Young adolescents' metacognition and domain knowledge as predictors of hypothesis‐development performance in a computer‐supported context

Recently, the importance of ill‐structured problem‐solving in real‐world contexts has become a focus of educational research. Particularly, the hypothesis‐development process has been examined as one of the keys to developing a high‐quality solution in a problem context. The authors of this study examined predictive relations between young adolescents' metacognition, prior domain knowledge, and hypothesis‐development performance in a computer‐supported environment. Data were collected from 11‐ and 12‐year‐old Korean students (N = 101). A hypothesised model in predicting hypothesis‐development performance was evaluated using structural equation modelling. Both metacognition and prior domain knowledge significantly predicted young adolescents' hypothesis‐development performance. Implications and limitations of the present study and issues, including the experimental design, are discussed.     

An Autoethnographical Study of Culture,Power, Identity and Art Education in Post‐Colonial South Korea

This article reflects my experiences of learning art in the 1970s and 1980s and my teaching career in school art education in twenty‐first century South Korea. This autobiographical reflection shows how I have struggled with my identity as an art teacher in the post‐colonial context of Western influences on Korean society since World War II. There has been greater tension and a greater struggle for different values, practices and identities when new values and practices have been introduced into the particular socio‐cultural context of South Korea. My struggles with particular kinds of pedagogic identity valued within the rapidly changing political, economic and cultural context of Western influences on Korean art education demonstrate the hidden structural mechanism of the relationship between culture, power and identity in the post‐colonial world of globalisation. This study as an autoethnographical research provides critical insights into how identities are produced by pedagogic discourses and practices of art education that are constructed through the specific systems of practice and language which transmit and regulate such identities and values.     

Solving Hitchcock’s transportation problem by a genetic algorithm

IntroductionTheHitchcock’sTransportationProblem(HTP)canbeformulatedasaclassiclinearprogrammingprobleminwhichthesetofconstraintsisofaspecialstructure[1,2].TheHTPisapracticaltransportationprobleminproductiondistributionsector.Alotofpracticaltrans-portationandassignmentproblems,suchastheminimumcostroadnetworktrafficflowproblemwithsolidchargeinlogistics,canbeformulatedinthisway,anditisclearlythattheHTPmaybehasmorethanoneoptimalsolution.Itisveryimportantforadecision-makertoselectafavorableone…     

Understanding Complex Ecosystems Through an Agent-Based Participatory Watershed Simulation

Journal of Science Education and Technology - The properties and functions of complex systems apply across a variety of domains of science and are at the heart of the solutions to many global...     

A sequential analysis of responses in online debates to postings of students exhibiting high versus low grammar and spelling errors

Given that grammatical and spelling errors have been found to influence perceived competence and credibility in written communication, this study examined how a student’s grammar and spelling errors affect how other students respond to the student’s postings in four online debates hosted in asynchronous threaded discussions. Message-response exchanges were sequentially analyzed to identify patterns in students’ replies to arguments and challenges with counter-challenges, explanations, and evidentiary support posted by students that exhibited low versus high number of grammatical and spelling errors. Although no causal inferences can be drawn from this study, the findings nevertheless suggests that: (a) arguments posted by high-error students are more likely to be challenged than arguments posted by low-error students; (b) exchanges between high-error students can amplify the effects of grammar/spelling errors; and (c) higher levels of argumentation can be achieved by placing students into groups that are heterogeneous in writing skills in general. The findings and methods used in this study lay the groundwork for further research on strategies for managing individual differences in students’ grammar and spelling (and other student behaviors in general) and increasing the level of critical discourse in online discussions.     

Reciprocal influences between stressful life events and adolescent internalizing and externalizing problems

Investigated in this study were hypothesized reciprocal influences between stressful life events and adolescent maladjustment using data from a 6-year, prospective longitudinal study. Stressful life experiences, internalizing symptoms, and externalizing behaviors were assessed for a sample of adolescents (215 males, 236 females) living in the rural Midwest. From 7th to 12th grades, autoregressive analyses showed that stressful life events and these two forms of maladjustment were reciprocally interrelated over time. For example, stressful life events at one point significantly predicted delinquent behaviors 1 year later, which, in turn, significantly predicted stressful life events 1 year later, and vice versa. The findings provide evidence for the accumulating disadvantage for adolescents that results from the mutual reinforcement of problematic situations and adjustment problems over time.     

Cognitive and parenting pathways in the transmission of antisocial behavior from parents to adolescents

This study examined the role of adolescent perceptions of parental behavior and disrupted parenting in the continuity of antisocial behavior across generations. Participants included 430 adolescents and their biological parents assessed during the period from the 9th to 12th grades (9th grade age in years: M=15.09, SD=0.43). Structural equation modeling provided support for the mediating role of adolescent perceptions and disrupted parenting in the familial transmission of antisocial behavior. Furthermore, the results were consistent across parent and adolescent gender. The findings extend previous research by suggesting a significant role for adolescent perceptions of parents' activities in the development and growth of antisocial behavior. Results also support significant stability in antisocial tendencies over the course of adolescence.