Formative assessment and intrinsic motivation: The mediating role of perceived competence

Formative Assessment (FA) refers to eliciting evidence about students’ understanding and using the information to support learning, e.?g. via individual feedback. There is evidence that FA fosters students’ motivation, but less is known about the underlying processes. The present study investigates direct effects of FA on intrinsic motivation as well as the mediating role of students’ perceived competence, drawing on Deci and Ryan’s self-determination theory. In a randomized, controlled trial, primary school teachers were either assigned to an FA training (n?=?17) or to a control group (CG; n?=?11). All teachers then taught two science units in their classrooms (FA: n?=?319 students, CG: n?=?232). Multilevel regression analyses showed a higher perceived competence and a marginally higher intrinsic motivation for FA students after unit 1. After unit 2, both intrinsic motivation and perceived competence were higher in the FA condition, and the impact on intrinsic motivation was significantly mediated by students’ perceived competence after the first unit. These results confirm and extend previous findings on the effectiveness of formative assessment on motivational outcomes.     

Children's Counterfactual Reasoning About Causally Overdetermined Events

In two experiments, one hundred and sixty-two 6- to 8-year-olds were asked to reason counterfactually about events with different causal structures. All events involved overdetermined outcomes in which two different causal events led to the same outcome. In Experiment 1, children heard stories with either an ambiguous causal relation between events or causally unrelated events. Children in the causally unrelated version performed better than chance and better than those in the ambiguous condition. In Experiment 2, children heard stories in which antecedent events were causally connected or causally disconnected. Eight-year-olds performed above chance in both conditions, whereas 6-year-olds performed above chance only in the connected condition. This work provides the first evidence that children can reason counterfactually in causally overdetermined contexts by age 8.     

Select Books – the struggle of an independent bookshop

Abstract

This is a first‐hand account of the initial 28 years of Select Books, an independent bookshop, located in Singapore, but with a regional Southeast Asian focus and a global reach. Select Books carved a niche for itself by specializing in books about Southeast Asia and published in Southeast Asia. Its comprehensive and in‐depth book stock gave it an edge over formidable competition at home and abroad. The author relates the difficulties encountered and the novel solutions Select Books employed to overcome administrative problems and sidestep bureaucratic red tape. Select Books operated on all levels of the book trade: as bookseller, distributor, library supplier and publisher. Equally important is its intangible role as a promoter of Southeast Asian authors and their works in Singapore as well as to the first world. Select Books provided a cultural space where authors could meet with their readership. Turning to the broader book community, the author is critical of the Eurocentric mindsets of public and academic institutions in Singapore. She is equally critical of the parochial and prejudiced international market that dismisses books about Asia as insufficiently ‘mainstream’ for their market.     

低幼儿童听力测验

早期干预能帮助弱听儿童可以更好地学习语言和沟通 ,也直接影响儿童的学习和成长。早期诊断 ,便成为早期干预的一个预先程序 ,可是要把听觉的毛病诊断出来 ,我们首先要明白如何测试不同年龄的儿童。这篇文章主要介绍了对不同年龄的低幼儿童进行行为听力测验的方法和技术     

Positionierungen zu „Elite“ und „Exzellenz“ in gymnasialen Bildungsregionen – Eine „Gretchenfrage“ für Schulleiter exklusiver Gymnasien?

Looking at two urban higher education regions, in this paper we investigate the question of which positions head teachers of “exclusive” German gymnasiums adopt with regard to concepts such as ‘elite’, ‘excellence’ and thus also to schools’ attempts to distinguish their own profiles in the education system, all the while bearing in mind the context of public discourses about ‘elite’ and ‘excellence’. In doing so, we reconstruct four modes of dealing with the elite concept. All of these modes—even the most positive references—show that for “exclusive” German Gymnasiums the term ‘elite’ is precariously situated, associated as it is with a considerable need for legitimation. By contrast, it is not problematic to refer to a meritocratic elite concept that involves functional academic and leadership elites in the sense of excellence. On the other hand, any association of these upper secondary schools with power, financial and business elites does seem highly problematic and is vehemently rejected. This clear rejection occurs—and this is the central thesis of this article—because otherwise meritocracy itself, as the hegemonic academic form of legitimation, would be threatened to its very core.     

Ionized Calcium Measurement in Serum and Plasma by Ion Selective Electrodes: Comparison of Measured and Calculated Parameters

To determine the concentration of ionized calcium (iCa) collected in lithium heparin and gel tubes and to correlate the measured iCa with calculated iCa. Anaerobic fasting blood samples were simultaneously collected from healthy laboratory workers in lithium-heparin and gel tubes. iCa, pH, total calcium (CaT), total protein and albumin were measured. Ionized Ca was calculated with albumin and globulin values using an appropriate formula. Mean iCa in gel tubes showed a positive constant bias of 0.08 mmol/L (p < 0.001) when compared to lithium heparin results. The mean pH of blood taken in lithium heparin and gel tubes was non-significant (p = 0.3). Measured iCa poorly correlated with CaT (r = 0.2, p = 0.1) and calculated iCa (r = 0.2, p = 0.2). To evaluate the calcium status direct measurement of iCa must be done rather than using the formulae for iCa determination. In addition serum is recommended as the choice of sample for iCa determination in comparison to plasma samples.     

‘The Talke of the Towne’: News,Crime and the Public Sphere in Seventeenth-Century London

This article reconsiders ideas of the public sphere in the seventeenth century, by focusing on how public opinion is shaped by the movement of information between media and between receivers. It contends that the scholarly preoccupation with a public sphere viewed exclusively in terms of politics obscures the fact that contemporaries did not distinguish between politics and subjects such as crime in their newsgathering. Examining the case study of James Turner, a burglar in the 1660s who became a cause célèbre in London and beyond, this article shows how crime news were eagerly exchanged, informing discussions and constructing public opinion.     

Marketing the ‘Broad Line’: Invitations to STEM education in a Swedish recruitment campaign

In many Western societies, there is a concern about the tendency of young people not choosing Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education and occupations. In response, different initiatives have been launched. If one believes that science should have a place in more young people's lives, an important question is to what extent recruitment campaigns communicate messages that open up for STEM education to become relevant in young people's identity formation. Here, we analyse a Swedish government-initiated, primarily Internet-based recruitment attempt (‘The Broad Line Campaign’) aimed at increasing the number of young people choosing the natural science programme in upper secondary school. The campaign is based on marketing principles and deliberately draws on identity issues. The data analysed consists of campaign films and written resources describing the campaign. Data are analysed by use of the constant comparative approach in order to produce categories describing different messages about why to engage in STEM education. These messages are then analysed from an identity perspective using the concept of subjective values. Our results show that the messages communicated in the Broad Line campaign emphasise utility value, attainment value and relative cost rather than interest-enjoyment. The campaign communicates that the natural science programme is to be associated with a high attainment value without establishing relations to the field of science. Finally, potential consequences of the communicated messages in the campaign are discussed in light of previous research.     

Collaborative action research in Northern Canadian rural and Indigenous schools: learning about young children’s oral language in play contexts

This article reports on collaborative action research in twelve northern rural and Indigenous communities in four Canadian provinces. Pre-kindergarten, kindergarten, grade one, and Aboriginal Head Start teachers worked with university researchers in three universities to create action research projects with the aim of supporting children’s oral language and writing through play in their classrooms. Inductive analysis of focus group data shows that teachers gained understandings about play as a context both for supporting and for authentic assessment of young children’s oral language. The building of trusting relationships, built through ongoing collaboration with colleagues within their schools and across four provinces, in addition to collaboration with university researchers over a number of years, was viewed as particularly influential to teachers’ professional learning. Additionally, teachers talked about the value of opportunities to contribute to the development of teaching and assessment tools. Participating teachers came to see themselves as making valuable contributions to professional knowledge beyond their northern communities. The 4R’s for conducting research in Indigenous contexts (reciprocity, respect, relevance, and responsibility) provide a framework for deriving implications from this collaborative research. It is important that the results of collaborative action research conducted in rural and Indigenous schools be widely disseminated to provide alternative perspectives to curriculum, research and practice that tend to be urban-oriented.