Understanding The Impact of an Apprenticeship-Based Scientific Research Program on High School Students’ Understanding of Scientific Inquiry

The purpose of this study was to understand the impact of an apprenticeship program on high school students’ understanding of the nature of scientific inquiry. Data related to seventeen students’ understanding of science and scientific inquiry were collected through open-ended questionnaires. Findings suggest that although engagement in authentic scientific research helped the participants to develop competency in experimentation methods it had limited impact on participants’ learning of the implicit aspects of scientific inquiry and NOS. Discussion focuses on the importance of making the implicit assumptions of science explicit to the students in such authentic scientific inquiry settings through structured curriculum.     

An action research study designed to implement student negotiation to improve speaking classroom practice in Turkey

This paper reports the second stage of an action research study designed to improve the effectiveness of speaking classes through negotiating the lesson contents with students. The data were collected through interviews, questionnaires and observations as a way of eliciting students’ views. The research, conducted in an English language teaching department at a university in Turkey, comprised eight weekly-based interventions that involved planning, action, observation, and reflection, in which students were given a voice and classroom activities were designed accordingly. Student negotiation allowed for the identification of both structural and affective factors influencing the quality of speaking classes. The teacher’s roles in activities, the number of students in group work activities, the level of control in speaking activities, and the role of input were found to be issues worth considering in designing speaking classes. Issues such as finding the activity ‘interesting’ and ‘useful’, ‘feeling comfortable’ and ‘being competitive’ also influenced the effectiveness of activities. Involving students in this action research study promoted positive attitudes towards classes since students reported feeling valued and important.     

Critical Moments: Chance,Choice, and Change in Scholarly Publishing

Dr. Katherine Skinner is the Executive Director of the Educopia Institute. Founded in 2006, the Educopia Institute is a nonprofit educational organization that hosts inter-institutional, collaborative programs for the production, dissemination, and preservation of digital scholarship. She is the founding program director for the MetaArchive Cooperative that launched in 2004. That community-owned and community-governed digital preservation network now has more than 50 member institutions in four countries. Dr. Skinner also directs the Library Publishing Coalition project, a two-year initiative to create a new organization to support library publishing and scholarly communications activities in conjunction with more than 50 academic libraries.     

Words correct per minute: The variance in standardized reading scores accounted for by reading speed

The measure words correct per minute (WC/M) incorporates a measure of accurate aloud word reading and a measure of reading speed. The current article describes two studies designed to parse the variance in global reading scores accounted for by reading speed. In Study I, reading speed accounted for more than 40% of the reading composite score variance in 4th‐, 5th‐, and 10th‐grade students. In Study II, reading speed accounted for more than 30% of the reading/language arts composite score variance of fourth‐ and fifth‐grade students. Across both studies, when reading speed was combined with words read correctly and converted to WC/M the additional variance accounted for was less than 10% with one exception, fourth‐grade students' reading/language arts scores. These findings are consistent with various theories regarding reading speed, provide direction for future researchers, and may assuage those concerned that WC/M is primarily a measure of aloud, accurate word reading (i.e., word calling). © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Measuring specific interests in biological,physical and earth sciences in intermediate grade levels

The Science Activities Checklist which was revised from the Reed activities checklist shows promise of providing science teachers with an instrument to measure interest in biological, earth, and physical science. If teachers are sincere in their efforts to foster interest in their specific science field, this instrument, or the revision the writers are currently committed to, should help them measure behavioral objectives involving science interests.