Using real data for statistics education in an open‐source learning environment

The tutor‐web is an open‐source learning environment designed to be used for teaching mathematics and statistics. The system offers thousands of exercises at high school and university level, and has been used for a decade to teach introductory statistics courses with good results. A new component has recently been added to the tutor‐web so that students can enter their own data or get real data from several data sources for practicing and learning new concepts.     

Burden of Acting Neither White Nor Black: Asian American Identities and Achievement in Urban Schools

Ogbu’s theory of “burden of acting white” has been one of the most frequently cited studies to explain black and white achievement gap. However, emerging studies have argued that Ogbu’s theory may be limited when examining variability of school achievement among black and white students. Research shows that in addition to culture, other social forces, such as class, peer networks, and school context may play a significant role when accounting for minority students’ academic aspirations and achievement. In the midst of this on-going debate, however, there is a limited understanding of how, if at all, theory of “acting white” plays a role for racial groups other than black and white students. By extending the discussion beyond a black-and-white discourse, this research examines how Asian American students in two different social and economic contexts, negotiate their race and ethnic identities. Framed by a prevalent model minority stereotype that conflates Asian Americans with whiteness, the findings show that portrayal of Asian “success” much like black “failure” cannot be explained solely on their cultural orientation. By comparing experiences of two groups of Korean American students—both high- and low-achieving—in different economic and school contexts, this study illustrates how the two groups of Korean American students adopt different racial strategies depending on their socioeconomic backgrounds, peer networks, and school contexts. Using Korean American students in urban schools as a case study, this research complicates and challenges our understanding of the role of culture in school achievement and illustrates how culture intersects with class, race, and schools. Jamie Lew is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Urban Education, Rutgers University-Newark, 110 Warren Street, Newark, NY, 07102-1814, USA     

Mainstream Teachers’ Implicit Beliefs about English Language Learners: An Implicit Association Test Study of Teacher Beliefs

Teacher attitudes toward inclusion of English Learners (ELs) in the mainstream classroom have primarily focused on explicit beliefs as accessed through observation, case studies, and self-report surveys. The authors explore implicit mainstream teacher beliefs about ELs using the newly created Implicit Association Test–EL, with correlations to explicit beliefs being made using the English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) Students in Mainstream Classrooms: A Survey of Teachers’ Explicit Beliefs survey. Findings from the IAT–EL indicate a slightly negative implicit belief about ELs from 197 respondents. Implicit and explicit beliefs about ELs were not significantly correlated, which is in keeping with current Implicit Associate Test (IAT) literature.     

Effects of MyTeachingPartner–Math/Science on Teacher–Child Interactions in Prekindergarten Classrooms

Research Findings: This study examined the impact of MyTeachingPartner–Math/Science, a system of math and science curricula and professional development, on the quality of teachers’ interactions with children in their classrooms. Schools were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 intervention conditions (Basic: curricula providing within-activity, embedded teacher supports; Plus: curricula plus implementation support via online resources and in-person workshops) or to a Business-as-Usual (BaU) control condition. Results showed that teachers in the Basic and Plus conditions showed higher levels of Instructional Support and Facilitation of Mathematical and Scientific Thinking. Teachers in the Basic condition also showed higher levels of Emotional Support compared with teachers in the BaU condition. We did not find any significant differences between teachers’ interactions in the Basic and Plus conditions. Practice or Policy: Children are entering kindergarten unprepared in the areas of mathematics and science, largely as a result of inadequate exposure to early experiences and high-quality interactions in these domains. The results of this study suggest that providing teachers with math and science curricula that include embedded teacher supports can have an impact on the quality of their math and science instruction.     

The effects of integrating service learning into computer science: an inter-institutional longitudinal study

This study is a follow-up to one published in computer science education in 2010 that reported preliminary results showing a positive impact of service learning on student attitudes associated with success and retention in computer science. That paper described how service learning was incorporated into a computer science course in the context of the Students & Technology in Academia, Research, and Service (STARS) Alliance, an NSF-supported broadening participation in computing initiative that aims to diversify the computer science pipeline through innovative pedagogy and inter-institutional partnerships. The current paper describes how the STARS Alliance has expanded to diverse institutions, all using service learning as a vehicle for broadening participation in computing and enhancing attitudes and behaviors associated with student success. Results supported the STARS model of service learning for enhancing computing efficacy and computing commitment and for providing diverse students with many personal and professional development benefits.     

Integrating Education on Addressing Health Disparities into the Graduate Social Work Curriculum

The purpose of this article is to propose an elective social work course as a means of better preparing social workers entering practice in healthcare to meet the challenges of promoting health and reducing health disparities in minority and underserved communities. Course offerings specifically targeting health or medical social work training vary widely. The additional training provided at places of employment and through continuing education after the master's degree is often inadequate for competently addressing the issues clinicians face in practice.     

Stochastic ordering of simulated rugby match activity produces reliable movements and associated measures of subjective task load,cognitive and neuromuscular function

ABSTRACT

The study assesses the test–retest reliability of movement and physiological measures during a simulated rugby match that employed activities performed in a stochastic order. Twenty male rugby players (21.4 ± 2.1 y) completed two trials of a 2 × 23 min rugby movement simulation protocol during which the order of events was performed in a stochastic order, with 7–10 days between trials. Movement characteristics, heart rate (HR), RPE, maximum voluntary contraction (MVC), voluntary activation (VA%) of the quadriceps, Stroop test and subjective task load rating (NASA-TLX) were measured. The most reliable measures of external load was relative distance (typical error [TE] and CV% = 1.5–1.6 m min^?1 and 1.4–1.5%, respectively), with all other movement characteristics possessing a CV% <5%. The most reliable measure of internal load, neuromuscular function and perceptual measures were for %HRmax (TE and CV% = 1.4–1.7% and 1.4–2.1%, respectively), MVC before (TE and CV% = 10.8–14.8 N·m and 3.8–4.6%, respectively), and average RPE (TE and CV% = 0.5–0.8 AU and 3.6–5.5%, respectively). The Stroop test, NASA-TLX and blood lactate produced the least reliable measures (CV% >5%). Future studies can confidently examine changes in several perceptual, neuromuscular, physiological and movement measures related to rugby activity using stochastic movements.     

Neuromuscular,biochemical and perceptual post-match fatigue in professional rugby league forwards and backs

Abstract

In this study, we investigated changes in creatine kinase, perceptual and neuromuscular fatigue of professional rugby league players after match-play. Twenty-three male rugby league players (10 backs, 13 forwards) had their creatine kinase, perceptual ratings of fatigue, attitude to training, muscle soreness, and flight time in a countermovement jump measured before and 1 and 2 days after (day 1 and day 2 respectively) league matches. Total playing time, offensive and defensive contacts were also recorded for each player. Creatine kinase was higher both 1 and 2 days after than before matches (P < 0.05) in forwards and backs. Similarly, perceived fatigue and muscle soreness were higher than pre-match on both days 1 and 2 (P < 0.05), but did not differ between groups (P > 0.05). Jump performance was lower on day 1 but not day 2 for both groups (P < 0.05). While total playing time was longer in backs (P < 0.05), relative frequencies for all contacts were greater in forwards (P < 0.05). Contacts for forwards were correlated with all markers of fatigue (P < 0.05), but only flight time was correlated with offensive contacts in backs (P < 0.05). Despite the mechanisms of fatigue being different between forwards and backs, our results highlight the multidimensional nature of fatigue after a rugby league match and that these markers do not differ between positions.     

Implementing Twitter in a health sciences library

The NYU Health Sciences Libraries created an account on Twitter, a microblogging service, as a new outreach tool marketed to students, faculty, and staff. The team used Twitter to promote resources, events, and news. Twitter is a part of a pipeline of information that also includes the library's Web site and Facebook. Although it is difficult to measure the effectiveness of a social networking tool, the overhead of using Twitter is so low that it merits consideration.