Using automatic machine assessment to teach computer programming

We report on an intervention in which informal programming labs were switched to a weekly machine-evaluated test for a second year Data Structures and Algorithms module. Using the online HackerRank system, we investigated whether greater constructive alignment between course content and the exam would result in lower failure rates. After controlling for known associates, a hierarchical regression model revealed that HackerRank performance was the best predictor of exam performance, accounting for 18% of the variance in scores. Extent of practice and confidence in programming ability emerged as additional significant predictors. Although students expressed negativity towards the automated system, the overall failure rate was halved, and the number of students gaining first class honours tripled. We infer that automatic machine assessment better prepares students for situations where they have to write code by themselves by eliminating reliance on external sources of help and motivating the development of self-sufficiency.     

Enhancing Practice Through Clinically Rich Methods Courses in Physical Education: Perceptions of Preservice Teachers and Their Cooperating Teachers

Similar to other teacher education disciplines, Physical Education Teacher Education (PETE) must adjust to calls for clinically rich teacher preparation because knowledge learned in PETE does not easily transfer to cultures of schools, classrooms, and gymnasia. Opportunity exists to understand more about clinically rich PETE courses, particularly through lenses of those engaged in clinical practice. Framed by occupational socialization theory, this research examined perspectives of university faculty, 11 preservice teachers and two cooperating teachers during clinically rich methods courses in a PETE program. We analyzed data using inductive analysis and constant comparison. Preservice teachers reported enjoying more realistic experiences and enhanced confidence. Cooperating teachers appreciated staying in touch with best practices in the field, and the responsibility of preparing new teachers. The findings suggest the value of a practice-to-theory approach, and created professional learning opportunities for all stakeholders.     

Social Categorization and the Formation of Intergroup Attitudes in Children

The study was designed to test several hypotheses derived from intergroup theory concerning the effects of the presence of a novel social category on the formation of intergroup attitudes. Elementary school children (N = 61; aged 6–9) were given measures of classification skill and self-esteem and assigned to 1 of 3 types of school classrooms in which teachers made: (1) functional use of "blue" and "yellow" groups assigned on the basis of a biological attribute, (2) functional use of "blue" and "yellow" groups assigned on the basis of a random drawing, or (3) no explicit groups (despite the presence of blue and yellow groups). After 4 weeks, children completed measures of intergroup attitudes and behavior. As predicted, the functional use of color groups affected children's attitudes toward group members, with children showing consistent biases favoring their own group. Children with higher levels of self-esteem showed higher levels of intergroup stereotyping.     

College Counseling Centers With Counselors in Private Practice: Guidelines to Negotiate Ethical Challenges

Several factors shape practices in counseling centers today, including an increased need for referral to external mental health services. Providing external referrals can lead to both practical and ethical implications when counseling center employees also operate private practices. Guidelines to negotiate the potential ethical dilemmas inherent in this scenario are provided.     

Engaging students emotionally: the role of emotional intelligence in predicting cognitive and affective engagement in higher education

Student engagement is a key predictor of academic performance, persistence and retention in higher education. While many studies have identified how aspects of the college environment influence engagement, fewer have specifically focused on emotional intelligence (EI). In this study, we sought to explore whether EI could predict cognitive and/or affective engagement in a sample of undergraduate psychology students in Ireland. Ninety-one students completed two forms of the student engagement instrument, rating current engagement and retrospective secondary school engagement, along with the trait EI (TEI) questionnaire. After controlling for academic ability, gender and school engagement, multiple regression analyses found TEI to be a positive predictor of both cognitive and affective engagement. Previous academic performance acted as an additional predictor of cognitive engagement, while retrospective affective school engagement predicted current affective engagement. These results suggest that interventions aimed at increasing EI may have positive implications for many aspects of student engagement, and hence performance at third level.     

Gross motor teaching in preschool education: where,what and how do Singapore educators teach? (Enseñanza de la motricidad gruesa en educación infantil: ¿dónde,qué y cómo enseñan las maestras en Singapur?)

ABSTRACT

Fostering the development of gross motor (GM) skills is important in itself and beneficial for the holistic development of children. While early childhood curriculum frameworks for GM teaching have been recently articulated, there is limited research on actual pedagogical practices. This study explored GM teaching practices in Singapore Kindergarten 1 classrooms (4–5 years), focusing on where (indoors vs outdoors), what (types of GM skills) and how (teaching strategies and opportunities for practice) preschool educators teach. The study is part of a longitudinal project in which 108 Kindergarten 1 classrooms were observed and videotaped during a full ‘typical day’ (3–4 hours). GM teaching was observed to occur predominantly indoors. Non-locomotor skills were the most frequently taught to children, followed by locomotor and manipulative skills. Many educators were observed using explicit teaching strategies before and during GM activities, with low involvement after activities had been completed. While GM teaching was predominantly teacher-led, opportunities for unguided practice and play were more frequent outdoors. We conclude that Singapore preschool educators need support to better enact the guidelines of the GM curriculum framework. The study enriches the thin classroom-based international literature on GM education.     

Pubertal Timing and Adolescent Alcohol Use: The Mediating Role of Parental and Peer Influences

Using intergenerational, prospective data at ages 9 months, 7, 11, and 14 years from the nationally representative United Kingdom Millennium Cohort Study, this interdisciplinary study unpacks why 14-year-old adolescents with early perceived pubertal timing (PT) were more likely to drink alcohol (ever, frequent, and binge drinking) compared to those whose PT was on-time or late (5,757 girls, 5,799 boys; 80% White, 10% Asian, 3% Black, and 7% Other British). Parents allowed drinking among 22% (18%) of early PT girls (boys) compared to 11% of late PT adolescents; formal mediation models showed differences by PT in parent permissiveness and gains in alcohol-using friends primarily explained age 14 PT-drinking associations. Parental alcohol permissiveness should be a key prevention target for early PT adolescents.     

The Influence of Ethnic-Racial Identity Developmental Processes on Global Bicultural Competence Development

This study investigated ethnic-racial identity (ERI) developmental processes (i.e., exploration and resolution) as pathways for adolescents to develop global bicultural competence, or the ability to meet heritage and host cultural demands. The sample included 749 U.S. Mexican-origin youth (30% Mexico-born; 51% male) followed from early-to-late adolescence (M_age = 12.79–17.38 years). Longitudinal structural equation analyses revealed that youth’s sequential engagement in ERI exploration and resolution (from early-to-middle adolescence) promoted global bicultural competence in late adolescence. The findings highlight the benefits of achieving clarity about one’s ERI via self-exploration efforts for adolescents’ ability to respond effectively to bicultural demands. This study advances mechanisms via which ERI development may support youth adaptation to multiple cultural systems.     

Cognition in art education

Whilst it is accepted that art education is a cognitive endeavour, the value and contribution of cognition to art education is often deliberated. By examining literature concerning conceptions of cognition and contextualising studies with the findings of a 5-year artographic inquiry into cognition in the lived experiences of artist teachers, this article is able to present a case for the reinstatement of cognition and cognitive study across policy, practice and research in art education. The article shares a conceptual frame to assist engagement with cognition as a concept whilst presenting a strategy to support cognitive reinstatement in the changing climate of art education. Questions are posed and answered regarding cognition’s position in art education to bring reinstatement implications forward, such as its complexity and productivity within education. Recommendations, such as increased engagement, voice projection and visibility, are also suggested to infiltrate transformation in future materialisations of cognitive engagement in the policy, practice and research of art education.     

Discursive constructions of equity in Australian higher education: Imagined worlds and the case of people seeking asylum

There is a strong rationale for people seeking asylum and refugees given temporary protection to be key beneficiaries of Australian higher education equity practices. However, despite the extreme precarity they face, this group remains among the most educationally disadvantaged populations in Australia. Here, we use critical discourse analysis to examine the publicly available statements of 38 Australian universities to identify discursive representations of equity practices and connections, with our analytic gaze focused through the lens of people seeking asylum. Using a three-part analytic heuristic examining ‘statements’, ‘practices’ and ‘connections’, we offer a critical discourse analysis of how each public university expresses its commitment to the equity agenda in powerful stakeholder-facing documents—such as annual reports, strategic plans and media releases—and we compare this analysis against institutional stated practices with regard to people seeking asylum. In identifying misalignments between equity statements and stated practices, we suggest that institutional equity narratives articulate ‘imagined worlds’, in which all marginalised groups can access higher education. We argue that now is the time to move beyond these ‘imagined worlds’, to enact stated commitments to universal education, by instituting real and effective practices to facilitate equitable access to Australian higher education for people seeking asylum.