‘Swallow your pride and fear’: the educational strategies of high-achieving non-traditional university students

Abstract

With more graduates, degree outcomes have a renewed significance for high-achieving students to stand out in a graduate crowd. In the United Kingdom, over a quarter of undergraduates now leave university with the highest grade – a ‘first-class’ degree – although students from non-traditional and underprivileged backgrounds are the least likely. This article explores the experiences of high-achieving non-traditional (HANT) university students. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 30 final-year students who are on course to achieve a first-class degree from working-class, minority ethnic and/or mature backgrounds, we examine their pathways to academic success through identity works and negotiations. We argue that early successes are crucial for students to re-evaluate their self-expectations as students who can achieve in higher education, while self-esteem, pride or fear can prevent students from maximising their available resources and opportunities. Implications for practice and policy are discussed, including the reflective advice from HANT students towards academic success.     

The impact of family obligation on the daily activities and psychological well-being of Chinese American adolescents

A daily diary method was employed to examine the extent to which Chinese adolescents in the United States assist and spend time with their families, and the implications of such behaviors for their involvement in other activities and psychological well-being. Adolescents (N = 140) completed checklists in which they reported their activities and psychological well-being every day for a period of 2 weeks. Adolescents showed a greater propensity to balance family obligations with their academic demands than with their social life with peers on a daily basis. Girls experienced slightly more daily conflict between activities than boys. Neither the extent of involvement in family obligations nor the balancing of family obligations with other activities were associated with psychological distress among adolescents. These findings demonstrate the complex manner in which adolescents from immigrant families attempt to combine their cultural traditions with selected aspects of American society on a daily basis. In contrast to the expectations of some observers, the youths in this study appeared to accomplish such an integration with little cost to their psychological well-being.     

Understanding the Transfer Deficit: Contextual Mismatch,Proactive Interference,and Working Memory Affect Toddlers’ Video‐Based Transfer

Researchers tested the impact of contextual mismatch, proactive interference, and working memory (WM) on toddlers’ transfer across contexts. Forty‐two toddlers (27–34 months) completed four object‐retrieval trials, requiring memory updating on Trials 2–4. Participants watched hiding events on a tablet computer. Search performance was tested using another tablet (match) or a felt board (mismatch). WM was assessed. On earlier search trials, WM predicted transfer in both conditions, and toddlers in the match condition outperformed those in the mismatch condition; however, the benefit of contextual match and WM decreased over trials. Contextual match apparently increased proactive interference on later trials. Findings are interpreted within existing accounts of the transfer deficit, and a combined account is proposed.     

Destroy Your Classroom! Re-conceptualizing the Instructor/Student Model in Academic Libraries

ASBTRACT

Pedagogies and technologies evolve, yet academic library learning spaces are unable to keep up with the change. Budgetary and space limitations, traditional teaching practices, and staid attitudes all contribute to tethered spaces hindering active learning. This is a documentation of the authors’ urgent need to break free from tradition while providing students and faculty interactive equipment meeting pedagogical needs in an un-tethered, flexible learning space in three library and non-library spaces at the University of Florida's George A. Smathers Libraries Education and Architecture and Fine Arts Libraries.     

The Effect of Television Viewing on Adolescents' Civic Participation: Political Efficacy as a Mediating Mechanism

Pundits, parents, and scholars express concern about youth attention to late-night political comedy shows, such as The Daily Show, suggesting that such viewing is deleterious for an active, efficacious citizenry. Yet as civic participation declines among adults, it appears to be growing among adolescents. This study assessed the effects of television viewing on high school students' civic participation. Results demonstrate that viewing late-night TV and local TV news had a positive, significant effect on civic participation, and this relationship was mediated by political efficacy. Implications for the study of late-night TV and applications to research on political socialization are discussed.     

Dyadic Curve-of-Factors Model: An Introduction and Illustration of a Model for Longitudinal Nonexchangeable Dyadic Data

The analysis of longitudinal data collected from nonexchangeable dyads presents a challenge for applied researchers for various reasons. This article introduces the dyadic curve-of-factors model (D–COFM), which extends the curve-of-factors model (COFM) proposed by McArdle (1988) for use with nonexchangeable dyadic data. The D–COFM overcomes problems with modeling composite scores across time and instead permits examination of the growth in latent constructs over time. The D–COFM also appropriately models the interdependency among nonexchangeable dyads. Different parameterizations of the D–COFM are illustrated and discussed using a real data set to aid applied researchers when analyzing dyadic longitudinal data.     

Student-Produced Action Research in Early Childhood Teacher Education

This article describes how preservice teachers accomplish and write up action research projects as part of their teacher preparation at one university in the United States. The paper is divided into four major sections. In the first section, the instructor describes how teacher research is introduced to teacher education students and how they are guided through the processes of conceptualizing, doing, and writing up their projects. The next two sections are the stories of two 1st-year teachers who describe and reflect on what they learned from completing action research projects under the direction of the instructor. The concluding section offers generalizations that synthesize lessons learned by the authors.     

The Usefulness of a Science Degree: The “lost voices” of science trained professionals

This paper reports a study of science graduates who are employed in positions outside their discipline specialisation. The research was designed to uncover the reasons for them choosing to study science at university, the competencies they utilise in their work and their lives, and how these relate to their undergraduate education in science. The study is seen as important in that already about one‐half of science graduates are in such positions and it is argued that there is a need in scientific and technologically based societies to have a greater representation of such people in decision‐making positions in government and industry. The directions for the science degree that can be drawn from the data gathered are congruent with those arising from other relevant studies. That is, attention should be paid to widely used skills, such as communication and problem‐solving, and to developing an understanding of science within its social and ethical context. An argument is mounted for considering the way the science degree is presented to potential students and to the general public.     

The Effects of a Programed Textbook on Achievement Under Three Techniques of Instruction

The experiment examined the relationship among several variables affecting extra-dimensional (ED) shift performance. Children and adults were trained to one of three criteria and given one of two ED shifts. All tasks required S to choose one of two colored geometric forms projected on a screen. The results are: (a) older Ss made fewer errors in training and transfer than younger Ss; (b) overtraining did not facilitate the ED shift wherein stimuli remained the same from training to transfer for the adults, but it did for the 7- and 8-year-old children; (c) overtraining inhibited the performance of the 5- and 6-year-old Ss given this ED shift; (d) overtraining neither facilitated nor inhibited the ED shift wherein stimuli changed from training to transfer. An interpretation was given in terms of verbal labeling, discrimination of change, perservative errors, and task difficulty.