An investigation of mathematics anxiety among sixth through eighth grade students in Turkey

The purpose of the present study is to investigate mathematics anxiety among 220 sixth through eighth grade Turkish students in terms of mathematics achievement levels, perceived enjoyment of the mathematics teaching method, perceived enjoyment of mathematics, and perceived help with mathematics from parents. The Mathematics Anxiety Scale for Primary School Students (Bindak, 2005) was used to assess the levels of mathematics anxiety. A 3 × 2 factorial analysis of variance results showed that there was not a significant interaction effect or main effect of gender; however, there was a significant main effect of grade level. Standard multiple regression analyses show that independent variables accounted for 63% to 70% of variability in the dependent variable. The results also indicate that not only the perceived enjoyment of mathematics, but also the enjoyment of the mathematics teaching method and help with mathematics from parents had a significant effect on mathematics anxiety.     

Gender Effects in Children’s Development and Education

This paper attempts to clarify several lines of research on gender in development and education, inter‐relating findings from studies on intuitive/informal knowledge with those from research on achievements and attitudes in science. It acknowledges the declining proportions of male teachers world‐wide and examination successes which indicate a reversal of educational disadvantage from female to male; as well as the recent evidence on the effects of the gender of teachers upon student success. An empirical contribution to the literature is offered, drawing from the gender‐related findings from research on children’s cosmologies in China and New Zealand with 346 boys and 340 girls (of whom 119 boys and 121 girls participated in the current study). The investigation focused on children’s concepts of the motion and shape of the Earth through observational astronomy and gave children opportunities to express their ideas in several modalities. The in‐depth interviews allowed children to share their meanings with gender differences becoming apparent (e.g. girls’ superior ability to visually represent their cosmologies and boys’ greater awareness of gravity). However, these differences were not universal across genders or cultures and marked similarities were apparent both in the content of children’s responses and in their reasoning processes. By comparing boy/girl cosmological concept categories and by tracking their developmental trends by age, statistical evidence revealed the extent of the similarities within and across these diverse cultures. The findings reinforce those from the authors’ knowledge restructuring and cultural mediation studies and provide support for the view that boys and girls have similar, holistic‐rather‐than‐fragmented, cosmologies which have features in common across cultures and ethnic groups.     

Self‐efficacy of prospective Austrian and German primary school teachers regarding the implementation of inclusive education

This study examined the psychometric properties of the German version of the Teacher Inclusive Education Self‐Efficacy Scale (TIESES). Five hundred and nineteen teacher education students from Austria and 765 teacher education students from Germany participated in the study. Results of a multiple‐group confirmatory factor analysis (for the two countries) confirmed a single factor structure of the scale with partial scalar measurement invariance. Regression analysis showed that self‐efficacy when implementing inclusive education was explained by the motivation to deal with inclusive education during their studies, previous experience with inclusive education in internships, study interest and the country in which the students went to university.     

陆地卫星MSS影象目视解译在土地资源调查中局限性的讨论

简述陆地卫星多光谱扫描(MSS)影象的特点,着重介绍陆地卫星多光谱扫描影象适用于中、小比例尺的土地资源凋查     

Effects of Restructuring Training and Cognitive Style

Herman Witkin's research in differentiation theory proposed a conceptual framework describing the cognitive style known as field dependence‐independence. The operational measures of this construct are restructuring skills and interpersonal competencies, and were originally conceived to be fixed in an individual. A recent reconceptual‐isation, however, suggested that there may be some malleability in learning strategies that flow from cognitive style. Learners predisposed to field dependence might gain access to restructuring skills brought to problem‐solving situations by field independents. This study undertook to examine the effects and practicability of restructuring training as a means of addressing individual learner differences. Field independent subjects significantly out‐scored field‐dependent subjects on all three test tasks in the control group. Experimental group field independents did not significantly outscore experimental field dependents. Training enhanced field dependent subject performance on two dependent measures tasks. There was interaction across treatment and field dependence on all three dependent measures.     

Exploring the effects of substituting basketball players in high-level teams

Substituting basketball players during competition is a key process to optimise collective performance. Available research on this topic is scarce, probably due to the difficulty in isolating these effects; thus, the aim of this study was to identify the temporal effects of substitutions in basketball (Spanish professional basketball league). The sample was composed of 1118 substitutions gathered from 21 basketball games. The analysed variables were coach-controlled (player and team’s personal fouls, player in and player out roles, player’s in and out minutes on-court and timeout situation); on-court (foul committed, free throws, 2- and 3-point field-goal effectiveness) and situational variables (scoreline, quality of opposition, game location and game quarter). The results showed positive scoring performances after the substitution for all the analyses. During the first quarter, there were significant effects for fouls committed, scoreline and game location after the substitution. The player’s out personal fouls, free-throw effectiveness, player in, minutes on-court player in, timeout situation and 3-point field-goal effectiveness were significant during the second quarter. The team’s personal fouls, game location, and scoreline were identified as important in the third quarter. The fourth quarter did not show significant effects on the independent variables. Current findings allow optimising coaches’ plans and team management of on-court and bench players throughout the game.     

Differential supervision and cognitive structure effects on empathy and counseling effectiveness

The present study investigated the effects of didactic and experiential supervision procedures on the judged counseling effectiveness of high and low cognitive complexity counselor trainees. Subjects in the two supervision groups (N=16) were trained in attending, questioning, and reflection of feeling over three sessions. Training consisted of exposure to videotaped counseling models, discussion of the model's behavior with the supervisor, videotaped role playing of therapy, and discussion of the therapy with the supervisor. Training was exactly the same for both groups except for supervision. A control group (N=8) did not receive any training. All subjects, including controls, were pre- and post-tested for counseling effectiveness as measured by judged tape ratings on the 25-item Counselor Effectiveness Scale and four scales designed to assess affective, exploratory, listening, and honest labeling responses.High complex subjects responsed more favorably to the didactic supervision significantly outperforming both the high complex controls and the low complex didactic subjects on four of the five dependent measures, whereas high and low complex subjects did not respond differentially to the experiential supervision. The results were discussed in terms of fitting the complexity of the students to the supervision approach in selecting students for counseling programs.This paper was presented at the International Round Table for the Advancement of Counselling, Thessaloniki, Greece, April 1980, and was based partly on the senior author's doctoral disser tation (University of Maine, 1978).     

A comparative study on oxidative stress and antioxidant status in ischemic stroke patients with and without diabetes

The study was conducted to find out the extent of lipid peroxidation and antioxidant status in ischemic stroke patients (ISPs) with and without diabetes. Malondialdehyde (MDA) was studied as a marker of lipid peroxidation. Glutathione (GSH), uric acid and ceruloplasmin were estimated to study the antioxidant potential of ISPs. Significantly higher levels of MDA were found in both the groups of ISPs and the increase in MDA was more in ISPs without diabetes. GSH levels were decreased significantly in both the groups of ISPs and maximum decline was found in ISPs with diabetes. Uric acid levels were significantly increased in both the groups of ISPs. Ceruloplasmin levels were increased significantly in ISPs without diabetes, whereas its levels were slightly decreased in ISPs with diabetes. A negative correlation was found between MDA and the antioxidants GSH, uric acid and ceruloplasmin in ISPs with diabetes. This study suggests that there is an association between ischemic stroke and increased oxidative stress and the antioxidant potential is impaired in both the groups of ISPs with and without diabetes.     

西藏那曲地区气候变化与牧业生产的关系

根据那曲地区气象观测资料以及不同时段牧业生产、经济效益等方面的社会统计资料,分析了近年来该地区气候变化规律、牲畜存栏、牲畜饲养、经济效益收入等状况。在此基础上,讨论了当地气候变化与牧业生产之间的关系。结果表明：那曲地区的气候变化呈现气温增高,降水量、相对湿度、低云量增加,蒸发量、总云量、日照时数减少的趋势;那曲地区牲畜总头数、不同牲畜数量、牦牛出栏数（率）、羊出栏数（率）、仔畜成活数量呈增加趋势,牲畜死亡数呈减少趋势;总收入与牧业收入均有急剧的增长。那曲地区牧业生产与气象要素（最高气温除外）存在着密切联系,即最低气温、降水量、相对湿度、低云量与各牧业要素呈正相关,蒸发量、总云量、日照时数与牧业要素呈负相关。总体来看,气象要素的变化趋势有利于牧业生产,根据气象条件建立的拟合方程基本可以拟合出牧业要素的变化。