A design framework for online teacher professional development communities

This paper provides a design framework for building online teacher professional development communities for preservice and inservice teachers. The framework is based on a comprehensive literature review on the latest technology and epistemology of online community and teacher professional development, comprising four major design factors and three contextual factors. The design factors include learning goals, communication tools, participant structures, and member responsibilities; the contextual factors are culture, politics, and economics. Finally, the role of universities and implications of the design framework for teacher professional development in the new culture of learning are discussed.     

The effects of carbohydrate ingestion on the badminton serve after fatiguing exercise

The badminton serve requires great skill and may be affected by fatigue. The aim of the present study was to determine whether carbohydrate ingestion affects badminton performance. Nine male badminton players (age 25 ± 7 years, mass 80.6 ± 8.0 kg) attended the laboratory on three occasions. The first visit involved an incremental exercise test to exhaustion to determine peak heart rate. Participants were given 1 L of a carbohydrate-electrolyte drink or a matched placebo during the experimental trials. The accuracy of 10 long and 10 short serves was determined before and after exercise. The fatiguing exercise was 33 min in duration (83 ± 10% and 84 ± 8% peak heart rate for the placebo and carbohydrate trial respectively). Capillary blood samples (20 μL) were taken before and after exercise for determination of blood glucose and lactate. There was deterioration in long serve accuracy with fatigue (P = 0.002), which carbohydrate ingestion had a tendency to prevent (P = 0.077). There was no effect of fatigue (P = 0.402) or carbohydrate ingestion (P = 0.109) on short serve accuracy. There was no difference in blood glucose concentration between trials (P = 0.851). Blood lactate concentration was higher during the placebo trial (P = 0.016). These results suggest that only the long serve is influenced by fatigue and carbohydrate had a tendency to prevent the deterioration in performance.     

Replication of a Rank-Framed Social Norms Experiment

Decades of research on the social norms approach (SNA) has shown that informing people of how their behavior compares to their peers is an effective way to reduce risky behavior. The SNA has been particularly successful at reducing drinking on college campuses. However, one recent study may have found a way to improve upon the SNA: rank-framing messages. This study found that reframing social norms messages to show how students’ alcohol consumption ranks relative to their peers is more effective at increasing information seeking. The current study is a replication of this study. Rank-framed messages did decrease drinking behaviors but did not increase information seeking. Possible explanations and the potential merit of rank-framed social norms interventions are discussed.     

Motivation and Engagement with Physics: a Comparative Study of Females in Single-Sex and Co-educational Classrooms

Research in Science Education - It has been argued that the establishment of single-sex classes for females can increase their motivation and participation in physics. This paper reports on...     

A new tool for practitioner-led evaluation of teacher professional development

Schools and education systems are being challenged to improve the evaluation of teacher professional development, yet there is a lack of practical tools for doing so. This article describes the development and validation of a new instrument to assess teachers’ perceptions of the impact of professional development. This instrument, designed to be time- and cost-effective, was theoretically grounded and, as evidenced by the results reported in this article, psychometrically sound. The instrument was completed twice (examining different types of professional development) by 393 teachers. The results for both data-sets demonstrated a strong factor structure with good internal consistency for all scales. Further data analysis indicated that the scales could effectively distinguish between the experiences of different groups of teachers. The finalised instrument, named the Impact of Teacher Professional Development Questionnaire, is presented in full, and the practical advantages and limitations of the instrument are discussed.     

Displaying Special Collections Online

This article explores ways of creating an online presence for Special Collections. Options available for institutions limited by budget are explored, progressing from the point of initially considering going digital, and then on through the steps of digitization to online platforms. This article centers more on practicalities of creating an online presence more than on arguments for why an institution should have one. Ultimately, the individual institution has to decide what is best for their collection and act from there.     

Issues in the sexual molestation of deaf youth

An overview is provided of issues involved in sexual abuse in schools (as well as the general problem of child molestation in society), some characteristics of pedophiles and hebephiles, and data on how sexual molesters are dealt with by the criminal justice system. Specific information is provided on how sexual abuse becomes an issue in schools for children who are deaf, what can be done to prevent it, and symptoms to look for in identifying deaf children who are being victimized.     

Learning Neuroscience with Technology: a Scaffolded,Active Learning Approach

Mobile applications (apps) for learning technical scientific content are becoming increasingly popular in educational settings. Neuroscience is often considered complex and challenging for most students to understand conceptually. iNeuron is a recently developed iOS app that teaches basic neuroscience in the context of a series of scaffolded challenges to create neural circuits and increase understanding of nervous system structure and function. In this study, four different ways to implement the app within a classroom setting were explored. The goal of the study was to determine the app’s effectiveness under conditions closely approximating real-world use and to evaluate whether collaborative play and student-driven navigational features contributed to its effectiveness. Students used the app either individually or in small groups and used a version with either a fixed or variable learning sequence. Student performance on a pre- and post-neuroscience content assessment was analyzed and compared between students who used the app and a control group receiving standard instruction, and logged app data were analyzed. Significantly, greater learning gains were found for all students who used the app compared to control. All four implementation modes were effective in producing student learning gains relative to controls, but did not differ in their effectiveness to one another. In addition, students demonstrated transfer of information learned in one context to another within the app. These results suggest that teacher-led neuroscience instruction can be effectively supported by a scaffolded, technology-based curriculum which can be implemented in multiple ways to enhance student learning.