Research-based Materials Research Articles

Erratum to: Evaluating Effectiveness of Two Types of Chinese Remedial Materials for Low-Achieving and Disadvantaged Second Graders

Having access to research-based materials is an essential component for designing effective interventions for low-achieving and disadvantaged students. The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of two types of reading material intervention for low-achieving and disadvantaged students. The students were divided into experimental (n = 29) and control (n = 27) groups. The students in the control group received the alternative remediation program provided by the school. The experimental group was divided into two subgroups: 19 students received “auxiliary” reading remediation materials (the AUX group), while the other 10 received “adjusted” reading remediation materials (the ADJ group). Data were gathered from the pre and post-test results of a variety of reading and writing tests. There were three major findings. First, both the AUX and ADJ groups showed advantages in attaining results, but there were no significant differences between them in terms of promoting language skills. Furthermore, the AUX group had a slight advantage with regard to overall progress and peer catch-up rate, while the ADJ group showed higher effectiveness than the AUX group in the enhancement of academic performance. Second, the language skills of the students in the two experimental groups have relatively closed the gap with the norm. Specifically, over 50 % of the students in the AUX group achieved peer-level character recognition and dictation abilities in the second-term posttest. Third, both experimental groups demonstrated better reading skills than the control group, but there were no significant differences in terms of reading comprehension. Implications of the study will be discussed based on the findings from this study.

LONG LIVE TRADITIONAL TEXTBOOK PROBLEMS!?—CONSTRAINTS ON FACULTY USE OF RESEARCH-BASED PROBLEMS IN INTRODUCTORY COURSES

Though many research-based problem types have been shown effective in promoting students’ conceptual understanding and scientific abilities, the extent of their use in actual classrooms remains unclear. We interviewed and surveyed 16 physics and engineering faculty members at a large US Midwest research university to investigate how university instructors value and use different types of problems in teaching their introductory courses. Most of these instructors valued traditional textbook problems as a useful building block and used them frequently. They also valued non-traditional problems but seldom used them in their introductory courses. The divergence between value and use in part is due to limited resources and experience, time constraints, student reactions, and personal preferences. It is, however, also due to the fact that the beliefs held by some instructors regarding the nature of problem solving deviate from commonly accepted views in educational research. Although on average instructors were hesitant to reduce more than 20 % of course content for research-based materials, they showed great interest in collaborating with educational researchers at a more personal level to increase the use of non-traditional problems in teaching. Our study indicates that instructors need not only research-based problems suitable for their introductory classes, but also assistance in how to effectively implement these problems.

A Call for Improvement: The Need for Research-Based Materials in American Sign Language Education

Educational reform and financial considerations have emphasized accountability and use of research-based materials and strategies in education. Simultaneously, with growing enrollment in elementary, secondary, and postsecondary ASL programs, the number of commercially marketed materials has grown. Do such materials stand up under scrutiny when examined for relationship to current educational research and to requests for evidence of efficacy? A commercially available program for improving fingerspelling recognition was tested, using qualitative and quantitative methods, as an example of the type of research needed within the field.

Instructors’ reasons for choosing problem features in a calculus-based introductory physics course

This study investigates how the beliefs and values of physics faculty influence their choice of physics problems for their students in an introductory physics course. The study identifies the goals these instructors have for their students, the problem features they believe facilitate those goals, and how those features correspond to problems they choose to use in their classes. This analysis comes from an artifact-based interview of 30 physics faculty teaching introductory calculus-based physics at a wide variety of institutions. The study concludes that instructors' goals and the problem features they believe support those goals align with research-based curricular materials intended to develop competent problem solvers. However, many of these instructors do not use the beneficial problem features because they believe these features conflict with a more powerful set of values concerned with clarity of presentation and minimizing student stress, especially on exams.

High School Students’ Conceptual Coherence of Qualitative Knowledge in the Case of the Force Concept

High School Students’ Conceptual Coherence of Qualitative Knowledge in the Case of the Force Concept

Using Scientific Knowledge to Inform Preschool Assessment: Making the Case for “Empirical Validity”

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 crystallized the concern for accountability in education. National testing was mandated as a way to improve the “broken” educational system. Publicly funded early education programs were not spared from such testing. While the positive effects of high-quality early education on children’s later school achievement is well demonstrated, too many early care and educational settings in the United States are of minimal or poor quality. Accountability is clearly important for increasing the quality of our early childhood programs, however, it is not yet evident how best to formulate a standard of accountability that reflects the body of knowledge we have gained concerning how young children learn. In this report, we propose two major thrusts designed to bring about a more scientifically informed accountability system: reconceptualizing the ways in which we think about the validity of our test instruments, and reconceptualizing markers of development from products of learning (performance standards) to processes of learning. We introduce the term “empirical validity” to draw attention to the fact that assessments should be built on current empirical work in the various developmental domains. This report focuses on the domains of language and literacy, two areas of major concern for the Federal Head Start program and for which there is an abundance of current research. This body of knowledge provides many examples illustrating how an emphasis on process rather than product can be vital for improving the quality of education. For example, although vocabulary is centrally important and psychometrically adequate tests of early vocabulary exist, these tests do not measure essential aspects of word learning that have been identified as predictive of later language and reading success in early language learning literature. Our case study of language and literacy illustrates how today’s developmental science offers a new knowledge that can be strategically incorporated in assessments for empirically valid testing of children’s competencies. The same argument for “empirically valid” and evidence-based assessments applies to other domains of cognitive growth and to socio-emotional development. The future of preschool assessment would be well served by attention to primary research that focuses on the processes of learning. In this report, we also suggest that one possible avenue for progress in assessment would center on integrative and dynamic assessment techniques that would comprehensively capture the nature of children’s learning, minimize validity concerns related to context and culture, and evaluate how competencies in different developmental domains interact for optimal learning. To bridge the gap between science and policy, developmental scientists and test developers are urged to work together to create innovative ways to chart the developmental processes that support learning and progress toward social maturity in ways designed to ensure that research findings are continuously reflected in current assessments.

2002 DISTINGUISHED FELLOW OF THE AMERICAN COUNCIL ON CONSUMER INTERESTS

Presentation to Robin A. Douthitt by Karen P. Goebel April 5, 2002 It is an honor to welcome Robin A Douthitt as the 31st Distinguished Fellow of the American Council on Consumer Interests, this most prestigious award presented by ACCI. You may identify Robin as a long-time member of ACCI, supporter of our causes and mission, consistent presenter at our annual meetings, well published in The Journal of Consumer Affairs, co-editor of Advancing the Consumer Interest, and as a Past President and Board member. Some members of ACCI remember Robin as an undergraduate student coming to ACCI conferences with other students from Ohio State University, lured here by professor and mentor Jean S. Bowers. Professor Bowers made it clear that this was the number one consumer organization in the country and that if you are going to work in this field, you need to be an active member of ACCI. For Robin this meant bringing her peanut butter and crackers and using free floor space from Dr. Bowers to defray costs. Her ascendency to Deanship at University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2001 is the most recent signpost on the road from her years following achievement of a master's and doctorate in Human Ecology at Cornell University. During her time as chair of our Consumer Science department at UW-Madison, she offered outstanding contributions to ACCI. As President, she spearheaded the complete reorganization of the Council's governance as part of a major strategic planning exercise. She chaired many committees: the Esther Peterson Lecture, professional development, the Colston Warne Lecture, nominations, and research. She created the nationwide email research network of ACCI members. Also, Robin started the mentoring project to provide newcomers to the profession a means of critical feedback of their manuscripts from experts in the field prior to journal submission. Previously, Robin served on the Board and as Vice-President of the Consumer Association of Canada-Saskatchewan, a member of SOCAP and its Blue Ribbon Committee on Long Term Professional Development. She has been the faculty advisor to the Consumer Science Student Association associated with SOCAP. As a consumer researcher, her interests range from child support policy analysis to Bovine Growth Hormone to methods of assigning value to unpaid labor. Especially memorable is her ACCI panel presentation on the consumer attitudes and perceptions about rBGH. Speaking about this controversial issue to an audience of consumer advocates is quite different from speaking to reporters in America's Dairyland about the knowns and unknowns of rBGH. Few other consumer economists have been so prominent in helping to produce research-based materials on policy issues surrounding biotechnology and food safety. Robin has never shied away from issues just because they were contentious. She is highly respected for her contributions on the value of time and frequently sought as a speaker and consultant in valuing time in home production and the economic impact of volunteers. She has published in many distinguished journals including the Journal of Consumer Policy, Journal of Public Policy and Marketing, as well as others relat ed to her field. Robin is known as a person with great ideas who works to make them become realities. As an untenured faculty member, she undertook an ambitious study about the retention of untenured women at UW-Madison. She found that many times women faculty felt isolated and often left to seek a more supportive environment. …

Designing research-based materials to promote safer sex amongst young people

Studies of relationships, sexual behaviour, condom use, termination rates and the spread of sexually transmitted diseases suggest that many young people require greater preparation if they are to minimise distress and health threats in their romantic and sexual relationships. Yet most safer sex promotion programmes have been found to be ineffective. Social cognitive theories have been found to reliably distinguish between those who do and do not report subsequent condom use. These theories provide a framework for designing and evaluating safer sex promotion materials and have informed the development of a new school-based sex education programme—the SHARE programme.

Midwifery in Australia and surrounding reions: Dilemmas, debates and Development

This paper discusses the professional issues currently facing midwives and maternity services in Australia and the Pacific region, which are influenced by midwifery being predominantly a women's profession and by working in health systems that are dominated by medicine and nurses. In Australia, the educational preparation of midwives has recently shifted from hospitals to universities, and only nurses can train to be midwives, even though urban midwives rarely work as nurses during their careers. This situation is different in rural Australia and the Pacific islands, where nurse-midwives maybe the only health workers for whole villages and towns, yet the need for a dual system of traininghas notbeen accepted anywhere in Australia. This paper argues for the incorporation of research into practice; the use of high quality, research-based materials to guide the provision of safe, women-centred, midwifery care; and improvements in the profile, quality and contribution of midwifery to maternal and child health services throughout the region.