Interactions between the isolated–interactive elements effect and levels of learner expertise: experimental evidence from an accountancy class

This study investigated interactions between the isolated–interactive elements effect and levels of learner expertise with first year undergraduate university accounting students. The isolated–interactive elements effect occurs when learning is facilitated by initially presenting elements of information sequentially in an isolated form rather than in a fully interactive form. The expertise reversal effect occurs when the relevant advantage of one instructional technique over another reverses depending on the learner’s level of expertise. The results provided support for the predicted interaction with lower expertise students benefitting from the isolated elements instructional method, while students with more expertise learned more from the interacting elements format.     

The relative effects of group size on reading progress of older students with reading difficulties

This study reports findings on the relative effects from a yearlong secondary intervention contrasting large-group, small-group, and school-provided interventions emphasizing word study, vocabulary development, fluency, and comprehension with seventh- and eighth-graders with reading difficulties. Findings indicate that few statistically significant results or clinically significant gains were associated with group size or intervention. Findings also indicate that a significant acceleration of reading outcomes for seventh- and eighth-graders from high-poverty schools is unlikely to result from a 50 min daily class. Instead, the findings indicate, achieving this outcome will require more comprehensive models including more extensive intervention (e.g., more time, even smaller groups), interventions that are longer in duration (multiple years), and interventions that vary in emphasis based on specific students’ needs (e.g., increased focus on comprehension or word study).     

Neurophilia: Guiding Educational Research and the Educational Field?

For a decade or so there has been a new ‘hype’ in educational research: it is called educational neuroscience or even neuroeducation (and neuroethics)—there are numerous publications, special journals, and an abundance of research projects together with the advertisement of many positions at renowned research centres worldwide. After a brief introduction of what is going on in the ‘emerging sub‐discipline’, a number of characterisations are offered of what is envisaged by authors working in this field. In the discussion that follows various problems are listed: the assumption that ‘visual proof’ of brain activity is supposedly given; the correlational nature of this kind of research; the nature of the concepts that are used; the lack of addressing and possibly influencing the neurological mechanism; and finally the need for other insights in educational contexts. Following Bakhurst and others, a number of crucially relevant philosophical issues are highlighted. It is argued that though there are cases where neuroscience insights may be helpful, these are scarce. In general, it is concluded, not a lot may be expected from this discipline for education and educational research. A reminder is offered that the promise of neurophilia may be just another neuromyth, which needs to be addressed by philosophy and education.     

A Peircean Socio-Semiotic Analysis of Science Students’ Creative Reasoning as/Through Digital Simulations

Research in Science Education - In science education, there is a now established focus on fostering students’ meaning making through/as multimodal representations as part of their induction...     

Exploring socioeconomic inequalities and access to elite postgraduate education among English graduates

Higher Education - A worldwide trend towards high levels of participation in higher education, paired with concerns about the post-university destinations of an increasing pool of graduates, have...     

Deficiency,Contamination, and the Signal Processing Metaphor

Educational assessment involves eliciting, transmitting, and receiving information concerning the level of proficiency of a learner in a specified domain. With that in mind, it is perhaps surprising that the literature seems to make very little use of the signal processing metaphor. The present article begins by making a general case for greater use of this metaphor, as a simple and intuitive thinking tool for helping to explain how educational assessment works. The main body of the article extends this argument by demonstrating the utility of the metaphor in helping to explain how educational assessment can go wrong. During the 1980s and 1990s, Samuel Messick extensively discussed two major ways in which educational assessment can go wrong via construct-irrelevant variance and construct underrepresentation, respectively. Despite their importance, these concepts have had only a limited impact on the literature. Part of the reason for this may be a lack of clarity and comprehensiveness in their articulation. The present article aims to articulate these concepts more clearly and comprehensively, within a framework provided by the signal processing metaphor, reconfiguring them as signal contamination and signal deficiency, respectively.