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1. CLASSROOM ASSESSMENTS BUILDING TOWARDS STANDARDIZED ASSESSMENTS

   Fornaro, C.; Folger, T.; May, T.; Bostic, J. (October 2021, Psychology of Mathematics Education North American)

   Olanoff, D; Johnson, K.; Spitzer, S (Ed.)

   Administrators, educators, and stakeholders have faced the dilemma of determining the most effective type of data for informing instruction for quite some time (Pella, 2015). While the type of standardized assessment a teacher gives during instruction is often set at the district or state level, teachers often have autonomy in the formative and summative assessments that serve as the day-to-day tools in assessing a student’s progress (Abrams et al., 2016). Choices about in-class assessment and instruction are building blocks towards a student’s success on standardized assessments. The purpose of this phenomenological qualitative study is to explore how 4th-8th grade math teachers’ preparation and instructional practices are influenced by the types of assessments administered to their students in one school. Research questions are as follows: (a) How do 4th-8th grade math teachers describe the math assessments they use? (b) How do 4th-8th grade math teachers adjust their instructional practices as a result of their students completing formative, summative, and standardized math assessments? 

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2. “What Will I Experience in My College STEM Courses?” An Investigation of Student Predictions about Instructional Practices in Introductory Courses

   https://doi.org/10.1187/cbe.19-05-0084  

   Meaders, Clara L.; Toth, Emma S.; Lane, A. Kelly; Shuman, J. Kenny; Couch, Brian A.; Stains, Marilyne; Stetzer, MacKenzie R.; Vinson, Erin; Smith, Michelle K.; Offerdahl, Erika (December 2019, CBE—Life Sciences Education)

   The instructional practices used in introductory college courses often differ dramatically from those used in high school courses, and dissatisfaction with these practices is cited by students as a prominent reason for leaving science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) majors. To better characterize the transition to college course work, we investigated the extent to which incoming expectations of course activities differ based on student demographic characteristics, as well as how these expectations align with what students will experience. We surveyed more than 1500 undergraduate students in large introductory STEM courses at three research-intensive institutions during the first week of classes about their expectations regarding how class time would be spent in their courses. We found that first-generation and first-semester students predict less lecture than their peers and that class size had the largest effect on student predictions. We also collected classroom observation data from the courses and found that students generally underpredicted the amount of lecture observed in class. This misalignment between student predictions and experiences, especially for first-generation and first-semester college students and students enrolled in large- and medium-size classes, has implications for instructors and universities as they design curricula for introductory STEM courses with explicit retention goals. 

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3. Low Spatial Proximity Between Text and Illustrations Improves Children’s Comprehension and Attention: An Eye Tracking Study.

   Boyd, M; Godwin, K.E.; Gurchiek, E.; Fisher, A.V.; Eng, C.M. (July 2022, Proceedings of the Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society)

   Culbertson, J.; Perfors, A; Rabagliati, H.; Ramenzoni, V. (Ed.)

   Learning to read is a critical skill; yet only a small portion of children in the United States are reading at or above grade level. Attention is one crucial process that affects the acquisition of reading skills. The process involves selectively choosing task relevant information and requires monitoring competing demands. Many books for beginning readers include illustrations, but this design choice may require learners to split their attention between multiple sources of information. This study employed eye tracking to examine whether embedding text within illustrations in children’s e-books inadvertently induces attentional competition. The results showed that spatially separating illustrations from the text in beginning reader books reduces attentional competition and improves children’s reading comprehension. This study shows that changes to the design of books for beginning readers can help promote literacy development in children. 

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4. Book Design, Attention, and Reading Performance: Current Practices and Opportunities for Optimization

   Godwin, K.; Eng, C.; Murray, G.; Fisher, A.V. (July 2019, Proceedings of the 41st Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society)

   Becoming a proficient reader is a critical skill that supports future learning. Toward the end of the primary grades, reading becomes increasingly automatized, and children begin to transition from learning-to-read to reading-to-learn. Yet, the design of beginning reader books may be suboptimal for novice readers. Colorful illustrations that contain irrelevant information (i.e., seductive details) presented in close proximity to the text may increase attentional competition between these sources of information; thus, hampering decoding and reading comprehension. Study 1 examines this hypothesis by experimentally manipulating components of the book design (e.g., presence/absence of seductive details) and investigating its effect on attention and reading performance in first grade students. In Study 2, we conduct an analysis in which we identify common design features in books for beginning readers and examine the prevalence of design features that were fmmd to tax attention in Study 1 and in prior research. Collectively this work identifies an important opportunity in which instructional materials can be optimized to better support children as they learn-to-read. 

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5. Longitudinal impact of early childhood science instruction on 5th grade science achievement

   https://doi.org/10.1080/09500693.2020.1749908  

   Kaderavek, Joan N.; Paprzycki, Peter; Czerniak, Charlene M.; Hapgood, Susanna; Mentzer, Gale; Molitor, Scott; Mendenhall, Robert (April 2020, International Journal of Science Education)

   This study investigated if student placement in a primary grade 1-3 classroom with a teacher who had been trained in a U.S. science Framework-aligned (NRC, 2012) professional development science approach impacted student science achievement as measured in 5th grade. Students in the treatment group also received take-home science materials and treatment families were invited to participate in community-based science events. A two-level, random-slope mixed regression model was used to assess the effect of the treatment on later student achievement as measured by performance on the Science Subtest of the Ohio Achievement Assessment. This study found that students from the treatment group scored significantly higher on 5th grade science tests as compared to their peers. Overall, this study suggests that providing Frameworkaligned science instruction, coupled with parent support, during early years improves science skills in later elementary grades. 

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