ELECTRONIC VERSUS TRADITIONAL STUDENT RATINGS OF INSTRUCTION

At a large university, ratings of faculty infive academic areas were collected from two groups ofstudents using paper-and-pencil and electronic surveyadministration modes. Factor analyses performed on both sets of data showed that the two modesyielded similar factor patterns. A 2 5 MANOVA indicatedthat ratings were significantly influenced by academicarea (p < .001) but not by survey method. A high percentage of students in both groups feltconfident that their ratings were anonymous, thoughanonymity ratings were significantly higher (p <.001) in the paperand-pencil group. Students'satisfaction with the mode of administration wassignificantly higher (p < .01) for the electronicgroup than for the paper-and-pencil group. Overall,results suggest that the electronic survey mode is aviable alternative to the paper-and-pencil mode ofadministration.     

A social neuroscience perspective on physical activity

The objective of this investigation was to examine the cognitive characteristics of individuals who demonstrate successful and unsuccessful self-regulation of physical activity behavior. In Study 1, participants articulated 1-week intentions for physical activity and wore a triaxial accelerometer over the subsequent 7 days. Among those who were motivated to increase their physical activity, those who were most and least successful were administered an IQ test. In Study 2, a second sample of participants completed the same protocol and a smaller subset of matched participants attended a functional imaging (fMRI) session. In Study 1, successful self-regulators (SSRs) scored significantly higher than unsuccessful self-regulators (USRs) on a test of general cognitive ability, and this difference could not be accounted for by favorability of attitudes toward physical activity or conscientiousness. In Study 2, the IQ effect was replicated, with SSRs showing a full standard deviation advantage over USRs. In the imaging protocol, USRs showed heavier recruitment of cognitive resources relative to SSRs in the anterior cingulate and orbitofrontal cortex during performance of a Stroop task; SSRs showed heavier recruitment in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex.     

Parents’ perfectionistic tendencies and children’s early numeracy competence: the mediating roles of children’s executive functions and numeracy interest

European Journal of Psychology of Education - Parents’ high academic expectations have often been found to benefit children’s academic outcomes. Nonetheless, little is known whether...     

Reflections on teaching and research: two inseparable components in higher education

Teaching and research are two inseparable components in higher education. There are continuous debates about the relationship between the two. Does good teaching always lead to good research, and vice versa? This paper critically examines the impact of current policy on the two academic practices and discusses how it shapes one’s professional values and career development. It begins with a discussion of the education policy development and the global trends in higher education, the ontological and epistemological positions of knowledge and education and proceeds to the set of axiological beliefs that educators should embrace. The critical reflective review presented connotes with notions of self-interrogation towards the improvement of professional practice. Its relevance to other disciplines is illustrated though examples contextualised in the marketing discipline.     

How parents help children with homework in China: Narratives across the life span

This study examines how ten young adults in Dalian City, Liaoning Province, China, perceived how their parents helped them with homework during their childhood and adolescence. Between 2011 and 2012, we interviewed five men and five women from Dalian who had first been recruited in 1999 from a college prep high school, a vocational high school, and a junior high school as part of a longitudinal study of Chinese singleton children. In this sample, most parents had not finished high school but expected their children to finish college. Parents’ lack of ability to directly assist their children in their schoolwork at home (and thus promote their children’s skills) was compensated for by involvement strategies that often tapped into their children’s motivation. Our study illustrated how several strategies that have not been reported in the Western scholarship on parental involvement (i.e., reasoning about the importance of education, watching children study, and offering food, criticizing, and blaming) can map onto the skill and motivation development model Western researchers have developed, while highlighting the previously understudied salience of these particular strategies, especially for parents who do not have enough education to teach the skills their children need for upward mobility.     

Thinking Strategies: Its Effectiveness in the Teaching of Multiplication Facts to Low Achievers of Mathematics

Many students have found the learning of multiplication a difficult task. Without mastering multiplication facts, a student will always resort to fundamental strategies which may be undesirable in problem-solving. Many teachers and educators agree that learning basic facts in the four operations are the fundamental steps that precede learning harder facts. Referring to the aspect of computational errors, Knifong and Holton (1975) indicated that computational errors accounted for 49% of the total errors made by 35 students who sat for the Metropolitan. Achievement Test. Suydam (1975) and NCTM (1977) stressed the importance of basic facts even though calculators and lately computers have been introduced into the school curriculum. The purpose of this study was to investigate the methodology of teaching basic facts which would alleviate the problems of teaching these facts to low achievers of Mathematics. A review of studies on thinking strategies shows that very few were carried out in learning the thinking strategies, particularly in multiplication using low achievers as the target. The success of using thinking strategies to teach multiplication number facts to most students does not imply its success in teaching all students. One of the intentions of this study is to investigate what strategies are useful in helping the low achievers in learning mathematics.     

Equity,Elitism, Marketisation: Inclusive Education in Hong Kong

In Hong Kong, the concept of equity and subsequently inclusive education began to gain ground in the 1970s. Inclusive education has been made the goal of special education since 1977 and was finally implemented in 1997. Meanwhile, Hong Kong has been struggling to maintain its competitiveness in a global and knowledge-based economy. Elitism and marketisation of education battle against the force of equity and will continue to form strong forces in determining educational policies and directions. Therefore, this article examines Hong Kong's inclusive education agenda, the roles of government bodies and higher education institutions, and the progress achieved. In addition, salient issues that have emerged and affected inclusive education in Hong Kong as a result of the struggle among equity, elitism and marketisation forces are discussed.