FORECASTING CREDIT HOURS

This paper employs Tobit to estimate retentionprobabilities and credit hours at two universities. Theinnovation is that this technique examines credit-hourchoice with the decision to depart the university treated as the choice of zero credit hours.Tobit is appropriate for this problem because itrecognizes the lower bound of zero on credit hours andincorporates this bound into the parameter estimates and forecasts. Models are estimated for credithours in a single year and cumulative hours over asix-year horizon.     

Temperamental Emotionality Attributes as Antecedents of Children's Social Information Processing

This study examined temperament dimensions of emotion as precursors of children's social information processing (SIP) of stressful peer events. Two hundred and forty-three preschool children (M = 4.60 years) and their primary caregivers participated in two measurement occasions spaced 2 years apart. Observations of temperamental anger, fearful distress, positive affect, and effortful control were assessed in multiple laboratory tasks across two visits at Wave 1. SIP assessments from vignettes of peer challenges were repeated across two waves and included: eye tracking measures of attention to peer emotion displays, hostile attribution bias, hostile solutions, and subjective distress. Findings from structural equation models with inclusion of autoregressive controls indicated that effortful control, fear, and anger predicted subsequent changes in specific SIP dimensions.     

Building strong foundations for educational achievement: Language assessments in early childhood education for deaf and hard of hearing children

It is widely accepted that assessment plays a role in monitoring the development of young children with special needs in early intervention/early childhood settings. The process of assessing young children's language skills often looks for delays within a solid language foundation. However, many children who are deaf or hard of hearing (DHH) may not have a solid language foundation to assess, leading to inaccurate assessment. When we reframe how we assess language skills in children who are DHH, we ensure the assessment provides a comprehensive picture of the child's language development. It is important to modify language assessment tools where necessary while ensuring the assessment stays reliable and valid. It is critical to use multiple assessment tools to monitor the child's progress, including standardized assessments and assessment tools normed for DHH populations. Finally, it is crucial to monitor the child's skills in each language that they are using, regardless of which language is used most often. We explain why each of these factors needs to be considered in the assessment of young children who are DHH, will discuss the challenges of assessing this population, and will provide solutions to some of the challenges of assessing language skills in of young children who are DHH.     

Routinizing a New Technology in the Newsroom: Twitter as a News Source in Mainstream Media

This study examined how news organizations employed Twitter as a news source, based on information subsidy and gatekeeping perspectives. News content analysis from 7 major media entities in 2010–2011 demonstrated that journalists embraced Twitter as a new channel for information gathering. TV frequently cited Twitter as a sole or a primary source. However, despite active usage of Twitter overall, journalists in both TV and newspapers maintained conventional routines by relying primarily on Twitter accounts of official sources. The popularity of Twitter accounts, as indicated by the number of followers, did not contribute to attracting more attention from journalists.     

Assessing a Holistic Trait and Factor Approach to Career Development of College Students

To assess the impact of a holistic career and life planning course on college students, the authors asked 209 students in treatment and control groups to complete measures of career development. Results indicate that the course significantly increases vocational identity and career decision‐making self‐efficacy and decreases career indecision.     

Physical discipline and children's adjustment: cultural normativeness as a moderator

Interviews were conducted with 336 mother-child dyads (children's ages ranged from 6 to 17 years; mothers' ages ranged from 20 to 59 years) in China, India, Italy, Kenya, the Philippines, and Thailand to examine whether normativeness of physical discipline moderates the link between mothers' use of physical discipline and children's adjustment. Multilevel regression analyses revealed that physical discipline was less strongly associated with adverse child outcomes in conditions of greater perceived normativeness, but physical discipline was also associated with more adverse outcomes regardless of its perceived normativeness. Countries with the lowest use of physical discipline showed the strongest association between mothers' use and children's behavior problems, but in all countries higher use of physical discipline was associated with more aggression and anxiety.     

A case study of one instructor’s lecture-based teaching of proof in abstract algebra: making sense of her pedagogical moves

This paper is a case study of the teaching of an undergraduate abstract algebra course, in particular the way the instructor presented proofs. It describes a framework for proof writing based on Selden and Selden (2009) and the work of Alcock (2010) on modes of thought that support proof writing. The paper offers a case study of the teaching of a traditionally-taught abstract algebra course, including showing the range of practice as larger than previously described in research literature. This study describes the aspects of proof writing and modes of thought the instructor modeled for the students. The study finds that she frequently modeled the aspects of hierarchical structure and formal–rhetorical skills, and structural, critical, and instantiation modes of thought. This study also examines the instructor’s attempts to involve the students in the proof writing process during class by asking questions and expecting responses. Finally, the study describes how those questions and responses were part of her proof presentation. The funneling pattern of Steinbring (1989) describes most of the question and answer discussions enacted in the class with most questions requiring a factual response. Yet, the instructional sequence can be also understood as modeling the way an expert in the discipline thinks and, as such, offering a different type of opportunity for student learning.     

First-generation college students: Characteristics,experiences, and cognitive development

This study sought answers to three questions: (1) Do the precollege characteristics of first-generation students differ from those of traditional students? (2) Do first-generation students' college experiences differ from those of other students? (3) What are the educational consequences of any differences on first-year gains in students' reading, math, and critical thinking abilities? Answers come from 2,685 students (825 first-generation and 1,860 traditional students) who entered 23 diverse institutions nationwide in Fall 1992 and who completed one year of study. First-generation students differ from their traditional peers in both entering characteristics and college experiences. Although traditional students make greater net gains in reading during their first year, the two groups gain to about the same degree in math and critical thinking skills. Those gains, however, appear to result from somewhat different experiences.