A pedagogical alliance for trust,wellbeing and the identification of errors for learning and formative assessment

Formative assessments and feedback are vital to enhancing learning outcomes but require that learners feel at ease identifying their errors, and receiving feedback from a trusted source – teachers. An experimental test of a new theoretical framework was conducted to cultivate a pedagogical alliance to enhance students’ (a) trust in the teacher, (b) well-being in the learning environment and (c) identification of confusion and errors for the purpose of learning, assessment and feedback. A sample of 101 undergraduate students was randomly assigned to either an intervention (n = 51) or control (n = 50) condition in Elementary Statistics. Results indicated that a pedagogical alliance could be created to enhance student trust in the instructor, leading students to report greater well-being and a higher number of potential areas of confusion in their understanding of new content material relative to a control group. These results have implications for formative feedback, assessments, and by extension learning outcomes.     

Conservation in Physics Teaching,History of Science and in Child Development

The current work is an exploratory study on the ideas thatstudents in their fourth semester of engineering have about ``conservation'. Wereview the Piagetian position on the importance of conservations in logical operational structures inchild development and we comment upon other current trends in cognitive psychology. We discussbriefly the development of conservations in science during the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries and we pointout the contrast between this and how most textbooks introduce this subject. We have also carried out afirst, tentative analysis of the answers given by a sample of these students to a brief questionnaire about``conservation' and ``non-conservation'.     

Learning to Live Together: The Japanese model of early years education

There is growing recognition worldwide of the link between preschool education and later learning. Countries in which formal schooling begins at age six (or seven) have been quicker to make this link than those countries where it begins at age five (or four), and to realise that the content and focus of early years education merits as much consideration as the level of provision. This paper argues that the Japanese model of early years education, in which the main focus is to prepare children for formal learning, is instrumental in enabling children to make comparatively fast progress once they begin elementary schooling. The understanding of group behaviour and the needs of other children that is developed in Japanese early years settings contributes to children's sharing of responsibility and their positive attitudes to learning observed in elementary school classrooms. In addition, the introduction to the routines of preschooling--anticipating those of elementary schooling--combined with free play and teacher-directed activities, help children to become more self-reliant and self-confident when they begin formal learning. Examples from recent direct observation of a number of preschool settings in Japan are provided to demonstrate that the foundation received there serves to bring children to a state of readiness for learning when they begin elementary schooling. Il y a une reconnaissance en croissance au niveau mondiale du lien entre l'e´ducation pre´scolaire et l'apprentissage poste´rieur. Les pays dans lesquels l'e´ducation formelle commence a ¤ six ans (ou sept ans) se sont rendus compte plus rapidement de cette connexion que les pays ou ¤ elle commence a ¤ cinq ans (ou quatre ans), et ils ont aussi aussi compris que le contenu et le focus de l'e´ducation me´ritent autant de conside´ration que le niveau de provision. Cet essai propose que le mode ¤ le japonais d'e´ducation de la petite enfance, dans lequel le focus principal est la preparation des enfants pour l'apprentissage formel, est instrumental pour rendre les enfants capable de faire un progre ¤ s comparativement vite une fois qu'ils commencent l'e´cole e´le´mentaire. La compre´hension du comportement de groupe et des besoins des autres enfants qui se de´veloppe dans les cadres japonais de la petit enfance contribue au partagement de responsabilite´ de la part des enfants et de leurs attitudes positives a ¤ l'apprentissage observe´es dans les salles de classe des e´coles e´le´mentaires. En plus, l'introduction aux routines pre´scolaires--en pre´voyant celles de l'e´cole e´le´mentaire--combine´es avec le jeu libre et les activite´s dirige´es par l'enseignant, aident les enfants a ¤ devenir plus autosuffisants et soi confiants quand ils commencent l'apprentissage formel. Des exemples re´centes d'observation directe de plusieurs cadres pre´scolaires au Japon sont fournis pour de´montrer que la base rec¸ue sert pour apporter des enfants a ¤ un e´tat d'empressement pour l'apprentissage quand ils commencent l'e´cole e´le´mentaire. Hay un creciente reconocimiento mundial de la coneccio´n entre la educacio´n preescolar y el aprendizaje posterior. Los pa L ´ses en los cuales la educacio´n formal comienza a los seis (o siete) an ¨ os han hecho esta coneccio´n ma´s rapidamente que los pa L ´ses donde e´sta comienza a los cinco (o cuatro) an ¨ os, y a darse cuenta que el contenido y el foco de la educacio´n de la primera infancia merecen tanta consideracio´n como el nivel de la provisio´n. Este ensayo argumenta que el modelo japone´s de la educacio´n de la primera infancia, en el cual el foco principal es preparar a los nin ¨ os para el aprendizaje formal, es instrumental en permitir a los nin ¨ os hacer un progreso relativamente ra´pido una vez que ellos comienzan la educacio´n primaria. El entendimiento del comportamiento de grupo y de las necesidades de los otros nin ¨ os que se desarrollan en los ambientes educacionales japoneses de la primera infancia contribuye al compartimiento de la responsabilidad de parte de los nin ¨ os y las actitudes positivas al aprendizaje observadas en las aulas de las escuelas primarias. Adema´s, la introduccio´n a las rutinas del preescolar--anticipando los de la escuela elemental--combinada con el juego libre y actividades dirigidas por el maestro, ayuda a los nin ¨ os a llegar a ser ma´s independientes y confiados en s L ´ mismos cuando comienzan el aprendizaje formal. Se proporcionan ejemplos de la observacio´n directa reciente de varios ambientes educacionales preescolares en el Japo´n que demuestran que la base recibida sirve para conducir a los nin ¨ os a un estado de prontitud para aprender cuando ellos comienzan la escuela primaria.     

Sexual consent in K–12 sex education: an analysis of current health education standards in the United States

In the USA, universities have recently developed policies and programmes on sexual consent education. But waiting until students enroll in higher education may be too late to begin this work. To examine the extent that K–12 health education standards promote sexual consent education, we conducted a pilot study and found that only two of eighteen states explicitly mentioned sexual consent in their health education standards. Using a small sample (n = 4 states), we then identified four themes as making implicit reference to sexual consent: communication skills, decision making, personal space and interpersonal relationships. Finally, in a robust sample (n = 18 states), we conducted a content analysis of published standards regarding these themes related to sexual consent. Our analysis suggests that sexual consent is likely not discussed in sex education at K–12 schools. We recommend the more explicit inclusion of sexual consent in health education curricula via the identified themes that already exist in most or all standards, emphasising the importance of teaching young people about the nuances of sexual consent and its communication before they become sexually active.     

Will it be possible to integrate young people in a society undergoing transformation?

Ph.D. Senior researcher at the Scientific Research Centre of the Institute of Youth (Moscow). Specialist in studies of youth policies and civil society. Author ofInternational experience of public support of the youth organizations (1995) andSituation and prospects of social voluntary action in Russia (1995).     

The influence of imaging capacity on visual art skills

Imaging is a component of fundamental cognitive processes employed in a variety of cognitive activities. In particular, imaging is of special relevance to artistic skills. As part of our research on the relationships between mental images and the plastic arts, the influence of the imaging capacity in the visual art skills was investigated. Seventy-two fine arts students were administered the Vividness Of Visual Imagery Test and performed tasks testing spatial skill, spatial manipulation skill, and visual memory. Imaging capacity was associated with all three-task scores. We also found that women were more proficient in spatial tasks and spatial manipulation tasks than men. These results lead us to consider future studies with other tests of imaging capacity, with the aim of confirming and generalizing the relation between mental imagery and artistic skills. If the ability to create mental images is connected to artistic skill one would have to take this into account in the teaching of art and in designing programmes for mental image training.     

Causes and consequences of academics’ emotions in private higher education institutions: implications for policy and practice through the lens of affective events theory

Educational Research for Policy and Practice - This study aims at testing a few tenets of affective events theory (AET) from a predictive perspective in the context of Malaysian private higher...     

Arthrospira maxima (Spirulina) prevents endoplasmic reticulum stress in the kidney through its C-phycocyanin

正Arthrospira maxima (Spirulina) is a cyanobacterium which is considered a nutraceutical because it has antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and cytoprotective properties in different renal disease models (RodriguezSánchez et al., 2012; Aziz et al., 2018; Memije-Lazaro et al., 2018).     

Critical role of leadership in nurturing a knowledge-supporting culture

This paper addresses the critical role leadership plays in the implementation and facilitation of knowledge management activities. Leadership is particularly important for organizations willing to ‘evolve’ their culture to a knowledge-supporting culture. Organizational culture has been identified as the main impediment to knowledge activities, and therefore leaders should model the proper behaviors causing culture to evolve in a way that enables and motivates knowledge workers to create, codify, transfer, and use and leverage knowledge. In the literature this leadership behavior is referred to as ‘leading through a knowledge lens’. Leading through a knowledge lens has some special characteristics since it is dealing with knowledge workers having specialized expertise. Leading them can be done only by intellectual power, conviction, persuasion, and interactive dialog. It requires skills that build confidence and engagement. Therefore, leaders should establish trust and commitment that will help the knowledge organization to achieve its knowledge and business goals.