Using Multi-Modal Representations to Improve Learning in Junior Secondary Science

There is growing research interest in both the challenges and opportunities learners face in trying to represent scientific understanding, processes and reasoning. These challenges are increasingly well understood by researchers, including integrating verbal, visual and mathematical modes in science discourse, and making strong conceptual links between classroom experiences and diverse 3D and 2D representations. However, a matching enhanced pedagogy of representation-rich learning opportunities, including their theoretical justification, is much less clearly established. Our paper reports on part of a three-year project to identify practical and theoretical issues entailed in developing a pedagogical framework to guide teacher understanding and practices to maximize representational opportunities for learners to develop conceptual understandings in science.     

The effects of sustained classroom-embedded teacher professional learning on teacher efficacy and related student achievement

This paper reports on the impact of a classroom-embedded professional learning (PL) program for mathematics teaching in two contrasting districts in Canada, and investigates the relationship between teacher efficacy and student achievement. Before the PL, District A had lower teacher efficacy and student achievement than District B, but after the PL, this situation was reversed. Qualitative analysis revealed that the two districts reported learning very different things from the PL opportunity. The complexities of context, prior learning experiences, goal setting, and persistence of participants all factored into what and how teachers learned.     

Effects of moniliformin and selenium on human articular cartilage metabolism and their potential relationships to the pathogenesis of Kashin-Beck disease

Objective:To investigate the effects of mycotoxin moniliformin (MON) on the metabolism of aggrecan and type II collagen in human chondrocytes in vitro and the relationship between MON and Kashin-Beck disease (KBD).Methods:Human chondrocytes were isolated and cultured on bone matrix gelatin to form an artificial cartilage model in vitro with or without MON toxin.Cell viability was determined by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay.The expression of aggrecan and type II col...     

A New Perspective on Motor Skill Automation

Abstract

The article by Richard A. Schmidt is directed to the locus of movement control. The paper's major goal is to describe a reconciliation between the peripheralists and the centralists. Schmidt describes major research issues for the future, along with current thinking about the central control of action in various theoretical conceptualizations of the structure of central motor programs. In the presentation on motor skill automation George E. Stelmach and Douglas D. Larish introduce the concept of attention and review research findings concerning attention, automation, and movement. They recommend automatic sequencing as a more viable theoretical position. Empirical support is given for the stance taken by these authors, followed by examples of potential approaches to research in motor behavior.     

A committee system for radio‐TV administration

Often, a series of studies may shed light where a single study from the series will be of minor value. For the past several years, students in the graduate Department of Journalism at the University of California at Los Angeles have investigated facets of the mass communications picture in the Southern California region. In this article, Walter Wilcox, Department Chairman, and Jack Lyle, Assistant Professor, provide a framework and a synopsis of several studies using a variety of methodologies but all concerned with the subject of television news broadcasting.     

A Meta‐Analytic Review of Graphic Organizers and Science Instruction for Adolescents with Learning Disabilities: Implications for the Intermediate and Secondary Science Classroom

This article presents a meta‐analysis of experimental and quasi‐experimental studies in which intermediate and secondary students with learning disabilities were taught science content through the use of graphic organizers (GOs). Following an exhaustive search for studies meeting specified selection criteria, 23 standardized mean effect sizes were extracted from six articles involving 271 participants in grades 6 through 12. Findings included that, across immediate posttest and maintenance conditions, the use of GOs was associated with increased vocabulary knowledge and factual comprehension measured by researcher‐generated multiple‐choice tests in science. Conclusions, implications for future research, and practical recommendations are presented.