The Development and Validation of the eHealth Competency Scale: A Measurement of Self-Efficacy,Knowledge, Usage,and Motivation

The purpose of this study is to construct and validate a scale of electronic health (e-health) communication competence. Based on a comprehensive review of e-health literature, this scale was constructed using two studies to gather data and validate the scale; four dimensions emerged in the final measurement: e-health self-efficacy, knowledge, usage, and motivation. Results suggest the e-health competence scale is useful for researchers to develop online health interventions and other domains of computer-mediated communication.     

Evaluating engineering thinking in undergraduate engineering and liberal arts students

ABSTRACT

This study explored if it is possible for liberal arts students to develop engineering professional competencies without detailed engagement with the engineering sciences. Students on a Bachelor of Arts and Sciences programme were compared with their undergraduate peers in Civil Engineering. A new method for evaluating such competencies was developed. Two one-hour individual problem-solving exercises were devised to assess capabilities against 14 criteria, based on the Institution of Civil Engineers’ Competency framework for professional development (2011 The BASc cohort’s scores for each criterion improved notably from the start of term to the end. This cohort rated their capabilities more highly at the end of term and was more satisfied with the answers they gave. Engineering students showed a slight decline in performance against the criteria. Self-evaluation in this group revealed a smaller increase in perceived capability but increased dissatisfaction. Both cohorts felt more anxious about the assignment at the end of the term. PBL environments can improve student competence in attributes associated with professional engineering. The scope of the study is constrained by the small cohort but the findings and evaluation method provide the basis for further development, including detailed statistical evaluation and validation of the evaluation instrument.     

Observational,physiological, and self-report measures of children's anger: relations to reactive versus proactive aggression

The goal of this study was to examine the relations of reactive versus proactive aggression to children's anger, as assessed using observational, physiological, and self-report measures. Anger was hypothesized to be related to reactive aggression, but not to proactive aggression. Children (N = 272 second-grade boys and girls) participated in a procedure in which they lost a board game and prize to a confederate who cheated. Skin conductance reactivity and heart rate reactivity were measured throughout the procedure. Following the interaction, children viewed a videotape of the game and self-reported on their level of anger after each turn of the game. Observational coding of children's angry facial expressions and angry nonverbal behaviors was conducted. Reactive aggression, but not proactive aggression, was positively related to skin conductance reactivity and angry nonverbal behaviors, both at an aggregated level and in terms of rate of increase over the time span of the game.     

Peer interaction effects in the activation of categorical concepts

This study was aimed at investigating the effects of social interaction in a task involving the utilization of categorical concepts by 7- and 9-year-olds from two contrasting socio-economic backgrounds (upper class and lower class). The task, presented as a guessing game, was performed under two experimental conditions: an individual condition (one subject alone asked his/her partner questions) and a dyadic condition (two subjects formulated questions together to ask two other partners). In both experimental conditions, the «questioned» subjects answered «yes» or «no» to their partner’s (or partners’) questions. Two pre-test and post-test tasks (a nonmember task and a similarity task) involving the same categorical concepts as the training tasks were set up to assess the effects of training condition and socio-economic background on progress. An untrained group of subjects served as the control group. The results showed that the experimental setup was very beneficial for all subjects, regardless of what kind of training they had undergone (individual or dyadic) and what background they came from. These findings provide evidence of the effectiveness of the social regulation at work in both of these experimental conditions (yes/no feedback) for a task where the socially-defined goal to be attained by the subjects is represented in an unambiguous manner.     

A linguistic and neuropsychological approach to remediation in a german case of developmental dysgraphia

There have been relatively few single case studies concerned with the remediation of spelling deficits among developmental impairments. Among these there have been a small number that targeted specific components of the spelling process and used linguistic theories as theoretical underpinning for the development of remediation procedures. This single case study examines remediation of writing skills and aims at evaluating two different lexically based intervention methods, one of which used Optimality Theory as its basis. We applied a rule-based remediation and an intervention method using whole-word forms to a child with selective impairments in the lexical-graphemic components. The investigation was done with words in which phoneme-grapheme-correspondences in word final position change due to voicing neutralization. The individual exhibited a method- and item-specific effect with respect to the rule-based method. In addition, a transfer effect to untreated items and a generalization effect to untrained but related tasks was observed. The absence of a method-specific and a generalization effect for the whole-word form intervention and the success of the rule-based method is determined by the specific cognitive component(s)s that constitute the source of the deficit and the appropriateness of Optimality Theory to address this particular deficit.     

Climate Change Professional Development: Design,Implementation, and Initial Outcomes on Teacher Learning,Practice, and Student Beliefs

In this work, we present the design, implementation, and initial outcomes of the Climate Academy, a hybrid professional development program delivered through a combination of face-to-face and online interactions, intended to prepare formal and informal science teachers (grades 5–16) in teaching about climate change. The Climate Academy was designed around core elements of successful environmental professional development programs and aligned with practices advocated in benchmarked science standards. Data were collected from multiple sources including observations of professional development events, participants’ reflections on their learning, and collection of instructional units designed during the Academy. Data were also collected from a focal case study teacher in a middle school setting. Case study data included classroom observations, teacher interviews, and student beliefs toward climate change. Results indicated that the Climate Academy fostered increased learning among participants of both climate science content and pedagogical strategies for teaching about climate change. Additionally, results indicated that participants applied their new learning in the design of climate change instructional units. Finally, results from the case study indicated positive impacts on student beliefs and greater awareness about climate change. Results have implications for the design of professional development programs on climate change, a topic included for the first time in national standards.     

Internality-norm theory in educational contexts

The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of the socionormative approach of internality in the field of education, and more specifically regarding scholastic judgment. It describes the theoretical development and the main procedures used by researchers to show that internal causal explanations have more value than external ones because they are normative and convey social value. We present results that show that the preference for internal explanations is learned in school. We also demonstrate that internal explanations are often chosen for self-presentation purposes and have some bearing in evaluative practices (here, scholastic judgment). We also present results which show that certain internal explanations of school events, regardless of their valence (success or failure), enhance the social worth of the pupil producing them. This applies to effort-based explanations which are more highly valued than others (e.g., in terms of personological traits such as aptitudes or abilities). Such results lead us to discuss the role played by internal explanations in the evaluation practices. We underline the relevant aspect of the socionormative theory of internality by comparison to another sociocognitive approach namely Weiner’s attributional theory of motivation.     

The Role of Alternative Theories and Anomalous Evidence in Children’s Scientific Belief Revision

Children’s naive theories include misconceptions which can interfere with science learning. This research examined the effect of pairing anomalies with alternative theories, and their order of presentation, on children’s belief revision. Children believe that heavy objects sink and light ones float. In a pre-, mid-, and post-test design, 5-year-olds (N = 96) were assigned to one of two conditions, where they were either exposed to an alternative theory about buoyancy and then observed anomalies (Explanation-First), or the reverse (Anomalies-First). At mid-test, children were more likely to revise their beliefs after exposure to an alternative theory than anomalies alone. At post-test, children revised their naïve belief when they had access to an alternative theory before the anomalous evidence than in the opposite order.     

Longitudinal development of family decision making: defining healthy behavioral autonomy for middle-class African American adolescents

The development of decision-making autonomy was examined in 76 middle-class African American early adolescents (M = 13 years) and their mothers, who were followed longitudinally for 5 years. Adolescent decision-making autonomy over conventional, prudential, multifaceted, and personal issues increased over time but at different rates. Mothers viewed prudential and conventional issues as parent decisions, but adolescents increasingly viewed them as joint. Adolescents viewed multifaceted and personal issues as increasingly decided by adolescents (with parental input), whereas mothers viewed them as joint. Greater autonomy over multifaceted issues in early adolescence was associated with poorer adjustment. Controlling for background variables and earlier adjustment, increased autonomy over personal and multifaceted issues predicted less depression and better self-worth in late adolescence.