Multimethod assessment of self-regulated learning in college students: different methods for different components?

Instructional Science - Although self-regulated learning (SRL) is seen as highly relevant for successful college learning, college students oftentimes show a lack in SRL abilities. Therefore, it...     

Before,During, and After Examination: Development of Prospective Preschool Teachers’ Mathematics-Related Enjoyment and Self-Efficacy

This article examines the stability of Norwegian prospective preschool teachers’ enjoyment of mathematics and their mathematics-related self-efficacy before, during, and after a teacher-education examination. In addition, the stability of the two constructs across countries was examined through a comparison with Germany. The data revealed partial stability (technically speaking, metric invariance) of enjoyment but not of self-efficacy. Self-efficacy increased significantly before and after the examination without decreasing enjoyment, which may be a result of increased learning time. Prior mathematical knowledge predicted the level and development of enjoyment and self-efficacy in both countries. Many Norwegian students reported low mathematics-related enjoyment and self-efficacy, including negative developments. It may be important to provide positive experiences of mathematical activities during preschool teacher education.     

Stichwort: Bildungsökonomie und Qualität der Schulbildung

Keyword: Education Economics and Quality of Schooling. With reference to an earlier keyword article from the same author, this contribution looks at recent developments in education economics. The focus is a critical review of the field‘s contribution to research on the necessary conditions for high quality schooling. Of particular interest at the moment are the institutional framework conditions in a school system, which set incentives for performance. These are judged to be better than resource-based strategies of quality assurance. The empirical basis is provided by estimates of production functions using data from international school performance studies. This article will point out the limited validity of evidence gained through these studies and the – in sum – contradictory empirical findings. For this reason, political recommendations on the basis of this approach should be more reserved.     

Media Logic and Political Logic Online and Offline

One aspect of the mediatization of politics is the idea that political actors adapt to the communication logic of news media to gain, for example, news media attention. Currently, this process may be influenced by the diffusion of the internet as a political communication channel, especially because online communication provides a new opportunity for political actors to communicate directly with citizens. Thus far, the adaptation to media logic by political parties has mainly been examined in the context of election campaigns. In order to transfer these findings to regular political communication, this study compares the use of media logic in the mass media and in direct political communication channels online and offline about the United Nations Climate Change Conferences 2011 and 2012. A quantitative content analysis of the conference protocols (input) and the presentation of the conference results in the seven most frequently used German offline news outlets (print and TV) and their online counterparts, as well as political offline and online communication channels like parliamentary speeches and websites of the six parties represented in the German parliament (output), was conducted. Results show that in the context of regular political communication, political actors seem to follow media logic to a lesser extent than in the context of election campaigns. Thus far, the influence of online communication on the mediatization of politics seems to be rather marginal. The causes and consequences of these findings are discussed.     

The Independence of Research—A Review of Disciplinary Perspectives and Outline of Interdisciplinary Prospects

Minerva - The independence of research is a key strategic issue of modern societies. Dealing with it appropriately poses legal, economic, political, social and cultural problems for society, which...     

Cognitive preconditions of early reading and spelling: a latent-variable approach with longitudinal data

The aim of the present study was to empirically disentangle the interdependencies of the impact of nonverbal intelligence, working memory capacities, and phonological processing skills on early reading decoding and spelling within a latent variable approach. In a sample of 127 children, these cognitive preconditions were assessed before the onset of formal education, whereas reading as well as spelling achievement was measured at the end of grade 1. The findings indicate that working memory does contribute to the prediction of early reading and spelling, and that this contribution outperforms that of general intelligence and phonological recoding from long-term memory during the early steps of reading and spelling acquisition. Moreover, the results show that phonological awareness mediates the effects of working memory capacities on early literacy outcomes. The role of working memory and phonological awareness as key cognitive preconditions of early reading and spelling are discussed.