Data In Educational Research Research Articles

Designing and evaluating an evidence-informed instruction in chemical kinetics

We have investigated the effects of a teaching intervention based on evidence from educational theories and research data, on students' ideas in chemical kinetics. A quasi-experimental design was used to compare the outcomes for the intervention. The subjects of the study were 83 university first-year students, who were in two different classes in a 4-year pre-service science teacher-training programme in Turkey. During teaching, an 'evidence-informed instruction' was applied in the experimental group whereas 'traditional instruction' was followed in the control group. Students' understandings of chemical kinetics were elicited through a series of written tasks and individual interviews. The results showed that while there was no significant difference in students' understandings in chemical kinetics in the two groups on the pre-test, in the post-test the students in the experimental group achieved significantly higher learning gains in chemical kinetics than did the students in the control group. Moreover, in response to teaching, students in the experimental group were more likely to use their knowledge consistently across different contexts (average 63.1%) than students in the control group (average 19%). The significance of these findings for further research, and for policy and practice relating to science teaching, are discussed.

Leveraging ERA to Increase Repository Content

The legacy of Australia’s national research quality assessment process – Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) - at the University of Wollongong is improved integration between the institutional repository and research management systems, and a move towards digitisation of the Higher Education Research Data Collection (HERDC) process with consequent flow on of metadata and digital objects to the institutional repository. Whilst ERA was a diversion from the task of securing open access content through faculty promotion and one-on-one contact with researchers, it nevertheless gave rise to a semi-automated process which promises improved rates of content acquisition.

Time to Talk: An Urban School’s Use of Literature Circles to Create a Professional Learning Community

In a culture of comprehensive school reform, which focuses primarily on improving student achievement, teachers must critically analyze educational research and student data to make professional judgments regarding student achievement. Establishing professional learning communities is one form of professional development (PD) that is proven to engage participants’ intellect, involve them in action and reflection, and result in continuous improvement in teaching and student learning. This study explores teachers’, administrators’, and support service providers’ involvement in district supported literature circles intended to create professional learning communities. All participants agreed that the experience was beneficial and helped to foster a sense of community, reassert their professional identity, and provide new perspectives to consider when interacting with students. This research contributes to our understanding of PD as a means to school improvement and provides evidence for effective PD that prepares educational leaders and promotes improved student outcomes.

After Seattle: Social Science Research and Narrowly Tailored School Desegregation Plans

Background/ContextIn most judicial and social science debates about school desegregation, it is usually assumed that educational and social benefits, if significant, help establish a compelling purpose for school desegregation plans. Less thought has been given to whether the degree of benefits should factor into whether a plan is narrowly tailored according to Supreme Court standards. Hence, many were surprised when Justice Kennedy argued in the Seattle case that school desegregation meets the compelling purpose requirement but that desegregation plans that classified and assigned all students on the basis of race violated the narrow tailoring requirement.Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of the StudyThe essay offers a social science rationale for Justice Kennedy's views about narrow tailoring issues and suggests several approaches to desegregation plans that may meet narrow tailoring requirements in the future.SettingFor illustrative purposes, the study uses student achievement data from Charlotte-Mecklenburg, North Carolina, between 2001 and 2006. The data were obtained from the North Carolina Education Research Data Center at Duke University.Population/Participants/SubjectsFrom a larger North Carolina data set, a cohort was drawn consisting of about 4,050 Black students from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg district who began third grade in 2000–2001 and completed the eighth grade in 2005–2006.Research DesignThis essay is primarily an analytic essay with a brief quantitative analysis of student achievement data.Data Collection and AnalysisThe quantitative analysis of achievement data utilized longitudinal methods, tracking socioeconomic-status-adjusted achievement trends for Black students over time.Findings/ResultsA modest relationship between school desegregation and Black student achievement (0.2 standard deviations over 5 years) masks a substantial overlap in test scores for individual students in desegregated versus segregated schools. That is, many Black students in segregated schools score higher than the typical desegregated Black student, and vice versa.Conclusions/RecommendationsUsing evidence from within social science, the authors find that the current design of most mandatory desegregation plans does not fit within the current Court's (especially Justice Kennedy's) view of narrowly tailored plans. However, there are several ways in which school boards and other policy makers can promote school desegregation: considering race when drawing attendance zones, building new schools, closing schools, and locating magnet schools in strategic areas. Further, magnet schools might meet narrow tailoring requirements if race is only one of several factors considered during the application and administration process.

PROMOTING AN INCLUSIVE IMAGE OF SCIENTISTS AMONG STUDENTS: TOWARDS RESEARCH EVIDENCE-BASED PRACTICE

This study aims at investigating the effects of a teaching intervention, the design of which is informed by evidence from educational theories and research data, on students’ images of scientists. A quasi-experimental design with a non-equivalent pre-test–post-test control group (CG) was used to compare the outcomes of the intervention. The subjects of the study were 63 grade 6 (aged 12 and 13) students who were in two different classes and taught by two different teachers. The study was undertaken in ten class hours over a 4-week period, during which the topics related to matter and heat concepts were covered as a part of the regular Turkish Science and Technology Curriculum. Before the intervention, there was no significant difference between the two classes in terms of their achievements in the Science and Technology course (t(63) = −0.943, p > 0.05). Accordingly, one of the classes was randomly selected as the experimental group (EG). A modified version of the Draw-a-Scientist Test, in conjunction with individual interviews, was used to assess students’ images of scientists at the beginning and end of the study. The results showed that students who had followed evidence-informed instruction had significant gains from the pre-test to the post-test regarding their images of scientists compared to students with traditional instruction. Many students in the EG started to view scientists as realistic people rather than as extraordinary people or mythical creatures. Nevertheless, several students in the CG held images of scientists and their work which fit a stereotype of scientists as male, bald, bespectacled, wearing a laboratory coat, working alone in a laboratory environment and having a limited social life. Some possible implications for teaching and further research are discussed.

Data Repositories for Medical Education Research: Issues and Recommendations

The authors explore issues surrounding digital repositories with the twofold intention of clarifying their creation, structure, content, and use, and considering the implementation of a global digital repository for medical education research data sets-an online site where medical education researchers would be encouraged to deposit their data in order to facilitate the reuse and reanalysis of the data by other researchers. By motivating data sharing and reuse, investigators, medical schools, and other stakeholders might see substantial benefits to their own endeavors and to the progress of the field of medical education.The authors review digital repositories in medicine, social sciences, and education, describe the contents and scope of repositories, and present extant examples. The authors describe the potential benefits of a medical education data repository and report results of a survey of the Society for Directors of Research in Medicine Education, in which participants responded to questions about data sharing and a potential data repository. Respondents strongly endorsed data sharing, with the caveat that principal investigators should choose whether or not to share data they collect. A large majority believed that a repository would benefit their unit and the field of medical education. Few reported using existing repositories. Finally, the authors consider challenges to the establishment of such a repository, including taxonomic organization, intellectual property concerns, human subjects protection, technological infrastructure, and evaluation standards. The authors conclude with recommendations for how a medical education data repository could be successfully developed.

Estimating Multilevel Logistic Regression Models When the Number of Clusters is Low: A Comparison of Different Statistical Software Procedures

Multilevel logistic regression models are increasingly being used to analyze clustered data in medical, public health, epidemiological, and educational research. Procedures for estimating the parameters of such models are available in many statistical software packages. There is currently little evidence on the minimum number of clusters necessary to reliably fit multilevel regression models. We conducted a Monte Carlo study to compare the performance of different statistical software procedures for estimating multilevel logistic regression models when the number of clusters was low. We examined procedures available in BUGS, HLM, R, SAS, and Stata. We found that there were qualitative differences in the performance of different software procedures for estimating multilevel logistic models when the number of clusters was low. Among the likelihood-based procedures, estimation methods based on adaptive Gauss-Hermite approximations to the likelihood (glmer in R and xtlogit in Stata) or adaptive Gaussian quadrature (Proc NLMIXED in SAS) tended to have superior performance for estimating variance components when the number of clusters was small, compared to software procedures based on penalized quasi-likelihood. However, only Bayesian estimation with BUGS allowed for accurate estimation of variance components when there were fewer than 10 clusters. For all statistical software procedures, estimation of variance components tended to be poor when there were only five subjects per cluster, regardless of the number of clusters.

The ethnographer as impresario–joker in the (re)presentation of educational research as performance art: towards a performance ethic

The paper reflects critically on the use of arts-based approaches to (re)present ethnographic educational research data, positing that the use of these artistic genres while creating new opportunities for engaging and enacting the complexities of twenty-first century realities also pose new challenges particularly in relation to the application of a performative methodological rigour. In engaging with this issue, the author conceptually borrows in part from Boal to situate himself as impresario–joker and through this lens reflects critically on the performative process and performance ethic underpinning his work – as a non-artist researcher – to stage a piece of ethnographic educational research as performance art. The paper while supporting the potential of using the arts in the (re)presentation of ethnographic data, also acknowledges that the securing of its academic legitimacy requires the establishment of a performance ethic if it is to be taken seriously within the academy.

Environmental contributors to the achievement gap

Extensive research shows that blacks, those of low socioeconomic status, and other disadvantaged groups continue to exhibit poorer school performance compared with middle and upper-class whites in the United States’ educational system. Environmental exposures may contribute to the observed achievement gap. In particular, childhood lead exposure has been linked to a number of adverse cognitive outcomes. In previous work, we demonstrated a relationship between early childhood lead exposure and end-of-grade (EOG) test scores on a limited dataset. In this analysis, data from the North Carolina Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program surveillance registry were linked to educational outcomes available through the North Carolina Education Research Data Center for all 100 counties in NC. Our objectives were to confirm the earlier study results in a larger population-level database, determine whether there are differences in the impact of lead across the EOG distribution, and elucidate the impact of cumulative childhood social and environmental stress on educational outcomes. Multivariate and quantile regression techniques were employed. We find that early childhood lead exposure is associated with lower performance on reading EOG test scores in a clear dose-response pattern, with the effects increasingly more pronounced in moving from the high end to the low end of the test score distribution. Parental educational attainment and family poverty status also affect EOG test scores, in a similar dose-response fashion, with the effects again most pronounced at the low end of the EOG test score distribution. The effects of environmental and social stressors (especially as they stretch out the lower tail of the EOG distribution) demonstrate the particular vulnerabilities of socioeconomically and environmentally disadvantaged children. Given the higher average lead exposure experienced by African American children in the United States, lead does in fact explain part of the achievement gap.

Using Secondary Data in Educational and Social Research – By Emma Smith

The article reviews the book Using Secondary Data in Educational and Social Research, by Emma Smith.

Introduction to the special issue on growth models for longitudinal data in educational research

A brief introduction to this special issue of Educational Research and Evaluation is given. Current trends in the analysis of longitudinal data begin with a model for change within the individual, as in latent growth modeling or multilevel modeling of individual growth data. This individual-level model can then be nested within a higher order model for variation in individual-level parameters. The 5 papers within this special issue each present unique contributions to the study of individual growth models in educational research and will contribute to a greater awareness of innovations in growth modeling procedures among educational researchers.

Discussion of the special issue on growth models for longitudinal data in educational research

In his introduction to this special issue, Roger Millsap has given an excellent summary of its contents. This eases our task considerably. In what follows, we first present some general observations about growth curve modeling of longitudinal data. Among other things, we will address the criticism that the popular latent growth curve model may yield spurious (linear, quadratic, etc.) components. Then we will proceed with a discussion of each of the 5 contributing papers. In closing, we will draw attention to new methodological developments that are of interest to analyses of developmental processes in general.

Development and Application of a Situated Apprenticeship Approach to Professional Development of Astronomy Instructors

Professional development for astronomy instructors largely focuses on enhancing their understanding of the limitations of professor-centered lectures while also increasing awareness and better implementation of learning strategies that promote a learner-centered classroom environment. Given how difficult it is to get instructors to implement well-developed and innovative teaching ideas, even when these instructors are supplied with significant and compelling education research data, one must wonder what is missing from the most commonly used professional development experiences. This article proposes a learner- centered approach to professional development for college instructors, which we call situated apprenticeship. This novel approach purposely goes beyond simple awareness building and conventional modeling, challenging instructors to actively engage themselves in practicing teaching strategies in an environment of peer review in which participants offer suggestions and critiques of each other’s implementation. Through this learner-centered teaching and evaluation experience, instructors’ preexisting conceptual and pedagogical understandings of a particular instructional strategy are brought forth and examined in an effort to promote a real change of practice that positively impacts both their core pedagogical content knowledge and their skills in successfully implementing these teaching strategies. We believe that the adoption of our situated apprenticeship approach for professional development will increase the frequency and success of college instructors’ implementation of research-validated instructional strategies for interactive learning.

The Politics of Open-Access Publishing: <i>M/C Journal</i>, Public Intellectualism, and Academic Discourses of Legitimacy

This article investigates the discourses of academic legitimacy that surround the production, consumption, and accreditation of online scholarship. Using the web-based media and cultural studies journal (http://journal.media-culture.org.au) as a case study, it examines how online scholarly journals often position themselves as occupying a space between the academic and the popular and as having a functional advantage over print-based media in promoting a spirit of public intellectualism. The current research agenda of both government and academe prioritises academic research that is efficient, self-promoting, and relevant to the public. Yet, although the cost-effectiveness and public-intellectual focus of online scholarship speak to these research priorities, online journals such as M/C Journal have occupied, and continue to occupy, an unstable position in relation to the perceived academic legitimacy of their content. Although some online scholarly journals have achieved a limited form of recognition within a system of accreditation that still privileges print-based scholarship, I argue that this, nevertheless, points to the fact that traditional textual notions of legitimate academic work continue to pervade the research agenda of an academe that increasingly promotes flexible delivery of teaching and online research initiatives.

Publish and Graduate?: Earning a PhD by Published Papers in Australia

In the field of film and television studies there are numerous ways one can obtain a PhD. An alternative to the traditional PhD consisting of an 80–100,000 word thesis is the PhD by Publications. From the unearned honorary doctorate in film and television purchased on the Internet, to honorary doctorates bestowed according to film and television celebrity, to PhDs by Publications given to candidates who package together a number of films produced before enrolment to PhDs by Publications in which the submitted papers must be generated during candidacy, the range in requirements for this type of degree is huge. This paper argues for recognition of their varying status.

Another Test for Lead Effects: Early Childhood Exposure Influences End-of-Grade Scores

Vol. 115, No. 8 EnvironewsOpen AccessAnother Test for Lead Effects: Early Childhood Exposure Influences End-of-Grade Scores John Tibbetts John Tibbetts Search for more papers by this author Published:1 August 2007https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.115-a417bAboutSectionsPDF ToolsDownload CitationsTrack Citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InReddit Low-level lead exposure has been linked to decreased aptitude—or ability to learn—on standardized IQ tests for school-aged children. Moreover, research studies have suggested that declines in aptitude occur at blood lead levels below the current CDC blood lead action level of 10 μg/dL. Now a team of scientists has studied how lead exposure affects educational achievement—how well children have mastered material taught in school [EHP 115:1242–1247; Miranda et al.]. The results show that blood lead levels far lower than 10 μg/dL in early childhood correlate with lower educational achievement in elementary school as measured by performance on end-of-grade (EOG) tests.Data for the study came from two large databases generated by two different offices of the State of North Carolina for the same population but at different time periods. Blood surveillance data were provided by a state registry for seven adjacent North Carolina counties. The scientists used screening data from 1995 through 1998 for 35,815 children. For children who were screened more than once, the researchers used the highest blood lead level recorded. During this period, an estimated 21.9–30.4% of North Carolina children aged 1 and 2 years were screened for lead.The North Carolina Education Research Data Center provided educational testing data from 2000–2004 for fourth-grade students in the seven-county study region. In North Carolina, each child in grades 3 through 8 takes a multiple-choice EOG test in reading and mathematics.The researchers linked the two separate data sets to locate records of children who had been screened for lead and had also taken at least one EOG test. To ensure accuracy, the researchers used 16 different combinations of identifiers, including Social Security numbers, date of birth, the county’s Federal Information Processing Standards code, and first and last name. This process linked 42.2% of screened children to at least one EOG record.The scientists found a strong dose–response effect between early childhood lead exposure and performance on elementary school achievement tests. Childhood blood lead levels as low as 2 μg/dL at age 1 or 2 years had a discernible correlation with deficits in later EOG testing. A blood lead level of 4 μg/dL was associated with a significant decline in EOG reading and math scores, with an impact nearly equal to that of participating in the free or reduced lunch program, the classic poverty indicator in school data. The researchers want to follow the same children through their elementary, middle school, and high school years to assess the persistence of the effects found in this study.Another angle on leadLead exposure has long been known to affect aptitude. New results show achievement also is at risk, and at levels below CDC recommendations.FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Vol. 115, No. 8 August 2007Metrics About Article Metrics Publication History Originally published1 August 2007Published in print1 August 2007 Financial disclosuresPDF download License information EHP is an open-access journal published with support from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health. All content is public domain unless otherwise noted. Note to readers with disabilities EHP strives to ensure that all journal content is accessible to all readers. However, some figures and Supplemental Material published in EHP articles may not conform to 508 standards due to the complexity of the information being presented. If you need assistance accessing journal content, please contact [email protected]. Our staff will work with you to assess and meet your accessibility needs within 3 working days.

The Relationship between Early Childhood Blood Lead Levels and Performance on End-of-Grade Tests

BackgroundChildhood lead poisoning remains a critical environmental health concern. Low-level lead exposure has been linked to decreased performance on standardized IQ tests for school-aged children.ObjectiveIn this study we sought to determine whether blood lead levels in early childhood are related to educational achievement in early elementary school as measured by performance on end-of-grade (EOG) testing.MethodsEducational testing data for 4th-grade students from the 2000–2004 North Carolina Education Research Data Center were linked to blood lead surveillance data for seven counties in North Carolina and then analyzed using exploratory and multivariate statistical methods.ResultsThe discernible impact of blood lead levels on EOG testing is demonstrated for early childhood blood lead levels as low as 2 μg/dL. A blood lead level of 5 μg/dL is associated with a decline in EOG reading (and mathematics) scores that is roughly equal to 15% (14%) of the interquartile range, and this impact is very significant in comparison with the effects of covariates typically considered profoundly influential on educational outcomes. Early childhood lead exposures appear to have more impact on performance on the reading than on the mathematics portions of the tests.ConclusionsOur emphasis on population-level analyses of children who are roughly the same age linked to previous (rather than contemporaneous) blood lead levels using achievement (rather than aptitude) outcome complements the important work in this area by previous researchers. Our results suggest that the relationship between blood lead levels and cognitive outcomes are robust across outcome measures and at low levels of lead exposure.

Conceptual and Statistical Problems of Using Between-Class Data in Educational Research

This article looks at the methodological problems created by incorrectly using between-class data when looking at effects generated by individual students. The grade/evaluation association found in the student evaluation of teaching was used as a case example. A theoretical framework to understand the contributions to the relationship by both between-class data (leniency) and within-class data (reciprocity) was created that shows how the two are confounded when looking only at between-class effects. The findings suggest that within-class data is the appropriate starting point when investigating associational problems with either within-or between-case data.

Easier analysis and better reporting: Modelling ordinal data in mathematics education research

This paper presents an examination of the use of Rasch modelling in a major research project,Improving Middle Years Mathematics and Science (IMYMS). The project has generated both qualitative and quantitative data, with much of the qualitative data being ordinal in nature. Reporting the results of analyses for a range of audiences necessitates careful, well-designed report formats. Some useful new report formats based on Rasch modelling—the Modified Variable Map, the Ordinal Map, the Threshold Map, and the Annotated Ordinal Map—are illustrated using data from the IMYMS project. The Rasch analysis and the derived reporting formats avoid the pitfalls that exist when working with ordinal data and provide insights into the respondents’ views about their experiences in schools unavailable by other approaches.

Using video to investigate preschool classroom interaction: education research assumptions and methodological practices

This article reports on the use of video to collect dynamic visual data in education research and proposes that using visual technologies to collect data can give new insights into classroom interaction. Video data unveil how young children use the full range of material and bodily resources available to them to make and express meaning, forcing a reconsideration of Vygotskian accounts of the relationship between thought and language by producing grounded evidence for a pluralistic interpretation of the construction and negotiation of meaning. In addition to challenging language-biased approaches to classroom interaction, using video to collect data also forces a reexamination of established methodological practices. Drawing on data from ESRC-funded ethnographic video case studies of 3-year-old children communicating at home and in a preschool playgroup, this article discusses methodological and ethical dilemmas encountered in the collection and transcription, or representation, of dynamic visual data, arguing that visual data gives insights into aspects of communicative behaviour previously unaccounted for in early years education research.