The Influence of Students’ and Teachers’ Thinking Styles on Student Course Satisfaction and on Their Learning Process

The main purpose of this study was to examine the effect of teachers’ and students’ thinking styles on students’ satisfaction with the course followed and on their learning process. The sample was made up of 102 instructional psychology college students who responded to two administrations of the Thinking Style Inventory, one about their teacher and one about themselves, to a satisfaction scale referring to the instructional process, and finally to a scale designed to measure the time and effort they devoted to the learning process. Multivariate regression analyses were carried out. Results reveal that both teachers’ and students’ thinking styles are good predictors of students’ satisfaction and their involvement in the learning process.     

Using meta-ethnographic analysis to understand and represent youth’s notions and experiences of learning in and out of secondary school

ABSTRACT

In the last four years, we have been researching how five groups of young people were learning inside and outside secondary schools. The novelty of this proposal was to invite these young people to act as researchers by carrying out their own ethnographic cases. As a result we produced 10 ethnographic reports – 5 prepared by students and 5 by the university research team. In this paper, we show part of the conversation between the five ethnographic reports written by us giving account of the processes and results of the studies implemented by students. This meta-ethnographic process tries to accomplish two main objectives: (a) to characterise the variety of youth’ learning experiences in their mobilities and transitions in and outside schools and the ways of giving account of them in the ethnographic reports; (b) reporting own learning about the possibilities and limitations of the meta-ethnographic analysis.     

Still on the Margins: Migration,English Language Learning,and Mental Health in Immigrant Psychiatric Patients

This qualitative study explores the reflexive relationships among mental illness, acculturation, and progress toward English proficiency in five adult immigrants being treated at a Canadian psychiatric hospital. The research explores the additional challenges faced by mentally ill individuals when learning a new language and the extent to which English language acquisition may be impeded by factors related to mental illness. Semistructured ethnographic interviews are conducted with the patients. Data analysis is accomplished through grounded theory methods, specifically data-driven and theory-driven coding. The English language acquisition experiences of these five individuals are contrasted with second-language acquisition theory to suggest that the effects of the theoretical language learning advantages possessed by this group may have been diminished by factors related to mental illness. Policy recommendations are made to address this additional set of challenges for immigrants with psychiatric disorders.     

Exploring the Relationship Between Knowledge and Power in the Spanish National Curriculum for Visual Arts

The main goal of this research is to raise some issues about what is considered school knowledge in the Spanish national curriculum, as well as to make explicit the curriculum discourses of the relationship between knowledge and power. This means that the observation, distribution and production of knowledge at schools implies and generates specific forms of power, understanding at the same time, power as a producer of social identity [Popkewitz, 1994]. The paper focuses on a case study at one school and explores the relationship between knowledge and power in the art education curriculum. This approach is founded on Foucault [1969], and the works of Ball [1993] and Popkewitz [1994], towards a sociology of curriculum studies or what is known as the New Sociology of Education.     

Association of physical fitness and fatness with cognitive function in women with fibromyalgia

This study assessed the association of fitness and fatness with cognitive function in women with fibromyalgia, and the independent influence of their single components on cognitive tasks. A total of 468 women with fibromyalgia were included. Speed of information processing and working memory (Paced Auditory Serial Addition Task), as well as immediate and delayed recall, verbal learning and delayed recognition (Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test) were assessed. Aerobic fitness, muscle strength, flexibility and motor agility were assessed with the Senior Fitness Test battery. Body mass index, percent body fat, fat-mass index and waist circumference were measured. Aerobic fitness was associated with attention and working memory (all, p < 0.05). All fitness components were generally associated with delayed recall, verbal learning and delayed recognition (all, p < 0.05). Aerobic fitness showed the most powerful association with attention, working memory, delayed recall and verbal learning, while motor agility was the most powerful indicator of delayed recognition. None of the fatness parameters were associated with any of the outcomes (all, p > 0.05). Our results suggest that fitness, but not fatness, is associated with cognitive function in women with fibromyalgia. Aerobic fitness appears to be the most powerful fitness component regarding the cognitive tasks evaluated.     

The co-existence of cultural and school science models in indigenous Mexican teachers: the mixing colors case

Cultural Studies of Science Education - This paper presents the development and structure of indigenous Nahua teachers’ ideas about mixing colors, as well their ideas about colors derived...