Search

This paper contributes evidence-based scholarship to how teachers understand the value of Aboriginal student-focussed programmes and how discourses of Indigeneity appear to influence those views. Interviews with n = 22 teachers across n = 3 secondary school sites in New South Wales highlighted teachers' understanding of Aboriginal programmes as primarily contributing to students' behavioural and academic improvement. The interviewed teachers spoke positively about Aboriginal students' current academic achievements and prospects for their bright futures as graduates, albeit from within deficit and colour-blind discourses. Utilising Moodie's Decolonising Race Theory framework, teachers' juxtaposing beliefs resonate with existing decolonising education research which indicates a performativity of cultural inclusion through adherence to settler-colonial practices, while at the same time, an intellectual desire to move away from the legacy of Australia's contentious colonial past.

A randomized experiment that measures the impact of a social policy in a sample of the population reveals whether the policy will work on average with universal application. An experiment that includes only the subset of the population that volunteers for the intervention generates narrower "proof-of-concept" evidence of whether the policy can work for motivated individuals. Both forms of learning carry value, yet evaluations rarely combine the two designs. The U.S. Social Security Administration conducted an exception, the Benefit Offset National Demonstration (BOND). This article uses BOND to examine the statistical power implications and potential gains in policy learning--relative to costs--from combining volunteer and population-representative experiments. It finds that minimum detectable effects of volunteer experiments rise little when one adds a population-representative experiment, but those of a population-representative experiment double or quadruple with the addition of a volunteer experiment.

This paper provides a brief overview of the history of Universal Design for Learning (UDL), its prominence in the literature, and its use within the educational community. It then provides a critical analysis of the literature base linked to UDL checkpoint 1.2 by examining the relevance to the current trends in education and technology and alignment with checkpoint 1.2 and/or UDL as a whole. Using these criteria, the paper reports how much of the literature base was out-of-date or disconnected to UDL. Given UDL's prominent position in educational policy, further research into its effectiveness is necessary. Implications are discussed.

Background: Brokers, intermediaries, and boundary spanners (BIBS) bridge research and policy or practice, and can elevate the role of evidence in decision making. However, there is limited integration of the literature across different sectors to understand the strategies that BIBS use, the skills needed to carry out these strategies, and the expected outcomes of these strategies. Aims and objectives: In this review, we characterise the strategies, skills, and outcomes of BIBS across the literature in education, environmental, health and other relevant sectors. Methods: We included 185 conceptual and review papers written in English that included descriptions or conceptualisations of BIBS in the context of knowledge transfer or research use in the education, environmental, health, or other relevant sectors (for example, social services, international development). For each included paper, we extracted and coded information on sector, BIBS strategies, skills, and outcomes. Findings: Our review revealed five strategies used by BIBS that were emphasised in the literature. Specifically, 79.5% of papers mentioned facilitating relationships, 75.7% mentioned disseminating evidence, 56.8% mentioned finding alignment, 48.6% mentioned capacity building, and 37.3% mentioned advising decisions as strategies used by BIBS. Additionally, papers described skills and expected outcomes that were common across these strategies as well as those that were unique to specific strategies. Discussion and conclusions: We discuss implications of these findings for understanding how BIBS interface with knowledge users and producers as well as directions for future research on BIBS and the professionalisation of BIBS roles.

Background: Government-funded knowledge brokering organisations (KBOs) are an increasingly prevalent yet under-researched area. Working in the space between knowledge and policy, yet framing themselves as different from think tanks and academic research centres, these organisations broker evidence into policy. Aims and objectives: This article examines how three organisations on different continents develop similar narratives and strategies to attempt to inform policymaking and build legitimacy. Methods: Using documentary analysis and semi-structured interviews, it shows how the organisations construct their credibility and legitimacy, and make sense of their emergence, activities and relationships with policymakers. Findings: The study responds to the lack of political focus on many existing studies, examining how KBOs make sense of their origins and roles, articulating notions of evidence, and mobilising different types of legitimacies to do so. The research also addresses an empirical gap surrounding the emergence and activities of KBOs (not individuals), analysing organisations on three different continents. Discussion and conclusions: KBOs developed similar narratives of origins and functions, despite emerging in different contexts. Furthermore, they build their legitimacy/ies in similar ways. Our research improves our understanding of how a new 'tool' in the evidence-informed policymaking (EIPM) arsenal--KBOs--is being mobilised by different governments in similar ways.

Early intervention efforts have been effective in reducing disruptive behaviors and the probability of poor developmental outcomes. Early interventions include common practice elements to improve social functioning and decrease problem behaviors that disrupt the teaching-learning process. The First Step Next intervention has been well validated across early childhood and early elementary settings. In the present article, we provide a best-evidence synthesis of five randomized controlled replication studies between 2009 and 2021. Collectively, these studies show the intervention has resulted in small to large effect sizes and statistically significant improvements, compared with students randomized to control conditions, on multiple indicators of prosocial and problem behavior. The current synthesis focuses on a range of outcomes across elementary and preschool populations, as well as implementation fidelity and social validity ratings, to help school professionals in determining whether First Step Next might be useful in their efforts to support students at risk of school failure.

This article, part of the "Learning Disability Quarterly" special series dedicated to single-case research design (SCRD), summarizes the review process and outlines how to provide high-quality SCRD study manuscript reviews. We offer recommendations for the entirety of the review process, including accepting the role of reviewer, evaluating quality of SCRD studies, and, finally, adhering to reporting standards with focused attention on the applied nature of the engaging work that encompasses research in learning disabilities. In addition, we discuss (a) participant and setting description, (b) implementation of particular designs, (c) measurement procedures for dependent variable(s), (d) providing evidence of reliability, (e) graphic display of time-series data, (f) descriptions of results, and (g) acknowledgment of design limitations. We describe the challenges facing SCRD researchers and reviewers engaging in learning disabilities research within applied settings, identify fatal flaws that authors cannot address, and point out omissions that researchers can address through the revision process. Implications for practice, resources, and future directions are shared.

A systematic literature review was conducted to examine the evidence for peer network interventions for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). Fifteen studies were identified and evaluated for methodological rigor using the quality indicators published by the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) and by examining the risk of bias. Relying only on the guidelines from the CEC, peer network interventions are an evidence-based practice for increasing the communication and interaction of students with IDD with their peers without disabilities. However, risk of bias assessment revealed several methodological issues, outcome measurement was generally restricted to being context-bound rather than generalized, and there is a need for further research at the middle school level, with students with intellectual disability who do not have an autism diagnosis, and with students who use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). Implications are provided about training and supporting school personnel to implement peer network interventions.

Design-based learning (DBL) offers opportunities to support students' content understanding. Previous DBL studies reported different effect sizes by using the data from one participant group. The goal of this study was to conduct a meta-analysis that would give a comprehensive picture of how DBL is connected to student achievement in different disciplines. In addition, we explored the moderators influencing achievement in DBL for K-12 education. After investigating content-related gains in our meta-analysis on 37 individual articles with 52 effect sizes, we found that DBL had a positive and large effect ([g-bar] = 0.602) on achievement in K-12 education, and the effect size for science ([g-bar] = 0.703) was higher than mathematics ([g-bar] = 0.418) education. When considering the strong emphasis on science education in different DBL related frameworks and STEM (science, engineering, technology, and mathematics) education studies, this cumulative understanding could play an important role in the difference between science and mathematics. Studies that had control groups in the same school ([g-bar] = 0.703) had statistically significantly higher effect sizes compared to studies that included control groups from different schools ([g-bar] = 0.447). Studies with random assignment ([g-bar] = 0.258) had statistically significantly smaller effect sizes compared to studies with non-random assignment ([g-bar] = 0.623). In addition, the effect of DBL on achievement showed statistically significant differences among different countries. The remaining moderators (school level, content support, measurement type, and experimental design) did not show statistically significant differences in terms of the effect of DBL on student achievement. Our review presents evidence that participating in DBL activities supports student achievement after the intervention, but how students transfer their content gains in other situations needs convincing evidence. To overcome this challenge, future studies can prioritize how to support achievement in state mandated tests to understand DBL's effect on students' content gains in different learning situations.

The evidence continuum is a five-domain model for building evidence through needs assessment, program theory, process evaluation, outcomes and impact evaluation, and optimization studies. In this conceptual article, the first two domains of the evidence continuum are used to design a learner centered course on advanced research methods, and strategies for adapting a conventional curriculum for learner-centeredness are provided. Implications are discussed regarding praxis, pedagogical content knowledge development, and learner-centered assessment and evaluation.

The Systematic Review Toolbox aims provide a web-based catalogue of tools that support various tasks within the systematic review and wider evidence synthesis process. Identifying publications surrounding specific systematic review tools is currently challenging, leading to a high screening burden for few eligible records. We aimed to develop a search strategy that could be regularly and automatically run to identify eligible records for the SR Toolbox, thus reducing time on task and burden for those involved. We undertook a mapping exercise to identify the PubMed IDs of papers indexed within the SR Toolbox. We then used the Yale MeSH Analyser and Visualisation of Similarities (VOS) Viewer text-mining software to identify the most commonly used MeSH terms and text words within the eligible records. These MeSH terms and text words were combined using Boolean Operators into a search strategy for Ovid MEDLINE. Prior to the mapping exercise and search strategy development, 81 software tools and 55 'Other' tools were included within the SR Toolbox. Since implementation of the search strategy, 146 tools have been added. There has been an increase in tools added to the toolbox since the search was developed and its corresponding auto-alert in MEDLINE was originally set up. Developing a search strategy based on a mapping exercise is an effective way of identifying new tools to support the systematic review process. Further research could be conducted to help prioritise records for screening to reduce reviewer burden further and to adapt the strategy for disciplines beyond healthcare.

A diversity of approaches for critically appraising qualitative and quantitative evidence exist and emphasize different aspects. These approaches lack clear processes to facilitate rating the overall quality of the evidence for aggregated findings that combine qualitative and quantitative evidence. We draw on a meta-aggregation of implementation and process evaluations to illustrate a method for critically appraising empirical findings generated from qualitative and quantitative studies. This method includes a rubric for standardizing assessments of the overall quality of evidence in an evidence synthesis or mixed-method systematic review. The method first assesses the credibility of each finding extracted from a study. These individual assessments then feed into an overall score for any synthesized finding generated from the meta-aggregation. We argue that this approach provides a balanced and inclusive method of critical appraisal by first assessing individual findings, rather than studies, using flexible criteria applicable to a range of primary study methods to derive an overall assessment of synthesized findings.

We investigated children's information seeking in response to a surprising claim (Study 1, N = 109, 54 Female, Range = 4.02-6.94 years, 49% White, 21% Mixed Ethnicity, 19% Southeast Asian, infStudy 2, N = 154, 74 Female, Range = 4.09-7.99, 50% White, 20% Mixed Ethnicity, 17% Southeast Asian, September 2020-December 2020). Relative to younger children, older children more often expressed skepticism about the adult's surprising claims (1-year increase, OR = 2.70) and more often suggested exploration strategies appropriate for testing the specific claim they heard (1-year increase, OR = 1.42). Controlling for age, recommending more targeted exploration strategies was associated with a greater likelihood of expressing skepticism about the adult's claim.

Two preregistered experiments (N = 218) investigated children's developing ability to respond reasonably to disagreement. U.S. children aged 4-9, and adults (50% female, mostly white) formed an initial belief, and were confronted with the belief of a disagreeing other, whose evidence was weaker, stronger than, or equal to participants' evidence. With age, participants were increasingly likely to maintain their initial belief when their own evidence was stronger, adopt the other's belief when their evidence was weaker, and suspend judgment when both had equally strong evidence. Interestingly, 4- to 6-year-olds only suspended judgment reliably when this was assessed via the search for additional information (Experiment 2). Together, our experiments suggest that the ability to respond reasonably to disagreement develops over the preschool years.

This article discusses what we know about the underlying social and political conditions shaping research evidence use in education and how this applies to Research-Practice Partnerships (RPPs). It discusses types of use, political dynamics and processes, brokers and intermediaries, and racial dynamics and lenses. It also recommends strategies for RPPs in light of these political and social contexts to improve the quality of use and reduce the misuse of research evidence, ending with implications for future research.

Women face many barriers to entry into and persistence in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. Drawing on expectancy-value theory (EVT) and using a qualitative approach, this study sought to deeply understand women's entry and persistence in STEM-related postsecondary Vocational Technical Education (VTE) programs that lead to male-dominated skilled trades in construction, metalworking, and mining sectors in Chile. The findings revealed that, depending on the economic sector women were preparing to work in, different motivational patterns of EVT beliefs emerged that allowed women to overcome the high costs imposed by the gender stereotypes they encountered in their studies. Therefore, to improve women participation in VTE programs related to STEM fields, institutional and government policies must consider these different motivational profiles, as well as different strategies to improve women identity with these male-typed skilled trades.

Using item response theory, we examined the psychometric properties of scores on the Trauma-Informed Practice Scales -- Supervision Version (TIPS-SV) -- a unidimensional measure of supervisees' perceptions of their supervisors' adherence to trauma-informed supervision -- in a sample of 312 supervisees. Implications for research and supervision practice are discussed.

The inquiry-based approach in museum education often takes the form of an educator asking open-ended questions to facilitate discussions around artworks, while encouraging students in careful observation and interpretive processes. However, although art museums are emphasizing learners' experiences and their interpretative processes, adult learners are still more accustomed to lecture-based tours. This article investigates the adult Hands-On program at The Noguchi Museum. The research asks: How do educators prompt participants to engage in active reflection and meaning-making in response to artworks? How do participants describe their learning experiences? Do these experiences qualify as transformative learning? The findings suggest educational implications for interested museum professionals and adult educators.

We explored the potential for addressing nature of science through a historic narrative about disagreement between researchers concerning a socio-scientific issue, incidence of juvenile thyroid cancer following the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident. The narrative was developed from authentic sources and tested in two cycles. Eight groups of three to four high-school students were audio recorded. Transcripts were analyzed regarding what nature of science emerged in the discussions and what understanding about NOS could be discerned, using three complementary NOS-frameworks (Consensus-NOS, Whole Science-NOS, FRA-NOS). Together, the student groups touched upon 19 different NOS-themes as they tried to make sense of the disagreement related in the narrative. All groups addressed a common core of NOS-themes, most of which were central to the narrative itself, although some themes that were not part of the narrative also emerged. Students displayed a basic understanding of the tentative, empirical, and subjective nature of science together with the role of evidential relevance and completeness of evidence related to the choice of scientific methods. On the other hand, students did not reckon with peer review as a means for establishing knowledge and resolving disagreement. Moreover, although students readily accepted disagreement as a basic property of science, they had difficulty handling this disagreement when coping with the SSI in the narrative. We discuss how the combination of history of science-in-the-making and SSI in narrative form offers opportunities to teach NOS without risking simplified messages of how scientific knowledge develops or how science can be used to address socio-scientific issues.

Court instructions and public perception endorse that eyewitness evidence provided by police should weight more heavily than laypeople's in court. Evidence is inconsistent. The current experiment provides a nuanced analysis of identification performance of police and laypeople at different levels of confidence. Laypeople and advanced police trainees (N = 192) viewed portrait, profile, and body-only lineups for central and peripheral targets. Police trainees displayed higher hit and correct rejection rates than laypeople for portrait lineups, and higher correct rejection rates in profile lineups for central targets. Calibration was similar for both groups, although police trainees had an advantage at low target presence base rates. Calibration was best for central targets' portrait and profile lineups. Participants displayed poor calibration and strong overconfidence for body-only lineups and peripheral target lineups. We conclude that experience and specialization of police might be important when investigating a possible superiority of police who serve as eyewitness.

Fact-checkers want people to both read and remember their misinformation debunks. Retrieval practice is one way to increase memory, thus multiple-choice quizzes may be a useful tool for fact-checkers. We tested whether exposure to quizzes improved people's accuracy ratings for fact-checked claims and their memory for specific information within a fact check. Across three experiments, 1551 US-based online participants viewed fact checks (either health- or politics-related) with or without a quiz. Overall, the fact checks were effective, and participants were more accurate in rating the claims after exposure. In addition, quizzes improved participants' memory for the details of the fact checks, even 1 week later. However, that increased memory did not lead to more accurate beliefs. Participants' accuracy ratings were similar in the quiz and no-quiz conditions. Multiple-choice quizzes can be a useful tool for increasing memory, but there is a disconnect between memory and belief.

Drawing upon a unique longitudinal study, which has followed the experiences of students with vision impairment (VI) in the United Kingdom (UK) through the full university student lifecycle, we report the findings of an original analysis that seeks to broaden understanding of the lived experiences of students with disabilities in higher education (HE) by critically assessing student outcomes with respect to "access", "success" and "progression". The paper presents evidence collected from 40 participants, captured through 205 interviews over a 7-year period, and uses this evidence to assist with interpreting patterns observed in national equality data, and in identifying hidden inequalities which these datasets do not capture. We examine how well this equality data represents the reported experiences of students with VI. We do this by firstly considering where the data might not fully represent the experiences of the student, and secondly by interpreting why some of the observed inequalities persist. We take a holistic view of the student experience, by examining factors that might impact upon the student at different levels through the perspective of the Bioecological Model of Inclusive Higher Education. The findings show that whilst national equality data in the UK capture improved access and attainment for students with VI in HE, it fails to capture poor lived experiences, and restricted choice. The findings also identify barriers to successful transitions into the labour market, in some cases intrinsically linked to barriers faced during their courses.

It is necessary to foster teachers' ability to design and implement instructions that encourage students to construct evidence and engage in argumentative discourse. The argument of this paper is that the continuous reflection and discussion as well as regular practice on instructional designs will promote pre-service science teachers' (PSSTs') competence to guide students in providing evidence. An in-depth analysis on PSSTs' instructional designs provided evidence for this argument. For this purpose, this study implemented an action research (AR) in which PSSTs' instructional designs were analyzed before and after the three-week reflection and discussion on instructions that they conducted in groups of three or four in a science education course. The author of this paper, who is also the instructor of the course, analyzed these instructional designs to identify PSSTs' level of guidance by using the rubric that she created with expert judgment. Two other researchers and the author coded each category in the rubric independently. She scored the PSSTs' level in each category from 1 to 3 and then calculated their total score for the design. She also made paired samples t-test on the scores of each category and in total scores to identify how the PSSTs' instructional design guides students to use evidence before and after the continuous reflection and discussion of their instructional designs. The results suggested that integrating continuous reflection and discussion into her teaching improved PSSTs' guidance in providing evidence. Concluding remarks will be made for the further implications of this study.

Background: A great amount of information is presented to psychology students through various mediums, often leading to misinformation and believing inaccurate psychological myths. Objective: We conducted two studies to examine psychomythology of psychopathology and whether mythbusting may be an effective pedagogical tool. Method: In Study 1, a total of 251 participants were recruited and asked about psychology myths they believed by using the Myths of Abnormal Psychology Questionnaire (MAP). In Study 2, a total of 46 students across two sections of abnormal psychology courses were asked about psychological myths they believed at the onset of class and at the end of class using the MAP. These students also were provided with an educational mythbusting intervention throughout the class. Results: Participants endorsed several myths of psychopathology and indicated that the greatest sources of their understanding came from instructors, the internet, movies, and mythbusting led to a decrease in myth endorsement. Conclusion: Students enter abnormal psychology courses believing several inaccurate myths and mythbusting appears to be a viable tool to address these misconceptions. Teaching Implications: Mythbusting can be implemented within abnormal psychology courses as an an engaging and effective teaching tool, as well as a means to model scientific thinking.

In considering goals for science education, it is conventional to make arguments for the utility of scientific knowledge for a variety of purposes. Less prominent are rationales based on the beauty or truth of science. In this paper, we examine how an approach to science education might be different if we shift the goals of communication to an appreciation of the ways in which our knowledge is limited, and how the practical boundaries of our knowledge can be closer than we think--in other words, "how" we are collectively ignorant. Key to this approach is a renewed understanding of the role of material investigations in providing partial knowledge. Instead of providing incontrovertible evidence, empirical investigations provide a form of "explanatory excess" whereby the appropriate choice of explanation is not necessarily one that can be simplistically determined. Although scientific practices provide techniques to "minimize" the possibility of error in making our conclusions, these practices are performed by fallible human communities, from which the notion of "tentative, yet durable" claims derives. We argue that public scientific literacy may be better served by more circumspect claims of validity, and crucially, an enhanced understanding of the ways in which materiality influences epistemic processes and limits our claims. We illustrate these proposals through the case of the International Young Physicists' Tournament, a contest that invites participants to play with interesting physical phenomena for over a year. We identify three factors prominent in these tournament problems that present possibilities for increasing the authenticity of practical investigations. These are (i) multiple physical interactions in phenomena leading to the openness of choice of explanatory theory; (ii) the qualitative, subjective nature of the explanatory utility of theories; and (iii) the material contingency of empirical investigations. We argue that a more open-handed embrace of the limits of our knowledge may serve as a better epistemic orientation for science instruction.

This paper shares findings from the study of a learning sequence designed to support prospective elementary teachers (PTs) in identifying evidence of conceptual understanding and procedural fluency. Conceptual understanding and procedural fluency are widely recognized as important to teaching and learning mathematics, and identifying evidence of each is emphasized on teacher candidates' high-stakes performance assessments. As PTs practiced selecting evidence from student work samples, our analysis revealed successes as well as associated challenges. Our findings suggest areas for supporting PTs' learning, as well as challenges stemming from the inherent overlap of these two knowledge types. This study raises important questions about the value of emphasizing PTs' ability to cite evidence of conceptual understanding and procedural fluency, given their integrated nature.

This paper presents evidence from an innovative teacher professional development (TPD) project tackling school-related gender-based violence (SRGBV) in primary and lower-secondary schools in Cambodia. The core activities of the TPD project are discussed, focusing on teachers' changes in attitudes and beliefs toward emotional abuse and physical violence against boys and girls, as well as gender equity. The TPD was evaluated using a pre- and postintervention study, and a treatment and control group in Battambang and Svay Rieng provinces, respectively. A total of 151 teachers responded to the questionnaire at baseline (October 2018) and there were 149 teachers in the postintervention period (October 2020). To improve the comparability between the treatment and control groups, we estimated a difference-in-differences analysis in combination with propensity score matching. Only two treated teachers were not matched to the control group, with the final sample consisting of 298 observations. Findings indicate moderate to small effects on changing attitudes and beliefs about SRGBV in both primary and lower-secondary schools. Furthermore, teachers from primary schools benefit the most from the TPD; that is, they engage in less SRGBV. In secondary schools, the effects on engaging in emotional or physical abuse are not significant.

Empirical research in education has largely adopted quantitative approaches to measure teachers' and students' perceptions of fairness and justice in classroom contexts. The purpose of this study is to understand the validity evidence of fairness and justice instruments including how fairness and justice have been conceptualized in measures. Through a systematic review method, 96 quantitative studies were identified and their measurement instruments were analyzed based on five validity criteria: (a) framework and conceptualization of construct, (b) response processes, (c) internal structure, (d) internal consistency reliability, and (e) relationship to other variables. Results showed that most studies conceptualized classroom fairness and justice from organizational and social psychological theories with only a few conducting rigorous statistical analyses to support their validity interpretations. Findings are critically discussed and point to the need to develop a theory of fairness and justice rooted in classroom contexts.

Teacher and headteacher assessments and professional development are deemed critical levers for improving quality education in an increasing number of countries and contexts. However, prioritising improvement is not always evident, given that sometimes those subjected to assessments are not effectively informed about their performance (e.g. from national teacher examinations) or how to improve their work via feedback. This paper explores the bridging role of feedback concerning teacher and headteacher assessments and continuing professional development in the Mexican context, where scarce research exists. This mixed-methods research contributes evaluation evidence of Mexico's 2013-2018 education reform, including high-stakes staff assessments and individual feedback reports. Survey data from 122 primary school teachers and headteachers and thirteen interviews with teachers, headteachers and policymakers indicate the feedback report made it difficult to distinguish between poor and proficient performance and identify strengths and weaknesses. Challenges regarding suitable continuing professional development following assessment feedback are put forward.

Creativity has long been emphasized as an essential skill identified and developed in classrooms by eminent psychologists. A high level of creativity is required to adapt to the changing world of innovation. University-level students are privileged as they get multiple opportunities to learn creative skills. They are facilitated with autonomy and a creative environment. This study aimed to investigate the Psychometric Properties of the classroom creativity climate scale (CCCS) through confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) in the Pakistani context. The study involved 711 (males = 359, females = 352) Pakistani university students pursuing BS, MS/MPhil, and PhD degrees. Based on CFA, the proposed structure of the scale was confirmed, consisting of 22 items with a Likert-type response set loaded on four variables: Teacher Support for the Expression of Student Ideas, Student Self-perception about Creativity, Student Interest in Learning, and Student Autonomy. Alpha reliability coefficients range from 0.61 to 0.82 for the full scale. A comparison of demographics among different age groups and degree levels has been conducted. This scale is useful when investigating Pakistanis University students' perception of creativity, diagnosing the creative climate in the classroom, or asking the teachers for a creative environment inside the classrooms.

Purpose: This paper examines the innovative potential of micro-credentials which, arguably, is compromised if not for a particular attribute of the digital format: evidence. Evidence allows for an artifact of learning (e.g. project, writing sample) to be included in a digital micro-credential. Micro-credentials that include evidence can support individualized learning; elucidate learners' qualifications; and make assessment and credentialing processes more inclusive. Design/methodology/approach: This conceptual paper explores the subject of higher education micro-credentials which are increasingly being offered as formal (albeit smaller and digital), credit-bearing credentials, far removed from the Open Digital Badge movement from which they originated. This paper presents a case for safeguarding the qualities of micro-credentials that allow for innovative practice, before micro-credentials become entirely subsumed into conventional assessment and credentialing practices. Findings: A review of the literature indicates that evidence, when used effectively, can support the innovative potential of micro-credentials. This subject is examined from the perspective of three categories of evidence, which are identified and illustrated through specific examples from the literature. Originality/value: This paper fulfills a need to address the features of micro-credentials that, if used effectively, can challenge traditional assessment and credentialing paradigms. Evidence is rarely discussed in the literature and has not been thoroughly examined from this perspective. Additionally, faculty who develop and implement micro-credentials face numerous challenges when attempting to include evidence in micro-credentials. This paper explores those challenges and offers several recommendations for practice.

Although tests and assessments--such as those used to maintain a physician's Board certification--are often viewed merely as tools for decision-making about one's performance level, strong evidence now indicates that the experience of being tested is a powerful learning experience in its own right: The act of retrieving targeted information from memory strengthens the ability to use it again in the future, known as the testing effect. We review meta-analytic evidence for the learning benefits of testing, including in the domain of medicine, and discuss theoretical accounts of its mechanism(s). We also review key moderators--including the timing, frequency, order, and format of testing and the content of feedback--and what they indicate about how to most effectively use testing for learning. We also identify open questions for the optimal use of testing, such as the timing of feedback and the sequencing of complex knowledge domains. Lastly, we consider how to facilitate adoption of this powerful study strategy by physicians and other learners.

This paper adds to the literature on the relationship between procrastination and academic performance. We measure procrastination as the speed with which students do an online math course on the ALEKS learning platform. This pre-admission course is mandatory for students that are weak in math. Using a large dataset of undergraduate students at a Dutch school of economics, we estimate linear probability models for dropout and graduation rates. Controlling for students' background characteristics, we find that procrastination increases dropout rates and decreases graduation rates. The coefficient estimates indicate that the influence of procrastination on dropout and graduation rates is sizable.

The Cross-Classified Mixed Effects Model (CCMEM) has been demonstrated to be a flexible framework for evaluating reliability by measurement specialists. Reliability can be estimated based on the variance components of the test scores. Built upon their accomplishment, this study extends the CCMEM to be used for evaluating validity evidence. Validity is viewed as the coherence among the elements of a measurement system. As such, validity can be evaluated by the user-reasoned desired or undesired fixed and random effects. Based on the data of ePIRLS 2016 Reading Assessment, we demonstrate how to obtain evidence for reliability and validity by CCMEM. We conclude with a discussion on the practicality and benefits of this validation method.

Which approaches are associated with better student learning outcomes in environmental education (EE)? We observed a sample of 299 day-long EE field trip programs occurring across the U.S.A. for youth in grades 5-8 (ages 9 to 14). We tracked the extent of use and quality of implementation of 66 programmatic, educator, and setting characteristics and measured student outcomes immediately after the programs using a retrospective survey. A series of complementary tests identified 11 characteristics that were most powerfully and consistently associated with learning outcomes, accounting for 18% of variance in learning outcomes. These included group size, naturalness, novelty, place-based pedagogy, verbal engagement, quality questions, transitions, and staging, as well as the responsiveness, comfort and clarity, and emotional support provided by the educator. Some of the most commonly promoted practices in the EE field were rarely observed. Implications are discussed for both practice and research.

Menstruation is a 'taboo' subject in many cultures and its effect on women's participation in sport and physical culture in western societies is under-researched. This study examines the effect of menstruation and premenstrual syndrome (PMS) on habitual participants in adventurous activities through the voices of women. It transcends the social/biological divide using a theoretical framework to ascertain the personal, socio-cultural and practical constraints and enablers to participation. In a survey to explore women's lived experiences (n = 100), 89% of respondents noted that their participation is affected by menstruation/PMS. The dominant constraints to participation in adventurous activities were related to practical challenges of hygiene and waste disposal for managing menstruation. Rich qualitative data provide evidence for the negative and emotional responses of women to 'missing out' on adventurous activities with the majority of concerns about their performance in socio-cultural contexts related to personal anxieties. Some women commented on their belief in being a role model in professional work encouraging open discussion around menstruation and enabling more women and girls to take part in adventurous activities. Key practical recommendations for practice are suggested in respect of provision of toilet facilities where possible and biodegradable sanitary products. Raised awareness amongst leaders and educators, particularly men is important so that they might identify strategies to manage the constraints facing women and girls and enable more inclusivity and greater participation in adventurous activities.

The evidence deployed in the policy process is often done so from sources hoping to shape policy along preconceived ideological lines. This chapter presents the data and research cited as evidence in tuition-free community legislation proposed and enacted by 10 states, along with the sources that produced this evidence when applicable. Results suggest that partisan control of state legislation dictates the type of evidence deployed in support of tuition-free legislation, with conservative legislation emphasizing the economic impacts of the anticipated increased education, and progressive legislation noting the inequitable outcome with the current financial structure of higher education.

When higher education students are assessed multiple times, teachers need to consider how these assessments can be combined into a single pass or fail decision. A common question that arises is whether students should be allowed to take a resit. Previous research has found little to no clear learning benefits of resits and therefore suggested they might not be advantangeous as they are costly for both students and institutions. However, we conducted a simulation study that shows such a conclusion to be presumptuous. Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence; our results illustrate that if a resit effect were to exist, the analysis used in these studies (i.e. regression discontinuity analysis; RDA) lacked the power to detect such an effect. Power of RDA was only sufficient under extremely implausible conditions (i.e. large sample, large effect size, high correlation between examinations). To adequately compare the effect of assessment policies, researchers are recommended to use other methods than RDA.

Critical thinking, a rational and open higher-order thinking mode in human cognition, is becoming imperative to success in modern life. Therefore, cultivating students' critical thinking has become a common goal of education reform worldwide. Teachers play a crucial role in cultivating students' critical thinking. However, existing studies have paid little attention to teachers, especially middle school teachers' knowledge and understanding of critical thinking. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the perspectives of ten Chinese middle school chemistry teachers on critical thinking using concept maps, thinking aloud, and in-depth interviews based on concept maps. Results showed that most of the teachers believed that critical thinking means reflection and questioning and requires evidence awareness. All teachers had a positive attitude towards critical thinking and believed that it can promote evidence awareness, problem solving, decision making, teaching evaluation, logic, and systematisation. Teachers recognised that critical thinking can be taught, and the major factors affecting the development of students' critical thinking were the environment, students themselves, teachers, evaluation, subject characteristics, and types of knowledge. Several strategies for developing students' critical thinking in chemistry teaching were proposed, including setting diversified and different types of chemistry courses, developing controversial curriculum themes in real situations, and implementing experimental, project-based, problem solving, and history-based teaching. In addition, this study showed that teachers and students promoted the development of critical thinking within one another. Further, this study demonstrated an effective methodology for probing individual subjective thoughts.

Despite years of research and practice inspired by chemistry education research, a recent report shows that US secondary instruction is not aligned with current national reform-based efforts. One means to mitigate this discrepancy is focusing on pedagogical conceptual change, its precursors (higher selfefficacy and pedagogical discontentment), and the subtleties of its mechanisms (assimilation and accommodation). In this study, we investigate the final reflections of participants (N = 35) who completed our professional development program known as the VisChem Institute (VCI). Our results show that Johnstone's triangle as well as evidence, explanations, and models can be conducive for stimulating pedagogical discontentment among VCI teachers who exhibit higher self-efficacy. In addition, how VCI teachers assimilate and/or accommodate reform-based chemistry teaching ideas problematizes conventional assumptions, broadens application of novel theories, and is germane to introductory chemistry learning environments across the world. Implications and recommendations for chemistry instruction and research at both secondary and tertiary levels are discussed.

We study basic information treatments regarding sexual orientation using randomized experiments in three countries with strong and widespread anti-gay attitudes: Serbia, Turkey, and Ukraine. Participants who received information about the economic costs to society of sexual orientation discrimination were significantly more likely than those in a control group to support equal employment opportunities based on sexual orientation. Information that the World Health Organization (WHO) does not regard homosexuality as a mental illness increased social acceptance of sexual minorities, but only for those who reported trust in the WHO. Our results have important implications for policymakers aiming to expand the rights of lesbian, gay, and bisexual people worldwide.

As access to smartphones and emerging technologies has become ubiquitous in our daily lives and in language learning, technology-mediated social interaction has become common in teaching and assessing L2 speaking. The changing ecology of L2 spoken interaction provides language educators and testers with opportunities for renewed test design and the gathering of context-sensitive validity evidence of interactive speaking assessment. First, I review the current research on interactive speaking assessment focusing on commonly used test formats and types of validity evidence. Second, I discuss recent research that reports the use of artificial intelligence and technologies in teaching and assessing speaking in order to understand how and what evidence of interactive speaking is elicited. Based on the discussion, I argue that it is critical to identify what features of interactive speaking are elicited depending on the types of technology-mediated interaction for valid assessment decisions in relation to intended uses. I further discuss opportunities and challenges for future research on test design and eliciting validity evidence of interactive speaking using technology-mediated interaction.

Despite research investment and a growing body of diverse evidence there has been no comprehensive review and grading of evidence for public health emergency preparedness and response practices comparable to those in medicine and other public health fields. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine convened an ad hoc committee to develop and use methods for grading and synthesizing diverse types of evidence to create a single certainty of intervention-related evidence to support recommendations for Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Research. A 13-step consensus building method was used. Experts were first canvassed in public meetings, and a comprehensive review of existing methods was undertaken. Although aspects of existing review methodologies and evidence grading systems were relevant, none adequately covered all requirements for this specific context. Starting with a desire to synthesize diverse sources of evidence not usually included in systematic reviews and using GRADE for assessing certainty and confidence in quantitative and qualitative evidence as the foundation, we developed a mixed-methods synthesis review and grading methodology that drew on (and in some cases adapted) those elements of existing frameworks and methods that were most applicable. Four topics were selected as test cases. The process was operationalized with a suite of method-specific reviews of diverse evidence types for each topic. Further consensus building was undertaken through stakeholder engagement and feedback The NASEM committee's GRADE adaption for mixed-methods reviews will further evolve over time and has yet to be endorsed by the GRADE working group.

The sociological imagination is widely considered essential to sociology and sociological scholarship-of-teaching-and-learning research. Still, sociologists have struggled to agree on precisely what it is and how to measure its development effectively. A content analysis of every article published in Teaching Sociology was conducted examining where the sociological imagination appeared in the journal, where authors claimed to develop students' sociological imagination, and the methodological sophistication of the evidence they provided to substantiate those claims. Analysis confirms the importance of the sociological imagination, appearing in a fourth of all published articles and nearly half of the articles published between 2010 and 2020. Just over a fourth of claims-making authors provided no evidence to validate their claims, and the frequency of making unsubstantiated claims persists even as the methodological rigor of the journal overall increased. Among the studies that provided evidence, however, the methodological sophistication appears to be increasing.

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to outline how far the empirical evidence supports the centrality of leadership in the process of improving underperforming schools. Design/methodology/approach: This article draws on evidence from a contemporary, selected, review of the literature. Findings: The findings show that leadership is the critical factor in the improvement of underperforming schools. Seven new themes, derived from the selected evidence, are presented that illuminate how leaders secure improvement in the most challenging of school contexts. Research limitations/implications: This review is not a systematic review of the evidence and does not claim to be. It provides a commentary based on selected contemporary evidence and therefore is not comprehensive account of all the relevant evidence pertaining to leading the improvement of underperforming schools. The evidence is derived from sources written in English; therefore, it is fully acknowledged that other sources, in other languages might exist but are not included or reflected. Practical implications: The practical implications are clearly laid out in the form of seven key themes about leading the improvement of underperforming schools that are of direct practical use. Originality/value: With so many schools in high poverty areas finding themselves in difficulty, this contemporary review provides new insights about the leadership approaches and practices that continue to make a considerable difference to underperforming schools.

This article was stimulated by a review of instruments assessing creative and innovative social environments seventeen years ago. This stands alone as the only published, comprehensive, comparative review of multiple instruments aimed at this conceptual space. Although this review provided an important contribution to the literature, there are a number of critical conceptual issues that should be considered when reviewing assessments of this kind. This article raises these issues and points out their relevance when developing, evaluating, or applying instruments -- and applies these issues to the instruments included in the review. Further, the aim was also to provide updated information on the Situational Outlook Questionnaire, as there were a few potential misunderstandings contained within the Mathisen and Einarsen review. Finally, numerous criteria are offered for those creating or choosing to use measures of the work environment, climate, or culture that promotes organizational creativity and innovation.

It may be asserted that there is no more effective deterrent to crime than the certainty of detection. Equally true is that there is no surer way to establishing identity than by fingerprints. The detection of fingerprints at the scene of crime is therefore one of the most powerful tools available in casework investigations. However, if the crime evidence is deliberately or accidentally exposed to water, the fingerprints get washed out and cannot be detected by conventional techniques. In this communication, we describe a simple experiment that enables the visualization of fingerprints on moist items.

Tensions between constructivist learning theories and objectivist learning theories in online courses implicate a need for a theoretical balance. This article describes organizing and enacting tasks that elicit constructivist learning of mathematics in an online mathematics teacher education course. The results focus on a conceptual framework that was developed to explicate this balance and show how the learning goal, evidence of student learning, and the teaching that occurs are built on the teaching philosophy tenet.

Research Findings: Children that experience neglect are at risk for maladaptive outcomes. One potential resource for these children is early childhood education (ECE), but there is currently limited evidence which is compounded by data limitations. This study used data from the National Study of Child and Adolescent Well-being II (N = 1,385) to compare children's cognitive and social-emotional outcomes among children involved in child protective services that experienced either no care, informal care, or formal care, as well as moderation by type of neglect. Results suggest that ECE was related to increased cognitive and social skills and decreased behavior problems, depending on whether the child attended informal or formal care, with some associations being stronger for children that experienced neglect. Practice or Policy: These findings documenting the benefits of ECE have important implications for practitioners and policymakers in the intersection of ECE and child protective services.