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.     

Introducing the use of a semi-structured video diary room to investigate students’ learning experiences during an outdoor adventure education groupwork skills course

Outdoor adventure education courses are used in higher education to develop transferable skills such as groupwork and problem-solving skills. There is a need for exploratory investigation into students’ perceptions of this experience. This study aimed to develop an innovative qualitative data collection method, and to use it to explore students’ perceived learning processes and developmental outcomes when taking part in an outdoor groupwork skills course. Participants (n = 40) were undergraduate engineering students who were taking part in the 3 day residential course as part of their degree course. Students’ experiences were captured whilst immersed in the course, using a semi-structured video diary room. Participants entered the diary room at different time points throughout the course and responded to openended questions. Following a thematic analysis, students were found to arrive on the course with mixed feelings towards groupwork and expected learning outcomes. Activities were enjoyable yet challenging, revealing students’ weaknesses and demanding a range of skills and coping methods. The outdoor environment added novelty, risk and natural consequences. Students reported developing a range of skills in groupwork, adaptability, persistence, planning, problem-solving, time-management, communication, leadership, cooperation, group reflection and team spirit, as well as benefits to physical activity, self-confidence, self-awareness, peer and staff relationships and internationalisation. These findings provide a base for future investigation into the long-term impact on student development and skill transfer. The semi-structured video diary room yielded rich data, contributing to the literature by offering a simple, yet effective, qualitative research method that can be implemented in a variety of contexts.     

Modular designs and integrating practices: Managing collaboration through coordination and cooperation

Collaboration in large-scale projects introduces challenges involving both coordination (the ability to collaborate) as well as cooperation (the willingness to do so). Existing research has shown how modular designs can improve coordination by locating interdependencies within rather than between different modules. Based on an in-depth case study of collaboration in a large-scale infrastructure project, our study highlights an effect of modularity on collaboration that previously has been overlooked. Specifically, we show that while modular designs may help overcome coordination challenges by reducing interdependencies between modules, they can in turn hamper collaboration by emphasizing specialization within modules. Therefore, though existing work typically perceives modularity and integration as opposites, we clarify how they can also act as complements. In particular, we show how firms need to complement modular designs with integrating practices that stimulate cooperation. Overall, we contribute to the literature on collaboration and modularity by explaining when and how organizations can combine modularity and integration.     

Exploring Developmental Appropriateness of Multitouch Tables in Prekindergarten: A Video Analysis

This study explored how developmentally appropriate practices influenced the affordances of a multitouch surface in an early childhood classroom. Children, ages 4 to 5 years old, were videotaped while engaged in a storymaking application on a multitouch table. As a result of the study, we found that some challenges with the functionality undermined children's autonomous control. The researchers observed numerous instances of issues with control of the medium, including height of the table, sensitivity to multiple types of touch, and limited instructions and prompts. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.     

Measuring strategy use in context with multiple-choice items

A number of authors have presented data that challenge the validity of self-report of strategy use or choice of strategy. We created a multiple-choice measure of students’ strategy use based on the work of Kozminsky, E., and Kozminsky, L. (2001), and tested it with three samples as part of a series of studies testing the fit of the DIME model of reading comprehension. One study was conducted at the high school level (N = 175) and two at the undergraduate level (N = 185 and 737). Over the three studies with three different samples, we found good evidence for the internal consistency reliability and concurrent validity of this type of measure. Commonality analysis suggested that strategy use mainly makes a shared contribution to comprehension with other predictors, especially inference, and to some extent vocabulary, background knowledge, and word reading. The measure was relatively easy to construct and easy to administer to large numbers of students, and showed much higher evidence of concurrent validity than self-ratings of frequency of use of strategies.     

The Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey (CLASS) for use in Biology

This paper describes a newly adapted instrument for measuring novice-to-expert-like perceptions about biology: the Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey for Biology (CLASS-Bio). Consisting of 31 Likert-scale statements, CLASS-Bio probes a range of perceptions that vary between experts and novices, including enjoyment of the discipline, propensity to make connections to the real world, recognition of conceptual connections underlying knowledge, and problem-solving strategies. CLASS-Bio has been tested for response validity with both undergraduate students and experts (biology PhDs), allowing student responses to be directly compared with a consensus expert response. Use of CLASS-Bio to date suggests that introductory biology courses have the same challenges as introductory physics and chemistry courses: namely, students shift toward more novice-like perceptions following instruction. However, students in upper-division biology courses do not show the same novice-like shifts. CLASS-Bio can also be paired with other assessments to: 1) examine how student perceptions impact learning and conceptual understanding of biology, and 2) assess and evaluate how pedagogical techniques help students develop both expertise in problem solving and an expert-like appreciation of the nature of biology.     

Collaborative knowledge-making in the everyday practice of youth suicide prevention education

The development and implementation of a new school‐based suicide prevention education programme in one secondary school in Vancouver, British Columbia, recently provided us with an opportunity to conduct an in‐depth, qualitative case study. The purpose of our study was to deepen our understanding of how school‐based suicide prevention education programmes like this one get planned and enacted in particular, local settings. We argue that the narrow range of methodologies that have traditionally been deployed to study school‐based youth suicide prevention education programmes have hindered our ability to see the complexities and potentialities of this work. Through the presentation of a sub‐set of findings, we aim to show the possibilities for fresh thinking and contextualized understandings that a qualitative case study, informed by a constructionist methodology, invites.     

Reflection on their first five years of teaching: understanding staying and impact power

Teacher turnover in urban schools is occurring at a breakneck pace; thus, it is important for us to understand the characteristics of teachers who stay and succeed in these settings. In order to address this need, this study examines the preparation and induction experiences of teachers who completed a Transition to Teaching – a funded urban apprenticeship program. Three research questions guided the study: (1) How do participants describe the characteristics that influence their five-year retention? (2) How do participants describe their success as teachers? and (3) How do participants describe the professional support they received in their preparation program and during the subsequent four years after completing the program? Quantitative and qualitative data via interviews, focus group, and an examination of teachers’ district performance scores were utilized, as a means of understanding teachers’ staying and impact power. Staying power refers to the ability to endure or last within challenging contexts by possessing strength enough to persevere. Impact power refers to their ability to influence student learning. Four assertions describe the factors influencing developing teachers who stay and have impact as they teach in challenging urban schools, suggesting that these teachers possess a strong work ethic, seek specific resources to improve pedagogy, have the knowledge and skills necessary to differentiate instruction, and seek teacher leadership opportunities in their schools. This study suggests several implications for teacher educators, educational leaders, administrators, and researchers working with new teachers in urban schools or with populations that are predominantly children of color.     

“Students Should not be Your Friends”: Testimonio by a Latina on Mothering One's Own,Othermothering, and Mentoring Students in the Academy

This article is an autoethnographic account of how I negotiated intersectional identities as a Latina, mother, and professor, mentoring students of color. Specifically, I examine the ways mothering shaped my relationships with the students I mentored. I engaged in “othermothering” and utilized “pedagogies of the home” by creating reciprocal relationships of caring and nurturing. Utilizing critical race theory (CRT) and testimonio, I argue that my identity as a mother of color successfully negotiating the tenure track impacted the ways in which I mentor(ed) students of color.