Moral judgment development of freshmen and their precollege experiences

This study examines the relationship between precollege experiences and moral judgment development of freshman students. The sample consisted of 767 freshmen at the University of Minnesota (Twin Cities). Freshmen with low Principled Morality scores compared to those with high scores had lower mean Contemporary-Cultural, Artistic, Literary, and Academic-Conceptual Precollege Experience scores. Females had higher mean Contemporary-Cultural, Artistic, and Literary Precollege Experience scores. Males had a higher mean Jobs Precollege Experience score. For males, the Literary measure had the highest correlation with Principled Morality scores, while for females, the Artistic measure had the highest correlation.     

Supporting Personalized Learning through Individualized Learning Plans

Individualized Learning Plans (ILPs), an effective strategy to promote students’ college and career readiness, are increasingly used in US school systems as a mechanism to encourage students’ career exploration and identification of career goals. After describing features of ILPs, we provide an example of the ILP process developed and implemented in the junior high schools in McLean County (Illinois) Unit District No. 5. Based upon this experience, we share important factors for school leaders that can affect successful implementation in their schools.     

A comprehensive needs assessment to facilitate prevention of school drop out and violence

The present study addresses school violence and school drop out and proposes that the underlying factor of school connectedness/school climate should guide preventive and intervention efforts. Data were gathered from five schools in a small city school district in north Georgia. Group and individual interviews served as the basis for constructing a 78‐item district‐wide survey administered to 304 school employees. Data are presented on individual items from the survey. Principal components analysis revealed five distinct factors: school connectedness/positive school climate, causes of violence, causes of school drop out, interventions for drop out, and interventions for violence. The principal components analysis was the basis for construction of a revised scale. Differences between revised scale scores were noted as a function of whether respondents were from central office, elementary or secondary schools. The five revised scales had correlation ranging from .31 to .59. Implications for research and practice are discussed. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Improving the study habits of minority students through web-based courses

Conclusions Asynchronous Distance Learning courseware offers several advantages to multiple disadvantaged learning populations. While asynchronous Distance Learning Interactive Multimedia Instruction offers financially strapped HBCUs lower operating costs, it also offers HBCUs and non-traditional student populations improved (1) accessibility, (2) user acceptance. Many Distance Learning students chose online sections as an alternative to not taking the course at all rather than to the traditional classroom section. Among technologically savvy populations, user acceptance for Distance Learning is high. Also interesting was how traditional learning populations benefited from some Distance Learning strengths, (1) hypermedia external resources for self-directed learning, and (2) frequently graded assignments improving study habits. In converse, the non-traditional student populations taking the Distance Learning sections reported less studying time, and suffered from slightly lower learning retention on the final examination.     

The concept map as a research and evaluation tool: Further evidence of validity

This study sought further evidence of the concurrent validity of concept mapping as a research and evaluation tool in science education. Specifically, the study examined the extent to which differences exist in the concept maps of advanced college biology majors (N = 25) and beginning nonmajors (N = 25) in the domain of mammals. Furthermore, it explored whether these differences are reflected in the way subjects assign class membership as revealed in a card sorting task. The results indicate that concept maps of biology majors are structurally more complex than those of nonmajors and that differences in the structural complexity and organizational patterns depicted in concept maps are reflected in the underlying dimensions used to assign class membership. Together, these findings suggest that the concept map provides a theoretically powerful and psychometrically sound tool for assessing conceptual change in experimental and classroom settings.     

Undergraduate Students’ Conceptions of Mathematics: An International Study

In this paper, we report on an international study of undergraduate mathematics students’ conceptions of mathematics. Almost 1,200 students in five countries completed a short survey including three open-ended questions asking about their views of mathematics and its role in their future studies and planned professions. Responses were analysed starting from a previously-developed phenomenographic framework (Reid et al., 2003) which required only minor modification. Students’ conceptions of mathematics ranged from the narrowest view as a focus on calculations with numbers, through a notion of mathematics as a focus on models or abstract structures, to the broadest view of mathematics as an approach to life and a way of thinking. Broader conceptions of mathematics were more likely to be found in later-year students (p<0.001) and there were significant differences between universities (p<0.001). The information obtained from the study not only confirms previous research, but also provides a basis for future development of a monitoring questionnaire.     

Effect of short‐ and long‐term play therapy services on teacher–child relationship stress

The purpose of the present study was to explore the effect of both short‐ and long term Child‐Centered Play Therapy on teacher–student relationship stress. Teachers identified 58 students exhibiting emotional and behavioral difficulties who were randomly assigned to one of two treatment groups. Students in the short‐term intensive play therapy group participated in 16 sessions of play therapy over 8 weeks, and students in the long‐term play therapy group participated in 16 sessions over 16 weeks. Results indicated that both intervention groups demonstrated significant improvement in teacher–student relationship stress from pre‐ to posttest. Post hoc analyses indicated that the short‐term intensive intervention demonstrated statistical significance and larger effect sizes in overall total stress, teacher characteristics, and student characteristics. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Scientific explanations and piagetian operational levels

Explaining natural phenomena is an important goal in science teaching. A logical analysis reveals that causal explanations exhibit formal operational structures in that they consist of implication statements chained together through transitive reasoning. It was hypothesized in the present study that individuals who do not reason formally will have difficulty in learning explanations presented in instruction. To test this hypothesis, the effect of levels of operational thought on the explanations which ninth-grade (n = 26) and college (n = 40) physical science students reconstructed after instruction was investigated. Subjects in the study were classified through Piagetian tests as concrete or formal operational. Both concrete and formal subjects were successful in recalling explanations requiring the chaining of two implication statements. Formal operational subjects performed significantly better than concrete operational subjects in three of the four tests of the reconstruction of complex explanations requiring the chaining of six implication statements. In teaching complex causal explanations to students at the concrete operational level, it is suggested that teachers be prepared to furnish some external structuring which the students can rely on in logically relating the various propositions of the explanation to one another.     

Experience,Challenges, and Opportunities of Being Fully Embedded in a User Group

Embedded librarian models can assume different forms and levels, depending on patron needs and a library’s choice of delivery services. An academic health sciences library decided to enhance its service delivery model by integrating a librarian into the College of Pharmacy, approximately 250?miles away from the main library. This article describes the embedded librarian’s first-year experience, challenges, and opportunities working as a library faculty in the college. The comparison of one-year recorded statistics on preembedded and postembedded activities demonstrated the effectiveness and impact of such an embedded librarian model.     

Learning via mnemonic pictures: Analysis of the presidential process

In three experiments, junior high school students learned the numerical order of 14 U.S. presidents according to either a complex mnemonic strategy or their own techniques. Reliable performancepattern differences between the two groups were detected, both in the presence and absence of overall level-of-recall differences. Chief among the pattern differences were the classic serial-position profiles produced by control subjects, but not by those using mnemonic strategies, and the slower response times (suggesting a more complex retrieval process) of subjects using mnemonic strategies.