From Learning Beliefs to Achievement Among Chinese Immigrant and European American Preschool Children

Little research exists on how immigrant children develop their beliefs about school learning (BASLs) in their home and host cultures. We examined the BASLs and achievement children of Chinese immigrants’ (CCI) and European American (EA) children. We followed longitudinally 120 middle-class children from age 4 to 5, balanced for gender. Children heard two story beginnings depicting a child eager to attend school and another not. Children completed the stories and were tested for math and literacy achievement. We found seven BASLs. CCIs and EAs showed similar BASLs. Awareness of parental involvement and intellectual benefit consistently explained their achievement, with CCIs showing greater achievement. CCIs’ (but not EAs’) valuation of learning explained their net academic growth. Implications on CCIs’ development are discussed.     

A Simulation Based on Goldratt's Matchstick/Die Game

This teaching brief presents a Microsoft^® Excel simulation designed to complement and expand upon the well‐known matchstick/die game introduced by Goldratt in The Goal. This simulation performs 100 replications of a 40‐period processing run for low, medium, and high levels of process variation and displays the comparative results graphically. A single keystroke repeats the process and updates the displays so that the stability of the essential conclusions in the face variation is illustrated dynamically. Suggestions for using the simulation in class are included.     

Profiling learners’ achievement goals when completing academic essays

This study explored adult learners’ goal profiles in relation to the completion of a compulsory academic essay. Based on learners’ scores on items assessing mastery, performance‐approach, and work‐avoidance goals, cluster analyses produced three distinct categories of learners: performance‐focused, work‐avoidant, and multiple‐goal learners. These three groups of learners differed in terms of perceptions about the academic essay, self‐belief in completing it, use of strategies, responses to marker feedback, and, most importantly, level of achievement. The results attest to the importance of endorsing multiple goals for completing compulsory academic essays at the tertiary level.     

Distance learners’ multiple goals,learning and achievement in different learning situations

Can mastery and performance-approach goals predict distance learners’ learning and achievement in different learning situations over an academic year? Using a prospective longitudinal design, the current study examined this research question using a cohort of distance learners in Hong Kong. Two hundred and seventy-two distance learners completed three survey questionnaires at the beginning, in the middle and towards the end of an academic year. Regression analyses found that distance learners’ mastery and performance-approach goals at the beginning of the academic year predicted learning interest and the use of regulatory strategies in subsequent surveyed points after controlling for the effects of the age factor and self-efficacy levels.     

Beyond Rational Autonomy: Levinas and the Incomparable Worth of the Student as Singular Other

This article explores the question: Why are students of worth? Educationally, an answer often involves a Kantian response: They are of worth because they are always ends and never means. This response is usually connected to a notion of autonomy interpreted as individual, rational self-determination. The article argues for a different answer. The essay begins with a recent educational example of construing worth as rational autonomy. Meira Levinson, in her book The Demands of Liberal Education (1999), argues for a version of rational autonomy which is taken in the essay as a Kantian response to the question. The essay then turns to Kant’s own understanding of intrinsic human worth as ends. Although the essay agrees in general with the notion of end, it criticizes Kant’s version of rational autonomy. Instead, it argues for a notion of worth as irreplaceable singularity. Both the critique of the Kantian answer and theessay’salternative are shaped by the philosophy of Emmanuel Levinas. Here technical notions of “the other,” proximity and singularity are brought to bear on the question of human worth. The Levinasian alternative, so the essay argues, better answers the question of student worth by highlighting the incomparability of the student as a singular other.     

Undergraduate students' experiences of using information at the career fair: A phenomenographic study conducted by the libraries and career center

Information literacy is vital to students seeking employment following their undergraduate education. Yet little is known about how students approach using information as part of their career search. This phenomenographic study examined how students experience using information as part of a career fair, or on-campus job expo. Researchers interviewed undergraduate students after a major campus career fair. The findings suggest that students may experience using information in a career fair context as: 1) navigators completing a series of steps, 2) performers seeking to connect with the right person, or 3) aligners determining if a company is a match for them.     

A comparison of four methods of teaching psychomotor activities to elementary school children from varying socioeconomic levels

Conclusions The results of this investigation showed that significant differences did exist at the 01 level among instructional treatments. A comparison of mean performance scores across groups (rows) and tasks (columns) showed that instructional treatments ranked as follows: 1) self-instruction, 2) lecturedemonstration (classroom), 3) lecture-demonstration (television), and 4) minimal-instruction. The socioeconomic background of subjects did not influence instructional treatment. Subjects from all three socioeconomic levels learned best from self-instruction. Under the conditions of this study, time was not a significant factor or causal effect in differences that resulted among instructional treatments. Self-instruction was found to be the most effective method of teaching subjects from different socioeconomic levels to perform manipulatory tasks. This study substantiates the findings of an early experiment conducted by Calder (1966) with college students.