Interesting,but Less Interested: Gender Differences and Similarities in Mathematics Interest

The purpose of the present study was to examine gender differences in mathematics interest. In a sample of middle school students (N?=?366), we examined mathematics interest as a trait (i.e., individual interest) and as a current state (i.e., situational interest) during a learning activity in mathematics. Assessment of perceived competence, performance, and effort during learning was also included. Results revealed a significant difference between boys and girls in their ratings of individual interest, but not in the current experience of situational interest. Furthermore, boys and girls did not differ in performance during learning, but girls invested significantly more effort than boys. Results and their implications are discussed in relation to interest development, gender differences, and subjective beliefs.     

Academic resilience: underlying norms and validity of definitions

Educational Assessment, Evaluation and Accountability - Academic resilience refers to students’ capacity to perform highly despite a disadvantaged background. Although most studies using...     

Disentangling general achievement levels and subject-specific strengths and weaknesses in mathematics,reading, and science

Educational Assessment, Evaluation and Accountability - The paper uses data from the combined TIMSS (Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study) and PIRLS (Progress in International...     

The integrity of educational outcome measures in international assessments

Educational Assessment, Evaluation and Accountability -     

The hand-held calculator at the intermediate level

This survey presents a study in eight classes of intermediate level in Sweden, forms 4–6, where the pupils were supposed to use hand-held calculators whenever they could be of any use to them. The experiment took place during the period 1979–82 and was evaluated by tests, questionnaires, interviews by teachers, and observations.     

Conditions of school success: Relationships between characteristics of pupils,home environment,and school marks

European Journal of Psychology of Education -     

Structural aspects reconsidered: A reanalysis of two studies in educational evaluation

In two papers recently published in this journal, effectiveness is claimed for some training programs (development of social abilities and skills of disadvantaged pupils in Israeli youth villages; change in prejudices toward people of other races in a West German integrated comprehensive school) due to certain changes between sets of variables. As to the conclusions of the authors, some scepticism seems in order, however. Detailed reanalyses of the data were therefore performed using an explicitly structurally oriented approach via target analysis, the results of which contradict those reached by the authors.     

INTERNATIONAL INTER‐UNIVERSITY FACULTY AND STUDENT EXCHANGES ‐ A VIEW FROM THE GERMAN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC

As the role of a university is like that of a lighthouse, international inter‐university exchanges of students and of teachers enable universities to perform their instructional and research‐oriented tasks with increased efficiency and creativity. The universities of the German Democratic Republic, having accumulated more than thirty years of experience in the domain of student and faculty exchanges, can offer the world some advice on the subject. Although good and bad points can be identified with regard to different kinds of exchanges, the good points predominate. No one condemns the overall usefulness of inter‐university exchanges of teachers and students. The future will no doubt witness an increase in the number of exchanges, particularly of those arranged through multilateral agreements