Exploring the Hardwired for News Hypothesis: How Threat Proximity Affects the Cognitive and Emotional Processing of Health-Related Print News

This study explored how the proximity of threatening health news affects cognition and emotion through a 2 (Proximity: High/Low) × 4 (Topic) fractional experiment. Fifty-one participants read four news stories about either local or distant health threats, with their heart rate, skin conductance, and corrugator electromyography recorded. Results showed that high-proximity health threats elicited greater heart rate deceleration than did low-proximity health threats, indicating greater allocation of automatic resources to encoding high-proximity threats. Recognition data demonstrated that details from high-proximity health threats were recognized more accurately than details from low-proximity health threats. There were no significant effects of proximity on either skin conductance levels or corrugator activation. These results are discussed in terms of Shoemaker's (1996 Shoemaker , P. J. ( 1996 ). Hardwired for news: Using biological and cultural evolution to explain the surveillance function . Journal of Communication , 46 ( 3 ), 32 – 47 .[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) hardwired for news hypothesis and A. Lang's (2000 Lang , A. ( 2000 ). The limited capacity model of mediated message processing . Journal of Communication , 50 , 46 – 70 .[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar], 2006 Lang , A. ( 2006 ). Using the limited capacity model of motivated mediated message processing to design effective cancer communication messages . Journal of Communication , 56 , S57 – S80 .[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) limited capacity model.     

Feeling of difficulty: An aspect of monitoring that influences control

This study aimed at delimiting possible relations of feeling of difficulty (FOD) with control ideas pertaining to a particular task. Participants were 274 students of 7th, 8th, and 9th grade. They were tested with two mathematical tasks; they were also asked to give ratings of the feeling of difficulty at 4 phases: In advance of problem solving, during planning of the solution, after solution production, and an overall estimation. Participants also gave ratings for control ideas such as need to know the rule, to do the computations right, to have practice, to use one’s thinking and to have help from others. Path analysis and ANOVAs were used for the identification of the relations and differentiations of ratings in the four phases of problem solving. Results indicated that FOD varied from phase to phase and influenced ideas related to control. Feeling of difficulty in the main was only indirectly related to performance via control ideas.     

Pre-adolescents’ representations of multiple attachment relationships: the role of perceived teacher interpersonal behaviour

Attachment theory proposes that early parent–child relationships provide the basis for all future close relationships of the individual, through childhood and adolescence into later life. The purpose of the present study was to examine the relationship between parental attachment, peer attachment and students’ perceptions of their teacher’s interpersonal behaviour, in order to shed light on the channels through which these constructs relate. In doing so, we examined three proposed theoretical schemes of pre-adolescents’ representations of multiple relationships. As a side-goal, the psychometric properties of the Greek translations of the Revised Inventory of Parental and Peer Attachment (IPPA-R) and the Questionnaire on Teacher Interaction (QTI-G) were investigated. Two independent samples comprising 270 and 306 pre-adolescents (grades 5–7), respectively participated in the study. Results supported a four-factor structure of the IPPA-R and an elliptical shape for the Interpersonal Teacher Circle measured by the QTI-G. The integrative scheme regarding pre-adolescents’ multiple adult relationships was supported by the data. Parental attachment relationships were found to be an important determinant of students’ perceptions of their teacher interpersonal behaviour, which in turn mediated the relationship between parental and peer attachment relationships. Results are discussed in terms of their theoretical and practical implications.     

Evaluating the Effectiveness of a Curriculum‐based Anti‐bullying Intervention Program in Greek Primary Schools

The present study reports the short‐ and long‐term effects of an anti‐bullying intervention program based on a particular set of curricular activities that aimed to create classroom opportunities for awareness raising, self‐reflection, and problem‐solving situations relevant to bullying. The core of the intervention was a four‐week period during which a series of activities were organised in each individual class. An experimental pre‐test/post‐test design with a control group was used. The sample consisted of 454 pupils (206 control: 123 boys and 83 girls; and 248 experimental: 126 boys and 122 girls) drawn from the fourth‐ to sixth‐grade classrooms of 10 primary schools in central Greece (mean age = 10.23, SD = .84). Data were collected using self‐report measures, before the intervention (December 2003), immediately after the intervention, at the end of the same school year (May 2004), and six months afterwards (November 2004). The results indicated that the program contributed to a positive reduction in outsider behaviour (children remaining uninvolved and thus silently allowing bullying to continue) and enhanced students’ self‐efficacy beliefs for both assertion and intervening in bully/victim incidents. However, the long‐term effectiveness of the program was limited. These findings have important implications for interventions to tackle the negative effects associated with bullying in schools.     

Reinvigorating the Wiener-Hopf technique in the pursuit of understanding processes and materials

The Wiener-Hopf(WH)method was created in 1931,by Norbert Wiener and Eberhard Hopf,to deliver exact solutions to integral equations with convolution-type kernels...     

Adaptation and Motivation of Greek Gifted Pupils: Exploring some influences of primary schooling

The main purpose of this study, on the theoretical framework proposed by Renzulli (1986) and by Van Boxtel and Monks (1992) and Monks, Van Boxtel, Roelefs and Saunders (1986), was to explore pupils' motivation and adaptation to school life in relation to the identification of giftedness. A pool of 1765 primary school pupils were initially tested for Visual-Motor Integration and Creative Thinking. Their teachers nominated 90 of them as gifted, who in turn were assessed in regard to their level of school adaptation and motivation by questionnaires based on Power and Cotterell (1979) and on Entwistle (1968). The comparison groups were five nominated pupils, verified as gifted, seven more nonnominated, but gifted (all 12 identified through psychometric and statistical criteria), and ten non-gifted but nominated pupils. The results indicated that the gifted pupils, depending on whether or not they are identified by their teachers, feel partially motivated and exhibit lower than the expected adaptation at school. The findings are discussed in the light of the current Greek school system.     

From swimming pool to collaborative learning studio: Pedagogy,space, and technology in a large active learning classroom

To promote student learning and bolster student success, higher education institutions are increasingly creating large active learning classrooms to replace traditional lecture halls. Although there have been many efforts to examine the effects of those classrooms on learning outcomes, there is paucity of research that can inform the design and implementation process. This study investigates how spatial and technological features of a large collaborative classroom support active learning based on the Pedagogy-Space-Technology framework. The findings from our study suggest short lecture and class-wide discussion are essential in framing learning content before group activities, and connecting group outputs to the learning content after group activities. Through interviews, surveys, and focus groups, we found that-while small group activities are generally well-supported in large active learning classroomsfacilitating short lecture and class-wide discussion is key to the success of active learning in large classrooms. Technology should be carefully laid out in the space to accommodate those activities. Specific design and implementation suggestions and implications are provided.     

Exploring the views and beliefs of parents of typically developing children about inclusion and inclusive education

Background: The inclusion of pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SENDs) in regular classrooms has been identified as a high priority in many policy documents published by both European and international organisations. Its implementation, however, is influenced by a number of factors, some of which are directly related to the participation and attitudes of different stakeholders, including parents of typically developing children. Parents, as a social group, can act in favour of inclusion or they can support more segregated educational environments.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to explore, in a Greek context, the views and beliefs of parents of typically developing children about different aspects of the education of children with disabilities, with a particular focus on inclusion and inclusive education.

Method: Interviews were held with 40 Greek parents representing 40 typically developing school-aged children who were educated in six different primary education schools, from the broader area of central Greece. All of the children, at the time of the study, were educated in mainstream classes, in which an in-classroom support system was applied. Open-ended interview questions focused on parents’ views and beliefs about the implementation of inclusive educational programmes. Data were analysed according to the principles of an inductive data-driven approach.

Findings: The research findings indicate that most of the participant parents did not feel informed about specific school policy practices relevant to inclusive education; they were not aware of the notion of ‘inclusion’ or approached inclusion from an integrationist point of view. Within this context, they hold positive to neutral attitudes towards inclusion, on the basis that a child with SENDs can cope with the school requirements.

Conclusions: This small-scale, exploratory research study suggests the importance of informing and involving parents of typically developing children in efforts to promote more inclusive practices.     

INFLUENCES OF DISCIPLINARY CLASSROOM CLIMATE ON HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT SELF-EFFICACY AND MATHEMATICS ACHIEVEMENT: A LOOK AT GENDER AND RACIAL–ETHNIC DIFFERENCES

The present study investigated the role of disciplinary climate in the classroom and student math self-efficacy on math achievement. The student part of the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2003 survey containing 4,199 U.S. observations was employed in a weighted least squares nested multiple regression framework to predict math achievement from disciplinary climate and self-efficacy in addition to several control variables. The results showed that improvement in disciplinary climate was associated with a reduction in the achievement gap whereas improvement in self-efficacy was associated with an expansion in that gap. These effects varied across race and gender. A significant interaction effect was found between the disciplinary climate and self-efficacy. Educational implications are discussed.