COMMUNITY COLLEGE REVERSE TRANSFER STUDENTS: A MULTIVARIATE ANALYSIS

Reverse transfer students (i.e., students transferring from a baccalaureate institution to a community college) are either completers (i.e., earned a bachelor's degree) or noncompleters (i.e., did not earn a bachelor's degree). The investigation reported in this article included a procedure to construct-validate an instrument that captures data about why reverse transfer occurs and a discriminant-analysis profile that highlights differences among completers and noncompleters. The findings have implications for student recruitment, student services, and future research.     

Developing inclusive practice: teacher perceptions of opportunities and constraints in the Republic of Ireland

There has been a significant policy shift from parallel systems of special and mainstream education in the Republic of Ireland towards provision underpinned by enabling legislation with a presumption for inclusion. The role of teachers in establishing inclusive learning environments is critical and it is generally accepted that inclusive practice relies to a large extent on teacher knowledge, skills, understanding, capacity and attitudes. This exploratory study aimed to gather information on teachers' attitudes about inclusion, and perceived constraints in creating inclusive learning environments. A range of schools from urban, semi-urban, provincial and rural backgrounds were included and data were collected using semi-structured interviews (n?=?24) including all principals, class teachers and support staff in the participating schools. Teachers recognised the challenge of responding appropriately to diversity within schools and are generally supportive of the principle of inclusion. However, there are clear concerns around their individual capacity and the capacity of their schools to develop inclusive learning environments. A positive school ethos was a significant factor in ensuring inclusive practice. International research indicates that the complex mix of positive teacher beliefs combined with fears and perceived inadequacies is quite common in the evolution of practice towards inclusive learning environments.     

Assessing conceptual knowledge using similarity judgments

This study evaluates the validity of a similarity judgments test (SJT) for assessing conceptual knowledge. 89 high school seniors judged the semantic similarity of a set of concepts. The resulting scores are calculated using a correlational approach as well as the MDS and Pathfinder approaches, respectively. The validity of the SJT is estimated by comparing (a) the scores with the test scores resulting from a multiple-choice test, (b) the scores resulting from pre- and post-instruction, and (c) the scores of students with high vs. low expertise. Our results support the validity of the SJT and show that both the correlational and the Pathfinder approach outclass the MDS approach. Recommendations to evaluate the SJT are provided.     

Buddhism and action research: towards an appropriate model of inquiry for the caring professions

This article traces parallels between the basic principles of action research and some key Buddhist doctrines. The argument is that action research's methodological focus on values, collaboration, dialectics, change and creativity is reinforced and clarified by the Buddhist emphasis on practices such as meditation and on the doctrines of ‘metta’, ‘harmonious speech’, ‘kamma’ and the impermanence of all phenomena, including the self. Finally, the issue of validity in social inquiry is addressed: Buddhist ‘enlightenment’ is grounded in a rationally argued model of human capacity for self-transcendence, whereas action research's model of ‘emancipation’ is necessarily a ‘contested’ concept and thus dependent on political optimism.     

Optimized and corrected peak power output during friction‐braked cycle ergometry

Assessments of maximal intensity exercise which determine peak power output on friction‐baked cycle ergometers have fallen into two categories: correction procedures which account for changes in momentum of the ergometer's flywheel and optimization procedures which attempt to satisfy muscle force‐velocity relationships. The aim of this study was to compare performance in each procedure and so investigate assumptions which underpin the tests. Nineteen males aged 20.9 ± 0.4 years and 18 females aged 22.2 ± 0.7 years (mean ± S.E.M.), who were fully accustomed to the procedures, participated in a single experimental protocol. After a 5 min warm‐up, the subjects performed four bouts of all‐out exercise on a Monark 814E cycle ergometer against randomly assigned loads. The loads were selected to produce peak pedalling rates in the range 100–200 rev min^?1 and each bout lasted 10 s. From the inverse linear relationship between applied load and peak pedalling rate, optimized peak power output (PP _opt) and the accompanying pedalling rate (RPM _opt) were calculated. One of the bouts used a loading equivalent to 7.5% of body weight and for this bout corrected peak power output (PP _corr) and its corresponding pedalling rate (RPM _corr) were calculated. The PP _opt was less than PP _corr in the males (915 ± 35 vs 1005 ± 32 W) and females (673 ± 33 vs 777 ± 39 W) (both P < 0.001). Similarly, RPM _opt was less than RPM _corr (111 ± 1 vs 128 ± 2 rev min^?1 and 101 ± 1 vs 111 ± 2 rev min^?1 in the males and females, respectively; P < 0.001). The results demonstrate that optimization and correction procedures produce different values of performance. These differences are probably attributable to the mechanical principles which underpin the tests.     

How strongly does statistical reasoning influence knowledge and acceptance of evolution?

A large body of research has examined students' conceptions of evolution and their relationships to acceptance of evolution. Proficiency in statistical and probabilistic reasoning has long been considered to be an essential feature of evolutionary reasoning, yet almost no empirical work has explored these putative connections. The RaPro instruments have recently been developed to measure statistical reasoning in the contexts of mathematics (RaProMath) and evolution (RaProEvo). Our study provides additional validation of these instruments using Rasch analysis and quantifies the contribution of statistical reasoning to both understanding and accepting evolution. We recruited a large sample (N = 564) of undergraduate students enrolled in an introductory biology course at a large public research university in the United States. Students completed a suite of published instruments that assessed statistical reasoning, evolutionary understanding, and evolutionary acceptance. Our findings indicate that validity inferences derived from RaPro scores generalized to the new sample, and that proficiency in statistical reasoning explained 28% of the variance in evolutionary knowledge and 19% of the variation in evolutionary acceptance. The inclusion of demographic variables into the model significantly increased the explained variance in acceptance. Notably, the variance in evolution acceptance explained by statistical reasoning was comparable to that of thinking dispositions or evolutionary knowledge reported in the literature. This work provides the first large-scale evidence of the role of statistical reasoning in evolutionary knowledge and acceptance and motivates future work to explore how statistical literacy should be integrated into evolution education efforts.     

Integration of physical health and sensory processing assessment for children with autism spectrum disorder in schools

Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often undergo various assessments and evaluations as part of the diagnostic process, identification and classification for special education eligibility, and continued progress monitoring for skill growth. Such evaluations may include cognitive, social and emotional, behavioral, and speech evaluations, among other skill and ability assessments. One other area for assessment that clinicians may consider examining when working on evaluations for individuals with ASD includes the integration of assessments capturing physical and sensory needs. Physical health identifiers that may be included in such evaluations cover physical exercise, sleep, diet and food sensitivities, and elimination. Additionally, sensory evaluations may consider auditory, olfactory, taste, tactile, vestibular, and proprioceptive sensory abilities and needs. This practitioner-focused chapter includes a brief review of each of the aforementioned physical and sensory abilities and their connection to ASD. Further, implications for practitioners in their assessment of ASD are explored with practical tips and recommendations for providers to use for their future assessments for ASD.