Professional Development and Its Impact on Children in Early Childhood Education and Care: A Meta-Analysis Based on European Studies

This study reviews the European evidence on the impact of professional development (PD) of pre-school educators on child outcomes. A meta-analysis investigates how PD of pre-school educators in formal pre-school centers in Europe affects child outcomes. The European studies are quite recent and limited in numbers, and our results show a significant positive effect of PD on child outcomes with an overall effect size of 0.35 (with a 95% confidence interval from 0.20 to 0.51). The magnitude is slightly smaller than corresponding results based on US studies, but indicates a general positive effect of PD on child outcomes.     

基于ECM模型的IT持续使用整合分析

不同研究背景下ECM模型的研究结果存在很大差异。在检索主要的学术数据库中关于ECM模型研究文献的基础上,采用整合分析法对模型中各变量间的相互关系进行定量的综合分析,验证ECM模型的有效性;并对用户类型、IT类型和文化类型对ECM模型的调节作用进行探索性分析,指出ECM模型结果差异产生的原因。     

注意焦点对运动技能学习影响的元分析研究

目的:用元分析的方法调查了注意焦点(attentional focus)对运动技能学习(motor learning)的影响。研究对象:已发表的和未发表的(学位论文、会议论文)且以SCI和SSCI为主的关于注意焦点对运动技能学习影响的57篇英文科学文献。结果:1.整个研究的效果量值ES=0.617,表明整个研究中外部注意焦点指导或反馈对运动技能学习的影响优于内部注意焦点;2.影响效果量的因素显示,组间设计和组内设计的效果量值间无差异,并且参与者类型之间的效果量值也无显著差异,但与内部注意焦点相比,不同实验任务的学习受到外部注意焦点的指导和反馈影响的大小不同;3.外部注意焦点优势和内部注意焦点优势之间效果量值的差异显著,其中外部注意焦点优势占了整个研究的74.6%,而内部注意焦点优势占了整个研究的25.4%,说明外部注意焦点优势在整个研究中发挥了主导的作用。结论:与内部注意焦点相比,外部注意焦点有利于运动技能学习。     

Review of teachers’ mental health research in China since 1994

To summarize the widely dispersed literature concerning Chinese teachers’ mental status, the present paper conducted a quantitative research synthesis with a focus on the current situation and development in teachers’ mental disorders. On one hand, the results demonstrated that many critical problems existed in the exploration of this issue, such as the primary application of one uniform research type (i.e., theoretical discussion) and single-scale method (i.e., SCL-90); on the other, the comparison analysis showed that college teachers obtained significantly higher pathological prevalence than the other two (i.e., kindergarteners and teachers of middle or primary schools). And such negative prevalence has increased over the years and became sharper after 2000. Additionally, mental disorders seem more severe in country teachers (relative to those working in town), teachers aged above 40 (relative to those younger), and female teachers (relative to males). It is suggested that urgent attention should be paid to further improve the research level by highlighting the methodological consideration, especially focusing on the in-depth survey investigation, refined experimental study, as well as high-caliber qualitative research, and thus clarify the mechanism of teachers’ psychological disorders.     

近二十年我国中小学数学教育实验研究元分析

教育实验研究作为一种比较专业的研究方法,是探索教育理论与实践有机结合的有效途径.元分析是对某一教育研究领域或具有某一特征的各项单个教育实验或其它经验性教育研究的成果的计量整合.运用元分析方法对我国中小学数学教育实验的各项指标进行研究,可以了解我国教育实验研究的发展状况,能够进一步促进教育实验研究朝着规范化方向发展.     

Average Effect Sizes in Developer-Commissioned and Independent Evaluations

Abstract

Rigorous evidence of program effectiveness has become increasingly important with the 2015 passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). One question that has not yet been fully explored is whether program evaluations carried out or commissioned by developers produce larger effect sizes than evaluations conducted by independent third parties. Using study data from the What Works Clearinghouse, we find evidence of a “developer effect,” where program evaluations carried out or commissioned by developers produced average effect sizes that were substantially larger than those identified in evaluations conducted by independent parties. We explore potential reasons for the existence of a “developer effect” and provide evidence that interventions evaluated by developers were not simply more effective than those evaluated by independent parties. We conclude by discussing plausible explanations for this phenomenon as well as providing suggestions for researchers to mitigate potential bias in evaluations moving forward.     

Media and Pedagogy in Undergraduate Distance Education: A Theory-Based Meta-Analysis of Empirical Literature

This meta-analysis employs a theoretical framework in quantitatively synthesizing empirical studies that investigate the effects of distance education (DE) versus classroom instruction on undergraduate student achievement. Analyses of 218 findings from 103 studies were conducted according to how media were used to support DE pedagogy. The results indicate that the effect sizes far synchronous instructor-directed DE were consistent and not significantly different from zero; in asynchronous DE, media only supporting independent learning was generally less effective than media supporting collaborative discussion among students, although both subsets were significantly heterogeneous. Follow-up analysis of asynchronous DE findings was framed in terms of three patterns of interaction—student-content, student-instructor and student-student.     

教学论研究若干问题的元分析——兼论教学论的科学化

人类已进入 2 1世纪 ,知识经济时代和学习化社会对教育教学提出了更高的要求。如何改进我们的教学 ,加强教学论研究 ?本文运用元分析的方法从形式和内容两个层面对当前教学论研究中存在的若干问题进行了梳理 ,并探讨了教学论科学化这样一个学科发展的取向和动态演进的过程 ,为教学论在新世纪的进一步发展作了有益探索。     

Differential Item Functioning Effect Size From the Multigroup Confirmatory Factor Analysis for a Meta-Analysis: A Simulation Study

This study presents a new approach to synthesizing differential item functioning (DIF) effect size: First, using correlation matrices from each study, we perform a multigroup confirmatory factor analysis (MGCFA) that examines measurement invariance of a test item between two subgroups (i.e., focal and reference groups). Then we synthesize, across the studies, the differences in the estimated factor loadings between the two subgroups, resulting in a meta-analytic summary of the MGCFA effect sizes (MGCFA-ES). The performance of this new approach was examined using a Monte Carlo simulation, where we created 108 conditions by four factors: (1) three levels of item difficulty, (2) four magnitudes of DIF, (3) three levels of sample size, and (4) three types of correlation matrix (tetrachoric, adjusted Pearson, and Pearson). Results indicate that when MGCFA is fitted to tetrachoric correlation matrices, the meta-analytic summary of the MGCFA-ES performed best in terms of bias and mean square error values, 95% confidence interval coverages, empirical standard errors, Type I error rates, and statistical power; and reasonably well with adjusted Pearson correlation matrices. In addition, when tetrachoric correlation matrices are used, a meta-analytic summary of the MGCFA-ES performed well, particularly, under the condition that a high difficulty item with a large DIF was administered to a large sample size. Our result offers an option for synthesizing the magnitude of DIF on a flagged item across studies in practice.     

Does peer assessment promote student learning? A meta-analysis

Abstract

In recent years, there has been an increasing use of peer assessment in classrooms and other learning settings. Despite the prevailing view that peer assessment has a positive effect on learning across empirical studies, the results reported are mixed. In this meta-analysis, we synthesised findings based on 134 effect sizes from 58 studies. Compared to students who do not participate in peer assessment, those who participate in peer assessment show a .291 standard deviation unit increase in their performance. Further, we performed a meta-regression analysis to examine the factors that are likely to influence the peer assessment effect. The most critical factor is rater training. When students receive rater training, the effect size of peer assessment is substantially larger than when students do not receive such training. Computer-mediated peer assessment is also associated with greater learning gains than the paper-based peer assessment. A few other variables (such as rating format, rating criteria and frequency of peer assessment) also show noticeable, although not statistically significant, effects. The results of the meta-analysis can be considered by researchers and teachers as a basis for determining how to make effective use of peer assessment as a learning tool.