An investigation of the influence of emotional factors on learning in physics instruction

In a study of learning processes in 24 eighth grade physics classrooms in Germany, data were collected in respect to cognitive variables (prior knowledge, learning outcomes, use of learning strategies), cognitive-emotional variables (self-concept, interest), as well as emotional variables (anxiety, boredom, sense of well-being). Both quantitative and qualitative methods were used. Interest and emotional factors are further differentiated into situation-related and habitual (most likely biographically determined) components. In constructing the teaching unit (basic electricity) a learning oriented knowledge acquisition phase was followed by a more achievement oriented practice phase. Analysis shows that positive emotions are more important in the acquisition phase than in the practice phase. Anxieties play an ambiguous role in the practice phase. Additionally, the results provide indications that joy about learning in particular, and also interest are frequently linked to successful learning processes, and not merely to the nature of the subject matter.     

Music as a tool for environmental education and advocacy: artistic perspectives from musicians of the Playlist for the Planet

Environmental education is a key tool in humanity’s efforts to address environmental issues. The arts can help provide some of the affective components of environmental education – emotions, values, and motivations driving pro-environmental behavior. As one of the arts, music can captivate, entertain, and create a sense of community. Using non-probabilistic purposive sampling, we interviewed a cohort of environmentally aware musicians with the goal of understanding their mental constructions around the role of music in environmental education and advocacy. A constant comparative coding method was used to code the interviews. The analysis revealed four artistic and five quality dimensions that the participants considered when sharing their pro-environmental values through their music. The four artistic dimensions emerged as continua representing ranges of choice regarding how a musician might create and deliver an environment-related song. The five quality dimensions emerged as recommendations for effectiveness of messaging through art that is perceived as authentic.     

Traditional balance and slackline training are associated with task-specific adaptations as assessed with sensorimotor tests

The purpose of this study was to measure alterations in sensorimotor skills and balance resulting from slackline training and conventional balance training. Forty-three physically fit subjects were randomized into three groups. Two groups practiced three times a week for 15?minutes, including at least once supervised session, on the slackline or perform conventional balance training for 6 weeks. The control group was not allowed to perform any balance training. Before and after the intervention, the subjects underwent sensorimotor and strength tests. The results of our intra-class correlation analysis showed that the stability parameters from the multifunctional training device (MFT, 0.7), the height during the countermovement jump (CMJ, 0.95) and the maximum force (0.88) during leg press showed excellent reliability. A post hoc comparison indicated a larger effect of conventional training (almost 11% reduction in MFT stability) compared with slackline training in group-wide comparisons of the pre- to the post-training measurements. The factor analysis showed that stability and sensorimotor assessment using MFT were correlated, as were height during CMJ and maximal force during leg press, which represented dynamic strength. Because CMJ had the highest intra-class correlation value, it was chosen over maximum force from leg press. For these reasons, only two out of nine measured parameters, namely MFT stability and CMJ, were analysed across groups. The only observed difference between the two groups was MFT stability (slackline???1.5%, conventional???13%), whereas the improvement of CMJ was the same (slackline?+?3%, conventional?+?3%). It can be concluded that slacklining is partly complementary to conventional sensorimotor training.     

Developing Cultural Competence: Mainstream Teachers and Professional Development

In response to the underachievement of its Latino children, one district implemented Parent Partnership for Achieving Literacy (PAL), a program to build cultural bridges between home and school. Professional development (PD) that helped mainstream teachers develop cultural competence to work effectively with Latino children and their families was central to the PAL Program. This article introduces the PAL program and presents findings from one PD course. This article discusses the elements of PD that are essential to increasing cultural competence in mainstream teachers.     

“We're too afraid of these imaginary tensions”: Student organizing in lesbian,gay, bisexual and transgender campus communities

This study utilizes grounded theory to examine student organizing in a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community on a college campus. Through a Glaserian approach to grounded theory, this study identifies three key tensions that influence the formation and maintenance of community: Unity and Difference, Commitment and Apathy, and Empowerment and Disempowerment. These tensions co‐exist within the community and produce challenges for organizing social change on campus. Ultimately, this essay argues that all three tensions may be endemic of community organizing, and potentially of organizing practices in general. Future directions for research in organizational communication and community formation are explored.     

The impact of size and specialisation on universities’ department performance: A DEA analysis applied to Austrian universities

This paper explores the performance efficiency of natural and technical science departments at Austrian universities using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). We present DEA as an alternative tool for benchmarking and ranking the assignment of decision-making units (organisations and organisational units). The method applies a multiple input and output variables approach, which is a clear advantage to other approaches using simple performance ratios. To deliver reasonable results, suitable input and output variables have been determined in a previous step using correlation analyses and OLS regression. The results validate the methods applied, and reveal performance differences and scale effects. The use of multiple output variables enables the revealing of detailed improvement or reduction amounts of each input and output of the evaluated units and furthermore for identifying the specialisation of teaching, research, and industrial cooperation. We find significant evidence that the size of a department influences its overall and specialisation performance; both small and large departments perform above average, which proves that simple linear scale effects do not exist.     

What do I want to feel? Emotion goals in childhood,adolescence, and adulthood

Beliefs about emotion utility can influence context-sensitive emotion goals (i.e., desired emotional responses). Although key for emotion regulation, emotion goals have been overlooked in children and adolescents. In 2018–2019 results of Studies 1 and 2 showed that children (N = 192, M_age = 8.65, 47% girls, 96% White) were less motivated by and found anger less useful in confrontation than adolescents (N = 192, M_age = 12.96, 50% girls, 93% White) and adults (N = 195, M_age = 29.82, 51% women, 96% White). The link between emotion goals and beliefs about emotion utility was weaker in children. In 2021, Study 3 (N = 60, 8-year-olds, 47% girls, 90% White) ruled out expectations as a possible explanation for the previous findings. Context-sensitive utility of emotions may be acquired during development.     

Limits of dynamic object perception in pigeons: Dynamic stimulus presentation does not enhance perception and discrimination of complex shape

A go/no-go procedure was used to train pigeons to discriminate pictures of human faces differing only in shape, with either static images or movies of human faces dynamically rotating in depth. On the basis of experimental findings in humans and some earlier studies on three-dimensional object perception in pigeons, we expected dynamic stimulus presentation to support the pigeon’s perception of the complex morphology of a human face. However, the performance of the subjects presented with movies was either worse than (AVI format movies) or did not differ from (uncompressed dynamic presentation) that of the subjects trained with a single or with multiple static images of the faces. Furthermore, generalization tests to other presentation conditions and to novel static views revealed no promoting effect of dynamic training. Except for the subjects trained on multiple static views, performance dropped to chance level with views outside the training range. These results are in contrast to some prior reports from the literature, since they suggest that pigeons, unlike humans, have difficulty using the additional structural information provided by the dynamic presentation and integrating the multiple views into a three-dimensional object.     

External quality assurance in higher education: how can it address corruption and other malpractices?

Corruption and malpractices in higher education are today a major concern in nearly all higher education systems worldwide. It is a multifaceted phenomenon and has become particularly visible in the academic domain. This paper represents an exploration of the possible role that quality assurance can play in addressing corruption and malpractices. First, it briefly studies the factors that enhance the risk of corruption and malpractice in higher education. Second, it examines how quality assurance systems can potentially identify and prevent corruption in higher education. Third, it discusses organisational options that prevent corruption in the quality assurance procedure itself. In other words, how the quality assurance procedure should be built in order to lower the risk of becoming itself the object of unethical behaviour and corruption.