Teacher support and its influence on students' intrinsic value and effort: Dimensional comparison effects across subjects

While positive influences of teacher support on students' motivational development have been widely shown, existing research has not yet considered that students' school experiences are interrelated across classrooms and subjects. The aims of this study were, thus, twofold: (a) To investigate the effects of teacher support on the development of students' intrinsic value and effort; and (b) based on dimensional comparison theory, to examine potential cross-subject contrast effects of teacher support in one subject on students' intrinsic value and effort in another subject. Using a sample of 1155 German students assessed in Grade 5 and 6, multilevel latent change models revealed positive within-subject associations between teacher support and intrinsic value and effort. Furthermore, support for contrast effects was found. Higher levels of teacher support in one subject were related negatively to intrinsic value and effort in another subject, calling for the examination of students' classroom experiences as interrelated across subjects.     

A phenomenographic study of students' conceptions of quality in learning in higher education in Rwanda

The aim of this study is to understand the different ways that university students conceptualise quality in learning by drawing on a phenomenographic approach. A total of 20 students in higher education in Rwanda were interviewed and analysis of the interviews generated an outcome space of conceptions of quality in learning as transformation, practice, knowledge durability and employability. The findings illustrate the importance of the relationship between education and work as an important aspect of conceptions of quality in learning. This relationship connects to the discourse of employability in which graduates are expected to become flexible and adaptable to changes in context and over the course of time.     

Malaysian university students' attitudes to academic dishonesty and business ethics

Academic dishonesty is believed to have predictive ability for subsequent behaviours in the workplace. This study adds to the literature by investigating Malaysian business students' attitudes to academic dishonesty and their attitudes to ethics issues in business. This study also explores the association between these two constructs. The form of academic dishonesty being investigated here is related to assignments, quizzes, and examinations. Employing data collected from 153 business students from different academic years, this exploratory study concludes that business students may have found that some level of dishonesty is acceptable in some academic settings as well as in business settings. The study's outcomes highlight the possibility of using students' attitudes to academic dishonesty to explain their attitudes to ethics in business contexts. The findings of this study, to a certain extent, indicate that years spent in business education might contribute to such unfavourable attitudes. This exploratory study also draws attention to several issues related to the teaching of ethics within business education.     

Development of first-year students' conceptions of essay writing

Findings are presented from a small-scalelongitudinal study of first-year psychologystudents' learning. Three developmentalhierarchies were derived in the analysis of theinterview data, which described differentaspects of the variation in students' accountsof their conceptions of essay writing. Althoughthe findings did suggest that the students madesome development in their conceptions, itseemed that by the end of the study many ofthem were still unable to describe what wasexpected for their essays in a way which fullymapped onto their tutors' accounts. Theeffects of advice given to students about theiressay writing were also investigated. Studentswere given help that seemed relevant todeveloping their conceptions, but there waslittle evidence in the interviews that thismade an impact on their learning and studentsoften described minimal engagement with adviceand feedback. Two case studies are presented togive a more holistic perspective on thestudents' accounts of their essay writing.These cases suggest the limitations of simplecategorisations, as they emphasise the complexand idiosyncratic nature of students'development.     

A typology of undergraduate students' conceptions of size and scale: Identifying and characterizing conceptual variation

The importance of “size and scale” in nanoscience and engineering has been recognized by both scientists and science educators. A solid understanding of this concept is key to the learning of nanoscience. Students, however, have been reported to have considerable difficulty grasping this concept; yet little is known regarding their state of understanding. To address this knowledge gap, we conducted a series of studies that were aimed at exploring the different ways students conceive of “size and scale” in the context of undergraduate nanoscience and engineering courses. Informed by Variation Theory of Learning (Marton and Booth, 1997), we identified four major categories (with two sub‐categories within each) of student conception—fragmented, linear, proportional, and logarithmic. These conception categories, together with the aspects of variation that characterize and distinguish them, are summarized in a typology. In addition to serving as a diagnostic tool to describe students' understanding, this typology can also be used to guide the development of instructional interventions that facilitate students to move toward a more sophisticated understanding of “size and scale.” © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc., Inc. J Res Sci Teach 48: 512–533, 2011     

Higher education teachers’ conceptions of sustainable development: implications for interdisciplinary pluralistic teaching

Abstract

An interdisciplinary and pluralistic approach to teaching and learning has been proposed as one solution to the lack of a consensus definition of sustainable development (SD). For teachers, such an approach requires an awareness of the interconnections among different dimensions of SD and their underlying value-based assumptions. In this article, we investigate whether higher education teachers’ conceptions of SD are consistent with these aims. We present the results of our interviews with five university teachers who are experienced in interdisciplinary SD in Finland. Our findings show that despite the teachers’ rich conceptions of cultural sustainability, including a variety of topics, concepts and value questions, their understanding of economic sustainability is rather limited and sketchy. We suggest that universities support the teachers’ social and peer learning based on reflections on unclear concepts and emerging SD ideas.     

师专生心理素质调查报告

素质教育已成为基础教育改革的主题。研究中小学教师的心理素质,对于深化基础教育改革具有重要的意义。作为培养中小学教师的师专,对师专生的需要、选择、情感、自我、角色、交往、爱情、自学、知识结构、健康行为等心理素质进行调查和研究,才能加强师专开展心理素质教育的针对性,有利于促进师专教育教学改革,培养出高素质的师资,实现可持续发展。     

研究生教育质量:分析框架及其微观层面的思考

要保证和提高研究生教育质量,必须对研究生教育质量进行深入的理论构建,建立单元质量、体系质量以及作为历史演变形态存在的研究生教育质量这三个层次的分析模型。在微观层面上,可以从内容与形式、方向与程度等多个维度分析研究生教育的单元质量。     

Student teachers' attitudes and beliefs about inclusion and inclusive practice

The beliefs and attitudes of teachers are an important element in the development of inclusive education and its associated practices. Teacher education is seen as crucial in helping to develop positive attitudes and beliefs that are thought to promote inclusion, although attempts to reform teacher education in order to address issues of inclusion are complex. The paper reports the findings from a set of surveys that studied student teachers' attitudes to, and beliefs about, inclusion and exclusion at the beginning and end of a newly reformed 1‐year professional graduate diploma course at the University of Aberdeen, which places inclusion at the heart of the programme. The findings from the surveys indicate that both primary and secondary student teachers' attitudes and beliefs towards the principles of inclusive education remain positive throughout the course and are largely undiminished by school experience. This contradicts some findings that are reported elsewhere, where attitudes and beliefs become more negative following experience in schools. Findings from this study also show that attitudes, beliefs and understandings of the principles of inclusion are enhanced by consideration of the ideas underpinning ‘Learning without Limits’.     

Plants have a chance: outdoor educational programmes alter students' knowledge and attitudes towards plants

Outdoor educational programmes are generally believed to be a suitable alternative to conventional biology settings that improve participants' environmental attitudes and knowledge. Here we examine whether outdoor educational programmes focused solely on practical work with plants influence participants' knowledge of and attitudes towards plants. It was found that mean scores of participants' attitudes towards and knowledge of plants significantly increased after the outdoor programme. These effects remained significant even after three months' post‐testing. No similar patterns were found in the control group. Interestingly, the proportion of participants who liked biology as a school subject also significantly increased after the outdoor programme in the experimental group. Females showed better knowledge of plants than males, but attitudes towards plants were similar between genders. Having a garden at home was not associated with better knowledge or attitudes towards plants. Our results reveal that outdoor programmes significantly relieve ‘plant blindness’ and make biology more attractive to pupils.     

Student teachers’ conceptions of creativity in the secondary music classroom

This study aims to explore the meaning of the concept of creativity from the perspective of student teachers pursuing a one year teacher training course following their first degree. Seventeen student teachers following a specialist music teaching route in secondary education were selected as the sample for this study to offer their understanding on creativity in the secondary music classroom. Data were collected through questionnaires and semi-structured interviews and were subject to in-depth qualitative analysis using Atlas.ti software. All student teachers seemed eager to teach for creativity as they thought it was a vital component of their pupils’ musical engagement and development. However, some held richer conceptions than others or tended to overlook significant areas of musical involvement, such as improvisation, group work and engagement in evaluating and refining the creative musical product. Creativity was generally expected but it would emerge on an intuitive level as a by-product of a learning objective rather than being explicitly considered in the planning process. These narrow conceptions of the meaning of creativity in the music classroom need to be taken seriously and explicitly addressed in music education programs in order to maximize the expression of pupils’ creative potential in the music classroom and beyond.     

Development and validation of an instrument for assessing attitudes of high school students about recycling

Recycling and its applications are growing significantly due to the great potential for solving a range of environmental problems in society. Nevertheless, there are currently very few instruments that can provide valid and reliable data on students’ attitudes toward recycling. In this regard, this article focuses on the development and validation of Recycling Attitude Scale (RAS). The items in the RAS were developed initially from the responses to three open-ended items by 53 tenth and eleventh grade students and literature review on recycling attitude. This initial form was pilot tested with 356 tenth and eleventh grade students and then subjected to exploratory factor analysis. Subsequently, the revised version of the scale was administrated to 694 tenth grade students, and the results were subjected to confirmatory factor analysis and reliability analysis. The RAS consists of 21 items in three subscales, with responses recorded on a four-point Likert scale, options ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree. Cronbach’s alpha reliability coefficient (α) of the scale was found to be .87. The results indicate that the RAS a potentially valuable tool for both instructors and researchers in Turkey for the assessment of the attitudes toward recycling held by students in secondary education.     

高校图书馆与大学生信息素质教育

图书馆作为高校最重要的教学辅助机构,拥有丰富的文献信息资源、现代化的设施以及良好的人文环境,这些独特的优势决定了高校图书馆应当承担起对大学生开展信息素质教育的重任。高校图书馆应当通过加强信息资源建设、提高馆员自身素质、建立在线信息素质教育平台等多种途径和方法提高大学生的信息意识、信息能力和信息道德,在大学生信息素质教育中发挥不可或缺的作用。     

Queensland teachers’ conceptions of assessment: The impact of policy priorities on teacher attitudes

The conceptions Queensland teachers have about assessment purposes were surveyed in 2003 with an abridged version of the Teacher Conceptions of Assessment Inventory. Multi-group analysis found that a model with four factors, somewhat different in structure to previous studies, was statistically different between Queensland primary and (lower) secondary teachers. Primary teachers agreed more than secondary teachers that ‘assessment improves teaching and learning’, while the latter agreed more that it ‘makes students accountable’. The inter-correlation of ‘assessment is irrelevant’ to ‘makes students accountable’ was statistically stronger for primary teachers. Teacher beliefs reflected the differing practices of assessment by level of schooling.     

Student attitudes and the teaching and learning of race,culture and politics

Although multicultural education and teaching for and to equity and diversity often are viewed in higher education as important around the globe, the mismatch between theory and public opinion can remain a challenge when teaching the subject. This study investigates student attitudes and learning before and after completing a course in race, culture and politics at an American university in California, and data were gathered over a three-year period from 365 students. Utilizing a Confluent Education framework that integrates cognitive, affective, and psychomotor dimensions of teaching and learning, faculty structured opportunities for students to study and discuss issues, and then, examine social settings for evidence to tie cognitive study with real world experiences. Teaching and developing courses around issues of multicultural education, diversity, and issues of power that strengthen students' abilities to perceive multiple perspectives, think critically, and learn from others are made.     

浅析素质教育在独立学院学生教育过程中的实现途径

独立学院的学生与其他公办学校相比在思想上存在一定的差异,教育者应该了解并顺从独立学院大学生的心理发展的特点,在高校教育的初期转变教育方式,拓宽教育思路,提高素质教育在整体思政教育中的比重,引导学生积极主动的思考问题,在素质教育的过程中逐渐发生改变。     

医学生人文素质教育的现状与改善路径

医学生作为未来的医务工作者,本应兼具医之术与德,然而在当前医学生的培育过程中,重理轻文、重术轻德现象仍然十分突出。以传授人文知识与培养人文精神为己任的人文素质教育面临着学校重视程度不够;学生人文精神欠缺;教师队伍人文精神欠缺;人文课时少;人文课程体系落后以及课程缺乏针对性等现实问题。因此,要提高医学生的人文素质,必须首先提高学校对人文课程的重视程度,此外,提高教师队伍的人文素质,增加人文素质课程设置,和课程的职业针对性,以及改进教材体系及教学方法等都是可行的途径。     

从比较学角度看素质教育

素质教育是在新技术革命浪潮冲击下应运而生的教育形态与方式，它强调的是对学生潜能、个性等基本素质的培养，同应试教育相比，素质教育在人才选拔方式，培养定位等诸多方面存在明显差异。