Do zoo visitors come to learn? An internationally comparative,mixed-methods study

Zoo visitors go to see animals, but are they there to learn? This mixed-methods study examines visitor learning from both zoos’ and visitors’ perspectives using qualitative and quantitative data. Five hundred and forty zoo visitor interviews from nine case studies provide insight into visitor intentions, which indicate that the majority of visitors (72%) arrive at zoos with a learning agenda. Over 170 zoos across 48 countries also report, via an online questionnaire, that the majority of their visitors come to learn. In contrast, however, 28 face-to-face zoo education staff interviewed at the nine case study sites suggests a different conclusion. The study also indicates that zoos appear to determine visitors’ intentions through a number of methods, but are most heavily reliant on informal measures with only 15% of zoos using both formal and informal processes. Juxtaposing these findings suggests that zoos’ reliance on informal measures of visitor intentions appears to provide them with a less than accurate picture of their visitors’ learning agendas.     

English Language Proficiency and Early School Attainment Among Children Learning English as an Additional Language

Children learning English as an additional language (EAL) often experience lower academic attainment than monolingual peers. In this study, teachers provided ratings of English language proficiency and social, emotional, and behavioral functioning for 782 children with EAL and 6,485 monolingual children in reception year (ages 4–5). Academic attainment was assessed in reception and Year 2 (ages 6–7). Relative to monolingual peers with comparable English language proficiency, children with EAL displayed fewer social, emotional, and behavioral difficulties in reception, were equally likely to meet curriculum targets in reception, and were more likely to meet targets in Year 2. Academic attainment and social, emotional, and behavioral functioning in children with EAL are associated with English language proficiency at school entry.     

Pre-K-8 prospective teachers’ understanding of fractions: An extension of fractions schemes and operations research

In an effort to expand our knowledge base pertaining to pre-K-8 prospective teachers’ understanding of fractions, the present study was designed to extend the work on fractions schemes and operations to this population. One purpose of our study was to validate the fractions schemes and operations hierarchy with the pre-K-8 prospective teacher population to determine whether this population follows the same trajectory as upper elementary and middle school students. A second purpose of our study was to identify which of the fractions schemes and operations our sample of prospective teachers demonstrated evidence of having constructed along with what this tells us about prospective teachers’ understanding of fractions. We were able to validate the hierarchy for this population, meaning that each lower-level fraction scheme/operation appeared to be a prerequisite to the higher-level schemes/operations. We found that although most of the prospective teachers had constructed the lower-level schemes and operations, less than half had constructed the more sophisticated ones. An unexpected result related to the association between the coordination of three levels of units and the iterative fraction scheme is addressed. Prospective teachers’ reliance on procedural knowledge related to fractions also presented a challenge to assessing, in particular, their ability to coordinate three levels of units. We conclude with implications for research and practice in mathematics courses intended for pre-K-8 prospective teachers.     

Promoting a Culture of Bullying: Understanding the Role of School Climate and School Sector

Bullying has received increased attention from academics, scholars, and the media over the past decade and a half. The effects of bullying can be devastating and long lasting for victims and bullies alike. Recent prevention efforts and research has focused on the school environment as a whole. As such, two areas of interest that could affect bullying are the roles of school climate and school sector. School sector is important to examine as private schools make up 25% of all schools in the United States and approximately 80% of private school students attended faith-based institutions (Broughman &; Swaim, 2013 Broughman, S. P., &; Swaim, N. L. (2013). Characteristics of private schools in the United States: Results from the 2011-12 private school universe survey (NCES 2013-316). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education. Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics. [Google Scholar]). This study utilized the School Crime Supplement to understand how school climate and school sector affect students’ experiences of bullying victimization. Using chi square analysis, propensity score analysis, and multiple regression models (of the total sample, public school sample, and private school sample), as well as Z-score coefficients, findings suggest that a positive school climate predicted less reporting of bullying incidents and that private school students in particular reported a more positive school climate and less bullying.     

Increasing the Reliability of Ability-Achievement Difference Scores: An Example Using the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children

In this study, we focused on increasing the reliability of ability-achievement difference scores using the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (KABC) as an example. Ability-achievement difference scores are often used as indicators of learning disabilities, but when they are derived from traditional equally weighted ability and achievement scores, they have suboptimal psychometric properties because of the high correlations between the scores. As an alternative to equally weighted difference scores, we examined an orthogonal reliable component analysis, (RCA) solution and an oblique principal component analysis (PCA) solution for the standardization sample of the KABC (among 5- to 12-year-olds). The components were easily identifiable as the simultaneous processing, sequential processing, and achievement constructs assessed by the KABC. As judged via the score intercorrelations, all three types of scores had adequate convergent validity, while the orthogonal RCA scores had superior discriminant validity, followed by the oblique PCA scores. Differences between the orthogonal RCA scores were more reliable than differences between the oblique PCA scores, which were in turn more reliable than differences between the traditional equally weighted scores. The increased reliability with which the KABC differences are assessed with the orthogonal RCA method has important practical implications, including narrower confidence intervals around difference scores used in individual administrations of the KABC.     

Dis-placing place-making: how African-American and immigrant youth realize their rights to the city

ABSTRACT

Notions of place-making assume that individuals and groups of people have legitimate ‘rights to the city.’ This paper unsettles these notions to incorporate the politically and legally tenuous relationships African-American and Immigrant youth have to their cities. We describe a community-based digital STEAM curriculum called Mobile City Science that invited youth to engage in place-making efforts using mobile and location-aware technologies. The design study relied on a contradiction that is fundamental to youth place-making in an era of white nationalism: for African-American and Immigrant youth to engage power structures in community development processes, they had to engage in a series of dis-placements that removed them from embodied experiences and in-location perceptions of their communities. Self-censoring, witnessing, historicizing, and re-veiwing were all examples of dis-placements youth enacted to speak truth to power with digital and mobile tools.     

Testosterone during Pregnancy and Gender Role Behavior of Preschool Children: A Longitudinal, Population Study

Levels of testosterone (T) and sex hormone–binding globulin (SHBG) were measured in blood samples from pregnant women and related to gender role behavior in 342 male and 337 female offspring at the age of 3.5 years. Gender role behavior was assessed using the Pre–School Activities Inventory, a standardized measure on which a parent indicates the child's involvement with sex–typical toys, games, and activities. Levels of T, but not SHBG, related linearly to gender role behavior in preschool girls. Neither hormone related to gender role behavior in boys. Other factors, including the presence of older brothers or sisters in the home, parental adherence to traditional sex roles, the presence of a male partner in the home, and maternal education, did not relate to gender role behavior in this sample and did not account for the relation observed between T and behavior. Although other, unmeasured factors may explain the relation, the results suggest that normal variability in T levels prenatally may contribute to the development of individual differences in the gender role behavior of preschool girls.