Learner instruction,attitudes during class and academic achievement of junior high school students in Korea: a panel analysis

This study examined changes in the structural relationship among learner-centred classes perceived by Korean junior high school students, attitudes during class and academic achievement. A linear change model was identified as optimal, showing a steady increase over time for each parameter. The higher the initial value for learner-centred classes, the higher both the initial value and rate of change was for attitudes during class and academic achievement. The initial values for attitudes during class also had a significant effect on initial values of academic achievement, suggesting that attitudes are important in increasing academic achievement. The rate of change of both learner-centred classes and attitudes during class significantly influenced the rate of change of academic achievement.     

Measuring instructional congruence in elementary science classrooms: Pedagogical and methodological components of a theoretical framework

This article is situated within a theoretical framework, instructional congruence, articulating issues of student diversity with the demands of academic disciplines. In the context of a large‐scale study targeting elementary school science, the article describes a research instrument that aims to combine the strengths of both quantitative and qualitative approaches to classroom data. The project‐developed classroom observation guideline is a series of detailed scales that produce numerical ratings based on qualitative observations of different aspects of classroom practice. The article's objectives are both pedagogical and methodological, reflecting the dual functionality of the instrument: (a) to concretize theoretical constructs articulating academic disciplines with student diversity in ways that are useful for rethinking classroom practice; and (b) to take advantage of the strengths of qualitative educational research, but within a quantitative analytical framework that may be applied across large numbers of classrooms. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 44: 424–447, 2007     

Learning in honeybees as a function of amount of reward: Rejection of the equal-asymptote assumption

Foraging honeybees were trained individually with successively presented targets differing in odor, one containing 5 µl and the other 20 µl of a 50% sucrose solution, after which preferences were measured in choice tests. In Experiment 1, there were either 8 training trials with each target, 16 trials with each, or 8 trials with the 20-µ1 target and 16 trials with the 5-µl target. In Experiments 2 and 3, the odor-amount relation was reversed after either 24 or 16 trials with each target. In Experiment 4, differential reward was introduced only after two, four, or six feedings-to-repletion on each target. All of the results could be simulated quantitatively and with considerable accuracy on the assumption that the attractiveness of an odor is given by the strength of its association with sucrose; that asymptotic associative strength is an increasing function of amount of reward; and that choice between two odors is determined by their relative associative strength.     

Effects of word and morpheme familiarity on reading of derived words

The purpose of this study is to examine factors that influence students’ reading of derived words. Recent research suggests that the lexical quality of a derived word depends on the familiarity of the word, its morphemic constituents (i.e., base word and affixes), and the frequency with which the base word appears in other words (i.e., members of the same word family or family frequency). On the premise that better and more experienced readers have higher quality lexical representations, we explore the extent to which accuracy of reading derived words by 4th and 6th graders is related to measures of familiarity, including derived and base word frequencies, family size, average family frequency, and word length. The results of an exploratory factor analysis indicated that these measures formed two factors, one representing morphemic constitution and the second representing exposure to the word family; both factors accounted for significant variance in the students’ derived word reading. Comparisons of sets of derived words contrasted on familiarity properties showed that performance on derived words, overall, is better for 6th than 4th graders and for good than poor readers. On the measures of family frequency and family size, there were significant discrepancies between grade level and reading ability and frequency characteristics. These add support to the view that morphemic analysis and wide reading experience contribute to derived word reading.     

‘Quality and quantity’: the value of online seminars for media and cultural studies undergraduates

Much previous research into the effectiveness of CMC has suffered from a lack of clarity or of consistency in the adoption and explication of coding typologies or taxonomies. This has reduced the opportunities for comparison between studies and for the accumulation of evidences to guide pedagogy. In addition, most studies of CMC have used postgraduate students from the sciences, mathematics and engineering as their subjects. There is a notable dearth of studies with undergraduate students and, in particular, with students in the arts, social sciences and humanities. In this study, 104 undergraduate students on media‐related programmes undertook a three‐week online discussion (CMC) on the nature of cultural globalisation. The quality of the discussion was evaluated using an enhanced taxonomy rooted in Bloom and other more recent writers. The pattern of dialogue was also mapped and represented graphically. The results suggest that CMC as a method for enhancing peer‐led discussion of theoretical concepts, with media arts undergraduates, can be very effective. This article makes a contribution to thinking about the evaluation of CMC learning experiences and offers recommendations on maximising the quality for the learner of such experiences.     

Two adult women managing career and family after mature higher education: alternative notions of agency?

This biographical case study explores how two South Korean middle-aged married women have managed their career and their family commitments over the period of 9 years after their mature higher education. In doing this, this study focuses on the role of agency with reference to the structure of gender throughout these women’s experiences. Biographical narrative interviews were conducted four times over the 9 years to trace various changes to their lives. The analysis suggests that the two women’s agencies were ostensibly different, but were quintessentially embedded within their intimate relationships in common. Drawing on the empirical evidence, this study seeks to address alternative notions of agency that highlight endurance, interdependence with close relations, emotion and affection, which exert a gradual but powerful impact on others and society. This study, therefore, disturbs the prevalent notions of a self-directed and rationalistic model of agency and its individualistic and dichotomous relation with structure.     

Effects of robotics programming on the computational thinking and creativity of elementary school students

Educational technology research and development - Around the world, programming education is actively promoted by such factors as economic and technical requirements. The use of a robot in...     

Links Between Preschoolers' Behavioral Regulation and School Readiness Skills: The Role of Child Gender

Research Findings: We examined relations among preschoolers' behavioral regulation, gender, and school readiness outcomes in preacademic and classroom skills using a sample of South Korean preschoolers aged 3–5 (N = 229). Behavioral regulation was assessed using a direct measure, the Head–Toes–Knees–Shoulders task, which requires children to switch rules by responding in the opposite way to 4 different oral commands. Results demonstrated nonsignificant gender differences in behavioral regulation and academic skills but significant gender differences in classroom work-related skills and social skills, with higher scores for girls. Multilevel path modeling revealed that behavioral regulation predicted none of the preacademic skills and classroom behaviors after child age, gender, verbal intelligence, maternal education, and classroom nesting were controlled. However, there was an interaction effect of behavioral regulation and gender for early reading; the contribution of behavioral regulation to early reading was positive and stronger for boys. Practice or Policy: These results suggest that behavioral regulation is not an overall strong predictor of school readiness in South Korean children. Early educators need to support the development of behavioral regulation skills, especially for boys, as these skills may work as an important path to school readiness when children lack other classroom social strategies and resources.     

Playfulness-based design in educational games: a perspective on an evolutionary contest game

Playfulness steering is an emerging approach in educational game design and play. The integration of arithmetical computation, game strategy, and teamwork into one game allows players to interactively “steer” the playfulness and enhance learning. In this paper an evolutionary contest game was designed and implemented to examine the influencial factors. Using action research, focus groups and hermeneutic methods, this study suggest that the playfulness design of an evolutionary game is influenced by the degree of uncertainty and flexibility in decision-making, the level of challenge, equal conditions for fair play, opportunities to compete/cooperate, and the level of interactivity.     

Designing a robot teaching assistant for enhancing and sustaining learning motivation

Although many researchers have pointed out that educational robots can stimulate learners’ learning motivation, the learning motivation will be hardly sustained and rapidly decreased over time if the amusement and interaction merely come from the new technology itself without incorporating instructional strategies. Many researchers have identified that the sustainability of the learning motivation is closely related to the instructional strategies. Accordingly, learners must be well guided by suitable instructional strategies to enhance and sustain their learning motivation. In other words, suitable instructional strategies are required even if introducing educational robots to learners can stimulate learning motivation at the beginning of learning activities. Literature also suggests that systematic instructional strategies can be designed with the use of the Attention, Relevance, Confidence, and Satisfaction (ARCS) model. As the rapid development of robotics, it has become feasible to apply the educational robot for enhancing learning. A robot teaching assistant (RTA) was designed to enhance and sustain learning motivation for the learning of English reading skills. A quasi-experimental design and the Instructional Material Motivational Survey questionnaire were used for data collection and evaluation. The findings showed that the design of the RTA-based learning activities guided by the ARCS model for learning English reading skills can significantly improve learners’ learning motivation, learning performance, and continuance intention.