Lisa F. Smith

Spending Time on Art

Conventional wisdom among museum professionals is that art museum visitors do not spend much time viewing works of art. The purpose of this study was to empirically investigate that question as well as to look at the relationship that age, gender, and group size have on viewing times. Visitors to The Metropolitan Museum of Art were observed as they looked at six masterpieces in the Museums collection. A total of 150 individuals looking at six paintings comprised the sample for the study. The observations were of naturally occurring stops at the works of art. The gender, group size, estimated age, and time spent at the work of art were recorded for each encounter. The mean time spent viewing a work of art was found to be 27.2 seconds, with a median time of 17.0 seconds. Viewing time was not related to gender or age, but was strongly related to group size, with larger groups spending more time. There were also significant differences among paintings. Results are discussed in terms of how different types of looking patterns may be related to the amount of time spent in front of works of art.

Relation of Test-Specific Motivation and Anxiety to Test Performance:

The relations between consequence of test scores and motivation, anxiety, and test performance were studied with 112 persons in four undergraduate educational psychology courses. Students were given two versions of an hourly course examination that varied in consequence, with one counting for part of their grade and the other not counting. Each student completed the Learning and Study Strategies Inventory prior to taking the examination. Afterwards students completed a measure of test anxiety and test motivation specific to the examination they had just taken. Significant main effects were found for consequence of test with scores for test anxiety, test performance, and test motivation. Also, the subscales showed a consistent pattern of relations with test performance and test anxiety across the two conditions, but not for test motivation for which few relations were found under the condition with no consequence.

Original Paintings versus Slide and Computer Reproductions: A Comparison of Viewer Responses

The issue of whether viewing works of art by computer or slide is comparable to viewing original paintings was investigated by having visitors to The Metropolitan Museum of Art view works in these three formats and having them rate the works on measures of physical and structural characteristics, novelty of content, and aesthetic qualities. Only four of the sixteen evaluative ratings showed statistically significant results among groups, typically with viewers of the original works differing from viewers in the slide and computer formats. Correlational and factor analyses provided additional support for a notion of “pictorial sameness” for artworks viewed in the three formats. The results are examined in light of Curries (1985) transferability thesis and the concept of “facsimile accommodation” developed by the authors.

Preparing Teachers to Use the Enabling Power of Assessment

In this chapter we use an empirical investigation of the changes in assessment beliefs of preservice teachers to inform a discussion of what it might take to build a professional workforce to implement assessment to promote student learning. The findings demonstrated that significant changes in preservice teachers’ beliefs (as well as their knowledge and skills) are necessary if they are to become ‘assessment capable’ and ready to use assessment in the service of learning as teachers. We argue that mobilizing the power of assessment to enable learning, even in supportive policy contexts, is dependent upon teachers’ beliefs. Knowing about preservice teachers’ beliefs and how they change in relation to their teacher preparation programs is a first step in this process.

Changes in Secondary School Preservice Teachers’ Concerns About Teaching In New Zealand

This study followed a cohort of preservice teachers (n = 85) in a 1-year secondary school program in New Zealand to examine their concerns about teaching in terms of what they are, how they are related to teaching efficacy, and how they are affected by practicum experiences. Before beginning the program and after each of two practica, participants completed the Teachers’ Sense of Efficacy Scale (short form) and the Concerns About Teaching Scale. Focus groups (n = 8 each) were conducted after each survey administration. Results indicated that the participants’ concerns about teaching became differentiated over time and with classroom experience; their sense of efficacy increased. Results are discussed in terms of practical implications for teacher education taking into consideration the relationships among teaching concerns, practicum experiences, views of teaching, and policy changes in New Zealand.

Aesthetics and Astronomy: Studying the Public’s Perception and Understanding of Imagery From Space

This study examined the scientific understanding of astronomical pictures by experts and nonexperts. It explored how both groups perceive astronomical images and their understanding of both what they are seeing and the science that underlies the images. Data comprised n = 8,866 responses from a survey linked to the NASA Astronomical Picture of the Day website and four focus groups held at the Harvard—Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. Results indicated that variations in presentation of color, explanation, and scale affect comprehension of astronomical imagery. With those who are more expert, shorter, more technical explanations are effective; however, scales are still necessary for complete comprehension. Experts tend to look at the images from a more scientific, data-oriented perspective while nonexperts are more likely to focus, especially initially, on the aesthetic or emotional values of the images. Results provide suggestions for educational outreach to the public.

A Century of Grading Research: Meaning and Value in the Most Common Educational Measure

Grading refers to the symbols assigned to individual pieces of student work or to composite measures of student performance on report cards. This review of over 100 years of research on grading considers five types of studies: (a) early studies of the reliability of grades, (b) quantitative studies of the composition of K–12 report card grades, (c) survey and interview studies of teachers’ perceptions of grades, (d) studies of standards-based grading, and (e) grading in higher education. Early 20th-century studies generally condemned teachers’ grades as unreliable. More recent studies of the relationships of grades to tested achievement and survey studies of teachers’ grading practices and beliefs suggest that grades assess a multidimensional construct containing both cognitive and noncognitive factors reflecting what teachers value in student work. Implications for future research and for grading practices are discussed.

DIFFICULTY, CONSEQUENCE, AND EFFORT IN ACADEMIC TASK PERFORMANCE

This study extends previous research on the expectancy construct of the expectancy-value theory of motivation developed by Pintrich. In addition to value and expectancy for success, it is proposed that people take into account how much effort is required to complete a task. A 2 × 2 × 2 analysis of variance design was used to investigate the relationship of Difficulty, Consequence, and Required Effort on the willingness of participants to complete a task. The dependent variable was the score obtained from completing statistical problems that varied in difficulty and effort required to complete. 128 students at a public university were participants. Analysis showed significant main effects and an interaction for difficulty and required effort, but no main effect for consequence. Results are discussed in terms of creating optimal motivation for classroom tasks and for both classroom and standardized examinations. Implications for students in subject pools are also discussed.

Developing Assessment Tasks

Classroom assessment, in particular formative assessment, frequently involves the development of rich tasks to engage students. This requires careful attention to what is required of students, the affective responses of students to the tasks and how task performance informs learning and instruction. This chapter examines how to develop effective assessment tasks.

Language teacher cognitions and intercultural language teaching: The New Zealand perspective:

The New Zealand school curriculum was last revised in 2007, at which time a new emphasis was placed on culture in language teaching. The practice of intercultural language teaching is implicit in the curriculum document and explicit in the curriculum guide, which features a set of principles for intercultural communicative language teaching (iCLT). This article presents a study on the extent to which New Zealand language teachers’ beliefs and practices are aligned with intercultural language teaching (ILT). A questionnaire administered to New Zealand language teachers included a number of items used in a seminal seven-nation comparative study conducted by Lies Sercu and her colleagues, as well as other items developed from relevant literature. Expanding on previous studies’ use of item-by-item analyses, multi-item scales to measure alignment of New Zealand teacher’s beliefs and practices with ILT were developed, which yielded good internal reliabilities. The findings revealed an apparent mismatch between beliefs and practices, with teachers being favourably disposed towards ILT but not practising the approach in their classrooms. Interpretation of the data using concepts from teacher cognition research suggested that the differences represented tensions between teachers’ abstract, theoretical beliefs and their concrete, practical beliefs. We argue that supporting teachers’ applied knowledge of developing intercultural communicative competence (ICC) will allow them to recognize that those beliefs need not be discordant.