SPECIFIC COGNITIVE PREDICTORS OF EARLY MATH PROBLEM SOLVING     

Scott L. Decker  Alycia M. Roberts 《Psychology in the schools》2015,52(5):477-488

Development of early math skill depends on a prerequisite level of cognitive development. Identification of specific cognitive skills that are important for math development may not only inform instructional approaches but also inform assessment approaches to identifying children with specific learning problems in math. This study investigated the specific cognitive correlates of math problem solving across early grade levels (1–4) while controlling for basic calculation skills. As expected, basic calculation skill was a significant predictor of math problem solving across the entire sample. However, the addition of cognitive measures almost doubled the variance explained (R² = .61). Additionally, only select cognitive variables contributed to the prediction of math problem solving, and these variables change in importance as children develop higher‐level math skills. Results are discussed within a developmental model, which emphasizes the increasing importance of abstract code representations required in higher levels of math performance.  相似文献   

Using a Critical Service-Learning Approach to Facilitate Civic Identity Development     

Tania D. Mitchell 《理论付诸实践》2015,54(1):20-28

This article highlights elements of civic engagement programs that have the rich potential to facilitate civic identity development. Focusing on research with alumni, the study examines 3 civic engagement programs, the approaches of which are guided by critical service-learning. It explores elements of the experiences that alumni name as influential to their learning, development, and present commitments to understand the ways that civic engagement programs based in a critical service-learning approach can encourage them to develop commitments to active citizenship as exemplified by Knefelkamp's (2008) vision of a mature sense of civic identity.  相似文献   

Do We Fear Ageing? A Multidimensional Approach to Ageing Anxiety     

Robyn J. Brunton  Greg Scott 《Educational gerontology》2015,41(11):786-799

Ageing anxiety is the expression of peoples' fear of ageing (Lynch, 2000 Lynch, S. M. (2000). Measurement and prediction of aging anxiety. Research on Aging, 22(5), 533.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). Despite greater longevity in the population, there is a lack of research into this aspect of life (Lasher &; Faulkender, 1993 Lasher, K. P., &; Faulkender, P. J. (1993). Measurement of aging anxiety: Development of the Anxiety about Aging Scale. The International Journal of Aging &; Human Development, 37(4), 247–259.[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). This research explored fears of ageing across four dimensions: Fear of Old People, Physical Appearance, Psychological Concerns, and Fear of Losses. Three hundred and forty eight participants aged 18–88 participated in an online survey. Findings were: (a) men and women have different fears of ageing; (b) greater quality contact is related to less ageing anxiety; (c) poor health is related to greater ageing anxiety, (d) ageism, defined by Nelson (2005 Nelson, T. D. (2005). Ageism: Prejudice against our feared future self. Journal of Social Issues, 61(2), 207–221.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) as prejudice toward ageing is positively correlated with ageing anxiety. The implications of these findings are that better quality contact and more positive attitudes toward ageing are associated with less ageing anxiety. As such, possible key target areas in developing appropriate interventions are provided, with hope to prepare adults of all ages for the inevitable—life is a terminal illness, so enjoy while you can.  相似文献   

‘If there is a job description I don’t think I’ve read one’: a case study of programme leadership in a UK pre-1992 university     

Rafael Mitchell 《Journal of Further & Higher Education》2015,39(5):713-732

This paper reports on an exploratory study of the role of programme leaders (PLs) in a pre-1992 university, based on interviews with PLs (7) and a survey of taught Masters students (54) in a single school. The study elicits PLs’ activities, most of which might be categorised as managerial and administrative, with leadership required intermittently; the preeminent role involves managing programme quality. The study finds that institutional guidelines overlook important aspects of PLs’ work (such as organising enrichment activities and student advocacy) which affect the quality of provision, and the findings challenge the notion that PLs are engaged in a ‘disesteemed’ service.  相似文献   

Brain Engagement During a Cognitive Flexibility Task Relates to Academic Performance in English Learners     

Tehila Nugiel  Mackenzie E. Mitchell  Damion V. Demeter  AnnaCarolina Garza  Paul T. Cirino  Arturo E. Hernandez  Jenifer Juranek  Jessica A. Church 《Mind, Brain, and Education》2023,17(2):149-160

English Learners (ELs), students from non-English-speaking backgrounds, are a fast-growing, understudied, group of students in the U.S. with unique learning challenges. Cognitive flexibility—the ability to switch between task demands with ease—may be an important factor in learning for ELs as they have to manage learning in their non-dominant language and access knowledge in multiple languages. We used functional MRI to measure cognitive flexibility brain activity in a group of Hispanic middle school ELs (N = 63) and related it to their academic skills. We found that brain engagement during the cognitive flexibility task was related to both out-of-scanner reading and math measures. These relationships were observed across the brain, including in cognitive control, attention, and default mode networks. This work suggests the real-world importance of cognitive flexibility for adolescent ELs, where individual differences in brain engagement were associated with educational outcomes.  相似文献   

Reporting Quality of Single-Case Research Published in Learning Disabilities Journals     

Brittany L. Hott  Sarah Heiniger  Jasmine Justus  Kathleen M. Randolph  Amal Al Shabibi  Brooki Beasley  Kerry Frank  Wendy Mitchell  Courtney Tennell  Fanee Wester 《Learning disabilities research & practice》2023,38(3):224-238

Single-case research designs are useful for learning disability researchers interested in refining novel interventions (e.g., new mathematics intervention) before scaling, small n populations (e.g., students with comorbid learning and emotional and behavioral disabilities), and testing unique conditions (e.g., remote locales). Much attention has been devoted to developing research quality standards, which is essential for replication and implementation fidelity; however, little is known about the reporting quality of single-case design studies. To gain insight into the quality of learning disability single-case research design study reporting, we analyzed 72 articles published between 2010 and 2021 in six learning disability-focused journals using the Single-Case Reporting Guideline In BEhavioral interventions (SCRIBE) standards. Findings suggest that reporting quality has remained stagnant, and none of the studies reviewed met all of the reporting standards. Alignment with standards ranged from 33% to 77%. Implications for researchers and practitioners are discussed.  相似文献   

How students reason about matter flows and accumulations in complex biological phenomena: An emerging learning progression for mass balance     

Emily E. Scott  Jack Cerchiara  Jenny L. McFarland  Mary Pat Wenderoth  Jennifer H. Doherty 《科学教学研究杂志》2023,60(1):63-99

In recent years, there has been a strong push to transform STEM education at K-12 and collegiate levels to help students learn to think like scientists. One aspect of this transformation involves redesigning instruction and curricula around fundamental scientific ideas that serve as conceptual scaffolds students can use to build cohesive knowledge structures. In this study, we investigated how students use mass balance reasoning as a conceptual scaffold to gain a deeper understanding of how matter moves through biological systems. Our aim was to lay the groundwork for a mass balance learning progression in physiology. We drew on a general models framework from biology and a covariational reasoning framework from math education to interpret students' mass balance ideas. We used a constant comparative method to identify students' reasoning patterns from 73 interviews conducted with undergraduate biology students. We helped validate the reasoning patterns identified with >8000 written responses collected from students at multiple institutions. From our analyses, we identified two related progress variables that describe key elements of students' performances: the first describes how students identify and use matter flows in biology phenomena; the second characterizes how students use net rate-of-change to predict how matter accumulates in, or disperses from, a compartment. We also present a case study of how we used our emerging mass balance learning progression to inform instructional practices to support students' mass balance reasoning. Our progress variables describe one way students engage in three dimensional learning by showing how student performances associated with the practice of mathematical thinking reveal their understanding of the core concept of matter flows as governed by the crosscutting concept of matter conservation. Though our work is situated in physiology, it extends previous work in climate change education and is applicable to other scientific fields, such as physics, engineering, and geochemistry.  相似文献   

Small Circles: Mobile Telephony and the Cultivation of the Private Sphere     

Rich Ling  Johannes Bjelland  Pål Roe Sundsøy  Scott W. Campbell 《The Information Society》2014,30(4):282-291

This article examines how we use mobile telephony to maintain our physically and socially closest social circle. The analysis is based on traffic data gathered from Norway using approximately 24 million calls and texts made by private individuals. Previous research has shown that our temporal and spatial movement is highly predictable and that the majority of calls and text messages are sent to only four to six different persons. This article extends this research by examining both tie strength and the distance between the interlocutors in urban and rural settings. The findings show that even as information and communication technologies (ICTs) potentially put the world at our fingertips, the mobile phone is an instrument of a more limited geographical and social sphere. Approximately two-thirds of our calls/texts go to strong ties that are within a 25-km radius.  相似文献   

Examination of the role of transient receptor potential vanilloid type 4 in endothelial responses to shear forces     

Sara Baratchi  Francisco J. Tovar-Lopez  Khashayar Khoshmanesh  Megan S. Grace  William Darby  Juhura Almazi  Arnan Mitchell  Peter McIntyre 《Biomicrofluidics》2014,8(4)

Shear stress is the major mechanical force applied on vascular endothelial cells by blood flow, and is a crucial factor in normal vascular physiology and in the development of some vascular pathologies. The exact mechanisms of cellular mechano-transduction in mammalian cells and tissues have not yet been elucidated, but it is known that mechanically sensitive receptors and ion channels play a crucial role. This paper describes the use of a novel and efficient microfluidic device to study mechanically-sensitive receptors and ion channels in vitro, which has three independent channels from which recordings can be made and has a small surface area such that fewer cells are required than for conventional flow chambers. The contoured channels of the device enabled examination of a range of shear stresses in one field of view, which is not possible with parallel plate flow chambers and other previously used devices, where one level of flow-induced shear stress is produced per fixed flow-rate. We exposed bovine aortic endothelial cells to different levels of shear stress, and measured the resulting change in intracellular calcium levels ([Ca²⁺]_i) using the fluorescent calcium sensitive dye Fluo-4AM. Shear stress caused an elevation of [Ca²⁺]_i that was proportional to the level of shear experienced. The response was temperature dependant such that at lower temperatures more shear stress was required to elicit a given level of calcium signal and the magnitude of influx was reduced. We demonstrated that shear stress-induced elevations in [Ca²⁺]_i are largely due to calcium influx through the transient receptor potential vanilloid type 4 ion channel.  相似文献   

Exploring athletic identity in elite-level English youth football: a cross-sectional approach     

Tom O. Mitchell  Mark Nesti  David Richardson  Adrian W. Midgley  Martin Eubank 《Journal of sports sciences》2014,32(13):1294-1299

Abstract

This study is the first empirical investigation that has explored levels of athletic identity in elite-level English professional football. The importance of understanding athletes’ psychological well-being within professional sport has been well documented. This is especially important within the professional football industry, given the high attrition rate (Anderson, G., & Miller, R. M. (2011). The academy system in English professional football: Business value or following the herd? University of Liverpool, Management School Research Paper Series. Retrieved from http://www.liv.ac.uk/managementschool/research/working%20papers/wp201143.pdf) and distinct occupational practices (Roderick, M. (2006). The work of professional football. A labour of love? London: Routledge). A total of 168 elite youth footballers from the English professional football leagues completed the Athletic Identity Measurement Scale (AIMS). Multilevel modelling was used to examine the effect of playing level, living arrangements and year of apprentice on the total AIMS score and its subscales (i.e., social identity, exclusivity and negative affectivity). Football club explained 30% of the variance in exclusivity among players (P = .022). Mean social identity was significantly higher for those players in the first year of their apprenticeship compared to the second year (P = .025). All other effects were not statistically significant (P > .05). The novel and unique findings have practical implications in the design and implementation of career support strategies with respect to social identity. This may facilitate the maintenance of motivation over a 2-year apprenticeship and positively impact on performance levels within the professional football environment.  相似文献