Hypothetical Students Research Articles

Healthcare Students' Perceptions and Attitudes Towards Peers with Autism Spectrum Disorders.

The present study investigates healthcare students' affective, behavioral, and cognitive attitudes toward hypothetical peers with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and the effect of the ASD label on their attitudes. The MAS scale for ASD persons in the postsecondary education (Matthews et al., 2015) was translated and adapted in Greek according to the guidelines of World Health Organization (2016). Participants (n = 444) were randomly divided into three equal groups and completed their demographic information. Each participant read the three vignettes of the Greek-adapted MAS scale describing a communicative interaction with one hypothetical fellow student with autistic characteristics in three different social situations but in each group, the vignette's character was labeled differently (High-functioning, typical college student, and no-label). Students in the High-functioning group demonstrated more positive affective, behavioral, and cognitive attitudes toward the vignette characters than students in the no-label condition. Furthermore, students in the typical student group reported more rejective behaviors toward the vignette characters than students in the high-functioning group, implying that atypical behavior evokes rejection and stigmatization, while the label did not. Male students presented more positive cognitive attitudes across study groups in comparison to female students, while previous contact with individuals with ASD did not seem to impact significantly attitudes. The findings of the study indicate that knowledge of an ASD diagnosis leads to greater acceptance and have important implications for future research, disability policy makers, and university support services.

What pedagogy feels like: Teachers’ development of pedagogical empathy in rehearsal debriefs

ABSTRACT Background Emotions are inherently intertwined with learning and disciplinary identity, and this relationship demands that teachers attend and respond to students’ emotions. In this study, we forward a theory that the development of pedagogical empathy, or the capacity to understand the implications of student emotions and use emotional data to make adaptive pedagogical decisions, is a component of adaptive expertise. Methods Using qualitative methods to analyze the discourse in eight debrief discussions among secondary mathematics teachers following rehearsals of practice, we examine how teachers used this opportunity to generate and use emotional data in support of the development of pedagogical empathy. Findings We found that rehearsal debriefs provided an opportunity to make emotional data available to participants in three ways and that teachers then used that emotional data in six ways across the debriefs. Student emotions, both from teachers in the position of students and in consideration of hypothetical students in the classroom, were pervasive in the debrief discussions. Contribution After considering the ways in which emotional data were made visible and used, we return to theory to consider how these highlight the opportunities rehearsals offer to develop pedagogical empathy and discuss implications for teacher education and future research.

A conduta didático-metodológica de professores em formação na discussão sobre a forma da Terra com alunos do Ensino Fundamental

Abstract People's perceptions of the shape of the Earth are discussed extensively, but little is said about how teachers approach this subject. In this research, we seek to gain insight into the pedagogical and methodological strategies that aspiring educators envisage for teaching about this topic. Drawing from Harres’ research, we devised and implemented a questionnaire in which each participant shared instructional and methodological approaches based on their perception of a hypothetical student's response about the Earth’s shape. The findings suggest that the respondents have a pre-existing awareness of the students' perspectives on the matter. Differences between the two groups that came up highlight the significance of pedagogical debates in training future teachers.

Exploring Barriers to the Inclusion of Underrepresented Minorities in Urology: The Temporal and Financial Costs of Residency Interviews

ObjectiveTo investigate whether interview travel cost and time differed for urology residency applicants from medical schools with higher vs lower proportions of students from groups underrepresented in medicine (URiMs). MethodsWe identified 22 medical schools, 11 with <15% and 11 with >20% URiM students, and 17 “highly ranked” urology residency programs. We contacted the residency programs and requested interview dates, preferred lodging options, and institution-based cost-savings. We constructed interview itineraries for 22 hypothetical students (one from each school), and compared the total cost and time for travel to all 17 interviews. Total travel time and interview costs for the students at schools with <15% and >20% URiM were compared, with findings considered statistically significant at P <.05. ResultsEach student was able to attend all 17 interviews. The median total cost was similar for applicants from schools >20% URiM ($8074.80; range: $7027.60-$13702.59) and <15% URiM ($8764.60; range: $6698.48-$11966.83; P = .89). The median aggregate travel time for applicants from schools >20% URiM was 176.4 (range: 93.7-246.2) hours and for applicants from schools <15% URiM was 160.5 (range: 128.2-203.9) hours (P = .62). ConclusionFinancial and temporal costs were similar for applicants from medical schools with <15% or >20% URiM students. Thus, absolute cost considerations are unlikely to account for differences in URiM representation in urology. However, the relative impact of interview costs may be different for URiM students. Effective and durable engagement of URiM students in urology requires an introspective assessment of objective vs anecdotal barriers to recruiting and retaining URiM medical students.

How teachers form educational expectations for students: A comparative factorial survey experiment in three institutional contexts

While schools are thought to use meritocratic criteria when evaluating students, research indicates that teachers hold lower expectations for students from disadvantaged backgrounds. However, it is unclear what the unique impact is of specific student traits on teacher expectations, as different traits are often correlated to one another in real life. Moreover, research has neglected the role of the institutional context, yet tracking procedures, financial barriers to education, and institutionalized cultural beliefs may influence how teachers form expectations. We conducted a factorial survey experiment in three contexts that vary with respect to these institutional characteristics (The United States, New York City; Norway, Oslo; the Netherlands, Amsterdam). We asked elementary school teachers to express expectations for hypothetical students whose characteristics were experimentally manipulated. Teachers in the different contexts used the same student traits when forming expectations, yet varied in the importance they attached to these traits. In Amsterdam – where teachers track students on the basis of their performance and tracking bears significant consequences for educational careers – we found a large impact of student performance. In Oslo – where institutions show an explicit commitment to equality of educational opportunity – teachers based their expectations less on student effort, and seemed to make more inferences about student performance by a student's socio-economic background. New York teachers seemed to make few inferences about student performance based on their socio-economic background.

Prospective Teachers’ Difficulties in Integrating Technology Into Problem Solving and Teaching on Rational Numbers

Background: The use of technology in mathematics teaching is fundamental because it enables students to activate basic mathematical processes. This makes it necessary to carry out studies to identify the prospective teachers’ knowledge, so technology can be integrated into their teaching. Models such as TPACK have been developed precisely to analyse the results of this type of study. Objectives: Describe the prospective teachers’ challenges to integrating technology into their explanations. Design: The study carried out is exploratory, with a descriptive purpose. Settings and participants: The research was carried out with a sample of 47 pairs of prospective teachers from the University of Zaragoza. Data collection and analysis: We used a data collection tool consisting of a task that involves solving a problem of products of fractions and designing the corresponding explanation for some hypothetical students of the early years, with and without technology. These data are analysed under the TPACK framework. Results: We identified and analysed the difficulties that our prospective teachers present in the face of some relationships between technology and content, and others of a pedagogical-mathematical nature, to relate different interpretations of the rational number adequately, and their tendency not to include technological tools to design their explanations. Conclusions: Our analysis allows us to propose actions to improve our teachers’ education to include technology in their classes.

Primary School Teachers’ and Teacher Candidates’ Attribituons Toward Students with Dyslexia

This study examined patterns in teachers' attributional responses to dyslexia. Teachers from elementary schools in Turkey (n=32) and preschool teacher candidates from a state university (n=32) participated in the study. Using written vignettes, four hypothetical male students were described, of two identified with dyslexia, and the other two had no dyslexia. Teachers were to assume each child had just taken a typical classroom writing assessment and failed to write correctly. Four categories of teacher responses were examined: reward or punishment (RP), anger (A), pity (P), and future expectations (FE). Patterns of significant difference in teachers’ and teacher candidates’ responses were not found. Attributional characteristics of elementary teachers and preschool teacher candidates’ responses are discussed.

College professors’ perceptions of students who stutter and the impact on comfort approaching professors

PurposePrevious literature has documented that college professors view hypothetical students who stutter more negatively than their fluent peers. The purpose of the present study was to investigate whether individuals who stutter report they experience more negative perceptions in the college classroom, and the impact of those perceptions on their comfort approaching professors. MethodsTwo hundred forty-six adults who do and do not stutter, matched for age, participated in this study. Participants were presented with 16 positive and negative personality traits and asked to rate how strongly they believed their professor viewed them along each trait. All participants were asked whether they felt comfortable approaching their professors to discuss their performance. Adults who stutter were asked additional questions to investigate their college experience more comprehensively. ResultsAdults who stutter reported they experienced significantly more negative perceptions from their professors than adults who do not stutter, and were significantly less likely to feel comfortable approaching their professors. These reported negative perceptions, specifically being perceived as less self-assured, predicted comfort approaching professors to receive performance feedback for adults who stutter. Finally, amongst adults who stutter, perception of how they were evaluated compared to their peers was significantly related to comfort approaching professors. ConclusionsResults support that the negative perceptions towards hypothetical students who stutter reported in previous literature are experienced by individuals who stutter, and that these perceptions drive comfort approaching professors for performative feedback. Results suggest professors may increase students’ comfort by clearly outlining equality in evaluation procedures.

Assessing the Impact of Sequential Data Presentation on Specific Learning Disabilities Identification Decisions Using Patterns of Strengths and Weaknesses Methods

Patterns of strengths and weaknesses represent relatively novel methods for identifying specific learning disabilities (SLD) with proponents asserting that the incorporation of multiple sources of assessment data and professional judgment play a key role in their utility. In this study, we examined if the sequential presentation of assessment data impacted school psychologists’ ratings as to whether or not hypothetical students depicted in special education evaluation vignettes should be identified with SLD. Results showed that when participants viewed vignettes that were indicative of SLD (i.e., SLD positive), SLD likelihood ratings increased with the additional presentation of assessment data sources over time. However, when participants viewed vignettes that were indicative of a student not having SLD (i.e., SLD negative), SLD likelihood ratings were relatively consistent over time. Moreover, participants demonstrated relatively high levels of confidence in their SLD identification decisions, and in SLD negative vignettes, confidence increased after the fourth assessment data source was presented. Implications for SLD identification are discussed.

DIY Science: A Cure for Cancer of the Next Plague

Abstract A twenty-something college student with an interest in science sits in his garage. He is tinkering with genetic materials and gene editing. He has ordered materials over the internet, has all the items he could want, and even has his own test subject—himself. He could inject himself with whatever products his experimentation manufactures. Our hypothetical college student has all the materials in his hands to make the next greatest discovery in the fight against cancer, or to create—intentionally or by accident—a genetically modified disease that could be incredibly lethal to the entire globe. This twenty-something college student is one of many emerging do-it-yourself scientists (“DIYers”). The reality of do-it-yourself (“DIY”) science is here, and it might be severely under regulated. This type of research could pose significant risks to all of humanity if an appropriate regulatory scheme is not developed. Conversely, too much regulation could prevent innovation.

Training Preservice Teachers to Match Assistive Technology to Student Needs

Understanding how to appropriately choose, implement, and utilize assistive technology (AT) for students on an individualized education program (IEP) is imperative to success within a school setting and has been shown to improve with preservice teachers’ (PST) training. This study investigated the impact that a training session in which PST were exposed to a variety of AT devices/software in one university’s AT lab and given direct instruction in the Student Environment Tasks Tools (SETT) framework for selecting appropriate AT by working through a training case study would have on PST knowledge of AT and its selection. Sixty-eight PST participated in this study, and the results demonstrate that the training increased their ability to name specific AT items on a presurvey ( M = 3.56, SD = 14.88) compared to the postsurvey ( M = 9.57, SD = 25.14). The increase of number of devices and software named pre- and postsurvey was significantly greater than chance, t(67) = −7.64, p &lt; .01). Most notably, participants could name the components of SETT on the postsurvey (94.12%) and apply the SETT framework to a hypothetical student, improving the quality and quantity of recommendations for the student. This study provides further evidence for inclusion of AT in teacher preparation programs.

Utilizing Peers to Support Academic Learning for Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder.

The inclusion of students with autism spectrum disorder in academic settings is becoming more common. However, most practices focus on increasing social skills even though students also struggle in academic areas. There is a need for strategies that address both social and academic skill deficits, are evidence based, and are easy to implement in the classroom. Peer-mediated interventions have evidence supporting their use in promoting social and academic behavior change and are socially valid and cost-effective. The purpose of this paper is to present examples of how to implement 2 common peer-tutoring strategies: Classwide Peer Tutoring and Peer-Assisted Learning Strategies. Examples for implementing both strategies are provided using a hypothetical student in a general education setting, followed by a brief summary of evidence supporting the peer-mediated academic instruction.

Race and Disability on Perception on Relative Fairness of Postsecondary Educational Accommodations

The purpose of the current study was to explore how students at a Midwestern University rated the fairness of a student with a disability receiving specific educational accommodations when controlling for the race of the student requesting the accommodation. We were also interested in exploring the impact of disability status and educational level of the student participants on their perception of how fair it would be for the student with the disability in the scenario to receive specific educational accommodations. A logistic regression analysis revealed that the race of the hypothetical student with a disability was not a significant predictor of whether a student deserved educational accommodations. Additionally, participants that disclosed that they had a disability thought the student in the disability-related case scenarios were more deserving of accommodations compared to participants that did not disclose having a disability.

Half the base or half the height?: Exploring a student’s justification of ½ × base × height

ABSTRACTThe purpose of this work was to explore how elementary pre-service teachers responded to a novel strategy for justifying the triangle area formula. We conducted interviews with 24 pre-service teachers, asking them to evaluate and respond to a hypothetical student strategy for the triangle area. Findings highlighted several interesting struggles our pre-service teacher experienced when assessing the mathematical content of the strategy, as well as differences in pedagogical responses depending on content knowledge. In many cases, pre-service teachers leveraged their understanding towards productive responses, while also grappling with a generalization of the strategy to other contexts. Recommendations for supporting pre-service teachers in navigating the intersection between content and pedagogical knowledge are discussed.

Adolescents’ social perceptions of academically high-performing students: a country and gender comparative study

ABSTRACT One cohort that has not been given extended attention in the period during which transition takes place is academically high-performing students. This research study uniquely synthesises some of these key factors by investigating how students in mixed-ability, seventh-grade classrooms across Australia, Peru, Scotland, South Korea, Spain and Vietnam regard a hypothetical, academically able peer. The fictitious student’s intellectual ability, positive social traits and popularity varied across the six countries involved in this study, and were observed according to the gender of the perceiver. More specifically, the perceived popularity of a high-performing boy or girl was reported differently among the country groups. In Scotland, for example, the authors uncovered a potential risk to female social status arising from peer reactions to her academic achievement. Yet in Vietnam, female study participants maintained a positive perception of both hypothetical students, regardless of gender. The results of this study are discussed herein.

Knowledge of persuasion and writing goals predict the quality of children’s persuasive writing

We assessed the influence of genre-specific discourse knowledge and writing goals on the persuasive writing of 4th and 6th grade students with and without learning disabilities (LD). Students were first interviewed about their knowledge of persuasion and persuasive writing. They then wrote a persuasive essay about a controversial topic after receiving either a general goal to persuade or an elaborated goal that focused on the inclusion of elements of persuasive discourse. Finally, the students were asked to generate ideas to assist a hypothetical student who was struggling to write a persuasive essay. Students in the elaborated goal condition produced higher quality persuasive essays than students in the general goal condition. In addition, students with LD wrote less persuasive essays than students without disabilities. Furthermore, knowledge of persuasion predicted the persuasiveness of students’ essays. However, the number and types of ideas students generated did not predict essay persuasiveness after accounting for the effects of other variables. Finally, the provision of an elaborated goal did not impact the number or type of ideas generated by the students. However, the students’ ideas evidenced considerable sensitivity to possible criticisms that could be leveled by an audience. The implications for argumentative writing are discussed.

Student gender, counselor gender, and college advice

ABSTRACTA gender gap currently exists in college STEM majors, with a lower percentage of females entering math intensive fields. One possible explanation is the advice students receive in high school. We conduct a survey of high school guidance counselors, soliciting their advice regarding hypothetical high school students’ college and major choices. We find counselors are more likely to believe outstanding female students will be successful at our selective college than outstanding male students, but are still less likely to recommend math majors to any female students.

Welcoming Deaf Students into STEM: Recommendations for University Science Education.

Scientists are shaped by their unique life experiences and bring these perspectives to their research. Diversity in life and cultural experiences among scientists, therefore, broadens research directions and, ultimately, scientific discoveries. Deaf individuals, for example, have successfully contributed their unique perspectives to scientific inquiry. However, deaf individuals still face challenges in university science education. Most deaf students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines interact with faculty who have little to no experience working with deaf individuals and who often have preconceptions or simply a lack of knowledge about deaf individuals. In addition to a lack of communication access, deaf students may also feel unwelcome in STEM, as do other underrepresented groups. In this essay, we review evidence from the literature and, where data are lacking, contribute the expert opinions of the authors, most of whom are deaf scientists themselves, to identify strategies to best support deaf students in university STEM education. We describe the journey of a hypothetical deaf student and methods for faculty to create a welcoming environment. We describe and provide recommendations for classroom seating and layout, accommodations, teaching strategies, and research mentoring. We also discuss the importance of including deaf scientists in research about deaf individuals.

Glioma detection on brain MRIs using texture and morphological features with ensemble learning

The real time usage of Computer Aided Diagnosis (CAD) systems to detect brain tumors as proposed in the literature is yet to be explored. Gliomas are the most commonly found brain tumors in human. The proposed non-invasive CAD system based on brain Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRIs) is capable of assisting radiologists and clinicians to detect not only the presence, but also the type of glioma tumors. The system is devised to work irrespective of the image pulse sequence. It uses different segmentation schemes for different pulse sequences, fusion of texture features, and ensemble classifier to perform three levels of classification. Once the tumor is detected at the first level of classification, its location is analyzed using tentorium of brain and it is classified into superatentorial or infratentorial in the next level. Based on the morphological and inherent characteristics of tumor (area, perimeter, solidity, and orientation), the system identifies tumor type at the third level of classification. The system reports average accuracy of 97.76% on JMCD (a dataset collected from local medical college) and 97.13% on BRATS datasets at the first level of classification. Average accuracy of 97.87% for astrocytomas, 94.24% for ependymoma, 96.29% for oligodendroglioma, and 98.69% for glioblastoma multiforme is observed for histologically classified JMCD dataset. The same is observed as 95.45% for low grade and 95.50% for high grade tumors in publically available BRATS dataset. The performance of the proposed CAD system is statistically examined through hypothetical Student’s t-test and Wilcoxon matched pair test. The performance of the system is also validated by domain experts for its possible real time usage.

Students’ Characteristics and Teachers’ Estimates about Their Academic Achievement

Abstract The relation between teachers’ expectations and students’ academic achievement has received considerable interest in the education and psychology domains. In this study, we analyze the extent to which the information about students influences the formulation of teachers’ estimates about their achievement. The sample consisted of 491 Portuguese teachers, aged between 26 and 82 years old (M age = 43 years). To assess the teachers’ estimates, we created excerpts containing information about hypothetical students, in relation to whom an estimate of academic success was required. Each excerpt had two versions (A and B), according to the more or less favorable information regarding students’ intellectual, family, self-regulation, and previous performance variables. The results show moderate differences between the estimates of the participants that received version A and those that received version B. The results are discussed considering the importance of a set of student characteristics for the way teachers develop estimates about student performance.