Academic Mentoring and Dropout Prevention for Students in Math,Science and Technology

In this study, we examined the impact of a new academic mentoring program aimed at preventing student dropout in math, science and technology. The MIRES program entails bimonthly meetings between students entering college and university students completing their undergraduate degree in science and engineering. A randomized pretest-posttest control group design was used to evaluate the program’s short-term impact. At the end of the program, mentees (n = 150) presented significantly higher levels of motivation, a more positive career decision profile and enhanced institutional attachment and social adjustment than students in the control group (n = 157). MIRES mentees also showed success and persistence rates (mainly male participants) that were significantly higher than those of students in the control group.     

Validation of Using Fitness Center Attendance Electronic Records to Assess the Frequency of Moderate/Vigorous Leisure-Time Physical Activity Among Adults

The purpose of this study was to provide three construct validity evidence for using fitness center attendance electronic records to objectively assess the frequency of leisure-time physical activity among adults. One hundred members of a fitness center (45 women and 55 men; aged 18 to 64 years) completed a self-report leisure-time physical activity questionnaire. The theory of planned behavior constructs (e.g., intention and perceived behavioral control), VO₂max, and % BF were assessed. Fitness center attendance electronic records were expressed as the weekly mean number of mandatory check-in records retrieved from the fitness center's electronic database over a 12-week period prior to participant's physical fitness evaluation. A continuous (frequency) and categorical (“adherent” versus “non-adherent”) scores were computed. Results indicated that perceived behavioral control was associated with fitness center attendance electronic records and mediated the fitness center attendance electronic records–intention relationship. Fitness center attendance electronic records were associated with VO₂max and self-report leisure-time physical activity. Therefore, results provide three evidence of construct validity of using fitness center attendance electronic records scores to assess leisure-time physical activity behavior.     

Student teachers’ emotional teaching experiences in relation to different teaching methods

The role of emotional experiences in teacher training is acknowledged, but the role of emotions during first experiences of classroom teaching has not been examined in large samples. This study examines the teaching methods used by student teachers in early teaching practice and the relationship between these methods and emotions experienced. We modified the Academic Emotions Questionnaire for the assessment of emotions and used an abridged version of the Instructional Approaches Questionnaire for the assessment of teaching methods. The results indicate that good preparation and a willingness to use constructivist pupil-oriented methods reduce student teachers’ negative experiences and promote learning about teaching.     

Is there a drop in normative clearsightedness in sixth grade? Study of internality and normative clearsightedness in fourth to seventh graders

Numerous studies have demonstrated a decrease in the expression of internality in French sixth graders as compared to fifth graders. The present study examines normative clearsightedness in addition to internality across four French school grades (fourth to seventh). The results confirmed the sixth-grade drop in internality and showed that the decrease also applies to normative clearsightedness.     

On the Ruled surfaces in Minkowski 3-space R1^3

INTRODUCTIONLet ú3={(x1,x2,x3)|x1,x2,x3∈ú} be a 3D vector space, x=(x1,x2,x3) and y=(y1,y2,y3) be two vectors in ú3. The pseudo scalar product of x and y is defined by     

Initiation aux probabilités à l'école élémentaire

Sans résumé     

Ponctuation et Connecteurs: Une Approche Textuelle et Génétique

Two experiments were carried out in order to study the development of textual punctuation use in children from 7 to 13. Four unpunctuated stories (following Mandler & Johnson’s narrative grammars 1977) involving or not a connective (et/alors/après) at different places were submitted to subjects who had to write them down in adding punctuation marks. The results show a strong textual impact on the frequency of punctuation which is higher at the beginning and at the end of the stories. We found also a strong impact of connectedness: the frequencies and types of punctuation marks varied in relation to connectives:et was rarely punctuated;alors was mainly associated with commas whereasaprès was more often associated whith periods. These effects were significant mainly from 11 years of age on, except for the impact ofet already observed at 7 years of age.     

Social utility, social desirability and scholastic judgments: Toward a personological model of academic evaluation

The aim of this article is to gain further insight into the determinants of scholastic judgments. On the basis of a previous study (Dompnier, Pansu, & Bressoux, 2006), we propose a model of the processes underlying teachers’ judgments. In addition to taking into account some of these determinants, the proposed model grants to pupils’ social utility, as perceived by their teacher, the status of central mediator between scholastic judgments and their determinants (pupils’ actual academic achievement, pupils’ scholastic history, classroom context, and internality perceived by teachers). The initial model was tested on a first sample of 250 pupils (3rd grade) and their teachers, and then improved. Next, the modified model was validated on a second sample of 249 pupils (3rd grade) and their teachers. The results obtained on this sample indicated that the modified model fit the data to a satisfactory extent, and that it is more parsimonious that alternative nonhierachical models.     

A tale of two logics: social reproduction and mobilisation in university access in Quebec, 1945–2000

The 2012 Quebec students’ protests against university tuition fees fostered a debate on access to higher education in Quebec, and specifically on the Quebec ‘educational lag’. Using census data, we show that degree-holding is the same among Quebec French-speaking and Ontario English-speaking populations. Using event history analysis, we show that, during the second half of the twentieth century, university access increased at a different rhythm in each province and, within each province, within socio-linguistic groups. Quebec current education policy should not focus on the ‘educational lag’, which past policies have helped make up for, but on inequality in university access.