Implicit Gender Stereotypes and Essentialist Beliefs Predict Preservice Teachers’ Tracking Recommendations

This study investigated the extent to which differences in implicit and explicit math–language gender stereotypes, and essentialist beliefs among preservice teachers affect tracking recommendations for math/science- versus language-oriented secondary schools. Consistent with expectations, the results suggest that student's gender influences preservice teachers’ school career recommendations: Boys are more likely to be recommended for a math/science-oriented secondary school, whereas girls are more likely recommended for a language-oriented school. Both implicit math–language gender stereotypes and beliefs in genetic determinism (reflecting essentialist beliefs) predicted the stereotypicality of school career recommendations, whereas explicit measures did not. The results suggest that more closely investigating factors contributing to stereotypical behavior in teachers might help to minimize biased actions and decisions in the educational context.     

Academic Administrators’ Beliefs About Diversity

As our nation and society becomes more racially and ethnically diverse, college campuses are experiencing a dynamic shift in the student demographic on campus as well. Purposes of the study were to: (a) analyze the beliefs of kinesiology academic unit leaders (i.e., chairs, directors, heads) regarding faculty and student diversity within their programs and departments and (b) inquire about strategic goals for faculty and student diversification within their programs and departments. The participants were 68 administrators (43 men, 25 women) and all current members of the American Kinesiology Association (AKA) as of 2015. Thematic content data analysis of the open-ended probes exposed the recurrent themes: (a) advocacy, motives, and actions; (b) diversity identified, but rarely defined; and (c) history, status, and outlook. Implications of the findings are that issues associated with diversity in kinesiology programs and departments should be addressed with vigor and progressive actions.     

Are Pedagogical Beliefs an Internal Barrier for Technology Integration? The Interdependent Nature of Teacher Beliefs

Education and Information Technologies - The purpose of this study was to examine how pre-service teachers’ competence beliefs, value beliefs, pedagogical beliefs, and their intention to...     

Undergraduates’ Attitudes Toward Science and Their Epistemological Beliefs: Positive Effects of Certainty and Authority Beliefs

Attitudes toward science are an important aspect of students’ persistence in school science and interest in pursuing future science careers, but students’ attitudes typically decline over the course of formal schooling. This study examines relationships of students’ attitudes toward science with their perceptions of science as inclusive or non-religious, and their epistemological beliefs about epistemic authority and certainty. Data were collected using an online survey system among undergraduates at a large, public US university (n = 582). Data were prepared using a Rasch rating scale model and then analyzed using multiple-regression analysis. Gender and number of science and mathematics courses were included as control variables, followed by perceptions of science, then epistemological beliefs. Findings show that respondents have more positive attitudes when they perceive science to be inclusive of women and minorities, and when they perceive science to be incompatible with religion. Respondents also have more positive attitudes toward science when they believe scientific knowledge is uncertain, and when they believe knowledge derives from authority. Interpretations of these findings and implications for future research are discussed.     

An Existence Theorem for Strongly Nonlinear Implicit Complementarity Problems

A class of strongly nonlinear implicit complementarity problems for set-valued mappings in Hilbert spaces is studied. Thereupon a new existence theorem is established and proved to be a solution to that kind of problems.     

Reconstructing Prior Beliefs through Teacher Education Programs——Review of Research into Changes in Language Teacher Beliefs

This review of research into changes in language teacher beliefs reveals that carefully designed language teacher education courses are effective in reconstructing teachers’prior beliefs. When teaching practices are added to the teacher education programs, when adjustments are made to the structure of teacher education courses, and when research practices are incorporated in teacher education programs, significant changes are seen in teachers’beliefs.     

A Reanalysis of Engineering Majors’ Self-Efficacy Beliefs

This study examines differences in women??s engineering self-efficacy beliefs across grade levels in comparison to men??s engineering self-efficacy (ESE) beliefs across grade levels. Data for this study was collected from 746 (635 men, 111 women) engineering students enrolled in a large research extensive university. Four major conclusions resulted from this study. (1) No significant differences in overall mean engineering self-efficacy scores were found by gender. However, this study found differences between men??s and women??s mean coping self-efficacy (CSE) and engineering career outcome expectations (ECOE) subscale scores. Freshmen men had significantly higher ECOE compared to upperclassmen women. (2) Overall, fifthyear men had significantly lower mean ESE scores compared to all other groups. (3) When the fifth-year group was removed from the data set, all first-year students had significantly lower subscale scores compared to all other years. In addition, men in their first-year of engineering had significantly lower subscale scores compared to other groups of men. (4) No significant differences in overall ESE scores were found among first to fifth-year women. Also, no significant differences in self-efficacy subscale scores were found among first to fifth-year women.     

Preservice Elementary Teachers’ Beliefs About Science Teaching

In this study, a Beliefs About Teaching (BAT) scale was created to examine preservice elementary science teachers’ self-reported comfort level with both traditional and reform-based teaching methods, assessment techniques, classroom management techniques, and science content. Participants included 166 preservice teachers from three different US universities. Analyses revealed significant correlations among participants’ confidence level with assessment techniques, classroom management, teaching methods, and science content and number of science methods and science content courses taken. A significant difference was observed among the students enrolled at each university. Overall, study participants felt more comfortable teaching biology concepts than teaching chemistry concepts, physics concepts, or both.     

Assessing Epistemological Beliefs: Schommer’s Questionnaire Revisited

The questionnaire constructed by Schommer is regularly used in studies on epistemological beliefs. This contribution raises some questions about the appropriateness of this instrument to measure epistemological beliefs. This paper presents a critical review of the relevant literature and discusses the use of (a translated version of) the questionnaire in two empirical studies. In the review section, the construction, validation and use of the questionnaire by Schommer and some other authors are analysed. The results of the empirical studies are reported in the second section. In neither of these two studies, the factor structure of Schommer (1990) could be retrieved. Moreover, in both studies, a different factor structure was found. Given the differences in the factor structures, in both studies attempts were made to construct reliable scales. These attempts reveal counter-indications for using the instrument: all scales contain only a limited number of items and are not very reliable.     

Turkish Prospective Chemistry Teachers’ Beliefs about Chemistry Teaching

Given the progressive loss of influence for the school relative to television in youngsters’ everyday lives, this article describes the procedure and the results of including cartoons in the physics curriculum in secondary education. Work was carried out intensively with a small group of pupils and sporadically with a larger group. In the first case, cartoons were used for identifying and discussing fictitious phenomena, problem‐solving, and assessment of the learning. In the second case, for identifying and discussing fictitious phenomena, a quasi‐experimental research design was followed. The results back the use of this didactic tool as an element for motivating and invigorating the classroom, for identifying the pupils’ alternative ideas and the assessment of their learning, as well as for a more critical way of watching television.     

Implicit Knowledge, Explicit Knowledge and Interactive High School English Instruction

This article,first introduces the terms of implicit knowledge(IK),explicit knowledge(EK) and their distinctions in the process of English language learning,then advocates interactive English instruction in high schools,aiming at improving the learners' communicative competence.It provides an instruction design,which lays emphasis on the conversion of the EK into IK by practicing the former orally so as to interactively internalize the latter,thus,facilitating the learners' language communicative competence.     

Stability and Change in Student Teachers’ Beliefs about Teaching

This study examined whether teachers prioritize the use of technology. More specifically, this paper focused on how Turkish teachers think about the importance of technology and technological tools for their daily routines. The research design employed both qualitative and quantitative methods. The data were collected through document analyses, interviews, and a survey. The results showed that the following factors lead teachers to prioritize the use of technology in the classroom: (a) globalization, (b) society’s needs, (c) technological literacy, (d) student learning, and (e) practicability.     

Kindergarten Teachers’ Beliefs Toward Developmentally Appropriate Practice in Jordan

The objective of this study was to examine the beliefs of Jordanian kindergarten teachers toward developmentally appropriate practices (DAP). The sample consists of 285 (14.9%) randomly selected teachers working in public and private kindergartens. A questionnaire with two parts, (1) general information and (2) teachers’ beliefs regarding DAP, was developed to answer the research questions. The items were distributed into the five dimensions of early childhood professional practice that were published by the National Association for the education of young children (NAEYC). The findings indicated that the overall mean score of kindergarten teachers’ beliefs on the five dimensions was 4.08, indicating high beliefs toward (DAP). Teachers endorsed DAP on all dimensions except establishing reciprocal relationships with families. The findings also indicated that there are no significant differences between the means of teachers’ beliefs toward teaching children according to teachers’ level of education, years of experience, or teacher’s age (except in the caring community of learners and the development and learning domains). In the light of the findings of this study, some recommendations are presented.     

On the Student-Orientation of Teachers’Beliefs from Cognitive Perspective

At present, teachers’belief is an exploring topic to the linguists, educationists, and psychologists. Teachers’beliefs not only influence the teaching’s attitudes and methods but also the student’s i...     

Consistencies and Inconsistencies Between Science Teachers’ Beliefs and Practices

To gain a better understanding of teachers’ beliefs about teaching, as compared with their in-reality classroom practices, case studies were constructed with four science teachers in different schools in Egypt. The main aims of this article were to provide an answer to the research question, ‘To what extent do science teachers’ beliefs correspond to their practices?’ and to explore the contextual factors that can explain the difference, the consistency or inconsistency, between teachers' beliefs and practices. The study collected data for each teacher using semi-structured interviews, notes taken while observing classes, and teachers’ notes, journals, and lesson plans concerned with STS lessons. The data were analysed using the constant comparative method around common themes, which were identified as distinctive features of teachers’ beliefs; these same themes were then compared with their practices. Results showed that a few of the in-service science teachers’ pedagogical beliefs aligned with constructivist philosophy. Some of the teachers’ beliefs were consistent with their practices, especially the traditional beliefs, while some of teachers’ practices were conflicted with their beliefs in different contexts.     

Implicit beliefs of ability and maladaptive learning: does self-efficacy matter?

This study investigated the interaction between self-efficacy and implicit beliefs of ability in their association with maladaptive learning in mathematics. The analysis was based on a large sample of 2538 Singapore Secondary 2 students (M_age = 13.75), who took measures of entity beliefs of ability, self-efficacy, and three maladaptive learning variables in mathematics: novelty avoidance, cheating, and anxiety. We conducted latent interaction analysis with gender and previous mathematics achievement controlled and found that higher self-efficacy did not buffer, but enhanced the positive association between entity beliefs of ability and the three maladaptive learning variables. When entity beliefs of ability were higher, the increase in the three maladaptive learning was larger for those with higher self-efficacy than those with lower self-efficacy. Findings suggest a revision of the moderation hypothesis in the literature: higher self-efficacy is more helpful in preventing maladaptive learning for incremental theorists than for entity theorists.     

Is There a Link Between Teachers' Beliefs and Behaviors?

This study examined the link between beliefs and behaviors for early childhood teachers. Currently, consensus has not been reached regarding the belief-practice relationship for early childhood educators due to inconsistent attention to measurement specificity, perceived ability to practice beliefs, and strength of teacher training. The participants in this study were 47 early childhood educators. Teachers were primarily female and all worked with children aged 3–5. Teachers had worked with children aged 3–5 an average of 7.6 years (range = 0–30). Many teachers had training in early childhood. Twenty-nine had majored in early childhood and 26 held teaching certificates. Teaching beliefs were measured with a self-report questionnaire. Teaching actions were assessed with four observational measures via videotape. The results showed that there was not a relationship between teachers' beliefs and actions. In addition, the results indicated that when teachers had more experience with children they were less sensitive and that early childhood teaching certification held was a positive predictor of high level involvement and verbalizations.