Effortful Control, Surgency, and reading skills in middle childhood

We examined the associations between components of temperament and children’s word and pseudo-word reading skills, in a school-age sample using a within-family internal-replication design. We estimated the statistical prediction of word and pseudo-word reading in separate regression equations that included the main effects of, and two-way interaction between, Surgency and Effortful Control. Children with better Effortful Control scores showed better reading skills. Surgency was unrelated to reading skills, but moderated the effect of Effortful Control. The positive association between reading skills and Effortful Control was present only for children who were low in Surgency. Thus, reading achievement in school-age children is optimized by strong Effortful Control, but these processes may be disrupted for those children who are high in Surgency.     

The impact of content area focus on the effectiveness of a web‐based simulation

This paper describes an assessment of a web‐based interview simulation designed to teach empathetic helping skills. The system includes an animated character acting as a client and responses designed to recreate a simulated role‐play, a common assessment method used for teaching these skills. The purpose of this study was to determine whether learning gains found in previous evaluations would transfer to students needing similar skill sets but in different areas of study. Findings indicate a positive trend in learning gains across both areas of study (human services and counselling) with no significant differences in skill acquisition. Developers of the system conclude that the system is effective in the general training of empathetic helping skills regardless of the students' area of study.     

Value Profiles During Middle Childhood: Developmental Processes and Social Behavior

Little is known about how children's value priorities develop over time. This study identifies children's value priority profiles and follows their development during middle childhood. Australian children (N = 609; ages 5–12 at Time 1) reported their values over 2 years. Latent Transition Analysis indicated four profiles: Social-Focus, Self-Focus, Growth-Focus and Undifferentiated. Within person development was characterized by profile stability or transfer to the Social-Focus profile. Younger children were more likely to have an Undifferentiated profile (or Self-Focus among boys) than older ones. Girls were more likely to have a Social-Focus profile or transfer to it, and less likely to have a Self- or Growth-Focus profile than boys. Social-Focus profile membership over time predicted more prosocial and less aggressive behavior.     

Dynamic Transition Patterns in Acculturation Among Hispanic Adolescents

Acculturation consists of multiple domains (i.e., cultural practices, identifications, and values). However, less is known about how acculturation processes influence each other across multiple domains of acculturation. This study was designed to investigate transition patterns of acculturative processes within and across domains in a sample of 302 recent-immigrant Hispanic adolescents, M_age (SD) = 14.51 years (0.88) at baseline; male = 53%). Adolescents were assessed six times over a 3-year period. Latent profile analyses identified two profiles (high [or increasing] vs. low) for each domain at each timepoint. We found largely stable transition patterns in each domain over six timepoints. Importantly, sequential associations among profiles in acculturation domains were also detected. Implication for acculturation theory and research are discussed.     

Leveraging information and communication technologies (ICT) to enhance education equity,quality, and efficiency: case studies of Bangladesh and Nepal

ABSTRACT

Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) have had significant impacts on many sectors in today’s knowledge economy. In developing and emerging countries, ICT have enhanced equity, quality, and efficiency in the education sector. However, the adoption of ICT in the South Asian countries’ education sector has not been at scale and its impacts have been limited. There are several gaps and issues that are hindering the wider adoption of ICT and limiting its impacts in the education sector. Through the case studies of the adoption of ICT for education in Bangladesh and Nepal, this paper examines the gaps and issues to be addressed in order to better leverage ICT to enhance education equity, quality, and efficiency. This discussion is guided by the ICT in the education framework that has been developed by the authors, and could provide insights into the state of ICT in education and offer strategies to better leverage ICT for the education sector of other countries in South Asia and the region.     

The development of elementary pre-service teachers’ professional noticing of students’ thinking through adapted Lesson Study

The purpose of the study was to investigate how Lesson Study influences pre-service teachers’ learning to professionally notice students’ mathematical thinking. The initial and last video-recorded discussions were analysed using a qualitative method. Findings suggest that Lesson Study can be useful means to improve pre-service teachers’ noticing expertise in reviewing and planning lessons. However, to maximise the effect of Lesson Study on developing pre-service teachers’ noticing expertise, several modifications need to be made to the Lesson Study protocol, which are discussed.     

The effect of design education using virtual reality-based coding on student competence and educational satisfaction

Education and Information Technologies - Virtual reality (VR) technology is playing a crucial role in the changing paradigm of education. In many cases, however, VR technology is not being taught...