Career goal engagement following negative feedback: Influence of expectancy-value and perceived feedback accuracy

This study addresses the effects of negative attainability feedback on the shift from engagement to disengagement from a career goal. It was hypothesized that negative attainability feedback regarding study choice may lead to both goal engagement and goal disengagement and that this relation is mediated by self-efficacy, motivational beliefs, and by the perceived accuracy of feedback. Results confirmed that negative feedback led to goal disengagement and, to a lesser extent, to continued engagement. Perceived accuracy of feedback was an important mediator, as was motivation. Self-efficacy did not predict either goal management strategies.     

The engineering of engineering education: curriculum development from a designer's point of view

Engineers have a set of powerful tools at their disposal for designing robust and reliable technical systems. In educational design these tools are seldom applied. This paper explores the application of concepts from the systems approach in an educational context. The paradigms of design methodology and systems engineering appear to be suitable for both analysing existing education and designing new curricula.     

Effects of trial duration on overall and momentary rates of maintained autoshaped keypecking: Choice and single-stimulus trials

Pigeons were exposed to differentially cued autoshaping trials in which conditioned stimuli were followed by food after 6 or 14 sec. Average and momentary rates of keypecking were examined on two types of unreinforced test trials: single-stimulus probe trials and simultaneous choice trials, each 40 sec in duration. Rates averaged over the 40-sec test trials did not favor the cue associated with the shorter delay to food (the short-delay cue) on either type of test trial; however, average rates prior to the scheduled time of food delivery were reliably higher for the short-delay cue on choice trials. Momentary rates of keypecking during choice trials varied as a function of both cue and elapsed time from trial onset. At short elapsed trial times, rate of pecking was higher for the short-delay cue, with this difference reversing at longer times. A reversal of the programmed relation between key color and delay to food presentation for 5 birds confirmed the generality of these findings. Implications of these data for models of Pavlovian conditioning and for methods of assessing conditioned response strength are discussed.     

Predicting persistence at university from information obtained at intake

This study is part of an ongoing project investigating the first stage of the process of student transition to university. The aim of this study was to determine whether information about student approaches to making their course choices could have been used to identify those who subsequently changed or withdrew from their courses. Retrospective studies of discontinuing students have frequently identified factors based on such information as being associated with withdrawal, however there have been few attempts to use such factors in predictive studies. Multivariate analysis indicated that combinations of the information obtained could discriminate between students who persisted and those who withdrew from their studies. As the proportions of variance accounted for by these combinations were small, it was concluded that the information had value in describing types of conditions under which students were likely to be at risk, rather than in making predictions about individual students. The methodology should be of interest to other researchers as it demonstrates ways in which multivariate strategies may be applied to survey data, in this instance to identify stereotypes of students likely to behave in particular ways with regard to their enrolment.The authors contributed equally to this paper.     

家缘与诗思：家庭小说的两难选择

家庭历史小说是20世纪中国小说中最具历史性、文化性和情感复杂性的小说品种。本文从作家的家乡情结和“出家”追求两方面剖析了促进家族小说成就和局限的原因，指出，传统家庭文化持久熏陶所积淀形成的依恋故土、看重血缘的家情结和追求科学文明、呼唤人性的审美理想，构成作家创作中的家缘与诗思矛盾纠结的复杂的心理根由。     

上帝与永恒法--论基督教神学中的普遍主义传统

基督教是西方普遍主义传统的成熟形式。柏拉图主义、斯多葛主义和保罗的因信得救说，是基督教普遍主义的主要思想来源。一神论、上帝统治论、人人皆上帝儿女的观念、救赎论、至善论和唯实论等，是基好教普遍主义的主要表现。基督教普遍主义为突破狭隘的族群意识、确立普遍的人类意识开辟了道路，并为中世纪初、中期的政治统一和西方法治传统的形成做出了贡献；但也同时给基好教带来了两极化、不宽容、喜好扩张和圣战的特性。     

Peer teaching and higher level cognitive learning outcomes in problem-based learning

Law education at the University of Limburg (Maastricht, The Netherlands) features small-group tutorials alternating with periods of independent study. Every group of 10 students was tutored by a staff member or an undergraduate student from the third or fourth year. Students guided by a staff member scored significantly higher on a test designed to measure higher order cognitive skills than students guided by a student tutor. Student tutors were rated no differently from staff tutors with respect to the way they stimulated learning processes, directed the discussion content and monitored the discussion process. It seems that in a quantitative way, staff tutors and student tutors behave more or less the same. Qualitatively, however, there may be differences in their behavior which the tutor functioning questionnaire is unable to tap. Interventions of staff tutors may be more to the point than those of student tutors due to the fact that they are experts in their fields.     

‘Modernising the comprehensive principle’: selection,setting and the institutionalisation of educational failure

This paper examines issues of selection, merging an analysis of policy with data from a qualitative case study. It focuses on the ‘modernisation of the comprehensive principle’ proposed by New Labour, in which selection within schools (through setting ‘by ability’) is increasingly encouraged. Data collected at an inner‐city, multi‐ethnic comprehensive school are used to illustrate how discourses on selection are being reworked locally. The school was largely supportive of setting, despite some teachers acknowledging that the practice prioritised high‐achieving pupils with perceived ‘good attitudes’. In the form under study, setting involved disadvantaged pupils from ethnic‐minority backgrounds, particularly those who received support in English as an Additional Language. It is concluded that setting did not contribute to an inclusive agenda for education, in spite of government claims of increased ‘standards for all’.     

Cross‐language relationship between Spanish and English oral reading fluency among Spanish‐speaking English language learners in bilingual education classrooms

This study examined whether oral reading fluency in a child's first language (Spanish) as assessed by Curriculum‐Based Measurement (CBM) was related to oral reading fluency in a second language (English) and whether Spanish oral reading fluency probes administered in the fall were predictive of English oral reading fluency outcomes for spring of the same academic year. A total of 68 bilingual education students across grades 1 through 5 were assessed in Spanish and English during the fall, winter, and spring. Results showed that reading in Spanish and English across grades and time periods correlated moderately high with the exception of fourth grade. In addition, Spanish oral reading fluency at the beginning of the year significantly predicted English reading outcomes at the end of the year. These findings suggest that CBM can be a valuable tool for evaluating the relationship between oral reading fluency in both the first and second language. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 44: 795–806, 2007.