The role of pre-service teachers’ perceived instrumentality,goal commitment,and motivation in their self-regulation strategies for learning in teacher education courses

This study investigated the influence of pre-service teachers’ (n = 142) perceived endogenous/exogenous instrumentality, goal commitment, and intrinsic/extrinsic motivation on their use of self-regulation strategies (effort regulation, management of time and study environment) for their teacher-education courses. Data were drawn from a customised survey and were statistically analysed using hierarchical multiple regressions. Results demonstrated that pre-service teachers’ endogenous instrumentality was a significant contributor for explaining their use of self-regulation strategies. To facilitate pre-service teachers’ use of self-regulation strategies for learning, our findings suggest that, in addition to having intrinsic motivation for learning in their teacher-education courses, they need to have appropriate understandings of how their current course content connects to their future goals to be teachers in order to promote their use of strategies for self-regulation and learning.     

The Relationship between Phonological Awareness and Early Reading for First Grade Korean Language Learners with Reading Difficulties

This study investigated the differences in four components of phonological awareness (i.e., judgment, deletion, blending, and substitution) and early reading ability across reading levels, and the correlation between phonological awareness (PA) and early reading ability in low and average-achievement groups. 27 students with reading difficulties and 34 students with average reading abilities participated in the study, and all participants were native Korean students in Grade One. The results indicated significant differences between low-achievement and averageachievement groups in PA and early reading measures, which revealed features of Korean phonology as different from English. Furthermore, phonological awareness showed significant positive correlation with both word identification and reading fluency for the low and average-achievement groups. For the low-achievement group, the correlation between phonological awareness and reading fluency was higher than between phonological awareness and word identification.     

Teaching Systems Thinking in the Context of the Water Cycle

Research in Science Education - Complex systems affect every part of our lives from the ecosystems that we inhabit and share with other living organisms to the systems that supply our water (i.e.,...     

Beyond Evolution: Addressing Broad Interactions Between Science and Religion in Science Teacher Education

Science and religion are two indisputably profound and durable cultural forces with a complex history of interaction. As ASTE members are aware, these interactions often manifest themselves in classrooms and in the surrounding communities. In this essay, we encourage science teacher educators to broaden their perspectives of science–religion interactions so that they may better assist pre- and in-service science teachers with addressing topics such as the age and origins of the universe and biological evolution in an appropriate manner. We first introduce some foundational scholarship into the historical interactions between science and religion as well as current efforts to maintain healthy dialogue between perspectives that are frequently characterized as innately in conflict with or mutually exclusive of one another. Given that biological evolution is the dominant science–religion issue of our day, in particular in the USA, we next summarize the origins and strategies of anti-evolution movements via the rise and persistence of Christian Fundamentalism. We then summarize survey and qualitative sociological research indicating disparities between academic scientists and the general public with regard to religious beliefs to help us further understand our students’ worldviews and the challenges they often face in campus-to-classroom transitions. We conclude the essay by providing resources and practical suggestions, including legal considerations, to assist science teacher educators with their curriculum and outreach.     

Political education and civic education—The British perspective and the Hong Kong perspective

The decolonisation of Hong Kong takes the form of reversing the sovereignty to the mother country (China) rather than the creation of an independent state. This is unique in the history of global decolonisation. At this juncture, there are widespread social demands for strengthening civic education. The government has responded by promulgating Guidelines on Civic Education in Schools. The present paper compares and contrasts the conceptualisation of political education in England, as represented by the Programme for Political Education, with civic education in Hong Kong.     

Child Development in Cultural Contexts: Implications of Cultural Psychology for Early Childhood Teacher Education

In this article we argue that early childhood educators, under the influence of last century’s grand universal theories of child development, have not been attentive enough to the centrality of culture in children’s development. We discuss how the exploration of contemporary developmental perspectives is critical to the field and illustrate cultural views of child development based on cultural psychology. The goal of cultural psychology is to study the co-creation of human beings and cultures by focusing on both mentalities and practices, on both culture and biology. Using this lens, we explore the implications that cultural psychology holds for early childhood educators.     

The role of IQ in a component model of reading

The purpose of this study was to test the role of visual processing speed and IQ in a model of reading. This study investigated whether the processes involved in reading differ between a group of children with and a group without reading disability. These two groups of children completed tests of reading comprehension, listening comprehension, decoding, processing speed, and intelligence. The results indicated that processing speed explains a significant amount of variance in reading comprehension over that accounted for by the simple view of reading. Also, IQ accounts for a significant amount of variance in reading over that accounted for by the simple view of reading and processing speed. Path analyses indicated that the effect of IQ on reading is partially mediated by decoding in the children with reading disability. The results point to the importance of the role of IQ in predicting reading comprehension.