Letter from the Editors

Journal of Science Teacher Education -     

Content,format, gender and grade level differences in elementary students' ability to read science materials as measured by the cloze procedure

Present instructional trends in science indicate a need to reexamine a traditional concern in science education: the readability of science textbooks. An area of reading research not well documented is the effect of color, visuals, and page layout on readability of science materials. Using the cloze readability method, the present study explored the relationships between page format, grade level, sex, content, and elementary school students ability to read science material. Significant relationships were found between cloze scores and both grade level and content, and there was a significant interaction effect between grade and sex in favor of older males. No significant relationships could be attributed to page format and sex. In the area of science content, biological materials were most difficult in terms of readability followed by earth science and physical science. Grade level data indicated that grade five materials were more difficult for that level than either grade four or grade six materials were for students at each respective level. In eight of nine cases, the science text materials would be classified at or near the frustration level of readability. The implications for textbook writers and publishers are that science reading materials need to be produced with greater attention to readability and known design principles regarding visual supplements. The implication for teachers is that students need direct instruction in using visual materials to increase their learning from text material. Present visual materials appear to neither help nor hinder the student to gain information from text material.     

Social Class Effects on Northeastern Brazilian Children's Conceptions of Areas of Personal Choice and Social Regulation

2 studies examined middle- and lower-class Brazilian children's concepts of personal choice and social regulation. In Study 1, interviews of 40 middle- and lower-class children (9 and 15 years old) revealed that children across classes distinguished moral from conventional issues on the bases of rule contingency and act generalizability criteria. Lower-class children, however, were less likely to view conventions as rule contingent and more likely to generalize conventional acts. In Study 2, interviews of 240 middle- and lower-class children (ages 8, 12, 16 years) found that across classes, children distinguished prudential issues from matters they treated as personal. Prudential issues were seen as subject to parental authority. Middle-class children were more likely to treat personal issues as matters of choice. With age, lower-class children increasingly tended to treat personal items as matters of choice, and by adolescence there were no class differences. Findings show that Brazilian children maintain a heterogeneous orientation to rules and authority which includes a domain of personal choice. Class differences indicate that hierarchical social structures affect children's sense of autonomy. However, developmental effects indicate that a domain of personal choice emerges among children across social classes.     

Understanding Student Evaluations of Teaching Quality: The Contributions of Class Attendance

Institutions of higher learning employ compulsory attendance policies with the expectation that these mandates enhance students' academic performance and perceptions of course quality. However, numerous empirical investigations demonstrate equivocal and often contradictory findings regarding the relationship between attendance and various markers of student achievement. The present investigation extends this research by exploring the utility of student ratings of the need to attend class in predicting their perceptions of teaching excellence after controlling for class size, instructor availability, and small-group interactions. As hypothesized, ratings of the need to attend predicted excellence while accounting for a significant 5.3% of the variance. Discussion and conclusions highlight the utility of class attendance in understanding students' evaluations of teaching and course quality.     

GENI的设计原则(一)分布式需求定义GENI的重心

2006年8月,GEN(I网络创新的全球化环境)公布其项目的设计原则。来自普林斯顿大学、麻省理工大学、华盛顿大学等学校的十二位专家编写了这份报告。该报告阐述了GENI的研究范围、用户的需求、需求的内在压力以及工程设计的原则。报告指出了GENI的价值主张,广泛的部署、多样化可扩展的网络技术集合、对真实用户流量的支持仍是GENI关注的原则和方向。本刊将分两期连载这一报告,从“分布式需求定义GENI的重心”、“解决分布式需求的内在冲突”等两部分,将这一报告与大家共享。     

The use of a parity-equity model to evaluate faculty salary policies

A parity-equity model was developed for estimating the influences of a comprehensive list of factors classified as rational or nonrational equity and parity (marketplace). In a multiple regression analysis of faculty salaries for two years, the parity-equity model accounted for 86% of salary variance: over 60% by professional rank; approximately 16% by other rational equity factors; 3% by college and departmental parity; 3% by college and department affiliation; and 1% by nonrational equity factors. This model is recommended for studying, year-to-year changes in salary policies and for checking the importance of each factor in salary increase deliberations.     

Coupled physical and digital cadaver dissection followed by a visual test protocol provides insights into the nature of anatomical knowledge and its evaluation

This research effort compared and contrasted two conceptually different methods for the exploration of human anatomy in the first‐year dissection laboratory by accomplished students: “physical” dissection using an embalmed cadaver and “digital” dissection using three‐dimensional volume modeling of whole‐body CT and MRI image sets acquired using the same cadaver. The goal was to understand the relative contributions each method makes toward student acquisition of intuitive sense of practical anatomical knowledge gained during “hands‐on” structural exploration tasks. The main instruments for measuring anatomical knowledge under this conceptual model were questions generated using a classification system designed to assess both visual presentation manner and the corresponding response information required. Students were randomly divided into groups based on exploration method (physical or digital dissection) and then anatomical region. The physical dissectors proceeded with their direct methods, whereas the digital dissectors generated and manipulated indirect 3D digital models. After 6 weeks, corresponding student anatomical assignment teams compared their results using photography and animated digital visualizations. Finally, to see whether each method provided unique advantages, a visual test protocol of new visualizations based on the classification schema was administered. Results indicated that all students, regardless of gender, dissection method, and anatomical region dissected performed significantly better on questions presented as rotating models requiring spatial ordering or viewpoint determination responses in contrast to requests for specific lexical feature identifications. Additional results provided evidence of trends showing significant differences in gender and dissection method scores. These trends will be explored with further trials with larger populations. Anat Sci Ed 1:27–40, 2008. © 2007 American Association of Anatomists.     

The demand for student loans in higher education: A study of preferences and attitudes

This empirical study examined postsecondary-student attitudes and preferences regarding five discrete student loan plans and loan plan features. Certain demographic variables were examined for their relationship to student attitudes toward the various loan plans. The study addressed the following questions: What debt ceiling do students identify as acceptable? Are students willing to indebt themselves over an extended time span? What percent of annual income do they feel reasonably can be applied to loan repayment? Will students alter their repayment plan choices given additional and more detailed information about loan options? A random sample of 218 recipients of federal higher education loans during the 1973–74 academic year was drawn from the population of 6,765 undergraduate borrowers at the University Park Campus of the Pennsylvania State University.     

Space considerations: materials in the learning environment in three majority world preschool settings

This paper draws on the comparative and qualitative data from a triple case study carried out in three semi‐rural early childhood education centres in Canada, India, and South Africa. The primary objective of this four year study was to provide in‐depth understanding of the ways in which policy, practice, and culture intersect in semi‐rural contexts. This article focuses on the organisation and use of materials in the preschool space as a means to examine the interplay between indigenous cultural norms as these relate to working with children and trends towards uniformity or globalisation of early childhood practice.     

Associations between peer‐perceived status and aggression in young adolescents

Different functions within different forms of aggression were examined in relation to peer‐perceived preference and popularity among middle school students. Two hundred and three 7th grade students were nominated by a subset of their grade mates based on indices of likeability, popularity, and aggressiveness. Both linear and curvilinear associations were examined. Lower peer preference, but higher popularity, was associated with increased levels of all types of aggression, supporting the need to differentiate the relationship between aggression and these two facets of peer status. Relational aggression was associated with both low and high levels of popularity. Overt aggression was related to low peer preference and, to a lesser degree, high peer preference. It appears that what separates low‐ and high‐status students is not the presence of aggression per se, but how effectively their displays of aggression achieve their social goals. Findings are discussed in respect to social dominance theory, and implications for practice are considered. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.