A Comparison Study of AVID and GEAR UP 10th-Grade Students in Two High Schools in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas

Since the mid 1990s, reading instruction has changed and so has the School Development Program's (SDP) Essentials of Literacy (EOL) process. Beginning as a teaching suggestion at one New Haven, Connecticut school, Lincoln Bassett, EOL became a pilot project at Davis Street School in New Haven for the 1996-1997 school year and continues to be an implemented model in that school. Due to the results the program yielded at Davis, it was expanded to several other schools in the district and, for the last 4 years, has been the district's accepted intervention model.     

Perception shapes experience: The influence of actual and perceived classroom environment dimensions on girls’ motivations for science

The classroom environment influences students’ academic outcomes, but it is often students’ perceptions that shape their classroom experiences. Our study examined the extent to which observed classroom environment features shaped perceptions of the classroom, and explained levels of, and changes in, girls’ motivation in junior secondary school science classes across two school terms. Girls have been found to feel less capable than boys and to under-participate in science classrooms, even though their achievement levels are similar. Four teachers and five of their classrooms of students (N = 52) reported their perceptions of the classroom environment, and trained observers rated the ‘actual’ classroom environment. Students also completed questions regarding their motivations for science at both time points. Hierarchical linear modelling showed that students’ perceptions of classroom structure were very important and exerted significant influence on science motivations. All of the six observed classroom dimensions affected students’ extrinsic utility value, via perceptions of structure. Other classroom dimensions showed particular patterns of relationship with motivations. Teachers’ perceptions of the classroom environment were often more positive than those of the students, which is congruent with previous research. The findings have implications for retaining girls in science and, thereby, addressing the gender gap in science-related vocations.     

You have e-mail,what happens next? Tracking the eyes for genre

This paper reports on an approach to the analysis of form (layout and formatting) during genre recognition recorded using eye tracking. The researchers focused on eight different types of e-mail, such as calls for papers, newsletters and spam, which were chosen to represent different genres. The study involved the collection of oculographic behavior data based on the scanpath duration and scanpath length based metric, to highlight the ways in which people view the features of genres. We found that genre analysis based on purpose and form (layout features, etc.) was an effective means of identifying the characteristics of these e-mails.     

Motivations for choosing teaching as a career: An international comparison using the FIT-Choice scale

Motivations for preservice teachers' choice of teaching as a career were investigated using the Factors Influencing Teaching Choice scale (FIT-Choice scale; Watt & Richardson, 2007). This scale was initially developed and validated in the Australian context; our study applied it across international samples from Australia, the United States, Germany, and Norway. Support for strong factorial invariance implied the scale functioned similarly, and could fruitfully be employed in different contexts. Sample comparisons revealed that motivations for teaching were more similar than they were different across these samples; whereas, perceptions about the teaching profession tended to reflect country differences.     

Cultural Exchange,Appropriation and Physical Culture: Strongman Eugen Sandow in Colonial India, 1904–1905

This paper examines the eight-month 1904–1905 Indian tour of world-renowned strongman and physical culture pioneer Eugen Sandow, which occurred as nationalism surged and Japan shockingly defeated Russia during the Russo-Japanese War. Using Sandow’s writings, numerous newspaper accounts and several fascinating Indian texts it penetrates beyond Sandow’s claims that he ‘learnt little’ in the subcontinent to explore processes of cultural exchange despite the power imbalances inherent in the colonial context. The paper provides details about Sandow’s itinerary, shows and reception in key cities such as Calcutta, Bombay and Madras between October 1904 and June 1905, when the strongman headed further east to the Straits Settlements and China, but it also reveals the voices of Indian physical culture practitioners, including wrestlers and pahlwans such as Ramamurti Naidu – the ‘Indian Sandow’ – who repeatedly challenged Sandow. The paper suggests that through the careful reading of a variety of sources it is even possible to glimpse moments of recognition and respect between Sandow and Indian strongmen or physical culturists. In Sandow’s case this was particularly apparent in his use of Indian knowledge to produce a new health product named ‘Sandow’s Concentrated Embrocation’ following his stay in India.