Leveraging Survey Results in Support of a Library Renovation: A Case Study

Abstract

The Health Sciences Library (HSL) at Stony Brook University along with the School of Medicine were motivated to make improvements in seating and hours based on survey results from an LCME self-study. Preparation for the site visit from the Liaison Committee for Medical Education helped to garner resources and support for this initiative. To meet the evolving needs of the HSL patrons, librarians completed an overdue collection assessment project which allowed for 142 new seats, including newly designed spaces and furnishings. Ongoing assessment of the redesigned space will be conducted to evaluate success and areas for continued improvement.     

The effects of age and sublexical automaticity on reading outcomes for students with reading disabilities

For students with reading disabilities, reading fluency has proven difficult to remediate. The current study examined age‐related effects on measures of word and text‐reading outcomes, within the context of a phonologically based remedial reading program. The contribution of speeded‐reading of sublexical sound–spelling patterns to fluency outcomes was also examined. The youngest group of participants showed better outcomes on measures of word and pseudoword reading. All age groups made significant and meaningful improvements on measures of reading fluency and reading comprehension. Participants' mastery of speeded, sublexical sound–spelling reading contributed variance to fluency outcomes beyond pre‐intervention fluency scores. Practice with sublexical spelling patterns may be one important component of programs directed at remediating accuracy and fluency deficits for students with reading disabilities. What is already known about this topic

• Reading fluency has proven difficult to remediate for students with reading disabilities.
• Training with sublexical sound–spelling patterns has increased recognition of the trained patterns, but transfer has been limited.
• Young children with reading difficulties appear to have an advantage at closing the reading achievement gap; however, there are some inconsistencies in the literature.

What this paper adds

• Automaticity with sublexical patterns made a unique contribution to fluency outcomes in this sample of students with reading disabilities.
• In the context of the reading program examined, all age groups made significant and meaningful standard score gains on reading fluency.
• Young children did not score higher than the two older groups on measures of oral reading fluency or reading comprehension; bringing into question conclusions drawn from prevention versus intervention studies.

Implications for theory and practice

• Findings lend support to models of reading acquisition that emphasize multilayered, sublexical spelling–sound knowledge as important to reading fluency, beyond that of sight‐word reading efficiency.
• Including speeded practice of a broad range of sublexical sound–spelling patterns and training these to mastery deserves further study as one potential approach to improving fluency interventions for students with reading disabilities.
• We suggest that this sublexical training may mimic reading practice in terms of building orthographic representations that support fluent reading.

     

Examining the World Around Us: Critical Media Literacy in Teacher Education

This article presents findings from action research conducted in a graduate level course with practicing K–12 educators. In this article, I consider the usefulness of critical media literacy in the graduate classroom as I engaged students in discussions about multicultural issues including race, class, gender, sexuality, and ability. Through an examination of student presentations and field notes collected over the course of the semester, I found the graduate student participants were typically quite savvy at evaluating the messages they receive from media. Further, I found the incorporation of popular media into the classroom helped students grapple with typically foreign and often theoretically dense concepts like unconscious racism and heteronormativity, as well as theories like critical race theory, intersectionality, and queer theory. The graduate student participants were able to see deep connections between text/theory and media and often used various media to illustrate theory in quite complex ways. Lastly, engaging with texts of everyday life and using visual representations helped students interrogate the concepts explored in the course and provided students access to theory otherwise regarded as inaccessible.     

Alterations to the orientation of the ground reaction force vector affect sprint acceleration performance in team sports athletes

A more horizontally oriented ground reaction force vector is related to higher levels of sprint acceleration performance across a range of athletes. However, the effects of acute experimental alterations to the force vector orientation within athletes are unknown. Fifteen male team sports athletes completed maximal effort 10-m accelerations in three conditions following different verbal instructions intended to manipulate the force vector orientation. Ground reaction forces (GRFs) were collected from the step nearest 5-m and stance leg kinematics at touchdown were also analysed to understand specific kinematic features of touchdown technique which may influence the consequent force vector orientation. Magnitude-based inferences were used to compare findings between conditions. There was a likely more horizontally oriented ground reaction force vector and a likely lower peak vertical force in the control condition compared with the experimental conditions. 10-m sprint time was very likely quickest in the control condition which confirmed the importance of force vector orientation for acceleration performance on a within-athlete basis. The stance leg kinematics revealed that a more horizontally oriented force vector during stance was preceded at touchdown by a likely more dorsiflexed ankle, a likely more flexed knee, and a possibly or likely greater hip extension velocity.     

Why do bad balls get wickets? The role of congruent and incongruent information in anticipation

Skilled anticipation is underpinned by the use of kinematic and contextual information. However, few researchers have examined what happens when contextual information suggests an outcome that is different from the event that follows. We aimed to bridge this gap by manipulating the relationship between contextual information and final ball location in a cricket-batting task. We predicted that when contextual information is congruent with the eventual outcome then anticipation would be facilitated. In contrast, when contextual information is incongruent, this would lead to a confirmation bias on kinematic information and result in decreased anticipation accuracy. We expected this effect to be larger in skilled performers who are more able to utilise context. Skilled and less-skilled cricket batters anticipated deliveries presented using a temporally occluded video-based task. We created conditions whereby contextual information and event outcome were either congruent or incongruent. There was a significant skill by condition interaction (p < 0.05). The skilled group anticipated significantly more accurately than the less-skilled group on the congruent trials. Both groups anticipated less accurately on incongruent trials, with the skilled participants being more negatively affected. Skilled performers prioritise contextual information and confirmation bias affects the use of kinematic information available later in the action.     

Pacing during a cross-country mountain bike mass-participation event according to race performance,experience, age and sex

This study describes pacing strategies adopted in an 86-km mass-participation cross-country marathon mountain bike race (the ‘Birkebeinerrittet’). Absolute (km·h^?1) and relative speed (% average race speed) and speed coefficient of variation (%CV) in five race sections (15.1, 31.4, 52.3, 74.4 and 100% of total distance) were calculated for 8182 participants. Data were grouped and analysed according to race performance, age, sex and race experience. The highest average speed was observed in males (21.8?±?3.7?km/h), 16–24?yr olds (23.0?±?4.8?km/h) and those that had previously completed >4 Birkebeinerrittet races (22.5?±?3.4?km/h). Independent of these factors, the fastest performers exhibited faster speeds across all race sections, whilst their relative speed was higher in early and late climbing sections (Cohen's d?=?0.45–1.15) and slower in the final descending race section (d?=?0.64–0.98). Similar trends were observed in the quicker age, sex and race experience groups, who tended to have a higher average speed in earlier race sections and a lower average speed during the final race section compared to slower groups. In all comparisons, faster groups also had a lower %CV for speed than slower groups (fastest %CV?=?24.02%, slowest %CV?=?32.03%), indicating a lower variation in speed across the race. Pacing in a cross-country mountain bike marathon is related to performance, age, sex and race experience. Better performance appears to be associated with higher relative speed during climbing sections, resulting in a more consistent overall race speed.     

Correction to: Assessing the direct and indirect effects of metalinguistic awareness to the reading comprehension skills of struggling adult readers

Reading and Writing - In the original publication of the article.