Understanding prosody and morphology in school-age children’s reading

Reading and Writing - We examined the unique contributions of prosodic awareness and morphological awareness to school-aged children’s word reading and reading comprehension. A total of 110...     

Transformation of text in the English classroom: does ‘context’ really matter?

This paper investigates the language demands of creating texts in the English classroom, which involve transformations in context. In particular, it focuses on the tensions inherent in tasks which require more traditional textual analysis to be presented in ways other than traditional ‘essay’ format. These tasks are interpreted differently by students and can result in texts which vary in terms of their choice of ‘written‐like’ or ‘spoken‐like’ styles. This paper uses data from year nine English students presenting speeches to an imagined jury arguing for Shakespeare's Macbeth's guilt or innocence and explores the implications of shifts along the mode continuum evident in the students' language. It raises the question of the relative importance of transformations of language and context and the extent to which control of mode is valued. Language analysis of student responses focusing on genre, periodicity, use of vocatives and endophoric reference suggests the imagined context required by the task is less important than the literary context in assessing student responses and can act as a distraction. Findings have implications for alignment of teaching and assessment practices in English classrooms.     

How Does Identity Shape the Experiences of Women of Color Engineering Students?

This study seeks to understand the experiences of women of color engineering students who persist and identify some of the dilemmas they face. Evidence emerged that students formulate multiple identities to help them persist in their engineering programs. We assess the role that identity plays in the experiences of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) women of color. This paper applies a multiple identities framework and presents students' experiences through the lenses of three emergent identities: academic, social, and intellectual. We discuss possible implications of the findings for academic and social support programs in higher education. We also identify some implications for precollege instruction.     

Neural Correlates of Risk Processing Among Adolescents: Influences of Parental Monitoring and Household Chaos

Adolescent risky behavior is related to developmental changes in decision‐making processes and their neural correlates. Yet, research investigating how the family environment relates to risk processing in the adolescent brain is limited. In this study, longitudinal data were collected from 167 adolescents (13–15 years, 53% male) who self‐reported household chaos and their parent's monitoring practices, and completed a decision‐making task during functional MRI at Time 1 and Time 2 (1 year apart). Parental knowledge was positively related to insular risk processing only among adolescents in low‐chaos environments at both time points. Results highlight environmental correlates of insular risk processing in the developing brain.     

Exploring eye movements of experienced and novice readers of medical texts concerning the cardiovascular system in making a diagnosis

This study used the eye‐tracking method to explore how the level of expertise influences reading, and solving, two written patient cases on cardiac failure and pulmonary embolus. Eye‐tracking is a fairly commonly used method in medical education research, but it has been primarily applied to studies analyzing the processing of visualizations, such as medical images or patient video cases. Third‐year medical students (n = 39) and residents (n = 13) read two patient case texts in an eye‐tracking laboratory. The analysis focused on the diagnosis made, the total visit duration per text slide, and eye‐movement indicators regarding task‐relevant and task‐redundant areas of the patient case text. The results showed that almost all participants (48/52) made the correct diagnosis of the first patient case, whereas all the residents, but only 17 students, correctly diagnosed the second case. The residents were efficient patient‐case‐solvers: they reached the correct diagnoses, and processed the cases faster and with a lower number of fixations than did the students. Further, the students and residents demonstrated different reading patterns with regard to which slides they proportionally paid most attention. The observed differences could be utilized in medical education to model expert reasoning and to teach the manner in which a good medical text is constructed. Eye‐tracking methodology appears to have a great deal of potential in evaluating performance and growing diagnostic expertise in reading medical texts. However, further research using medical texts as stimuli is required. Anat Sci Educ 10: 23–33. © 2016 American Association of Anatomists.     

Cross-Cultural Associations of Four Parenting Behaviors With Child Flourishing: Examining Cultural Specificity and Commonality in Cultural Normativeness and Intergenerational Transmission Processes

Families from nine countries (N = 1,338) were interviewed annually seven times (M_age child = 7–15) to test specificity and commonality in parenting behaviors associated with child flourishing and moderation of associations by normativeness of parenting. Participants included 1,338 children (M = 8.59 years, SD = 0.68, range = 7–11 years; 50% girls), their mothers (N = 1,283, M = 37.04 years, SD = 6.51, range = 19–70 years), and their fathers (N = 1,170, M = 40.19 years, SD = 6.75, range = 22–76 years) at Wave 1 of 7 annual waves collected between 2008 and 2017. Families were recruited from 12 ethnocultural groups in nine countries including: Shanghai, China (n = 123); Medellín, Colombia (n = 108); Naples (n = 102) and Rome (n = 111), Italy; Zarqa, Jordan (n = 114); Kisumu, Kenya (n = 100); Manila, Philippines (n = 120); Trollhättan & Vänersborg, Sweden (n = 129); Chiang Mai, Thailand (n = 120); and Durham, NC, United States (n = 110 White, n = 102 Black, n = 99 Latinx). Intergenerational parenting (parenting passed from Generation 1 to Generation 2) demonstrated specificity. Children from cultures with above-average G2 parent warmth experienced the most benefit from the intergenerational transmission of warmth, whereas children from cultures with below-average G2 hostility, neglect, and rejection were best protected from deleterious intergenerational effects of parenting behaviors on flourishing. Single-generation parenting (Generation 2 parenting directly associated with Generation 3 flourishing) demonstrated commonality. Parent warmth promoted, and parent hostility, neglect, and rejection impeded the development of child flourishing largely regardless of parenting norms.     

Longitudinal Trajectories of Four Domains of Parenting in Relation to Adolescent Age and Puberty in Nine Countries

Children, mothers, and fathers in 12 ethnic and regional groups in nine countries (N = 1,338 families) were interviewed annually for 8 years (M_age child = 8–16 years) to model four domains of parenting as a function of child age, puberty, or both. Latent growth curve models revealed that for boys and girls, parents decrease their warmth, behavioral control, rules/limit-setting, and knowledge solicitation in conjunction with children’s age and pubertal status as children develop from ages 8 to 16 across a range of diverse contexts, with steeper declines after age 11 or 12 in three of the four parenting domains. National, ethnic, and regional differences and similarities in the trajectories as a function of age and puberty are discussed.     

The annotated bibliography and citation behavior: enhancing student scholarship in an undergraduate biology course

Contemporary undergraduates in the biological sciences have unprecedented access to scientific information. Although many of these students may be savvy technologists, studies from the field of library and information science consistently show that undergraduates often struggle to locate, evaluate, and use high-quality, reputable sources of information. This study demonstrates the efficacy and pedagogical value of a collaborative teaching approach designed to enhance information literacy competencies among undergraduate biology majors who must write a formal scientific research paper. We rely on the triangulation of assessment data to determine the effectiveness of a substantial research paper project completed by students enrolled in an upper-level biology course. After enhancing library-based instruction, adding an annotated bibliography requirement, and using multiple assessment techniques, we show fundamental improvements in students' library research abilities. Ultimately, these improvements make it possible for students to more independently and effectively complete this challenging science-based writing assignment. We document critical information literacy advances in several key areas: student source-type use, annotated bibliography enhancement, plagiarism reduction, as well as student and faculty/librarian satisfaction.     

Attributions and Attitudes of Mothers and Fathers in the United States

OBJECTIVE.: The present study examined mean level similarities and differences as well as correlations between U.S. mothers' and fathers' attributions regarding successes and failures in caregiving situations and progressive versus authoritarian attitudes. DESIGN.: Interviews were conducted with both mothers and fathers in 139 European American, Latin American, and African American families. RESULTS.: Interactions between parent gender and ethnicity emerged for adult-controlled failure and perceived control over failure. Fathers reported higher adult-controlled failure and child-controlled failure attributions than did mothers, whereas mothers reported attitudes that were more progressive and modern than did fathers; these differences remained significant after controlling for parents' age, education, and possible social desirability bias. Ethnic differences emerged for five of the seven attributions and attitudes examined; four remained significant after controlling for parents' age, education, and possible social desirability bias. Medium effect sizes were found for concordance between parents in the same family for attributions regarding uncontrollable success, child-controlled failure, progressive attitudes, authoritarian attitudes, and modernity of attitudes after controlling for parents' age, education, and possible social desirability bias. CONCLUSIONS.: This work elucidates ways that parent gender and ethnicity relate to attributions regarding U.S. parents' successes and failures in caregiving situations and to their progressive versus authoritarian parenting attitudes.