A Quasi-Experimental Study of Maternal Smoking During Pregnancy and Offspring Academic Achievement

The current study, based on all births in Sweden from 1983 to 1991 ( N  =   654,707), explored the processes underlying the association between smoking during pregnancy (SDP) and offspring school grades and mathematic proficiency at age 15. The analyses compared relatives who varied in their exposure to SDP and who varied in their genetic relatedness. Although SDP was statistically associated with academic achievement (AA) when comparing unrelated individuals, the results suggest that SDP does not cause poorer academic performance, as full siblings differentially exposed to SDP did not differ in their academic scores. The pattern of results suggests that genetic factors shared by parents and their offspring help explain why offspring exposed to SDP have lower levels of AA.     

Relationships among Special Education Teachers' Knowledge,Instructional Practice and Students' Performance in Reading Fluency

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationships among (1) special education teachers’ knowledge for teaching reading fluency, (2) the specific instructional practices they used in fluency instruction, and (3) gains of students with specific learning disabilities (SLD) on a performance measure of oral reading fluency (ORF). Analyses based on multilevel linear modeling and analysis of covariance indicated that for 42 special education teachers teaching third, fourth, and fifth graders with SLD in intensive reading groups, teachers’ knowledge for teaching reading fluency predicted student gains on ORF measures, but did not predict their instructional practice. Furthermore, teacher practice did not predict student gains on ORF. Practical implications and future research are discussed.     

Paraphrasing Interventions and Problem‐Solving Accuracy: Do Generative Procedures Help English Language Learners with Math Difficulties?

This randomized control treatment study investigated the role of generative paraphrasing interventions on word problem‐solving (WPS) accuracy in English language learners (ELL) who were at risk for math difficulties (MD). One hundred and forty‐two third‐grade monolingual and English language learners were randomly assigned to either an untreated control group or one of three treatment conditions: paraphrase question (Restate), paraphrase relevant information (Relevant), and paraphrase all propositions (Complete). Results showed that the relevant treatment condition improved WPS accuracy for monolingual and ELL children's accuracy relative to the control and restate condition. There were, however, no positive advantages on the transfer measures (knowledge of problem‐solving components, calculation) for ELL children with MD. In addition, the magnitude of posttest outcomes on the problem‐solving measures was substantially smaller for ELL children with MD than for children without MD. Although the results overall support the notion that generative learning improves problem‐solving accuracy, ELL children without MD are most likely to benefit from its application.     

College Radio Takeovers and Shutdowns: An Analysis of News Coverage from 2006–2016

Between 2010 and 2015, more than 30 college radio stations either went off air, transferred their licenses, or entered into programming or shared-time agreements. Among these are Vanderbilt University’s KRVU 91.1 FM, University of San Francisco’s KUSF 90.3 FM, Rice University’s KTRU 96.1 FM, and Georgia State University’s WRAS 88.5 FM. In what seems to be a shrinking presence of college radio on the FM dial, this study examines national and local news coverage of recent college radio shutdowns, transfers, and agreements to understand how these events are being presented in the news media. Findings suggest themes in news coverage includes a great deal of attention to the student, alumni, and community responses to station closures and transfers, but limited attention to reasons for the closures and transfers. University administrators were the most commonly quoted or referenced sources in the sample; students, alumni, community, faculty, and staff held significantly smaller shares of voice. Questions about the coverage of college radio closures and transfers as well as college radio’s future viability are discussed.     

The impact of body image on Fitbit use: a comparison across genders

This article is the first in the feature to explore personal tracking devices – in this case the Fitbit – and the relationship between their use and people's self‐perceptions and behaviour. Amber Edwards conducted the research for her MA dissertation at the University of Sheffield, graduating with an MA in Librarianship in January 2017. Her study shows that body image plays a large role in Fitbit use and that this is slightly more evident in females than males, although the differences are subtle. She argues that the results have implications for information professionals involved in teaching health information literacy. Amber began working in the library at Bishop Grosseteste University in June 2016, while completing her dissertation. A. M.     

Using a false biofeedback methodology to explore relationships between learners’ affect,metacognition, and performance

We used a false-biofeedback methodology to manipulate physiological arousal in order to induce affective states that would influence learners’ metacognitive judgments and learning performance. False-biofeedback is a method used to induce physiological arousal (and resultant affective states) by presenting learners with audio stimuli of false heart beats. Learners were presented with accelerated, baseline, or no heart beat (control) while they completed a challenging learning task. We tested four hypotheses about the effect of false-biofeedback. The alarm vs. alert hypothesis predicted that false biofeedback would be appraised as either a signal of distress and would impair learning (alarm), or as a signal of engagement and would facilitate learning (alert). The differential biofeedback hypothesis predicted that the alarm and alert effects would be dependent on the type of biofeedback (accelerated vs. baseline). The question depth hypothesis predicted that these effects would be more pronounced for challenging inference questions. Lastly, the self vs. recording hypothesis predicted that effects would only occur if participants believed that false biofeedback was indicative of their own physiological arousal. In general, learners experienced more positive/activating affective states, made more confident metacognitive judgments, and achieved higher learning when they received accelerated or baseline biofeedback while answering a challenging inference question, irrespective of the perceived source of the biofeedback. Thus, our findings supported the alert and question depth hypotheses, but not the differential biofeedback or self vs. recording hypotheses. Implications of the findings for the integration of affective processes into models of cognitive and metacognitive processes during learning are discussed.