Perceptions of a Chilly Climate: Differences in Traditional and Non-traditional Majors for Women

The purpose of this study was to examine how perceptions of a chilly climate differ between students in traditionally female-dominated majors (nursing and education) versus traditionally male-dominated majors (information technology and engineering), and how these perceptions relate to students’ intentions to persist or pursue higher education in their chosen field. Students (n = 403) attending a community college completed the 28-item Perceived Chilly Climate Scale (PCCS). The primary research question asked: To what extent can scores on the five subscales of the PCCS be explained by the predictor variable set of gender, ethnicity, age, college major, and intent to leave the field? Canonical correlation analysis indicated that women found the climate chillier than men, non-white students found the climate chillier than white students, younger students perceived the climate chillier than older students, and students in traditionally female-dominated majors perceived the climate chillier than students in traditionally male-dominated majors. Intent to leave the field was not a significant predictor of perceptions of chilly climate.     

Allowing Students a Choice of Items on Objective Examinations

Measurement experts often advise against giving students an option of selecting which items on a test they choose to answer. A review of the related literature revealed that this caveat refers primarily to essay examinations. It was the purpose of this research to investigate the effects of permitting students the prerogative of selecting a proportion of the items on an objective test which they wished to exclude from the calculation of a grade. Findings regarding the effects of this practice on test reliability, test validity and on the students' relative test performance ranks suggest that it may not be as deleterious as we had been led to believe.     

Identifying mediating factors of moral reasoning in science education

The purpose of this research was to examine how science content knowledge, moral reasoning ability, attitudes, and past experiences mediate the formation of moral judgments on environmental dilemmas. The study was conducted in two phases using environmental science majors and nonscience majors of college age. Phase One determined if environmental science majors exhibited higher levels of moral reasoning on nontechnical environmental social issues than on general social issues and examined the extent to which possible mediating factors accounted for differences in moral reasoning. Phase Two was qualitative in nature, the purpose of which was to observe and identify trends in conversations between subjects as to how certain mediating factors are revealed as people form moral judgments. The framework on which this study was constructed incorporates a progressive educational position; a position that views science education as being interdisciplinary, and a social means to a social end.     

Torsten Husén: A case of ethnocentrism in U.S. educational research?

This paper documents and discusses the lack of reference by U.S. educational researchers to the work of noted Swedish social scientist and educational researcher, Torsten Husén. The paucity of U.S. textbook or journal citations of Husén's writings and research is interpreted as an example of cultural ethnocentrism and academic imperialism in U.S. educational and psychological research. Crosscultural perspectives, interdisciplinary analyses, and global learning are proposed as methods of overcoming the methodological parochialism, overspecialization, and international fragmentation Husén describes as characteristic of much educational and social scientific research.     

The role of the mirror-image reversal effect in reducing the peak shift and area shift along the angularity dimension

Pigeons trained monocularly and tested with the trained eye along the angularity dimension were found to show enhanced area shifts when compared to pigeons trained and tested binocularly. Pigeons trained monocularly and tested with the untrained eye showed reversed peak shifts in the direction of S?. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that the mirror image of S? in angularity gradients functions to reduce the likelihood of the peak shift and area shift along the angularity dimension in pigeons, and question the use of the angularity dimension for intradimensional discrimination training and generalization testing.     

Relationship between eye movement,learning, and picture complexity

Is the number of eye fixations a reliable external indicator of internal cognitive processes when subjects are unaware that their eye movements are being monitored electronically? In this study involving college students, there was a relationship between posttest scores and the number of eye fixations, and intelligence level of the subject was correlated with eye fixations.