A comparison of perceptions of self among university students in Ireland and the U.S.: Implications for counselling

The study compared 50 Irish and 50 American graduateand undergraduate psychology and counselling studentson the ways they rated My Real Self and My Ideal Selfon a Semantic Differential using Osgood et al.'s (1957)Semantic Differential Technique. A 2×2×2 MANOVA wasused for the data analysis where the status variableswere country, class, and gender, and the dependentvariables were the evaluative and potency scales ofthe Semantic Differential for both My Real Self and MyIdeal Self. It was found that males, as a whole,rated the potency of both My Real Self and My IdealSelf higher than females. Implications forcounselling are discussed.     

Are Artificially Intelligent Conversational Chatbots Uniformly Effective in Reducing Summer Melt? Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial

Research in Higher Education - Our field experiment extends prior work on college matriculation by testing the extent to which an artificially intelligent (AI) chatbot’s outreach and support...     

Scientific Caricatures in the Earth Science Classroom: An Alternative Assessment for Meaningful Science Learning

Archive-based, historical research of materials produced during the Golden Age of Geology (1788–1840) uncovered scientific caricatures (SCs) which may serve as a unique form of knowledge representation for students today. SCs played important roles in the past, stimulating critical inquiry among early geologists and fueling debates that addressed key theoretical issues. When historical SCs were utilized in a large-enrollment college Earth History course, student response was positive. Therefore, we offered SCs as an optional assessment tool. Paired t-tests that compared individual students’ performances with the SC option, as well as without the SC option, showed a significant positive difference favoring scientific caricatures (α = 0.05). Content analysis of anonymous student survey responses revealed three consistent findings: (a) students enjoyed expressing science content correctly but creatively through SCs, (b) development of SCs required deeper knowledge integration and understanding of the content than conventional test items, and (c) students appreciated having SC item options on their examinations, whether or not they took advantage of them. We think that incorporation of SCs during assessment may effectively expand the variety of methods for probing understanding, thereby increasing the mode validity of current geoscience tests.     

Randomizing multiple contingency components to decrease disruptive behaviors and increase student engagement in an urban second‐grade classroom

Disruptive behaviors displayed in the classroom interfere with learning by taking time away from academic instruction. This study investigated the effects of randomizing components within an interdependent group contingency for group disruptive behavior and engagement levels of 26 students in a second‐grade classroom in an urban Midwestern school. Using a multiple‐baseline‐across‐settings design, baseline levels of group disruptive behavior and engagement were compared to intervention levels across three different class periods. Results suggest that the intervention decreased levels of disruptive behavior and increased levels of student engagement. Benefits of randomizing components within an interdependent group contingency are discussed as well as limitations to this study and suggested areas of future research. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Revolutions in evolutionary thought: Darwin and after

Darwin is as much a household name today as he was a century and a half ago. Phrases such as Universal Darwinism, Social Darwinism, The New Science of Darwinian Medicine, Darwin Machines, Darwin’s Dangerous Idea, The Universal Acid of Darwinism, Neo-Darwinism, Darwin is Dead — Long Live Darwin …. are in common usage today. Darwin stands out as a colossus — a giant among giants. A progression of great thinkers led to Darwin. Who were these revolutionaries and what are the frontiers of modern evolutionary thought? Some of these questions are addressed in this article.     

Effects of virtual education on academic culture： Perceived advantages and disadvantages

The perceived advantages and disadvantages of courses taught in online and face-to-face learning environments were explored for students taking an accounting and a data collection and analysis course. Both courses were taught in a face-to-face learning environment at the main or satellite campus. It was hypothesized that there would be statistically significant differences in the perceived advantages and disadvantages of courses taught in online and face-to-face learning environments. Results showed statistically significant differences between perceived advantages and disadvantages for both learning environments. Findings suggest that there are differences between the perception of advantages and disadvantages for online and face-to-face learning environments.