Individual difference predictors of creativity in Art and Science students

Two studies are reported that used multiple measures of creativity to investigate creativity differences and correlates in arts and science students. The first study examined Divergent Thinking fluency, Self-Rated Creativity and Creative Achievement in matched groups of Art and Science students. Arts students scored higher than Science students on two of the three measures. Regression analysis indicated that the educational domain demographic variable was the most consistent predictor of all three measures of creativity. The second study compared natural science, social science and arts students on two performance and two preference measures of creativity, whilst controlling for the effects of general intelligence. Results indicated only Self-Rated Creativity displayed significant group differences, with the regression analysis suggesting a stronger role of personality variables. The differences between the groups and implications for the measurement of creativity are considered.     

Demonstration of Classroom Survival Skills in Kindergarten: A five-year transition study of children with intellectual disabilities

Thirty-three children with a range of intellectual disabilities who participated in a transition program embedded within a model inclusive preschool program were enrolled in mainstream kindergarten classes from 1995 to 1999. In the second of four kindergarten terms the classroom survival skills, on-task behaviour across a range of activities and following teacher directions, were measured by observing the children with intellectual disabilities and a typical peer, nominated by each classroom teacher. While the teacher-nominated peers outperformed the students with intellectual disabilities in total time-on-task, the level achieved by the children with intellectual disabilities was still at the lower end of what is regarded as average. There was no statistical difference between the two groups in on-task behaviour during independent activities but the difference between the groups during whole class instruction was highly significant. This may have implications for the selection of strategies for preparing children for transition and the adaptation of teaching practices. On-task behaviour did not vary a great deal across level of intellectual disability but gender may have been a contributing factor. There appeared to be a greater difference between students with and without disabilities in responding to teacher directions. The results of the present study suggest that successful demonstration of these critical skills requires more appropriate teacher preparation and intervention at the kindergarten level.     

Tool for Assessing Responsibility-Based Education (TARE): Instrument Development,Content Validity,and Inter-Rater Reliability

Numerous scholars have stressed the importance of personal and social responsibility in physical activity settings; however, there is a lack of instrumentation to study the implementation of responsibility-based teaching strategies. The development, content validity, and initial inter-rater reliability testing of the Tool for Assessing Responsibility-Based Education (TARE) are described here. Inter-rater agreement was calculated for paired observations focused on 2 different teachers delivering a total of 18 separate physical education lessons for students in grades 1 through 6. Findings indicate that the Tool for Assessing Responsibility-Based Education provides scores with adequate inter-rater reliability. The procedures employed in this study proved feasible and enable observers to characterize the implementation of responsibility-based teaching in physical education. The Tool for Assessing Responsibility-Based Education has numerous research and training applications relative to the Teaching Personal and Social Responsibility model (Hellison, 2003 Hellison, D. 2003. Teaching responsibility through physical activity, 2nd, 15–38. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.  [Google Scholar]) and the national content standards for K–12 physical education, specifically Standard 5: Exhibits responsible personal and social behavior that respects self and others in physical activity settings (National Association for Sport and Physical Education, 2004 National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE). 2004. Moving into the future. National standards for physical education, 2nd, 39–43. Reston, VA: Author.  [Google Scholar]).     

Back to Reality: The Complex Relationship Between Patterns in Immigration News Coverage and Real-World Developments in Dutch and Flemish Newspapers (1999–2015)

Although prior studies investigating immigration news typically documented a dominant focus on negativity and threats, only limited empirical research is available, which scrutinizes the way real-world developments affect these patterns in immigration news. This study aims to fill this void. First, we report results of a large-scale and longitudinal content analysis (N = 4,340,757) of trends in immigration news coverage in two Western European cases, Flanders (the northern, Dutch-speaking, largest region of Belgium) and the Netherlands, from 1999 to 2015. Both the salience of immigration as a news topic on itself and its linkages with three prominent issues (i.e., crime, terrorism, and socioeconomic issues) are explored. Second, this study builds on previous insights by comparing dynamics in immigration news to real-world events and developments. Overall, the results show that the linkage of immigration to issues of crime, terrorism, and the economy in Flemish and Dutch newspapers was considerable throughout the 17-year period under study. Yet there is limited evidence for a close relationship between news and real-life developments; hence, trends in immigration news seem largely unaffected by trends in society.     

The long-term athlete development model: physiological evidence and application

Within the UK, the "Long Term Athlete Development" (LTAD) model has been proposed by a variety of national governing bodies to offer a first step to considering the approach to talent development. The model, which is primarily a physiological perspective, presents an advancement of understanding of developing athletic potential alongside biological growth. It focuses on training to optimize performance longitudinally, and considers sensitive developmental periods known as "windows of opportunity". However, it appears that there are a number of problems with this theoretical model that are not necessarily transparent to coaches. Principally, the model is only one-dimensional, there is a lack of empirical evidence upon which the model is based, and interpretations of the model are restricted because the data on which it is based rely on questionable assumptions and erroneous methodologies. Fundamentally, this is a generic model rather than an individualized plan for athletes. It is crucial that the LTAD model is seen as a "work in progress" and the challenge, particularly for paediatric exercise scientists, is to question, test, and revise the model. It is unlikely that this can be accomplished using classical experimental research methodology but this should not deter practitioners from acquiring valid and reliable evidence.     

Investigating the role of bilingual teaching assistants in Hong Kong: an exploratory study

Background:?Recent government initiatives in Hong Kong have focused on raising the participation of students from South Asian backgrounds in mainstream schools, to encourage their further integration into Hong Kong's educational system and society. These students' learning in mainstream schools takes place within the context of the central curriculum and, thus, students face the challenge of learning Chinese as an additional language. Mainstream schools sometimes provide additional support, including the provision of bilingual teaching assistants to address the specific needs of the students from South Asian backgrounds.

Purpose:?This exploratory study aims to investigate the roles of bilingual teaching assistants in Hong Kong.

Method:?Interviews were held with two bilingual teaching assistants from the South Asian community in Hong Kong who were working in a mainstream secondary school. Teachers from the school were also interviewed. Open-ended interview questions focused on perceptions of the roles and responsibilities of bilingual teaching assistants in Chinese-language-medium classes. The data were analysed to identify any emergent patterns and themes.

Findings:?The research findings indicate that the bilingual teaching assistants from the South Asian community not only took on the role of helping the learners from South Asian backgrounds in Chinese language acquisition, but also acted as cultural mediators between mainstream school culture and the culture of the South Asian community in Hong Kong.

Conclusions:?This small-scale exploratory research study suggests the importance of the role of bilingual teaching assistants in promoting equal access to quality education for ethnic minorities in Hong Kong.     

Multiple‐Choice Tests and Student Understanding: What Is the Connection?

Instructors can use both “multiple‐choice” (MC) and “constructed response” (CR) questions (such as short answer, essay, or problem‐solving questions) to evaluate student understanding of course materials and principles. This article begins by discussing the advantages and concerns of using these alternate test formats and reviews the studies conducted to test the hypothesis (or perhaps better described as the hope) that MC tests, by themselves, perform an adequate job of evaluating student understanding of course materials. Despite research from educational psychology demonstrating the potential for MC tests to measure the same levels of student mastery as CR tests, recent studies in specific educational domains find imperfect relationships between these two performance measures. We suggest that a significant confound in prior experiments has been the treatment of MC questions as homogeneous entities when in fact MC questions may test widely varying levels of student understanding. The primary contribution of the article is a modified research model for CR/MC research based on knowledge‐level analyses of MC test banks and CR question sets from basic computer language programming. The analyses are based on an operationalization of Bloom's Taxonomy of Learning Goals for the domain, which is used to develop a skills‐focused taxonomy of MC questions. However, we propose that their analyses readily generalize to similar teaching domains of interest to decision sciences educators such as modeling and simulation programming.     

Three Misunderstandings of Plato's Theory of Moral Education

In this essay, Mark Jonas argues that there are three broadly held misconceptions of Plato's philosophy that work against his relevance for contemporary moral education. The first is that he is an intellectualist who is concerned only with the cognitive aspect of moral development and does not sufficiently emphasize the affective and conative aspects; the second is that he is an elitist who believes that only philosopher‐kings can attain true knowledge of virtue and it is they who should govern society; the third is that he affirms the realm of the Forms as a literal metaphysical reality and believes that for individuals to attain virtue they must access this realm through contemplation. The goal of this essay is to correct these misconceptions. The rehabilitation of Plato's reputation may enable future researchers in moral education to discover in his philosophy new avenues for exploring how best to cultivate virtues in students.     

The Relations of Parental Characteristics and Practices to Children''s Vicarious Emotional Responding

We examined the relation of parental empathy-related characteristics and emotion-related child-rearing practices to third and sixth graders' vicarious emotional responding. Children's heart rate, skin conductance, facial, and self-reported reactions to a sympathy-inducing film were assessed, as were their dispositional sympathy, empathy, and self-monitoring. Parental sympathy was positively related to low levels of personal distress in same-sex children and, for both parents, with sons' dispositional sympathy or empathy. Parental emphasis on problem-focused coping strategies when their sons were anxious was positively correlated with indexes of sons' situational and dispositional sympathy. Same-sex parental restrictiveness in regard to the control of inappropriate, hurtful emotional displays was associated with sons' and daughters' dispositional and situational sympathy, whereas maternal restrictiveness in regard to emotions that are unlikely to hurt others was correlated with nonverbal indexes of personal distress and self reports of low distress. Parental emphasis on control of the child's own negative emotion was associated with children's self-monitoring.