Factors and conditions promoting academic resilience: a TIMSS-based analysis of five Asian education systems

It is well documented that academic achievement of students from families of low socioeconomic status (SES) tends to be below their more socially advantaged peers. Several studies have identified factors and conditions that facilitate academic success for disadvantaged students (i.e., promote academic resilience). However, one of the main criticisms of this body of research is in the set of variables that explain academic success for low-SES students and which is not very different from the variables that would explain academic success for all students. The objectives of this article are dual: firstly, to identify factors and conditions associated with academic success, regardless of student SES, and secondly, to identify factors and conditions associated with academic resilience, that is, exclusively for low-SES students. To this end, we used data from Singapore, South Korea, Hong Kong, Chinese Taipei, and Japan in the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2011. The study sample covered 23,354 students in 720 schools in the five countries. The strategy for analysis was driven by fit of logistic regression models, first predicting the probability of academic success and then subsequent identification of variables significant as predictors for success within the pool of low-SES students. Results indicated that variables, such as positive student attitude to mathematics, teacher confidence in student performance and the test language being spoken at home, were associated with greater chances of academic success. High academic expectations and time spent on mathematics at home demonstrated a differential effect between disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged students in Singapore. In Korea, being male (gender) and in Taipei, low levels of bullying at school, increased the likelihood of resilience. Results suggested that interventions impacting behavior reflected in differentially associated variables could help disadvantaged students to become academically resilient.     

Reading disability and chromosome 6p21.3: evaluation of MOG as a candidate gene

Linkage analysis has localized a gene influencing specific reading disability (dyslexia) to 6p21.3. The myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG) gene, which maps to this region, was selected as a candidate. Myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein is a membrane protein, a member of the immunoglobin superfamily, that is found on the outermost lamellae of mature myelin. Although the exact function of this protein is unknown, its presence in the central nervous system and the hypothesized relationship between dyslexia and temporal processing rate as well as a suggested relationship with intelligence made this gene a candidate for dyslexia. Analysis of the coding exons and adjacent splice sites in a subset of 22 children with dyslexia from 10 sibships found a missense mutation in exon 4 in 2 of the sibships. This change from the published sequence also occurred in 86 of 96 random controls, making it considerably less frequent in this small sample of individuals with dyslexia. Subsequent typing of this single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in 74 nuclear families in which at least one child had reading disability showed no significant difference in frequency from the controls, however. Sib-pair linkage analysis with these families did not show significant linkage with the SNP nor with a separate polymorphic dinucleotide repeat marker in the MOG gene (MOG31/32), but association analysis identified two alleles of MOG31/32 that were associated with reading disability phenotypes with a low level of significance. Thus, although alleles in the MOG gene may be in linkage disequilibrium with a locus that contributes to reading disability, it is unlikely that the MOG gene itself is involved.     

HIGHER EDUCATION IN CZECHOSLOVAKIA: SOME PROBLEMS OF THE TRANSITION PERIOD

The political revolution of November 1989 in Czechoslovakia brought with it a call for systemic changes in higher education, changes which were mandated by the Higher Education Law of May 1990. The Law has given institutions of higher education major academic rights and liberties and has also provided for participative management. The possibility of diversifying study and financial resources as well has also been unveiled. Nevertheless, these positive developments have given rise to problems. Both individual institutions and the system of higher education itself must become more democratic following forty years of oppressive state policies. At the same time, they are also having to face a somewhat restrictive financial situation. Willingly or not, they have to take greater initiatives towards the needs of the economy so that additional resources may be generated. In this ‘context, the new organization and the new institutions of higher education in Czechoslovakia are discussed and recommendations are made for the further development of higher education.

     

Why Do Cocks Crow? Children’s Concepts About Birds

Research into children’s ideas showed that children’s interpretations of natural phenomena often differ from those of scientists. The aim of our study was to identify children’s ideas of various age classes (7/8–14/15) about birds. A questionnaire with 31 multiple choice and open ended questions and eight photographs were administered to 495 children from 10 elementary schools in Slovakia. Children’s ideas were examined in six dimensions (bird classification, food, senses, communication, migration and breeding including parental care). We found several misconceptions, some of them with both anthropomorphical and teleological reasoning of the children about birds within each dimension. In general, misconceptions were more frequently found in younger children, but several misconceptions were similarly distributed across all age classes.     

The effect of co-designing on educational transfer between cultures

This paper describes the process of co-designing used in a project undertaken by the Instituto Tecnologico de Monterrey (ITESM), the agency for development of Mexico (NAFIN), and the consulting authors to jointly produce a business development program for medium and small companies in Mexico. The first element of the program was a total quality training program, and the second was the design and development of facilitators/consultants' training for the instruction and dissemination of the quality program. This paper examines the project from the perspective of the role that values, and more specifically value conflicts, play in transfer effectiveness between nations. It proposes that transfer without significant modification and interpretation to fit local world views and practices is generally dysfunctional, and offers co-designing as a viable strategy to obviate traditional conflicts. The authors gratefully acknowledge the helpful comments made by Robert Baker, University of Southern California, on an earlier draft of this article.     

Design of educational web pages

The methodological characteristics of teaching in primary and secondary education make it necessary to revise the pedagogical and instructive lines with which to introduce the new Information and Communication Technologies into the school context. The construction of web pages that can be used to improve student learning is, therefore, fundamental for teachers. Their creation must be proposed, above all, from the basis of the constructivist paradigm of learning as opposed to the current behaviourist designs. General lines are established which must be convenient for the construction of web pages for these educational levels.

Les caractéristiques méthodologiques de l'enseignement à l'éducation primaire et secondaire obligent à réviser les lignes pédagogiques et instructives avec lesquelles introduire les nouvelles Technologies de l'Information et la Communication à les contextes scolaires. La construction de pages Web qui peuvent être utilisées pour améliorer l'apprentissage des élèves est, par conséquent, fondamentale pour les professeurs. Leur création doit être proposée, au‐dessus de tout, à partir de la base du paradigme constructiviste de l'apprentissage par opposition aux dessins béhavioristes courants. On établit des lignes générales qui peuvent être adéquats pour la construction de pages Web à ces niveaux pédagogiques.

Las características metodológicas de la enseñanza en educación primaria y secundaria hacen que sea necesario replantear las líneas pedagógicas e instructivas con las que introducir las nuevas Tecnologías de Información y la Comunicación en los contextos escolares. En este sentido resulta fundamental para el docente la construcción de páginas Web que puedan ser utilizadas para mejorar el aprendizaje de los alumnos. Particularmente se debe proponer su creación, ante todo, desde las bases del paradigma constructivista del aprendizaje, frente a los diseños conductistas actuales. Se establecen en esta investigación las líneas generales que deben ser convenientes para la construcción de páginas Web para estos niveles educativos.

Die methodologischen Merkmale, in Primärer und Sekundärer Ausbildung zu unterrichten, machen es notwendig, die pädagogischen und instruktiven Linien zu revidieren, mit dem die neuen Informations—und Kommunikationstechnologien in den Schulkontext einzuführen. Die Kreation von Webseiten, die benutzt werden können, um den Schülern das Lernen zu erleichtern, ist deshalb wesentlich für Lehrer. Ihre Schaffung muß vor allem von der Basis des constructivist‐Paradigmas des Lernens im Gegensatz zu den aktuellen behaviourist‐Designs vorgeschlagen werden. In dieser Untersuchung werden allgemeine Linien begründet, die für die Konstruktion der Webseiten für diese pädagogischen Niveaus günstig sein müssen.     

“Greater Than the Sum of the Parts?” Examining the Soundness of Collaborative Exams in Teacher Education Courses

Promoting collaboration skills and dispositions is widely encouraged currently in the field of teacher preparation. However, very few university classrooms incorporate collaboration into their assessment practices. One factor may be the perceived potential lack of soundness of such methodologies. This study is a qualitative examination of the soundness of collaborative essay exams conducted at 2 large teacher-credentialing institutions. The construct of soundness was defined within a four-dimensional framework consisting of validity, reliability, efficiency, and effect on the learner. The results of the study suggest that the collaborative assessment conditions compared favorably on all 4 dimensions of soundness. Participants felt that the collaborative exams were essentially as fair and more valid than individual exams inasmuch as they provided a context that was more closely aligned with actual effective teaching practice. Moreover, participants reporting being more motivated to study, thinking more critically and learning more in the process.     

The introduction of text conventions and its impact on teaching literacy

The introduction of text conventions, such as word separation, the separation of letter and background and the lower‐case letter are appraised with respect to their contribution to literacy instruction. The change in the visual appearance of the graphic word over time led to the assignment of secondary status to spelling and low appreciation of the role of phonology, due to the disappearance of audible speech in skilled reading. Since the two major literacy programmes, whole language and phonics, are based on two different stages of reading, both programmes complement each other. Whole language represents the skilled stage of reading, given its reliance on the graphic word, whereas phonics represents the unskilled stage, owing to its emphasis on the intermediatory role of phonological processing in word recognition. Neither literacy programme offers instruction in the integration of letters in a verbally recoded form with the explicit goal of the creation of word gestalts in the course of literacy acquisition.