Research-based Recommendations Research Articles

Writing in First Grade: The Quantity and Quality of Practices in Norwegian Classrooms

Writing at school start is critical for students’ literacy development but student composition is often undervalued in early education classrooms and understudied by literacy researchers. To address such needs, this mixed methods, sequential survey study investigated how writing practices are enacted in the fall semester of Norwegian 1st grade classrooms, and then inquired about teachers’ decision making regarding their instructional writing practices. Specifically, 299 teachers (99% response rate) reported on students’ writing opportunities (e.g., time spent, type of practices, genre of texts writing) and pedagogical practices for writing. Findings reveal meaningful differences in teachers’ writing practices which vary from skill-based approaches to communication-focused approaches. Analysis documented that, overall, limited time is devoted to writing, with 19% of teachers not giving students opportunity to write their own texts in the fall semester. In a follow-up questionnaire, the teachers, who had not yet had students write, were asked to provide their rationale. Response themes indicated (a) prioritization of reading-skill tasks, (b) a sequential conceptualization of literacy development (i.e., reading before writing) and (c) a lack of pedagogical content knowledge for how to implement appropriate writing practices. The findings are discussed in relation to research-based recommendations for writing. Additionally, this analysis provides insight into teachers’ understandings about children’s writing development and provides direction for future research.

Evaluating Quantitative Reasoning Strategies for Comparing Fractions: A Tool for Teachers

Meaningful inclusion of quantitative reasoning into mathematics instruction requires meaningful ways to evaluate it. Few formative assessments exist to evaluate the strategies students use when reasoning mathematically. The Framework for Evaluating Quantitative Reasoning Strategies presented in this article provides teachers with categories for evaluating types of quantitative reasoning strategies students use for problems in the mathematical domain of number and operations. Numerous examples of the types of strategies students use for comparing fractions and how to evaluate the complexity of these strategies are provided. Included are research-based instructional recommendations for moving students toward a deeper conceptual understanding of fractions as numbers.

Policy pivot in Puget Sound: Lessons learned from marine protected areas and tribally-led estuarine restoration

Environmental change amplifies the challenge of protecting and restoring Puget Sound. As rising pressures from population growth, development, unsustainable resource use, climate impacts and other factors alter this urbanizing basin, efforts to recover salmon and ecosystem health and to enhance climate resilience face unprecedented social complexities and intensifying competition for space. A multi-method study of citizen and practitioner perspectives on protection and restoration suggests that capacity to manage under these conditions can be improved through strengthening an approach that has already become central in restoration practice: multiple-benefit planning. In this research, we examine and compare planning approaches used to develop marine protected areas (MPA) and estuary restoration (ER) projects in Puget Sound. Surveying non-tribal public attitudes toward these projects, we found limited knowledge concerning existing MPAs but support for wider use of such protections. We find that initiatives pursuing conservation, protection, restoration and resilience can gain advantage from (a) broadly inclusive and collaborative planning; (b) recognition of tribal treaty rights, management authorities, and leadership; (c) careful consideration and mitigation of project impacts on affected people (e.g. especially tribal and non-tribal fisheries for MPAs; farm interests and landowners for restoration projects). We note that “no-take” MPA designation has stalled, while ER efforts are overcoming sharp objections and controversies by crafting projects to deliver multiple social-ecological benefits: improved flood control and drainage, salmon recovery, recreational enjoyment, and resilience to climate change. Comparable strategies have not yet evolved in designation of “no-take” MPAs in Puget Sound. We offer conclusions and recommendations for accelerating conservation and resilience initiatives to keep pace with a changing environment. A key human dimensions research-based recommendation is that increasing environmental pressures intensify the need to strengthen collaborative and sustained planning and implementation processes.

Promoting Content Knowledge of Secondary Students With Learning Disabilities Through Comprehension Strategies

Students with learning disabilities struggle with basic comprehension skills across all content areas. By pairing comprehension strategies with content instruction, secondary content area teachers can strengthen students’ reading skills and content knowledge. This article provides an overview of two comprehension strategies, anticipation guides and double entry journals, that align with research-based recommendations in adolescent literacy and that can be employed across the primary content areas (i.e., English language arts, social/global studies, mathematics, and science).

Using Immediate Feedback to Improve Short-Term Learning in Extension

Program evaluation is an important part of any extension program and is often a required component by funding agencies. Given declining resources in land-grant universities, we must be creative in evaluating the learning and adoption of our research-based recommendations. I used a survey tool to give immediate feedback to participants in a wide variety of situations. Results indicate adults were receptive to this evaluation method, and close-ended questions can provide reliable evaluation data in an extension program. People showed improved significant learning with this technique and it is a model for other extension personnel.

Научно-практические рекомендации по профилактике эмоционального выгорания у судей

The article analyzes the specifics of judicial activity involving the judicial decisions through scrupulous analysis of available alternatives based on knowledge of the law and their own experience. It is noted that the willingness to take risks in situations of uncertainty combined with the high load, as well as individual psychological characteristics of the judge can lead to the formation of emotional burnout, which in turn, can cause miscarriages of justice. Based on the study of the psychological characteristics of the decision-making process in professional activities of 41 judges from different cities of the Russian Federation (all judges are males 30-54 years old (mean age 40 years); with professional experience from 3 to 32 years (average experience 13 years)) presents research-based recommendations for the prevention of emotional burnout among judges and optimizing the professional activities of the court to prevent miscarriages of justice.

Avoiding Damage of CO2 Injection Wells Caused by Temperature Variations

Well integrity is a prerequisite for safe geological storage of CO2. Both active and abandoned wells are man-made channels between the storage reservoir and the atmosphere that can become leakage paths over time. The CO2 injection wells are of special concern, as they are exposed to low temperatures and strong temperature variations. In oil/gas wells this is known to threaten well integrity, and it should therefore be investigated how the sealing ability of well barriers is affected in the temperature range relevant for CO2 injection wells. This has been the main focus in a research project entitled “Ensuring well integrity during CO2 injection” carried out in the period 2014-2016. This paper summarizes the major findings obtained within the project, and presents research-based recommendations for construction and operation of CO2 injection wells.

Recruitment and retention of Native American graduate students in school psychology.

There is a clear underrepresentation of Native Americans in the field of school psychology. There are a number of factors that have led to this underrepresentation, including cultural and historical variables, barriers to accessing higher educational opportunities, and lack of financial support. Given the importance of having diverse perspectives in the field, as well as the need for mental health services and academic supports for Native American children and their families, school psychology trainers should consider actively recruiting and retaining Native American graduate students to doctoral and specialist programs. This article provides specific research-based recommendations for recruiting Native American students and strategies for supporting their success and matriculation in the program. (PsycINFO Database Record

On continuity case studies

This article is divided into three sections. The first section provides a taxonomy of case studies within the field of business continuity along with a brief commentary. The second section discusses the proper use of case studies in general pedagogy and provides research-based recommendations for their employment. The third section provides suggestions and examples of how business continuity case studies might be utilised specifically for instruction in the discipline of business continuity planning.

Teaching Children with Intellectual Disabilities: Analysis of Research-Based Recommendations

<p>The purpose of this qualitative study was to produce an overview of topics and practical recommendations that have been presented for teaching for students with intellectual disabilities in educational research articles published from 2000 to 2013. The sample of peer-reviewed research articles considering this topic was selected using a database search of the Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC). To represent the richness of this research area, the topic was purposely left broad, and the outline was made by focusing on the practical implications of research articles. These recommendations were identified, classified, synthesized, and evaluated. The implications for practice and research are presented based on the findings of this study.</p>

A Call to Action: The Challenges of Creative Teaching and Learning

Background/ContextIn spite of the widely acknowledged importance of creativity to society and the economy, scholars have had difficulty providing research-based recommendations for how to foster creativity in schools. The article extends three strands of research that have attempted to provide such recommendations: studies of whether creativity training enhances domain-general creativity; studies of whether arts education and arts integration enhance cognitive skills that transfer to other content areas; and studies of collaborative learning environments, designed to foster deeper conceptual understanding in the content areas.Purpose/ObjectiveThe focus of the article is to provide recommendations for how to design learning environments to foster greater creativity. I bring together arts education research, creativity research, and learning sciences research to provide recommendations for how to design learning environments to foster creative learning outcomes.Research DesignThis is primarily a review article. It provides meta-analyses of three strands of research—creativity training, arts education, and learning sciences. The conclusion of this review is that domain-general creativity training is less effective than domain-specific changes in how each subject is taught.ConclusionsWe are not likely to enhance student creativity by teaching for creativity in a distinct, domain general way. Instead, educating for creativity is most effective when schools change the way each subject is taught. Learning sciences research has provided strong evidence that the most creative learning, in all subjects, results from pedagogical strategies that are active, constructivist, collaborative, and improvisational. I provide research-based recommendations for how to design learning environments that result in creative learning outcomes.

Mission Research as an Exercise in Humility

T be a researcher requires humility. Because researchers usually work behind the scenes, people who crave the spotlight have difficulty being good researchers. The same is true for mission researchers. Their role is absolutely essential in fostering and maturing a missionary movement, but the researcher needs to deny the human desire for immediate recognition and encouragement from others—or for immediate implementation of research-based recommendations. This article deals with five significant facets of mission research as experienced within a Majority World mission movement: (1) the role of a mission researcher in the development of the Korean missionary movement, (2) empirical research as incarnational, (3) the significance of humility in integrating various disciplines, (4) the need to update the methodology of mission research, and (5) future prospects for mission research. In addressing these issues, I draw on my experience as a mission researcher over the past twenty-five years.

Implementation and outcomes of inquiry-based learning in mathematics content courses for pre-service teachers

This mixed-methods study describes classroom characteristics and student outcomes from university mathematics courses that are based in mathematics departments, targeted to future pre-tertiary teachers, and taught with inquiry-based learning (IBL) approaches. The study focused on three two-term sequences taught at two research universities, separately targeting elementary and secondary pre-service teachers. Classroom observation established that the courses were taught with student-centred methods that were comparable to those used in IBL courses for students in mathematics-intensive fields at the same institutions. To measure pre-service teachers' gains in mathematical knowledge for teaching, we administered the Learning Mathematics for Teaching (LMT) instrument developed by Hill, Ball and Schilling for in-service teacher professional development. Results from the LMT show that pre-service teachers made significant score gains from beginning to end of their course, while data from interviews and from surveys of learning gains show that pre-service teachers viewed their gains as relevant to their future teaching work. Measured changes on pre-/post-surveys of attitudes and beliefs were generally supportive of learning mathematics but modest in magnitude. The study is distinctive in applying the LMT to document pre-service teachers' growth in mathematical knowledge for teaching. The study also suggests IBL is an approach well suited to mathematics departments seeking to strengthen their pre-service teacher preparation offerings in ways consistent with research-based recommendations.

An Hybrid Library Model for Newspaper Organisations: Research-Based Recommendations

In the nearly two centuries old Indian print media industry, the ‘newspaper business’ is the largest segment, which is highly dependent on the skills and calibers of the journalists. The newspaper journalists, by nature of their profession, very frequently seek information from various sources and channels and mainly from their ‘in-house newspaper library’. However, over the past decade, particularly, after the introduction of the Internet, digital archives, epaper archives and other ICT tools into - both - newsrooms and newspaper libraries, the journalists’ approach to information seeking have gone through a paradigm shift. Therefore, the author of this paper undertook a doctoral level research work and examined the “Information Needs and Information Seeking Behaviour of English Newspaper Journalists in India in the Internet Era” with a prime objective to make a special recommendation for upgrading the Newspaper Library and Information Services (NLIS) for efficiently serving the information needs of the newspaper journalists. This paper broadly presents the overview of the research work and highlights its major findings. Further, this paper, as a major contribution to the newspaper librarianship, specifically recommends a new model for developing an integrated hybrid library for the newspaper organisations.

Recommendations on Formative Assessment and Feedback Practices for stronger engagement in MOOCs

Many publications and surveys refer to the high drop out rate in Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) which is around 90%, especially if we compare the number of students who register against those who finish. Working towards improving student engagement in MOOCs, we focus on providing specific research-based recommendations on formative assessment and feedback practices that can advance student activity. In this respect, we analysed some significant research papers on formative assessment and feedback methods applicable to face-to-face teaching environments that advance student engagement, and concluded with related requirements and conditions that can be applied also to MOOCs. We also analysed 4050 comments and reviews of the seven most active and highly rated MOOCs (6 Coursera ones and 1 from EdX) provided by the students who have mainly completed those courses via CourseTalk. Based on this content analysis, we have formulated fourteen recommendations that support also the requirements/conditions of our conceptual and theoretical framework analysis. The results obtained shed some light in a rather unexplored research area, which is the research on formative assessment and feedback practices specifically for stronger engagement in MOOCs.

Romanian scholarly productivity: recent history and recommendations

Romanian scholars, and others, have decried the quality and quantity of scholarly productivity from Romania. However, Romanian scholars face challenges of both tradition and resources as they try to westernize their higher education system. We analyzed data from two sources to compare Romanian scholarly productivity to that of other countries from Central and Eastern Europe that have similar histories, as well as to worldwide publication rates. We found that Romanian scholarly productivity is weak compared to other countries in psychology, sociology, environmental sciences, linguistics, geology and medicine. However, Romanian scholarly productivity has been comparable to other countries in agriculture and computer sciences. We also found that Romanian scholarly productivity has shown gains in engineering and economics compared to other countries over a 20-year period. We conclude this paper with research-based recommendations for improving scholarly productivity.

Effects of Timing and Intensity of Summer Pruning on Vegetative Traits of Two Southern Highbush Blueberry Cultivars

Pruning is a recommended practice for blueberry (Vaccinium spp.) production and is usually done in the summer in warm subtropical climates with long growing seasons. Summer pruning promotes healthy vegetative growth during the remainder of the growing season; however, research-based recommendations for summer pruning strategies are lacking. The objective of this study was to determine effects of summer pruning timing and intensity on vegetative growth in ‘Jewel’ and ‘Emerald’ southern highbush blueberry (V. corymbosum-interspecific hybrid), two cultivars of the primary species grown in subtropical areas. To determine effects of pruning time, 30% of the canopy was removed in June or July. To determine pruning intensity effects, either 30% or 60% of the canopy was removed in June, both followed by shoot tipping in July. Both timing and intensity treatments were compared with a non-pruned control. Lack of pruning in the first year had no negative effects on growth; however, lack of pruning for two or more seasons decreased regrowth volume and shoot length of both cultivars. By the third season, canopy regrowth volume in both cultivars decreased in the non-pruned control compared with the 30% and 60% pruning treatments and compared with the June pruning treatment. Disease infection in ‘Jewel’ was also increased in the non-pruned control compared with these pruning treatments. Summer pruning, regardless of timing or intensity, generally increased vigor of vegetative growth for both cultivars and decreased incidence of leaf disease in ‘Jewel’.

A Community College Instructor’s Reflective Journey Toward Developing Pedagogical Content Knowledge for Nature of Science in a Non-majors Undergraduate Biology Course

Research supports an explicit-reflective approach to teaching about nature of science (NOS), but little is reported on teachers’ journeys as they attempt to integrate NOS into everyday lessons. This participatory action research paper reports the challenges and successes encountered by an in-service teacher, Sarah, implementing NOS for the first time throughout four units of a community college biology course (genetics, molecular biology, evolution, and ecology). Through the action research cycles of planning, implementing, and reflecting, Sarah identified areas of challenge and success. This paper reports emergent themes that assisted her in successfully embedding NOS within the science content. Data include weekly lesson plans and pre/post reflective journaling before and after each lesson of this lecture/lab combination class that met twice a week. This course was taught back to back semesters, and this study is based on the results of a year-long process. Developing pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) for NOS involves coming to understand the overlaps and connections between NOS, other science subject matter, pedagogical strategies, and student learning. Sarah found that through action research she was able to grow and assimilate her understanding of NOS within the biology content she was teaching. A shift in orientation toward teaching products of science to teaching science processes was a necessary shift for NOS pedagogical success. This process enabled Sarah’s development of PCK for NOS. As a practical example of putting research-based instructional recommendations into practice, this study may be very useful for other teachers who are learning to teach NOS.

Research-Based Recommendations for Implementing International Service-Learning

An increasing number of schools of nursing are incorporating international service-learning and/or immersion experiences into their curriculum to promote cultural competence. The purpose of this paper is to identify research-based recommendations for implementing an international service-learning program. A review of literature was conducted in the Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature database using the keywords international, immersion, cultural competence, nursing, and international service-learning. Additional references were located from the reference lists of related articles. Planning of international or immersion experiences requires consideration of the type of country, the length of time, and design of the program; the use of a service-learning framework; opportunities that require the student to live and work in the community, provide hands-on care, participate in unstructured activities, and make home visits; and a method of reflection. Increasing cultural competence does not require foreign travel, but it does necessitate that students are challenged to move outside their comfort zone and work directly with diverse populations. These research-based recommendations may be used either internationally or locally to promote the most effective service-learning opportunities for nursing students.

Instructional Strategies for Training Military-Relevant Perceptual-Cognitive Skills

A growing body of research evidence suggests that essential perceptual-cognitive skills can be enhanced through training. Despite this success, at present, these skills have been studied in relative isolation and across many domains, resulting in a research literature that lacks a coherent framework for clearly match-ing specific perceptual skills to specific training interventions. In response, this paper reviews the available literature that investigates the effectiveness of interventions aimed at training military-relevant perceptual-cognitive skills (e.g., situation awareness, anticipatory skills), organizes these interventions and skills into a usable framework, and provides concrete, research-based recommendations for training specific skills.