Connecting the dots: social network structure,conflict, and group cognitive complexity

The current paper combines arguments from the social capital and group cognition literature to explain two different processes through which communication network structures and intra group conflict influence groups’ cognitive complexity (GCC). We test in a sample of 44 groups the mediating role of intra group conflict in the relationship between communication network density and fragmentation on the one hand and groups’ cognitive complexity on the other hand. The results show that network fragmentation has a positive effect on GCC by fostering task conflict, while network density has a positive impact on GCC by reducing relationship conflict in student groups. The paper makes an important contribution to both theory and practice in the field of collaborative learning, by exploring how groups’ affective and a cognitive dynamics impact on emergent collective cognitive structures.     

Motivational processes in children's physical activity and health-related quality of life

Background: School physical education (PE) not only offers and promotes health-related physical activity (PA), but also encompasses the promotion and development of health-related well-being such as health-related quality of life (HRQOL). Furthermore, assessing PA and HRQOL have become major issues in pediatric public health and also serve as a major goal of Healthy people 2020. Grounded in the expectancy-value and achievement goal frameworks, the primary purpose of this study was to examine the relationships among the perceptions of motivational climate in PE, expectancy-value beliefs, HRQOL, and PA among elementary children. A secondary purpose was to test whether expectancy-value beliefs mediate the relationship between motivational climate and HRQOL as well as between motivational climate and PA (self-reported PA and pedometer-based PA, respectively).

Methods: Participants were 336 elementary children recruited from three public schools in the southeastern USA (M_age?=?9.87; 179 girls, 157 boys). The majority of the participants (53.3%) were White students and the remainder (46.7%) including African-American (37.4%), Asian-American (1.5%), Hispanic-American (1.8%) and others (5.9%). Students completed a previously validated questionnaire assessing expectancy-related beliefs and task values toward PE. The 23-item pediatric QOL inventory generic core scale (PedsQL^TM 4.0) was used to assess participants’ HRQOL. Children's PA levels were assessed by using a self-reported survey (Physical Activity Questionnaire for Older Children) and three-day pedometer counts (steps/min during PE).

Analysis/Results: Correlational analyses showed that expectancy-related beliefs and task values were positively related to PA and HRQOL. Regression analyses indicated that both mastery and performance motivational climate had a positive effect on children's expectancy beliefs and task values. Mediational analyses were used to evaluate the potential mediational relationships among motivational climate (independent variables: mastery and performance climates), expectancy-value beliefs (mediator: expectancy-value beliefs), and HRQOL and PA (dependent variables: total HRQOL score, self-reported PA and steps/min), respectively.

Conclusions: A mastery motivational climate together with high expectancy beliefs has a positive association with HRQOL, which in turn could produce health benefits in the future. Results suggest that a performance motivational climate could be associated with less activity (i.e. lower steps/min) even when students view PE as interesting, important, and useful. One important implication of the study is that by promoting mastery climates and expectancy-value beliefs in PE practitioners can encourage children to engage in PA both in and outside of school, and consequently may influence their quality of life.     

Modeling students' interest in mathematics homework

The authors examine the factors influencing mathematics homework interest for Chinese students and compare the findings with a recent study involving U.S. students. The findings from multilevel analyses revealed that some predictors for homework interest functioned similarly (e.g., affective attitude toward homework, learning-oriented reasons, monitoring motivation) across the two cultural samples, while some others did not (e.g., parent education, family homework help, and teacher feedback), suggesting that cultural differences influence students' interest in homework. In addition, this study bridges a gap in previous research on homework, by revealing that mathematics homework interest was positively related to mathematics self-concept. These findings were discussed relating to previous research in the field, and in the context of cultural values and societal influences.     

The Politics of “Giving Student Victims a Voice”: A Feminist Analysis of State Trafficking Policy Implementation

Little research explores factors shaping those policies and actors involved in state-level sex and labor trafficking prevention. This study examined the organizational, political, and normative dynamics that influenced implementation of Texas House Bill 1272 (HB 1272, 2013), which included educators in trafficking prevention. Part of a larger study that used feminist critical policy analysis and multifocal theory as overarching guideposts, findings highlight important factors bound up with policy actor enactment and normative roadblocks to successful long-term curriculum and training implementation. This study fills a gap in the educational research literature both in its unpacking of the normative politics involved in eliminating youth commercial and sexual violence experienced and thick qualitative research findings, neither of which would be possible through one theoretical or methodological device. Implications of and recommendations for educational research and practice are offered.     

One Step at a Time: Using Task Analyses to Teach Skills

Task analyses are useful when teaching children how to complete tasks by breaking the tasks into small steps, particularly when children struggle to learn a skill during typical classroom instruction. We describe how to create a task analysis by identifying the steps a child needs to independently perform the task, how to assess what steps a child is able to do without adult support, and then decide how to teach the steps the child still needs to learn. Using task analyses can be the key to helping a young child become more independent.     

Early School Leavers and Social Disadvantage in Spain: from books to bricks and vice-versa

It can be argued that in Spain there is a relationship between the high rates of early school leaving (ESL) and inactive or unemployed young people, as is evidenced by the current situation in which over half the working population aged 25 or younger is unemployed, many having completed compulsory education only. ESL and its social and economic consequences must be considered within the parameters and expectations of the Spanish labour market and how these expectations are/were linked to demands (or not) for continued education. This article considers the monumental social, political and economic changes that have occurred in Spain during a short span of time (including the real estate crash of 2008 and subsequent economic crisis), and how these issues intersect with measures that directly concern the educational system. It also considers a variety of endogenous and exogenous factors related to the Spanish educational system, and the impact these have on rates of ESL. The article ends with a discussion of policies and practices that may reduce ESL rates and help transform the Spanish general perception of early school leavers from a ‘lost generation’ to a generation of young people with potential for helping Spain move out of its current economic crisis.     

Implementing curriculum evaluation: case study of a generic undergraduate degree in health sciences

This case study presents a longitudinal, evidence‐based approach to health science curriculum reform and evaluation. Curriculum in higher education must meet the needs of diverse stakeholders and must respond to dynamic local, national and international contexts, and this creates challenges for evaluation. The long lead time prior to the introduction of new or revised university curriculum (at least two years), the length of degree programmes (three to five years) and the lag time in the availability of objective indicators of degree outcomes (at least one year post‐graduation) mean that findings may be obsolete before an evaluation can be completed. Few would argue that evaluation is important and methods and approaches for conducting curriculum evaluation are proposed in the literature, although few published reports of the outcomes of comprehensive evaluations are evident. This paper discusses potential for evaluation to establish responsive communication between students, teaching staff and programme administrators, ensuring a match between the intended, implemented and attained curriculum.     

“Every time someone comes forward,it makes it easier for the next survivor to be heard”: Sport as a triggering agent to break the silence of child sexual abuse

This research explored cultures of silence around child sexual abuse (CSA). On July 10, 2018, in response to multiple sexual abuse cases occurring in sport, sport news site Deadspin published a reader letter detailing CSA. This article prompted others to comment by sharing their accounts of CSA. Through qualitative analysis of 47 posts, we analyzed CSA victims’ lived experiences, with a focus on how cultural and social forces silenced them. Results indicated that silencing of CSA victims occurred through three overarching mechanisms: (a) patriarchal master narrative; (b) trauma-related shame; and (c) systemic power. The results illuminate the cultural and social factors that CSA victims experience and provide opportunities for parents, family members, and other stakeholders to better understand these constraints. In doing so, victims can be better supported, and needed discourse on CSA can occur more frequently to help identify solutions to this pervasive social problem.