Humor and anxiety: Effects on class test performance

Measures of trait anxiety, state anxiety, and achievement were obtained on a sample of undergraduate students, half of whom received additionaal humorous items in the achievement test. In a regression analysis, the trait anxiety × test version interaction was a significant predictor of achievement. Subsequent analyses revealed a disordinal interaction in which highly anxious students had lower achievement on the humorous test than on the nonhumorous test, and students with low anxiety had higher achievement on the humorous test than did students with high anxiety. The results do not support the popular assumption that humor is a positive factor in reducing high anxiety associated with academic evaluations.     

An Internationalization Competency Checklist for American Counseling Training Programs

Through a mixed method design the researchers sought to develop an internationalization competency checklist that U.S. counseling training programs could use as a pragmatic guide in their efforts to internationalize their curriculum and training environments. Based on a six-domain framework and using content analytic method, 70 potential internationalization competency items were generated. The items were further validated by 66 counseling professionals in the field who were knowledgeable about counseling training and have experience with international activities, resulting in 43 items with 60% or more positive endorsement. These 43 items were selected to form an International Competency Checklist. Practice and research implications of the study’s findings are discussed.     

Teacher pedagogical beliefs: The final frontier in our quest for technology integration?

Although the conditions for successful technology integration finally appear to be in place, including ready access to technology, increased training for teachers, and a favorable policy environment, high-level technology use is still surprisingly low. This suggests that additional barriers, specifically related to teachers' pedagogical beliefs, may be at work. Previous researchers have noted the influence of teachers' beliefs on classroom instruction specifically in math, reading, and science, yet little research has been done to establish a similar link to teachers' classroom uses of technology. In this article, I argue for the importance of such research and present a conceptual overview of teacher pedagogial beliefs as a vital first step. After defining and describing the nature of teacher beliefs, including how they are likely to impact teachers' classroom practice I describe important implications for teacher professional development and offer suggestions for future research.     

EMPLOYED CAREGIVERS: A MULTIDISCIPLINARY ISSUE FOR GERONTOLOGICAL EDUCATION

The importance of the employed caregiver in the maintenance of functional independence has only recently begun to be recognized. The demographic changes that will shape the next few decades will require a deeper understanding of the issues surrounding caregiving than is currently available in the curricula of existing gerontology programs. By incorporating course offerings aimed specifically at the caregiver role, gerontological education could extend its influence into the business community and attract students from a wide variety of other disciplines. Providing future corporate executives with a basic gerontological education could broaden the scope of gerontology and, ultimately, improve the quality of the lives of older care receivers.     

On Becoming a Qualitative Researcher: A View Through the Lens of Transformative Learning

This article describes a graduate-level qualitative research course informed by transformational learning theory. It presents strategies an interdisciplinary team of instructors used to engage and support students as they entered and moved through the course. The strategies focused on creating a safe, supportive, learner-centered environment, fostering critical reflection, engaging in ongoing discourse, and focusing on the centrality of experience by situating cognition in the personal context of students' lives and the research process itself.     

Effect of implicit theories on judgement of cheating acceptability in physical education: The mediating role of achievement goals

Abstract

We tested a hypothetical model that examined both the effects of implicit theories of ability on the judgement of cheating acceptability in a physical education context and the mediating role of the achievement goals defined in the social-cognitive model of achievement motivation. Data were collected from 477 middle-school students, who completed measures of implicit theories of ability, achievement goals, and judgement of cheating acceptability in team sports within a cross-sectional design. The results indicated that performance-approach and performance-avoidance goals mediated the relationships between entity theory and the judgement of cheating acceptability, and mastery-approach and mastery-avoidance goals mediated the relationships between incremental theory and the judgement of cheating acceptability. Further research is needed to determine whether these results would be replicated with other moral variables and other contexts.     

A Practical Tennis Serve Test: Measurement of Skill under Simulated Game Conditions

The Avery-Richardson Tennis Service Test was constructed to maximize the practical relationship between skills tests and playing situations. The test incorporates the game-like criteria of two balls per trial, service attempts to both right and left service courts, and comparable credit for flat, slice, and spin serves. In addition, norms were established for both college males and females at beginning and intermediate skill levels in tennis. Construct validity was established for the service test. There was a significant difference [F (1, 306) = 30.18, p < .00001] between beginning males and intermediate males, as well as a significant difference [F (1, 334) = 48.39, p < .00001] between beginning and intermediate females. To determine reliability, 93 males and 59 females were given the test on two separate occasions. Cronbach's alpha coefficients were calculated with resulting reliability estimates which ranged from .64 to .80 for the groups studied.