Accumuler le capital humain tout au long de la vie: Quels facteurs prédictifs de la participation à la formation permanente?

This article addresses the main predictors of adult education, using statistical methods different from those generally used by social science researchers. Its aim is twofold. First, it seeks to explain in a simple and comprehensible manner the methodological value of these methods (in relation to the use of structural models); secondly, it demonstrates the concrete usefulness of these methods on the basis of a recent piece of research on the data from the International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS).     

Associations of newly qualified teachers’ beliefs with classroom management practices and approaches to instruction over one school year

We focus on assessing whether newly qualified teachers’ professional outcome expectations and their beliefs about students’ intellectual potential are associated with teachers’ self-reported classroom management and instructional practices. One hundred and eighteen novice teachers participating in the induction year programme were studied during their first years as full-time teachers. Results attest to a salient association between teachers’ more optimistic views of the malleability of students’ intellectual potential and teachers’ confidence in themselves as positive change agents in student outcomes. Also, teachers’ belief-set in the beginning of their career was shown to be associated with significant differences in the level of using instructional practices promoting mastery goal orientation in the classroom as well as offering students emotional support during the learning process. In the light of the significant belief–behaviour links demonstrated, more explicit attention to the sophistication of teachers’ ability beliefs in teacher education programmes is recommended.     

Cognitive functioning in children with and without Attention-deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder with and without comorbid learning disabilities

This study attempted to determine whether children with the combined subtype of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have impairments in cognitive functioning and motor skills. The specific effect of the comorbidity of learning disabilities (LD) was also investigated. A battery of cognitive tests was administered to 26 children with a clinical diagnosis of ADHD-combined subtype (ADHD/C), to 24 children with ADHD/C with a comorbid diagnosis of LD (ADHD/C+LD), and to 102 participants without disabilities, all between ages 7 and 10. The testing battery consisted of tasks assessing memory, visuospatial and verbal abilities, and fine motor skills. In general, the test results of children with ADHD/C were poorer than those of the control group but better than the results of children with a combined ADHD/C+LD diagnosis (with the exception of motor skills). The predictive accuracy of the testing battery tasks in children with ADHD/C and ADHD/C+LD was examined. The results of a standard procedure of discriminant function analyses revealed that the measures correctly classified 73.6% of the children.     

Breaking with Tradition: A Scoping Meta-Analysis Analyzing the Effects of Student-Centered Learning and Computer-Aided Instruction on Student Performance in Anatomy

While prior meta-analyses in anatomy education have explored the effects of laboratory pedagogies and histology media on learner performance, the effects of student-centered learning (SCL) and computer-aided instruction (CAI) have not been broadly evaluated. This research sought to answer the question, “How effective are student-centered pedagogies and CAI at increasing student knowledge gains in anatomy compared to traditional didactic approaches?” Relevant studies published within the past 51 years were searched using five databases. Predetermined eligibility criteria were applied to the screening of titles and abstracts to discern their appropriateness for study inclusion. A summary effect size was estimated to determine the effects of SCL and CAI on anatomy performance outcomes. A moderator analysis of study features was also performed. Of the 3,035 records screened, 327 underwent full-text review. Seven studies, which comprised 1,564 participants, were included in the SCL analysis. An additional 19 studies analyzed the effects of CAI in the context of 2,570 participants. Upon comparing SCL to traditional instruction, a small positive effect on learner performance was detected (standardized mean difference (SMD = 0.24; [CI = 0.07, 0.42]; P = 0.006). Likewise, students with CAI exposure moderately outscored those with limited or no access to CAI (SMD = 0.59; [CI = 0.20, 0.98]; P = 0.003). Further analysis of CAI studies identified effects (P ≤ 0.001) for learner population, publication period, interventional approach, and intervention frequency. Overall, learners exposed to SCL and supplemental CAI outperformed their more classically-trained peers as evidenced by increases in short-term knowledge gains. Anat Sci Educ. © 2018 American Association of Anatomists.     

Measurement error in short-term power testing in young people

The aim of this study was to examine the consistency or reproducibility of measuring cycling peak power in children and adults. Twenty-seven pre-pubertal girls and boys and 27 female and male physical education students (age 9.8 +/- 0.5 and 24.4 +/- 4.3 years, respectively; mean +/- s) participated in the study. All participants performed five tests over 15 days and underwent a habituation session before the study. Each test included four sprints against four different braking forces. We found that braking forces of 7.5% of body weight in children and 10% of body weight in adults were too high for most of the participants to elicit maximal cycling power. Unlike the children, the physical education students improved their performance between session 1 and session 2 (1025 +/- 219 vs 1069 +/- 243 W; P < 0.001). Therefore, to obtain reproducible measures of cycling peak power, a habituation session including a complete test protocol (i.e. warm-up plus three sprints) is highly recommended. When the protocol included three sprints in children and at least two sprints in adults, measurement of cycling peak power was found to be highly reliable (test-retest coefficient of variation approximately 3%). Finally, to avoid performance fluctuations, especially over several consecutive evaluations (e.g. longitudinal studies), it is necessary to maintain high motivation in children.     

‘Asking how instead of why’: exploring inclusive approaches to teaching and learning through pupil and teacher responses to a school link project

The association of inclusive education with an equity discourse means that the question of ‘how’ to include is one currently faced by many teachers in the UK. Written by Eve Griffiths, who teaches English, literacy, media studies and drama in a special school in Wolverhampton, this article constructs a set of inclusive principles for teaching and learning and reports on pupil and teacher responses in mainstream and special schools to a three‐week literacy project in which these approaches were implemented. Research diaries and small group‐based interviews were used in both educational settings to access the opinions of 20 pupils with a Statement of special educational needs. The research found that the pedagogical approaches were successful in breaking down some barriers to inclusion between the two groups of pupils, but Eve Griffiths concludes that significant changes would need to be brought about for there to be any longevity in the eradication of these obstructions.