Lessons Learned: Teaching the Race Concept in the College Classroom

Ethnic identity has been defined as a person's attitudes and self-concept in relation to their group membership. Although previous research has been completed regarding a variety of ethnic groups, limited research has been done focusing solely on Hispanics. In this phenomenological study, the researchers interviewed 10 Hispanics (3 men and 7 women) ranging from 20 to 50 years of age. The results indicated a need to expand our concept of ethnic identity models in relationship to Hispanics.     

An experience curve-based decision support model for prioritizing restoration needs of cultural heritage

Today's restoration and preservation of cultural heritage is an important task because of its historical significance, symbolism, and economic benefits. Decision makers or executors often encounter with taking decisions on which heritage is prioritized to be restored within the limited budget. However, very few tools are available to determine appropriately restoration priorities for the diverse historical heritages, perhaps because of a lack of systematized decision-making aids. This paper proposes an alternative decision support model to prioritize restoration needs within the executable budget. The model is constructed on stochastic analytic hierarchy process (S-AHP) and knowledge-based experience curve (EC); the former requires the input data to be random variables for interpreting probabilistically the ranks of the prioritized heritages and the latter reflects quantitatively the contribution of experts’ knowledge to weighting significant criteria in carrying out an assessment of restoration urgency. The application of 14 cultural heritages in Korea has been conducted, and the results are analyzed to illustrate the model's efficiency.     

Mathematics, computers, and young children as a research-oriented learning environment for a teacher candidate

The advent of computer technology in the classroom raised the issue of its appropriate use by teachers and their students alike. It has been recommended that teacher education programs provide more opportunities for teacher candidates’ use of technology including teaching their own technology-enhanced lessons. With a goal of integrating scholarship into student teaching, a teacher candidate enrolled in a graduate program in childhood education carried out a technology-enhanced research project within a professional development school. Examining the impact of the project on the teacher candidate, this article describes how one’s pedagogical content knowledge and technological competence can be developed through a research-oriented teaching experience. The article also demonstrates the emergence of a community of practice that shares the goal of providing learning spaces for the teacher candidate and young children in the context of mathematics enrichment with computers.     

Development of the human interaction dimension of the Self‐Regulated Learning Questionnaire in asynchronous online learning environments

Two studies focusing on the development and validation of the Online Self‐Regulated Learning Inventory (OSRLI) were conducted. The OSRLI is a self‐report instrument assessing the human interaction dimension of online self‐regulated learning. It consists of an affect/motivation scale and an interaction strategies scale. In Study 1, exploratory factor analysis of an initial affect/motivation item pool yielded four factors: enjoyment of human interaction, self‐efficacy for interaction with instructors, concern for interaction with students, and self‐efficacy for contributing to the online community. Exploratory factor analysis of an initial learning strategies item pool revealed three factors: writing strategies, responding strategies, and reflection strategies. In Study 2, confirmatory factor analysis was conducted in order to evaluate the stability of multidimensional factor structures. These exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses showed the OSRLI to be statistically moderate in terms of reliability and validity.     

Disciplinary enculturation experiences of five East Asian doctoral students in US-based second language studies programmes

This study reports on the non-discursive aspects of the disciplinary enculturation experiences of five international doctoral students from East Asia in three Second Language studies graduate programmes in the United States. Based largely on interview data, this study examined how students participate in their graduate discourse communities and what may contribute to or hinder academic success. It appeared that the kinds of social capital accrued through social ties and networks are key to students' successful disciplinary enculturation, suggesting the importance of establishing positive personal interactions and locating oneself within supportive discourse community contexts. The present study also sheds light on the issue that disciplinary enculturation is an inherent cultural practice, which may not favour students who do not adopt mainstream socio-academic conventions.     

A comparison of Korean and American elementary educators’ self-determination practices

Korean general and special educators (n = 229) and American general and special educators (n = 348) were surveyed to explore (a) their perceptions of the importance of self-determination for students with disabilities, (b) how frequently they teach it, (c) the relationship between their perception of the importance of teaching self-determination and how often they teach it, and (d) the barriers they perceive that inhibit them from teaching it. American general and special educators attached higher importance to self-determination instruction than their Korean counterparts, but Korean educators taught self-determination skills to their students with disabilities more often than American educators did. There was greater incongruence between the value American educators placed on promoting self-determination and the time they devoted to teaching it than there was for Korean educators. Educators of both countries shared some perceived barriers to promoting self-determination (e.g., communication difficulty, students were too young, and other more urgent instructional needs), but each group cited barriers the other did not (e.g., teacher lacked sufficient skill, difficult to empathize with student, and no instructional latitude). Limitations and implications are discussed along with suggestions for future research.     

UNDERSTANDING TEST‐TYPE ASSIGNMENT: WHY DO SPECIAL EDUCATORS MAKE UNEXPECTED TEST‐TYPE ASSIGNMENTS?

We interviewed special educators (a) whose students with disabilities (SWDs) were proficient on the 2008 general education assessment but were assigned to the 2009 alternate assessment based on modified achievement standards (AA‐MAS), and (b) whose students with mild disabilities took the 2008 alternate assessment based on alternate achievement standards (AA‐AAS) and then the 2009 AA‐MAS. We explored teachers’ rationales for test‐type assignment, student characteristics, and quality of instruction to determine the test‐type decisions’ appropriateness. All teachers based their decisions on combinations of factors in the guidelines plus subjective and noninstructional factors. Findings raised concerns about the subjectivity of the assessment assignment system and the inappropriate grade‐level instruction for SWDs. Future research, implications of these findings, and limitations are discussed.