Differential Use of Elementary Science Kits

The use of kits in elementary science classes is a growing trend in some countries. Kits provide materials and inquiry lessons in a ready-to-teach format for teachers to use in their science instruction. This study examined elementary teachers' instructional strategies, classroom practices, and assessment types in relation to the frequency of science kit use. A total of 503 elementary teachers from an urban school district received professional development, implemented kits in their classrooms for a year, and then completed a survey about science kit use and teaching practices. Despite similarities in demographic characteristics (gender, ethnicity, certification/educational level), there were significant differences in teachers' use of inquiry-based teaching and assessment practices by kit use. Teachers who reported using kits the most often were significantly more likely to report that their students designed and implemented laboratory investigations as well recorded, represented, and analyzed data. In addition, the high kit users indicated that they were more likely to use student groups, require students to use evidence to support claims, and use alternative assessments of student work including portfolios, notebooks, and long-term projects than those teachers who used kits less frequently. Those teachers who reported using kits the least often were significantly more likely to report having students practice for standardized tests. The role of kits in promoting reform-based teaching practices is discussed.     

Measuring the Impact of Haptic Feedback Using the SOLO Taxonomy

The application of Biggs’ and Collis’ Structure of Observed Learning Outcomes taxonomy in the evaluation of student learning about cell membrane transport via a computer‐based learning environment is described in this study. Pre‐test–post‐test comparisons of student outcome data (n = 80) were made across two groups of randomly assigned students: one that received visual and haptic feedback, and one that relied on visual feedback only as they completed their virtual investigations. The results of the Mann–Whitney U‐test indicated that the group mean difference scores were significantly different statistically (p = .043). Practically speaking, this study provides some early evidence suggesting that the haptic augmentation of computer‐based science instruction may lead to a deeper level of processing. The strengths and weaknesses of this current diagnostic approach and a novel approach based on a non‐verbal model of cognition are discussed in light of their potential contributions to the teaching and learning of science.     

Estimating Linear Size and Scale: Body rulers

The National Science Education Standards emphasise the use of concepts and skills that cut across the science domains. One of these cross‐cutting areas is measurement. Students should know measurement systems, units of measurement, tools and error in measurement as well as the importance of measurement to scientific endeavours. Even though measurement is an essential skill, little is known about how students estimate and use measurement in different contexts. This study examines the impact of teaching students to use their bodies as rough measurement tools (body rulers) on their ability to estimate linear measurements. Nineteen middle school students participated in metric intervention tasks and completed a pre‐instruction and a post‐instruction Linear Measurement Assessment. Results showed that teaching students to use rough body measures as tools (a body ruler) for estimation had a significant influence on their estimation accuracy. After instruction, students were better able to estimate the sizes of objects, use their body in making estimations of size, and estimate while touching an object or pacing a distance. Furthermore, proportional reasoning was significantly correlated with students’ post‐instruction scores on the Linear Measurement Assessment.     

Relative Effectiveness of Expository and Field Trip Methods of Teaching on Students' Achievement in Ecology

The study was a pre‐test treatment post‐test control design. Three educational districts from the Niger Delta region of Nigeria were treated as clusters. Twenty boys and 20 girls were randomly selected, making up a total of 40 students, in each of Group A, Group B, and Group C. Students in Group A were taught ecology by taking them to the school farm, pond, and nearby stream, while students in Group B were taught ecology strictly in the classroom. Students in Group C were not taught but have knowledge of ecology. Findings of the study revealed a highest performance of Group A relative to Group B and Group C. Students in Group A (field trip) were thus able to perform highest because of their opportunity of having first‐hand experience of organisms in their natural habitat.     

People,process, and paradox: qualitative research as journey 1

Qualitative researchers have made some provocative assertions about ethnography: [a] in research on dynamic processes, questions change, and therefore research tools change; [b] in ethnography, the researcher is the instrument; and [c] ethographic research is characterized by researcher “self‐doubt.” This article reflects on the nature of ethnographic research in light of experiences I gained while investigating the role of literacy in the lives of Hmong refugees in Philadelphia. By discussing three people that I came to know, I explore each of the assertions and examine my own shifts in perspective during the research process. Finally, I reflect on the idea of self‐doubt and suggest that it may characterize not only the research process but also the lasting consequences of inquiry. The paper illustrates the paradox that the dangers and discomforts contribute to the power of the ethnographic enterprise.

     

It's Not Always Just About the Grade: Exploring the Achievement Goal Orientations of Pre-Med Students

This qualitative study investigated the achievement goal orientations of a group of all male pre-med students attending a small, urban undergraduate college. Semi-structured interviews examined under what circumstances students adopted extrinsic goals, mastery goals, or a mixture of the two. Findings indicated that while nearly all students possessed an underlying or baseline extrinsic goal orientation, a sizable number of students (32%) were primarily mastery oriented and only a small percent (13%) were primarily extrinsically oriented. A large number of students did not fit either category, with many best described as being mastery oriented within certain subject areas and extrinsically oriented within others. Furthermore, this study found that social comparison (performance) goals were rarely mentioned spontaneously by students. The study concluded that the goal orientations of many students could best be described as complicated and conflicted with students experiencing a strong tension between a desire to learn and a desire to get good grades.     

The Use of Multiple Matrix Sampling for Survey Research

Multiple matrix sampling procedures can be employed to improve survey research when the results of matrix sampling are equivalent to those obtained by the traditional census testing approach. This study examined the use of multiple matrix sampling as a strategy for the collection of data and compared rates of response when subgroups of items were administered as opposed to an entire instrument. In addition, the study investigated whether responses were equivalent in the two sampling procedures and whether bias was present. The results indicate that multiple matrix sampling is a viable and reasonable procedure to use when a mail survey questionnaire consists of a large number of pages and/or items.     

Physiological responses to maximal intermittent exercise: Differences between endurance‐trained runners and games players

Abstract

Six games players (GP) and six endurance‐trained runners (ET) completed a standardized multiple sprint test on a non‐motorized treadmill consisting often 6‐s all‐out sprints with 30‐s recovery periods. Running speed, power output and oxygen uptake were determined during the test and blood samples were taken for the determination of blood lactate and pH. Games players tended to produce a higher peak power output (GP vs ET: 839 ± 114 vs 777 ± 89 W, N.S.) and higher peak speed (GP vs ET: 7.03 ± 0.3 vs 6.71 ± 0.3 m s^‐1, N.S.), but had a greater decrement in mean power output than endurance‐trained runners (GP vs ET: 29.3 ± 8.1% vs 14.2 ± 11.1%, P < 0.05). Blood lactate after the test was higher for the games players (GP vs ET: 15.2 ± 1.9 vs 12.4 ± 1.7 mM, P < 0.05), but the decrease in pH was similar for both groups (GP vs ET: 0.31 ± 0.08 vs 0.28 ± 0.08, N.S.). Strong correlations were found between peak blood lactate and peak speed (r = 0.90, P < 0.01) and between peak blood lactate and peak power fatigue (r = 0.92, P<0.01). The average increase in oxygen uptake above pre‐exercise levels during the sprint test was greater for endurance‐trained athletes than for the games players (ET vs GP: 35.0 ± 2.2 vs 29.6 ± 3.0 ml kg^‐1 min^‐1 , P < 0.05), corresponding to an average oxygen uptake per sprint (6‐s sprint and 24 s of subsequent recovery) of 67.5 ± 2.9% and 63.0 ± 4.5% VO ₂ max respectively (N.S.). A modest relationship existed between the average increase in oxygen uptake above pre‐exercise values during the sprint test and mean speed fatigue (r = ‐0.68, P < 0.05). Thus, the greater decrement in performance for the games players may be related to higher glycolytic rates as reflected by higher lactate concentrations and to their lower oxygen uptake during the course of the 10 sprints.     

Contextual Factors and Age Group Differences in Coincidence-Anticipation Performance

Abstract

Age group differences in the direction of anticipatory motor responses may be attributable to the increased susceptibility of young children to contextual factors. That is, their performances on a given trial may be influenced by the stimulus speed presented in the previous trial. Mixed-sex groups of 8–9 year-olds and adults were given 3 blocks of 18 coincidence-anticipation trials each in a counterbalanced design. One block contained stimulus speeds of 1, 3, or 5 MPH, another speeds of 3, 5, or 7 MPH, and a third speeds of 5, 7, or 9 MPH, so that the 5 MPH speed was common to all blocks. An age group by sex by testing order by trial block ANOVA of constant error on the 5 MPH trials indicated that trial block was a significant factor within an age group by block interaction. Mean scores showed that the children responded very early in the 5–7–9 MPH block to the 5 MPH stimuli while the adults did not. Testing order was also a significant factor: subjects in the 1–3–5, 5–7–9, 3–5–7 MPH order performed with significantly greater directional error. While the later finding may indicate contextual factors influenced performance, there is no strong evidence that contextual factors differentially affected the age groups.