Evaluation and assessment in teacher education : an analysis of the assessment culture of an Ontario initial teacher education program

The Ontario Ministry of Education, with the shortest teacher evaluation programs in the nation, is proposing changes to the two-semester teacher education "Professional Year" in favour of a longer program. Rather than looking at either the semester length or the number of semesters of a program, an evaluation of the assessment culture and curriculum of the teacher education program may be more appropriate to evaluate the effectiveness and quality of Ontario's pre-service teacher education. This is one such audit. This mixed method analysis uses a course syllabus review, teacher candidate surveys and semi-structured interviews to identify the assessment culture of the initial teacher education program. The creation and comparison of ethnographic profiles of course assignments allow for a deeper analysis of the assessment protocols associated with the Primary/Junior, Junior/Intermediate, and Intermediate/Senior divisions. Initial results show that the teacher education program at the Faculty in this study uses summative assessment through in-class presentations, lesson and unit plans, and reflective essays. Also, teacher candidates exhibit characteristics of both achieving and deep achieving learners. There is sufficient evidence to suggest that students would benefit from having all assignment information upfront on the first day of class with the course syllabi containing not only the assignment weight, name, and due date, but also all information required to complete the assessment of the course

Psychometric Validation of Four-Item Exercise Identity and Healthy-Eater Identity Scales and Applications in Weight Loss Maintenance

Background: Identifying as someone who engages in health promoting behaviors like healthy eating and exercising may be associated with sustained engagement in those behaviors, but reliable and valid instruments are needed to improve the rigor of this research. Two studies were conducted to (1) examine the psychometric properties of a four-item exerciser identity measure (4-EI) and an adapted healthy-eater identity measure (4-HEI) and (2) examine differences in identity strengths across categories of weight loss success. Methods: Data from 1,709 community dwelling adults in the International Weight Control Registry (IWCR) were used. A random half of the sample was used to assess the proposed unidimensional factor structure of the 4-EI and 4-HEI and examine convergent and discriminant validity using Spearman rank-order correlations. One-way ANOVA was used in the other random half of the sample to compare 4-EI and 4-HEI scores (-3 to + 3) across three self-defined weight loss categories (‘Successful’, ‘Regain’, and ‘Unsuccessful’) and those maintaining ≥ 5% weight loss for &gt; 1 year vs. not. Results: Results support the unidimensional factor structure with all four items (eigenvalue scores &gt; 2.89) as well as convergent and discriminant validity for both measures. Exercise identity was strongly correlated with self-reported physical activity (r (735) = 0.52, p &lt;.001) and measures of autonomous motivation. Healthy eating identity was moderately correlated with cognitive restraint in eating (r (744) = 0.42, p &lt;.001) and other measures predictive of eating behavior. 4-EI and 4-HEI are stronger in Successful (4-EI: M = 0.90, SD = 1.77; 4-HEI: M = 1.56 SD = 1.37) vs. Regain (4-EI: M=-0.18, SD = 1.68; 4-HEI: M =.57, SD = 1.48) and Unsuccessful (4-EI:M=-0.28, SD = 1.62; 4-HEI: M = 0.51, SD = 1.33) and those maintaining ≥ 5% weight loss (4-EI:M = 0.47, SD = 1.78; 4-HEI: M = 1.13, SD = 1.49) vs. not (4-EI:M=-0.27, SD = 1.66; 4-HEI: M = 0.53, SD = 1.47), p’s &lt; 0.001. Conclusions: The 4-EI and 4-HEI have acceptable psychometric properties and can advance understanding of the role of identity in exercise and dietary behaviors and weight loss maintenance. Trial registration: The parent observational study, International Weight Control Registry (IWCR), for these sub-studies is registered in ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT04907396).</p

Game Analysis, Validation, and Potential Application of EyeToy Play and Play 2 to Upper-Extremity Rehabilitation

Objective. To describe and analyze the potential use of games in the commercially available EyeToy Play and EyeToy Play 2 on required/targeted training skills and feedback provided for clinical application. Methods. A summary table including all games was created. Two movement experts naïve to the software validated required/targeted training skills and feedback for 10 randomly selected games. Ten healthy school-aged children played to further validate the required/targeted training skills. Results. All but two (muscular and cardiovascular endurance) had excellent agreement in required/targeted training skills, and there was 100% agreement on feedback. Children’s performance in required/targeted training skills (number of unilateral reaches and bilateral reaches, speed, muscular endurance, and cardiovascular endurance) significantly differed between games . Conclusion. EyeToy Play games could be used to train children’s arm function. However, a careful evaluation of the games is needed since performance might not be consistent between players and therapists’ interpretation

Impact of a sketch-based tutoring system at multiple universities

Large class sizes in engineering programs often prevent instructors from providing detailed and meaningful feedback to students on their homework problems. While the literature shows that frequent and immediate formative feedback has several benefits in terms of knowledge gain and academic motivation, several instructors struggle to provide any feedback. Motivated by this inability, a sketch-based virtual tutoring system, named Mechanix, has been developed and implemented. Mechanix lets the students to sketch their freebody diagram on a virtual interface and the process involved is very close to using a pencil and paper. The system provides real-time feedback on the accuracy of their Freebody diagrams and the solution to the problem. This paper reports the implementation of Mechanix at two large public universities in the United States - Georgia Institute of Technology and Texas State University. Mechanix is used to solve specific assignments from each school that involve the use of freebody diagrams. Pre- and post- concept inventories are used to measure the improvements in the conceptual understanding of the students. The results show that students who solve their homework using Mechanix outperform their peers who do not in one school, whereas the results are similar across the two groups in the second school. The evaluation of the concept inventories shows that the students who used Mechanix has the same level of improvement in their conceptual knowledge compared to the control group

Listening to Voices: Understanding and Self-Management of Auditory Verbal Hallucinations in Young Adults

Aims Auditory Verbal Hallucinations (AVH) are a hallmark of psychosis, but affect many other clinical populations. Patients’ understanding and self-management of AVH may differ between diagnostic groups, change over time, and influence clinical outcomes. We aimed to explore patients’ understanding and self-management of AVH in a young adult clinical population. Method 35 participants reporting frequent AVH were purposively sampled from a youth mental health service, to capture experiences across psychosis and non-psychosis diagnoses. Diary and photo-elicitation methodologies were used – participants were asked to complete diaries documenting experiences of AVH, and to take photographs representing these experiences. In-depth, unstructured interviews were held, using participant-produced materials as a topic guide. Conventional content analysis was conducted, deriving results from the data in the form of themes. Result Three themes emerged: (1)Searching for answers, forming identities – voice-hearers sought to explain their experiences, resulting in the construction of identities for voices, and descriptions of relationships with them. These identities were drawn from participants’ life-stories (e.g., reflecting trauma), and belief-systems (e.g., reflecting supernatural beliefs, or mental illness). Some described this process as active / volitional. Participants described re-defining their own identities in relation to those constructed for AVH (e.g. as diseased, 'chosen', or persecuted), others considered AVH explicitly as aspects of, or changes in, their personality. (2)Coping strategies and goals – patients’ self-management strategies were diverse, reflecting the diverse negative experiences of AVH. Strategies were related to a smaller number of goals, e.g. distraction, soothing overwhelming emotions, 'reality-checking', and retaining agency. (3)Outlook – participants formed an overall outlook reflecting their self-efficacy in managing AVH. Resignation and hopelessness in connection with disabling AVH are contrasted with outlooks of “acceptance” or integration, which were described as positive, ideal, or mature. Conclusion Trans-diagnostic commonalities in understanding and self-management of AVH are highlighted - answer-seeking and identity-formation processes; a diversity of coping strategies and goals; and striving to accept the symptom. Descriptions of “voices-as-self”, and dysfunctional relationships with AVH, could represent specific features of voice-hearing in personality disorder, whereas certain supernatural/paranormal identities and explanations were clearly delusional. However, no aspect of identity-formation was completely unique to psychosis or non-psychosis diagnostic groups. The identity-formation process, coping strategies, and outlooks can be seen as a framework both for individual therapies and further research

The Imprint of Gravitational Waves in Models Dominated by a Dynamical Cosmic Scalar Field

An alternative to the standard cold dark matter model has been recently proposed in which a significant fraction of the energy density of the universe is due to a dynamical scalar field ($Q$) whose effective equation-of-state differs from that of matter, radiation or cosmological constant ($\Lambda$). In this paper, we determine how the Q-component modifies the primordial inflation gravitational wave (tensor metric) contribution to the cosmic microwave background anisotropy and, thereby, one of the key tests of inflation.Comment: 15 pages, 14 figures, revtex, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Prenatal Bisphenol A Exposure and Early Childhood Behavior

BackgroundPrenatal exposure to bisphenol A (BPA) increases offspring aggression and diminishes differences in sexually dimorphic behaviors in rodents.ObjectiveWe examined the association between prenatal BPA exposure and behavior in 2-year-old children.MethodsWe used data from 249 mothers and their children in Cincinnati, Ohio (USA). Maternal urine was collected around 16 and 26 weeks of gestation and at birth. BPA concentrations were quantified using high-performance liquid chromatography–isotope-dilution tandem mass spectrometry. Child behavior was assessed at 2 years of age using the second edition of the Behavioral Assessment System for Children (BASC-2). The association between prenatal BPA concentrations and BASC-2 scores was analyzed using linear regression.ResultsMedian BPA concentrations were 1.8 (16 weeks), 1.7 (26 weeks), and 1.3 (birth) ng/mL. Mean (± SD) BASC-2 externalizing and internalizing scores were 47.6 ± 7.8 and 44.8 ± 7.0, respectively. After adjustment for confounders, log10-transformed mean prenatal BPA concentrations were associated with externalizing scores, but only among females [β = 6.0; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.1–12.0]. Compared with 26-week and birth concentrations, BPA concentrations collected around 16 weeks were more strongly associated with externalizing scores among all children (β = 2.9; 95% CI, 0.2–5.7), and this association was stronger in females than in males. Among all children, measurements collected at ≤ 16 weeks showed a stronger association (β = 5.1; 95% CI, 1.5–8.6) with externalizing scores than did measurements taken at 17–21 weeks (β = 0.6; 95% CI, −2.9 to 4.1).ConclusionsThese results suggest that prenatal BPA exposure may be associated with externalizing behaviors in 2-year-old children, especially among female children

Justify your alpha

Benjamin et al. proposed changing the conventional “statistical significance” threshold (i.e.,the alpha level) from p ≤ .05 to p ≤ .005 for all novel claims with relatively low prior odds. They provided two arguments for why lowering the significance threshold would “immediately improve the reproducibility of scientific research.” First, a p-value near .05provides weak evidence for the alternative hypothesis. Second, under certain assumptions, an alpha of .05 leads to high false positive report probabilities (FPRP2 ; the probability that a significant finding is a false positive