Instructor Humor as a Moderator of Instructors’ Inappropriate Conversations and Instructional Dissent

This study (N?=?326) was conducted to examine the associations among instructor humor, inappropriate conversations, and instructional dissent. First, results showed students are more likely to employ rhetorical dissent when they perceive their instructors as humorous in the classroom. Second, using expectancy violations theory as a guide, results also indicated that students’ perceptions of instructor-relevant humor moderated the relationships between enactment of inappropriate conversations and students’ expressive and vengeful dissent. These findings support the importance of employing relevant humor in course instruction, especially when instructors engage in inappropriate conversations in the college classroom.     

Investing in high quality preschool: lessons from an urban setting

Abstract

Large numbers of children of low income families in the United States arrive at kindergarten already far behind their more affluent peers on measures of school readiness. In the absence of any federal preschool policy and amidst alarm about this growing divide, universal prekindergarten (UPK) programs have been launched around the United States, at both the state and local levels, to address the school readiness gap. Invest in Children, a public/private partnership in Cuyahoga County (Cleveland, OH) launched a UPK program of high quality, affordable preschool nine years ago. The program’s creation, implementation and challenges are discussed along with evaluation findings that document its positive impact on school readiness. Lessons learned are discussed in terms of the impact of political and economic shifts, as well as state policy changes, on this local program. The program’s planned expansion and enhancements to program design and evaluation are also described.     

Children's early child care and their mothers' later involvement with schools

Theory and policy highlight the role of child care in preparing children for the transition into school. Approaching this issue in a different way, this study investigated whether children's care experiences before this transition promoted their mothers' school involvement after it, with the hypothesized mechanism for this link being the cultivation of children's social and academic skills. Analyses of 1,352 children (1 month-6 years) and parents in the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development revealed that mothers were more involved at their children's schools when children had prior histories of high-quality nonparental care. This pattern, which was fairly stable across levels of maternal education and employment, was mediated by children's academic skills and home environments.     

Active learning: A small group histology laboratory exercise in a whole class setting utilizing virtual slides and peer education

Histology laboratory instruction is moving away from the sole use of the traditional combination of light microscopes and glass slides in favor of virtual microscopy and virtual slides. At the same time, medical curricula are changing so as to reduce scheduled time for basic science instruction as well as focusing on student‐centered learning approaches such as small group active learning and peer‐instruction. It is important that medical schools resist the temptation to respond to this conjunction of events by turning histology into a self‐study activity. This article describes a lymphoid histology laboratory exercise, occurring in a specially equipped Learning Studio housing an entire medical class that utilizes virtual slides in the context of small group active learning and peer instruction. Anat Sci Educ © 2012 American Association of Anatomists.     

Individual differences in achievement goals: A longitudinal study of cognitive, emotional, and achievement outcomes

Within achievement goal theory debate remains regarding the adaptiveness of certain combinations of goals. Assuming a multiple-goals perspective, we used cluster analysis to classify 1002 undergraduate students according to their mastery and performance-approach goals. Four clusters emerged, representing different goal combinations: high mastery/performance (i.e., multiple goals), dominant mastery, dominant performance, and low mastery/performance (i.e., low motivation). In a longitudinal analysis over one academic year, the clusters were compared on cognitive appraisals (expected achievement, perceived success), achievement-related emotions (enjoyment, boredom, anxiety), and objective measures of academic achievement (final grade in Introductory Psychology, GPA). The low-motivation cluster demonstrated the least adaptive profile across all outcomes. The multiple-goals, mastery, and performance clusters showed equivalent levels of achievement; however, students in the performance cluster were more psychologically and emotionally vulnerable than the multiple-goals and mastery clusters. Our discussion focuses on the immediate and potentially long-term implications of specific goal combinations for students and educators, with particular attention to understanding the cognitive and emotional vulnerabilities of students in the performance cluster which appear despite satisfactory achievement levels.     

我记得当年你这么高

当我四岁时,我把父母的胡桃木梳妆台上咬上牙印。他们没有看到我做这件事,但一次被发现了,他们并没有责备我。相反,40年来母亲充满深情地将牙印上的灰尘擦去。当我长大后,我问她为什么她从不将梳妆台的表面整修一下,她说,“我只是不想这样做。”直到我自己有了孩子我才能够完全理解这种情感。回忆孩子小时候的事情是人生最开心的事情之一。我的长子阿利屋夏如今20岁了,在外面上大学,但他少年时代的生活印记在我们房子里外到处都是。当他长大以后,我完成了使他长到门框边框的职责。偶尔我让他在靠着门框站立,测量他的身高,然后让他蹲到我们当…