This meta-analysis was conducted to estimate the magnitude of gender difference in three-dimensional (3-D) mental rotation ability and to investigate how factors related to test administration ...conditions play a role in varying gender difference effect sizes and threatening validity. Individuals' 3-D mental rotation ability was measured by the Purdue Spatial Visualization Tests: Visualization of Rotations (PSVT:R). We integrated 70 effect sizes of gender differences in mental rotation ability measured by the PSVT:R which were obtained from 40 primary studies. The results indicated that male participants outperformed females on the test (Hedges' g=0.57). The I2 statistic indicated 41.7 % of variation in effect sizes reflects real heterogeneity. The moderator analysis indicated that male superiority on spatial ability tasks measured by the PSVT:R is related to the implementation of time limits. The gender difference became larger when stringent time limits (equal or less than 30 s per item) were implemented.
Social presence, the ability to perceive others in an online environment, has been shown to impact student motivation and participation, actual and perceived learning, course and instructor ...satisfaction, and retention in online courses; yet very few researchers have attempted to look across contexts, disciplinary areas, or measures of social presence. This meta-analysis allowed us to look across these variables of the primary studies and identify the pattern of student outcomes (e.g., perceived learning and satisfaction) in relation to social presence through scrutiny of differences between the studies. The results showed a moderately large positive average correlation between social presence and satisfaction (r = 0.56, k = 26) and social presence and perceived learning (r = 0.51, k = 26). Large variation among correlations (86.7% for satisfaction and 92.8% for perceived learning, respectively) also indicated systematic differences among these correlations due to online course settings. We found that (a) the strength of the relationship between social presence and satisfaction was moderated by the course length, discipline area, and scale used to measure social presence; and (b) the relationship between social presence and perceived learning was moderated by the course length, discipline area, and target audience of the course. Implications and future research are discussed.
•This meta-analysis examined the relationship between Social Presence (SP) and students' satisfaction and perceived learning.•Strong positive relationship between SP and satisfaction.•Strong positive relationship between SP and perceived learning.•Course length, discipline, and SP scale significant moderators for satisfaction.•Course length, discipline, and audience significant moderators for perceived learning.
The current meta-analysis examined the association between K-12 students’ motivation to learn mathematics and mathematics anxiety, and explored the effects of potential moderating factors, including ...different motivation measures, dimensions of mathematics anxiety, students’ developmental stages, and cultural contexts. This meta-analysis was conducted with 73 articles (80 independent samples, total
N
= 95,872) and a total of 142 effect sizes. Results indicated a moderate, negative correlation between students’ motivation for mathematics and mathematics anxiety (
r
= − 0.42). Moreover, in accordance with the control-value theory, we classified the effect sizes into two groups: (a) correlations between mathematics anxiety and competence beliefs (i.e., self-efficacy and self-concept) and (b) correlations between mathematics anxiety and value beliefs (i.e., intrinsic value and achievement value). The strength of the correlation between students’ mathematics anxiety with competence beliefs (
r
= − 0.48) was stronger than the correlation with value beliefs (
r
= − 0.36). Moderator analyses revealed that the magnitudes of the overall effect sizes were not influenced by the dimensions of mathematics anxiety, students’ developmental stages, and cultural contexts. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.
Researchers consider the underrepresentation of Black, Hispanic, and Native American students is largely due to the use of traditional methods of identification (i.e., IQ and standardized achievement ...tests). To address this concern, researchers created novel nontraditional identification methods (e.g., nonverbal tests, student portfolios, affective checklists). This meta-analysis of 54 studies, consisting of 85 effect sizes representing 191,287,563 students, provides evidence that nontraditional identification methods, while able to narrow the proportional identification gap between underrepresented (Black, Hispanic, and Native American) and represented (Asian and White American) populations, are still unable to address the issue of education inequity. An overall risk ratio of 0.34 was calculated for nontraditional methods of identification in comparison with a 0.27 risk ratio for traditional methods. While the nontraditional methods help identify more underrepresented students as gifted, the results of this meta-analysis show that better identification methods are needed to address inequities in identification.
The underrepresentation of students from low-income families and of culturally diverse students is a longstanding and pervasive problem in the field of gifted education. Teachers play an important ...role in equitably identifying and serving students in gifted education; therefore, the Having Opportunities Promotes Excellence (HOPE) Scale was used in this study with a sample of Korean elementary school teachers (n = 55) and their students (n = 1,157). Confirmatory factor analysis and multigroup confirmatory factor analysis results suggested the HOPE Scale shows equivalence of model form, factor loading, and factor variances across different income and ethnic groups. A follow-up interview with teachers (n = 6) revealed they acknowledged the importance of using the HOPE Scale as an additional method for identifying gifted students; however, they indicated less confidence about rating gifted students’ social characteristics compared with academic components in the HOPE Scale.
Objective
Proinflammatory molecules promote osteoclast‐mediated bone erosion by up‐regulating local RANKL production. However, recent evidence suggests that combinations of cytokines, such as tumor ...necrosis factor (TNF) plus interleukin‐6 (IL‐6), induce RANKL‐independent osteoclastogenesis. The purpose of this study was to better understand TNF/IL‐6–induced osteoclast formation and to determine whether RANK is absolutely required for osteoclastogenesis and bone erosion in murine inflammatory arthritis.
Methods
Myeloid precursors from wild‐type (WT) mice or mice with either germline or conditional deletion of Rank, Nfatc1, Dap12, or Fcrg were treated with either RANKL or TNF plus IL‐6. Osteoprotegerin, anti–IL‐6 receptor (anti–IL‐6R), and hydroxyurea were used to block RANKL, the IL‐6R, and cell proliferation, respectively. Clinical scoring, histologic assessment, micro–computed tomography, and quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) were used to evaluate K/BxN serum–transfer arthritis in WT and RANK‐deleted mice. Loss of Rank was verified by qPCR and by osteoclast cultures.
Results
TNF/IL‐6 generated osteoclasts in vitro that resorbed mineralized tissue through a pathway dependent on IL‐6R, NFATc1, DNAX‐activation protein 12, and cell proliferation, but independent of RANKL or RANK. Bone erosion and osteoclast formation were reduced, but not absent, in arthritic mice with inducible deficiency of RANK. TNF/IL‐6, but not RANKL, induced osteoclast formation in bone marrow and synovial cultures from animals deficient in Rank. Multiple IL‐6 family members (IL‐6, leukemia inhibitory factor, oncostatin M) were up‐regulated in the synovium of arthritic mice.
Conclusion
The persistence of bone erosion and synovial osteoclasts in Rank‐deficient mice, and the ability of TNF/IL‐6 to induce osteoclastogenesis, suggest that more than one cytokine pathway exists to generate these bone‐resorbing cells in inflamed joints.
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) negatively and post-transcriptionally regulate expression of multiple target genes to support anabolic pathways for bone formation. Here, we show that miR-218 is induced during ...osteoblast differentiation and has potent osteogenic properties. miR-218 promotes commitment and differentiation of bone marrow stromal cells by activating a positive Wnt signaling loop. In a feed forward mechanism, miR-218 stimulates the Wnt pathway by down-regulating three Wnt signaling inhibitors during the process of osteogenesis: Sclerostin (SOST), Dickkopf2 (DKK2), and secreted frizzled-related protein2 (SFRP2). In turn, miR-218 expression is up-regulated in response to stimulated Wnt signaling and functionally drives Wnt-related transcription and osteoblast differentiation, thereby creating a positive feedback loop. Furthermore, in metastatic breast cancer cells but not in normal mammary epithelial cells, miR-218 enhances Wnt activity and abnormal expression of osteoblastic genes (osteomimicry) that contribute to homing and growth of cells metastatic to bone. Thus, miR-218/Wnt signaling circuit amplifies both the osteoblast phenotype and osteomimicry-related tumor activity.
Background: MicroRNAs control cell signaling during osteoblast differentiation.
Results: miR-218, which is highly expressed in osteoblasts and cancer cells metastatic to bone, targets three inhibitors of Wnt signaling, Sclerostin, Dickkopf2, and secreted frizzled-related protein2.
Conclusion: miR-218 promotes differentiation of normal osteoblast and the osteomimetic bone-homing properties of tumor cells.
Significance: miR-218 may be a universal stimulator of Wnt-signaling during bone development and cancer progression.
Neutrophils are present in the early phases of spondyloarthritis-related uveitis, skin and intestinal disease, but their role in enthesitis, a cardinal musculoskeletal lesion in spondyloarthritis, ...remains unknown. We considered the role of neutrophils in the experimental SKG mouse model of SpA and in human axial entheses.
Early inflammatory infiltrates in the axial and peripheral entheseal sites in SKG mice were evaluated using immunohistochemistry and laser capture microdissection of entheseal tissue. Whole transcriptome analysis was carried out using Affymetrix gene array MTA 1.0, and data was analyzed via IPA. We further isolated neutrophils from human peri-entheseal bone and fibroblasts from entheseal soft tissue obtained from the axial skeleton of healthy patients and determined the response of these cells to fungal adjuvant.
Following fungal adjuvant administration, early axial and peripheral inflammation in SKG mice was characterized by prominent neutrophilic entheseal inflammation. Expression of transcripts arising from neutrophils include abundant mRNA for the alarmins S100A8 and S100A9. In normal human axial entheses, neutrophils were present in the peri-entheseal bone. Upon fungal stimulation in vitro, human neutrophils produced IL-23 protein, while isolated human entheseal fibroblasts produced chemokines, including IL-8, important in the recruitment of neutrophils.
Neutrophils with inducible IL-23 production are present in uninflamed human entheseal sites, and neutrophils are prominent in early murine spondyloarthritis-related enthesitis. We propose a role for neutrophils in the early development of enthesitis.
This case study examines how district administrators and high school mathematics and science teachers use data in instructional decision making and what challenges they face in the current ...accountability context. Findings reveal unique aspects of data use directly related to a high school setting within the context of test-based accountability and illustrate how overlapping systems (state and federal policy, subject area knowledge, district norms, etc.) influence data practices. We conclude with implications for practice and policy around ways to use data to inform instruction beyond passing state assessments.
Purpose: We explored the practices and understandings around using disaggregated data to inform instruction of 18 principals from three Midwestern school districts. Research Method: This qualitative ...study used one-on-one semistructured interviews with the principals focusing on how they disaggregate data in practice. The protocol included general questions about principals’ data practices as well as specific questions around disaggregation. Initial inductive coding began with principals’ direct responses to specific questions around disaggregation, and then emerging themes were used to analyze the entire transcripts. Findings: Participants were more likely to talk about disaggregation in relation to performance (by teacher, by grade level, etc.) than by subgroup (by race/ethnicity, by gender, etc.). Further analysis highlighted principals’ purposes for disaggregating data that focused on identifying low performance on standards-based assessments, as well as the challenges they faced, particularly in terms of technical skills and software. Implications for Research and Practice: We conclude with a discussion of how disaggregation could support or challenge equity-focused leadership, with implications for policy, practice, and preparation. We consider the role of the principal in identifying inequitable patterns versus focusing on individual students, and different ways that equity can become part of regular leadership practice.
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