Design activities, when embedded in an inquiry cycle and appropriately scaffolded and supplemented with reflection, can promote the development of the habits of mind (scientific abilities) that are an important part of scientific practice. Through the Investigative Science Learning Environment ("ISLE"), students construct physics knowledge by…

Background: Studies addressing pay discrimination for females in education have relied on main effect regression models, mostly examining amount (intercept values) rather than rate of pay (slope coefficients). Purpose: The purpose is to determine if organizational characteristics and human capital endowments purported to influence pay are facially…

This article describes the design and development of a professional development program based upon research on the competencies necessary for online teaching success conducted at Penn State University in 2009-2010. The article highlights how the results of this research are being aligned with various professional development courses comprising the…

The primary aim of the Middle School Intervention Project (MSIP) is to evaluate the impact of a multi-component intervention for struggling adolescent readers on reading outcomes. The intervention consists of: (1) targeted, Tier 2 reading and (2) school engagement interventions, and (3) data-based-decision-making (DBDM) teams to review and act on…

This article describes how to design program assessment for mathematics departments, in two-year and four-year colleges across the Midwest, based on a set of components that was generated from a Delphi survey. An example is provided to illustrate how this was done at a small four-year college. There is an alignment between these components and a…

Background: Despite considerable investment in UK government initiatives (e.g., the Physical Education School Sport [PESS] plan) aimed at improving the delivery and quality of physical education (PE) in primary schools, many remaining problems have been highlighted (e.g., facilities; staff training). It is suggested that the head teacher (school…

In this article, we set out to explore what we describe as the use of video in various modalities. For us, modality is a synthesizing construct that draws together and differentiates between the notion of "video" both as a method and as a methodology. It encompasses the use of the term video as both product and process, and as a data…

This study aims to investigate two expert ecology teachers' ability to attend to essential details in a complex environment during a field excursion, as well as how they teach this ability to their students. In applying a cognitive dual-memory system model for learning, we also suggest a rationale for their behaviour. The model implies two…

The critical issue in special education today is no longer the assurance of access, but rather, the assurance of effectiveness. Determining which practices and interventions are most effective and efficient for ensuring optimal student achievement is a fundamental concern of special education teachers in this era of accountability. In this…

The authors respond to the commentaries on a series of articles (in the March 2009 issue of "Educational Researcher") that discuss the challenges associated with measuring reading instruction. The authors argue that the teaching of reading is a complex, multifaceted phenomenon best studied through a variety of overlapping and complementary…

Comments on an article by J. J. Arnett regarding the assertion that American psychology focuses too narrowly on Americans while neglecting the other 95% of the world's population. The authors argue that while Arnett's assessment was poignant, and his call for a more inclusive, international, and cross-cultural representation in American psychology…

An investigator who plans to conduct an experiment with multiple independent variables must decide whether to use a complete or reduced factorial design. This article advocates a resource management perspective on making this decision, in which the investigator seeks a strategic balance between service to scientific objectives and economy.…

There is growing interest in understanding how different research methods are perceived by victims of violence and what survivors will reveal to researchers (termed "meta-research" or "meta-studies"). The purpose of this project was to conduct a qualitative meta-study on why rape survivors chose to participate in community-based, face-to-face…

The term executive function is used increasingly within developmental psychology and is often taken to refer to unfolding brain processes. We trace the origins of research on executive function to show that the link with social interaction has a long history. We suggest that a recent frenzy of research exploring methods for studying individual…

Extinction of fear requires learning that anticipated aversive events no longer occur. Animal models reveal that sustained phosphorylation of the extracellular signal-regulated kinase (Erk) in hippocampal CA1 neurons plays an important role in this process. However, the key signals triggering and regulating the activity of Erk are not known. By…