Literacy by Design,not by default: social capital’s role in literacy learning

This paper argues the significance of social capital in the literacy learning process and discusses the roles and effects of various elements of social capital, such as networks and trust. An illustrative case study shows how the knowledge and identity resources drawn on during learning interactions rely as much for their success on identity‐shifting as they do on skills and knowledge. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications for learning and education, especially literacy education.     

Catalogers Unite! Creating Documentation through Collaboration

Recent changes have forced Bowling Green State University (BGSU) to reevaluate our documentation, workflows, and communication. There have been staff retirements, changes in staff responsibilities, and a new faculty cataloger. Additionally, BGSU is implementing a discovery layer, purchasing shelf-ready books, and adding more electronic resources. It has become apparent that documentation needs to be updated and, in many cases, created from scratch. Collaboration is critical as catalogers are currently few in number and are seeing the need to work with other departments in ways unheard of previously. The creation of a new cataloging manual is vital to the success of cataloging at BGSU.     

Performance of Person-Fit Statistics Under Model Misspecification

In educational and psychological measurement, a person-fit statistic (PFS) is designed to identify aberrant response patterns. For parametric PFSs, valid inference depends on several assumptions, one of which is that the item response theory (IRT) model is correctly specified. Previous studies have used empirical data sets to explore the effects of model misspecification on PFSs. We further this line of research by using a simulation study, which allows us to explore issues that may be of interest to practitioners. Results show that, depending on the generating and analysis item models, Type I error rates at fixed values of the latent variable may be greatly inflated, even when the aggregate rates are relatively accurate. Results also show that misspecification is most likely to affect PFSs for examinees with extreme latent variable scores. Two empirical data analyses are used to illustrate the importance of model specification.     

Interactives and Visitor Learning

Abstract Interactives—computers and other multimedia components, physical manipulatives (including whole‐body and tabletop activities), and simulations—occur in all types of museums. There is considerable interest in the nature of the learning that happens when visitors use interactives. Museum professionals have enlisted constructivist theory to support the notion that interactive elements are invaluable components of any exhibition experience, and are effective learning tools that enable active visitor engagement. Interactives are also seen as vital to sustaining institutional image and expanding institutional popularity. Despite the increasing use of interactives in exhibitions and the substantial investments being made in their design and maintenance, there is a paucity of research as to whether these constructivist assumptions are supported. There is little work exploring visitors' perceptions of specific types of interactives, or the role of interactivity in the visitor experience generally. Museum staff thus have a limited ability to make informed decisions about the level and type of interactivity that might enhance exhibition experiences. This paper describes a collaborative effort in 2001 by researchers at the Powerhouse Museum (PHM), Sydney; the Institute for Learning Innovation (the Institute), Annapolis, Maryland; and Curtin University of Technology (Curtin) and Scitech Discovery Centre (Scitech), both in Perth, Western Australia. This study investigated two aspects of interactivity: 1) visitor perceptions of interactivity in two different contexts, a museum and a science center; and 2) the types of short‐ and long‐term learning that resulted from use of interactives in these two institutions.     

Muskuläre Regulation bei ermüdungsinduzierter Vorbelastung im Krafttraining

International sport strives for increasing the level of performance in sports. Risks of manipulating the performance are not unusual. At the same time, improvements in science, engineering and data processing offer further opportunities for planning effective, low-risk and year-round training programmes for specific sports. This paper presents new approaches based on the example of techniques for strength training. Selected experimental results highlight the limitations and provide conclusions for the scientific foundation and individualization of high performance training. The approach of “muscle pre-fatigue” is verified in a training study with high jumpers. The statements show how important scientifically controlled analysis is for individual training programmes and what high significance they have for optimizing the training process. These will be essential requirements for a legal improvement of high performance in international sport.     

Adults and Reading Disability: A New Field of Inquiry

This paper first describes the development of adult literacy pedagogy and philosophy in Australia, then reports and discusses two studies of research into reading disability for adults. The first study uses a quantitative approach with a sample of 102 asthma patients and has important implications for the assessment of adults' reading. The second study is a theory‐driven, critical case study of the stated needs for literacy of 11 adult literacy learners. These stated literacy needs are argued to be socially constructed, influenced by the external environment of more general socio‐political contexts as well as particular civic, personal and workplace literacy requirements. These needs are also influenced by the adult learners' reconstructions and memories of schooling and the views about literacy of significant others, all of which affect the adult learners' perceptions of their ‘reading failure.’ The perspectives offered by the two different studies provide understandings and insights into this new field of inquiry.     

2020 Vision: Envisioning a new generation of STEM learning research

In this issue, we have compiled six original papers, outcomes from the U.S. National Science Foundation (US-NSF)-funded REESE (Research and Evaluation on Education in Science and Engineering) 2020 Vision: The Next Generation of STEM Learning Research project. The purpose of 2020 Vision was to re-envision the questions and frameworks guiding STEM research in the twenty-first century, given that notions of learning have changed significantly in the last decade. The papers present diverse research principles that emerged from an initial 2020 Vision conference at Oregon State University (OSU), were then vetted more broadly with the science education community nationally and internationally, and presented in a public 2020 Vision symposium series also at OSU. Individually and as a group, these papers argue that if STEM learning is lifelong, life-wide and life-deep, research designs need to cut across the diverse settings and investigate the multiple contexts and media in which learners live and interact. Authors call for research paradigms that holistically reflect questions of the “what, when, where, why, how and with whom” of STEM learning. Associated Forum papers respond and expand the conversation by critically examining the recommended research principles and in some cases, challenging both authors and editors to think even more broadly. Two Key Contributor pieces highlight the contributions of researchers who have helped to push on these research boundaries, advancing science education research nationally and internationally. A final synthesis paper, a case study of research being conducted in a diverse, under-resourced community in Portland, Oregon provides one example of how the 2020 Vision research principles might be integrated into a comprehensive STEM learning research study.     

The contribution of science‐rich resources to public science interest

This preliminary study examined the effect that five major sources of public science education—schools, science centers, broadcast media, print media, and the Internet—had on adults' science interest values and cognitive predispositions. Over 3,000 adults were sampled in three U.S. metropolitan areas: Los Angeles, California, Phoenix, Arizona, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. To minimize potential sampling bias, the results were weighted by current U.S. Census data to be comparable to demographics from each of the three jurisdictions. Participants were asked to self‐report their current and early adolescent usage of these five science‐related resources, the quality of their experiences with each, and their current abilities, values, and cognitive predispositions relative to science. Data showed that overall, a broad cross‐section of adults living in these cities engaged in a wide array of science‐related activities and that large majorities did so frequently. Nearly two‐thirds of all respondents self‐reported currently participating in some kind of science‐related activity every week and nearly half doing so daily. Results suggested that having frequent; positive science‐related experiences in‐ and out‐of‐school, both early and later in life, correlated with having a strong interest in and positive perception of science as an adult. Although a diversity of positive science‐related experiences correlated with current adult science interest values and cognitive predispositions, only five factors uniquely and significantly predicted adult science interest, values, and cognitive predispositions in the multivariate models: (a) early adolescent experiences visiting a science center, (b) early adolescent experiences watching science‐related television, (c) adult visits to a science center, (d) adults reading books and magazines about science, and (e) adults using the internet to learn more about science. Discussed are issues of self‐selection, quality of experiences, and the complex and synergistic nature of the science learning ecosystem.