public engagement are needed to ensure public support. Both theoretical and empirical analyses suggest, however, that more information and more deliberation per se will not make people more supportive. Rather, taking into account the functions of public sense-making processes, attitude polarisation is to be expected. In a real-world experiment, this study on synthetic biology investigated the effect of information uptake and deliberation on opinion certainty and opinion valence in natural groups. The results suggest (a) that biotechnology represents an important anchor for sense-making processes of synthetic biology, (b) that real-world information uptake and deliberation make people feel more certain about their opinions, and (c) that group attitudes are likely to polarise over the course of deliberation if the issue is important to the groups.