Policy considerations based on a cost analysis of alternative test formats in large scale science assessments

This article compares the costs of four assessment formats: multiple choice, open ended, laboratory station, and full investigation. The amount of time spent preparing the devices, developing scoring consistency for the devices, and scoring the devices was tracked as the devices were developed. These times are presented by individual item and by complete device. Times are also compared as if 1,000 students completed each assessment. Finally, the times are converted into cost estimates by assuming a potential hourly wage. The data show that a multiple choice item costs the least, and that it is approximately 80 times as much for an open ended item, 300 times as much for a content station, and 500 times as much for a full investigation item. The very large discrepancies in costs are used as a basis to raise several policy issues related to the inclusion of alternative assessment formats in large scale science achievement testing. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 37: 615–626, 2000     

The Problematic Nature of the Practicum: A Key Determinant of Pre-service Teachers’ Emerging Inquiry-Based Science Practices

This article disseminates findings from a multi-year study regarding secondary preservice science teachers’ perceptions toward inquiry-based science teaching, and the extent these perceptions are augmented by their practicum. While findings indicated that preservice teachers did improve their understanding and capability of using scientific inquiry due to their methods course, the role of practicum in supporting their newly developed perceptions was problematic. Issues ranging from associate teacher subjugation, availability of resources, time constraints, and the need to address curriculum standards were the most commonly cited reasons for preservice teachers’ difficulty in creating an inquiry-based environment during their practicum. Implications are presented highlighting the importance of practicum experiences as a key determinant of pre-service science teachers’ emerging inquiry-based science views and practices.     

Research in Food Science Education: Measuring Gains in Critical Thinking in Food Science and Human Nutrition Courses: The Cornell Critical Thinking Test,Problem‐Based Learning Activities,and Student Journal Entries

Abstract: The Cornell Critical Thinking Test (CCTT) is one of the many multiple‐choice tests with validated questions that have been reported to measure general critical thinking (CT) ability. One of the IFT Education Standards for undergraduate degrees in Food Science is the emphasis on the development of critical thinking. While this skill is easy to list as a student‐learning objective, measuring gains in CT is relatively difficult. If the majority of the class time is spent discussing and solving ill‐defined problems, then will students become actively and meaningfully involved in their own learning and will there be any gains in CT skills? To measure gains using this format, the CCTT was administered as a pre‐ and posttest to Food Science and Human Nutrition students in an Experimental Foods class taught every fall over an 8 y period (2001–2008). Statistical analysis indicated that in 2 of the years (2002 and 2004), there were significant gains (P values 0.036 and 0.045, respectively) in CT scores. Furthermore, in both years, there were significant gains in the same 2 aspects of CT (deduction and assumption) and not in the other aspects. However, we suggest that completing several take‐home exams with many open‐ended questions, writing detailed laboratory reports, and documenting unsolicited student reflections in journal entries that comment on apparent gains in CT skills may be a better indication of actual gains in CT skills compared to the actual CCTT test scores.     

Meeting health,mental health,and housing needs of older adults: A case review of the congregational social work education initiative

This article presents results from an innovative social work field education program, which prepares BSW and MSW students to work in interdisciplinary teams with congregational nurses as they serve persons age 55+ or older. The Congregational Social Work Education Initiative is a field education project based on an applied interdisciplinary model, whereby social work students at the graduate and undergraduate level partner with congregational nurses to serve at-risk members of congregations and religious affiliated organizations (RAOs). Students and nurses provide free health, mental health, and wellness services to address individual, family, group, and community health, mental health, and housing issues. Funded by community health foundations, it trains BSW and MSW students for professional practice in congregational and community religious affiliated settings through interdisciplinary and collaborative methods. Information on the development of the model and case illustrations are provided so other social work educational programs and congregational nurse programs might duplicate its success.     

Contribution of uncertainty in estimation of active drag using assisted towing method in front crawl swimming

Active drag force in swimming can be calculated from a function of five different variables: swim velocity, tow velocity, belt force, power output and exponent of velocity. The accuracy of the drag force value is dependent on the accuracy of each variable, and on the contribution of each variable to drag estimation. To calculate uncertainty in drag value, first the derivatives of the active drag equation with respect to each variable were obtained. Second, these were multiplied by the uncertainty of that variable. Twelve national age and open level swimmers were recruited to complete four free swimming and five active drag trials. The uncertainties for the free and the tow swim velocities, and for the belt force, contributed approximately 5–6% and 2–3% error, respectively, in calculation of drag. The result of the uncertainty of the velocity exponent (1.8–2.6) indicated a contribution of about 6% error in active drag. The contribution of unequal power output showed that if a power changed 7.5% between conditions, it would lead to about 30% error in calculated drag. Consequently, if a swimmer did not maintain constant power output between conditions, there would be substantial errors in the calculation of active drag.     

An approach through the looking-glass

Forty food-deprived cockerel chicks were tested individually in a straight runway containing a familiar food cup that moved when the chicks moved. The food cup always moved in the same direction as the chick: For 20 experimental chicks it moved twice as far as the chick; for 20 control chicks it moved half as far. In Lewis Carroll’s (1898/1926) picturesque terminology, the experimental chicks were tested in Alice’s “room through the looking-glass,” in which, in order to approach the food cup, they had to “walk the other way.” Although the control chicks performed well, the experimental chicks evinced the runway behavior that characterizes positive feedback: They persistently chased the food cup away. This means that the spatial polarity of visual feedback is critical and implies that an ordinary approach response is but an automatic (closed-loop) realization of an intended visual perception.     

The policyscape of transgender equality and gender diversity in the Western Australian education system: a case study

ABSTRACT

In this paper, our purpose is to investigate policy informing texts and discourses referencing transgender equality and gender diversity in the Western Australian education system. Drawing on scholarship from transgender, queer and policy studies, we highlight the interplay of progressive and conservative forces affecting the Western Australian education system’s commitment to supporting transgender and gender non-binary students. Based on a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) project, the paper constructs a Western Australian case study, which threads together the critical examination of policy informing texts, qualitative interview data and media discourses surrounding public narratives, such as the Safe School Coalition Australia’s attempt to implement a school program, which builds awareness about gender and sexual diversity. Emerging through the material, discursive and spatial elements of locales and networks, our case study has the potential to deepen knowledge regarding the heuristic capacity of employing policyscape as an analytic category. In this vein, we draw attention to the possibilities and challenges for re-conceptualizing gender and providing trans-affirmative school spaces that promote equality.