ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
Environmental Literacy in America: What Ten Years of NEETF/Roper Research and Related Studies Say about Environmental Literacy in the U.S.
Author: Coyle, Kevin
Date: 2005-09-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Community Leaders,Environmental Research,Environmental Education,Conservation (Environment),Teachers,Knowledge Level,Scientific Literacy,Financial Support,Questionnaires,Interviews,National Surveys,Misconceptions,Attitudes,Mass Media Use

In 1944, noted conservationist Aldo Leopold wrote: &quot;Acts of conservation without the requisite desires and skill are futile. To create these desires and skills, and the community motive, is the task of education.&quot; Almost sixty years later, in January 2003, the National Science Foundation released a report of its Advisory Committee for Environmental Research and Education. The Committee found that &quot;in the coming decades, the public will more frequently be called upon to understand complex environmental issues, assess risk, evaluate proposed environmental plans and understand how individual decisions affect the environment at local and global scales.&quot; The Committee called for the creation of a scientifically informed citizenry and pointed out that this will require a &quot;concerted and systematic approach to environmental education grounded in a broad and deep research base that offers a compelling invitation to lifelong learning.&quot; Now in 2005, Environmental Literacy in America offers an assessment of environmental literacy in America that is both sobering and hopeful. This summary of almost a decade of NEETF collaboration with Roper Reports provides a loud wake-up call to the environmental education community, to community leaders, and to influential specialists ranging from physicians to weathercasters. At a time when Americans are confronted with increasingly challenging environmental choices, individuals learn that the citizenry is by and large both uninformed and misinformed. This report offers a wealth of data and analysis accompanied by recommendations intended for environmental educators, non-governmental organization (NGO) leaders, funders, public decision makers, and professionals who are daily affected by environmental issues. It emphasizes the need for more research, clearer benchmarks to demonstrate impact, and far greater coordination. Appended are: (1) Sample Roper Questionnaire; (2) Roper Methodology; (3) Report Bibliography; (4) Bibliography of Needs Assessments and Status Reports in EE [environmental education]; (5) Selected Bibliography of Research Collections and Reviews; and (6) Related NEETF/Roper Data Trends. (Contains 45 figures.)
Re-Investing in Arts Education: Winning America's Future through Creative Schools. Summary and Recommendations
Author: President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities
Date: 2011-05-06
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Art Education,Elementary Secondary Education,Outcomes of Education,Academic Achievement,Educational Research,Longitudinal Studies,Brain,Integrated Curriculum,Art Teachers,Artists,Educational Policy

The United States has a long proud history of innovation and creativity. This is one of its greatest assets and what will give its workforce an edge in an increasingly competitive global economy. But to do this, individuals need to prepare the next generation of inventors, designers and creators. Arts education is a solution to many of these problems that has been hiding in plain sight. This is largely because it remains siloed, from the macro to the micro level. At the policy level, arts education advocacy is seen as something different and separate from the larger conversation of educational reform. And in schools, arts specialists classes are too often marginalized as something that gives the classroom teachers a planning period, while teaching artists are asked to parachute in and out in two or three week residencies, without ever being able to build relationships and integrate into the school community. But in fact, the potential of arts education lies in exactly the opposite--a seamless marriage of arts education strategies with overall educational goals, a vibrant collaboration between arts specialists, classroom teachers and teaching artists to create collaborative, creative environments that allow each child to reach his or her potential, using all the tools at individuals' disposal to reach and engage them in learning. This report makes several recommendations to facilitate that vision. [For the full report, &quot;Reinvesting in Arts Education: Winning America's Future through Creative Schools,&quot; see ED522818.]
Improving Theory Application among Pre-Service Teachers
Author: Jones, Anne
Date: 2009-09-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Preservice Teacher Education,Elementary Education,Masters Programs,Theory Practice Relationship,Reflective Teaching,Pretesting,Independent Study,Lesson Plans,Interviews

This article describes the process of implementing Inter-collegially Supported Learning (Tigchelaar and Melief, 1997) and reflection using the ALACT [action, looking back, awareness of essential aspects, creating alternative methods of action, and trial] model (Korthhagen, 1985, 1988) an Elementary Masters in Teaching Program. This study takes a mixed-methods approach. A non-equivalent control group design using pre-test, self-regulated learning, and lesson plans as covariates are analyzed along with interviews with pre-service teachers about their thinking about teaching. The purpose of the study is to find ways to increase theory application in the practice of pre-service teachers. (Contains 1 table.)
Rethinking the Rural Practicum
Author: Jones, Anne
Date: 2011-04-12
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Practicums,Rural Schools,Rural Education,Preservice Teachers,Masters Programs,Questionnaires,Student Journals,Interviews,Student Teacher Attitudes,Cultural Awareness,Consciousness Raising,Program Effectiveness,Alaska Natives,Cultural Pluralism

This study explores and evaluates a rural practicum experience for pre-service Master of Arts in Teaching students. Using questionnaires, journal analysis, and interviews we share the experience from pre-service teachers' point of view. We learn about their attitudes about rural schools and rural school students. We asked, &quot;does the experience increase the likelihood of participants accepting a teaching position in a rural school&quot; and &quot;does a rural practicum experience change pre-service teachers' attitudes about rural schools and rural students?&quot; As a result of this intercultural experience, pre-service teachers develop a consciousness of other cultural perspectives they can apply to their practice. (Contains 3 tables.)
Knowledge, Skills, and Dispositions for Diversity
Author: Jones, Anne
Date: 2011-07-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Cultural Pluralism,Consciousness Raising,Preservice Teachers,Student Teacher Attitudes,Student Diversity,Knowledge Level,Teaching Skills,Teacher Characteristics,Correlation,Masters Programs

The purposes of this research are to explore how currently assessed diversity knowledge, diversity skills, and diversity dispositions of pre-service teachers (PST) relate to each other and further to surmise if the presence of diversity knowledge, diversity skills, and diversity dispositions manifests in cultural efficacy and a general cultural consciousness among PST.  This research suggests a reconsideration of currently used dispositions may be necessary. Appended to this document is a "Cultural Diversity Awareness Inventory."
Knowing and Doing: What Teachers Learn from Formative Assessment and How They Use the Information. CRESST Report 802
Author: Frohbieter, Greta
Date: 2011-07-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Formative Evaluation,Familiarity,Program Effectiveness,Mathematics Teachers,Middle School Teachers,Improvement Programs,Educational Assessment,Student Evaluation,Mathematical Concepts,Professional Development

This study analyzed three different middle school mathematics formative assessment programs, examining how features of each program were associated with the information they provided to teachers and the manner in which teachers used the information. The research team found considerable variation in the information teachers obtained from each program and how they used it. They found that greater familiarity with the specific formative assessment system did seem to be accompanied by more integrated use during the school year. They also found that teachers seemed to find it easier to incorporate the systems that had pre-existing assessments than the system that put the burden for assessment design on their shoulders. The results from this study can aide teachers, administrators and other education stakeholders in deciding which formative assessment systems to adopt, planning for the implementation of formative assessment and providing adequate training for teachers, designing formative assessment systems that better meet teachers' needs, setting realistic expectations for the impact of formative assessment systems on a large scale, and lastly, understanding the impact of formative assessment in a particular context. Appended are: (1) The CRESST Project on Interim and Formative Assessment; (2) Reporting Template--Communal Grading of Noyce Assessments. (Contains 4 figures, 1 table and 5 footnotes.)
Progress Report Year 4: National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing (CRESST). The Development and Impact of POWERSOURCE[C]. CRESST Report 795
Author: Baker, Eva L.
Date: 2011-05-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Formative Evaluation,Student Evaluation,Mathematics Education,Intervention,Middle Schools,Grade 6,Grade 7,Grade 8,Program Implementation,Program Effectiveness,Field Tests,Middle School Teachers,Faculty Development,Material Development

The POWERSOURCE[C] intervention is intended as a generalizable and powerful formative assessment strategy that can be integrated with any on-going mathematics curriculum to improve teachers' knowledge and practice and, in turn, student learning. Combining theory and research in cognition, assessment and learning (for both adults and students) with design elements to support the transformation of practice within existing constraints, POWERSOURCE[C] includes both a system of learning-based assessments and an infrastructure to support teachers' use of those assessments to improve student learning. The current study focuses on middle school mathematics, starting in grade 6, and on helping to assure that students possess key understandings they need for success in Algebra I. Such a focus is motivated by ample research showing the frequency and price of failure for subsequent academic performance, including high school graduation, college entry and preparation (e.g., Brown & Niemi, 2007). The author and her colleagues' primary research objectives are based on their hypotheses that as a result of POWERSOURCE[C], teachers will become more proficient in their subject matter knowledge, more skilled in their formative use of assessment, and better focus their instruction on key ideas, and, as a result, will be more effective in helping students to improve their understanding, as shown by measures of student learning. Ultimately, they expect the improvements in student understanding to drive better performance on No Child Left Behind (NCLB) mandated state tests, transfer measures, and future coursework. This report summarizes some of the key trends found across this qualitative data set. The findings provided some useful information and insights as the implementation continues to move into other schools or districts. (Contains 7 figures and 9 tables.)
Improving the Way We Design Games for Learning by Examining How Popular Video Games Teach. CRESST Report 798
Author: Wainess, Richard
Date: 2011-07-00
Type: Numerical/Quantitative Data
Subjects: Video Games,Teaching Methods,Educational Games,Feedback (Response),Interaction,Guidance,Play,Models,Psychomotor Skills,Cues,Educational Technology,Repetition

One of the reasons why commercial video games are popular is that they effectively teach players how to play the game--in many cases as the player plays the game itself. This paper focuses on how to effectively integrate teaching "how to play a game" with teaching an "instructional domain" within a game for learning. By analyzing more than 30 popular commercial games, the authors (a) map instructional methods and strategies as well as related constructs which illustrate how games teach game play mechanics, game controls, and interface elements, and (b) prescribe ways to map those methods and strategies to methods and strategies applicable to teaching specific instructional content (e.g., fractions). Instructional Methods and Strategies: Definitions and Examples are appended. (Contains 27 figures and 9 tables.) [This paper was supported under the Educational Research and Development Centers Program.]
Latent Variable Regression 4-Level Hierarchical Model Using Multisite Multiple-Cohorts Longitudinal Data. CRESST Report 801
Author: Choi, Kilchan
Date: 2011-07-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Regression (Statistics),Models,School Effectiveness,Cohort Analysis,Longitudinal Studies,Achievement Gap,Academic Achievement,Achievement Gains,Student Characteristics,Institutional Characteristics,Urban Schools,Elementary School Students,Educational Indicators

This report explores a new latent variable regression 4-level hierarchical model for monitoring school performance over time using multisite multiple-cohorts longitudinal data. This kind of data set has a 4-level hierarchical structure: time-series observation nested within students who are nested within different cohorts of students. These students are in turn nested within a school. Under the circumstance, this model attempts to estimate three performance indicators: initial status, growth rate, and educational gap parameters across different cohorts. Specifically, one can see a longitudinal pattern where each cohort of students within a school starts or ends, how much it gains/grows within a specific period of time, and how much the initial gap between initially-low performing students and initially-high performing students is magnified or diminished. Furthermore, these three performance indicators of different cohorts are also modeled as a function of cohort and school background characteristics, in order to examine the extent to which differences or fluctuations across different cohorts within schools. are related to differences in cohorts' and schools' characteristics. This longitudinal and multiple-cohorts perspective is important because particular school reform efforts or changes in school characteristics that may impact school-wide or particular grade level achievement might take place in some years and not others (e.g., increment of school budget, numbers of qualified teachers, student demographic composition, etc.). As such, this model is distinguished from the current value-added models in a way that provides us with a more comprehensive picture of school's performance based on student growth over time and the distribution of student growth across cohorts within a school. Appended are: (1) The percentage of students (by cohort and school) eligible to receive free/reduced price lunch; and (2) Observed mean gain scores by cohort and school. (Contains 5 tables and 4 figures.)
Environmental Education and Educational Achievement: Promising Programs and Resources
Author: National Environmental Education and Training Foundation
Date: 2002-10-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Student Projects,Environmental Education,Academic Achievement,Active Learning,Educational Resources,Educational Strategies,Best Practices,Educational Practices,Service Learning,Comprehensive Programs,After School Programs,Integrated Activities,Integrated Curriculum,Case Studies,Effective Schools Research,Art Education

This report is intended as an introductory guide for those new to the environmental education field and the larger educational benefits it has to offer. The first part of the report includes ten accounts of programs and schools that have met with success by incorporating environmental education into their educational programming. For readers whose interest is piqued by these stories of success and who would like to learn more, a listing of contacts and resources is set out in the second, "at a glance," part of the report. The ten case accounts illustrate particularly promising strategies and practices for integrating environmental education (EE) into educational settings. The stories include EE programs that incorporate elements of service-learning, comprehensive school reform, after-school, project-based learning, science integrated across the curriculum, and arts education. Many of the schools described have been transformed by their commitment to EE, with positive impacts ranging from improved discipline to greater parental involvement to greater success in meeting standards. A bibliography and a list of resources are included.
Understanding Environmental Literacy in America and Making It a Reality: Three-Year Report 2002/2003/2004
Author: National Environmental Education and Training Foundation
Date: 2005-05-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Environmental Education,Pollution,Knowledge Level,Conservation (Environment),Accountability,Adult Education,Allied Health Personnel,Administrators,Grants,Mentors,High Schools,Scholarships,Mass Media,Natural Resources,Volunteers,Public Health,Computer Uses in Education

Research by the National Environmental Education &amp; Training Foundation (NEETF) and Roper Public Affairs at NOP World tells that the average 12th grader (and by extension, the average adult) still falls far short of what would be considered &quot;environmentally literate&quot; by anyone's definition. Seemingly elementary questions elude most of the public: What fuels most of their electricity? Is average automobile gas mileage getting better or worse? What is the main material filling urban landfills? What is the source of water pollution? This lack of knowledge and understanding makes it increasingly difficult for people to comprehend highly complicated environmental issues that require people to connect several dots of understanding. This report speaks to new levels of accountability and performance in environmental education and literacy. It makes the point that individuals need a better research base and to better employ what research they already have. It says they need a clearer construct for how environmental education builds into environmental literacy.
An Exploratory Study of the Relationship between Collaboration and Mathematics and Game Outcomes. CRESST Report 797
Author: Buschang, Rebecca E.
Date: 2011-06-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Classroom Research,Video Games,Academic Achievement,Numbers,Prior Learning,Cooperation,Data Analysis,Correlation,Mathematics Achievement,Low Achievement,Test Items,Mathematics Tests,Teaching Methods,Mathematical Concepts,Mathematics Instruction

This study is an exploratory study of the relationship between collaboration and mathematics and game outcomes in a video game aimed at teaching concepts related to rational numbers. The sample included 243 middle school students who played the video game either with one partner or individually for 40 minutes. Results suggest that participants with high and low prior knowledge benefit from different conditions during gameplay. Participants with low prior knowledge tend to perform better on math outcomes by working collaboratively and participants with high prior knowledge tend to perform better on math outcomes by working individually. These results are similar to prior findings from classroom research which indicates that collaboration is more effective for low-performing students. These results have implications for designing game environments for low-performing students. Appended are: (1) Math Assessment Items; (2) Background Questions; and (3) Missing Data Analysis. (Contains 3 figures and 10 tables.) [This paper was supported under the Educational Research and Development Centers Program.]
Games as Formative Assessment Environments: Examining the Impact of Explanations of Scoring and Incentives on Math Learning, Game Performance, and Help Seeking. CRESST Report 796
Author: Delacruz, Girlie C.
Date: 2011-06-00
Type: Numerical/Quantitative Data
Subjects: Feedback (Response),Control Groups,Help Seeking,Educational Research,Formative Evaluation,Numbers,Pretests Posttests,After School Programs,Mathematics Instruction,Teaching Methods,Scores,Incentives,Correlation,Mathematics Achievement,Item Analysis

Due to their motivational nature, there has been growing interest in the potential of games to help teach academic content and skills. This report examines how different levels of detail about a game's scoring rules affect math learning and performance. Data were collected from 164 students in the fourth to sixth grades at five after-school programs. The treatment conditions were randomly assigned within each setting and included a control group (played a different math game); three variations of scoring explanations (elaborated, minimal, and no scoring information); and combined elaborated scoring explanation with incentives to access additional feedback. The scoring explanation alone did not lead to better math learning. However, compared to the minimal-to-no scoring information variations, the combined treatment of the elaborated scoring explanation and incentive resulted in higher normalized change scores and, after controlling for pretest scores, higher posttest scores. Implications of the results identify attributes for learning games in mathematics. Appended are: (1) Sample Assessment Architecture ("Save Patch"); (2) Rational Number Knowledge Specifications; (3) Scored Event Rationale; (4) Example Tutorial Images: Stage 2; (5) Feedback Images; (6) Sample Additional Feedback; (7) Item Specifications (Sample);   (8) Pretest Administered; (9) Administered Posttest; (10) Administered Post-Game Survey; (11) Rubric for Open-Ended Items; (12) Rationale for Intraclass Correlation Coefficient Model; (13) Descriptive Statistics for Background Variables; and (14) Correlation Matrix: Game Performance and Math Achievement Measures. (Contains 33 tables, 7 figures and 10 footnotes.) [This paper was supported under the Educational Research and Development Centers Program.]
Evidence-Centered Design for Simulation-Based Assessment. CRESST Report 800
Author: Mislevy, Robert J.
Date: 2011-07-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Simulation,Design,Evidence,Evaluation Methods,Models,Engineering,Medicine

Simulations provide opportunities for individuals to learn and develop skills for situations that may be expensive, time-consuming, or dangerous. Careful design can support a person's learning by tailoring the features of situations to his or her skill level(s), allowing repeated attempts, and by providing timely feedback. Furthermore, simulations can emulate certain environments, which in turn, provide opportunities for assessing people's capabilities to act in these situations. This report describes an assessment design framework that can help projects develop effective simulation-based assessments. The report reviews the rationale and terminology of the "evidence centered" assessment design (ECD) framework (Mislevy, Steinberg, & Almond, 2003), discusses how the framework aligns with the principles of simulation design, and illustrates the ideas it presents with examples from the fields of engineering and medicine. Advice is offered for designing a new simulation-based assessment and for adapting an existing simulation system for assessment purposes. (Contains 1 table, 5 figures and 2 footnotes.)