The Relation Between Global and Specific Mindset With Reading Outcomes for Elementary School Students

An emerging body of research has evaluated the role of growth mindset in educational achievement, yet little work has focused on the unique role of mindset to standardized reading outcomes. Our study presents 4 key outcomes in a sample of 195 fourth-grade students. First, we evaluated the dimensionality of general and reading-specific mindset and found that a global factor of growth mindset (GGM) existed along with specific factors of general and reading mindset. Second, GGM and reading mindset strongly predicted word reading and reading comprehension. Third, GGM and reading mindset uniquely predicted reading comprehension after controlling for basic word reading skills. Fourth, GGM was more strongly associated with reading comprehension for those individuals with weaker reading comprehension skills, whereas reading mindset was more strongly associated with reading comprehension for those with stronger reading comprehension skills. Our findings suggest the potential importance of assessing general and reading-specific mindset linked to reading.     

Citizenship,citizenship education,and the state in China in a global age

Citizenship and citizenship education change during periods of social transition, such as globalization. As globalists have argued, while globalization undermines the state, local institutions, values, cultures, and identities, it also facilitates liberal democracy and a common consumer culture. Citizenship education is urged to respond to globalization and its impact on both global and local communities. In reality, virtually no nation state adopts merely global citizenship; rather, they adopt frameworks of multileveled/multidimensional citizenship. With particular reference to citizenship education in the People's Republic of China (PRC), this paper challenges globalists' views for over‐exaggerating the domination of global forces over domestic ones. In particular, the paper examines the complicated struggles associated with the reconfiguration of the PRC's socialist citizenship and citizenship education that have occurred in response to social changes, including globalization. The paper explains the role of the PRC's state in such reconfiguration and offers a new framework that regards citizenship education as being based on different players' sociopolitical selections from a multileveled polity.     

The specific involvement of verbal and visuospatial working memory in hypermedia learning

Many models have hypothesized that multimedia comprehension requires the concurrent processing of verbal and visuospatial information by limited information processing systems. However, in spite of the emphasis devoted to the concurrent processing of verbal and visuospatial information, little research has so far investigated the specific role played by verbal and visuospatial abilities in multimedia comprehension. The present paper aims to study the specific involvement of verbal and visuospatial working memory in multimedia learning. Ninety‐two students (39 boys and 53 girls) from a middle school in a small city in the northeast of Italy, were asked to learn new information on the physical and social geography of Germany from a hypermedium. Participants were also required to perform a reading comprehension test, two short‐term memory tasks, and two working memory tasks, which assessed either verbal or visuospatial memory. The results support the hypothesis that both verbal and visuospatial working memory sub‐components play a role in hypermedium processing, but with specific and distinct functions: the performance in the verbal working memory task was able to predict the semantic knowledge children can derive from hypermedia learning. In contrast, visuospatial working memory seemed to have lower connections to the semantic knowledge children derived from a hypermedia document, whereas its role emerged in the ability to construct a representation of the document structure.     

Newspaper coverage of women's sports during the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games: Belgium, Denmark, France, and Italy

In general, women are well represented among sport participants and sport audiences but not in the media. Data show that women's sport is greatly underreported and trivialized in newspapers. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to measure press coverage during the 2000 Summer Olympic Games in the largest circulating Belgian, Danish, French, and Italian daily newspapers by: (a) number of articles, (b) size, (c) page placement, (d) accompanyingphotographs, and (e) photograph size. For each sport covered, the athletes' nationality and the gender were recorded. Compared to the 1996 Atlanta Games, there was an increase of 326 female athletes (+4 %), and women competed in 25 sports and 132 events (44 %) of the total 300 events. Although only 29.3 % of the articles and 38 % of photos were on women 's sports, the newspaper coverage was similar to the distribution of participating athletes and events. No significant gender differences were found with respect to article size, page placement, accompanying photographs, or photograph size. The most covered sport was track and field, independent of national achievement. Other sports received different coverage in relation to national expectations, achievement, and participation. In conclusion, there was a trend to overcome gender inequities in media coverage during the Olympic Games, which may be due to the International Olympic Committee's actions to promote increased participation of women in sport activities and to publicize their achievements. Moreover, during the Olympic Games, a nationalistic fervor might affect the equality of gender coverage.     

Individual differences in memory updating in relation to arithmetic problem solving

The study investigates the relationship between memory updating and arithmetic word problem solving. Two groups of 35 fourth graders with high and low memory-updating abilities were selected from a sample of 89 children on the basis of an updating task used by Palladino et al. [Memory & Cognition 29 (2002) 344]. The two groups were required to solve a set of arithmetic word problems and to recall relevant information from another set of problems. Several span tasks, a computation test, and the PMA verbal subtest were also administered. The group with a high memory-updating ability performed better in problem solving, recalling text problems, and in the computation test. The two groups did not differ in the PMA verbal subtest or in the digit and word spans. Results were interpreted as supporting the importance of updating ability in problem solving and of the substantial independence between memory updating and problem solving on one hand and verbal intelligence on the other.     

Singapore: Review of Educational Events in 1994 and 1995

The period under review, 1994-1995, is best regarded as one of consolidation with some fine-tuning following the adoption of a range of educational initiatives in the preceding three years. As reported in the earlier two reviews in 1992 and 1993 (in the Singapore Journal of Education), some of these initiatives stemmed from the recommendations of the report entitled Improving Primary School Education (1991). Refinements made to other aspects of the education system were also announced in the period under review. All these refinements principally ensure that the central aim of the education system continues to be achieved.     

Exploration of experimental design and statistical methods using the stick‐on‐the‐wall spaghetti rule

We present a versatile scenario to introduce students to statistics: the test that spaghetti sticks only if sufficiently done. The statistical analyses can be performed at different levels of complexity and formal correctness, adapting it to the students' age.     

Promoting Language and Executive Function in Educational Settings: The Drežančić Method

Research Findings: This study aims to evaluate the efficacy of linguistic training based on the use of the Dre?an?i? method in educational settings. It is hypothesized that characteristics of this method, based on the typical stages of linguistic and cognitive development, could influence both language competence and executive function (EF). A pretest–posttest treatment design with a control group was used to evaluate the efficacy of the method (preintervention baseline and posttraining after 6 months). A total of 41 children (ranging in age from 26 to 31 months) with a vocabulary size score lower than the 50th percentile were recruited to participate in the study and were assigned to 2 groups: an experimental group that received training or a control group that participated in normal day care center activities. The results revealed that the training had an effect: The experimental group produced a greater variety of words and more complete sentences; moreover, the linguistic training appeared to positively affect EF processes. Practice or Policy: The results highlight the efficacy of a training, applicable to educational contexts, for typically developing populations. Furthermore, the confirmation of a rich interaction between language and EF even at an early age has important implications for clinical work.     

‘Unconscious’ inclusion of students with learning disabilities in a Malaysian mainstream primary school: teachers' perspectives

The inclusion of children with special needs in mainstream regular schools has been seen as the best practice in special education provision, most markedly since the 90s. International research has provided amassing evidence towards the advantages of inclusive model over a segregation model of special education provision. However, nearly two decades after the signing of the international pledge, namely the Salamanca Statement (UNESCO) towards accepting inclusive education, Malaysia has not yet fully gained the momentum to implement inclusive education for children with special needs, especially for children identified within the category of learning disabilities. Because of the delay in policy implementation, inclusive education remains sparingly practiced in some schools without formal support. This study aims to investigate a scenario of this practice in a mainstream primary school via interviewing the regular teachers. The ultimate aim of this investigation is to identify ways to move forward from the current practice of ‘unconscious inclusion’.     

Enabling Key Stage 3 Students to Make Improvements to Their Own Writing

This paper reports a school‐based investigation into revision as a means of improving writing in the English classroom. It suggests that although pupils tend to perceive revision as a teacher‐directed, discrete stage in the writing process, during revision they engage in independent questioning, evaluation and employ a working model of audience as a guide to their operations. An approach to revision which involved pupils actively investigating each other's work, combined with an emphasis on multiple‐drafting, was trialled in the English Departments of two different schools. The findings suggest that this alternative approach creates a classroom context for improvement which is not teacher‐centred but embraces all students and highlights the potential for revision as an active learning process.