Alignment, cohesion, and change: Examining mathematics teachers’ belief structures and their influence on instructional practices

This collective case study reports on an investigation into the relationship between mathematics teachers’ beliefs and their classroom practices, namely, how they organized their classroom activities, interacted with their students, and assessed their students’ learning. Additionally, the study examined the pervasiveness of their beliefs in the face of efforts to incorporate reform-oriented classroom materials and instructional strategies. The participants were five high school teachers of ninth-grade algebra at different stages in their teaching career. The qualitative analysis of the data revealed that in general beliefs were very influential on the teachers’ daily pedagogical decisions and that their beliefs about the nature of mathematics served as a primary source of their beliefs about pedagogy and student learning. Findings from the analysis concur with previous studies in this area that reveal a clear relationship between these constructs. In addition, the results provide useful insights for the mathematics education community as it shows the diversity among the inservice teachers’ beliefs (presented as hypothesized belief models), the role and influence of beliefs about the nature of mathematics on the belief structure and how the teachers designed their instructional practices to reflect these beliefs. The article concludes with a discussion of implications of teacher education.     

Cultural diversity in online learning: A study of the perceived effects of dissonance in levels of individualism/collectivism and tolerance of ambiguity

Online learning courses are hypothesized to be influenced by the instructors' and students' cultural values. This study collected survey data from online instructors and students to analyze the effects that Hofstede's individualism/collectivism and ambiguity (in)tolerance cultural dimensions exert on online courses offered from an individualist/ambiguity tolerant perspective. Results revealed that the students' cultural dimensions relate significantly to some of their perceptions of culture in the online classroom. Contrary to their individualist peers, collectivist learners felt that their individualist instructors were not usually aware of cultural differences in the online classroom and that their culture was not being considered to make learning relevant to their cultural context. Ambiguity intolerant students, in contrast with their ambiguity tolerant peers, felt that cultural background consideration is important and would appreciate being informed about relevant cultural differences they might experience taking an online course based on a different cultural perspective. Students from ambiguity intolerant cultures also reported less motivation to participate than their counterparts. In addition, language was found to influence the participation patterns when the ambiguity (in)tolerance values of the students were studied. However, language was not found to influence participation patterns for the individualist/collectivist dimension. The results of the study suggest that cultural differences do affect how students perceive the online classroom.     

Instructor fluency leads to higher confidence in learning,but not better learning

Students’ judgements of their own learning often exceed their knowledge on a given topic. One source of this pervasive overconfidence is fluency, the perceived ease with which information is acquired. Though effects of fluency on metacognitive judgments have been explored by manipulating relatively simple stimuli such as font style, few studies have explored the effects of fluency on more complex forms of learning encountered in educational settings, such as learning from lectures. The present study manipulated the fluency of a 31-min video-recorded lecture, and measured its effects on both perceived and actual learning. In the fluent condition, the instructor used non-verbal gestures, voice dynamics, mobility about the space, and appropriate pauses. In the disfluent condition, the same instructor read directly from notes, hunched over a podium, rarely made eye contact, used few non-verbal gestures, spoke in monotone pitch, and took irregular and awkward pauses. Though participants rated the fluent instructor significantly higher than the disfluent instructor on measures of teaching effectiveness and estimated that they had learned more of the material, actual learning between the two groups did not differ as assessed by a memory test over the lecture contents given immediately (Experiment 1) or after a 1-day delay (Experiment 2). This counterintuitive result reveals an “illusion of learning” due to fluency in lecture-based learning, a very common form of instruction.     

Fast distributed algebraic connectivity estimation in large scale networks

This paper presents a distributed method to estimate the algebraic connectivity of fixed undirected communication graphs. The proposed algorithm uses bisection to estimate the second smallest eigenvalue of the Laplacian matrix associated to the graph. In order to decide the sub-interval in which the eigenvalue is contained, a distributed averaging algorithm based on Chebyshev polynomials is considered together with a max consensus algorithm. The information exchanged by neighbors in the graph each communication round is constant and independent of the size of the network, making it scalable to large networks. Besides, exploiting the convergence properties of Chebyshev polynomials we provide a direct estimation of the algebraic connectivity so that, instead of the midpoint of the bisection interval, the new approximation can be used. Finally, our algorithm also provides upper and lower bounds on the algebraic connectivity and an estimation of the Fiedler eigenvector associated to it. Simulations in large networks demonstrate the scalability and accuracy of the algorithm.     

Feel American,Watch American,Eat American? Remote Acculturation,TV, and Nutrition Among Adolescent–Mother Dyads in Jamaica

Globalization prompts remote acculturation toward U.S. culture in Jamaica; this study used a bioecological systems approach to examine its proximal impact on nutrition through U.S. cable TV consumption, and maternal influences in the home. Overall, 330 randomly selected adolescent–mother dyads from schools in Kingston, Jamaica (M_{adolescent_age} = 13.8 years, SD_{adolescent_age} = 1.8) completed questionnaires reporting American identity and behavioral preferences, daily time spent watching U.S.‐produced TV programs, and frequency of eating unhealthy foods. Actor–partner interdependence models revealed that girls’ American identity/behavior directly predicted their unhealthy eating, whereas girls’ mothers and boys’ American identity/behavior indirectly predicted unhealthy eating as mediated by their U.S. TV hours. Additionally, mothers’ American identity/behavior predicted daughters’ unhealthy eating as mediated by mothers’ U.S. TV hours. Remote acculturation theory may facilitate more targeted research and prevention/intervention.     

Relationships between employment quality and intention to quit: focus on PhD candidates as traditional workers

Current statistics show that the attrition rate among PhD candidates is high (i.e. from 30% to 40% depending on the discipline and the country). This high-attrition rate has an impact on both economic (e.g. negative impact on the return-on investment in doctoral education) and human levels (e.g. negative consequences on candidates’ self-esteem and well-being). Therefore, it seems important to better understand and to prevent the attrition among PhD candidates. Based on the needs–supplies fit theory, the present research focused on the perception of a fit between several PhD candidates’ work-related needs in terms of employment quality and the characteristics of their job to explain their intention to quit their PhD thesis process. This study was based on 160 Belgian PhD candidates, viewed as traditional workers in the Belgian doctoral system, who were still in their thesis process. Data were collected in one Belgian university. Globally, results shown that only the fit perception between the needs for fairness/recognition from the supervisor and the current job situation was significantly associated with lower intention to quit. Thus, we encourage Universities to develop and boost fairness and recognition from thesis supervisors through notably specific training programmes including supportive and justice-based practices.     

The present,past, and future of the gardening metaphor in education

Educators and educational theorists frequently employ a gardening metaphor to capture several child-centred principles about teaching and children, i.e. teachers must respect a child’s unique interests and abilities, recognise what is developmentally appropriate for students, and resist pursuing a narrow set of outcomes. Historically, however, educational theorists were as likely to use the gardening metaphor to support teacher-centred, ‘moulding’ ideals as they were to support child-centred ideals. Furthermore, in stark contrast to the contemporary optimism about a child’s innate, unique potential, the use of the gardening metaphor in the past sometimes supported prejudicial, deterministic views of children. In many ways, therefore, the contemporary use of the metaphor reflects genuine progress in educators’ ideas about children and their potential. Nevertheless, those who employ the gardening metaphor today might learn from some of its past users. Eager to avoid imposing their own goals on children, today child-centred gardeners have resisted articulating normative ideals by which teaching and parenting might be guided. Yet a normative ideal of the educated adult is not inconsistent with child-centred gardening.     

Information Systems: Problems of Image Registration and Reproduction

Due to the rapid development of visualization tools and technologies, the image information plays in the life of society a more and more large role in the course of time. There are widespread different image search and display systems which develop and could be integrated in various information systems. Long ago, many sections had been separated from the fundamental sphere of image information processing as independent directions with specific scientific objectives, such as computer graphics, computer vision, digital photography and others. The tendency to separation of new directions intended for different problems solving persists still, what is confirmed by the enormous annual number of publications. A wide variety of software products can meet the needs practically of any specific problem. But in present variety of image information processing it is possible to separate some general tendencies and some main central problems, which solving determines the image quality and the information systems operation evaluated by ultimate consumer.       

Simulation of Color Synthesis in Flexographic Printing

The realization of color conversions in accordance with the ICC technology is the basis of quality management in modern desktop publishing systems. An important point is that the result depends on the specific technological process, therefore the fine adjustment of the control systemis required. For such a multi-step process as flexographic printing is the reprofiling a complicated, labour-intensive and long procedure. The systems based on the ICC profiling, have several restrictions on use in flexographic printing. These restrictions are concerned mainly with the technologies of platemaking and printing processes, as well as with the usability of arbitrary quantity of printing inks, their combinations and with the need for color separation using in the autotype color synthesis of additive inks.