Learning From Video: A Meta-Analysis of the Video Deficit in Children Ages 0 to 6 Years

Young children often learn less from video than face-to-face presentations. Meta-regression models were used to examine the average size of this difference (video deficit) and investigate moderators. An average deficit of about half of a standard deviation was reported across 122 independent effect sizes from 59 reports, involving children ages 0–6 years. Moderator analyses suggested (a) the deficit decreased with age, (b) object retrieval studies showed larger deficits than other domains, and (c) there was no difference between studies using live versus prerecorded video. Results are consistent with a multiple-mechanism explanation for the deficit. However, the analyses highlighted potential quality and publication bias issues that may have resulted in overestimation of the effect and should be addressed by future researchers.     

Parameter Estimation Accuracy of the Effort-Moderated Item Response Theory Model Under Multiple Assumption Violations

As low-stakes testing contexts increase, low test-taking effort may serve as a serious validity threat. One common solution to this problem is to identify noneffortful responses and treat them as missing during parameter estimation via the effort-moderated item response theory (EM-IRT) model. Although this model has been shown to outperform traditional IRT models (e.g., two-parameter logistic [2PL]) in parameter estimation under simulated conditions, prior research has failed to examine its performance under violations to the model’s assumptions. Therefore, the objective of this simulation study was to examine item and mean ability parameter recovery when violating the assumptions that noneffortful responding occurs randomly (Assumption 1) and is unrelated to the underlying ability of examinees (Assumption 2). Results demonstrated that, across conditions, the EM-IRT model provided robust item parameter estimates to violations of Assumption 1. However, bias values greater than 0.20 SDs were observed for the EM-IRT model when violating Assumption 2; nonetheless, these values were still lower than the 2PL model. In terms of mean ability estimates, model results indicated equal performance between the EM-IRT and 2PL models across conditions. Across both models, mean ability estimates were found to be biased by more than 0.25 SDs when violating Assumption 2. However, our accompanying empirical study suggested that this biasing occurred under extreme conditions that may not be present in some operational settings. Overall, these results suggest that the EM-IRT model provides superior item and equal mean ability parameter estimates in the presence of model violations under realistic conditions when compared with the 2PL model.     

Developing Preservice Teachers’ Expertise in Equitable Assessment for English Learners

This study illustrated a pathway of growth that a preservice teacher might traverse when learning to use and develop equitable assessments (EA). The study is rare in that it looks at the development of preservice teachers’ understanding and ability to design EA. I examined the understanding and implementation of EA of 23 secondary preservice teachers within two classes. The methods classes focused on the academic content area of science. Participants’ journals, teaching philosophies, and inquiry-based science units served as data sources. Participants progressed from a simple view of EA as “fairness” to a more sophisticated view of EA, including: ways to increase fairness, the importance of challenging students, and using assessments for learning. Results also showed changes in preservice teachers’ views of learners and the purpose of assessment. While understanding developed robustly, teachers’ assessment plans in their units were not as strong. Teacher education programs need to place more emphasis on developing critical understanding of EA practices to meet the needs of diverse learners.     

Do Children with Autism Use the Speaker's Direction of Gaze Strategy to Crack the Code of Language?

Normal toddlers infer the referent of a novel word by consulting the Speaker's direction of Gaze. That is, they use the Speaker's Direction of Gaze (SDG) strategy. This is a far more powerful strategy than the alternative, the Listener's Direction of Gaze (LDG) strategy. In Study 1 we tested if children with autism, who have well-documented impairments in joint attention, used the SDG or the LDG strategy to learn a novel word for a novel object. Results showed that although 70.6% of children with mental handicap passed the test by making the correct mapping between a novel word and a novel object, via the SDG strategy, only 29.4% of children with autism did so. Instead, their reliance on the LDG strategy led to mapping errors. In Study 2 a group of normal children, whose chronological age (24 months old) was eqated with the verbal mental age of the 2 clinical groups in Study I, was tested using a similar procedure. Results showed that 79% of this normal group passed the test by making the correct mapping between a novel word and a novel object using the SDG strategy. Taken together, the results from both studies suggest that children with autism are relatively insensitive to a speaker's gaze direction as an index of the speaker's intention to refer . This result is consistent with previous findings showing that children with autism are relatively "blind" to the mentalistic significance of the eyes. Discussion centers on how the absence of an SDG strategy might disrupt specific aspects of language development in autism.     

An interactive learning and course development environment: Context,theoretical and empirical considerations

In this contribution, a theoretical and empirical framework based on work carried out at the Open universiteit (Ou) for a new approach towards the design, production and delivery of flexible, interactive learning materials for distance education is presented.

In the Research and Development centre of the Ou, a project has concentrated on the innovation of current approaches. This framework can also be considered as an advance organizer to reading the remaining articles from the Open universiteit in this issue of Distance Education.

A key feature of the innovation is that during the design phase, course developers have to define ‘models’ of the materials to be developed: a content model, a support model, a student model and the learning path. From a flexibility point of view especially, the ‘student model’ is of importance since it defines the student variables that will be taken into account when developing/ presenting alternative materials (basic content and/or embedded support). A computer‐based system, the ‘Interactive Learning and Course Development Environment (ILCE)’, was developed to support the work of course development teams and tutors on the one hand, and students on the other hand. The development system supports the work of the developers; the delivery system supports the study process of students. The delivery is realised as an on‐line course, on the World Wide Web.

Students start working with the ILCE‐system by following an intake procedure. They can make choices in relation to student variables that have been defined in the student model (profession, study intentions, context, etc.). Next, they can ‘on the fly’ generate a course. Rom the large repository of learning materials only those materials are selected and compiled that are in line with the student model of this specific student Furthermore, they can choose to study the materials on screen and/or make prints of the materials. Of course, in printing the materials they lose the interactive and dynamic possibilities of the computer learning environment     

Seeing with electrons

In this article we briefly review the application of electrons in the field of microscopy. Two types of microscopes are discussed, the electron microscope and the tunneling microscope. It is emphasized that in both the applications the electron behaves as a quantum mechanical object.     

The Centrality of Test Use and Consequences for Test Validity

What are the origins of consequential validity? What is the role of intended test use in validation? Is the study of unintended effects part of validation? What practical problems does this pose?     

Meaning in life and school guidance programs: Adolescents’ voices from Hong Kong

International Journal for Educational and Vocational Guidance - This study provides insights into how Chinese adolescents in Hong Kong interpret the concept of “meaning in life.” Data...     

Antarctic Harsh Environment as Natural Stress Model: Impact on Salivary Immunoglobulins, Transforming Growth Factor-β and Cortisol Level

The Antarctic continent on the planet Earth is full of environmental extremes. It is considered as natural stress model. Therefore, the present study examined the effect of harsh environment on the certain salivary markers of 28th Indian Antarctic expeditioners. Thirty healthy men and women (median age 36 year; range 22–61 year) participated in this study. Parameters measured were salivary IgA (SIgA), IgM (SIgM), TGF-β and cortisol level at three different time points: (I) before leaving India on 26th October 2008 for base line level; (II) after 1 month on-board journey on 31st January 2009 in Southern Ocean and (III) after 1 month staying at Maitri, Antarctica on 3rd March 2009. Our observation indicated that Ship borne journey and Antarctic environment increased the SIgA levels while that of SIgM level was not altered on-board but decreased by staying for 1 month at Antarctica. No significant alteration was found in the TGF-β and cortisol level at any point of time. The present study concluded that ship borne journey and Antarctic environment may induce the SIgA level while SIgM level decreased in environmental extremes of Antarctica.