Policy-Practice Proximity: The Scope for College-Based Higher Education and Cross-Sector Collaboration in Wales

In relation to the size of its population, Wales has a relatively large number of higher education institutions, several of which are small and located in rural areas. Compared with other parts of the United Kingdom, only a small number of higher education students are taught in Welsh further education colleges. Nevertheless, efforts have been made to increase higher education provision in the colleges, beginning in the late 1980s with the encouragement of franchising arrangements by the Wales Advisory Body and later with a joint initiative by the Higher and Further Education Funding Councils for Wales to expand some sub‐degree higher education in the colleges by direct funding. These developments represent just one strand of activity linking the higher and further education sectors in Wales and have not been a subject of major or regular policy attention. For reasons of scale and geography, and through the enabling structures and processes serving both funding councils, cross‐sector initiatives and collaboration have generally been given high priority in strategies to widen access and build progression. The administrative devolution reflected in these arrangements has been increased by political devolution since 1999, with as yet unclear implications for the future development of higher education in the colleges.     

Narrative Persuasion in a New Media Environment: The Impact of Binge-Watching and Second-Screening

The study explored the role of second-screen use and binge-watching in moderating entertainment education (EE) effects. A pretest/posttest experiment of 273 viewers of East Los High measured the effects of exposure to three subplots, concerning alcohol abuse, abortion, and immigration. The effect of identification with characters on change in attitudes was significantly moderated by second-screen use and binge-watching. In particular, second-screening tended to enhance the positive impact of identification; whereas, among respondents who binge-watched the show, the effects of identification were weaker.     

Using Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to Foster Literacy and Facilitate Discourse Within the Classroom

The literacy skills of students is an issue of great policy importance which has attracted considerable interest in the literature. At the same time, much recent work has been done on the efficacy of learning communities. This paper examines the extent to which fostering learning communities can improve literacy skills. It is shown that it is possible to achieve large improvements in writing and reading by fostering a community of learners that focuses on scientific inquiries utilizing computer technology. The results lend support to the hypothesis that learning communities may be an important instrument in enhancing the reasoning, problem solving and learning strategies of students. This suggests that more work needs to be done in this area of educational research.

Les compétences des élèves en lecture sont un sujet d'extrème importance qui a provoqué un intérêt considérable dans la littérature. Au même moment beaucoup de travaux récents ont été menés sur l'efficacité des établissements d'enseigement. Cet article examine jusqu'à quel point il faut encourager des communautés d'apprentissage peut améliorer les compétences en lecture. Il montre qu'il est possible d'obtenir des améliorations importantes pour la lecture et l'écriture en développant une communauté d'apprenants qui se concentre sur les résultats scientifiques des enquêtes utilisant la technologie de l'ordinateur. Les résultats confirment l'hypothèse que les communautés d'apprentissage peuvent être un instrument important pour améliorer le raisonnement, la solution des problèmes et les stratégies d'apprentissage des élèves. L'article suggère qu'il faut travailler davantage dans ce domaine de la recherche en éducation.

Die Lese- und Rechtschreibfähigkeit von Studenten hat einen hohen politischen Rang, der auch ein entsprechendes Interesse in der Fachliteratur erzeugt hat. Gleichzeitig ist in der letzten Zeit viel Arbeit in die Untersuchung der Wirksamkeit von Lerngemeinschaften gesteckt worden. Dieses Papier überprüft, in welchem Umfang die Förderung der Lerngemeinschaften den Bildungsgrad verbessern kann. Es wird gezeigt, daß es möglich ist, große Verbesserungen im Schreiben und in der Lesefähigkeit durch Förderung einer Lerngemeinschaft, die sich auf wissenschaftliche Anfragen per Nutzung von Computertechnologie konzentriert, zu erreichen. Die Resultate stützen die Hypothese, dass Lerngemeinschaften ein wichtiges Instrument zur Verbesserung von Argumentationsfähigkeit, Problemlöseverhalten und das Entwickeln von Lernstrategien der Kursteilnehmer sein können. Daher sollte die Arbeit in diesem Bereich der pädagogischen Forschung verstärkt werden.     

Teenage pregnancy: a small comparison group of known mothers

To obtain confirmation of the findings of the authors' earlier comparison of ever-pregnant and nonpregnant Black high school students from Tennessee, 16 students confirmed to be pregnant were substituted for the 33 subjects in the original study whose pregnancy status was based solely on self-report. The nonpregnant control group of 251 teens was utilized in both analyses. Although the confirmed pregnant group was too small to repeat the regression analysis, striking concordance of findings between the 2 studies emerged for all dependent variables except the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire anxiety scale. The lower anxiety scores recorded among subjects in the original study may be either a statistical artifact or a reflection of the fact that these pregnant teens remained in school while subjects in the second study were enrolled in programs centered around their pregnant status. Sexual activity scores were strong or moderate significantly more often in both groups of pregnant teens compared to their nonpregnant counterparts. Interesting was the finding that 81% of pregnant teens regarded romance novels and soap operas to be accurate portrayals of real-life dating relationships compared to only 49% of nonpregnant teens. On the other hand, only 56% of the pregnant subjects regarded their own relationships to have this romantic quality. In a future study, the role of such uncritical romantic ideals in adolescent pregnancy risk will be investigated in a larger sample.     

Perception of suprasegmental features of speech by children with cochlear implants and children with hearing AIDS

This study assessed perception of suprasegmental features of speech by 30 prelingual children with sensorineural hearing loss. Ten children had cochlear implants (CIs), and 20 children wore hearing aids (HA): 10 with severe hearing loss and 10 with profound hearing loss. Perception of intonation, syllable stress, word emphasis, and word pattern was assessed. Results revealed that the two HA groups significantly outperformed the CI group in perceiving both intonation and stress. Within each group, word pattern was perceived best, and then intonation and emphasis, with syllable stress perceived poorest. No significant correlation emerged between age at implantation and perception of the various suprasegmental features, possibly due to participants' relatively late age at implantation. Results indicated that CI use did not show an advantage over HA use in the perception of suprasegmental features of speech. Future research should continue to explore variables that might improve this perception.     

Studying children's knowledge base of one-sided levers as force amplifiers

Attention to core concepts in science and engineering in early education has grown recently, and understanding levers as force amplifiers can be recognized as one of these. Previous studies focused on two-sided levers and do not provide sufficient information about children's knowledge of levers as force amplifiers, nor about their learning and its support from an education perspective. It is important to consider load distance and force distance separately, as may be done in one-sided levers, to understand children's knowledge of levers as “simple machines” thoroughly. Moreover, children's zone of proximal development and the possibilities to foster their knowledge should be explored to understand important features of teaching. We thus directed two studies with 6- to 7-year-old children. In study 1, we conducted a paper-and-pencil test in the context of wheelbarrows (N = 370; age M = 6.62). We investigated whether it is possible to empirically separate the features load, load distance, and force distance as well as to determine their level of difficulty. Our study showed that children's concepts of the three aspects load, load distance, and force distance are fragmented, with children finding it continuously more difficult to judge load, load distance, and force distance correctly. In study 2, we developed a 20-min intervention with a controlled 2 × 2 pre-post follow-up design for exploring the zone of proximal development of 304 6- to 7-year-old children in the domain of one-sided levers as force amplifiers, focusing on force distance and load distance. We implemented a structured learning environment that encouraged the children to manipulate wheelbarrows and supported them with pictures and/or verbal prompts. 6- to 7-year-old children had a higher learning gain when they were exposed to scaffolds that combined pictures and verbal prompts in the posttest as well as in the follow-up test four weeks later compared to the control group.     

Predicting University Students’ Academic Success and Major Using Random Forests

Research in Higher Education - In this article, a large data set containing every course taken by every undergraduate student in a major university in Canada over 10 years is analysed. Modern...     

Expanding roles or evolving identity? Doctoral school psychologists in school vs. nonschool practice settings

The purpose of this study was to investigate variables related to the professional identity and career path of school-based vs. non-school-based doctoral-level school psychologists. Two hundred seventy-three psychologists trained as school psychologists completed a questionnaire developed to investigate their training, experience, and perceptions. Respondents differed little by employment setting (school-based vs. non-school-based) in reports of their training or experiences. However, significant differences were found among groups in two areas: ratings of relative importance of characteristics of employment setting, and perceived identity as a school psychologist.