Racial Perceptions of Young Children: A Review of Literature Post-1999

It has been argued that intervention strategies designed to reduce racial prejudice in young children have been based on weak theoretical models of racial stereotyping and prejudice with little effect on the reduction of racial bias. This paper examines the social-cognitive and intergroup scholarship post-Bigler (J Soc Issues 55(4), 687–705, 1999), with an emphasis on the development of racial prejudice in young children. The purpose of this paper is not to argue for a particular theoretical approach, but to provide an overview of some of the important pieces of research. Findings indicate that social learning and cognitive development models need to be understood when implementing curriculum designed to reduce racist beliefs and attitudes in young children.     

Filipino parents’ school choice and loyalty: a factor analysis

This quantitative study aims to ascertain the significant relationship existing between parents’ profile, and their school choice and school loyalty. Data were gathered using the researcher’s two-part made instrument. Respondents were first asked to fill in a robotfoto for purpose of profiling their baseline characteristics and were later asked to rate listed indicators, using a modified 8-point Likert scale. Using statistical tools such as the ANOVA, factor analysis, correlation, mean, and standard deviation, data were treated indepth. It is interesting to note that although parents are loyal to their alma mater, this does not have a much impact on their choice of school for their children. On the whole, parents’ choice of school is based on its indispensable qualities. Among the three interval-scale profiles of the parent respondents such as age, income, tuition fee payment and number of children, none of these relate to school choice, but age, income, and tuition fee payment negatively relate to school loyalty. From their nominal-scale profiles, significant differences were noted in their school choice when grouped according to civil status, place of work, and terms of payment. With respect to school loyalty, significant differences occurred in their responses when classified according to gender, terms of payment and their active participation in the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA).     

Australian higher education third party arrangements: an independent institute case study

Tertiary Education and Management - The marked increase in transnational higher education third party arrangements in recent years represents globalizing forms of education. Third party...     

Innovating in the real world: exploring institutional effects on tertiary teacher innovations in New Zealand

Abstract

Innovation is a key goal of many tertiary education and distance learning providers. This research explores how teachers and educational designers across three New Zealand tertiary institutions worked to innovatively achieve teaching goals. A longitudinal design using the Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) framework explored the influence of individual and institutional factors on innovation in online course design. Data included interviews, observations of practice, and publicly available institutional documents, which were coded using a grounded theory approach. Peer relationships and institutional technologies were significant in enabling staff to work innovatively. Constraining factors included high workload, research pressures, lack of time to experiment, and limited technological support. Contradictions between institutional policies and teachers’ goals in innovating were noted. This research has relevance to those working in a variety of educational settings due to the increasing influence of institutional and government policy on teaching practice.     

Pupillary and Attentional Responses to Infant Facial Expressions in Mothers Across Socioeconomic Variations

Maternal responses to infant facial expressions were examined in two socioeconomically diverse samples of South African mothers (Study I, N = 111; and Study II, N = 214; age: 17–44 years) using pupil and gaze tracking. Study I showed increased pupil response to infant distress expressions in groups recruited from private as compared to public maternity clinics, possibly reflecting underlying differences in socioeconomic status (SES) across the groups. Study II, sampling uniformly low-SES neighborhoods, found increased pupil dilation and faster orientation to expressions of infant distress, but only in the highest income group. These results are consistent with maternal physiological and attentional sensitivity to infant distress cues but challenge the universality of this sensitivity across socioeconomic diversity.     

The related effects of item characteristics in measures of epistemological beliefs

Personal epistemology is concerned with people’s beliefs or assumptions about the nature of knowledge and knowing. Whilst contributions in this field can be traced back to the 1970s, fundamental questions about the ontology and epistemology of the construct still remain. The current study explored the effects of three characteristics of questions aimed at eliciting epistemological assumptions on our interpretations of an individual’s assumptions, namely the level of directness with which questions targeted assumptions, the domainspecificity of the question, and whether the questions were open or closed-ended. A paper-and-pencil measure was designed to manipulate these variables, and the interpretations made about the assumptions of 35 postgraduate Psychology students were compared. The results suggested that the characteristics do exert an influence and caution is raised regarding the validity of methodologies that are used in the study of personal epistemology.     

Job satisfaction,school rule enforcement,and teacher victimization

Job satisfaction is an essential component of teacher motivation, performance, and retention. Teacher job satisfaction is primarily affected by workplace conditions. This paper analyzes data from over 37,000 public school teachers from the 2011–2012 Schools and Staffing Survey. Hierarchical ordinal logistic regression was utilized to analyze effects of school rule enforcement and teacher victimization on job satisfaction. Findings indicated that teachers who perceived higher enforcement of school rules had higher job satisfaction. In particular, consistent enforcement of rules by school administrators had a significantly greater effect on satisfaction than collegial enforcement of rules. Findings also indicated that teacher victimization has a significantly negative effect on job satisfaction. Consistent enforcement of school rules may reduce instances of student misbehavior and teacher victimization, helping reduce teacher stress and anxiety, leading to greater job satisfaction. Implications for policy and practice are explored, examining what administrators can do to protect teachers and improve satisfaction.     

Leisure Attitudes of Varsity Athletes vs. NonVarsity Athletes

Abstract

Students (N = 104) enrolled in four low fitness, one middle fitness, and one high fitness class in basic physical education classes at the University of Connecticut participated in a 4-week program of isometric exercises done with an adjustable nylon belt which was stabilized against various body segments. Low, middle, and high fitness classes were compared in the amount of improvement made in the 5 items in which significant gains had been made. The MWF classes which did 30 min. of isometric exercises for 12 class meetings were compared to the TTh classes which met for 8 class meetings and which did the same isometric exercise program and in addition did stretching exercises and ran a mile.

When all groups were treated together, mean gains of 1.1 in. in the vertical jump, .74 sec. in the agility run, .17 sec. in the 30-yd. dash, 151.9 lb. in the leg lift, and 57.0 lb. in the back lift were made. These were all significant at the 0.005 to the 0.0005 level. Small but significant gains were made in right and left grip, the Fait endurance hang, and the 380-yd. run. The low fitness classes made greater improvements in the leg lift, the vertical jump, and the agility run than did the middle or high fitness groups. The high fitness class made greater improvements in the back lift and in the 30-yd. dash than did the low or middle fitness classes. The classes which did only isometric exercises for a half-hour three times each week for 4½ weeks made greater mean gains in the vertical jump, the agility run, the 30-yd. dash and the back lift than did the classes which met for 60-min. periods twice each week for 4½ weeks and did stretching exercises and running in addition to the isometric exercises. However, the latter made greater gains in the leg lift.     

Supporting the Development of Emotional Intelligence Competencies to Ease the Transition from Primary to High School

This study aims to explore (1) whether pupils with high emotional intelligence (EI) cope better with the transition to high school; and (2) whether the introduction of an intervention programme to support the development of EI competencies can increase EI and self‐worth, and so ease the negative effects of transition. Results suggest that pupils with high/average levels of EI cope better with transition in terms of grade point average, self‐worth, school attendance and behaviour than pupils with low EI. In addition, pupils with low baseline EI scores responded positively to the intervention programme, although a negative change was noted in pupils with high baseline emotional intelligence. Results are considered in terms of implications for educational practice.     

Google Book Search and Metadata

This article summarizes published documents on metadata provided by Google for books scanned as part of the Google Book Search (GBS) project and provides suggestions for improvement. The faulty, misleading, and confusing metadata in current Google records can pose potentially serious problems for users of GBS. Google admits that it took data, which proved to be inaccurate, from many sources and is attempting to correct errors. Some argue that metadata is not needed with keyword searching; but optical character recognition (OCR) errors, synonym control, and materials in foreign languages make reliable metadata a requirement for academic researchers. The authors recommend that users should be able to submit error reports to Google to correct faulty metadata.