ICT in Science Education: A quasi‐experimental study of achievement,attitudes toward science,and career aspirations of Korean middle school students

The Seventh School Curriculum Reform in Korea was introduced in 2000 to prepare school‐aged Koreans for an information and knowledge‐based society. The reform effort emphasises information and communication technology (ICT) in the K–12 curriculum and a learner‐centred pedagogy. This study examines the contributions of ICT, specifically, computer‐assisted instruction (CAI), in Korean science classrooms. A sample of 234 Korean middle school students was categorised into five achievement groups. Data were collected from pre‐ and post‐achievement test scores and pre‐ and post‐questionnaires for attitudes toward science, future courses, and career aspirations in science. Findings include: (1) the lowest achievement group showed the most significant improvement after CAI (p=.000); (2) an improvement in student achievement in science significantly influenced students’ attitudes toward science (p=.019), future course selections, and career aspirations related to science (p=.000); and (3) boys tended to perform better with CAI than girls. This research provides evidence that CAI has the potential to help lower achieving students in Korean science classes and may encourage enrolment in science.     

Soft and hard variables in determining pre‐service teachers' intentions and decisions to pursue a special education career

This study examined the roles of hard variables and soft variables in determining college teachers' intentions to pursue a special education career and education majors' actual decisions to major in special education. This study surveyed 243 college students taking special education courses at a state university, including 213 education majors. The survey questions included four blocks of variables, pertaining to demographics, training and work experience, soft variables (i.e., personal connections to people with disabilities, personal value and commitment and perceived social support) and hard variables (i.e., estimated salary, workload, professional development opportunities and job security). Results suggest that (1) after controlling for other variables, hard factors such as salary did not add significant contributions to college students' intention or education majors' actual action to pursue a special education career; (2) soft variables, such as value, commitment to special education and perceived social support, significantly predicted college students' intention to pursue a special education career, but did not significantly influence education majors' actual decision to choose a special education program, and (3) workloads significantly affect education majors' decisions making decisions of enrolling in a special education program. Implications are discussed about the importance of enhancing soft‐variable aspects of working conditions for special education recruitment and retention.     

Mandatory voice: Implementation of a district‐led student‐voice program in urban high schools

This qualitative case study explores how urban high schools implement a district‐initiated student‐voice program, referred to as Student Advisory Committees, intended to improve school climate. The study uses an implementation science framework to analyze interview data from principals and advisors in 22 urban high schools. An iterative, top–down thematic analytic procedure was used for analysis and interpretation of the data. The results suggest wide variation in how the program was implemented in terms of fidelity, dosage, quality, program reach, and adaptation, with contextual school factors—namely, principal and school characteristics—that help to explain this variation. In addition, the findings indicate that these contextual factors had a significant influence on how the school district implemented the student advisory committees. The authors discuss the implications for program implementation in the context of urban school districts and for school psychologists.     

Visual Instruction to Enhance Teaching of Technical Subject to Design Students

Visual instruction complementing verbal lectures is known to promote learning among students. In this study, the role of visual instruction in engaging learners effectively via the simplification of technical concepts was examined. Different aspects of visualisation, such as order of presenting and dimensionality, were tested to observe their effect on students’ approach to learning and learning outcomes. In this mixed‐method quasi‐non‐experimental explanatory study, visual instruction was applied in one of the undergraduate architecture modules that teaches fundamentals of building systems, which students often find difficult to comprehend. Three key variables, including spatial cognitive ability, approach to learning and learning outcomes, were measured using statistically valid instruments along with students’ feedback and interviews. These factors were also measured for the control group that did not receive visual instruction (n = 32), to assess the effect of the intervention. When taught with visualisation, students (n = 69), showed a significant increase in deep approach to learning (e.g., deep motive: t = 2.584, p = 0.011). In interviews, students expressed a deeper interest in the subject and reported that the topic was engaging in class. Visualisation favours students with a higher spatial ability and, thus, is useful for design students who receive spatial ability training in the course. Two‐dimensional visuals must be followed and preceded by three‐dimensional visuals to provide advanced organisation and the connection of new knowledge with known organisational models to be made.     

III. ATTACHMENT AND EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN INSTITUTIONAL CARE: CHARACTERISTICS AND CATCH UP

Attachment has been assessed in the extreme environment of orphanages, but an important issue to be addressed in this chapter is whether in addition to standard assessment procedures, such as the Strange Situation, the lack of a specific attachment in some institutionalized children should be taken into account given the limits to the development of stable relationships in institutionalized care. In addition, this chapter discusses disinhibited or indiscriminately friendly behavior that is often seen in institutionalized children. Enhanced caregiving quality alone appears to be insufficient to diminish indiscriminate behavior, at least in some children, as evidenced by the persistence of indiscriminate behavior in children adopted out of institutions into adoptive families. We suggest that the etiology and function of indiscriminate, “friendly” behavior may be different for institutionalized versus not‐institutionalized children. In the first case it may reflect a distortion or disruption of early attachment relationships; in the latter case it is likely to result from the lack of expected input in the form of contingent interactions with a stable caregiver in early life. We try to delineate infant and caregiver characteristics that are associated with secure attachment in institutional settings, given the inevitable fact that large numbers of infants worldwide are being raised, and will be raised, in contexts of institutional care. We conclude that much further study is needed of the development of children's attachments following adoption out of an institutional setting.     

Measuring active learning to predict course quality

This study investigated whether active learning within computer‐based training courses can be measured and whether it serves as a predictor of learner‐perceived course quality. A major corporation participated in this research, providing access to internal employee training courses, training representatives, and historical course evaluation data. Twenty sample courses were subdivided into 1,884 time‐based instructional events and categorized by eight design principles for learner engagement: attend, organize, recall, practice, interact, apply, explore, and absorb. This analysis produces a quantitative pattern for the cognitive activity a course encourages within the learner, summarized as the active learning index. A regression model, with the active learning index as a predictor variable for learner‐perceived course quality, resulted in a correlation coefficient of .83 (r²=.69) and a p‐value <.0001. These results suggest a framework for quantifying the active learning components in computer‐based training courses and guiding the work of instructional designers toward higher‐quality courses.     

EXTENDING THE VALIDITY OF THE FAMILY INVOLVEMENT QUESTIONNAIRE–SHORT FORM FOR CULTURALLY AND LINGUISTICALLY DIVERSE FAMILIES FROM LOW‐INCOME BACKGROUNDS

The construct validity of the Family Involvement Questionnaire–Short Form (FIQ‐SF) was examined in an independent sample of ethnically and linguistically diverse low‐income families (N = 498) enrolled in an urban Head Start program in the Southeast. A series of exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses replicated the three‐factor structure identified in initial validation studies with Northeast samples: home‐school conferencing, home‐based involvement, and school‐based involvement. Findings from multiple group confirmatory factor analyses provided evidence that the three‐factor structure was invariant across family ethnicity. multivariate analyses of variance also confirmed hypothesized mean differences on FIQ‐SF dimension scores across family demographic variables such as caregiver ethnicity, primary home language, caregiver education, employment, and marital status. Findings replicate and extend prior construct validity evidence to support the use of the FIQ‐SF by early childhood education programs such as Head Start serving diverse families from low‐income backgrounds. Implications for future research, practice, and policy applications in early childhood are discussed.     

ANCHORING ADHD SYMPTOMS TO MENTAL AGE

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM‐5), requires that symptoms of ADHD must be developmentally inappropriate in order for an ADHD diagnosis to be considered. Because the DSM‐5 does not specifically outline procedure for determining developmental inappropriateness of behaviors, practitioners do not have guidance for making this consideration. To explore the relationship between mental age and behavior ratings of ADHD symptoms, the cognitive and behavioral data from 50 children who were evaluated in a school or clinic were compiled for this study. Cognitive ability scores were used to calculate mental age and behavior rating scores were then recalculated using the assessed mental age. Using the recalculated behavior ratings, scores based on mental age decreased significantly on the Attention Problems, Hyperactivity, and Atypicality scales of the BASC‐2. Additionally, as the discrepancy between mental and chronological age increased, larger differences in scores were found.     

Religious coping,meaning‐making and stress: perspective of support staff of children with disabilities in residential disability centres in Oman

Staff providing support to children with disabilities in residential disability centres in Oman are exposed to stressful work environments which may put them at an increased risk of burnout. Previous research has examined predictors of stress in disability support staff, but there is little consensus as the findings are inconclusive. Using a cross‐sectional design, a short survey examined religious coping styles, meaning and inner sense of peace, attitude to meaning in life, organisational religiousness practices and stress of 142 female disability support staff from community disability centres in Oman. Multiple regression analyses indicated that positive religious coping was more predictive of stress than negative religious coping. There was an association between meaning‐making and stress in disability support staff. Religious organisation explained most of the variance in stress scores and was the best predictor of stress in disability support staff. Implications of the study are discussed in relation to the role of both culture and religion.