MEASURING SCIENCE INTEREST: RASCH VALIDATION OF THE SCIENCE INTEREST SURVEY

Students in the USA have fallen near the bottom in international competitions and tests in mathematics and science. It is thought that extrinsic factors such as family, community, and schools might be more influential than intrinsic attitudes toward science interest. However, there are relatively few valid and reliable measures of intrinsic factors such as interest relating to science. With the lack of intrinsic measures, it is difficult to determine the impact of extrinsic factors on the intrinsic construct. A fuller picture of the factors affecting intrinsic factors such as science interest will allow interventions to become more refined and targeted. Several studies suggest that student interest toward science affects the likelihood of the student pursuing advanced courses in science. The goal of this paper is to establish the validity and reliability of the Science Interest Survey and to determine if the survey meets the formal requirements of measurements as defined by the Rasch model. Results using both IRT and CRT analysis suggest that Science Interest Survey is an adequate measure of the unidimensional construct known as science interest. Results further suggest the Science Interest Survey is a valid and reliable measure for assessing science interest levels.     

Reading Colonial Records Through an Archival Lens: The Provenance of Place, Space and Creation

Analyzes attitudes and use of archives by post-colonial scholars who find that colonial records offer the voices of the master narrative but do not reflect the voices of the oppressed and voiceless. Argues that framing records within social provenance and a ‘community of records’ offers archival solutions to the dilemmas of locating all voices within the spaces of records. “As for what we were like before we met you, I no longer care. No periods of time over which my ancestor held sway, no documentation of complex civilizations, is any comfort to me. Even if I really came from people who were living like monkeys in trees, it was better to be that than what happened to, me, what I became after I met you.” Jamaica Kincaid, A Small Place     

Language and the developing child: Pivotal ideas of Katrina de Hirsch

This paper considers the contributions of Katrina de Hirsch to the understanding of developmental language disabilities. It focuses on subjects that especially interested her: neurophysiological immaturity, the cluttering syndrome, the prediction of reading failure, intervention, and normal language development.     

Designing imminent threat messages for an unfamiliar hazard

Course: This assignment is a unit activity designed for use in a skills-focused undergraduate public relations, organizational communication, or crisis communication course.

Objective: The goal of this activity is to increase students’ understanding and ability to apply message design concepts in an unfamiliar context. Students will work collaboratively to craft messages that include key message features in response to an unfamiliar threat.     

Wither health science librarianship? Many questions,many options

The 2019 virtual issue of the Health Information and Libraries Journal (HILJ) is published to link to the 2019 EAHIL Workshop taking place in Basel, Switzerland on 17‐20 June 2019. The workshop is structured around six topics: (i) Roadmap of our Profession; (ii) Technology Uptake; (iii) Ecology of Scholarly Communications; (iv) Impact + Assessment; (v) Benchmarking + Advocacy; (vi) Evidence‐Based Practice. These themes have been used to compile this virtual issue, which contains published articles selected from HILJ from the March 2019 issue through to June 2017. The virtual issue mirrors the format of a regular issue of HILJ, namely a review article, five original articles and articles from our three regular features: ‘Dissertations into Practice’, ‘International Perspectives and Initiatives’ and ‘Teaching and Learning in Action’. The authors come from the UK, Canada, Australia, Italy, Iran and Belgium. All articles included in this virtual issue are available free online.