Does students’ heritage matter in their performance on and perceptions of historical reasoning tasks?

This mixed methods study explores how high school students (N = 35) enrolled in a US charter school with a high Latino/a population perform on and perceive (in terms of interest and relevance) document-based type historical reasoning tasks: one about the Dust Bowl in the 1930s and the other about the experiences of Mexicans and Mexican Americans in the 1920s. Students wrote essay responses and completed perception inventories about the tasks. We also interviewed 10 focal students to delve more deeply into students’ thinking regarding the tasks and their interest levels in the two topics. We scored students’ responses along the criteria of historical claims, substantiation of claims, use of evidence from documents, sourcing of documents and contextualization. Our hypotheses were that students would perform better on, and be more interested in, tasks that were culturally relevant to them. We found that although students did not perform differently on the two tasks overall, students’ perceptions of the tasks differed, with a significantly greater interest in the task about Mexicans and Mexican Americans. We address the complexity of these findings and discuss implications for curriculum and practise.     

Reflections as near‐peer facilitators of an inquiry project for undergraduate anatomy: Successes and challenges from a term of trial‐and‐error

Near‐peer facilitators (senior students serving as facilitators to their more junior peers) bring a unique student‐based perspective to teaching. With fewer years of teaching experience however, students who become involved in a facilitator role typically develop related skills quickly through a process of trial‐and‐error within the classroom. The aim of this paper is to report on the authors' own experiences and reflections as student near‐peer facilitators for an inquiry‐based project in an undergraduate anatomy course. Three areas of the facilitator experience are explored: (1) offering adequate guidance as facilitators of inquiry, (2) motivating students to engage in the inquiry process, and (3) fostering creativity in learning. A practical framework for providing guidance to students is discussed which offers facilitators a scaffold for asking questions and assisting students through the inquiry process. Considerations for stimulating intrinsic motivations toward inquiry learning are made, paying attention to ways in which facilitators might influence feelings of motivation towards learning. Also, the role of creativity in inquiry learning is explored by highlighting the actions facilitators can take to foster a creative learning environment. Finally, recommendations are made for the development of formalized training programs that aid near‐peer facilitators in the acquisition of facilitation skills before entering into a process of trial‐and‐error within the classroom. Anat Sci Educ. 7: 64–70. © 2013 American Association of Anatomists.     

What are “Complex Case Discussions” and how do they impact on key-workers?

Previous research has not focussed on defining the abstract, transferable processes which make ongoing consultation successful. This study aimed to explore and define the nature and impact of weekly consultations, or “Complex Case Discussions” (CCDs), with key-workers from two family intervention projects which were facilitated by educational psychologists (EPs) within one local authority (LA). Semi-structured interviews were carried out with key-workers. These were first transcribed and then analysed using thematic analysis. The themes identified fell into three overarching themes: “Process”, “People” and “Impact”. CCDs may lead to a quicker turnaround of families and to more sustainable changes. The key, transferable processes which make CCDs successful and valuable were identified as: time, hypothesising, a tailored approach and questioning assumptions. Due to the small-scale nature of this study, future research may look to apply these principles more widely and evaluate the impact of doing so.     

Approaches to teaching in higher education: the perspective of network analysis using the revised approaches to teaching inventory

Higher Education - Over time, the academics’ approaches to teaching (i.e., content- or learning-focused approach) were intensively studied. Traditionally, studies estimated the shared...     

Racial/ethnic differences in Medicaid expenditures on psychotropic medications among maltreated children

This study quantifies racial/ethnic differences in Medicaid expenditures on psychotropic drugs among a national sample of children with suspected maltreatment. We linked 4,445 child participants in the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being (NSCAW) – consisting of children investigated for suspected abuse and neglect – to their Medicaid claims obtained from 36 states. We used propensity score matching to construct a comparison group of children without known child welfare involvement, and estimated two-part generalized linear models to examine differences in annual psychotropic drug expenditures per child between children of different races/ethnicities. When compared to a matched sample of children, African American and Latino children incur $292 and $144 less expenditures on psychotropic drugs, respectively, than white children. Among NSCAW children alone, African American children display $614 less spending on psychotropic drugs when compared to white children. Racial/ethnic differences in expenditures on psychotropic drugs occur among all children on Medicaid, but the differences are especially pronounced among African American children in contact with the child welfare system. These findings demonstrate that policymakers will need to pay special attention to the needs of children of color as Medicaid expansions proceed nationwide.     

Student perceptions of the classroom environment: Relations to motivation and achievement in mathematics

This study examined the relationship of 979 middle school students’ perceptions of their mathematics classroom environment to their motivation and achievement. Structural equation modeling indicated that motivational variables (utility, personal achievement goals, efficacy) mediated the influence of perceived teacher expectations, teacher support and use of reform practices on mathematics standardised test scores. Our study provides empirical evidence that students’ perceptions that their teachers believe that they are capable of learning and understanding mathematics positively relate to their Mastery and Performance Goal orientations and mathematics Utility. Further, we found an interaction between students’ perceptions of the frequency of reform practice use in their mathematics classroom and mathematics efficacy. For students with lower mathematics efficacy, their perceptions of more frequent use of reform practices in their mathematics class related to higher standardised test performance. For students with higher mathematics efficacy, perceived use of reform practices did not significantly relate to standardised test performance. These data suggest that frequent exposure to reform practices is especially critical for students who judge themselves as being less capable in mathematics and who are lower performers. This finding differs from prior research that has suggested that reform practice use benefits higher achievers but not lower achievers. An important implication of our study is the need for coordinated, ongoing professional development that highlights reform pedagogy and beliefs while also focusing on student motivation theories and strategies.