PRIOR KNOWLEDGE AND ONLINE INQUIRY-BASED SCIENCE READING: EVIDENCE FROM EYE TRACKING

This study employed eye-tracking technology to examine how students with different levels of prior knowledge process text and data diagrams when reading a web-based scientific report. Students’ visual behaviors were tracked and recorded when they read a report demonstrating the relationship between the greenhouse effect and global climate change in 2 diagrams and 4 textual sections. Based on the pretest scores, 13 participants were categorized into high and low prior knowledge (PK) groups. Eye-tracking measures including the total reading time, total fixation duration, and total regression number on each area of interest of the 2 groups were compared. A heat map was further used to show the overall visual distribution of each group. In addition, the inter-scanning transitions between the textual and graphical information of the 2 groups were compared and further confirmed by the patterns of the scan paths. The results revealed that overall students spent more time reading the textual than the graphical information. The high PK students showed longer fixation durations and more regressions on the graphics than the low PK students. Meanwhile, the high PK students showed more inter-scanning transitions than the low PK students not only between the text and graphics but also between the 2 data diagrams. This suggests that the high PK students were more able to integrate text and graphic information and inspect scientific data which is essential for online inquiry learning. This study provides eye-tracking evidence to show that low PK students have difficulties integrating scientific diagrams with expository texts and inspecting scientific data diagrams that are commonly shown in websites. Suggestions are made for future studies and instructional design for online inquiry-based science learning.     

Shaping education policy research in an Asia-Pacific context

Globalization increasingly calls for comparing educational policies across countries. In this study, we assemble and analyze academic journal publications of the past decade in order to shape education policy research within an Asia-Pacific context. After examining Asia-Pacific research publication data from the Web of Science, we find a few stylized facts: (1) increasing research collaboration, (2) growing policy evaluation research, (3) swelling empirical research with quantitative methodology and (4) growing attention to higher education. Moreover, education stakeholders show exclusive interest on globalization, private tutoring, and language education policies within and across countries. Finally, we find a significant difference in research impact and diffusion between Asia-Pacific and American education policy studies. Further, we examine what determines research impact and diffusion. Our results indicate that research collaboration, national context, publication year and issue, policy area, and research methodology are significantly associated with publication citations. Based on the findings, we suggest useful implications for future directions on education policy research in an Asia-Pacific context.     

The influence of unsupervised time on elementary school children at high risk for inattention and problem behaviors

In the last few decades, changing socioeconomic and family structures have increasingly left children alone without adult supervision. Carefully prepared and limited periods of unsupervised time are not harmful for children. However, long unsupervised periods have harmful effects, particularly for those children at high risk for inattention and problem behaviors. In this study, we examined the influence of unsupervised time on behavior problems by studying a sample of elementary school children at high risk for inattention and problem behaviors. The study analyzed data from the Children's Mental Health Promotion Project, which was conducted in collaboration with education, government, and mental health professionals. The child behavior checklist (CBCL) was administered to assess problem behaviors among first- and fourth-grade children. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to evaluate the influence of unsupervised time on children's behavior. A total of 3,270 elementary school children (1,340 first-graders and 1,930 fourth-graders) were available for this study; 1,876 of the 3,270 children (57.4%) reportedly spent a significant amount of time unsupervised during the day. Unsupervised time that exceeded more than 2 h per day increased the risk of delinquency, aggressive behaviors, and somatic complaints, as well as externalizing and internalizing problems. Carefully planned afterschool programming and care should be provided to children at high risk for inattention and problem behaviors. Also, a more comprehensive approach is needed to identify the possible mechanisms by which unsupervised time aggravates behavior problems in children predisposed for these behaviors.     

Preschool predictors of dyslexia status in Chinese first graders with high or low familial risk

The present 4-year longitudinal study examined preschool predictors of Grade 1 dyslexia status in a Chinese population in Hong Kong where children started learning to read at the age of three. Seventy-five and 39 Chinese children with high and low familial risk respectively were tested on Chinese word reading, oral language skills, morphological awareness, phonological skills, rapid naming, and print-related skills from age 4 to 6 and a standardized dyslexia test at age 7. Results showed that children of the high risk group performed significantly worse than the low risk group in Chinese literacy, phonological awareness, and orthographic skills at age 7. All the children with dyslexia had word reading difficulties in at least one preschool year. Results of the logistic regression showed that preschool verbal production, syllable deletion, and letter naming were the best predictors of dyslexia outcome at age 7. As in alphabetic languages, preschool oral language skills like verbal production, phonological skills, and print-related skills are the most significant predictors of children’s later reading difficulties.     

The Role of Perceptions of Media Bias in General and Issue-Specific Political Participation

Despite a large body of literature documenting factors influencing general political participation, research has lagged in understanding what motivates participation regarding specific issues. Our research fills this gap by examining the interplay of perceptions of media bias, trust in government, and political efficacy on individuals' levels of general and issue-specific political participation. Using survey data with indicators related to general political participation, our results demonstrate that perceptions of media bias overall are negatively related to general political participation. Moreover, this relationship is an indirect one, mediated by trust in government and political efficacy. Using survey data with indicators of issue-specific political participation in the context of stem cell research, our results show that—contrary to the relationship found for general political participation—perceptions of media bias are directly and positively associated with issue-specific participation. Implications for political participation and media bias theories are discussed.     

The Knowledge Gap Hypothesis in Singapore: The Roles of Socioeconomic Status,Mass Media,and Interpersonal Discussion on Public Knowledge of the H1N1 Flu Pandemic

This study applies the knowledge gap hypothesis to examine the direct and interactive influence of socioeconomic status, mass media, and interpersonal discussion on public knowledge of the H1N1 flu pandemic in Singapore. Using a nationally representative random digit-dialing telephone survey of 1,055 adult Singaporeans, results show that attention to newspapers was not associated with a widened knowledge gap about the H1N1 pandemic between the high and low socioeconomic status individuals. Conversely, attention to television news and interpersonal discussion were associated with a narrowed knowledge disparity between the high and low socioeconomic status individuals. Findings suggest that the knowledge gap hypothesis was not supported in this study. Instead, results suggest that attention to television news and interpersonal discussions were associated with a reduced knowledge gap. Household income and risk perceptions were also found to be positively associated with public knowledge about the H1N1 flu pandemic. Both theoretical and practical implications were discussed.     

Independent research of China in Science Citation Index Expanded during 1980–2011

The study explores the characteristics of China's independent research articles published from 1980 to 2011, based on the database of Science Citation Index Expanded. The publication outputs of seven major industrialized countries including Canada, France, Japan, Germany, Italy, the UK, and the USA were compared with China. Annual production, field performance, research emphases and trends, top articles, as well as main institutional and individual contributors by its top cited articles were analyzed. Some newly developed indicators related to words in title, author keywords, KeyWords Plus, first author, corresponding author, and Y-index were employed to provide in-depth information on topic and author contributions. Results showed that China has been closing the gap with the USA with the greatest growth, and has stood the second since 2006. Most top cited articles were published in 2000s, made up approximately seven tenths of total articles. Pronounced activities were found in chemistry and physics related categories. The core categories included multidisciplinary chemistry, physical chemistry, multidisciplinary materials science, and applied physics. Moreover, China's performance of nanotechnology and science, especially carbon nanotubes, nanoparticles, nanowires, and nanostructures showed dramatic growth. Six top articles with at least 1000 citations were examined, and were observed to concern medicine, nanotube, and adsorption. In addition, main contributing institutions and authors were also revealed and evaluated. Chinese Academy of Sciences played a dominant role, and Tsinghua University, Peking University and five universities in Hong Kong showed good scientific performance.     

On Generalization and Variation Theory

The variation theory developed by Marton has quickly become popular as a framework for providing guidance for making learning possible. However, the epistemological assumption behind the theory is often accepted without critical scrutiny. This paper poses an apparent problem of the possible occurrence of learning in the situation of generalization, where one aspect is kept invariant, while other aspects vary. Eventually some of the learners can learn the invariant aspect. However, variation theory entails that the experience of variation in an aspect is necessary for learners to discern that aspect. How then is it possible for the learners in a situation of generalization to fully discern the invariant aspect? Through scrutinizing the epistemological assumption, I hope to foster discussion toward further improvement of the theory.     

Westernization and social transformations in Chinese music education, 1895-1949

Editor's note: ’Dear Mum and Dad’ is rather different from the kind of academic article that the Journal usually publishes, in that it is an autobiographical account of one person's educational experiences. The paper tells the story of a young woman's three years as a student at Nottingham University through her letters to her parents written between 1952 and 1955. Memory and reflection engage with this contemporary source to produce both a vivid and humorous reconstruction of student life in the 1950s, and the identification of a set of serious issues concerning gender and higher education. Young middle‐class women at university were involved in learning financial independence, developing communal life in their halls of residence, investigating relationships with male students individually and collectively, and making subject and career choices. This subjective account reminds us that the parameters of the feminine norm were not cultural fixtures of the higher education institutions of the 1950s, to be passed on with the degree certificate. They were explored, contested and renegotiated by the women students themselves.     

The impact of peer competition and collaboration on gamified learning performance in educational settings: a Meta-analytical study

Education and Information Technologies - This study is a meta-analytical study that examines the effectiveness of gamification in learning performance in educational settings (n = 29;...