Identifying Evidence-Based Practices for Behavior: Analysis of Studies Reviewed by the What Works Clearinghouse

Prior concerns have been raised about the ability of schools to access evidence-based practices, however, these practices are instrumental for addressing behavior concerns. This is particularly true at the secondary level, where students are more likely to be disproportionately identified for school removal. This review investigates studies of behavior intervention programs reviewed by the What Works Clearinghouse (WWC), founded by the US Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences. Three studies meet the WWC evidence standards for middle or high school students. The limited number of studies meeting evidence standards and the demographic samples of those studies meeting evidence standards lowers access to robust practice.     

Does skate sharpening affect individual skating performance in an agility course in ice hockey?

When sharpening ice hockey blades a hollow is created at the running surface of the blade. This study aimed to quantify the effect of different blade hollows on (a) blade–ice friction, (b) skating performance in an agility course, and (c) players’ perception of blade sharpness, performance, and comfort. Friction was quantified by measuring the deceleration of a sled running on the blades. Skating performance was tested with 15 volunteers performing a total of 9 trials on 3 different hollow radii. Perception was assessed using a questionnaire. Friction increased with decreasing hollow radius. Skating performance was significantly impeded at a hollow radius of 3.18 mm. Within the range of 9.53–22.23 mm performance differences were subject specific and several subjects showed no differences. Players appeared to be not sensitive enough to identify hollow radii, and only half of the subjects ranked their performance correctly.     

What are students doing during lecture? Evidence from new technologies to capture student activity

Engaging students in class is paramount if they are to gain a deep understanding of class content. Student engagement is manifested by attention to the various components of instruction. However, there is little research at the tertiary level focusing on what aspects of instruction are related to changes in student attention during class. To address this gap, we collected multiple streams of data that provide a measure of student attention during instruction. We had students in an organic chemistry course who wear hats with a camera mounted on the brim, to provide a record of student gaze (i.e. looking at the board, notes, and friends). We also had students who use electronic pens that allowed us to record what information students transferred into their notes (pencasts). Based on our initial results, we believe the data provided by the point-of-view cameras and electronic pens hold great promise for using these technologies as viable research tools in educational settings to address various research questions.     

Language maintenance and loss in a population study of young Australian children

Information about children's cultural and linguistic diversity and language acquisition patterns is important for the development of sustainable educational practices. While there is some knowledge about language maintenance and loss in adults and older children, there is limited information about young children. The first three waves of data from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC), involving 4252 young children, were considered longitudinally over the first five years of life to identify patterns of language maintenance and loss among those who speak languages other than English. The most common languages other than English spoken by the children were Arabic, Vietnamese, Italian, Spanish, and Greek and 9.1% of all children were reported to use a language other than English at wave 1, 15.7% at wave 2, and 15.2% at wave 3. Overall, 91.5% of children maintained speaking a language other than English between wave 1 and wave 2, and 86.6% did so between wave 1 and wave 3. Children's patterns of language acquisition and loss over the first five years of life varied within and between language groups. For example, Arabic-speaking children tended to maintain Arabic throughout early childhood, whereas Italian-speaking children's use of Italian decreased over the first five years of life while use of English steadily increased. Environmental and personal factors such as parental language use, presence of a grandparent in the home, type of early childhood care, first- and second-generation immigrant status, and parental perception of support from the educational environment were related to language maintenance among non-English speaking children.     

State and trait goals of achievement and well-being: structure,validity, and stability

Both school achievement goals (mastery, performance approach, performance avoidance goals) and well-being goals (work avoidance, affiliation goals) are important predictors of learning and achievement related outcomes. However, disagreement exists regarding the definition of goals as relatively stable traits versus situational states that react sensitive to contexts. This paper presents the development of an inventory for the assessment of students’ multiple state and trait goals. In Study 1, students (N?=?196) answered the trait items. The results of an exploratory factor analysis indicated the construct validity of the goals. In Study 2, students completed trait and state scales in different weeks (N?=?542) and repeatedly after 12 weeks each. Confirmatory factor analyses as well as correlations with state and trait reference constructs confirmed the convergent and differential validity of both the trait and the state goal factors. The instrument offers a brief, reliable, and valid measure of multiple state and trait goals. Latent state trait analyses revealed that some state goals are surprisingly robust against situational influences and equally stable across time as corresponding trait goals, whereas other goals are more dependent on the learning situation.     

Complexity in Science Learning: Measuring the Underlying Dynamics of Persistent Mistakes

Abstract

Mistaken beliefs pose a barrier to science learning. For this reason, it is important to understand the circumstances in which they emerge and change. In the current paper, we apply complexity theory to shed light on the nature of mistaken beliefs. The strength of this approach lies in conceptualizing beliefs as dynamic stabilities, a well-defined construct that can be indexed precisely. For example, Recurrence Quantification Analysis (RQA) can determine the presence of dynamic stabilities by analyzing variability in time-series data. We applied this analytical tool to probe for mistaken beliefs in a beam-balancing task, a task that is known to elicit mistaken beliefs in preschoolers. Using a case-study design with four preschoolers, we tracked children’s hand position with motion sensors as they balanced various beams. The resulting time series of hand position was submitted to RQA, yielding two important results: First, we found that consistent mistakes in trying to balance the beams were not always accompanied by dynamic stability. This undermines the common assumption that overt consistency in task performance is sufficient to conclude the presence of beliefs. Second, we found strong individual differences over time, as children explored the balance beams. Applications to science education are discussed.

• Highlights

• A classical task of beam balancing was used to explore the underlying dynamics of children’s mistaken beliefs.

• Moment-to-moment hand movements were tracked and subjected to a multi-dimensional recurrence quantification analysis (RQA).

• Dynamic stability was captured through percent laminarity (%LAM), a measure of rigidity in children’s explorations.

• The RQA measure of %LAM shed light on patterns of stability that were not available from the analysis of overt behavior.

• In line with complexity theory, a model of persistent mistakes is offered that has important implications for science education.

     

Referee bias contributes to home advantage in English Premiership football

Officiating bias is thought to contribute to home advantage. Recent research has shown that sports with subjective officiating tend to experience greater home advantage and that referees' decisions can be influenced by crowd noise, but little work has been done to examine whether individual referees vary in their home bias or whether biased decisions contribute to overall home advantage. We develop an ordinal regression model to determine whether various measures of home advantage are affected by the official for the match and by crowd size while controlling for team ability. We examine 5244 English Premier League (EPL) match results involving 50 referees and find that home bias differs between referees. Individual referees give significantly different levels of home advantage, measured as goal differential between the home and away teams, although the significance of this result depends on one referee with a particularly high home advantage (an outlier). Referees vary significantly and robustly in their yellow card and penalty differentials even excluding the outlier. These results confirm that referees are responsible for some of the observed home advantage in the EPL and suggest that home advantage is dependent on the subjective decisions of referees that vary between individuals. We hypothesize that individual referees respond differently to factors such as crowd noise and suggest further research looking at referees' psychological and behavioural responses to biased crowds.