Simultaneous testing of four decades of academic self-concept models

In separate studies on academic self-concept, previous research has shown: (1) the distinctiveness of a cognitive and an affective component, (2) the domain specificity of self-concepts, (3) the reciprocal effects of self-concept and achievement, (4) the internal/external frame of reference in self-concept development, (5) the reciprocal effects of the internal/external frame of reference, (6) the big-fish-little-pond effect, and (7) the interrelatedness of self-concepts in similar domains. The present study demonstrates that all of these seven findings are replicable and may be synthesized in a single study with a sample of students in Singapore. Secondary 1 students (7th graders; N = 275) were surveyed with 24 items about their academic self-concepts in physics, English, and math in two components (cognitive and affective), and their respective achievement scores were recorded over two time points. Confirmatory factor analysis found that the cognitive and affective components of academic self-concept were separable. The students’ self-concepts in different curriculum domains were distinct, supporting the domain specificity of self-concepts. The frame of reference and reciprocal effects were both supported, but only for the cognitive component of self-concept. Positive and statistically significant correlations between physics and math suggest that these curriculum domains were interrelated. Results of self-concept studies in schools can encourage and guide the design of interventions that could enhance students’ self-concept for positive sustainable effects on desirable educational outcomes. Attempts to improve learning outcomes should emphasize an enhancement of specific components of academic self-concept in domain-specific and related curriculum domains for optimal effects.     

Traditional and Evaluative Aspects of Flexibility in Gender Roles, Social Conventions, Moral Rules, and Physical Laws

Traditional and evaluative aspects of flexibility regarding transgressions across several domains (masculine and feminine gender roles, moral rules, social etiquette, and physical law) were assessed in 24 4-year-olds, 40 8-year-olds, and 46 college undergraduates. Traditional and evaluative aspects of flexibility yielded distinctly different patterns of response. Data indicated an age-related increase in flexibility on traditional measures (i.e., traditional rule flexibility, cultural relativity) for transgressions in all domains, except physical laws. In contrast, subjects in all age groups were consistently negative in their evaluations of transgressions in moral rules, etiquette, and masculine gender roles. Female subjects viewed masculine gender role transgressions with greater flexibility and less negativity than did male subjects. Results demonstrate the multidimensional character of flexibility development in different social and physical domains. Results suggest that masculine and feminine gender roles and social etiquette may not fall within a common domain of social convention.     

Impact of Virtual Work Environment on Traditional Team Domains

An extensive literature review and a phenomenological heuristic case study examined a virtual work team to determine what were salient domains of the team and determine the effect the virtual work environment had upon these domains. The study determined that post‐modern philosophy and postindustrial society are linked to changes in the marketplace and the development of virtual work environments. Seven team domains were identified. The virtual work environment affects the communication domain of teams most strongly. This effect impacts the remaining domains. Decision processes were determined to be narrower and featured conformity. Effectiveness was shown to be diminished by the reduction of social facilitation and increase in social loafing. Leadership was affected by the change in the communication network from an all‐channel network to a wheel network. Relationship and trust were affected by erosion of trust. Roles changed with the team's reduced ability to resolve differences and execute detailed action. Purpose became more task‐oriented. Technology emerged in the study as the new virtual team domain. Factors involved in team members' satisfaction were related to personality, isolation, and team membership.     

Associations between trait personality,anxiety, self-efficacy and intentions to exercise by gender in high school physical education

Trait personality has been associated with achievement and many of its related outcomes in settings such as education, health, physical activity and sport. Scant trait personality research has been performed among school-age students in physical education, so this study investigates relations between the six-dimension (HEXACO) model of trait personality and anxiety, self-efficacy and intentions to exercise as a function of gender in 316 high school physical education students. Students completed validated measures of these constructs. Results revealed that trait personality (particularly the social self-esteem aspect of extraversion) predicted lower anxiety and higher self-efficacy and intentions to exercise in both females and males. Openness to experience was predictive of both anxiety and lowered self-efficacy in females. It appears that physical educators should consider the role of the HEXACO personality traits and sub-traits in their students and potentially differentiate instruction to better accommodate students who are more vulnerable. From this study, it appears that students who are less extraverted and females who are more open to experience may be at be more at risk for anxiety and lower self-efficacy in physical education which may compromise their intentions to exercise.     

The relationship between university student learning outcomes and participation in social network services,social acceptance and attitude towards school life

Educators try to use social network services (SNSs) in their teaching because they are regarded as beneficial to student learning. However, little research to date has empirically investigated whether the use of an SNS increases university student learning outcomes. A total of 730 university students in the capital area of South Korea participated in the present study. Based on social learning theory, we developed a general structural model that included SNS participation (SP) as an exogenous variable and a range of endogenous variables: cognitive domain learning outcomes, affective domain learning outcomes, social domain learning outcomes, social acceptance (SA) and attitude towards university life (AT). The study results confirmed that the model adequately explained causal relationships between student learning outcomes and SA, AT and SP. SA was identified as a key variable because of its direct effect on learning outcomes. However, SP was considered more important because of its large indirect effects on all learning outcomes through both SA and AT.     

Child-Mother Attachment of Six-Year-Olds and Social Competence at School

89 children and their mothers participated in a study examining the association between attachment and peer social competence. During the summer following kindergarten, quality of attachment was assessed from reunion episodes following a 1-hour separation. In the fall, measures of sociometric status, peer behavior nominations, and peer liking ratings were collected. Teachers completed liking ratings and ratings of behavior problems and competence. Consistent with longitudinal studies of infant attachment and peer relations, insecurely attached boys were less well liked by peers and teachers, were perceived as more aggressive by classmates, and were rated by teachers as less competent and as having more behavior problems than were their secure counterparts. No such associations emerged for girls. Possible explanations for unanticipated differences in the pattern of results for boys and girls are discussed.     

高阶IRT模型——项目反应理论的新进展

早期的单维IRT模型忽视了测验多维性的可能,而多维IRT模型对各维度的划分不够明确,不能很好地反映各维度能力的内涵。高阶IRT模型承认测验的多维性,以分测验划分维度,同时又将多个维度的能力统一到一个高阶的能力中,能够在了解被试各维度的能力同时,为被试提供整体的能力估计,它能更好地反映实际,并且适应大规模测验的需求。     

Domain Differences in Early Social Interactions

Different social experiences help children develop distinctions between domains of norms. This study investigated whether mothers respond differently to moral, prudential, and pragmatic norms during the 2nd year, a period that precedes the time when children are able to make explicit distinctions between these norms. Sixty mothers of infants between 11 and 23 months were interviewed. Mothers' reports of their initial interventions, changes in intervention following noncompliance, and emotional reactions depended on normative domain. Initial interventions were less differentiated by domain for mothers of older than for mothers of younger children. These findings suggest that children have social experiences in the 2nd year that are associated with distinctions among normative domains.     

Social and dimensional comparisons in math and verbal test anxiety: Within- and cross-domain relations with achievement and the mediating role of academic self-concept

The present study builds on two strands of research: (1) the recently established generalized internal/external frame of reference (GI/E) model assuming social (comparing one’s achievement in one domain with the achievement of one’s peers in the same domain) and dimensional (comparing one’s achievement in one domain with one’s achievement in another domain) comparison processes in the formation of motivational constructs and self-perceptions, and (2) research on domain-specific facets of test anxiety. Using a sample of 5135 German seventh grade students, it is tested whether and how both comparison processes are involved in the formation of domain-specific facets of test anxiety when considering both the emotionality and worry components of test anxiety, and whether the relation between achievement and test anxiety is mediated through academic self-concept. When applying the GI/E model to test anxiety, the results showed negative relations between achievement and test anxiety within math and verbal (German) domains, but partially positive relations across domains. This pattern of relations emerged for both the worry and emotionality components while stronger achievement relations were found for worry. These findings indicate that dimensional achievement comparison processes operate in the formation of domain-specific test anxiety. Domain-specific academic self-concepts were found to mediate the relations between achievement and test anxiety within and across domains, the mediation being stronger for worry than for emotionality as an outcome. Boys and girls did not differ regarding direct and indirect relations among constructs. Implications for research on dimensional comparison processes and test anxiety are discussed.     

冥思教育的国际进展和相关启迪

冥思教育在中小学里的实践已经探索出多种有效形式,取得了很多宝贵的经验。一些国际实证研究发现,持续的冥思实践,既有助于学生调节注意力,改善学业成绩,也有助于提升学生的移情能力和社交能力,促进道德发展,提高个体幸福感,还有助于将自我的洞察和新感受扩展应用于社会服务和公共事务之中。这其中的效果可以从认知领域和非认知领域两方面加以机理性阐释。要准确理解冥思教育的性质和定位,有必要结合中华优秀传统文化来充分挖掘其蕴含的教育哲学价值,并且在充分准备的前提下,开展适合我国国情的冥思教育研究和实践。     

Stress and coping in hearing mothers of children with hearing loss: factors affecting mother and child adjustment

The present study examines maternal and child adjustment as a result of the application of a stress and coping model (Folkman, Schaefer, & Lazarus 1979) to factors associated with having a school-aged child with a hearing loss. Thirty-six hearing mothers of children with hearing loss participated in the study. Information was gathered through parent and teacher questionnaires and home interviews and observations. Results indicated that (a) social support emerged as an important predictor of maternal adjustment as well as a buffer between current life stress and maternal adjustment, and (b) maternal problem-solving skill emerged as a significant predictor of child adjustment and as a mediating factor between child's age and teacher rating of child adjustment. The discussion focuses on possible explanations for these findings, the utility of a competency-based rather than psychopathology-based perspective in understanding parent and child outcomes, and implications for intervention strategies.     

Children's Reasoning about Video and Real Balance-Scale Problems

Research findings: 3- and 5-year-old children's television-viewing was recorded for 2 years, then their rules for solving videotaped and real balance-scale problems were assessed. Older children used more advanced rules than younger children. Those who saw the videotaped version first used less advanced rules on it than on the real version. Those who saw the real problems first did not differ between versions. Neither verbal IQ, nor family demographics, nor television-viewing predicted 5- or 7-year-olds' rules on real problems. However, 7-year-olds' rules for solving video problems were positively related to parents' ratings of how often their child engaged in TV-focused social interactions. TV focus accounted for the effects of order of administration on the video problems. Cartoon-viewing at age 7 was negatively correlated with using rules on the video. Once cartoon-viewing at 7 was accounted for, cartoon-viewing at age 5 emerged as a positive predictor of rule use on the video. The results are more consistent with mental effort than media literacy. Implications for practice: Parents should encourage TV-focused social interactions and educators should begin with real demonstrations, then proceed to video-mediated instruction.     

Two instructional aids to optimise processing and learning from instructional explanations

Although instructional explanations are commonly used to introduce learners to new learning content, previous studies have often shown that their effects on learning outcomes are minimal. This failure might partly be due to mental passivity of the learners while processing introductory explanations and to a lack of opportunity to revise potential misunderstandings after working on introductory explanations. Against this background, we provided learners with two instructional support measures to optimise the introduction of new principles and concepts by providing instructional explanations in the domain of management theory: (a) prompts designed to induce inferences that are focused on the central content of the explanations, and (b) remedial explanations that are adapted to the learners’ knowledge gaps. We tested their effects in a 2 × 2 factorial experimental design with the following factors: (a) prompts designed to induce focused processing (with vs. without), and (b) remedial explanations (adapted vs. random). The participants consisted of 80 psychology students. We found that the prompts fostered both the share of deep-oriented processing and the acquisition of conceptual knowledge. The beneficial effect of prompts on conceptual knowledge was mediated by the number of inferences that learners generated in response to the prompts. In addition, we found that prompts also fostered the instructional efficiency of providing instructional explanations. The provision of adapted remedial explanations, however, fostered neither deep-oriented processing nor the acquisition of conceptual knowledge. We conclude that prompts designed to induce focused processing can foster deep-oriented processing as well as both the effectiveness and efficiency of learning from instructional explanations.     

Translating between representations in a social context: a study of undergraduate science students’ representational fluency

Interacting with and translating across multiple representations is an essential characteristic of expertise and representational fluency. In this study, we explored the effect of interacting with and translating between representations in a computer simulation or in a paper-based assignment on scientific accuracy of undergraduate science students’ explanations regarding the underlying mechanisms of action potential. The study proposed that a simulation designed with scaffolded inquiry and with multiple dynamically linked representations fosters students to use greater scientific accuracy in speaking about a complex scientific phenomenon as well as to work with this complex knowledge in higher cognitive domains. Student explanations were analysed for use of accurate scientific language as they worked with the instructional tool as well as under test conditions. We also investigated the cognitive domain that students worked within as they created explanations of the phenomenon under study. The proportion of elaborations that occurred in higher-level cognitive domains such as applying, analysing, evaluating and synthesising was used to denote representational fluency. The rationale for this approach is discussed. Findings suggest that the simulation prompted students towards operating in higher cognitive domains in order to construct new knowledge and therefore promoted representational fluency. It also suggests that translating between representations in a simulation in a collaborative social setting contributes towards students’ use of accurate scientific language. Students’ perceptions expressed during the interviews confirmed the findings.     

Talking to children about science is harder than we think: characteristics and metacognitive judgments of explanations provided to children and adults

Adults modify the way they speak to children to support children’s learning across several domains. However, no previous research has studied whether adults change their language when explaining science to children. The current study examined if and how adults change the manner in which they talk about science when providing explanations to children vs. providing explanations to other adults. Participants (N = 81) were video recorded while explaining basic science concepts to children and adults. Recordings were later analyzed to determine if and how participants changed the quality and content of their explanations. The results confirmed that adults did change their explanations when talking to children about science by providing more potentially beneficial, but also disadvantageous, information. Participants perceived that they provided more accurate explanations to children, but appeared to be making metacognitive judgments largely based upon the changes made that could be beneficial to learning. Taken together, this work suggests that science may be a domain in which adults are not well equipped to modify and monitor their language to children.     

The Self-Perceptions of Pupils with Down Syndrome in Relation to Their Academic Competence,Physical Competence and Social Acceptance

The self-perceptions of 64 pupils with Down syndrome aged between 8 and 16 years were assessed in three school related domains; academic competence, physical competence, and social acceptance. Results from the Pictorial Scale of Perceived Competence and Acceptance and a School Situations Grid suggested that pupils with Down syndrome hold very positive self-perceptions in each school related domain, that self-perceptions become more positive with age, are more positive for females than males, and remain positive regardless of school placement type. The utility of the instruments for assessing the self-perceptions of pupils with Down syndrome is discussed. Possible explanations for the study findings and suggestions for further research are also raised.     

Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) Area Under the Curve (AUC): A Diagnostic Measure for Evaluating the Accuracy of Predictors of Education Outcomes

Early Warning Systems (EWS) and Early Warning Indictors (EWI) have recently emerged as an attractive domain for states and school districts interested in predicting student outcomes using data that schools already collect with the intention to better time and tailor interventions. However, current diagnostic measures used across the domain do not consider the dual issues of sensitivity and specificity of predictors, key components for considering accuracy. We apply signal detection theory using Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) Area Under the Curve (AUC) analysis adapted from the engineering and medical domains, and using the pROC package in R. Using nationally generalizable data from the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 (ELS:2002) we provide examples of applying ROC accuracy analysis to a variety of predictors of student outcomes, such as dropping out of high school, college enrollment, and postsecondary STEM degrees and careers.     

Book Review

Handbook on Quality of Life for Human Service Practitioners Robert L. Schalock &Miguel Angel Verdugo-Alonso, 2002 Washington, DC: American Association on Mental Retardation ISBN 0-940898-77-2 The concept of quality of life (QOL) or the “good life,” as the authors point out in their introduction, dates back to antiquity. In recent years, however, it has emerged as an outcome variable in research and policy development across the major fields of human services. It is timely, therefore, that this Handbook has been published as it provides one of the most comprehensive overviews of published research on this important topic. Its major contribution lies in the way the authors have analysed the voluminous literature on the conceptualisation, measurement, and application of the concept of QOL from 1985 onwards. In this process they have covered the focus areas of education (regular and special), physical health, mental and behavioural health, intellectual disabilities, ageing, and families. Readers will find the multi-dimensional heuristic quality of life model that integrates QOL domains, social systems, and the issues of measurement, application, and evaluation particularly useful. Much of the research on QOL is not based upon sound models or conceptualisations of the construct and that weakens subsequent measurement instruments. Throughout the book the paradigmatic shifts that have occurred in the way disability has been defined and conceptualised; the way evaluation theory and strategies have undergone significant development; and the recognition of the critical importance of reflecting the person's subjective perception of his/her life quality, have been strongly emphasised. The book has been organised into four parts. Two introductory chapters provide an overview of the Handbook and the concept of QOL. Part 2 integrates the research on QOL across the six focus areas and concludes with a synthesis of core QOL domains and indicators. The measurement of the concept is presented in Part 3 with a useful systems approach embodying the core QOL domains of emotional wellbeing, interpersonal development, physical well-being, self-determination, social inclusion, and rights. Part 4 discusses the application of the concept at the individual, organisational, and societal levels. A concluding chapter “Putting it altogether and moving ahead” provides a useful synthesis of the major themes. A particularly interesting observation is the relative lack of emphasis in the QOL literature surveyed on the rights domain, education (including special education), and familycentred research.