Why not? Examining college students’ reasons for avoiding an online course

A large number of studies have compared learning outcomes in fully online courses to those in face-to-face courses. Fewer studies have examined why students choose to enrol in fully online courses to begin with, and no study has yet addressed the question of why some students choose not to register in online courses. This study contributes to scholarly understanding of online education by examining for the first time why students may choose to take a large lecture course face-to-face, when they know that the same course is offered by their institution online in the same semester, for the same credit and at the same tuition cost. Through a survey, 48 students in a face-to-face offering of an introductory Educational Psychology course reported why they chose to attend lectures and tutorials in person when they could have earned the same credit without doing so. A majority of respondents suggested that they believed they would learn better face-to-face, and expressed informal theories about why this would be the case. We examine these informal theories, and the possible implications they may have for future research and institutional planning with regard to online course offerings.     

Performance‐approach goals,task‐avoidant behaviour and conceptual knowledge as predictors of first graders’ school performance

The present paper aims to examine the relationship between first grade children’s performance‐approach goal orientation, task‐avoidant behaviours, conceptual knowledge and their achievement in maths and literacy. The sample consisted of 174 first grade children and their class teachers. Children’s self reports of their performance‐approach goals and avoidant behaviours as well as teacher‐reports of children’s avoidant behaviours were used. Our results indicate that performance‐approach goal orientation positively predicts children’s self‐reported task‐avoidant behaviours which in turn have a negative effect on children’s achievement outcomes. The negative effect of teacher‐rated avoidant behaviours on children’s achievement outcomes was even greater than the positive influence of children’s conceptual knowledge. These results suggest that the relationships between goal‐orientations, achievement behaviours and achievement outcomes start to form early in children’s school career (or even before that) and that children’s self‐report of their achievement goals and behaviours provide a valuable knowledge already in this early age.     

Pupils’ pedagogical well-being in comprehensive school—significant positive and negative school experiences of Finnish ninth graders

Basic education has two main goals: to promote high quality learning outcomes and pupils’ personal growth and well-being. The interrelated nature of learning and well-being is here referred to as pedagogical well-being. In this study, we explore Finnish comprehensive school pupils’ (N = 518) experienced pedagogical well-being by examining the kinds of situations that pupils themselves find either highly positive or highly negative during their school career. Pupils’ pedagogical well-being is empirically examined in two complementary aspects: (1) determining the point in the pupils’ school career in which the critical incidents are situated and (2) identifying the primary contexts of pupils’ experienced critical incidents of pedagogical well-being. Results showed that critical incidents for pedagogical well-being reported by the pupils were situated all along their school career. A variety of episodes causing empowerment and satisfaction, as well as disappointment and anxiety, were reported by the pupils. Pupils perceived the social interactions within the school community as being the most rewarding as well as the most problematic part of their school career.     

Students’ reasons for preferring teleological explanations

The teleological bias, a major learning obstacle, involves explaining biological phenomena in terms of purposes and goals. To probe the teleological bias, researchers have used acceptance judgement tasks and preference judgement tasks. In the present study, such tasks were used with German high school students (N?=?353) for 10 phenomena from human biology, that were explained both teleologically and causally. A sub-sample (n?=?26) was interviewed about the reasons for their preferences. The results showed that the students favoured teleological explanations over causal explanations. Although the students explained their preference judgements etiologically (i.e. teleologically and causally), they also referred to a wide range of non-etiological criteria (i.e. familiarity, complexity, relevance and five more criteria). When elaborating on their preference for causal explanations, the students often focused not on the causality of the phenomenon, but on mechanisms whose complexity they found attractive. When explaining their preference for teleological explanations, they often focused not teleologically on purposes and goals, but rather on functions, which they found familiar and relevant. Generally, students’ preference judgements rarely allowed for making inferences about causal reasoning and teleological reasoning, an issue that is controversial in the literature. Given that students were largely unaware of causality and teleology, their attention must be directed towards distinguishing between etiological and non-etiological reasoning. Implications for educational practice as well as for future research are discussed.     

Problematising school space for Indigenous education: teachers’ and parents’ perspectives

This interpretive study explores the relationship between spatial qualities and school-parent engagement in three primary schools which serve low income periurban Indigenous families in north Australia. Drawing from interviews with educators and parents, school-based observations and community fieldwork conducted over the course of two years in two different towns, we found that educators are very concerned that schools, as western institutions, present cultural and physical barriers to effective engagement; but that this view is not shared by Indigenous parents. Rather than seeing this as a simple issue of cultural difference, our analysis seeks to unravel the curious way in which the otherness of school space is acknowledged in educator discourse. Only some place features of school are suggested as a barrier by educators while other aspects – such as the clear identification of insiders and outsiders through school routines and locales – remain unremarked. We conclude by suggesting that schools are inherently exclusionary, a foundational fact which both parents and educators accept and respond to, in ways which both explain the push for engagement within education policy and its irrelevance as a concern for parents.     

Preschoolers’ Motivation to Over-Imitate Humans and Robots

From preschool age, humans tend to imitate causally irrelevant actions—they over-imitate. This study investigated whether children over-imitate even when they know a more efficient task solution and whether they imitate irrelevant actions equally from a human compared to a robot model. Five-to-six-year-olds (N = 107) watched either a robot or human retrieve a reward from a puzzle box. First a model demonstrated an inefficient (Trial 1), then an efficient (Trial 2), then again the inefficient strategy (Trial 3). Subsequent to each demonstration, children copied whichever strategy had been demonstrated regardless of whether the model was a human or a robot. Results indicate that over-imitation can be socially motivated, and that humanoid robots and humans are equally likely to elicit this behavior.     

School choice and parents’ preferences for school attributes in Chile

A key assumption of school choice and competition policies is that parents’ most important (if not only) priority when choosing a school is its quality. However, evidence about which of a school's attributes really drives parental choice is still scarce. We use census data from a parent questionnaire in Chile, a country with a national school choice and competition system, to describe the attributes most commonly considered by parents when choosing a school, and to assess how the probability of prioritizing those attributes varies with the parents’ socioeconomic characteristics, while controlling for other characteristics of the family. We find that parents choosing a school prioritize its proximity, its quality, and whether it provides religious education. Furthermore, the probability of parents prioritizing proximity is higher for parents of low socioeconomic status, while the probability of them prioritizing quality and religious education is higher for parents of high socioeconomic status. These findings show that only advantaged families choose schools based on their quality, and therefore school choice and competition policies may offer a limited benefit for disadvantaged pupils, possibly maintaining or reinforcing socioeconomic segregation in the education system.     

Evaluating and comparing Singaporean and Taiwanese eighth graders’ conceptions of science assessment

Background: Researchers have indicated that assessment practices and methods should support learners’ construction of meaningful understanding of knowledge. Understanding students’ conceptions of assessment will enable us to construct more realistic, valid and fair assessments. Learners’ conceptualization of assessment would be imperative to serve as an essential reference to evaluate their learning progress.

Purpose: This study evaluated and compared the Singaporean and Taiwanese middle school students’ conceptions of science assessment. Within-country gender comparisons were also explored.

Sample: 424 Taiwanese and 333 Singaporean eighth graders were invited for a cross-country comparison.

Design and methods: The participants completed a questionnaire named Conceptions of Science Assessment.

Results: The findings showed that the summative assessment dominates in the Taiwanese classrooms, while formative and summative assessment are usually perceived in Singaporean classrooms. The Singaporean students had a greater tendency than their Taiwanese counterparts to perceive the purpose of assessment as a way of reproducing knowledge, and the formative assessment as improving learning, problem-solving, and critical judgment. No gender differences were found among either the Singaporean or the Taiwanese students.

Conclusions: Educators in both countries should provide learners with more opportunities to experience process-oriented science assessment activities and de-emphasize the usage of examination-oriented practices to achieve the sophistication of conceptions.     

Understanding the Gaps Between Turkish Teachers’ Beliefs and Practices for Dealing With Preschoolers’ Peer Relationship Problems

Research Findings: This study explores the beliefs, self-reported practices, and observed practices of Turkish preschool teachers toward children’s peer relationship problems as well as the gap between their beliefs and practices. Five female teachers of 5-year-old children were selected as participants for this multiple case study. Approximately 79 hr of observation was conducted on the children’s daily routines and activities in a natural classroom environment, which specifically included the teachers’ problem-solving strategies while confronting peer relationship problems. The participants were also interviewed regarding their beliefs and strategies for solving peer relationship problems. The findings of this qualitative investigation indicated that the teachers’ beliefs and self-reported practices included both teacher- and child-related factors. However, the observed practices included several teacher-initiated strategies; child-initiated strategies appeared, albeit less than teacher-initiated ones. This affirms the teachers’ stress on children’s role in managing peer problems. Although some of the teacher practices and beliefs were consistent, certain inconsistencies may indicate the presence of external constraints. Practice or Policy: The results of this study highlight the importance of teacher education programs providing preservice and in-service teachers with the knowledge and skills required to understand children’s peer relationships, guide their interactions, and apply appropriate intervention strategies for various peer relationship problems.     

Student teachers’ proactive strategies for avoiding study-related burnout during teacher education

The study aims to gain a better understanding of the function of proactive strategies in buffering study burnout among student teachers at the early stage of their studies. There is some evidence that the use of active social coping strategies during studies is related to reduced burnout levels among early career teachers. Less is known about the association between the proactive strategies and burnout among student teachers. Altogether, 244 Finnish student teachers completed the survey. The data were analysed by using SEM. The results suggested that the proactive strategies adopted by student teachers seem to prevent study-related burnout, especially in terms of exhaustion in studies and inadequacy in studying, but not directly the perceived cynicism towards studies. The results imply that learning how to use proactive strategies is functional in coping with study-related stressors, by reducing the risk of student teachers’ burnout.     

How Adults’ Actions,Outcomes, and Testimony Affect Preschoolers’ Persistence

Across four experiments, we looked at how 4- and 5-year-olds' (n = 520) task persistence was affected by observations of adult actions (high or low effort), outcomes (success or failure), and testimony (setting expectations—“This will be hard,” pep talks—“You can do this,” value statements—“Trying hard is important,” and baseline). Across experiments, outcomes had the biggest impact: preschoolers consistently tried harder after seeing the adult succeed than fail. Additionally, adult effort affected children’s persistence, but only when the adult succeeded. Finally, children’s persistence was highest when the adult both succeeded and practiced what she preached: exerting effort while testifying to its value.     

School‐based Management — pointing directions for twenty‐first century elementary and middle school principals

As man rushes to the dawn of the twenty‐first century, his society and our own system of education are engulfed in widespread changes. One of these provocative changes is the new move to the site‐based management concept whereby principals become the chief school officers of their own school site. The school principal, in essence, is to have complete control and responsibility over his/her school — the superintendent does not dictate, but rather, negotiates all school business with his principals. In light of this new movement, these two authors draw a parallel between past and present expectations of building principals and submit a planning model for on‐site managerial administrators to inspect, study and implement in accordance with their own needs. The reader is provided with an array of perspectives with which on‐site administrators must deal if total assumption of school‐site business and school programming becomes a reality in the USA and universally.     

Self-Regulation Abilities and Spanish-Speaking Preschoolers’ Vocabulary and Letter-Word Skills in Spanish and English

Research Findings: This study examined the heterogeneity in Spanish-speaking children's (N = 117; M age = 53 months; SD = 5 months; 57% boys) vocabulary and letter-word skills in English and Spanish after one year of preschool and the extent to which early self-regulation abilities (i.e., executive function and effortful control) were associated with that variability. Data were gathered via teacher and parent surveys and standardized assessments. Three distinct profiles of Spanish-speaking preschoolers were identified using cluster analysis. One group exhibited high levels of Spanish and English vocabulary and letter-word skills (a.k.a. high-balanced bilinguals). The other two groups exhibited predominantly Spanish or English vocabulary and letter-word skills (a.k.a. Spanish- or English-dominant). Multinomial logistic regression analyses (controlling for children's nonverbal cognitive ability) revealed that effortful control skills enhanced children's probability of being classified as high-balanced bilinguals versus Spanish-dominant; however, this was evident only for the children whose parents reported speaking exclusively Spanish at home. Executive function abilities appeared to be unrelated to preschoolers' bilingual classification, and thus their English vocabulary and letter-word skills. Practice or Policy: The findings have implications for early education programs working to increase the school readiness of Spanish-speaking children by highlighting the key role that effortful control may play in supporting their learning of English skills, particularly for those whose parents speak exclusively Spanish at home.     

Perceptions of teachers’ and parents’ regarding school readiness

In order to investigate the teachers and parents’ perceptions of school readiness, 218 parents and 370 teachers were surveyed. Based on the areas of “physical well-being and motor development”, “social and emotional development”, “approaches to learning”, “language use”, “cognition and general knowledge” and “family”, the study attempts to examine and compare kindergarten teachers’, elementary school teachers’ and parents’ beliefs about school readiness. Results are as follows: (1) on the whole, parents and teachers attach great importance to health, attention, parental rearing patterns, confidence, learning interest, etc.; (2) kindergarten and elementary school teachers share a similar outlook on school readiness while elementary school teachers emphasize more on areas such as compliance with teacher authority, parents’ educational level, manners, self-centralization, the ability to express and so on, and (3) the difference exists among parents, kindergarten teachers and elementary teachers’ perceptions of school readiness.     

Primary school teachers’ restricted and elaborated anger

This article examines the cognitive appraisals associated with the emotion of anger based on interviews with teachers. An analysis of these appraisals demonstrated that teachers experienced different forms of anger depending on whether they were relating to other adults or their pupils. Anger in relation to children was based on persistent goal blockage, the build up of frustration and the assignment of blame. Such anger, referred to here as restricted anger, was expressed at the time and seemed to involve limited cognitive elaboration. By contrast, anger in relation to parents and colleagues was associated with blaming others for having brought about an unfair/unjust outcome and a perceived threat to self. Such anger, referred to here as elaborated anger, was not displayed immediately but appeared to be cognitively dwelled upon and maintained. These two forms of anger and their appraisals are examined and their implications for teachers and teaching considered.     

Intensifying instruction: Does additional instructional time make a difference for the most at-risk first graders?

Research is clear on the benefit of early intervention efforts and the importance of intensive instructional supports; however, understanding which features to intensify is less clear. General intervention features of group size, instructional delivery, and time are areas schools can consider manipulating to intensify instruction. Also, each of these features can vary along a continuum making them easier or more challenging for schools to implement. What is unclear is if implementing very intensive interventions early in school (first grade), which require significantly more school resources, provides accordingly accelerated student learning. This article investigates the role of intensifying instructional time for the most at-risk first graders in schools implementing research-based instructional and assessment practices within multitiered instructional support systems. Results indicate that students receiving more intensive intervention made significantly more progress across a range of early reading measures. Intervention features, limitations, recommendations for practice, and implications for treatment resisters are discussed.     

Teaching for enjoyment: David Manson and his ‘play school’ of Belfast

The school operated by David Manson in 18th century Belfast was a centre of learning which represented a critical approach to traditional forms of education. Choice instead of coercion; encouragement rather than ridicule; achievement and recognition for all learners were the hallmarks of his method. Enjoyment in teaching and in learning was not just an aspiration but a reality. Play was not seen as mere diversion or leisure but as purposeful, enjoyable work imbued with creativity and success. An exploration of the role of play and enjoyment as a pedagogical philosophy presents interesting parallels with David Manson's experiments. This paper argues that teachers who provide engaging opportunities for collaborative learning and who place priority in developing a classroom culture where success and self-esteem take precedence over curriculum delivery discover that the delineation between ‘work’ and ‘play’ becomes less sharply defined. Manson's vision of a pedagogy of enjoyment has a timely relevance for the challenges and concerns of the teacher of the 21st century.     

Teachers’, school staff’s and parents’ efficacy beliefs as determinants of attitudes toward school

Self- and collective efficacy beliefs were examined as correlates of attitudes toward school of teachers, school staff, and parents. 726 teachers, 387 staff members, and 1994 parents from 18 junior high schools in Milan and Rome, Italy, were administered questionnaires assessing self-efficacy beliefs, perceptions about colleagues’ bahavior, collective efficacy beliefs, affective commitment and job satisfaction of teachers and school staff and parents satisfaction with school. Path analyses corroborated a conceptual model in which self- and collective efficacy beliefs represent, respectively, the distal and proximal determinants of affective commitment and job satisfaction for teachers and staff and of satisfaction with school for parents. Perceptions that teachers, staff and parents hold about the behavior of their colleagues largely mediated the links between self- and collective efficacy beliefs. collective efficacy beliefs, in turn, largely mediated the influence that self-efficacy beliefs and perceptions of school constituencies’ behaviors exert on attitudes toward school of teachers, staff and parents.     

Personality traits’ effects on self-efficacy and outcome expectations for high school major choice

The current study focuses on the contribution of the Big Five personality traits to the development of self-efficacy and outcome expectations regarding selection of a high school major among 368 Israeli adolescents (M _age = 16.07, SD = 0.41). Structural equation analyses showed that higher levels of conscientiousness and extraversion and lower neuroticism contributed to higher self-efficacy. In contrast, higher levels of conscientiousness and neuroticism and lower extraversion contributed to higher outcome expectations. These findings expand our understanding regarding personality characteristics serving as antecedents of self-efficacy and outcome expectations and sets important implications for career interventions with adolescents.