Race and Gender Differences in Children's Socialization into Sport

Abstract

In order to determine whether race and gender differences occurred in children's socialization into sport, a fixed alternative questionnaire was administered to 193 males (46 black and 147 white) and 222 females (69 black and 153 white) between the ages of 9 and 12 years. Results from several discriminant function analyses indicated that white children are more influenced by specific agents of socialization while black children are more influenced by situational or contextual variables, such as opportunity set and values toward sport. Gender differences appear to be a function of same-sex agents of socialization. However, those agents which most influence white children are not those that most influence black children.     

The nonobvious basis of ownership: preschool children trace the history and value of owned objects

For adults, ownership is nonobvious: (a) determining ownership depends more on an object’s history than on perceptual cues, and (b) ownership confers special value on an object (“endowment effect”). This study examined these concepts in preschoolers (2.0–4.4) and adults (n = 112). Participants saw toy sets in which 1 toy was designated as the participant’s and 1 as the researcher’s. Toys were then scrambled and participants were asked to identify their toy and the researcher’s toy. By 3 years of age, participants used object history to determine ownership and identified even undesirable toys as their own. Furthermore, participants at all ages showed an endowment effect (greater liking of items designated as their own). Thus, even 2‐year‐olds appreciate the nonobvious basis of ownership.     

Understanding academic performance of international students: the role of ethnicity,academic and social integration

More than 3 million students study outside their home country, primarily at a Western university. A common belief among educators is that international students are insufficiently adjusted to higher education in their host country, both academically and socially. Furthermore, several groups of international students experience considerable amounts of stress while adapting to the culture of the host-institute. Several researchers argue that studies on adaptation of international students should widen its focus to the underlying mechanisms that leads towards this “misalignment”. In a cross-institutional comparison among 958 students at five business schools in the Netherlands, differences in academic performance between local and international students were identified by focussing on their levels of academic and social integration. Students’ academic integration was measured with the Students’ Adaptation to College Questionnaire (SACQ), while students’ social integration was measured with a newly developed and validated questionnaire. The results indicate that the degree of academic success of international students is multi-faceted. International students with a (mixed) western ethnic background perform well on both academic and social integration, and also attained higher study-performance in comparison to domestic students. In contrast, international students with a non-Western background are less integrated compared to other international students. Nevertheless, they have a similar study-performance. Finally, academic adjustment is the main predictor of study-performance for Dutch, Western and Mixed-Western students. Social adjustment was negatively related to study-performance. The lack of fit for predicting long-term study success of non-Western students indicates that their academic and social integration processes are more complex and non-linear.     

Learning and motivation in multiple contexts: the development of a heuristic framework

This paper presents the development of a heuristic framework that integrates three aspects of context (perspective, content and level) from a number of established theoretical approaches. In this framework, context is viewed from different perspectives (subjective and objective), it comprises different contents (physical, social and formal) and it is conceptualised as being multi-level (micro-, meso-, exo- and macrolevel). The resulting graphical representation has 24 individual elements. Examples of empirical studies are used to illustrate how the different elements in the framework may be operationalised to examine learning and motivation. A number of studies by the authors and other researchers are provided that exemplify different combinations of the perspectives, contents and levels of context. The empirical research used reflects a variety of quantitative and qualitative methods including questionnaires, interviews and graphical representations. Examples are drawn not only from academic learning settings but also from domains such as sport and music. Unifying diverse perspectives and incorporating research from multiple settings can deepen our understanding of learning and motivation. The heuristic framework represents a useful way of organising multiple aspects of context. It enables researchers to locate current studies and to generate further empirical work. Conceptual and methodological issues associated with operationalising the framework are briefly discussed, and the complexity of representing multiple, dynamic contexts is highlighted, with some directions for future research noted.     

“It makes more sense to educate a boy”: Girls ‘against the odds’ in Kajiado, Kenya

Within a conceptual framework of Sen's capability approach, the paper explores aspects of girls’ retention in Kajiado schools, Kenya. Drawing on a qualitative study involving in-depth interviews with 24 girls in four schools, the paper discusses the ‘unfreedoms’ the girls experience in relation to environmental, infrastructural and economic constraints, as well as the personal unfreedoms they experience in relation to their gender. The study found that despite these constraints, girls’ retention was linked to their zeal for education and to the part played by key people, supporting and encouraging them and sometimes acting as catalysts for change.     

Evaluation of a BSW Research Experience: Improving Student Research Competency

This article examines the experience of 24 BSW students in a faculty-mentored undergraduate research experience (URE) over the course of 1 academic year. In particular, we sought to better understand students’ self-perceived sense of competency across 15 specific research skills. In addition, we examined the URE’s impact on students’ knowledge about and attitudes toward research, as well as anxiety levels about research. A cross-sectional pre- and posttest design utilized both quantitative (survey) and qualitative (focus group) methodologies. All of the students’ ratings of their 15 research skills improved over time; 3 were statistically significant. Students demonstrated the most gain in evidence-based practice, ability to use statistical software, and data entry and analysis. Both knowledge about and attitude toward research improved significantly. Anxiety levels were surprisingly low. The importance of faculty mentoring is discussed, and suggestions for future research are provided.     

Administrators' Roles in Helping Teachers Use Formative Assessment Information

Research on formative classroom assessment practices and professional development is richer at the classroom/teacher level than at the building/administrator level. Yet administrator leadership is known to be critical for school reforms, including a change to more formative, learning-oriented assessment practices. The researchers conducted an exploratory study using two years of data from a large, rural school district to describe administrators' learning as they participated in a professional development project designed to increase their knowledge and leadership of formative assessment. Teachers skilled at formative assessment, in the view of their administrators, shared learning targets with students in multiple ways and before, during, and after the lesson. The leadership of administrators was critical to the implementation of formative classroom assessment in their buildings. Administrators who became the leading learner focused their observations in classrooms more intently than before on what the students (not just the teachers) were doing. They understood formative assessment themselves, and their schools were the ones that made progress implementing formative assessment.     

An Expanded Taxonomy of Sorting Algorithms

I present an expanded taxonomy of sorting algorithms that is based upon Merritt's inverted taxonomy [1] and Lau's logic‐based derivations [2, 3]. The inverted taxonomy was based on a higher level, more abstract, and conceptually simple top‐down approach to sorting than the traditional taxonomy such as that given by Knuth [4], Work done in automatic program synthesis suggested the approach. Sorts were divided into two categories, hardsplit/easyjoin and easysplit/hardjoin, of which quicksort and mergesort are the canonical examples, respectively. Lau's [2, 3] logic‐based derivations strengthen the inverted taxonomy by deriving comparison‐based sorting algorithms that fall into the two categories of hardsplit/easyjoin and easysplit/hardjoin. Moreover, they expand the taxonomy by deriving distributive algorithms in a symmetric way.