Alternative Missing Data Techniques to Grade Point Average: Imputing Unavailable Grades

In this article, grade point average (GPA) is considered a missing data technique for unavailable grades in school grade records. In Study 1, theoretical and empirical differences between GPA and seven alternative missing grade techniques were considered. These seven techniques are subject mean substitution, corrected subject mean, subject correlation substitution, regression imputation, expectation maximization algorithm imputation and two multiple imputation methods-stochastic regression imputation and data augmentation., The missing grade techniques differ greatly. Data augmentation and stochastic regression imputation appear to be superior as missing grade techniques. In Study 2, the completed grade records (observed and imputed values) were used in two prediction analyses of academic achievement. One analysis was based on unweighed grades, the other on weighed grades. In both analyses, alternative missing grade methods produced better and more consistent predictions. It is concluded that some alternative missing grade methods are superior to GPA.     

Open-book tests in a university course

In the few available studies on the use of books in examinations, open-book tests have been found to reduce pre-test memorization and anxiety during examinations without affecting academic performance. However, these studies were made with students in non-book systems, whereas systems which allowed books in all exams might be thought likely to create a non-fact-learning attitude in students. The present study was undertaken in a book-allowing system with 120 students during a regular course in physiology at a medical school. Each group sat two parallel 60-item multiple choice tests and used books in one test but not in the other. The tests took place about four weeks prior to the final examination, which is of the same type as the experimental tests. Recall items could yield less than 15% of maximum points, so that interpretation and problem-solving items predominated. Total test points with and without books did not differ significantly. An analysis of variance showed that the effect of books on recall items was only slight and that the two tests varied in difficulty, in spite of efforts to secure equality.     

Integrating Facebook in Upper Secondary Biology Instruction: A Case Study of Students’ Situational Interest and Participation in Learning Communication

The sciences are often perceived by students as irrelevant as they do not see the content of science as related to their daily lives. Web 2.0-mediated activities are characterized by user-driven content production, collaboration, and multi-way communication. It has been proposed that employing Web 2.0 in educational activities will promote richer opportunities for making learning personally meaningful, collaborative, and socially relevant. Since Facebook is already in use among youths, it potentially provides a communicative link between educational content and students’ lives. The present study was conducted as a case study to provide an inductive, explorative investigation of whether and how the integration of Facebook into upper secondary biology can affect interest in biology and participation in learning communication. The results indicate that the coupling of formal and informal communication practices on Facebook serves to maintain interest and open up new learning possibilities while at the same time creating barriers to communication. These barriers are due to distractions, ethical issues, and a certain depreciation of the activities ensuing from the everydayness of Facebook as a communication platform. In conclusion, use of Facebook as an educational platform is not clearly good or bad.     

Sympathoadrenal and parasympathetic responses to exercise

Exhaustive exercise is associated with a persistent sensation of weakness and sometimes nausea suggesting abdominal vagal activity. We measured plasma indices of sympathoadrenal (adrenaline, noradrenaline, dopamine) and vagal (pancreatic polypeptide) activity before, during and after submaximal and maximal exercise in healthy young subjects. Plasma adrenaline, noradrenaline and dopamine increased to 8.5 (range 7.4–40.5), 48.0 (32.3–100.5) and 1.8 (1.2–6.6) nmol l^–1 respectively (n = 5), during maximal exercise and decreased towards control values within 15 min of rest. Pancreatic polypeptide (n = 10) increased only during maximal exercise and reached its highest value, 48 (21–145) pmol l^–1, after exertion. The results conform to an increase in sympathetic activity during exercise and a persistent vagal activity after intense exercise which could contribute to the sensation of weakness.     

Distractor Similarity and Item-Stem Structure: Effects on Item Difficulty

Methods for detecting copying of multiple-choice test responses developed over a 60-year period are reviewed and compared with respect to their effectiveness and the practicality of their application for groups of varying size. Although effective detection methods are routinely used in large admissions and licensing testing programs, they are seldom applied in the areas of standardized testing or classroom testing in schools or colleges. Circumstances associated with this discrepancy are discussed.     

Action research in initial teacher education: an explorative study

The aim of the study was to describe students’ and teacher educators’ practical experience with action research and to identify a number of special points for consideration (opportunities and limitations) which could play a role in putting research into practice in concrete terms in the courses. Students and teacher educators on three Dutch initial teacher education programmes which treat action research as both a means of professional development and a necessary professional qualification were involved. These were programmes for specific teaching levels and subjects in Dutch schools. Four special points for consideration are identified: action research and the educational core qualifications of the profession; difference between action research by student teachers during their initial education and experienced teachers in their own workplace; students’ mixed experiences and perceptions of research; and embedded research‐based activities in the programme. The authors conclude that action research should be considered from different perspectives: as a professional approach, a body of skills that is needed to make the connection between knowing that and knowing why; and as a way of improving practice by systematically building up practice‐based knowledge.     

Mechanical Player Load™ using trunk-mounted accelerometry in football: Is it a reliable,task- and player-specific observation?

The aim of the present study was to examine reliability and construct convergent validity of Player Load? (PL) from trunk-mounted accelerometry, expressed as a cumulative measure and an intensity measure (PL · min^–1). Fifteen male participants twice performed an overground football match simulation that included four different multidirectional football actions (jog, side cut, stride and sprint) whilst wearing a trunk-mounted accelerometer inbuilt in a global positioning system unit. Results showed a moderate-to-high reliability as indicated by the intra-class correlation coefficient (0.806–0.949) and limits of agreement. Convergent validity analysis showed considerable between-participant variation (coefficient of variation range 14.5–24.5%), which was not explained from participant demographics despite a negative association with body height for the stride task. Between-task variations generally showed a moderate correlation between ranking of participants for PL (0.593–0.764) and PL · min^–1 (0.282–0.736). It was concluded that monitoring PL^® in football multidirectional actions presents moderate-to-high reliability, that between-participant variability most likely relies on the individual’s locomotive skills and not their anthropometrics, and that the intensity of a task expressed by PL · min^–1 is largely related to the running velocity of the task.