Engaging adolescents with LD in higher order thinking about history concepts using integrated content enhancement routines

The understanding and use of historical concepts specified in national history standards pose many challenges to students. These challenges include both the acquisition of content knowledge and the use of that knowledge in ways that require higher order thinking. All students, including adolescents with learning disabilities (LD), are expected to understand and use concepts of history to pass high-stakes assessments and to participate meaningfully in a democratic society. This article describes Content Enhancement Routines (CERs) to illustrate instructional planning, teaching, and assessing for higher order thinking with examples from an American history unit. Research on the individual components of Content Enhancement Routines will be illustrated with data from 1 of the routines. The potential use of integrated sets of materials and procedures across grade levels and content areas will be discussed.     

Fostering creative performance in art and design education via self-regulated learning

Instructional Science - There is a lack of research and practice focused on how to foster higher-order processing, such as creative performance, within higher education settings. To address this...     

Exploring Girls’ Science Affinities Through an Informal Science Education Program

Research in Science Education - This study examines science interests, efficacy, attitudes, and identity—referred to as affinities, in the context of an informal science outreach program for...     

“‘I Was Gonna Go Off,but My Best Friend is White.”: Hispanic Students’ Co-Cultural Reasoning in a Hispanic Serving Institution

The researchers engaged in a qualitative analysis (using journaling and focus group methodology) of the communicative behaviors of Hispanic students with White institutional members at a medium-sized, Southwest HSI. Utilizing Co-Cultural Theory and Elaborative Coding analysis, the authors mapped how Hispanic students narrated their co-cultural communication and reasoning (i.e., why they engage in one strategy rather than another). The findings show that, although Hispanic students used almost all co-cultural strategies, their responses were clustered primarily around assimilationist strategies – indicating that they engage in a high degree of self-monitoring and self-censorship when interacting with White institutional members in an HSI. These results suggest that even when Hispanic students constitute a large or majority part of the institution’s population, they still feel the need to engage in behaviors that navigate White norms. The study concludes by examining the findings for co-cultural theorizing as well as providing insights for instructors who wish to engage in inclusive teaching practices.     

The Relationships Among Leadership Behaviors of Leaders in Training Organizations,Training Methods,and Organization Profitability

The problem investigated in this study was to determine if there were relationships among the leadership behaviors of training leaders, the use of newer methods of training, and organizational profitability. A sample of 57 organizations from the Fortune 500 was surveyed to determine leadership behavior and the use of newer methods of training. The Leadership Practices Inventory was used to measure leadership and the Affective Communication Test was used to measure charisma. Profitability data were obtained from the literature. Return on assets, return on equity, the Moody's Corporate Bond Rating, and the Standard and Poor's Opinion were used as profitability measures. Correlation and regression analyses were used to analyze the data. No relationships were shown between leadership behaviors and training methods or between leadership behaviors and profitability. A positive relationship was shown between the number of newer training methods used and organization profitability as measured by return on assets.     

The secret life of the chemical bond: students’ anthropomorphic and animistic references to bonding

This paper discusses students’ use of anthropomorphic language in science, and in particular calls upon some examples from research into student understanding of chemical bonding. It is argued that anthropomorphic language is common amongst scientists as well as science students. A simple classification of such instances is suggested to distinguish between those examples that are useful in aiding communication and understanding, and those which merely stand in place of such understanding.