CASE Tools: Constructivism and its Application to Learning and Usability of Software Engineering Tools

Software Engineering is a new discipline aimed at the improvement of the production of large, quality software systems. Interest in CASE tools has grown because of the important role they play in supporting the software development process. Studies show these complex and sophisticated tools have a positive impact on quality and productivity but they have been slow to be adopted by industry; this is partially explained by the difficulty of learning to use the tool.     

Phonemic—Morphemic dissociation in university students with dyslexia: an index of reading compensation?

A phonological deficit constitutes a primary cause of developmental dyslexia, which persists into adulthood and can explain some aspects of their reading impairment. Nevertheless, some dyslexic adults successfully manage to study at university level, although very little is currently known about how they achieve this. The present study investigated at both the individual and group levels, whether the development of another oral language skill, namely, morphological knowledge, can be preserved and dissociated from the development of phonological knowledge. Reading, phonological, and morphological abilities were measured in 20 dyslexic and 20 non-dyslexic university students. The results confirmed the persistence of deficits in phonological but not morphological abilities, thereby revealing a dissociation in the development of these two skills. Moreover, the magnitude of the dissociation correlated with reading level. The outcome supports the claim that university students with dyslexia may compensate for phonological weaknesses by drawing on morphological knowledge in reading.     

Comparing Models of Nature of Science Dimensionality Based on the Next Generation Science Standards

Instruments measuring understanding of the nature of science (NOS) are required if educational institutions intend to use benchmarks or examine the effects of interventions targeting students’ NOS development. Compared to other constructs, NOS understanding is complex, having been the subject of debate among scholars in both its substance and its dimensionality. This complexity invites challenges in defining what is to be measured. Drawing from the perspective that policy reform documents provide pragmatic consensus-based definitions of NOS, this study investigated how well the dimensionality described in the NOS component of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) framework matched the empirical structure of data collected from a set of secondary-school students’ responses to an NOS instrument comprising multiple-choice and Likert-scale items. Using multidimensional item response modeling to compare structures of NOS dimensionality, we found that treating NOS as comprising multiple dimensions—as defined by the themes in the NGSS NOS framework—resulted in a better fitting model than when treating NOS as a single dimension. The multidimensional model also had fewer poorly functioning items and revealed NOS profiles that otherwise would have been masked in a model treating NOS as a single dimension. These results provide support for the NOS NGSS framework and contribute to the ongoing discussion about the dimensionality of NOS.     

Fathers' Early Contributions to Children's Language Development in Families from Low-income Rural Communities

This study utilized a large sample of two-parent families from low-income rural communities to examine the contributions of father education and vocabulary, during picture book interactions with their infants at 6 months of age, to children's subsequent communication development at 15 months and expressive language development at 36 months. After controlling for family demographics, child characteristics, as well as mother education and vocabulary, father education and father vocabulary during the picture-book task were related to more advanced language development at both 15 and 36 months of age. Only mother education, but not vocabulary during book-reading was related to children's later language. These findings support the growing evidence on the importance of fathers in understanding children's early communication and language development.     

Implementing curriculum evaluation: case study of a generic undergraduate degree in health sciences

This case study presents a longitudinal, evidence‐based approach to health science curriculum reform and evaluation. Curriculum in higher education must meet the needs of diverse stakeholders and must respond to dynamic local, national and international contexts, and this creates challenges for evaluation. The long lead time prior to the introduction of new or revised university curriculum (at least two years), the length of degree programmes (three to five years) and the lag time in the availability of objective indicators of degree outcomes (at least one year post‐graduation) mean that findings may be obsolete before an evaluation can be completed. Few would argue that evaluation is important and methods and approaches for conducting curriculum evaluation are proposed in the literature, although few published reports of the outcomes of comprehensive evaluations are evident. This paper discusses potential for evaluation to establish responsive communication between students, teaching staff and programme administrators, ensuring a match between the intended, implemented and attained curriculum.     

“...If I Had a Choice,I Would....” A Feminist Poststructuralist Perspective on Girls in Physical Education

A significant number of studies evidence girls' lack of participation in physical education. This study used feminist poststructuralism to examine the ways in which high school girls participated in or resisted physical education. Using qualitative research methods, researchers collected field notes, informal interviews, and formal interviews with the teacher and 15 female students. In contrast to previous studies, girls in this study enjoyed and valued physical activity. As active agents, they chose to participate in or resist specific physical activities through their negotiations of gender relations. Physical education classes emerged as a contested terrain in which girls supported the notion of equal opportunity in physical activity but perceived limits on their choices in physical education as compared to male peers.     

Peer Groups as a Context for School Misconduct: The Moderating Role of Group Interactional Style

Peer group interactional style was examined as a moderator of the relation between peer group school misconduct and group members' school misconduct. Participants were 705 students (M_age = 11.59 years, SD = 1.37) in 148 peer groups. Children reported on their school misconduct in fall and spring. In the winter, group members were observed in a limited‐resource task and a group conversation task, and negative and positive group interactional styles were assessed. Multilevel modeling indicated that membership in groups that were higher on school misconduct predicted greater school misconduct only when the groups were high on negative or low on positive interactional style. Results suggest that negative laughter and a coercive interactional style may intensify group effects on children's misconduct.     

Using action research to address the mental health needs of older people: a reflection and discussion of real‐world problems

Action research provides an opportunity to implement and understand the process of change in practice settings, as well as develop theoretical insights into complex social situations. The provision of mental healthcare for older people within the general hospital is one such situation, and this paper presents a discussion and reflection on the use of action research in this setting. The background to the project is described, followed by a discussion of three major issues that emerged for us: the extent to which we were able to promote democracy and maintain and demonstrate democratic behaviour, the problems and pitfalls of operationalising grounded theory methodology within an action research approach, and the challenges of developing an authentic and credible account of the care of older people with mental health needs. This paper aims to add to a discourse regarding action research and will be of value to researchers using this approach across a range of health, social care and educational settings.     

Text structure and patterns of cohesion in narrative texts written by adults with a history of language impairment

This paper examines text structure and patterns of cohesion in stories written by a group of adults with a history of childhood language impairment. The study aimed to extend our knowledge of writing difficulties in this group by building upon a study that examined clause level phenomena (Smith-Lock, Nickels, & Mortensen, this issue). Ten adults with a history of Language Impairment and 30 control participants were asked to write the story of Cinderella. Stories were analyzed for their generic structure and cohesion resources, both of which contribute to the organization and coherence of a text. Results revealed that patterns of text organization at the level of generic structure and measures of cohesion did not distinguish the performance of writers with a history of Language Impairment from the comparison group. A wide range of lexico-grammatical skills was evident within the Language Impaired group, with few individuals with Language Impairment falling outside the normal range of performance. It is suggested that generic structure and cohesion are a relative strength in the writing of adults with Language Impairment, within the constraints of their lexical and grammatical skills.

Muscle activity in sprinting: a review

The use of electromyography (EMG) is widely recognised as a valuable tool for enhancing the understanding of performance drivers and potential injury risk in sprinting. The timings of muscle activations relative to running gait cycle phases and the technology used to obtain muscle activation data during sprinting are of particular interest to scientists and coaches. This review examined the main muscles being analysed by surface EMG (sEMG), their activations and timing, and the technologies used to gather sEMG during sprinting. Electronic databases were searched using ‘Electromyography’ OR ‘EMG’ AND ‘running’ OR ‘sprinting’. Based on inclusion criteria, 18 articles were selected for review. While sEMG is widely used in biomechanics, relatively few studies have used sEMG in sprinting due to system constraints. The results demonstrated a focus on the leg muscles, with over 70% of the muscles analysed in the upper leg. This is consistent with the use of tethered and data logging EMG systems and many sprints being performed on treadmills. Through the recent advances in wireless EMG technology, an increase in the studies on high velocity movements such as sprinting is expected and this should allow practitioners to perform the analysis in an ecologically valid environment.