The effect of individual differences in the inner and outer states of ICT on engagement in online reading activities and PISA 2009 reading literacy: Exploring the relationship between the old and new reading literacy

With the prevalence of ICT, the concept of reading literacy has evolved to encompass both online reading and printed texts. This study clarifies the relationship between reading printed texts and online electronic texts from the perspective of individual differences in the inner and outer phases of ICT in a partial mediation model. We used the PISA 2009 data with 297,295 fifteen-year-old students (49.6% males) across 42 regions. The inner state of ICT represents students' attitude toward computers and confidence in high-level ICT tasks, whereas the outer state of ICT represents students' access to ICT facilities at home or school. The indirect results showed students' reading literacy improved with better attitude toward computers, confidence, and ICT availability at home, as long as the effect was mediated through engagement in online reading activities, even though availability of ICT at home had a direct and negative impact on PISA 2009 reading literacy.     

Measurement invariance of the ICT engagement construct and its association with students’ performance in China and Germany: Evidence from PISA 2015 data

The present study investigated the factor structure of and measurement invariance in the information and communication technology (ICT) engagement construct, and the relationship between ICT engagement and students’ performance on science, mathematics and reading in China and Germany. Samples were derived from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2015 survey. Configural, metric and scalar equivalence were found in a multigroup exploratory structural equation model. In the regression model, a significantly positive association between interest in ICT and student achievement was found in China, in contrast to a significantly negative association in Germany. All achievement scores were negatively and significantly correlated with perceived ICT competence scores in China, whereas science and mathematics achievement scores were not predicted by scores on ICT competence in Germany. Similar patterns were found in China and Germany in terms of perceived autonomy in using ICT and social relatedness in using ICT to predict students’ achievement. The implications of all the findings were discussed.     

Reflections on and implications of the Programme for International Student Assessment 2015 (PISA 2015) performance of students in Taiwan: The role of epistemic beliefs about science in scientific literacy

The 2015 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) has drawn a substantial amount of attention from science educators and educational policymakers because it marked the first time that PISA assessed students' ability to evaluate and design scientific inquiry using computer-based simulations. We undertook a secondary analysis of the PISA 2015 Taiwan dataset of 7,973 students from 214 schools to identify critical issues of student learning and potentially reshape our educational system and policies. Thus, this study sought to identify potential latent clusters of students' scientific literacy performance according to a set of focus variables selected from the PISA student questionnaires. In addition, significant determinants of students' scientific literacy and resiliency were analyzed. Cluster analysis results demonstrated the presence of four clusters of high, medium, low, and inferior scientific literacy/epistemology/affective dispositions. Specifically, students in cluster 1 compared with other clusters showed that the higher the scientific literacy scores are, the more positive epistemic beliefs about science, achievement motivation, enjoyment of science, interests in broad science, science self-efficacy, information and communications technology (ICT) interest, ICT autonomy, more learning time, more teacher supports and teacher-directed instructions are. Regression results indicated that the most robust predictor of students' scientific literacy performance is epistemic beliefs about science, followed by learning time, interest in broad science topics, achievement motivation, inquiry-based science teaching and learning practice, and science self-efficacy. Decision tree model results showed that the descending order of the variables in terms of their importance in differentiating students as high- versus low-performing were epistemic beliefs about science, learning time, self-efficacy, interest in broad science, and scientific inquiry, respectively. A similar decision tree model to determine students as resilient versus non-resilient also was found. Various interpretations of these results are discussed, as are their implications for science education research, science teaching, and science education policy.     

How the ICT Development Level Influences Students’ Digital Reading Literacy: A Multi-level Model Comparison Based on PISA 2018 Data

The purpose of this study is to systematically showcase and evaluate how students’, schools’, and countries’ Information and Communication Technology (ICT) development levels influence students’ digital reading literacy by using the data of the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2018 and the multi-level model approach. It is found that the ICT development at each level has a significant positive effect on students’ digital reading literacy, and there is a significant interactive moderating effect between different levels. The gap in ICT development levels between the countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and developed economies has a “Matthew effect” in widening the digital reading literacy gap in the short term, but in the long run, the faster growth of the countries participating in BRI in ICT development levels will narrow the gap and alleviate the effect. China should make use of its advantages in ICT development to engage in global education governance, facilitate the co-development in both the ICT development level and the digital reading literacy for the countries participating in BRI, and contribute to the development of global education by opening up a new way of development.     

ICT水平对学生数字化阅读素养的影响--基于PISA跨国学生评估项目的多层次模型比较

本研究旨在利用PISA2018跨国学生测评数据,通过多层次模型方法系统刻画与评估个体-学校-国家层级的ICT水平对数字化阅读素养的影响路径及其效应。实证研究发现,不仅各层ICT水平对学生数字化阅读素养具有显著正向效应,且不同层级间存在显著的跨层交互调节效应;同时,“一带一路”国家与发达经济体在ICT水平上的发展差距在短期具有拉大数字化阅读素养差距的“马太效应”,但长期来看“一带一路”国家更快的ICT发展速率又将“平抑”技术分层导致的差异固化问题。中国应积极利用自身ICT发展优势,参与全球教育治理,引领“一带一路”沿线国家ICT水平与国民数字化阅读素养的协同发展,为全球教育发展开辟新的发展道路,贡献中国力量。     

An analysis of the programme for international student assessment 2000 (PISA 2000) mathematical literacy data for brazilian, japanese and norwegian students

A linear structural model was studied to investigate the factors affecting reading literacy and mathematical literacy skills of 15-year-old students in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2000 data across different cultural settings. Brazil, Japan, and Norway were selected for the purpose of comparison on the basis of their rankings in the PISA 2000 study. The factors studied were attitudes towards reading, student-teacher relations, classroom climate, communication with parents, use of technology, attitudes towards mathematics, and reading literacy. The results indicated that the latent independent variable with the strongest effect on mathematical literacy is the use of technology in Brazil, communication with parents in Japan, and attitudes towards reading in Norway. In all the three countries, reading literacy has the strongest effect on mathematical literacy skills; mathematical literacy has a stronger relation to attitudes towards mathematics; attitudes towards reading is negatively related to mathematical literacy measures but positively related to reading literacy measures, and finally, communication with parents has a positive relation with reading literacy skills. A disciplined classroom environment fosters more success in PISA tests in Japan; on the other hand, in Brazil a reversed result is found for this particular variable. The use of technology has a strong influence on reading skills in Brazil; however, no and negative effects of this variable are observed in Norway and Japan respectively. These findings are discussed with reference to cultural context.     

The role of expressed emotions in online discussions

Abstract

We investigated relationships among expressed emotions, perceived motivation, perceived emotions, and three dependent variables (i.e., behavioral engagement, cognitive engagement, and student achievement) in the context of a blended online course. We defined “expressed emotions” as emotions detected by an affective computing tool in messages that students posted to online discussion forums in a blended undergraduate writing course. The results of two-step hierarchical multivariate regressions revealed that expressed emotions differentiated positive emotions from negative emotions better than perceived emotions did. Moreover, while no significant effect emerged for perceived motivation and perceived emotions, expressed fear was a significant predictor of student achievement (i.e., final score). Although affective computing is in its infancy, our findings suggest the potential use of expressed emotions for educational research and practice.     

“Literacy”:PISA素养观背后的教育学立场

近年来,P ISA(国际学生评价项目)已成为了国内社会各界人士广泛关注的重大教育事件。通过P ISA测试我们看到了上海卓越的教育表现以及在教育质量与均衡上取得的显著成绩。除了赞美与掌声之外,PISA还能引发我们怎样的教育思考呢?众所周知,P ISA并不是第一个国际性的针对学生素养的大型测试项目,它的独特之处不在于可以供我们对各国15岁学生的学业成绩进行比较而在于测试设计及理念上的多方面创新。其中,PISA"素养观"就是最具变革性的理念之一。本文旨在通过梳理PISA素养观内涵及其描述框架的内容结构来阐述P ISA测试背后所蕴含的深刻的教育学转向及其立场,从而引发我们对素养及其学习模式的思考。     

Do Teachers’ Instructional Practices Moderate Equity in Mathematical and Scientific Literacy?: an Investigation of the PISA 2012 and 2015

Many efforts have been made to reach educational equity, especially to reduce mathematics and science achievement gaps by students’ socioeconomic status. Across countries, educators strive to reform traditional teacher-centered instructional approaches to more student-centered/inquiry-based instruction to improve equity in education. In this context, this study examines whether relationships between socioeconomic status and scientific or mathematical literacy are moderated by student-centered instruction. Ten countries covering a wide range of achievement levels as well as equity in education are selected for an international comparison. A linear regression analysis is applied to student achievement, equity, and frequency of student-centered instruction data from the PISA 2012 and PISA 2015. We find mixed results: As student-centered instruction is offered more frequently, the gap in mathematical and scientific literacy between low and high socioeconomic status is generally narrowed or maintained. In most countries, students’ mathematical and scientific literacy scores are expected to decrease across all socioeconomic status as student-centered instruction is given more frequently. The findings necessitate further scrutiny of how teachers implement student-centered instruction in various educational systems. This further research need to consider the complexity of implementation related to sociological and pedagogical aspects.     

Comparability of educational achievement and learning attitudes across nations

We estimated the invariance of educational achievement (EA) and learning attitudes (LA) measures across nations. A multi-group confirmatory factor analysis was used to estimate the invariance of educational achievement and learning attitudes across 55 nations (Programme for International Student Assessment [PISA] 2006 data, N?=?354,203). The constructs had the same meaning (factor loadings) but different scales (intercepts). Our conclusion is that comparisons of the relationships between educational achievement and learning attitudes across countries need to take into consideration two sources of variability: individual differences of students and group differences of educational systems. The lack of scalar invariance in EA and LA measures means that the relationships between EA and LA may have a different meaning at the level of nations and at the student level within countries. In other words, as PISA measures are not invariant in scalar sense, the comparisons across countries with nationally aggregated scores are not justified.     

Student engagement and mathematics achievement: Unraveling main and interactive effects

The present study explored the relationships between student engagement and mathematics achievement for 295,416 15‐year‐old students from 11,767 secondary schools in 34 countries who participated in the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2012. Affective engagement was measured by students’ mathematics interest (InterestMath) and perceived usefulness of schooling (PerceptionSch), behavioral engagement by behaviors facilitating mathematics learning (BehaviorMath) and participation in mathematics learning activities (ActivitiesMath), and cognitive engagement by openness (Openness) and perseverance (Perseverance) in problem‐solving. Results showed that students who were more engaged had higher levels of academic achievement, with cognitive engagement having the strongest association with achievement. Results also showed that students who were highly engaged in two domains had higher achievement levels than peers who were engaged in only one domain in six pairwise comparisons (InterestMath‐BehaviorMath, InterestMath‐Openness, InterestMath‐Perseverance, PerceptionSch‐BehaviorMath, PerceptionSch‐Openness, PerceptionSch‐Perseverance). These results highlighted the importance of a whole‐school based approach in enhancing student achievement.     

Engaging students emotionally: the role of emotional intelligence in predicting cognitive and affective engagement in higher education

Student engagement is a key predictor of academic performance, persistence and retention in higher education. While many studies have identified how aspects of the college environment influence engagement, fewer have specifically focused on emotional intelligence (EI). In this study, we sought to explore whether EI could predict cognitive and/or affective engagement in a sample of undergraduate psychology students in Ireland. Ninety-one students completed two forms of the student engagement instrument, rating current engagement and retrospective secondary school engagement, along with the trait EI (TEI) questionnaire. After controlling for academic ability, gender and school engagement, multiple regression analyses found TEI to be a positive predictor of both cognitive and affective engagement. Previous academic performance acted as an additional predictor of cognitive engagement, while retrospective affective school engagement predicted current affective engagement. These results suggest that interventions aimed at increasing EI may have positive implications for many aspects of student engagement, and hence performance at third level.     

Student engagement and classroom variables in improving mathematics achievement

The study explored how much student engagement and classroom variables predicted student achievement in mathematics. Since students were nested within a classroom, hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) was employed for the analysis. The results indicated that student engagement had positive effects on student academic growth per month in math after taking into account student variables such as gender, SES, race, and interaction effects. The effects of student engagement are consistent regardless of minority and gender. Among classroom level variables such as teachers’ degree, experience, certification, authentic instruction, content coverage, and class size, there is no significant predictor of student math achievement growth. The findings suggest that student engagement should be emphasized in a school and educational policy for students’ success in a school.     

中国四省市学生ICT胜任力的表现及影响因素——基于PISA 2015 ICT精熟度问卷数据的分析

信息素养是学生生存和发展的基本素养,对信息通信技术(ICT)的胜任力是反映学生信息素养的重要指标。基于PISA 2015中的ICT精熟度问卷数据,对中国四省市学生的ICT胜任力表现进行分析,考查中国学生的ICT资源、ICT使用情况以及ICT兴趣对其ICT胜任力的影响。结果发现:中国四省市学生的ICT胜任力在参测的48个国家和地区中排名靠后;不同性别、不同年级学生的ICT胜任力存在显著差异;家庭ICT资源对学生ICT胜任力有显著的正向预测作用;学生在学校使用ICT越多、在家使用ICT做作业越多,学生的ICT胜任力越高;学生的ICT兴趣越高,他们的ICT胜任力越高,学生的ICT兴趣对他们的ICT胜任力影响最大。为了提高我国学生的ICT胜任力,教育行政部门、学校、教师应充分重视ICT教育,完善ICT素养测评体系;扩大对ICT资源的投入,为学生更多地接触电子设备提供条件;加大ICT和电子设备的使用频率,在教育实践中逐步融入信息素养教育;着力培养学生对信息技术的兴趣,提高他们的ICT胜任力。     

Relationships Between Student Perception of Teacher-Student Relations and PISA Results in Mathematics and Science

Teacher-student relations have a significant correlation with student motivation, academic performance and discipline. For example, the meta-analysis by Hattie (2009) revealed an effect size of d = 0.72 for the effect of relations on achievement, and the meta-analysis by Finn, Schrodt, Witt, Elledge, Jernberg & Larson (Communication Education, 58(4), 516–537, 2009) showed a correlation of 0.55 between the perceived care by teachers and student achievement. These were established by comparing students, but comparisons of schools or countries with high or low levels of teacher-student relations are missing. The present paper analyses the correlation between teacher-student relations and Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2009 results in science and mathematics on three levels: student, school and country level. The study shows a weak positive relationship (correlations up to 0.16) at the student level, and a positive relationship (up to 0.34) at school level. The multilevel analysis revealed a negative relationship between teacher-student relations and PISA results (r = ?.51) at the country level. To understand the negative relationship, also known as an ecological fallacy, the countries were grouped into geographical regions in which the relationship was insignificant and the positive effect of teacher-student relations was found by comparing with some neighboring countries. Implications for practice and further studies are proposed on the basis of these findings.     

The influences of inductive instruction and resources on students' attitudes toward reading: evidence from PISA 2009

The declining trend in the positive reading attitude of students' has concerned scholars. This paper aims to apply a 3-level hierarchical linear model to analyse how inductive instruction and resources influence both students' positive and negative attitudes towards reading. Approximately 470,000 15-year-old students, and their school principals, from 65 countries completed a questionnaire, which was designed by the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). In line with previous research, gender, the student–teacher relationship, online academic searches, and reading habits are correlated with both positive and negative reading attitudes. Multilevel results show that reading attitudes improved when a school provides a context in which inductive instruction has been enforced. The natural log value of gross domestic product (GDP) per capita in a country is statistically significantly negative when associated with a student's positive and negative reading attitudes. Further, in a country with largely unqualified teachers, school-level inductive teaching lowers the negative attitude.     

Testing measurement invariance of PISA 2015 mathematics,science, and ICT scales using the alignment method

This study investigates measurement invariance of the mathematics, science, and ICT scales across the 47 countries that participated in the PISA 2015 ICT Familiarity Questionnaire. Knowing whether the same constructs and measurements can be reliably compared across countries constitutes an important goal. The Alignment method is employed to test the measurement invariance of the three scales. The results show that mathematics and science scores are highly invariant and can be used to compare countries, whereas the ICT scale is mostly non-invariant and cannot be used to reliably compare ICT means across all participating countries. Implications and limitations are discussed.     

The Efficacy of Inquiry-Based Instruction in Science: a Comparative Analysis of Six Countries Using PISA 2015

This study is a comparative analysis of 15-year-old students’ scientific literacy, and its association with the instructional strategies that students experience, across six OECD countries that participated in PISA 2015. Across the six countries, the study investigates the efficacy of inquiry-based instruction in science in contrast with two other instructional approaches to teaching secondary science: adaptive and teacher-directed teaching. The analysis shows that students who reported experiencing high frequencies of inquiry strategies in their classrooms consistently evidenced lower levels of scientific literacy across the six countries. Benchmark analysis also showed, common to all six countries, a strongly positive association between the frequency of teacher-directed and adaptive teaching strategies and students’ scientific literacy. Additionally, the study disaggregates PISA’s composite variable representing inquiry-based instruction and shows that different components of inquiry are differentially associated with students’ scientific literacy. We discuss the implications of these analyses for science teacher educators, science teachers, and educational policy makers. In doing so, we add nuance to our understanding of the efficacy of inquiry-based instruction in science, suggesting that some components, as conceptualised and assessed in PISA, seem to suggest greater attention and use, and others more moderated use.

     

发展中国家学生ICT水平对个体科学素养的影响研究——基于PISA数据

教育大数据的发展离不开信息与通信技术(ICT)的广泛应用。基于PISA 2015学生ICT问卷和科学素养得分,通过对基础教育阶段学生个体科学素养表现的综合测评,可以详细探究包含中国在内的10个发展中国家的学生ICT水平与其科学素养得分之间的潜在关系。研究发现,以上发展中国家的学生如果在6岁及以前第一次接触电脑从一定程度上将对学生的科学素养产生积极影响;学生在学校或校外使用网络的时间如果超过4个小时或继续增加,科学素养则会出现显著下降趋势;允许学生在可控的时间范围内(如1~2小时)高效合理地使用网络,能在一定程度上提高学生的科学素养。对于中国学生,家校首先应鼓励并倡导其在"6岁及以前"接触诸如电脑等ICT设备,从而促进学生科学素养的形塑与提升;其次,工作日期间,无论是校内还是校外,家校都应严格监督并限制学生ICT电子产品以及网络的使用;再者,周末期间,家校应倡导学生在可控的时间范围内高效合理使用网络,"一刀切"或者肆无忌惮的放纵都将产生难以估量的恶性影响。     

Can we reliably compare student engagement between universities? Evidence from the United Kingdom Engagement Survey

Policy changes in the higher education landscape have given way to increased interest in the way students perceive engagement in UK higher education. This paper examines whether we can reliably distinguish between institutions and disciplines, and what key student and institutional variables are a predictor of engagement of undergraduate students. Using data from two waves of the United Kingdom Engagement Survey (UKES), a national survey of undergraduate student engagement, we constructed multilevel models for different aspects of student engagement. The results show that the vast majority of the variance of the models is at the student level, indicating that demographic characteristics seem to contribute most to differential aspects of engagement. Some variance at student level could be explained: females, distance learners, part-time students, and disabled student indicators were negative predictors of engagement, while indicators for Black and minority ethnic (BME) students and for students from Africa and Asia were positive predictors of engagement.