ENHANCING SELF‐REGULATORY SKILLS THROUGH AN INTERVENTION EMBEDDED IN A MIDDLE SCHOOL MATHEMATICS CURRICULUM

We investigated the effects of a self‐regulatory intervention strategy designed to improve middle‐school students’ calibration accuracy, self‐regulatory skills, and math achievement. Focusing on self‐monitoring and self‐reflection as the two key processes of this intervention in relation to improving students’ math achievement and overall self‐regulation, we randomly assigned 30 sixth‐and seventh‐grade students to either a treatment or a delayed‐treatment control group. At the conclusion of the intervention, we conducted interviews to unearth students’ sources of calibration judgments. Results showed that participants who received the intervention had significantly higher math performance and predictive/postdictive calibration accuracy than did the control group. We provided educational implications of our findings for psychologists and educators.     

Fostering complex problem solving for diverse learners: engaging an ethos of intentionality toward equitable access

Complex problem solving is an effective means to engage students in disciplinary content while also furnishing critical non-cognitive and life skills. Despite increased adoption of complex problem-solving methods in K-12 classrooms today (e.g., case-, project-, or problem-based learning), we know little about how to make these approaches accessible to linguistically and culturally diverse (LCD) students. In this paper, we promote a conceptual framework, based on an ethos of intentionality, that supports culturally responsive teaching (CRT). We provide specific questions to guide teachers’ implementation of an ethos of intentionality, through critical reflection and meaningful action, and discuss a framework for culturally relevant practice that operationalizes key central tenets (e.g., high expectations, cultural competence, and critical consciousness). Finally, we include strategies that can help teachers and designers translate the principles of the CRT framework into action with a specific focus on complex problem solving in classrooms.

     

A framework for classroom assessment,learning, and self-regulation

ABSTRACT

We present a conceptual framework that leverages synergies between classroom assessment (CA) practices and self-regulated learning (SRL) theory to support academic growth and instruction. We articulate the processes shared by CA and SRL, drawing on a model of SRL with three phases: forethought, performance, and self-reflection. We blend this SRL model with CA to create the CA:SRL framework in four stages: (1) pre-assessment, (2) the cycle of learning, doing, and assessing, (3) formal assessment, and (4) summarizing assessment evidence. We elucidate how SRL processes are involved at each stage and can be drawn on to support learning development and teacher understanding and co-regulation of learning. This framework is important in that it depicts how assessment and learning processes interact dynamically for both teachers and students in classrooms, and demonstrates that such interactions encompass the full breadth of purposes in CA, from planning through summation of evidence.     

“If You Want the History of a White Man,You Go to the Library” 1: Critiquing Our Legacy,Addressing Our Library Collections Gaps

ABSTRACT

In 1864, the same year the University of Denver was founded by John Evans, then the territorial governor of Colorado and the superintendent of Indian affairs, a group of U.S. militia attacked and killed vulnerable members of the Cheyenne and Arapaho nations at Sand Creek. Using critical race theory and the feminist “ethic of care,” we critique our collections in terms of the massacre and absent Native American voices in order to develop a collecting philosophy and direction to acknowledge and address the gaps and to formulate strategies for teaching students to interrogate a predominately white institutional archive to give voice to the absent or silenced.     

Teacher pedagogical beliefs: The final frontier in our quest for technology integration?

Although the conditions for successful technology integration finally appear to be in place, including ready access to technology, increased training for teachers, and a favorable policy environment, high-level technology use is still surprisingly low. This suggests that additional barriers, specifically related to teachers' pedagogical beliefs, may be at work. Previous researchers have noted the influence of teachers' beliefs on classroom instruction specifically in math, reading, and science, yet little research has been done to establish a similar link to teachers' classroom uses of technology. In this article, I argue for the importance of such research and present a conceptual overview of teacher pedagogial beliefs as a vital first step. After defining and describing the nature of teacher beliefs, including how they are likely to impact teachers' classroom practice I describe important implications for teacher professional development and offer suggestions for future research.     

Beyond the first year: Supporting sophomores through information literacy outreach

The sophomore year is increasingly becoming a target of retention efforts, as universities and colleges realize that nearly as much attrition occurs between the sophomore and junior years as between the first and sophomore years. As a result, there is an opportunity for libraries to reach out to and target second-year students. This article presents a case study of a sophomore outreach program at the University of Puget Sound focused on citation management software. Our results suggest that libraries should pursue outreach targeting the sophomore population.     

Examination of Research Theses

The examination of postgraduate research theses is of vital importance to academic institutions as well as to students. This paper reviews examination procedures at one university, summarising examiners’ comments on 58 theses. A number of questions regarding examiner anonymity, alternatives to the traditional doctoral dissertation, and most importantly, the criteria for the award of degrees are raised. Although great care is taken in choosing examiners, the criteria they are expected to employ are inadequate. Rates of progress of research students in different degree programs suggest that some students may well lack adequate information about the extent of their task as postgraduates.     

First the look and then the sound: Creating conversations at circle time

Becoming a student means learning to interpret and construct the multiple demands for interaction in distinctive classroom events. For an increasing number of children, the preschool provides the setting for the first encounter with these complex and dynamic classroom communicative environments. This article presents an interactional analysis of preschool circle time from an ethnographic perspective. The social participation structure for conducting these events is uncovered using Green's conversational mapping system. Findings suggest that the rules and guidelines, expectations, and roles within the event change over time. The focus of learning within the event, evident in social action rules (Erickson, 1982, Philips, 1972), shifts from the formation of the circle itself to actual collaborative conversation. This shift is interpreted in terms of the children's developing competencies for participating in group conversation. In a final section, a potential peer culture dimension to this event is proposed.     

Faculty perceptions of job rewards and instructional development activities

The purpose of this study was to explore the perceptions of faculty at a large urban university concerning: (a) personal and college rewards for various areas of job responsibilities, and (b) which programs and incentives to enhance teaching effectiveness would be most attractive to them. Faculty generally reported both teaching and scholarly activity to be personally rewarding, but perceived discrepancies between personal and college rewards for teaching, and between college rewards for teaching and scholarly activity. Although a wide range of instructional development programs and incentives was endorsed, the top rated options referred to institutional recognition of teaching excellence.The authors gratefully acknowledge the assistance of the following persons with this project: Nellie Bess, Gilbert Braun, Donald Brewer, Eileen Duffy-Blair, Gary Duncan, Daniel Funk, James West, Cheryl White.