Using Blogs to Identify Misconceptions in a Large Undergraduate Nutrition Course

We describe two iterations of the design, development, implementation and evaluation of small online activity and reflection blogging groups into a large undergraduate lecture course in nutrition. Our goal was to promote student learning and conceptual change through reflection and interaction in blog conversations. We found the blog conversations to be highly useful to the instructors as a source of data on student understandings and misconceptions of course topics. These misconceptions could then be addressed with further instruction. We found that, even with initial training, graduate teaching assistants needed significant guidance in facilitation strategies and that finding the ideal balance between structure and autonomy is a design challenge.     

How Can Blogging Help Teachers Realize the Goals of Reform-based Science Instruction? A Study of Nine Classroom Blogs

Science teachers struggle with meeting curricular goals outlined by professional organizations within the constraints of traditional school. Engaging science learners as a community who collaboratively and creatively co-construct scientific understanding through inquiry requires teachers to adopt new tools as well as a different mindset about the kind of classroom culture they need to nurture. Classroom blogs (i.e., blogs that are managed by a teacher for his/her students to post their work and exchange ideas) have been purported in the literature as offering unique opportunities to achieve this goal, although with little empirical support thus far. To fill this gap, nine classroom blogs were selected through an extensive search, and systematically analyzed to determine how the teachers’ instructional designs and classrooms’ enactment were able to capitalize on the specific affordances blogging may offer to support reform-based learning goals. The shift in teacher mindset needed to realize blogging affordances occurred as teachers engaged with students in the process of ‘living’ the classroom blog.     

Hazard and Outrage: Developing a Psychometric Instrument in the Aftermath of Katrina

This article details the development of a psychometric instrument measuring the constructs of hazard and outrage in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The study focused on the interplay of perceived hazard and outrage in relation to evacuation from the New Orleans area, with specific attention to demographic differences. Perceptions of hazard and outrage during Katrina served to illustrate the utility of the scale in examining these responses across different demographic groups. Possible ways that this information can be used to design messages that alert audiences to hazards, yet successfully address the need for outrage, emerged from the study.     

Missing the Mark: A New Form of Honorary Authorship Motivated by Desires for Inclusion

As scientific teams in academia have become increasingly large, interdisciplinary, and diverse, more attention has been paid to honorary authorship (i.e., giving authorship to those not making a significant contribution). Our study examined whether honorary authorship occurs because of the desire to include all or many team members. Interviews with project principal investigators (n?=?6) and early-career project members (n?=?6) from 6 interdisciplinary environmental science research teams revealed that principal investigators frequently employed inclusion-motivated honorary authorship but that this practice had some negative impacts on early-career team members with less power and status, thereby undermining true inclusion of those from underrepresented groups. We believe our findings are of import not only for environmental scientists, but also for scholars who are interested in issues of authorship decision-making regardless of disciplinary affiliation.     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">Take Flight</Emphasis>: the evolution of an Orton Gillingham-based curriculum

Thirty years ago in this journal, Aylett Royall Cox reported on the development of Alphabetic Phonics, a revision of the existing Orton Gillingham treatment for children with dyslexia. This paper continues that discussion and reports on the evolution of that curriculum as it is represented in a comprehensive dyslexia treatment program informed by intervention research. The paper describes the curriculum and reports data from a hospital-based learning disabilities clinic that provides qualified support for treatment efficacy and the value of added comprehension instruction. The results are then discussed in the context of current and future issues in dyslexia intervention.     

Children's Judgments and Reasoning About Same‐Sex Romantic Relationships

Children's (5‐, 7‐ to 8‐, and 10‐ to 11‐year‐olds), and adolescents’ (13‐ to 14‐year‐olds) judgments and reasoning about same‐sex romantic relationships were examined (N = 128). Participants’ beliefs about the acceptability and legal regulation of these relationships were assessed, along with their judgments and beliefs about excluding someone because of his or her sexual orientation and the origins of same‐sex attraction. Older participants evaluated same‐sex romantic relationships more positively and used more references to personal choice and justice/discrimination reasoning to support their judgments. Younger participants were less critical of a law prohibiting same‐sex relationships and were more likely to believe it was not acceptable to violate this law. Beliefs about origins of same‐sex attraction showed age‐specific patterns in their associations with evaluations.