Implications of Prelecture Material on Cognitive Load and Instructional Effectiveness in Cross‐Disciplinary IS Education: The Nexus of Benford's Law and SQL

For some time, there has been a call for cross‐disciplinary teaching within the business disciplines. With the rise of data and analytics, there is an opportunity for cross‐disciplinary teaching by integrating technology throughout the business curriculum. However, many business professors have little experience in cross‐disciplinary teaching. We hope to rectify this by introducing an approach that uses prelecture material to prepare students for learning concepts and terms that are not core to the focal class. In a study that combines Structured Query Language (SQL) coding with an audit principle called Benford's Law, we analyze the impact of adding prelecture material about Benford's Law on student's cognitive load, knowledge gained, and instructional efficiency. Results indicate that students who received a prelecture on Benford's Law outperformed the control group in performance measures related to Benford's Law, and that the instructional efficiency on Benford's Law was also higher for the treatment group. We did not find any significant differences in cognitive load between the two groups, nor did the treatment group perform significantly better when tested on the SQL concepts. We conclude that cross‐discipline teaching is a fine balance between each discipline and communicating to students the importance of both disciplines is key.     

Direct Instruction in Written Expression: The Effects on English Speakers and English Language Learners with Disabilities

Students with disabilities often struggle with writing tasks. In order to improve the written expression performance of high school students with deficits in written expression, a Direct Instruction writing program was implemented. The participants were six high school students in programs for individuals with learning disabilities. Three of the six students were served in programs for students who are English Language Learners. Using a multiple‐probe across‐participants design, the effect of the writing program was examined. The intervention was implemented over a 5‐week period with maintenance checks conducted 2 and 4 weeks after the termination of instruction. Results were variable, but there appeared to be a positive trend in student writing performance as measured by correct word sequence, length of text, and the TOWL‐3. Implications for practice and future directions are also provided.     

Climate control: United States weather modification in the cold war and beyond

Rainmaking, hail busting, fog lifting, snowpack enhancing, lightning suppressing, hurricane snuffing...weather control. At the lunatic fringe of scientific discussion in the early twentieth century--and the subject of newspaper articles with tones ranging from skeptical titters to awestruck wonder--weather modification research became more serious after World War II. In the United States, the 'seeds' of silver iodide and dry ice purported to enhance rainfall and bust hailstorms soon became seeds of controversy from which sprouted attempts by federal, state and local government to control the controllers and exploit 'designer weather' for their own purposes.     

Transformative graduate education programs: an analysis of impact on STEM and non-STEM Ph.D. completion

Transformative graduate education programs (TGP) are programs that are national in scope and are intended to impact the reformation of graduate education in the United States. We employ data from national sources and shift the unit of analysis from the individual doctoral student to the doctoral institution as whole in order to begin to assess the impact of TGPs on the number of doctoral degrees awarded, a critical outcome for such programs, and an educational priority in many countries. In addition, we examine the critical issue of whether TGPs enhance Ph.D. degree conferral for women and minorities, and if they do so at STEM-oriented institutions, typically the least hospitable of all environments for these groups.     

Let's talk about what we're watching: Parental mediation of children's television viewing

A random telephone survey of Washington state parents of children between the ages 2 and 17 assesses patterns of interaction with children regarding television viewing. The children's gender did not affect the way parents coviewed or mediated with them about television. Parent's gender, however, did matter. In addition, it was found that the ageof children had a significant effect on how parents coviewed and mediated. A linear relationship showed that coviewing decreased as children aged. A different trend was seen regarding children's age and negative mediation.     

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES IN DEFINING AND ASSESSING TEACHER DISPOSITIONS

Teacher preparation programs are required by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) to assess the knowledge, skills, and dispositions of teacher candidates. Dispositions and the personal values that support them are defined differently by NCATE and other experts in the fields of education and business. In order to better understand dispositions the researchers examined the relationships between the personal values and dispositions of teacher candidates and successful teachers. Using the Rokeach Value Scale, results showed significant relationships between values and dispositions for teacher candidates and successful teachers.