Arthropods and the Current Great Mass Extinction: Effective Themes to Decrease Arthropod Fear and Disgust and Increase Positive Environmental Beliefs in Children?

Earth is experiencing a great mass extinction (GME) that has been caused by the environmentally destructive activities of humans. This GME is having and will have profound effects on Earth\u27s biodiversity if environmental sustainability is not reached. Activities and curriculum tools have been developed to assist teachers in integrating the current GME theme into their existing curriculum. There has also been a recent appeal to incorporate the current GME theme into science and environmental education research but this research has yet to be conducted. This study presents the first time the current GME theme has been assessed in a research setting. This study analyzed the effect living Poecilotheria spider activities had on United States children. The variables measured included 1) human fear toward the Poecilotheria spiders; 2) human disgust toward the Poecilotheria spiders; and 3) human environmental beliefs associated with the current GMEs impact on the Poecilotheria spiders. New to this study is the finding that the use of living spiders in a positive educational setting that addresses the current GME are effective tools in decreasing fear and disgust and increasing positive environmental beliefs toward Poecilotheria spiders in children. Teachers of elementary children should consider arthropods, arthropod information and the current GME as effective themes to decrease arthropod fear and disgust and increase positive environmental beliefs in children. Lastly, this study presents a structural equation model showing that the reduction of fear and disgust towards specific animals can increase positive environmental beliefs in children when focused on the current GME

Addressing the Lack of Measurement Invariance for the Measure of Acceptance of the Theory of Evolution

The Measure of Acceptance of the Theory of Evolution (MATE) was constructed to be a single factor instrument that assesses an individual’s overall acceptance of evolutionary theory. The MATE was validated and the scores resulting from the MATE were found to be reliable for the population of inservice high school biology teachers. However, many studies have utilized the MATE for different populations, such as university students enrolled in a biology or genetics course, high school students, and preservice teachers. This is problematic because the dimensionality of the MATE may not be consistent across populations. In order to address this issue, this manuscript explores the dimensionality of the MATE for the population of preservice elementary teachers. With this objective in mind, rating scale and partial credit Rasch models are fit to the observed data to provide evidence for or against a one-dimensional latent structure. It was found that both of the models exhibit a lack of fit, although the fit of the partial credit model was superior to the fit of the graded response model. Further analysis revealed potential sources of model misfit. The results of this study call into question any findings and conclusions made using the MATE for any population other than inservice high school biology teachers

Confidence intervals for Assessing Heterogeneity in Generalized Linear Mixed Models,

Generalized linear mixed models are frequently applied to data with clustered categorical outcomes. The effect of clustering on the response is often difficult to practically assess partly because it is reported on a scale on which comparisons with regression parameters are difficult to make. This article proposes confidence intervals for estimating the heterogeneity due to clustering on a scale that is easy to interpret. The performance of the proposed asymptotic intervals and percentile bootstrap intervals are compared by simulations and in an application

Impulsive-analytic disposition in mathematical problem solving: A survey and a mathematics test

The Likelihood-to-Act (LtA) survey and a mathematics test were used in this study to assess students’ impulsive-analytic disposition in the context of mathematical problem solving. The results obtained from these two instruments were compared to those obtained using two widely-used scales: Need for Cognition (NFC) and Barratt Impulsivity Scale (BIS). The exhibited correlations of the LtA scores with the NFC, BIS, and a math test provide evidence of the criterion validity of the analytic LtA items, and suggests further revision of the impulsive LtA items to improve the overall measurement validity of the LtA scale. Students LtA scores were found to be marginally correlated to their math scores and correlated to their confidence levels in the math items

Assessing impulsive-analytic disposition: The Likelihood-to-Act survey and other instruments

The likelihood-to-act (LtA) survey is a 32-item instrument that measures impulsive and analytic dispositions in solving math problems. In this research report, we compare it to other instruments related to the impulsive-analytic construct such as Frederick’s Cognitive Reflection Test (CRT) and the Barratt Impulsive Scale in terms of mean scores, Cronbach alpha values, and correlation values. Both LtA-Impulsive and LtA-Analytic subscales have acceptable reliabilities of 0.79 and 0.83 respectively. The LtA-Analytic and LtA-Difference (analytic-impulsive difference) correlated well with other the Need for Cognition subscale and CRT scores. The correlations involving LtA-Impulsive subscale were unexpected and call for further investigation

Assessing Readability of College-Level Statistics Textbooks: A Quantitative Lexical and Grammatical Analysis

This research was conceived because of the need to create and identify college level statistics textbooks (or other instructional materials)) that are written in a manner that is less intimidating and easier to read and understand for students, including English language learners. We selected a representative set of current editions of 15-20 well-known statistics textbooks (that varied in their incorporation of reform or literacy approaches) to assess and compare aspects and levels of readability. We then chose two topics for a manageable focus: measures of center and line of fit. The parts of the textbooks corresponding to these topics were identified by consensus and then digitized using a scanner and software with optical character recognition (OCR) capabilities. The files were then prepared for online lexical software analysis using consistent criteria informed by the research question and identified temporarily by only a code number. After submitting it into the analyzing software (e.g., Coh-Metrix, the Compleat Lexical Tutor), we compared various lexical indicators for the textbooks. Interpretations and implications for choosing and creating written instructional materials will be discussed

Survey of Native English Speakers and Spanish-Speaking English Language Learners in Tertiary Introductory Statistics

The framework of linguistic register and case study research on Spanish-speaking English language learners (ELLs) learning statistics informed the construction of a quantitative instrument, the Communication, Language, And Statistics Survey (CLASS). CLASS aims to assess whether ELLs and non-ELLs approach the learning of statistics differently with respect to the distinctive linguistic features of the field of statistics and with respect to language resources they bring to the class. The CLASS was administered to all (n = 137) students in an introductory statistics literacy course at a university with a majority Mexican-American student body. Findings suggest ELLs often have distinctive patterns in how they experience aspects of statistics instruction (e.g., wait time) as well as movement between mathematics/statistics and everyday registers

Assessing Effectiveness of Mnemonics for Tertiary Students in a Hybrid Introductory Statistics Course

Mnemonics (memory aids) are often viewed as useful in helping students recall information, and thereby possibly reducing stress and freeing up more cognitive resources for higher-order thinking. However, there has been little research on statistics mnemonics, especially for large classes. This article reports on the results of a study conducted during two consecutive fall semesters at a large U.S. university. In 2014, a large sample (n = 1487) of college students were asked about the usefulness of a set of 19 published statistics mnemonics presented in class, and in 2015, the students (n = 1468) were presented 12 mnemonics related to inference and then asked whether or not they used mnemonics on that exam. This article discusses how students assess the usefulness of mnemonics and evaluates the relationship between using mnemonics and reducing anxiety. Additionally, the relationship between mnemonic usage and learning outcomes achievement will be discussed, along with this study's limitations and implications for teaching