Development,validation and application of a modified Arabic translation of the What Is Happening In this Class? (WIHIC) questionnaire

This article reports the development, translation, validation and application of a modified Arabic version of a modified form of the What Is Happening In this Class? (WIHIC) questionnaire. When parallel Arabic and English versions of this questionnaire were field tested with a sample of 763 college students in 82 classes, the WIHIC exhibited sound factorial validity and internal consistency reliability for both its actual and preferred forms, and the actual form differentiated between the perceptions of students in different classrooms. Comparison of students’ scores on actual and preferred forms of the questionnaires revealed that students preferred a more positive classroom environment on all scales.     

Enhancing students’ self-regulation and mathematics performance: the influence of feedback and self-evaluative standards

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of self-evaluative standards and graphed feedback on calibration accuracy and performance in mathematics. Specifically, we explored the influence of mastery learning standards as opposed to social comparison standards as well as of individual feedback as opposed to social comparison feedback. 90 fifth grade students were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. We conducted analyses for both the complete sample and an at-risk group of low performing students who overestimate their skills. Self-evaluative standards had no effect on calibration accuracy and performance. Students who received feedback were more accurate in their self-evaluative judgements than students who received neither type of feedback. In overconfident students, feedback additionally increased prediction accuracy and, albeit marginally, performance. We discuss the educational implications of our findings with respect to the relevance of standards and feedback for promoting self-regulated learning within regular classroom settings.     

Gyroscope-based assessment of temporal gait parameters during treadmill walking and running

Wireless sensing solutions that provide accurate long-term monitoring of walking and running gait characteristics in a real-world environment would be an excellent tool for sport scientist researchers and practitioners. The purpose of this study was to compare the performance of a body-worn wireless gyroscope-based gait analysis application to a marker-based motion capture system for the detection of heel-strike and toe-off and subsequent calculation of gait parameters during walking and running. The gait application consists of a set of wireless inertial sensors and an adaptive algorithm for the calculation of temporal gait parameters. Five healthy subjects were asked to walk and run on a treadmill at two different walking speeds (2 and 4?kph) and at a jogging (8?kph) and running (12?kph) speed. Data were simultaneously acquired from both systems. True error, percentage error and ICC scores indicate that the adaptive algorithm successfully calculated strides times across all speeds. However, results showed poor to moderate agreement for stance and swing times. We conclude that this gait analysis platform is valid for determining stride times in both walking and running. This is a useful application, particularly in the sporting arena, where long-term monitoring of running gait characteristics outside of the laboratory is of interest.     

Early Attachment Organization Moderates the Parent–Child Mutually Coercive Pathway to Children's Antisocial Conduct

This multimethod study of 101 mothers, fathers, and children elucidates poorly understood role of children's attachment security as moderating a common maladaptive trajectory: from parental power assertion, to child resentful opposition, to child antisocial conduct. Children's security was assessed at 15 months, parents' power assertion observed at 25 and 38 months, children's resentful opposition to parents observed at 52 months, and antisocial conduct rated by parents at 67 months. Moderated mediation analyses indicated that in insecure dyads, parental power assertion predicted children's resentful opposition, which then predicted antisocial conduct. This mechanism was absent in secure dyads. Early insecurity acts as a catalyst for a dyad embarking on mutually adversarial path toward antisocial outcomes, whereas early security defuses this maladaptive trajectory.     

Introducing Summer Camp Students to Modern Cryptography

For countries to remain competitive in the global economy, it is important to cultivate the next generation of native mathematicians. However, this goal has been increasingly challenging in the United States where, despite the tremendous increase in university enrolment during recent decades, the number of students studying mathematics has remained almost constant. This article continues the work of Griffiths and Haciomeroglu (2014) in discussing how academics can expose students to the beauty and complexity of upper-level mathematics at an early age, with the goal of increasing the number of students gaining a degree in mathematics rather than committing to an alternative program of study. The primary focus of this work is to look at the results of a three-week summer camp in cryptography given to talented local high school students at the University of Central Florida, where the included topics went beyond those typically taught at the introductory level. Perceptions of the participants, gathered through interviews given toward the end of the course, will also be included.     

Factors affecting student career choice in science: An Australian study of rural and urban schools

In 1990/91, a research study was undertaken in England on the Factors Affecting Schools’ Success in Producing Engineers and Scientists (FASSIPES). This study was conducted by Brian Woolnough at the Oxford University Department of Educational Studies, in conjunction with the Institute of Physics and the Institution of Electrical Engineers and National Power (Woolnough, 1991, 1994; Woolnough et al., 1997). Principally, Woolnough attempted to ascertain why young people chose to pursue a career in the physical sciences and engineering. In addition, characteristics of schools which appeared to influence students to pursue a study of science were investigated. A number of countries have since replicated this study as an international research cooperative and the National Key Centre for School Science and Mathematics, Curtin University of Technology, Perth, Western Australia participated on behalf of Australia. Currently, the following countries have contributed to FASSIPES International in addition to England and Australia: Canada, China, Japan and Portugal.     

A goal-mediational model of personal and environmental influences on tertiary students' learning strategy use

Conclusion The significance of this study is reflected in the interdependence of the variables involved as shown by the emergence of total and indirect effects. Elsewhere, the importance of obtaining ecological maps of classroms to provide a macro level understanding of what is happening has been stressed (Clarke and Dart, 1991b). This study has illustrated how the LISREL procedure provides the facility to obtain an insight into the complex of inter-relationships that exist in ecological maps.The study provides reasonable support for the revised structural model. It also indicates ways in which lecturers may intervene in the classroom to increase the likelihood that students will use learning strategies associated with a deep approach to learning.     

Schools and the transformation of a metropolis

This paper describes the urban decay and deconcentration process in the St. Louis metropolitan area and its relationship to the changes that have occurred in the public school systems in the area. Evidence is offered to suggest that schools are as much the victim of urban decay as they are a cause of it. Because of the linkages between these two processes, it is concluded that urban decay cannot be reversed without reviving schools and that the problems exhibited in many school systems cannot be dealt with unless the urban decay process is slowed or reversed.