Effective peer assessment processes: Research findings and future directions

Despite the popularity of peer assessment (PA), gaps in the literature make it difficult to describe exactly what constitutes effective PA. In a literature review, we divided PA into variables and then investigated their interrelatedness. We found that (a) PA's psychometric qualities are improved by the training and experience of peer assessors; (b) the development of domain-specific skills benefits from PA-based revision; (c) the development of PA skills benefits from training and is related to students' thinking style and academic achievement, and (d) student attitudes towards PA are positively influenced by training and experience. We conclude with recommendations for future research.     

Learner-focused evaluation cycles: facilitating learning using feedforward,concurrent and feedback evaluation

There is a growing trend to offer students learning opportunities that are flexible, innovative and engaging. As educators embrace student-centred agile teaching and learning methodologies, which require continuous reflection and adaptation, the need to evaluate students’ learning in a timely manner has become more pressing. Conventional evaluation surveys currently dominate the evaluation landscape internationally, despite recognition that they are insufficient to effectively evaluate curriculum and teaching quality. Surveys often: (1) fail to address the issues for which educators need feedback, (2) constrain student voice, (3) have low response rates and (4) occur too late to benefit current students. Consequently, this paper explores principles of effective feedback to propose a framework for learner-focused evaluation. We apply a three-stage control model, involving feedforward, concurrent and feedback evaluation, to investigate the intersection of assessment and evaluation in agile learning environments. We conclude that learner-focused evaluation cycles can be used to guide action so that evaluation is not undertaken simply for the benefit of future offerings, but rather to benefit current students by allowing ‘real-time’ learning activities to be adapted in the moment. As a result, students become co-producers of learning and evaluation becomes a meaningful, responsive dialogue between students and their instructors.     

A quest for meta-learning gains in a physics serious game

This paper describes how a short, repeated and structured opportunity to reflect was integrated in the storyline of a serious game in order to stimulate the development of a meta-cognitive skill: the ability to self-assess the degree of confidence in own answers. An empirical validation of the approach, conducted with 28 secondary school pupils, delivers an uncommon pattern: while the cognitive benefits—the acquisition of academic knowledge in optics—are negligible and mixed up, the meta-cognitive gains present a raising tendency. The experiment also demonstrates that reflection does not necessarily hamper the game flow, if certain conditions, discussed in the paper, are met.     

Effects of Journalistic Adjudication on Factual Beliefs,News Evaluations,Information Seeking,and Epistemic Political Efficacy

A frequent critique of contemporary journalism is that journalists rarely adjudicate factual disputes when covering politics; however, very little research has been done on the effects of such passive journalism on audiences. This study tests effects of active adjudication versus “he said/she said” journalism on a variety of outcomes, finding that adjudication can correct factual beliefs, increase perceived news quality, satisfy perceived informational needs, and increase the likelihood of future news use. However, for readers who were less interested in the issues under dispute, adjudication also reduced epistemic political efficacy, which is confidence in one's ability to find the truth in politics.     

The characterization of commercial artists’ alkyd paints

There is little information in the conservation literature with respect to artists’ alkyd paints; thus, artists and conservators are somewhat at a loss about how to use and treat alkyds. Recently, analytical methods have been developed to identify the components in these polymers (oil modified polyesters), rates of cross-linking and mechanical properties. Presented in this paper are some of the characterization results of artists’ alkyd paints using THM (thermally assisted hydrolysis and methylation) gas chromatography– mass spectrometry (THM–GC/MS) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy–attenuated total reflectance (FTIR–ATR). Four brands of artists’ alkyd paints containing alkyd resin have been analysed; one containing a phthalic anhydride and pentaerythritol based alkyd resin, two containing isophthalic acid and pentaerythritol based alkyd resins, and the final one containing both phthalic anhydride and isophthalic acid and pentaerythritol based resins among the colours studied.     

Deference to Scientific Authority Among a Low Information Public: Understanding U.S. Opinion on Agricultural Biotechnology

This study uses the contemporary debate over agricultural biotechnologyto conceptualize a theoretical model that can be used to explainhow citizens reach judgments across a range of science and technologycontroversies. We report findings from a mail survey of NewYork State residents that depicts a ‘low information’public relying heavily on heuristics such as value predispositions,trust, and schema to form an opinion about agricultural biotechnology.Science knowledge does play a modest role, with the news mediaserving as an important source of informal learning. Contraryto expectations and past research, we do not find any directeffects for news attention on support for agricultural biotechnology.Deference to scientific authority is a central value predispositionshaping support for agricultural biotechnology. Positively correlatedwith education, deference to scientific authority is the strongestinfluence on support for agricultural biotechnology in our model.Part of the variable's influence is direct, but part of it isalso indirect, as deference to scientific authority is a keypredictor of both trust in the sponsors of biotechnology andgeneralized reservations about the impacts of science. Received for publication July 18, 2005. Revision received December 2, 2005.     

French nursery schools and German kindergartens: effects of individual and contextual variables on early learning

The present article investigates the effects of individual and contextual variables on children’s early learning in French nursery schools and German kindergartens. Our study of 552 children at preschools in France (299 children from French nursery schools) and Germany (253 children from German kindergartens) measured skills that facilitate the learning of reading, writing and arithmetic at primary school. We also evaluated educational family practices and parents’ expectations of their children’s pre-school education. In order to take into account the hierarchical structure of our data, multilevel models were used in the analysis, which was carried out using MLwiN software version 2.02 (Rasbash et al. 2005). Although French nursery schools emphasise academic learning, we did not find any significant differences in overall performances between the French and German samples. However, significant differences were obtained for some subscale results. In addition, our results indicate that individual and contextual variables have an impact on the differences observed between children from the two countries.     

La violence médicale envers les jeunes enfants

Medical Violence Toward Young Children. Two types of medical “abuse” are to be considered: (1) Mandatory violence in the form of preventive medical activities, i.e., immunizations, and curative medical activities, i.e., intensive care medicine. Means of decreasing the psychological trauma associated with these inevitable activities are considered. (2) Avoidable medical violence, of which three different forms can be identified: ? In the institutions: separation of mother and child is still a common occurrence in maternity hospitals and in pediatric hospital services. ? In medical practice: too often symptoms common in infants and children are dealt with by prescribing unnecessary drugs (cough, cold, crying during the night). ? In placement of children under the pretence of medical cures for such foggy diagnoses as “rickets” or “recurring rhinopharyngitis,” which are cover-ups of the inability or refusal on part of the physician to apprehend a child's real problems. Such placements are apt to irreversibly destroy the psychological bonds of the child with his family.The physicians and health care personnel in general should be better prepared to cope with their own subconscious mechanisms, which often result in questionable automatic reflexes and decisions. This would result in a decrease in physical or symbolic abuses toward children.