Prior mathematics achievement,cognitive appraisals and anxiety as predictors of Finnish students’ later mathematics performance and career orientation

The aim of this two‐year longitudinal study was to investigate the role and impact of prior mathematics performance, cognitive appraisals and mathematics‐specific, affective anxiety in determining later mathematics achievement and future career orientation among Finnish adolescents. The basic ideas of the control‐value theory, assumed to be culturally universal, and previous controversial results regarding the relationship between mathematics anxiety and mathematics achievement were tested in the Finnish cultural context with a longitudinal design. The key premise of the control‐value theory is that control and value appraisals are significant determinants of both activity and outcome achievement emotions. Our results suggest that mathematics anxiety, a prospective outcome emotion, is determined by outcome expectancies (success or failure) and outcome value (the importance of performing well). They also suggest that anxiety as a negative affective emotion is a problem not only for those who perform poorly but probably also for certain pupils across all achievement levels. Compared with the performance level and with the boys, the girls exhibited inaccurately low outcome expectancies in mathematics. These low expectancies connected to the negative value of failure are a potential cause for their higher anxiety level. The educational implications of the findings are discussed.     

Evaluation of the Incredible Years Teacher Classroom Management Program in a Regular Norwegian School Setting

ABSTRACT

This study examined whether the Incredible Years (IY) Teacher Classroom Management (TCM) program implemented as a school-wide preventive intervention at 1st to 3rd grade in a regular school setting reduces the development of problem behavior and improves social competence. Using a quasi-experimental pre-post design, the IYTCM was implemented in 21 schools and compared with 22 matched schools that did not receive the program. A total of 241 1st to 3rd grade teachers and 1518 students aged 6 to 8 years took part in the trial. Mixed-model analyses found small positive effects on changes in students’ social competence (d_w?=?0.19), while effects on change in students problem behavior were less than small (d_w?相似文献   

Environmental Education in Primary School. A Presentation of a Norwegian Curriculum Development Project

Bjørndal, B. & Lieberg, S. 1975. Environmental Education in Primary School. A Presentation of a Norwegian Curriculum Development Project. Scand. J. Educ. Res. 19, 131‐151. The Environmental Education Project at the Institute of Educational Research, University of Oslo, was begun in 1969 and will be brought to an end in 1976. The main aims of the project are as follows: 1) To develop chains of teaching‐learning units in environmental education for primary school grades 1‐6. 2) To gain experience on a theoretical and methodological model for planning and teaching environmental education themes with special regard to the relationship between educational and interdisciplinary factors. 3) To test a model for the diffusion of educational and environmental information to teachers. 4) To develop an interdisciplinary and cooperative approach for planning teaching‐learning units. 5) To gain experience on teaching controversial issues in environmental education and 6) To qualify teachers for planning and teaching their own teaching‐learning units in environmental education. The interdisiplinary project group consists of science specialists, educationists, and primary school teachers. It has developed approximately 80 teaching‐learning units. The article is a summary of the main ideas, aims, experiences and present results of this project.     

Academic Stress and Health: Exploring the Moderating Role of Personality Hardiness

Attending university is a pleasurable experience for many students. Yet for others it represents a highly stressful time of extensive studying and pressure to meet the requirements of academia. Academic stress is associated with a variety of negative outcomes such as physical illness and deteriorating mental health. This paper explores the capacity of personality hardiness to buffer the relationship between academic stress and health. Results showed that hardiness was negatively associated with both academic stress and number of health complaints, and showed that hardiness moderated the association between academic stress and health.     

Teacher Report of Children's Problem Behavior on The Sutter–Eyberg Student Behavior Inventory—Revised (SESBI-R) in a Norwegian Sample of Preschool and School Children

In the present study, the applicability of The Sutter–Eyberg Student Behavior Inventory—Revised (SESBI-R) was explored within a Norwegian sample of 983 children aged 3–8 years. By using an exploratory factor analysis the same 2-factor solution as the original SESBI-R was supported by Principal Component Analysis. Good internal consistency (alpha?>?.96) was found for both the SESBI-R Intensity and Problem scales. Teachers in Norway report relatively low levels of behavior problems among children in day-care units and school-aged boys receive higher Intensity and Problem scores than girls. The results show that the SESBI-R is a reliable assessment tool that can be used in the Norwegian population for efficient screening of behavior of conduct-disordered children.     

Factors Affecting the Decision to Merge: The case of strategic mergers in Norwegian higher education

Students (N = 1,883) from 10 European countries answered a web questionnaire pertaining to three dimensions of what they expect and what they experience from their teachers. The dimensions were personality, classroom environment, and teaching style characteristics. Parametric statistics identified high communalities among variables, while gender, program type, and program level were found to have an influence on factor groupings. Overall, the gap between the expected and the experienced proved to be overwhelmingly significant.     

Joint reflection on action – a prerequisite for inclusive education? A qualitative study in one local primary/lower secondary school in Norway

ABSTRACT

The main theme of this article is teachers’ experiences of how joint reflection and common follow-up practices impact on the development of inclusive education. The study was conducted using an adapted letter method, where the teachers at one school in Norway answered some open questions by discussing and formulating a joint text. The results suggest that the teachers, who have previously participated in a national programme of school development, seem to have developed a broad understanding of inclusive education that entails meeting the diversity of needs of all pupils. They do not only consider inclusion to be a matter of placement but also something that involves a social and an academic communality. One important finding is that joint reflection in a sharing culture engenders common frames of reference for the practical actions of inclusion. Teachers’ own experiences suggest that joint discussion and reflection also play a central role in the efforts aimed at the inclusion of pupils with special educational needs.