Mentor-shape: exploring the mentoring relationships of Black women in doctoral programs

Using a Black Feminist Thought framework, this phenomenological study focused on lived experiences with mentoring relationships among 38 Black women in doctoral programs in multiple disciplines across universities in the United States. Although emerging studies on Black women in academia acknowledge the significance of mentorship and the reality of discrimination at the intersection of race and gender, the literature lacks empirical support pertaining to the formation and outcomes of mentoring relationships, specifically for Black women in doctoral education. Findings from this study suggested four central themes in the mentoring relationships among Black women in doctoral programs: (a) organic evolvement, (b) shared identity/mutual interest, (c) personal transformation and (d) increase in access and opportunity. Implications for future research, policy, practice and education across disciplines are offered.     

在线学习的理论与实践

本刊今年第3期刊登了记者对国际知名远程教育专家、加拿大阿萨巴斯卡大学特里·安德森教授的专访。安德森教授在专访中提及他和同事法希·埃劳米的新著《在线学习的理论与实践》,“希望能得到我们中国朋友的青睐和欣赏”。该书收录了16篇论文,作者全部是阿萨巴斯卡大学的教师和研究者,也都是20世纪90年代中期以来阿萨巴斯卡大学为了应对日益裁减的政府资助和生源的锐减而进行大规模教育改革的实践者和见证人,这些论文既有经验总结又有前瞻性的思考,对我国的远程教育事业不无借鉴价值。鉴于此,本刊特邀肖俊洪先生谨将该书两位主编所撰写的“引言”中的有关全书内容概要的部分译成中文,以飨读者。     

The curriculum as a tool for inclusive participation: Students’ voices in a case study in a Portuguese multicultural school

Portuguese schools in urban areas became multicultural during the 90s. Some students are quite distanced from the school culture. Many repeat grades. The curriculum emerges as a means of (re)organizing school practice, so that it is designed to foster inclusion. It is a tool for social mediation between the culture and knowledge of teenagers, and academic ones. It shapes the interactions between participants, cultural tools and knowledge. The principles of inclusive schooling promote the respect for diversity, underlining the need to listen to all voices of a learning community. According to the sociocultural approach appropriating knowledge and developing competencies is a complex process. Interactive practices shape students’ academic performances. Collaborative project work has been used to promote students’ engagement. This action-research project developed an alternative curriculum in a class (grades 5 and 6) from a poor and multicultural school in Lisbon. A follow-up investigated the impact of the educational changes on the learners’ participation in school and in social practices, and on their future life. We aim at analyzing this alternative curriculum process by focussing on students’ narratives. Results highlight improvements in students’ academic and social competencies. Changing practices during compulsory education facilitated achievement and resulted in a better socialization.     

Exploring the Robustness of a Unidimensional Item Response Theory Model With Empirically Multidimensional Data

Unidimensionality and local independence are two common assumptions of item response theory. The former implies that all items measure a common latent trait, while the latter implies that responses are independent, conditional on respondents’ location on the latent trait. Yet, few tests are truly unidimensional. Unmodeled dimensions may result in test items displaying dependencies, which can lead to misestimated parameters and inflated reliability estimates. In this article, we investigate the dimensionality of interim mathematics tests and evaluate the extent to which modeling minor dimensions in the data change model parameter estimates. We found evidence of minor dimensions, but parameter estimates across models were similar. Our results indicate that minor dimensions outside the primary trait have negligible consequences on parameter estimates. This finding was observed despite the ratio of multidimensional to unidimensional items being above previously recommended thresholds.     

An Assessment of the Perception of Learning Gains of Freshmen Students in an Introductory Course in Nutrition and Food Science

ABSTRACT: The assessment of learning gains of students in science and other disciplines is becoming a reality following the gradual shift from the traditional style of teaching to a curriculum-based assessment of learning outcomes. The degree to which students perceive to have obtained the outcomes of a course can be measured through an assessment of students' learning gains. This study evaluated the perceived learning gains of freshmen students in an introductory class FSC 110-Introduction to Human Nutrition and Food Science (FSC 110)-over a 4-semester period. Students used the Assessment of Learning Gains Survey Instrument, developed by the Wisconsin Center for Education Research, to assess the level of their perceived learning gains. The data collected indicated that, overall, students favorably perceived their learning gains in the course. Through the instrument, students identified areas of the course that they perceived to have contributed positively to their learning experiences and those they perceived to have not contributed in any meaningful way to their learning experiences. The students' perception of their learning gains could be useful to the instructor because it offers opportunities to revise the course with respect to delivery method, assessment methods and tools, and course resources, and to improve individual support given to students to enhance their learning experience. Such alterations in pedagogy could lead to significant improvements in course quality, which could be archived and transferred to subsequent classes.     

Improving students' understanding of carbohydrate metabolism in first-year biochemistry at tertiary level

Many introductory biochemistry students have problems understanding metabolism and acquiring the skills necessary to study metabolic pathways. In this paper we suggest that this may be largely due to the use of a traditional teaching approach which emphasises memorisation rather than understanding. We present an alternative approach to teaching carbohydrate metabolism which is designed to promote understanding of pathways. The approach also enables regular monitoring of, and reflection on, student progress and the identification of student reasoning and conceptual difficulties through the use of specially designed problems. Preliminary results are presented giving examples of specific student difficulties and the extent to which they were addressed by the alternative instructional approach. A qualitative evaluation of the approach is also presented. Specializations: metal accumulating plants biochemical education. Specializations: physics education, conceptual development, instructional design, improvement of tertiary science education.     

Chinese Children's Incidental Learning of Word Meanings

We investigated the effects of metalinguistic awareness and the internal structure of Chinese characters on children's incidental learning of word meanings while reading. The participants were 241 Taiwanese children from six fourth-grade classes. They were randomly assigned to read one of two texts, and then their knowledge of unfamiliar characters from both texts was assessed. Two kinds of factors that might influence incidental learning of character meanings were examined: features of the unfamiliar characters (radical helpfulness, phonetic regularity, and contextual support) and child characteristics (radical awareness, phonetic awareness, general vocabulary, and prior knowledge of target characters). Results showed that children could incidentally learn characters during normal reading. Children who had more radical or phonetic awareness knew more characters, especially when the character contained a radical that gave a clue to meaning. However, contrary to expectation, radical helpfulness and phonetic regularity did not contribute to character learning. Characters were easier to learn when contextual support was strong. Copyright 2001 Academic Press.