‘I make sure I am safe and I make sure I have myself in every way possible’: African-American youth perspectives on sexuality education

High rates of pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections play a major role in the physical, mental, and emotional health of young people. Despite efforts to provide sexuality education through diverse channels, we know little about the ways in which young people perceive school- and community-based efforts to educate them about sexual health. Forty-eight African-American young people participated in six focus groups to discuss their sexuality education experiences. Three major themes emerged that highlight experiences and perspectives on optimal strategies for promoting sexual health. These themes were: (1) experiences with school-based sexuality education (SBSE), (2) seeking information outside of schools, and (3) general principles of youth-centred sexuality education. Young people in the focus groups expressed their varying satisfaction with SBSE due to the restricted content covered and lack of comfort with the instruction methods. Participants described how they reached outside of SBSE for sexuality education, turning to those in the community, including local organisations, health care providers, and peers, also expressing variability in satisfaction with these sources. Finally, participants identified three important principles for youth-centred sexuality education: trust and confidentiality, credibility, and self-determination. These findings give voice to the often-unheard perspectives of African-American young people. Based on their responses, it is possible to gain a better understanding of the optimal combination of school-, family-, peer-, and community-based efforts to support young people as they move towards adulthood.     

Using item response theory to describe the Nonverbal Literacy Assessment (NVLA)

The Nonverbal Literacy Assessment (NVLA) is a literacy assessment designed for students with significant intellectual disabilities. The 218‐item test was initially examined using confirmatory factor analysis. This method showed that the test worked as expected, but the items loaded onto a single factor. This article uses item response theory to investigate the NVLA using Rasch models. First, we reduced the number of items using a unidimensional model, which resulted in high levels of test reliability despite decreasing the number of questions, providing the same information about student abilities in less time. Second, the multidimensional analysis indicated that it is possible to view the NVLA as a test with four dimensions, resulting in more detailed information about student abilities. Finally, we combined these approaches to obtain both specificity and brevity, with a four‐dimensional model using 133 items from the original NVLA.     

Structured Constructs Models Based on Change‐Point Analysis

This study proposes a structured constructs model (SCM) to examine measurement in the context of a multidimensional learning progression (LP). The LP is assumed to have features that go beyond a typical multidimentional IRT model, in that there are hypothesized to be certain cross‐dimensional linkages that correspond to requirements between the levels of the different dimensions. The new model builds on multidimensional item response theory models and change‐point analysis to add cut‐score and discontinuity parameters that embody these substantive requirements. This modeling strategy allows us to place the examinees in the appropriate LP level and simultaneously to model the hypothesized requirement relations. Results from a simulation study indicate that the proposed change‐point SCM recovers the generating parameters well. When the hypothesized requirement relations are ignored, the model fit tends to become worse, and the model parameters appear to be more biased. Moreover, the proposed model can be used to find validity evidence to support or disprove initial theoretical hypothesized links in the LP through empirical data. We illustrate the technique with data from an assessment system designed to measure student progress in a middle‐school statistics and modeling curriculum.     

Self-Operated Verbal Instructions for People with Intellectual and Visual Disabilities: Using instruction clusters after task acquisition

Three adults with intellectual and visual disabilities were taught vocationally relevant tasks through the use of a self-operated verbal instruction system. During training, the system presented one verbal instruction per task step, individually. After training, the system presented instructions arranged in clusters/groups of two. Data showed that during training all participants achieved percentages of correct task performance exceeding 90. The subsequent use of instruction clusters was effective in maintaining high levels of correct performance for each adult, whereas a deterioration of performance occurred when instructions were not available. Implications of the findings are discussed.     

The momentum behind the International Primary Curriculum in schools in England

This paper evaluates the extent to which the implementation and assessment of the new citizenship curriculum in England treats learners as citizens or subjects by evaluating whether the interests of state or citizen predominate. Philosophical, contextual, and practical perspectives on citizenship education are drawn upon to evaluate mechanisms which mediate state power in young citizens’ lives. Current methods of delivering and assessing the citizenship curriculum in schools are challenged and the ideology underpinning citizenship education, as conceptualized in official discourse, is questioned. The view is advanced that citizenship cannot be reduced to what learners know (the informed citizen) or do (the active citizen) as it cannot be divorced from who they are. This paper focuses on citizenship education in the context of English liberal democracy but has a wide application as it addresses issues relevant to the state education of citizens elsewhere.     

Talk the talk: Learner-generated podcasts as catalysts for knowledge creation

Podcasting allows audio content from one or more user-selected feeds or channels to be automatically downloaded to one's computer as it becomes available, then later transferred to a portable player for consumption at a convenient time and place. It is enjoying phenomenal growth in mainstream society, alongside other Web 2.0 technologies that enable Internet users to author and distribute rich media content quickly and easily. Instead of using the technology for the mere recording and dissemination of lectures and other instructor-centred information, the project reported on in this article focused on enabling students to create their own podcasts for distribution to their peers. The article describes how engaging in the podcasting exercise promoted collaborative knowledge building among the student-producers, as evidenced through focus-group interviewing and an analysis of the products of their shared dialogue and reflection. The findings suggest that the collaborative development of audio learning objects enabling student conceptualisations of disciplinary content to be shared with peers is a powerful way of stimulating both individual and collective learning, as well as supporting social processes of perspective-taking and negotiation of meaning that underpin knowledge creation.     

Thin film electro-osmotic pumps for biomicrofluidic applications

Electro-osmotic flow (EOF) pumps are attractive for fluid manipulation in microfluidic channels. Open channel EOF pumps can produce high pressures and flow rates, and are relatively easy to fabricate on-chip or integrate with other microfluidic or electrical components. An EOF pump design that is conducive to on-chip fabrication consists of multiple small channel arms feeding into a larger flow channel. We have fabricated this type of pump design using a thin film deposition process that avoids wafer bonding. We have evaluated pumps fabricated on both silicon and glass substrates. Consistent flow rate versus electric field were obtained. For the range of 40–400 V, flow rates of 0.19–2.30 μL∕min were measured. Theoretical calculations of pump efficiency were made, as well as calculations of the mechanical power generated by various pump shapes, to investigate design parameters that should improve future pumps.     

Using generalizability analysis to estimate parameters for anatomy assessments: A multi‐institutional study

With integrated curricula and multidisciplinary assessments becoming more prevalent in medical education, there is a continued need for educational research to explore the advantages, consequences, and challenges of integration practices. This retrospective analysis investigated the number of items needed to reliably assess anatomical knowledge in the context of gross anatomy and histology. A generalizability analysis was conducted on gross anatomy and histology written and practical examination items that were administered in a discipline‐based format at Indiana University School of Medicine and in an integrated fashion at the University of Alabama School of Medicine and Rush University Medical College. Examination items were analyzed using a partially nested design in which items were nested within occasions (i:o) and crossed with students (s). A reliability standard of 0.80 was used to determine the minimum number of items needed across examinations (occasions) to make reliable and informed decisions about students' competence in anatomical knowledge. Decision study plots are presented to demonstrate how the number of items per examination influences the reliability of each administered assessment. Using the example of a curriculum that assesses gross anatomy knowledge over five summative written and practical examinations, the results of the decision study estimated that 30 and 25 items would be needed on each written and practical examination to reach a reliability of 0.80, respectively. This study is particularly relevant to educators who may question whether the amount of anatomy content assessed in multidisciplinary evaluations is sufficient for making judgments about the anatomical aptitude of students. Anat Sci Educ 10: 109–119. © 2016 American Association of Anatomists.     

Usage and evaluation of nonformal environmental education services at a state park: are anglers catching more than fish?

Although park naturalists should be inclusive in their attempts to reach a variety of audiences, visitors having a consumptive resource orientation may get overlooked. The activity involvement, place attachment and resource knowledge scores of trout anglers at Montauk State Park (Missouri, USA) were combined into a typology that consisted of four levels of recreation specialization (least, moderately, very and most). This continuum was used to explain anglers’ usage and evaluation of nonformal environmental education services at the park. A total of 532 trout anglers completed questionnaires during the summer of 2003. Results showed that specialized anglers participated more in educational opportunities than those who were less specialized. Each of level of the continuum was mutually exclusive. Nearly three‐fourths of the trout anglers (72.8%) believed that environmental education was important and that the park was doing a good job of providing this type of service. A positive trend between levels of specialization and evaluation of environmental education was observed. This study indicated that a segmentation procedure based on recreation specialization can be useful to accomplish some key park management objectives, such as environmental literacy.     

Participation,Remediation, Bricolage: Considering Principal Components of a Digital Culture

Within media theory the worldwide shift from a 19th-century print culture via a 20th-century electronic culture to a 21st-century digital culture is well documented. In this essay the emergence of a digital culture as amplified and accelerated by the popularity of networked computers, multiple-user software, and Internet is investigated in terms of its principal components. A digital culture as an underdetermined praxis is conceptualized as consisting of participation, remediation, and bricolage. Using the literature on presumably “typical” Internet phenomena such as the worldwide proliferation of independent media centers (indymedia) linked with (radical) online journalism practices and the popularity of (individual and group) weblogging, the various meanings and implications of this particular understanding of digital culture are explored. In the context of this essay, digital culture can be seen as an emerging set of values, practices, and expectations regarding the way people (should) act and interact within the contemporary network society. This digital culture has emergent properties with roots in both online and offline phenomena, with links to trends and developments predating the World Wide Web, yet having an immediate impact and particularly changing the ways in which we use and give meaning to living in an increasingly interconnected, always on(line) environment.