Formative Use of Assessment Information: It’s a Process, So Let’s Say What We Mean

The term formative assessment is often used to describe a type of assessment. The purpose of this paper is to challenge the use of this phrase given that formative assessment as a noun phrase ignores the well-established understanding that it is a process more than an object. A model that combines content, context, and strategies is presented as one way to view the process nature of assessing formatively. The alternate phrase formative use of assessment information is suggested as a more appropriate way to describe how content, context, and strategies can be used together in order to close the gap between where a student is performing currently and the intended learning goal. Accessed 14,299 times on https://pareonline.net from February 22, 2011 to December 31, 2019. For downloads from January 1, 2020 forward, please click on the PlumX Metrics link to the right

Social Studies Teachers Who Teach Toward Social Justice: An Examination of Life Histories

This dissertation reports on a qualitative investigation of two research questions: What experiences lead secondary social studies teachers to become passionate and committed to teaching toward social justice? How do these teachers conceptualize and practice teaching toward social justice in the social studies? The study, which employed a life history design informed by a sociocultural approach, examined data from interviews with thirteen secondary social studies teachers whose practice emphasized social justice concepts. Data were interpreted using both narrative analysis and inductive content analysis. A variety of life experiences such as family, schooling, oppression, spirituality, friendships, teaching experience, work experience, community, and media influenced the development of a social justice identity. These experiences shaped the participants’ trajectories of identification, particularly in their childhood and adolescence, by either aligning them along a path that valued social justice and/or by promoting resistance to unjust practices that deepened their commitment to social justice. Participants also discussed how they addressed issues of social justice in their practice using techniques that reflected the ideas of critical pedagogy, multicultural education, and democratic citizenship education. The study implies that a greater commitment to social justice practice in the social studies may be facilitated by 1) increasing programming and curriculum in teacher training institutions that address both social justice theory and practice, and 2) developing networks of secondary social studies teachers that support critical reflection and exchange of ideas that promote social justice within both classrooms and schools

Lymphocytes: 1979

Rapid progress has been made in understanding the complexity of the immune system. The current status of lymphocyte subpopulations with regard to ontogenic development, their surface and intracellular markers, and functions in various Immunologic phenomena has been reviewed. Heterogeneity of T lymphocytes as defined by receptors for immunoglobulin isotypes is discussed in detail. Various cell types and their products involved in immunoregulatlon are also presented

A Model Of Information Technology Impacts: An Invariance Analysis By Executive Position

The invariance, by executive position in the organization, of an information technology impacts model is examined.  The theoretical model links computer training, end-user previous computer experience, information (provided by the system) quality, ease of system use, customer knowledge in the firm’s industry, and the tasks performed using the system to individual and firm performance impacts through system use and satisfaction.  The empirical examination uses data from a national mail survey.  The respondents are business executives at four different organizational levels (i.e., owners, senior executives, marketing executives, and middle/operational executives).  The quantitative technique used is invariance analysis based on structural equation modeling.  The results indicate that the interrelationships among the theoretical constructs in the model are generally invariant across these different organizational positions.  The one difference identified is the path from information quality to system use.  Examining each executive group individually shows that this path is significant for marketing executives, but no other executive group.  Thus, the identified difference appears to be produced by the importance of information quality on marketing executives’ use of computer systems.  Managerial implications, conclusions, and suggestions for future research are discussed based upon these results

L1 glosses: Effects on EFL learners’ reading comprehension and vocabulary retention

The present study examines the effects of 3 kinds of glosses—first-language (L1) Chinese glosses plus second-language (L2) English example sentences, L1 in-text glosses, and L1 marginal glosses—in comparison with a no-gloss condition in reading an English passage, to explore whether providing glosses can facilitate reading comprehension and vocabulary acquisition. A total of 135 undergraduate business and engineering students at 4 English proficiency levels studying at a technical university in Taiwan completed 1 vocabulary pretest, 1 reading session, 1 posttest, and 2 delayed vocabulary recall tests. The study found that L1 glosses helped subjects learn new words and review learned words. Learners’ retention declined between the immediate and the 1st delayed recall tests. However, between the 1st and 2nd delayed recall tests, a slight increase in retention was observed for all groups. Unexpectedly, reading comprehension did not improve significantly. Additionally, a questionnaire queried learners’ experience using glosses during reading

QUANTITATIVE EFFECTS OF NUTRITIONAL ESSENTIAL AMINO ACID DEFICIENCY UPON IMMUNE RESPONSES TO TUMORS IN MICE

Mice were fed diets deficient in a single essential amino acid, and the primary immune responses to inoculation of allogenic tumor cells was measured by in vitro assay of cellular immunity. Moderate reduction of the amino acids phenylalanine-tyrosine, valine, threonine, methionine-cystine, isoleucine, and tryptophane in the diet produced profound depression of hemagglutinating and blocking antibody responses, although cytotoxic cell-mediated immunity remained intact. These diets had previously been shown to result in a selective depression of tumor growth in mice. Limitation of the amino acids arginine, histidine, and lysine in the diets gave rise to only slight depression of the immune responses. These diets had previously been shown to produce a proportional decrease in both tumor growth and host body weight. Moderate leucine restriction resulted in a paradoxical depression of cytotoxic cell-mediated immunity with little effect on serum blocking activity. Slight increases had previously been noted in the weight of tumors in mice fed leucine-restricted diets. Deficiency or imbalance of essential amino acids in the diet may produce profound depression of immune responses and apparent, marked changes in the immune resistance of the host animal to tumors