The Use of Coloured Overlays to Improve Visual Processing ‐ A Preliminary Survey

Forty volunteers reporting consistent reading problems were divided into three groups on the basis of an assessment of degree of scotopic sensitivity. Four speeded visual processing tasks involving word matching and letter and number identification were administered to all subjects using three plastic overlays, one of a colour maximizing visual efficiency, one chosen at random and one with no colour. For subjects with high scotopic sensitivity, the use of optimal coloured overlays yielded significantly better results on some visual tasks than the other two overlays. Implications of these findings are discussed.     

一名美国地质学家对中国地球科学和教育的思考

本文是格瑞高利·艾伦·戴维斯在中国地质大学(北京)为他举办的70华诞生日庆祝会上的讲话,由马文璞教授翻译整理而成。文章在充分肯定中国地质学在政府的支持下取得长足进步的同时,也对中国地学教育、科研状况提出中肯的批评和友好的建议。     

Implicit beliefs of ability and maladaptive learning: does self-efficacy matter?

This study investigated the interaction between self-efficacy and implicit beliefs of ability in their association with maladaptive learning in mathematics. The analysis was based on a large sample of 2538 Singapore Secondary 2 students (M_age = 13.75), who took measures of entity beliefs of ability, self-efficacy, and three maladaptive learning variables in mathematics: novelty avoidance, cheating, and anxiety. We conducted latent interaction analysis with gender and previous mathematics achievement controlled and found that higher self-efficacy did not buffer, but enhanced the positive association between entity beliefs of ability and the three maladaptive learning variables. When entity beliefs of ability were higher, the increase in the three maladaptive learning was larger for those with higher self-efficacy than those with lower self-efficacy. Findings suggest a revision of the moderation hypothesis in the literature: higher self-efficacy is more helpful in preventing maladaptive learning for incremental theorists than for entity theorists.     

Changing the Learning Environment to Enhance Students' Metacognition in Hong Kong Primary School Classrooms

This study reports on the impact of a 2-month classroom intervention that sought to alter the learning environment of two Hong Kong Primary Year 3 general studies classrooms. Mixed methodology, employing quantitative and qualitative data-gathering strategies, was used to investigate changes to the learning environments, including changes to the teachers' language and ultimately the students' metacognition. The quantitative facet of the research involved the development of a 15-item learning environments instrument, the General Studies Metacognitive Orientation Scale (GSMOS), that evaluated elements of the metacognitive orientation of the classrooms' learning environments. While the data from the administration of the GSMOS suggested no statistical differences between the pre- and post-intervention environments of the classrooms, student interviews and classroom observations provided supportive data for some changes, which resulted in students developing metacognitive knowledge of teacher-selected thinking and learning strategies, as well as some awareness and limited control of their use of such strategies in their classrooms.     

Mutual Mentoring: Co-Narrating an Educative Friendship Between an Education Professor and an Urban Youth

An education professor and a high school student tell the story of their mentoring relationship, focusing on the academic journey of the protégé. The narrative attempts to give voice to both mentor and protégé as it relates an authentic win–win situation for both participants and their families. The narrative is theoretically grounded in the literature describing co-mentoring and network mentoring arrangements that are less unilateral and authoritative, and more bi-directional and relationally-based than traditional mentoring arrangements. The authors contend that since educational achievement and attainment determine to a significant degree ones participation in the American Dream, academic assistance and guidance provide a logical area of emphasis for mentoring our youth. Important recent developments in the youth mentoring movement are also discussed.Gregory J. Fritzberg is an Associate Professor of Education at Seattle Pacific University. Aragaw Alemayehu is a 2003 graduate of Ballard High School in Seattle, Washington. Address correspondence to Dr. Gregory J. Fritzberg, College of Education, Seattle Pacific University, Peterson #408, 3307 3rd Ave, Seattle, WA 98119, USA; gregf@spu.edu.     

A written,reflective and dialogic strategy for assessment feedback that can enhance student/teacher relationships

In response to the shortcomings of current assessment feedback practice, this paper presents the results of a study designed to examine students’ and teachers’ experience of engaging in a written, reflective and dialogic feedback (WRDF) strategy. The strategy was designed to enhance the learning experience of students undertaking a large first-year core course at a regional Australian university in semester 2, 2012. The evaluation consisted of three components: student surveys pre- and post-WRDF; a student focus group post-WRDF; and a teacher survey post-WRDF. Participating students’ and teachers’ perceptions of the WRDF assessment feedback suggested that students value feedback highly, and show a preference for feedback combining written, reflective and dialogic processes. The research findings suggest that the WRDF framework can be utilised to address the immediate, practical problem of students’ and teachers’ dissatisfaction with the practice of assessment feedback. Thus, WRDF may be used to nurture teacher/student relationships and enhance the learning process. Although a relatively intensive process, the WRDF strategy can serve an integral role in enhancing feedback practices and supporting students.     

Relations of middle school students' perceptions of family and school contexts with academic achievement

The purposes of this study were to examine the relations of both family and school contexts on students' academic achievement and to explore the mediating effects of students' perceptions of their motivations and academic self‐competence between the family and school contexts and achievement. Participants were 230 fifth‐ and sixth‐grade students. Students' perceptions of parenting style (demandingness and responsiveness), parental involvement (parental values and involvement in school functions), teaching style (teacher control and responsiveness), and school atmosphere (school responsiveness and supportive social environment) significantly predicted their school achievement; however, students' motivations and self‐competence mediated the relations between students' contexts and their academic achievement. Furthermore, parental values, teacher responsiveness, school responsiveness, and supportive social environment predicted students' motivations and academic competence above and beyond parenting style, parental involvement, and teacher control. The importance of students' supportive relationships and the internalization of the messages conveyed to them underscore the need for a contextual view by school psychologists when consulting with parents and education staff regarding achievement concerns. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.