Students’ Strategies for Writing Arguments from Online Sources of Information

This study builds on previous work on writing (e.g., Bereiter & Scardamalia, 1987; Hayes & Flower, 1980) and writing from sources (e.g., Spivey, 1997). Its purpose was to investigate processes and strategies for writing from online sources of information. High-achieving Grade 12 students were recorded as they researched on the Internet and wrote arguments about cosmetics testing on animals. Data included think aloud protocols, video recordings of participants and computer screens, writing products, and interviews. Data was analyzed using narrative summaries and cross-case comparisons. A coding scheme was developed and applied, in order to establish interrater reliability. Writers used one of three overall processes: 1) Writers alternated between researching online and structuring content into an outline, and then drafted a text; 2) Writers researched online, writing notes and a separate outline, and then drafted a text, drawing on both documents; 3) Writers drafted the text and their research while drafting. Each process was comprised of sub-ordinate strategies and operations. Two contributions of this work are discussed. First, the strategies of participants were similar in that they demonstrated translations between content and rhetorical problem spaces (cf. Bereiter & Scardamalia, 1987). These translations occurred during researching, as well as drafting and reviewing, and were apparent through students’ Internet activity. Second, participants constructed different task environments (cf. Hayes & Flower, 1980) and used different strategies; all were adapted to the affordances and constraints of the Internet, the electronic writing medium, and internal cognition. Final sections address writing instruction, the method, and future research

The Impact of a School Board’s One-to-One iPad Initiative on Equity and Inclusion

This paper examines the impact of a school board’s one-to-one iPad initiative on equity and inclusion. Data include: questionnaires from Grade 7–9 students, teachers, and administrators; focus groups with inclusion coaches; and interviews with classroom teachers. The results show that the iPads have supported equity among students in the district; there is now less disparity in terms of access to technology on the basis of families’ socio-economic status. The results show that the iPads have also supported the academic and social inclusion of students with exceptionalities; themes that arose across the data sources include: differentiation of content, access to grade-level curriculum, the appearance of sameness, communication and collaboration among students with and without exceptionalities, and positive student affect. Negative implications included the potential for students who struggle with self-regulation to be negatively affected and the potential for the technology to be used in socially exclusionary ways

Concurrent Exposure of Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) to Multiple Algal Toxins in Sarasota Bay, Florida, USA

Sentinel species such as bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) can be impacted by large-scale mortality events due to exposure to marine algal toxins. In the Sarasota Bay region (Gulf of Mexico, Florida, USA), the bottlenose dolphin population is frequently exposed to harmful algal blooms (HABs) of Karenia brevis and the neurotoxic brevetoxins (PbTx; BTX) produced by this dinoflagellate. Live dolphins sampled during capture-release health assessments performed in this region tested positive for two HAB toxins; brevetoxin and domoic acid (DA). Over a ten-year study period (2000–2009) we have determined that bottlenose dolphins are exposed to brevetoxin and/or DA on a nearly annual basis (i.e., DA: 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009; brevetoxin: 2000, 2004, 2005, 2008, 2009) with 36% of all animals testing positive for brevetoxin (n = 118) and 53% positive for DA (n = 83) with several individuals (14%) testing positive for both neurotoxins in at least one tissue/fluid. To date there have been no previously published reports of DA in southwestern Florida marine mammals, however the May 2008 health assessment coincided with a Pseudo-nitzschia pseudodelicatissima bloom that was the likely source of DA observed in seawater and live dolphin samples. Concurrently, both DA and brevetoxin were observed in common prey fish. Although no Pseudo-nitzschia bloom was identified the following year, DA was identified in seawater, fish, sediment, snails, and dolphins. DA concentrations in feces were positively correlated with hematologic parameters including an increase in total white blood cell (p = 0.001) and eosinophil (p<0.001) counts. Our findings demonstrate that dolphins within Sarasota Bay are commonly exposed to two algal toxins, and provide the impetus to further explore the potential long-term impacts on bottlenose dolphin health

A Framework for Content Area Writing: Mediators and Moderators

Writing can be a tool for communicating and learning in content area subjects. This pretest-posttest quasi-experiment examined the effects of instruction in a content area writing framework on students’ text quality and ability to use writing to learn. It also examined the effects of possible moderator variables (gender, previous writing achievement) and mediator variables (genre knowledge, approach to writing). A multilevel analysis was conducted with students nested within classes. Instruction significantly increased argument genre knowledge and explanation text quality, but not argument text quality, explanation genre knowledge, or learning during writing. Gender predicted previous writing achievement and posttest argument text quality, but did not interact significantly with instruction. Previous writing achievement strongly affected several posttest measures, but did not interact significantly with instruction. A path analysis supported the theory that instruction affects genre knowledge, which affects text quality, which predicts learning during writing

High-achieving High School Students’ Strategies for Writing from Internet-based Sources of Information

This study investigates Grade 12 students’ global and local strategies for writing from the Internet. Analysis of screen captures, think-aloud protocols, and interviews showed two global writing strategies: 1) Students created mediating planning documents; they alternated between researching online and creating mediating planning documents, then drafted a text, and then revised. 2) Students created no (or almost no) mediating documents; they wrote directly from the source documents, alternating frequently between researching, drafting, and revising. Each global strategy comprised several sub-ordinate strategies (e.g., search using a combination of content and rhetorical keywords; take hard copy notes; draft a text out of the sequence in which it appears in the final text; use automatic spelling and grammar checkers to guide review). Some of these strategies are similar to those used in print-based writing from sources. However, using the Internet also resulted in new researching and writing strategies. We argue that writers created task environments and used strategies that maximized the affordances of the Internet, electronic writing medium, and internal cognition, and minimized their constraints. This work extends classical cognitive work on writing as well as more recent work on writing from sources

Harnessing the Power of Education Research Databases with the Pearl-Harvesting Methodological Framework for Information Retrieval

Digital technologies enable the storage of vast amounts of information, accessible with remarkable ease. However, along with this facility comes the challenge to find pertinent information from the volumes of nonrelevant information. The present article describes the pearl-harvesting methodological framework for information retrieval. Pearl harvesting relies on the sampling of articles from a body of literature to extract the relevant search keywords. The general steps for using this method were applied to finding the essential list of search keywords for the topic of developmental disabilities. The success with the present investigation suggests that pearl harvesting might be used as a framework to develop keyword search lists in other areas, thereby providing a general methodology to help manage comprehensive literature reviews

Harnessing the Power of Education Research Databases with the Pearl-Harvesting Methodological Framework for Information Retrieval

Digital technologies enable the storage of vast amounts of information, accessible with remarkable ease. However, along with this facility comes the challenge to find pertinent information from the volumes of nonrelevant information. The present article describes the pearl-harvesting methodological framework for information retrieval. Pearl harvesting relies on the sampling of articles from a body of literature to extract the relevant search keywords. The general steps for using this method were applied to finding the essential list of search keywords for the topic of developmental disabilities. The success with the present investigation suggests that pearl harvesting might be used as a framework to develop keyword search lists in other areas, thereby providing a general methodology to help manage comprehensive literature reviews

State-wide random seroprevalence survey of SARS-CoV-2 past infection in a southern US State, 2020.

The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to estimate the proportion of Arkansas residents who were infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus between May and December 2020 and to assess the determinants of infection. To estimate seroprevalence, a state-wide population-based random-digit dial sample of non-institutionalized adults in Arkansas was surveyed. Exposures were age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, occupation, contact with infected persons, comorbidities, height, and weight. The outcome was past COVID-19 infection measured by serum antibody test. We found a prevalence of 15.1% (95% CI: 11.1%, 20.2%) by December 2020. Seropositivity was significantly elevated among participants who were non-Hispanic Black, Hispanic (prevalence ratio [PRs]:1.4 [95% CI: 0.8, 2.4] and 2.3 [95% CI: 1.3, 4.0], respectively), worked in high-demand essential services (PR: 2.5 [95% CI: 1.5, 4.1]), did not have a college degree (PR: 1.6 [95% CI: 1.0, 2.4]), had an infected household or extra-household contact (PRs: 4.7 [95% CI: 2.1, 10.1] and 2.6 [95% CI: 1.2, 5.7], respectively), and were contacted in November or December (PR: 3.6 [95% CI: 1.9, 6.9]). Our results indicate that by December 2020, one out six persons in Arkansas had a past SARS-CoV-2 infection