Human Development & Quantitative Methodology

Permanent URI for this communityhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/2248

The departments within the College of Education were reorganized and renamed as of July 1, 2011. This department incorporates the former departments of Measurement, Statistics & Evaluation; Human Development; and the Institute for Child Study.

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    READING IN PRINT AND DIGITALLY: PROFILING AND INTERVENING IN UNDERGRADUATES’ MULTIMODAL TEXT PROCESSING, COMPREHENSION, AND CALIBRATION
    (2019) Singer Trakhman, Lauren Melissa; Alexander, Patricia A; Human Development; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    As a consequence of today’s rapid-paced society and ever-changing technologies, students are frequently called upon to process texts in print and digitally. Further, multimodal texts are standard in textbooks and foundational to learning. Nonetheless, little is understood about the effects of reading multimodal texts in print or digitally. In Study I, the students read weather and soil passages in print and digitally. These readings were taken from an introductory geology textbook that incorporated various graphic displays. While reading, novel data-gathering measures and procedures were used to capture real-time behaviors. As students read in print, their behaviors were recorded by a GoPro@ camera and tracked by the movement of a pen. When reading digitally, students’ actions were recorded by Camtasia@ Screen Capture software and by the movement of the screen cursor used to indicate their position in the text. After reading, students answered comprehension questions that differ in specificity (i.e., main idea to key concepts) that cover content from three sources: text only; visual only; and, both text and visual. Finally, after reading in each medium, undergraduates rated their performance on the comprehension measure on a scale of 0-100 for each passage. The accuracy of these ratings formed the basis of the calibration score. The processing data were analyzed using Latent Class Analysis. In Study II, an intervention aimed at improving students’ comprehension and calibration when reading digitally were introduced to participants from Study I who returned to the lab about two weeks later. Next, the undergraduates repeated the procedure for digital reading outlined in Study I with a passage on volcanoes. In Study I, students performed better when reading in print and spent more time with the text but were better calibrated when reading digitally. Three clusters were identified for the print data, and three clusters were identified for the digital data. Cluster movement across mediums suggests that some participants treat digital texts differently than when reading in print. After the intervention in Study II, comprehension scores and duration increased but calibration accuracy scores worsened. The LCA revealed three clusters, each showing improvement in processing behaviors, comprehension, or reading duration.
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    Third Grade Students' Writing Attitudes, Self-Efficacy Beliefs, and Achievement
    (2012) Williams, Heather Michelle; Wigfield, Allan; Human Development; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    In order to become successful members of society in the United States, students must be able to write effectively. However, many students are unwilling or unable to write by the time they leave high school. Two major factors linked to writing performance include writing attitudes and self-efficacy beliefs. The first objective of this research is an investigation of the effectiveness of an intervention designed to improve writing attitudes, self-efficacy beliefs, and achievement. The second objective is an examination of the relation between those constructs. Participants were given the Writing Attitude Survey, a writing skills self-efficacy scale, and a short writing assessment. Further, 50% of the participants participated in an intervention designed to increase positive writing attitudes, self-efficacy beliefs, and achievement. The study found a significant positive relation between writing self-efficacy and attitudes. The intervention was found to have no effect on the self-efficacy, attitudes, or performance of participants.
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    An Evaluation of Best Families, a Parenting Education Intervention Program for Head Start Families: The Effects on Child-rearing Style, Affirming Communication, and Children's Behavior
    (2005-12-16) Sang-Blodgett, Janet; Robertson-Tchabo, Elizabeth A.; Human Development; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    ABSTRACT Title of Dissertation: AN EVALUATION OF BEST FAMILIES, A PARENTING EDUCATION INTERVENTION PROGRAM FOR HEAD START FAMILIES: THE EFFECTS ON CHILD-REARING STYLE, AFFIRMING COMMUNICATION, AND CHILDREN'S BEHAVIOR. Janet Sang-Blodgett, Ph.D., 2005 Dissertation Directed By: Chair: E.A. Robertson-Tchabo, Ph.D.EDHD The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of parents' participation in the Best Families program on the parents' child rearing style, parent-child communication, and parents' and teachers' ratings of the children's behavior. The Best Families program was a four-week, parenting education program designed specifically for economically disadvantaged parents of 4 - 5 year old children enrolled in early childhood assistance programs in a mid-Atlantic state. Thirty parent volunteers whose children attended a Head Start summer session at one of three Head Start centers participated in the study. Two of the parent participants were fathers, and 28 were mothers. Nineteen of the parents were African American, eight were Hispanic Americans, and three were Caucasian. Nineteen of the participants were parents of boys, and eleven of the participants were parents of girls. The Best Families program included four components: social problem solving, verbalizing emotions, parent-child communication, and utilization of social support. The program was delivered once a week for four consecutive weeks. Participants were directed to apply the skills that had been addressed during the following week and to discuss with the group the relative success of the strategies. Personal interviews were conducted prior to the intervention program and immediately after participation in the parenting education program. A participant's child-rearing style and social problem solving was measured by the Child Rearing Style Interview (Shure, 1998). All but one of the 30 participants moved up the child rearing style continuum in the direction of a social problem solving style. Parent-child communication was measured by the Problem Solving Communication Index (McCubbin, McCubbin, and Thompson, 1988). There was a statistically significant increase in the frequency of affirming communication. Children's behavior was measured by parent and teacher ratings using the Achenbach Child Behavior Checklist (Achenbach & Edelbrock, 1983). There was a statistically significant reduction in the frequency of externalizing behaviors of both boys and girls as rated both by parents' and by teachers' ratings. The children exhibited fewer aggressive and impulsive behaviors and generally were more compliant.