Predicting online grocery buying intention: a comparison of the theory of reasoned action and the theory of planned behavior

This paper tests the ability of two consumer theories—the theory of reasoned action and the theory of planned behavior—in predicting consumer online grocery buying intention. In addition, a comparison of the two theories is conducted. Data were collected from two web-based surveys of Danish (n=1222) and Swedish (n=1038) consumers using self-administered questionnaires. These results suggest that the theory of planned behavior (with the inclusion of a path from subjective norm to attitude) provides the best fit to the data and explains the highest proportion of variation in online grocery buying intention.     

Learning About Baby: What New Mothers Would Like to Know

As part of a larger research project to evaluate a new model of care for first-time mothers in a community health-care setting, this study aimed to identify the preparation and information needs of first-time mothers. All first-time mothers attending a selection of community child health centers in Brisbane, Australia, who presented with no overt risk factors and with a thriving child, were invited to participate in the study. Three months after mothers entered the service, data were collected via telephone survey (N = 151). In addition, focus group interviews were conducted 7–9 months following entry to the service (n = 8). Participants reported seeking information from a variety of sources during pregnancy. Few participants felt well prepared for managing either the physical or emotional experience of early mothering or the essential maternal and child health issues and common problems in the early months. Findings suggest that current approaches to care and education may not meet the needs of first-time mothers. Different approaches are suggested to enhance women's maternal competence during the first few months of becoming a new mother.     

Metacognitive experience on Raven’s matrices versus insight problems

Metacognition and Learning - Participants rated Intuition, Suddenness, Pleasure, and Certainty accompanying their solutions to items of a popular fluid intelligence test – Raven’s...     

Context and agency: complementarity and interactivity

In the article ‘Factors predicting online university students’ use of a mobile learning management system (m-LMS)’, Joo, Kim and Kim (Educ Technol Res Dev 64:611–30, 2016) explain actual usage of a mobile learning management system by looking at continuance intention, satisfaction, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and expectation confirmation. Perceived usefulness seems to play a pivotal role. In this reaction, it is argued that their study can be approached from to complementary and interacting perspectives: context and agency.

     

Properties of publications on anatomy in medical education literature

Publications on anatomy in medical education appear to be largely anecdotal. To explore this, we investigated the literature on anatomy in medical education, aiming first to evaluate the contribution of the literature on anatomy in medical education to "best evidence medical education" (BEME) and second to evaluate the development of this literature toward more "best evidence" between 1985 and 2009. Four databases were searched for publications on anatomy in medical education published between 1985 and 2009, resulting in 525 references. Hundred publications were characterized by five variables (journal category, paper subject, paper category, author perspective, and paper perspective). Statements from these publications were characterized by two variables (category and foundation). The publications contained 797 statements that involved the words "anatomy," "anatomical," or "anatomist." Forty-five percent of the publications contained no explicit research question. Forty percent of the statements made were about "teaching methods" and 17% about "teaching content," 8% referred to "practical value," and 10% to "side effects" of anatomy education. Ten percent of the statements were "positional," five percent "traditional," four percent "self-evident," and two percent referred to "quality of care." Fifty-six percent of the statements had no foundation, 17% were founded on empirical data, and 27% by references. These results substantiated the critical comments about the anecdotal nature of the literature. However, it is encouraging to see that between 1985 and 2009 the number of publications is rising that these publications increasingly focus on teaching methods and that an academic writing style is developing. This suggests a growing body of empirical literature about anatomy education.     

Problem‐based distance learning of energy issues via computer network

Problem‐based learning (PBL) modified for distance education (PBDiL = Problem‐Based Distance Learning) has been used for teaching energy issues at Uppsala University, Sweden. Collaborative learning in groups of seven to eight students was enabled by computer communication and enhanced the use of Internet. Two different teaching methods have been tried and are compared, both being influenced by methods used in conventional face‐to‐face PBL. The problem presentation was entirely built on pictures, and examination through student reports was successful. A student remark, ‘I study on my own but yet not alone’ shows the importance of social contact.     

Changes in the relation between cognitive and metacognitive skills during the acquisition of expertise

This paper focuses on the transformation of general metacognitive skills of novices into domain-specific regulatory procedures of experts, and the relation of those skills to intelligence. Research has shown that the general metacognitive skills of novices, although partly correlated to intelligence, additionally contribute to learning outcome on top of intelligence. The metacognitive skills of experts appear to be domainspecific and unrelated to intelligence. Two experiments were conducted. The objective of the first experiment was to confirm and generalize these earlier results concerning the relation of intellectual ability, metacognitive skillfulness and learning of novices vs. advanced subjects. The objective of the second experiment was to investigate this relation under different conditions of task complexity. It was hypothesized that advanced subjects would regress to more novice-like behavior under very complex learning conditions (i.e., general metacognitive skills and intelligence would re-appear as combined predictors of learning outcome). On the other hand, low intelligent novices, irrespective of their metacognitive skillfulnes, were expected to fail on very complex problems. Results partly confirmed these hypotheses. Implications for the conditions under which metacognitive experiences should be implemented, are being discussed.     

Professional knowledge affects action-related skills: The development of preservice physics teachers' explaining skills during a field experience

Professional knowledge is an important source of science teachers' actions in the classroom (e.g., personal professional content knowledge [pedagogical content knowledge, PCK] is the source of enacted PCK in the refined consensus model [RCM] for PCK). However, the evidence for this claim is ambiguous at best. This study applied a cross-lagged panel design to examine the relationship between professional knowledge and actions in one particular instructional situation: explaining physics. Pre- and post a field experience (one semester), 47 preservice physics teachers from four different universities were tested for their content knowledge (CK), PCK, pedagogical knowledge (PK), and action-related skills in explaining physics. The study showed that joint professional knowledge (the weighted sum of CK, PCK, and PK scores) at the beginning of the field experience impacted the development of explaining skills during the field experience (β = .38**). We interpret this as a particular relationship between professional knowledge and science teachers' action-related skills (enacted PCK): professional knowledge is necessary for the development of explaining skills. That is evidence that personal PCK affects enacted PCK. In addition, field experiences are often supposed to bridge the theory-practice gap by transforming professional knowledge into instructional practice. Our results suggest that for field experiences to be effective, preservice teachers should start with profound professional knowledge.