Teacher Judgments of Student Reading and Math Skills: Associations With Child- and Classroom-Related Factors

The purpose of the study was to examine whether students’ linguistic skills and task-avoidant behavior (i.e., the child-related factors) and the mean level of academic skills (reading comprehension and math) of classmates (i.e., the class-related factor) are associated with teacher judgments of children’s reading comprehension and math skills. The participants were third-grade Estonian-speaking students (n?=?656; age 9?11 years) and their classroom teachers (n?=?51). The results of the structural equation modeling path analyses indicated that teachers tend to judge students showing higher academic and linguistic skills and lower avoidance behavior as higher on the reading comprehension and math skills. In contrast, the classmates’ higher academic skill level was related to lower judgments of individual children’s reading comprehension and math skills by teachers.     

A large-scale test of the relationship between procrastination and performance using learning analytics

Abstract

Many studies have found a relationship between students’ self-reported procrastination and their grades. Few studies have used learning analytic data as a behavioural measure of procrastination in order to predict performance, and there is no systematic research on how this relationship may differ across assessments or disciplines. In this study we analyse nine years’ worth of institutional electronic submission records, a total of 73,608 assignment submissions, to examine the relationship between submission time and grades across assignments, students, courses, and disciplines in higher education. A significant negative relationship was found overall, with students who submitted closer to the deadline obtaining lower grades, however the size of the relationship was negligible, accounting for less than 1% of the variance in grades. The relationship varied significantly depending on student, assignment, course and discipline.     

The necessity of each phase of the learning cycle in teaching high school physics

The learning cycle is a method of teaching—it is also a curriculum organization principle and is derived directly from the mental functioning model invented by Piaget. Although Jean Piaget contributed to the formation of the learning cycle (Piaget, 1973), its present structure has to be attributed to Dr. Robert Karplus and the persons who developed the materials of the Science Curriculum Improvement Study (SCIS). It was through the SCIS activities that many of us learned how to develop curricula and teach with the learning cycle. The learning cycle is built upon the premise that three distinct phases are necessary in developing understanding of a concept, that those phases have a definite sequence, and each phase has a definite structure or form. The research done in testing the form variable has already been reported in this journal (Renner, Abraham, & Birnie, 1985). This report explores whether or not each learning-cycle phase is necessary in learning a concept.     

Adult and Lifelong Education for Poverty Reduction: A Critical Analysis of Contexts and Conditions

Poverty reduction is deeply implicated in structures of politics, economy, culture, and technology, from the global down to local levels. Irrespective of the particular political ideology of a nation and of the specific strategy of mobilization, adult and life-long education can and must play a significant role in reducing poverty, including preventing its inception. Yet the adult-education sector does not seem to be ready for this challenge. The present study argues that the re-education of adult educators is a dire necessity for effective poverty reduction. It also maintains that adult educators must be re-socialized in terms of their potential new roles as intellectual-activists. Only so can they work successfully towards introducing systems of adult and life-long education that are truly comprehensive and genuinely commensurate with the goals of poverty reduction.

---

Zusammenfassung ERWACHSENENBILDUNG UND LEBENSLANGE BILDUNG FüR DIE VERMINDERUNG VON ARMUT: EINE KRITISCHE ANALYSE VON ZUSAMMENH?NGEN UND BEDINGUNGEN – Die Verminderung von Armut ist tief verankert in den Strukturen von Politik, Wirtschaft, Kultur und Technologie, von der globalen bis hinab zur lokalen Ebene. Ungeachtet der jeweiligen politischen Ideologie einer Nation und der spezifischen Strategie zur Mobilisierung kann und muss die Erwachsenenbildung und die lebenslange Bildung eine bedeutende Rolle dabei spielen, die Armut zu vermindern, was mit einschlie?t, ihrer Entstehung vorzubeugen. Dennoch scheint der Sektor der Erwachsenenbildung für diese Herausforderung nicht gerüstet zu sein. Die vorliegende Untersuchung legt dar, dass die Neuausbildung der Erwachsenenbildner eine unbedingte Notwendigkeit für eine wirksame Verminderung der Armut darstellt. Sie stellt auch fest, Erwachsenenbildner auf ihre m?gliche neue Rolle als Bildungsaktivisten neu vorbereitet werden müssen. Nur so k?nnen sie erfolgreich darauf hinarbeiten, Systeme von Erwachsenenbildung und lebenslanger Bildung einzuführen, die wirklich umfassend sind und den Zielen der Verminderung von Armut tats?chlich entsprechen.

---

Resumen EDUCACIóN DE LAS PERSONAS ADULTAS Y DURANTE TODA LA VIDA PARA LA REDUCCIóN DE LA POBREZA: UN ANáLISIS CRíTICO DE CONTEXTOS Y CONDICIONES – La reducción de la pobreza está profundamente implicada en las estructuras de la política, la economía, la cultura y la tecnología en todos los niveles, partiendo desde niveles globales y bajando hasta los niveles locales. Independientemente de la ideología política particular de cada nación o de la estrategia específica de movilización, la educación de las personas adultas y durante toda la vida puede y debe desempe?ar un papel importante en la reducción de la pobreza e incluso en la prevención de sus comienzos. Sin embargo, el sector de la educación de las personas adultas aún no parece estar preparado para enfrentar estos retos. Este trabajo sostiene que la reeducación de los educadores adultos es imperiosamente necesaria para lograr una reducción eficaz de la pobreza. También sostiene que los educadores adultos deben ser resocializados en cuanto a sus potenciales nuevos roles como activistas intelectuales. Solamente de esa manera podrán trabajar con éxito para implantar sistemas de educación de personas adultas y durante toda la vida que sean realmente completos y que, efectivamente, cumplan con los objetivos de reducción de la pobreza.

---

Résumé éDUCATION DES ADULTES ET TOUT AU LONG DE LA VIE EN FAVEUR D’UNE RE′DUCTION DE LA PAUVRETé : UNE ANALYSE CRITIQUE DES CONTEXTES ET DES CONDITIONS – La réduction de la pauvreté est profondément impliquée dans les structures de la politique, de l’économie, de la culture et de la technologie, du niveau global jusqu’aux niveaux locaux. Indépendamment de l’idéologie politique particulière d’une nation et de la stratégie spécifique de mobilisation, l’éducation des adultes et tout au long de la vie peut et doit jouer un r?le significatif dans la réduction de la pauvreté, y compris en empêchant son commencement. Cependant, le secteur de l’éducation des adultes ne semble pas être prêt pour ce défi. L’étude présente soutient que la rééducation des éducateurs d’adultes est une dure nécessité pour la réduction effective de la pauvreté. Elle maintient également que les éducateurs d’adultes doivent être resocialisés en termes de leurs nouveaux r?les potentiels en tant qu’activistes intellectuels. C’est seulement ainsi qu’ils peuvent travailler avec succès afin d’introduire des systèmes d’éducation des adultes et tout au long de la vie qui soient vraiment complets et véritablement adaptés aux objectifs de la réduction de la pauvreté.

     

Early career teachers’ sense of professional agency in the classroom: associations with turnover intentions and perceived inadequacy in teacher–student interaction

Teachers’ capacity to learn intentionally and responsively in the classroom is particularly vulnerable during the first years in the profession. This study investigated the interrelations between early career teachers’ turnover intentions, perceived inadequacy in teacher–student interaction, and sense of professional agency in the classroom. The survey data were collected from 284 in-service teachers with not more than 5 years of experience and analysed by structural equation modelling (SEM). The results showed that the negative relation between turnover intentions and early career teachers’ sense of professional agency was completely mediated by perceived inadequacy in teacher–student interaction. The results indicate that experiences of insufficient abilities to solve pedagogically and socially challenging student situations have a crucial effect on early career teacher’s capacity for adaptive reflection and active transformation of instruction.     

Adolescents’ Social Networks: Exploring Different Patterns of Socio-Digital Participation

The purpose of the study was to assess adolescents’ participation in various socio-digital activities by using a self-report questionnaire, a social networking questionnaire, and interviews. The participants (n?=?253) were grade 6–9 students from a multicultural lower-secondary school in Finland. Three profiles of socio-digital participation were identified: friendship oriented basic participators (n?=?161), gaming-oriented participators (n?=?61), and creative participators (n?=?31) intensively engaged in diverse socio-digital practices. The analyses revealed systematic differences in social networking relations as a function of adolescents’ social-digital participation profile and gender. The reciprocal values in hanging out, liking, and media multiplexity were highest for creative participators, whereas gaming-oriented participators were less socially active than their peers. The socio-digital expertise of creative participators was socially recognized by a larger group of peers than that of the other groups. The study produces methodological tools suitable for collecting systematic longitudinal data of socio-digital practices of larger groups of adolescents in future.     

Use of nonanatomical dolls in the sexual abuse interview

Controversy exists regarding use of anatomically detailed dolls in child sexual abuse evaluations because of concerns that such dolls may provoke false positive demonstrations of sexually explicit behavior. This study shows that children referred for medical evaluation of sexual abuse will use sexually explicit behavior to demonstrate what has happened to them with nonanatomical dolls as frequently as when they are interviewed with anatomically detailed ones. Over a two-year period, 136 children (aged 24 months to 10 years) were interviewed by the same pediatric interviewer. During the first year sexually anatomically detailed dolls (SAD) were used, and in the subsequent year nonanatomic dolls (NAD) were used. Data was analyzed according to age, sex, and demonstration of sexually explicit behavior. There were 67 children in the NAD group and 69 in the SAD group. Of the NAD group, 72% showed sexually explicit behavior compared to 68% in the SAD group. Comparisons using chi-square analysis revealed no significant differences between NAD and SAD. Results indicated that in the sexual abuse interview setting, use of sexually detailed dolls did not increase children's use of sexually explicit behavior to describe what had happened to them when compared to use of nonanatomical dolls, and that use of either type of doll provides similar information in the interview setting.     

Selection for special education services: the role of gender and socio-economic status

Children from some demographic groups disproportionately receive special education (SE) services. Due to methodological shortcoming in existing work, it remains unclear whether this is due to real differences in academic needs or cultural selection/bias. Hence, in a community sample of 1250 Norwegian children, we examined the role of third grade SE services, academic test scores, behavioural problems, and teacher’s level of helplessness in mediating the effect of family socio-economic status (SES) and students’ gender on fifth-grade SE services. Results revealed no direct effects of either gender or SES on fifth-grade SE, but four mediated pathways were identified: (1) Boys had a greater likelihood of receiving fifth-grade SE services when (a) they previously received SE and (b) they experienced more ADHD symptoms, both in third grade. (2) Students from low-SES families were more likely to receive SE services in fifth grade when (a) they performed poorly in math in third grade and (b) their teacher reported greater feelings of helplessness when teaching these students. The findings are discussed with respect to the differential-needs hypothesis, mechanisms of cultural selection and the possibility of gendered selection for SE at younger ages.     

The Consistency and Concomitants of Inhibition: Some of the Children, All of the Time

Toddlers displaying extremely inhibited behavior may be at risk for becoming socially withdrawn. However, behavioral inhibition may be a multifaceted characteristic, and its concurrent relation to toddler wariness with peers has not been examined. In this study, 108 toddlers (54 females) and their mothers were observed in novel situations involving unfamiliar settings, adults, and peers. Vagal tone, temperament, separation-reunion behavior, and maternal oversolicitousness also were assessed. There was little consistency of inhibited behavior across the 3 situations. Consistently inhibited toddlers had fearful temperaments, showed distress following maternal separation, and had mothers who were warm and controlling but unresponsive to children's cues during interaction. Toddlers with highly fearful temperaments and highly oversolicitous mothers were the most inhibited across contexts.