The teacher as an island? A mixed method study on the relationship between autonomy and collaboration

European Journal of Psychology of Education - This study assessed how teachers understand and value autonomy, collaboration and the relationship between both. Quantitative analyses...     

Synergy and Tension between Large-Scale and Classroom Assessment: International Trends

The synergy, or lack thereof, between large-scale and classroom assessment has been fiercely debated in both academic and policy spheres for decades around the world. This paper seeks to explicate how different countries are utilizing large-scale testing and test results at the classroom level. Through country profiles, this paper analyzes contemporary developments on the tensions and synergies between large-scale assessment and classroom teaching, learning, and assessment observed across seven international jurisdictions: United States, Canada, Australia, England, Germany, Finland, and Singapore. The paper concludes with an analysis of international trends leading to a synthesis of root causes contributing to the current limited uptake of large-scale assessment results at classroom levels.     

Beauty Ideals from Reality Television and Young Women’s Tanning Behavior: An Internalization and Self-Objectification Perspective

The current cross-sectional study among 444 young Belgian women (M_age = 20.08; SD = 0.91) examined the influence of reality television exposure on tanning behavior, which is known to be a risk factor for the development of skin cancer among young women. In addition, it was explored whether the internalization of sun tan ideals from media content and self-objectification could explain this association. As such, this study introduced body image perspectives into media health research. A structural equation model revealed that watching reality television was related to the internalization of sun tan ideals and self-objectification. In turn, the internalization of sun tan ideals and self-objectification related to exposure to harmful UV radiation. This study therefore provides evidence for the explanatory value of both mechanisms in the relationship between reality television and UV exposure. Implications for skin cancer prevention campaigns are discussed.     

Counterfactual Reasoning: Developing a Sense of "Nearest Possible World"

This study investigated at what point in development 3- to 6-year-old children begin to demonstrate counterfactual reasoning by controlling for fortuitously correct answers that result from basic conditional reasoning. Basic conditional reasoning occurs when one applies typical regularities (such as "If 'whenever' it doesn't rain the street is dry") to counterfactual questions (such as "If it had not rained, would the street be wet or dry?") without regard to actual events (e.g., if street cleaners had just been washing the street). In counterfactual reasoning , however, the conditional reasoning must be constrained by actual events (according to the "nearest possible world"). In situations when counterfactual reasoning and basic conditional reasoning would yield the same answers, even the youngest children gave mostly correct answers. However, tasks in which the 2 reasoning strategies resulted in different answers proved unusually difficult even for the older children.     

“Special Support” in Preschools in Sweden: Preschool staff’s definition of the construct

This study investigates the definitions of the construct “young children in need of special support” given by preschool staff in Sweden in 540 preschool units. The study has a mixed‐methods design based on qualitative analysis of an open‐ended question and quantitative analysis of questionnaire responses. The results reveal two general perspectives in definitions of the construct, a child perspective and an organisational perspective. Units with a child perspective had a higher proportion of children in need of special support, especially girls. The study highlights that the term “children in need of special support” is partially socially constructed and is partially based on perceived child characteristics. The perceptions of what is considered to be a child in need of special support held by staff in a unit may impact on the services provided to children in need of special support.     

Students＇ approaches to Project Work： Self-regulated learning in Swedish upper secondary school

Individualized schoolwork and self-regulated learning has expanded in Sweden during the last decades. Such teaching methods affect the roles of teachers and students, and the demand for student responsibility increases. Upper secondary school in Sweden includes vocational and study preparation programmes, which both give general access to higher education. Since 2000 all students entering upper secondary school have to take a course called Project Work （100 credits）. The preceding course Special Work （20 credits） was only part of the study preparation programmes. This expansion from 20 to 100 credits and from a few to all study programmes was a considerable change. The study is built on data from interviews with upper secondary school students about their approaches to Project Work, as an example of self-regulated learning practices. Qualitative analyse and classification is based on earlier developed categories, and to some extent tendencies in students＇ development over time are explored. The results throw light on the relationship between different types of projects, grades and students＇ approaches to Project Work. Special interest is given to approaches considered as problematic from an educational point of view. Socio-cultural aspects show some impact, although the students＇ difficulties turn out to be more of an educational challenge.     

How to feel about emotionalized artificial intelligence? When robot pets,holograms, and chatbots become affective partners

Ethics and Information Technology - Interactions between humans and machines that include artificial intelligence are increasingly common in nearly all areas of life. Meanwhile, AI-products are...     

Conflict State and Abnormal EEG

Nordland, E. (1969). Conflict State and Abnormal EEG. A study of boys with behavior disturbances and abnormal EEG, Scand. J. Educ. Res. 13, 199‐221. The investigation raises the question whether abnormal EEG may also express somatic reactions to psychological situations, for example too intense experiencing of conflict, stress, or trauma. Sixty‐four pupils of two Norwegian special schools for maladjusted boys are examined as to history of development, diseases and injuries, parents’ situation, practices of upbringing, etc. The boys’ attitudes and behavior are tested with tests of experience of anxiety, conflict and contentment, intellectual and school performance. Further, their attitudes are assessed by their teachers in special school and by their schoolmates by means of various sociometric tests. Boys with normal, abnormal ‘borderline’, and abnormal EEG are compared with each other. The analysis of the EEGs was made without knowledge of the results of the psychological assessments and tests, and vice versa. The results show that boys with abnormal EEGs have backgrounds of more conflict and insecurity. Boys of this sample who are abnormal EEG cases have no history of more physical impairments such as concussions than the normal EEG cases. Boys who experience less pressure in the special school tend to change into normal EEG cases, while boys who experience more pressure tend to change into abnormal EEG cases.     

Learning to Learn From Data: Benchmarks and Instructional Communities

This article examines the use of interim assessments in elementary schools in the School District of Philadelphia. The article reports on the qualitative component of a multimethod study about the use of interim assessments in Philadelphia. The study used an organizational learning framework to explore how schools can best develop the capacity to utilize the potential benefits of interim assessments. The qualitative analysis draws on data from intensive fieldwork in 10 elementary schools and interviews with district staff and others who worked with the schools, as well as further in-depth case study analysis of 5 schools. This article examines how school leaders and grade groups made sense of data provided through interim assessments and how they were able to use these data to rethink instructional practice. We found substantial evidence that interim assessments have the potential to contribute to instructional coherence and instructional improvement if they are embedded in a robust feedback system. Such feedback systems were not the norm in the schools in our study, and their development requires skill, knowledge, and concerted attention on the part of school leaders.