Relations Between Students’ Mathematics Anxiety and Motivation to Learn Mathematics: a Meta-Analysis

Educational Psychology Review - The current meta-analysis examined the association between K-12 students’ motivation to learn mathematics and mathematics anxiety, and explored the effects of...     

International trends in health science librarianship part 11: Japan and Korea

This is the 11th in a series of articles exploring international trends in health science librarianship. The previous article in this series looked at the Far East (Greater China, Hong Kong and Taiwan). The current issue surveys developments in Japan and Korea. The next issue will explore trends in South Asia (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka). Next year all four issues will be devoted to trends in four regions in Africa (Southern Africa, East Africa, West Africa and North Africa. JM     

Does Gaze Direction Modulate Facial Expression Processing in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder?

Two experiments investigated whether children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) integrate relevant communicative signals, such as gaze direction, when decoding a facial expression. In Experiment 1, typically developing children (9–14 years old; n  = 14) were faster at detecting a facial expression accompanying a gaze direction with a congruent motivational tendency (i.e., an avoidant facial expression with averted eye gaze) than those with an incongruent motivational tendency. Children with ASD (9–14 years old; n  = 14) were not affected by the gaze direction of facial stimuli. This finding was replicated in Experiment 2, which presented only the eye region of the face to typically developing children ( n  = 10) and children with ASD ( n  = 10). These results demonstrated that children with ASD do not encode and/or integrate multiple communicative signals based on their affective or motivational tendency.     

Attitudes of healthcare students on gross anatomy laboratory sessions

At Chiba University, gross anatomy laboratory sessions (“laboratories”) are required for physical therapy students. Though most physical therapy schools require their students to participate in laboratories so that they will better understand the structure of the human body, few data exist on the value of these laboratories specifically for physical therapy students. We administered questionnaires to physical therapy undergraduate students both before and after they participated in laboratories. Questionnaire items focused on student attitudes toward the laboratories and on human life and dignity. Data from 83 students were analyzed, with the following results: (1) 74.7% of students had a positive attitude about attending laboratories before doing so; (2) with few exceptions, students' attitudes about upcoming laboratories grew more positive after experiencing the laboratory work (P < 0.001); (3) laboratories caused students to contemplate the topics of human life and dignity; and (4) 83.1% of students hoped to participate in laboratories at least four times. These results indicate that laboratories reinforce physical therapy students' positive attitudes about laboratory learning and promote student reflection on human life and dignity. This study provides support for the implementation of multiple laboratory sessions using cadavers into a uniform curriculum for physical therapy students in Japan. Anat Sci Educ 2: 273–279, 2009. © 2009 American Association of Anatomists.     

Dynamics of community participation,student achievement and school management: the case of primary schools in a rural area of Malawi

School management in many sub-Saharan African countries has been enhanced through community participation in an attempt to improve education quality. This study uses field research in a rural district of Malawi to assess how community and parent participation differs between schools, the intentions of communities and parents when carrying out activities in schools, and the mechanism promoting active participation in schools. In high-achieving schools, but not in low-achieving schools, communities and parents were actively involved in events aimed at improving student achievement. Communities and parents considered most highly prioritised activities that directly influenced student achievement, including hiring volunteer teachers, arranging extra classes and holding mock examinations. Community participation did not directly improve student achievement. Instead, when communities and parents actively participated in a school, school management improved, ensuring better student achievement. The implications of this finding are discussed in relation to community participation.     

Pre-service teachers’ perceptions of the Internet and online courses: the case of an American Pacific Island University

Offerings of online courses continue to increase in higher education settings, as institutions attempt to meet students’ (and faculty members’) increasing demands for online access. How do pre-service teachers perceive online education? This paper reports the results of a questionnaire-based survey addressing this issue. The questionnaire focused on the degree to which teacher candidates consider the Internet useful for coursework, and their level of preparedness for taking online courses. The participants were pre-service teachers (N = 237) enrolled in education foundation courses at the University of Guam. This paper discusses educational implications of the results, and makes recommendations for future research. The results from this study may guide teacher education and its efforts to optimise online courses and, at the same time, support the University’s commitment to ensure that teacher education prepares its pre-service teachers to apply and integrate technology in their own future teaching.