Parents' Involvement in Children's Schooling: A Multidimensional Conceptualization and Motivational Model

This study had 2 goals. The first was to examine a multidimensional conceptualization of parent involvement in children's schooling, defined as the allocation of resources to the child's school endeavors. A second goal was to evaluate a model in which children's motivational resources (i.e., perceived competence, control understanding, and self-regulation) are mediators between parent involvement and children's school performance. 300 11–14-year-old children and their teachers participated. Factor analyses of a set of parent involvement measures supported the hypothesized 3 dimensions of parent involvement: behavior, intellectual/cognitive, and personal. Path analyses revealed indirect effects of mother behavior and intellectual/cognitive involvement on school performance through perceived competence and control understanding, and indirect effects of father behavior on school performance through perceived competence. The results argue against a unidimensional understanding of parent involvement and support the view of the child as an active constructor of his or her school experience.     

Mobilising Mother Cabrini’s educational practice: the transnational context of the London school of the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus 1898–1911

A schoolteacher from Lombardy, Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini (1850–1917), founded the Institute of Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (MSC) in 1880. It was one of the 185 female religious institutes established in Italy in the nineteenth century. In the newly unified Italy, Cabrini found opportunities to formulate progressive Catholic educational practice, to establish an independent female congregation and to mobilise her educational practice to the United States to serve Italian migrants. She established a school in London in 1902. Cabrini’s letters and convent annals are used to trace the use of transnational networks in founding the school and to consider the impact of the transnational context on the school start-up. The concept of mobilising educational practice embraces both the geographical movement of people, goods and money and the formation of teaching sisters. By her death Cabrini had established 59 schools and orphanages in Europe and the Americas.     

Investigating Linguistic Sources of Differential Item Functioning Using Expert Think-Aloud Protocols in Science Achievement Tests

Even if national and international assessments are designed to be comparable, subsequent psychometric analyses often reveal differential item functioning (DIF). Central to achieving comparability is to examine the presence of DIF, and if DIF is found, to investigate its sources to ensure differentially functioning items that do not lead to bias. In this study, sources of DIF were examined using think-aloud protocols. The think-aloud protocols of expert reviewers were conducted for comparing the English and French versions of 40 items previously identified as DIF (N?=?20) and non-DIF (N?=?20). Three highly trained and experienced experts in verifying and accepting/rejecting multi-lingual versions of curriculum and testing materials for government purposes participated in this study. Although there is a considerable amount of agreement in the identification of differentially functioning items, experts do not consistently identify and distinguish DIF and non-DIF items. Our analyses of the think-aloud protocols identified particular linguistic, general pedagogical, content-related, and cognitive factors related to sources of DIF. Implications are provided for the process of arriving at the identification of DIF, prior to the actual administration of tests at national and international levels.     

THE IMAGERY OF RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

Communities of faith express in their worship the values and assumptions that shape their worldview. When those values and assumptions contradict or are in conflict with the values and assumptions of the surrounding culture, the act of worship can become an occasion for resistance against the hegemonic domination of that culture. Worship in the context of congregational life awakens peoples discontent, fosters skepticism toward prevailing assumptions, clarifies contradictions at the heart of the community's discontent, articulates ethical alternatives, and develops readiness for struggle and change. This research inquires into whether and how a congregation as a worshiping community functions as a community of resistance against the assumptions of modernity.     

Educar con y para la radio

El taller de radio puede llegar a ser una herramienta altamente significativa que genera conciencia sobre el lenguaje, la música y el propio medio, y la vez tecnológicamente accesible a la actividad escolar. En este artículo se expone un experiencia concreta llevada a cabo a Barcelona desde la Fundación «La Caixa».     

Antecedents of Maternal Sensitivity During Distressing Tasks: Integrating Attachment,Social Information Processing,and Psychobiological Perspectives

Predictors of maternal sensitivity to infant distress were examined among 259 primiparous mothers. The Adult Attachment Interview, self‐reports of personality and emotional functioning, and measures of physiological, emotional, and cognitive responses to videotapes of crying infants were administered prenatally. Maternal sensitivity was observed during three distress‐eliciting tasks when infants were 6 months old. Coherence of mind was directly associated with higher maternal sensitivity to distress. Mothers' heightened emotional risk was indirectly associated with lower sensitivity via mothers' self‐focused and negative processing of infant cry cues. Likewise, high physiological arousal accompanied by poor physiological regulation in response to infant crying was indirectly associated with lower maternal sensitivity to distress through mothers' self‐focused and negative processing of infant cry cues.     

An evaluation of an adaptive learning system based on multimodal affect recognition for learners with intellectual disabilities

Artificial intelligence tools for education (AIEd) have been used to automate the provision of learning support to mainstream learners. One of the most innovative approaches in this field is the use of data and machine learning for the detection of a student’s affective state, to move them out of negative states that inhibit learning, into positive states such as engagement. In spite of their obvious potential to provide the personalisation that would give extra support for learners with intellectual disabilities, little work on AIEd systems that utilise affect recognition currently addresses this group. Our system used multimodal sensor data and machine learning to first identify three affective states linked to learning (engagement, frustration, boredom) and second determine the presentation of learning content so that the learner is maintained in an optimal affective state and rate of learning is maximised. To evaluate this adaptive learning system, 67 participants aged between 6 and 18 years acting as their own control took part in a series of sessions using the system. Sessions alternated between using the system with both affect detection and learning achievement to drive the selection of learning content (intervention) and using learning achievement alone (control) to drive the selection of learning content. Lack of boredom was the state with the strongest link to achievement, with both frustration and engagement positively related to achievement. There was significantly more engagement and less boredom in intervention than control sessions, but no significant difference in achievement. These results suggest that engagement does increase when activities are tailored to the personal needs and emotional state of the learner and that the system was promoting affective states that in turn promote learning. However, longer exposure is necessary to determine the effect on learning.     

Positive Affectivity and Fear Trajectories in Infancy: Contributions of Mother–Child Interaction Factors

Fear and positive emotionality were considered in a growth modeling context. Mothers, primarily Caucasian (91.9%) and of middle socioeconomic status, participated in play interactions with infants at 4 months (N = 148). Infant fear and positive affectivity were evaluated at 6, 8, 10, and 12 months of age. A linear trajectory was superior in explaining growth for parent report and observation‐based indicators of positive affectivity and parent report of fearfulness; a piecewise model explained the nonlinear growth of observation‐based fear. Responsiveness in mother–infant interactions emerged as a significant predictor of the fear trajectory, with higher sensitivity predicting lower levels of observed fear. Reciprocity, tempo, emotional tone, and intensity of mother–infant interactions also made significant contributions to temperament development; however, analyses addressing these were exploratory.     

Does learning in clinical context in anatomical sciences improve examination results,learning motivation,or learning orientation?

The preclinical compulsory elective course “Ready for the Operating Room (OR)!?” [in German]: “Fit für den OP (FOP)”] was implemented for students in their second year, who were simultaneously enrolled in the gross anatomy course. The objective of the study was to determine whether the direct practical application of anatomical knowledge within the surgical context of the course led to any improvement in learning motivation, learning orientation, and ultimately examination results in the gross anatomy course, as compared with a control group. Within the scope of five teaching sessions, the students learned surgical hand disinfection, suturing techniques, and the identification of commonly used surgical instruments. In addition, the students attended five surgical demonstrations performed by surgical colleagues on cadavers. Successful learning of these basic skills was then assessed based on an Objectively Structured Practical Examination. Learning motivation and learning orientation in both subgroups was determined using the SELLMO‐ST motivation test and the Approaches and Study Skills Inventory test. While a significant increase in work avoidance was identified in the control group, this was not the case for FOP participants. Similarly, an increase in the “deep approach” to learning, as well as a decrease in the “surface approach,” was able to be documented among the FOP participants following completion of the course. The results suggest that students enrolled in the gross anatomy course, who were simultaneously provided with the opportunity to learn in clinical context, were more likely to be successful at maintaining learning motivation and learning orientation required for the learning process, than students who attended the gross anatomy course alone. Anat Sci Educ. 7: 3–11. © 2013 American Association of Anatomists.     

The quality of peer assessment in a wiki-based online context: a qualitative study

Peer assessment (PA) provides opportunities for authentic assessment, autonomy and collaboration. Several authors advocate that students can benefit from PA and put forward the effects of PA on the students’ learning outcomes. Questions concerning the validity and reliability of PA and PA competences are also addressed by different researchers. This qualitative study is part of a wider project that seeks to develop and test evaluation and assessment strategies in online contexts. In a doctoral module, PA was used for summative and formative purposes. Formative PA aimed to give feedback about the ongoing group work, but also to increase online interaction between the different groups of students. The main module task was to write a literature review, about a selected topic, using a wiki. Criteria and indicators to assess the literature review were negotiated with the students. Different criteria were used to assess the quality of PA, such as, the use of the negotiated criteria, the adequacy of the chosen vocabulary or the provision of constructive feedback. The results show that overall the quality of PA can be improved. Groups did not provide sufficient criticism, questions and suggestions for improvement.