ICT and E-learning, the Road to Hell or Paradise？

The paper mainly discusses the negative sides of technology in education that have arisen from the the rapid development of technology.     

Inclusive and exclusive aspects of diagnosed children's self-concepts in special needs institutions

Eight children between 7 and 11 years of age were interviewed about their understanding of their own diagnoses. The diagnoses in question were attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, autism and nonverbal learning disorder. They were from different special schools that are segregated from state schools. In addition to the interviews, a role play setting with dolls representing a school teacher, parents, peers, a school psychologist and a doctor was used as a basis for speaking about the children's understanding of the special school in relation to their diagnoses. The study revealed that the children use a simplified medical model for understanding their diagnoses and behaviour. Furthermore, they partly perceive the special school as a medical institution, as well as an educational institution. Finally, the study showed that the children consider themselves different from normal children and incapable of participating in shared learning communities such as state schools. This is of particular interest in relation to these children's future transition from special schools to public learning institutions, especially with regard to their inclusion in the latter.     

Designing Science Learning in the First Years of Schooling. An intervention study with sequenced learning material on the topic of ‘floating and sinking'

Research on learning and instruction of science has shown that learning environments applied in preschool and primary school rarely makes use of structured learning materials in problem-based environments although these are decisive quality features for promoting conceptual change and scientific reasoning within early science learning. We thus developed and implemented a science learning environment for children in the first years of schooling which contains structured learning materials with the goal of supporting conceptual change concerning the understanding of the floating and sinking of objects and fostering students' scientific reasoning skills. In the present implementation study, we aim to provide a best-practice example of early science learning. The study was conducted with a sample of 15 classes of the first years of schooling and a total of 244 children. Tests were constructed to measure children's conceptual understanding before and after the implementation. Our results reveal a decrease in children's misconceptions from pretest to posttest. After the curriculum, the children were able to produce significantly more correct predictions about the sinking or floating of objects than before the curriculum and also relative to a control group. Moreover, due to the intervention, the explanations given for their predictions implied a more elaborated concept of material kinds. All in all, a well-structured curriculum promoting comparison and scientific reasoning by means of inquiry learning was shown to support children's conceptual change.     

The role of coach-athlete relationship quality in team sport athletes’ psychophysiological exhaustion: implications for physical and cognitive performance

The present study aimed to examine associations between the quality of the coach-athlete relationship and athlete exhaustion by assessing physiological and cognitive consequences. Male and female athletes (N = 82) representing seven teams across four different sports, participated in a quasi-experimental study measuring physical performance on a 5-meter multiple shuttle test, followed by a Stroop test to assess cognitive performance. Participants provided saliva samples measuring cortisol as a biomarker of acute stress response and completed questionnaires measuring exhaustion, and coach-athlete relationship quality. Structural equation modelling revealed a positive relationship between the quality of the coach-athlete relationship and Stroop performance, and negative relationships between the quality of the coach-athlete relationship and cortisol responses to high-intensity exercise, cognitive testing, and exhaustion. The study supports previous research on socio-cognitive correlates of athlete exhaustion by highlighting associations with the quality of the coach-athlete relationship.     

Exploring the relationship between hope and burnout in competitive sport

Researchers have postulated that hope may be an important factor associated with burnout. Consistent with hope theory contentions, low-hope individuals may be susceptible to burnout because they are prone to experience goal blockage, frustration, and negative affect, all of which likely increase the risk of burnout. We examined the relationship between hope and athlete burnout among 178 competitive athletes (63 females and 115 males) aged 15-20 years. Hope was significantly and negatively correlated with all three burnout subscales: emotional/physical exhaustion, a reduced sense of accomplishment, and sport devaluation. Moreover, results of a multivariate analysis of variance showed that low-hope athletes scored significantly higher than medium- and high-hope athletes on all three burnout dimensions. Finally, results revealed that agency thinking was a significant predictor of all burnout dimensions. Frustration over unmet goals and a perceived lack of agency, a characteristic of low-hope athletes, might pose a risk factor in athlete burnout, whereas being able to maintain hope appears to be associated with health and well-being.     

The effect of multiple change processes on quality and completion rate of theses: a longitudinal study

Improving the quality of Bachelor’s and Master’s theses while at the same time increasing the number of theses without expanding the existing resources proportionately is a huge challenge faced by higher educational institutions. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of multiple change processes on Bachelors and Masters level thesis work in a selected higher educational institution. The following research questions were studied: (1) How has the thesis quality changed? (2) How has the number of completed theses changed? and, (3) How has the ratio of completed theses per supervisor changed? The change processes were introduced into the thesis process in the Department of Computer and Systems Sciences (DSV), Stockholm University during 2008–2014. The results show that the quality and the number of completed theses have significantly increased. The multiple change processes including a purpose built ICT system named SciPro, which was introduced and improved incrementally during 2010–2014 are discussed and evaluated in relation to these results.     

Education returns of wage earners and self-employed workers: Comment

In a recent paper, García-Mainar and Montuenga-Gómez [García-Mainar, I. & Montuenga-Gómez, V. M. (2005). Education returns of wage earners and self-employed workers: Portugal vs. Spain. Economics of Education Review, 24(2), 161−170] apply the generalized IV model of Hausman and Taylor to estimate education returns of wage earners and the self-employed in Portugal and in Spain. Our examination reveals several problems which relate to the validity and documentation of the instrumental variables, as well as the robustness of the results.     

Evolution 2.0. The Unexpected Learning Experience of Making a Digital Archive

Studies in the history of science and education have documented that the reception and understanding of evolutionary theory is highly contingent on local factors such as school systems, cultural traditions, religious beliefs, and language. This has important implications for teaching evolution in primary and secondary schools. No universal strategy can be applied in overcoming the barriers of learning that exist and that are part of the practical and daily life in classrooms all over the world. In light of this, a huge challenge is to make high standard teaching materials fit to specific target audiences readily available. As more and more schools require teachers to use low cost or free web-based materials, in the research community we need to take seriously how to facilitate that demand in communication strategies on evolution. This article addresses this challenge by presenting the learning experience of making a digital archive of Danish Darwin editions that marked the beginnings of a series of public engagement and teaching initiatives including, among other things, comprehensive new websites, exhibits, lecture series, television documentaries, and a computer game.