PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Finding their way: Study shows connection between academic direction and student learning

2011-08-09
(Press-News.org) MANHATTAN, KAN. -- A Kansas State University professor is helping students improve their confidence and academic performance by creating a map of learning.

Candice Shoemaker, professor of horticulture, has spent more than four years looking at students and self-efficacy. Self-efficacy involves student confidence in understanding topics and is often linked with academic motivation, learning and achievement. Shoemaker's published research appeared in a recent issue of HortTechnology.

Shoemaker studied self-efficacy by creating a course map for students in the Principles of Horticultural Science course, the foundation course for students in Kansas State University's department of horticulture, forestry and recreation resources. Each semester, Shoemaker had between 80 and 100 students in the class.

Given the large number of students and the importance of topics covered, Shoemaker wanted to teach the course in a way that helped students retain understanding of course topics. She thought about what topics she wanted her students to remember in five years. She called these topics student learning outcomes, or SLOs, and they became the guidelines for the course.

"I decided that since this was a foundation course, it is a prerequisite for many of our classes and there was a stronger need for students to have skills they retain," Shoemaker said. "I wanted to help them understand the expectations for the class by giving them a map of learning."

Rather than base the course on a textbook, Shoemaker created three to five learning outcomes for each unit of the course and then designed lectures, class activities, lab work and tests around these outcomes.

"I was constantly reinforcing these outcomes and what they meant," Shoemaker said. "When we started a new topic, I would tell the students what the outcomes were for that unit and what they should know by the end of the unit. At the end of the unit, I would give them sample test questions that they should be able to answer if the outcomes had been achieved."

Shoemaker also wanted a way to track student progress throughout the course, so she developed a pre- and post-semester assessment. It wasn't for a grade, but she used it as a way to measure and understand student confidence in their knowledge of certain topics before the semester began and at the end of the semester. The assessment asked students to rate their confidence in their ability to understand topics such as identifying the genus in a scientific name, distinguishing between transpiration and respiration and writing a scientific plant name.

"If I was successful in teaching the class, these were topics that the students should be able to do," Shoemaker said.

She had students rate their confidence in understanding topics on a scale of one to five: One being not confident at all and five being very confident. At the end of each semester, Shoemaker had the students take the test again to see how much they had learned and retained throughout the semester.

Through four years of the study, the students' average confidence rated at a two at the beginning of the semester. That improved to an average of four by the semester's end, meaning that students were more confident in their ability to understand a topic at the end of the course. Additionally, student confidence at the end of the semester correlated with academic performance in three of the four years that Shoemaker observed.

"I spent a lot of time thinking about the end of this class rather than just what the class was supposed to be," Shoemaker said. "I knew this topic was important and I wanted to take that extra time and see if this really does make a different in student learning. It did."

Shoemaker has used the same course design for a new upper level graduate course, Urban Agriculture, that she is co-teaching this fall.

Although her recent work branches into the realm of psychology, Shoemaker still sees the connection with her horticulture research and stresses the important link between teaching and research.

"It doesn't matter what our discipline is as far as teaching or research," Shoemaker said. "If we are teaching, then we must be scholars in our teaching. A lot of times you see this division between teaching and research, but I think there is scholarship in teaching and we need to see that."

Shoemaker also performs research exploring the connections between horticulture and human health. She has looked into the health benefits of gardening with youth and older adults.

INFORMATION:

END



ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Mosquitoes can't spot a spermless mate

2011-08-09
A female mosquito cannot tell if the male that she has mated with is fertile or 'spermless' and unable to fertilise her eggs, according to a new study from scientists at Imperial College London. The research, published today in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, could help scientists in their mission to prevent the spread of malaria by interfering with the mosquitoes' ability to reproduce. Malaria is a debilitating disease that affects more than 300 million people every year, and kills nearly 800,000 annually. In Africa, a child dies of malaria ...

NASA's NPP satellite completes comprehensive testing

NASAs NPP satellite completes comprehensive testing
2011-08-09
GREENBELT, Md. -- The NASA National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) Preparatory Project (NPP) has successfully completed its most comprehensive end-to-end compatibility test of the actual satellite and all five scientific instruments at Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp's production and test facility in Boulder, Colo. During the four-week NPP Compatibility Test 4 (NCT4), all segments of the ground system were assessed including active commanding of the satellite as well as monitoring the flow of both satellite health and safety and ...

Researchers use neutrons to spy on the elusive hydronium ion

2011-08-09
LOS ALAMOS, New Mexico, August 8, 2011—A Los Alamos National Laboratory research team has harnessed neutrons to view for the first time the critical role that an elusive molecule plays in certain biological reactions. The effort could aid in treatment of peptic ulcers or acid reflux disease, or allow for more efficient conversion of woody waste into transportation fuels. In a paper appearing this week in Angewandte Chemie International Edition, Los Alamos researchers join an international team in describing the role played by the elusive hydronium ion in the transfer ...

Education affects Americans' religiosity -- but not how you might think

2011-08-09
It's pretty much a given that the more educated someone becomes, the more likely they are to question their religious beliefs, stop going to church and even abandon their faith entirely. Or is it? A new University of Nebraska-Lincoln study challenges that age-old notion with findings that show education actually has a positive effect on Americans' churchgoing habits, their devotional practices, their emphasis on religion in daily life and their support for religious leaders to weigh in on the issues of the day. The work, to be published in a forthcoming edition of ...

NASA satellites saw Tropical Depression Emily struggle over the weekend

NASA satellites saw Tropical Depression Emily struggle over the weekend
2011-08-09
Former Tropical Storm Emily made a brief comeback this weekend after degenerating over the mountains of Hispaniola late last week, and NASA's Aqua satellite captured an image of Emily just after her "rebirth." At 5 p.m. EDT on Saturday, August 6, Emily became a tropical depression for the second time in her life about 70 miles west-northwest of Great Abaco Island, near 26.9 North and 78.1 West. She was moving to the north at 8 mph and had a minimum central pressure of 1012 millibars. Maximum sustained winds were 30 mph. At 18:25 UTC 2:25 p.m. EDT, the Moderate Resolution ...

Increase in tornado, hurricane damage brings call for more stringent building standards

2011-08-09
CORVALLIS, Ore. – Researchers from a team funded by the National Science Foundation have examined some of last spring's massive tornado damage and conclude in a new report that more intensive engineering design and more rigorous, localized construction and inspection standards are needed to reduce property damage and loss of life. As one of the nation's most destructive tornado seasons in history begins to wane, and hurricane season approaches its peak, experts are working to determine if old, tried-and-true approaches to residential and small building construction are ...

NASA satellites see Tropical Storm Muifa taking up the Yellow Sea

NASA satellites see Tropical Storm Muifa taking up the Yellow Sea
2011-08-09
Tropical Storm Muifa is filling up the Yellow Sea on NASA satellite imagery as it continues moving north today to a landfall in East China's Shandong province. NASA's Aqua satellite captured visible and infrared imagery that shows Muifa's cloud cover stretches across the Yellow Sea, from China to the west to South and North Korea to the east. At 18:25 UTC 2:25 p.m. EDT, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument on NASA's Aqua satellite captured a visible image of Tropical Storm Muifa moving through the Yellow Sea on August 6 at10:50 p.m. EDT. ...

When a man's female partner becomes too buddy-buddy with his pals, his sex life may suffer

2011-08-09
ITHACA, N.Y. — Researchers have found a potential new source for sexual problems among middle-aged and older men: The relationships between their female partners and the men's closest friends. Cornell University and University of Chicago researchers have found a connection between erectile dysfunction and the social networks shared by heterosexual men and their partners. The researchers describe the situation as "partner betweenness." In such cases, a man's female partner has stronger relationships with his confidants than the man does — in effect, the romantic partner ...

Prenatal pet exposure, delivery mode, race are key factors in early allergy risk

Prenatal pet exposure, delivery mode, race are key factors in early allergy risk
2011-08-09
DETROIT – Prenatal pet exposure, a mother's delivery mode and race are influential factors in a child's risk of developing allergies by age 2, according to a Henry Ford Hospital study. In a study believed to be the first of its kind, Henry Ford researchers found that babies who have indoor prenatal pet exposure have a pattern of lower levels of the antibody Immunoglobulin E, or IgE, between birth and age 2. IgE is linked to the development of allergies and asthma. Key findings: IgE levels were 28 percent lower during infancy in babies who had indoor prenatal pet ...

Carpal tunnel syndrome patients prefer to share decision-making with their physicians

2011-08-09
Rosemont, Ill. – Patients receiving treatment for carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) prefer to play a more collaborative role when it comes to making decisions about their medical or surgical care, according to the findings of an August 3rd issue of the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery (JBJS). "While other studies have shown patients with potentially life-threatening conditions such as cancer tend to prefer a more passive role when it comes to decision-making, this study demonstrates that in carpal tunnel syndrome, which raises issues of quality of life rather than those ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

A third of licensed GPs in England not working in NHS general practice

ChatGPT “thought on the fly” when put through Ancient Greek maths puzzle

Engineers uncover why tiny particles form clusters in turbulent air

GLP-1RA drugs dramatically reduce death and cardiovascular risk in psoriasis patients

Psoriasis linked to increased risk of vision-threatening eye disease, study finds

Reprogramming obesity: New drug from Italian biotech aims to treat the underlying causes of obesity

Type 2 diabetes may accelerate development of multiple chronic diseases, particularly in the early stages, UK Biobank study suggests

Resistance training may improve nerve health, slow aging process, study shows

Common and inexpensive medicine halves the risk of recurrence in patients with colorectal cancer

SwRI-built instruments to monitor, provide advanced warning of space weather events

Breakthrough advances sodium-based battery design

New targeted radiation therapy shows near-complete response in rare sarcoma patients

Does physical frailty contribute to dementia?

Soccer headers and brain health: Study finds changes within folds of the brain

Decoding plants’ language of light

UNC Greensboro study finds ticks carrying Lyme disease moving into western NC

New implant restores blood pressure balance after spinal cord injury

New York City's medical specialist advantage may be an illusion, new NYU Tandon research shows

Could a local anesthetic that doesn’t impair motor function be within reach?

1 in 8 Italian cetacean strandings show evidence of fishery interactions, with bottlenose and striped dolphins most commonly affected, according to analysis across four decades of data and more than 5

In the wild, chimpanzees likely ingest the equivalent of several alcoholic drinks every day

Warming of 2°C intensifies Arctic carbon sink but weakens Alpine sink, study finds

Bronze and Iron Age cultures in the Middle East were committed to wine production

Indian adolescents are mostly starting their periods at an earlier age than 25 years ago

Temporary medical centers in Gaza known as "Medical Points" (MPs) treat an average of 117 people daily with only about 7 staff per MP

Rates of alcohol-induced deaths among the general population nearly doubled from 1999 to 2024

PLOS One study: In adolescent lab animals exposed to cocaine, High-Intensity Interval Training boosts aversion to the drug

Scientists identify four ways our bodies respond to COVID-19 vaccines

Stronger together: A new fusion protein boosts cancer immunotherapy

Hidden brain waves as triggers for post-seizure wandering

[Press-News.org] Finding their way: Study shows connection between academic direction and student learning