A New Student Learning Focus for the Academic Library: From Geographical Proximity of the Learning Commons to Organizational Proximity within the Library

In 2015, student learning programs at the University of Saskatchewan moved organizationally to the university library. While these services resided physically in the library as part of the Learning Commons partnership, this recent change presents the library with a new focus and responsibility for broader student learning support and academic skill development. Highlighting examples of organizational integration of student learning support, this article uses a proximity perspective, suggesting that geographical proximity of services in the learning commons does not go far enough to achieve the deeper collaboration and integration necessary for holistic and integrated learning, and that organizational proximity is needed.     

Grades degrade group coordination: deteriorated interactions and performance in a cooperative motor task

At school, pupils often cooperate on common projects and must coordinate their different individual actions. However, grades are pervasively used even in cooperative situations, which make the pupils’ differences in achievement and their relative rank salient and may reduce their inclination to work constructively with others. Thus, we hypothesized that grades would elicit disruptive interactions and reduce performance in a cooperative cognitive-motor task necessitating inter-individual coordination of members. In a study with 5th graders, grades (vs. a neutral concept) were primed at the onset of a cooperative group interaction. Results showed that, although pupils were set to work cooperatively, priming grades (vs. neutral concepts) harmed inter-individual coordination by eliciting more negative dominant behaviours among pupils during interactions, which decreased group performance.     

Attachment relationships and adolescents' life satisfaction: Some relationships matter more to girls than boys

This study examined the extent to which the quality of parent and peer attachments related to early adolescents' life satisfaction (LS), whether peer attachment served as a mediator between parent attachment and LS, and potential gender differences. A total of 587 middle school students in grades 6 through 8 participated. Although both parent and peer attachment positively related to LS, parent attachment was the stronger unique predictor. There was no significant difference between males and females in levels of parent attachment; however, females reported higher levels of attachment to peers. This study also found that early adolescents were more attached to their mothers than their fathers. Finally, peer attachment partially mediated the relationship between parent attachment and LS, but only for females. Implications for gender‐specific intervention programs are discussed. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Motivation theory in the school context: differences in preservice and practicing teachers’ experience,opinion, and knowledge

European Journal of Psychology of Education - Preservice teachers should learn about motivation theory during their university studies in order to be able to motivate their students in their future...     

Belief in a just world, justice concerns, and well-being at Portuguese schools

This article investigates the meaning of the belief in a just world (BJW) for justice cognition at school and for subjective well-being. We hypothesized that BJW should serve as a resource helping to maintain positive well-being and to assimilate experienced injustice. The results of two studies with Portuguese school students (7th–12th grade) and one with university students were consistent with our hypotheses. The more the students endorsed the BJW, the more they evaluated their school grades and their teachers’ and their peers’ behavior towards them as just and the more they were satisfied with life in general. Moreover, the more students felt fairly treated by their teachers, the less they felt distressed at school. Life satisfaction varied however independently of school-specific justice cognitions. This pattern of results persisted when controlled for achievement (grades) as well as for personality dispositions such as self-efficacy, self-esteem, and general trust. The implications of these results for further studies on adolescent development are discussed.     

Learning moves home

Residence halls at large institutions are increasingly becoming sites for powerful undergraduate learning experiences. A study of living‐learning programs at four research universities—the prelude to a nationwide project—tells an important story.     

Preservice Teachers’ Research Experiences in Scientists’ Laboratories

To promote the use of scientific inquiry methods in K-12 classrooms, departments of teacher education must provide science teachers with experiences using such methods. To comply with state and national mandates, an apprenticeship course was designed to afford preservice secondary science teachers opportunities to engage in an authentic, extended, open-ended inquiry. This study describes three teachers’ apprenticeship experiences with a research scientist. Our model included placing preservice teachers with scientists in expert/novice roles where each teacher would be actively engaged in constructing knowledge. From triangulating interview, laboratory notebook, and reflective summary data resources, we identified common themes from re-occurring statements. Findings indicated that participants acquired scientific skills and content knowledge; however, they expressed limited use of these in their classrooms.     

Teleconferencing in student teacher supervision

Demands for accountability, tighter fiscal policies and political pressures required many post-secondary institutions in the early 1980s to seek new strategies for improving their cost efficiency. Advances in communication technology were perceived by some institutions as a means of maintaining and even diversifying services at minimal cost. Although positive economic returns often appeared attractive, educational benefits were frequently less than anticipated. Misunderstanding, poor communication and insufficient information, as well as professional conservatism, resistance to change and support for traditional practices, tended to prevent contemporary communication systems from being applied extensively in higher education.