Cheating among elementary school children: A machine learning approach

Academic cheating is common, but little is known about its early emergence. It was examined among Chinese second to sixth graders (N = 2094; 53% boys, collected between 2018 and 2019) using a machine learning approach. Overall, 25.74% reported having cheated, which was predicted by the best machine learning algorithm (Random Forest) at a mean accuracy of 81.43%. Cheating was most strongly predicted by children's beliefs about the acceptability of cheating and the observed prevalence and frequency of peer cheating at school. These findings provide important insights about the early development of academic cheating, and how to promote academic integrity and limit cheating before it becomes entrenched. The present research demonstrates that machine learning can be effectively used to analyze developmental data.     

Integration of addiction recovery and professional identities for counselor trainees

Counselor trainees in recovery from substance use often have a foundational recovery identity; they also develop a professional counselor identity through their training. This study utilized narrative inquiry to explore the integration of professional identity and recovery identity. Resonant threads and narrative tensions emerged from the storied experiences of participants.     

Counselor educator workload and burnout in the era of COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic brought disruption to teaching and other aspects of workload in higher education. The current study sampled 126 counselor educators about workload, compassion satisfaction, burnout, and job satisfaction. Results indicated that faculty workload and administrative responsibilities increased for counselor educators during the pandemic without adequate compensation or support.     

Excitement and Representation: Toward a Sociological Explanation of the Significance of Sport in Modern Society

It is suggested that sport is not only popular but also plays a highly significant part in the lives of many. One explanation focuses on the analysis of the tension excitement generated by sporting encounters. Particular emphasis is placed on the work of Elias and Dunning, who suggest that in societies at a late stage in the “civilising process,” affect-control is strongly established, so that people's expressions of sentiment are strongly restrained. Excitement in such societies is thus to be found not so much in real-life situations as through mimetic or “imitative” excitement, which resembles that produced in critical situations in real life, but in a safe and pleasurable way. A second approach draws on a variety of theoretical perspectives, although the contributions derived from Emile Durkheim's later work on the sociology of religion are prominent. The argument is advanced that sports encapsulate symbolically the social natures, relations, and identities of the collectivities that generate them. Sport, therefore, is perceived as a form of collective representation that may be invested with great social significance. Finally, relationships between the two approaches are considered.     

Public understanding of science: from contents to processes

Public understanding of science is commonly seen in terms of lay persons' understanding of the contents of science. This article argues that it may be more salient to consider public understanding of the internal processes of science ‐ of the nature of scientific knowledge and of the sorts of information that science can reasonably be expected to provide. Drawing on the reported statements of non‐scientists in the media following the Chernobyl nuclear reactor accident, the article argues that the view of scientific knowledge that many people appear to hold is not one that can help them interpret and cope successfully with sts issues. The role that formal science education plays in sustaining this unhelpful view of science is discussed and some implications for practice are considered.     

Development of an informal learning opportunities assay

Learning that takes place outside the formal classroom, called informal learning, has been a difficult parameter to assess due to the heterogeneous nature of the subjects and everyday learning situations. To date, no instrument has been developed to effectively examine the wide variety of informal experiences a child may encounter. Central to this study was the development and field testing of such an instrument, the Informal Learning Opportunities Assay (ILOA). The ILOA was administered to a total of 2128 middle and high school students and was found to be ethnically neutral, easily scored, and flexible in design to accommodate practitioners and researchers. The instrument was found to provide a reliable assessment of informal learning opportunities.     

A Reply to MacCabe

This short piece is written in response to a piece by Colin MacCabe in the last issue of English in Education in which he commented on an article that I had written in Vol. 31, No. 3.