“Can I do well in mathematics reasoning?” Comparing US and Finnish students’ attitude and reasoning via TIMSS 2011

This study investigated differences between the US and Finland in terms of how students’ attitude is related to mathematical reasoning skills through the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2011. Attitude towards mathematics was observed via 3 TIMSS contextual variables: liking mathematics, valuing mathematics, and confidence in mathematics. Scores for mathematical reasoning were collected from the TIMSS 2011 database. We used hierarchical linear modelling to construct multilevel models with interactions of the attitude variables. Findings showed that confidence in mathematics had the strongest positive relationships with mathematical reasoning in both countries. Finnish students generally reported stronger positive relationships between confidence in mathematics and reasoning than US students. Strong relationships between confidence and reasoning remained visible when examining valuing and liking mathematics. Findings provide important implications regarding the complex interactions between attitude towards mathematics and reasoning, critical for mathematics educators and policymakers to consider in an increasingly competitive international environment.     

Laptop Use,Interactive Science Software,and Science Learning Among At-Risk Students

This year-long, quasi-experimental study investigated the impact of the use of netbook computers and interactive science software on fifth-grade students’ science learning processes, academic achievement, and interest in further science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) study within a linguistically diverse school district in California. Analysis of students’ state standardized science test scores indicated that the program helped close gaps in scientific achievement between at-risk learners (i.e., English learners, Hispanics, and free/reduced-lunch recipients) and their counterparts. Teacher and student interviews and classroom observations suggested that computer-supported visual representations and interactions supported diverse learners’ scientific understanding and inquiry and enabled more individualized and differentiated instruction. Finally, interviews revealed that the program had a positive impact on students’ motivation in science and on their interest in pursuing science-related careers. This study suggests that technology-facilitated science instruction is beneficial for improving at-risk students’ science achievement, scaffolding students’ scientific understanding, and strengthening students’ motivation to pursue STEM-related careers.     

How students with autism spectrum conditions understand traditional bullying and cyberbullying

Students with ASC are at heightened risk for bullying and their understanding of bullying is known to protect them from involvement in it (Humphrey and Hebron 2015). However, only a handful of studies have examined how students with ASC understand traditional bullying and none of them focused on cyberbullying. To fill this gap, we investigated how traditional bullying and cyberbullying are understood from the perspectives of 89 students with ASC attending inclusive schools and 490 students without ASC. Twenty vignettes were used from (Campbell et al. 2017a), based on the Olweus (1999) definition of bullying and verified by a Delphi technique. In the majority of traditional bullying and cyberbullying vignettes, students with ASC made more accurate responses than inaccurate ones and demonstrated higher accuracy rates than students without ASC. Findings of linear multiple regression analyses pointed out ASC status as a predictive variable for understanding both types of bullying, along with students' age for understanding cyberbullying. The findings highlight the ability rather than inability to understand bullying in students with ASC. It is therefore critical to include the voices and experiences of students with ASC in our research endeavour.     

Effects of the use of interactive E-books by intensive care unit patients' family members: Anxiety,learning performances and perceptions

In an intensive care unit (ICU), patients' families play a very important role; however, they often lack medical knowledge and are extremely anxious, which could affect their ability to take care of the patients. The effects of giving conventional paper-based instruction are limited in terms of improving patients' families' understanding of the facilities and the rules in the ICU and in reducing their anxiety. Therefore, in this study, an interactive e-book was developed to present the nursing education content to ICU patients' family members. An experiment was conducted to compare the learning performances and perceptions of the patients' family members learning with the interactive e-book and those who learned with the conventional approach. The research results showed that the nursing e-book significantly improved the learning performances of the ICU patients' family members, although their anxiety was not immediately reduced. Moreover, the family members perceived that the e-book was useful and easy to use, and generally showed high satisfaction with its use. This reveals the potential of using interactive e-books to improve the quality of nursing service in hospitals.     

Estimating reliability of school-level scores using multilevel and generalizability theory models

The purpose of this study was to investigate the methods of estimating the reliability of school-level scores using generalizability theory and multilevel models. Two approaches, ‘student within schools’ and ‘students within schools and subject areas,’ were conceptualized and implemented in this study. Four methods resulting from the combination of these two approaches with generalizability theory and multilevel models were compared for both balanced and unbalanced data. The generalizability theory and multilevel models for the ‘students within schools’ approach produced the same variance components and reliability estimates for the balanced data, while failing to do so for the unbalanced data. The different results from the two models can be explained by the fact that they administer different procedures in estimating the variance components used, in turn, to estimate reliability. Among the estimation methods investigated in this study, the generalizability theory model with the ‘students nested within schools crossed with subject areas’ design produced the lowest reliability estimates. Fully nested designs such as (students:schools) or (subject areas:students:schools) would not have any significant impact on reliability estimates of school-level scores. Both methods provide very similar reliability estimates of school-level scores.     

Scandal and social inequality: how young Koreans feel relative deprivation to sport celebrities

Abstract

It is often observed that when sport celebrities are involved in scandals they continue to reap a variety of benefits once the scandal fades. While it may appear they suffer little consequence for their misdeed, consequences do of course ensue. One of these is relative deprivation, particularly for young groups. This study examines how young South Koreans differently shape relative deprivation according to the type of scandal. A sample of 262 Korean university students were subjected to a priming scenario technique that showed examples of Korean sport celebrities’ real scandals. This study finds that Korean university students’ cognition, affect, and behaviour of relative deprivation were positively correlated to one another. Only the behavioural dimension was significantly different according to the type of scandal. The results could be implemented toward customising sport organisation’s communication message and a sport celebrity’s image repairing strategy when the scandal is related to social equity.     

Relations as the aim of education in Joseon neo-Confucianism: The case of the Five Relationships

Abstract

This article attempts to explain through the lens of the Five Relationships the meaning of Joseon neo-Confucian view which emphasized relationship development as the aim and contents of education. In neo-Confucianism, education is the task of guiding learners in cultivating and unfolding capabilities in the relationships of everyday life. Within the context of neo-Confucianism, the development of competency in relationships was another expression of the educational goal of actualizing the ‘original nature’ including of the four virtues. Understanding the nature of education to be the embodiment of the original nature, neo-Confucian scholars sought its actual manifestation in everyday life, taking the practice of five particular relationships to be the core method. Encompassing both ‘knowing’ and ‘doing’ while progressing from the Elementary Learning into the Great Learning, neo-Confucian education characteristically takes the Five Relationships as both its foundation and its outcome. Despite the pre-modern limitations involved in the history of the practice of the Five Relationships, this neo-Confucian view of education prompts us to consider plainly the meaning of relationship development as the core contents and aim of education. Furthermore, this view affords prospects especially valuable for critically supplementing upon the discussion of a ‘pedagogy of relation’ introduced in academic circles in the West.     

An integrated framework for RFID adoption and diffusion with a stage-scale-scope cubicle model: A case of Indonesia

This study presents a comprehensive framework to identify dynamic radio frequency identification (RFID) adoption and diffusion from three different perspectives: stages of adoption, levels of analysis, and domain of issues. The main concern of this study is stages of adoption, which covers three phases in respect of the maturity of the RFID project and the sophistication of business applications and RFID technology. The level of analysis involves different units of analysis beyond the organization level, including the industry- and country-level, which is lacking in the current literature. To understand dimensions of RFID issues, a strategy, technology, organization, people and environment (STOPE) based approach was applied. An extensive review of prior literature was conducted to find various RFID success factors and the Delphi method was applied to find positions of these factors within the framework. Based on the Delphi, some factors belong to early stage of adoption, and some others persist in the later stages of adoption. At the country level, factors such as RFID national policy, R&D policy and income per capita were accepted by most experts at the preliminary and intermediate stage; strategy and environment were accepted as important domains. To find practical implications of the framework, a case study of Indonesia was conducted at each level of analysis. Analytic hierarchy process (AHP) was applied to identify most important factors and important domains of issues with respect to the factors from the Delphi results. At country level, RFID policy, vision of leadership and RFID potential market are the most important factors; strategy and environment are the most important domains.