Perceptions on the Essential Writing Skills of Entering First-Year College Students

Some students are entering college and graduating with the inability to write scholarly and professionally. The purpose of this instrumental case study was to examine the perceptions of college instructors and students about the essential writing skills of entering first-year college students within a Southwestern university. This study provided insight into strategies to engage students in the writing process, both before and after entering college. Vygotsky\u27s social constructivism provided the framework for this study. The research questions included an examination of the perceptions of students\u27 writing skills based on what instructors, students, and writing center personnel observed; what instructors and students believed to be essential writing skills necessary for entering first-year college students to be academically successful; and what the writing center personnel and students\u27 perceptions were regarding writing resources that were deemed beneficial to entering first-year college students to help improve their writing skills. Data were collected through semistructured interviews with 12 participants: 4 instructors, 5 students, and 3 writing center personnel. Data analysis included theme identification based on key words from the interviews. According to study results, findings revealed factors that contributed to poor writing, common writing errors, required writing skills to be academically successful, and writing resources. These findings led to the development of a 3-day professional development (PD) workshop. Participation in the PD workshop may lead to modifications in the curriculum at local high schools and entry-level courses taught to entering first-year college students, resulting in positive social change

Pluralism without Genic Causes?

Since the fundamental challenge that I laid at the doorstep of the pluralists was to defend, with nonderivative models, a strong notion of genic cause, it is fatal that Waters has failed to meet that challenge. Waters agrees with me that there is only a single cause operating in these models, but he argues for a notion of causal ‘parsing’ to sustain the viability of some form of pluralism. Waters and his colleagues have some very interesting and important ideas about the sciences, involving pluralism and parsing or partitioning causes, but they are ideas in search of an example. He thinks he has found an example in the case of hierarchical and genic selection. I think he has not

Pluralism without Genic Causes?

Since the fundamental challenge that I laid at the doorstep of the pluralists was to defend, with nonderivative models, a strong notion of genic cause, it is fatal that Waters has failed to meet that challenge. Waters agrees with me that there is only a single cause operating in these models, but he argues for a notion of causal ‘parsing’ to sustain the viability of some form of pluralism. Waters and his colleagues have some very interesting and important ideas about the sciences, involving pluralism and parsing or partitioning causes, but they are ideas in search of an example. He thinks he has found an example in the case of hierarchical and genic selection. I think he has not

To What Extent Does Haidt\u27s Moral Foundations Theory Reveal Liberal or Conservative Biases When Applied to Selected State\u27s Citizenship and Government Curriculum?

This paper begins with an overview of the evolution of social studies education overtime, from moral education to civic education. It then analyzes the compatibility of the current form of social studies education with the national standards for education. The literature introduced in this paper looks at the social studies curriculum from three selected states, California, Texas and Pennsylvania. Furthermore, Dr. Jonathan Haidt’s Moral Foundations Theory, which contends that all humans use five foundations when engaging in moral decision-making, will be used as a framework to analyze the selected states’ curricula. The purpose of this research study then, is to determine whether or not these three states emphasize specific moral foundations in their social studies curricula and standards utilizing Haidt’s framework

Using SPSS to Analyze Complex Survey Data: A Primer

An introduction to using SPSS to analyze complex survey data is given. Key features of complex survey design are described briefly, including stratification, clustering, multiple stages, and weights. Then, annotated SPSS syntax for complex survey data analysis is presented to demonstrate the step-by-step process using real complex samples data

English Studies as a Site for Healing: A Conversation about Place-Based and Indigenous Pedagogies in the English Classroom

This article summarizes a roundtable discussion from the 2016 Alaska Native Studies Conference among professors and students from two English Studies courses at the University of Alaska Anchorage: History of the English Language and History of Rhetoric. Jennifer and Heather discuss how the courses are traditionally taught and how they redesigned the courses to incorporate place-based and indigenous pedagogies. Then, Tayler, Samantha, Hailey, and Arlo--students from a range of backgrounds who took one or both of the classes--describe how the courses encouraged them to develop critical perspectives, build new knowledge through undergraduate research, and experience personal and professional transformations that led to advocacy. The dialogue provides a range of pedagogical perspectives and considers English Studies as a potential site for cultural and historical healing.Ye

Sex Differences in Performance Attributions, Self‐ Efficacy, and Achievement in Mathematics: If I’m So Smart, Why Don’t I Know It?

In this study, we tested the claim that sex differences in mathematics achievement are related to boys’ and girls’ differing achievement‐related beliefs. We compared the mathematics report card grades, 2001 Foundation Skills Assessment (FSA) Numeracy subtest scores, performance attributions, and self‐efficacy of 161 British Columbian public school students’ (62 fourth‐graders, 99 seventh‐graders). Findings indicated that girls’ mathematics achievement met or exceeded that of boys and that girls’ attribution patterns were more self‐enhancing than those found in previous studies. However, girls were more apt to display under‐confidence relative to their actual mathematics achievement and to attribute mathematics failure to a lack of teachers’ help than were boys. Keywords: sex, gender, achievement, mathematics, self‐efficacy, attributions Les auteurs ont étudié l’affirmation selon laquelle les différences dans le rendement scolaire en mathématiques chez les garçons et les filles sont liées à leurs croyances différentes au sujet du rendement. Ils ont comparé les notes en mathématiques sur les bulletins scolaires, les résultats de 2001 des sous‐tests de calcul de la Foundation Skills Assessment (FSA), l’attribution des facteurs contribuant au rendement et l’autoefficacité chez 161 élèves d’écoles publiques de la Colombie‐Britannique (62 en 4e année et 99 en 7e année). Les résultats indiquent que le rendement en mathématiques des filles est identique ou supérieur à celui des garçons et, par rapport aux résultats d’études antérieures, les filles attribuent davantage leur rendement à elles‐mêmes. Par contre, les filles ont plus tendance à avoir moins confiance en elles quant à leur rendement en mathématiques et à davantage attribuer leurs échecs en mathématiques à un manque d’aide de la part des enseignants que les garçons. Mots clés : genre, rendement, mathématiques, autoefficacité, attribution.

The Non-Parametric Difference Score: A Workable Solution for Analyzing Two-Wave Change When The Measures Themselves Change Across Waves

The non-parametric difference score is introduced. It is a workable solution to the problem of analyzing change over two waves (i.e., a pretest-posttest design) when the measures themselves vary over time. An example highlighting the solution’s implementation is provided, as is a discussion of the solution’s assumptions, strengths, and limitations

Education Leaders’ Perspectives on Special Education Research: A Priority Setting Study

Research priority setting, an element of knowledge mobilization, makes knowledge users integral to the development of research agendas. To date, the use of research priority setting in educational research has been minimal. The purpose of this study was to explore educational leaders’ perspectives on research priorities in special education. We conducted a cross-sectional research priority setting survey with educational leaders from 60 public school districts in British Columbia, Canada. Seventy-one participants completed the survey. Results of a pre-set list of questions indicated that the top three research priorities were: grade-to-grade transitions, high school graduation, and time to designation. In terms of designation, or student categorization, participants were most interested in “Intensive Behaviour Interventions/Severe Mental Illness.” When asked about other priorities, participants identified research on types of support/interventions. These results have implications for developing a research agenda that can support informed decision-making around policy-development and programming for students with special needs.