Shirley L. Yu

Teaching Self-Regulated Learning through a “Learning to Learn” Course

This study addressed the impact of a semester-long course called Learning to Learn, an undergraduate psychology course designed to teach college students to be self-regulated learners. Results of pretesting and posttesting of 78 students with the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (Pintrich, Smith, Garcia, & McKeachie, 1993) provided support for the intervention. Mean differences and correlational results suggest that students increased in their mastery orientation to learning and their self-efficacy for learning, increased in their valuing of the course and in cognitive strategy use, and declined in test anxiety over the term. These findings suggest that an intervention that targets a range of cognitive and motivational components can have utility for college students and that there is value to a stand-alone course in learning to learn at the college level.

Asking Questions in First-Grade Mathematics Classes: Potential Influences on Mathematical Thought.

This study investigated the types of questions that are asked in 1st-grade addition and subtraction lessons in Japan, Taiwan, and the United States. Some researchers have argued that knowledge is, in part, constructed through questions and that these may be used differently in U.S. than in Asian classrooms. Thus, each question about addition or subtraction in 311 observed lessons was coded as 1 of 6 types of questions. Analyses revealed that the Asian teachers asked significantly more questions about conceptual knowledge and about problem-solving strategies than did U.S. teachers. In addition, Chinese teachers asked significantly more questions that were embedded in a concrete context than did U.S. teachers

Short-term memory and strategy use in children with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus.

The present study was designed to examine recall and rehearsal in short-term memory among children with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM). Children with onset of IDDM before age 5 years, children with onset after 5 years, and children without IDDM were administered a measure of short-term memory that provides information about rehearsal as well as level of recall. Children with later onset of diabetes and children without IDDM were expected to recall more words and use more effective rehearsal strategies than children with early onset of diabetes. Results indicate that children diagnosed with IDDM early in life used similar rehearsal strategies but recalled fewer words than children with later onset of diabetes and children without IDDM. In addition, results provide evidence that children who are in poor control of their diabetes did not use strategies designed to increase recall as often, or as well as, children in better control of their diabetes.

Influences for selecting engineering: Insights on access to Social Capital from two case studies

This paper employs the theory of social capital to explore the educational experiences and academic career decisions of engineering undergraduates. Two case studies are presented from a larger mixed-methods project which investigated the experiences of ethnically and socio-economically diverse female engineering students at an urban research university. Participants completed an online survey, which included items about reasons for selecting engineering and information sources utilized in doing so. Additionally, semi-structured interviews explored participantspsila perceived supports and barriers for college and career plans. Triangulation of survey and interview data yielded insights regarding the relations between social capital and studentspsila academic and career decision making processes. While both participants first became interested in engineering during middle school, their reasons for entering the field and access to information about engineering were very different. The social capital inequity apparent in these cases can be attributed in part to parental educational attainment and occupation.

Academic and Social Experiences of Children With Insulin-Dependent Diabetes Mellitus

The academic and social experiences of children with and without insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus were investigated. Measures included the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-III, the Peabody Individual Achievement Test-Revised, and a parent interview. Results indicated that children with diabetes scored lower on some cognitive and academic measures compared to children without diabetes, but their school and social life was not remarkably different. Few differences were found between children with early onset and late onset of diabetes. The findings suggest that poorer management of diabetes is associated with greater school absences, which in turn are associated with lower grades in school.

Mouse model of human RPE65 P25L hypomorph resembles wild type under normal light rearing but is fully resistant to acute light damage

Human RPE65 mutations cause a spectrum of blinding retinal dystrophies from severe early-onset disease to milder manifestations. The RPE65 P25L missense mutation, though having <10% of wild-type (WT) activity, causes relatively mild retinal degeneration. To better understand these mild forms of RPE65-related retinal degeneration, and their effect on cone photoreceptor survival, we generated an Rpe65/P25L knock-in (KI/KI) mouse model. We found that, when subject to the low-light regime (∼100 lux) of regular mouse housing, homozygous Rpe65/P25L KI/KI mice are morphologically and functionally very similar to WT siblings. While mutant protein expression is decreased by over 80%, KI/KI mice retinae retain comparable 11-cis-retinal levels with WT. Consistently, the scotopic and photopic electroretinographic (ERG) responses to single-flash stimuli also show no difference between KI/KI and WT mice. However, the recovery of a-wave response following moderate visual pigment bleach is delayed in KI/KI mice. Importantly, KI/KI mice show significantly increased resistance to high-intensity (20 000 lux for 30 min) light-induced retinal damage (LIRD) as compared with WT, indicating impaired rhodopsin regeneration in KI/KI. Taken together, the Rpe65/P25L mutant produces sufficient chromophore under normal conditions to keep opsins replete and thus manifests a minimal phenotype. Only when exposed to intensive light is this hypomorphic mutation manifested physiologically, as its reduced expression and catalytic activity protects against the successive cycles of opsin regeneration underlying LIRD. These data also help define minimal requirements of chromophore for photoreceptor survival in vivo and may be useful in assessing a beneficial therapeutic dose for RPE65 gene therapy in humans.