Building world class universities in China: exploring faculty’s perceptions,interpretations of and struggles with global forces in higher education

Employing a glonacal (global, national and local) heuristic as a theoretical lens, and a qualitative analysis with interview data, this study highlights how Chinese faculty members interpret the definitions and implications of pursuing world class universities (WCUs) and struggle with the multiple dimensions of their academic lives across global, national and local dimensions. The findings indicate that faculty members believe that the quest to build WCUs in China has been narrowly defined by the government, which emphasises international/global dimensions, rather than national or local. Because of this, Chinese professors believe that there are growing gaps between administration and faculty. Yet they recognise significant advancement in hardware and facilities, especially in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. This study confirms that faculty’s academic lives are intricately interlinked across the glonacal economy and that faculty continue to navigate their roles across all dimensions.     

Evaluating the use of a strengths-based development tool with head teachers

This exploratory study investigated an educational psychologist’s use of a strengths-based development tool with head teachers, in the context of influencing and supporting leaders in school organisations. Nine head teachers completed the “Realise2 Introductory Profile” online strengths assessment and then received a structured debrief by an educational psychologist, to facilitate discussion around their individual profile. Feedback was gathered from five head teachers, using semi-structured interview and a Likert-type rating scale. Interviews were analysed thematically. Head teachers reported raised self-awareness in terms of their realised strengths, learned behaviours, weaknesses and unrealised strengths. They noted an increased motivation and commitment to self reflection as a core practice and related this to subsequent changes in management practice, such as improving personal resilience, increased authenticity in their professional role and more effective delegation of management tasks. Organisational level outcomes reported by head teachers included increases in focus on strengths based practices, teacher well-being and resilience. Personal and professional development with individual head teachers is discussed as an effective use of educational psychology resources with potential benefits for the wider organisation.     

Recognition of Values-Based Constructs in a Summer Physical Activity Program

The purpose of this study was to examine the extent participants in a summer sports camp embraced values-based constructs and to examine the relationship between perceptions of values-based constructs and affect and attitude. Participants included 135 ethnically diverse boys and girls (mean age 11.98 years) attending the National Youth Sport Program (NYSP). Participants' perceptions of the extent the program emphasized values-based constructs and participants' enjoyment, interest in sport, future expectations, and respect of leadership were assessed. Factor analysis revealed three values-based constructs: Care for Others/Goal Setting, Self-Responsibility, and Self-Control/Respect. Correlational analyses revealed that emphasizing values-based criteria was positively related to the participant's sport enjoyment, interest in sport, positive future expectations, and greater respect for leaders. The practical implications of the findings are discussed.     

Fostering early adolescents’ motivation: a longitudinal study into the effectiveness of social constructivist,traditional and combined schools for prevocational education

Over the past decades, many schools have adapted towards social constructivism with the aim of enhancing students’ motivation. There are a variety of perspectives in educational theory, with social constructivist views standing in contrast to traditional views. Hence, we compared students’ motivation (levels and developments) in social constructivist schools, traditional schools and schools combining elements of both. A total of 489 grade-7 students from 10 schools and 20 classes of prevocational education participated in five measurement occasions. Multilevel analysis revealed that complex developmental trends differed meaningfully between classes for all four motivational constructs, i.e. intrinsic motivation, identified motivation, values, and performance avoidance, for mother language, and even more so for math. For most motivational constructs, levels were associated with the type of school students attended, and appeared lower in combined schools than in the other two types, while developments were not associated with the type of school attended.     

School support groups,other school factors,and the safety of sexual minority adolescents

Sexual minority adolescents—those self‐identifying as lesbian, gay, or bisexual (LGB) or with same‐sex desires or sexual experiences—report higher rates of victimization and suicidality than their heterosexual peers, yet little empirical research has examined school factors associated with these risks. This study used data from the Massachusetts Youth Risk Behavior Survey (Massachusetts Department of Education, 2000), matched with school‐level data from state records and school principals, to compare the safety of 202 sexual minority adolescents in 52 schools with and without support groups for LGB students, to investigate the relationship between perceived staff support and safety, and to explore other school factors associated with victimization and suicidality among these youth. As hypothesized, sexual minority adolescents in schools with LGB support groups reported lower rates of victimization and suicide attempts than those in other schools. Victimization and perceived staff support predicted suicidality. Several additional school factors were associated with the safety of sexual minority students. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 43: 573–589, 2006.     

Information and Reliability for Percentile Ranks and Other Monotonic Transformations of the Number-Correct Score: Reply to De Gruijter

De Gruijter (1997) has claimed that May and Nicewander (1994) erred on two points that indicated that both reliability and information in the number-correct score could be reduced considerably by converting to percentile ranks. The points raised by De Gruijter are very well taken, and we are pleased to have an opportunity to respond.     

Technology and Textbooks: The Future

This article describes two separate studies: a survey of students’ textbook perceptions, purchases, and usage for e-textbooks and print textbooks and a conjoint analysis on e-textbook attributes. Print textbooks were perceived as easier to read, understand, and navigate, whereas e-textbooks were perceived to be cheaper. Students were willing to purchase e-textbooks, although most did not have e-readers. In the conjoint study, price was the most important attribute, followed by access to online study guides, videos, and quizzes and the duration of e-textbook accessibility. The ideal e-textbook was priced at 60% of the print textbook; was accessible for one year; and provided access to online study guides, videos, and quizzes.     

Additive effects due to biochar and endophyte application enable soybean to enhance nutrient uptake and modulate nutritional parameters

We studied the effects of hardwood-derived biochar (BC) and the phytohormone-producing endophyte Galactomyces geotrichum WLL1 in soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.) with respect to basic, macro- and micronutrient uptakes and assimilations, and their subsequent effects on the regulation of functional amino acids, isoflavones, fatty acid composition, total sugar contents, total phenolic contents, and 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH)-scavenging activity. The assimilation of basic nutrients such as nitrogen was up-regulated, leaving carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen unaffected in BC+G. geotrichum-treated soybean plants. In comparison, the uptakes of macro- and micronutrients fluctuated in the individual or co-application of BC and G. geotrichum in soybean plant organs and rhizospheric substrate. Moreover, the same attribute was recorded for the regulation of functional amino acids, isoflavones, fatty acid composition, total sugar contents, total phenolic contents, and DPPH-scavenging activity. Collectively, these results showed that BC+G. geotrichum-treated soybean yielded better results than did the plants treated with individual applications. It was concluded that BC is an additional nutriment source and that the G. geotrichum acts as a plant biostimulating source and the effects of both are additive towards plant growth promotion. Strategies involving the incorporation of BC and endophytic symbiosis may help achieve eco-friendly agricultural production, thus reducing the excessive use of chemical agents.     

Top contributors to the school psychology literature: 1996–2005

An erratum has been published for this article in Psychology in the Schools 43(7) 2006, iii‐vi. [ ]. S.G. Little (1997) reported the top contributors to the school psychology literature from 1987 to 1995. The present study represents a follow‐up by examining the top contributors from 1996 to 2005. Similar to Little, a list of the top 50 contributors was developed using a point system that assigned more credit based on fewer coauthors and higher authorship placement. Expanding upon the Little study, we also computed a list of the top 50 contributors in terms of number of articles authored, thus facilitating a comparison of the two methods. Melissa Bray ranked first on both lists. The top 10 authors in terms of articles also were ranked in the top 13 in terms of points. Thus, for the most productive authors, choice of criteria for ranking does not appear important; however, in terms of encouraging versus discouraging collaboration among researchers, criteria choice may be important. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 43: 737–743, 2006.     

Modeling and Measuring High School Students’ Computational Thinking Practices in Science

Journal of Science Education and Technology - Despite STEM education communities recognizing the importance of integrating computational thinking (CT) into high school curricula, computation still...