Influence of social goal orientations and peers on unsportsmanlike play

The present study was designed to examine the influence of personal (i.e., social goal orientations or definitions of success that include interpersonal relationships) and situational (i.e., peer influence) factors on decisions surrounding unsportsmanlike play. Middle school students (ages 11-15 years) completed a measure to assess task, ego, and social goal orientations. Participants also read scenarios about unsportsmanlike actions and responded to questions tapping the intention to perform those actions. A series of hierarchical regression analyses revealed that in certain peer contexts, social goal orientations influenced unsportsmanlike play responses above and beyond the contribution of task and ego goal orientations. Results varied/for boys and girls and provide support far including social goal orientations in achievement motivation research in the physical domain.     

Study of the factors influencing sex differences in the career motivation of Iranian high school students

The purpose of the study was to investigate some factors thought to influence sex differences in the Career Motivation of Iranian high school students. Subjects (n = 206) were balanced on sex, ages 17–18 and attending schools in Tehran, Iran. Measures included the criterion career motivation and six predictors: Sex, Social Class, Early Family Socialization, Religious Orientation, Community Resources and Community Discrimination against women 's careers.Multivariate regression analyses with partial correlations were used to test hypotheses. Hypotheses were that males would score higher than females on career motivation; upper middle class students would score higher than lower middle class students on career motivation; Scores on Early Family Socialization, Community Resources and Religious Orientation would be positively correlated with Career Motivation; and Community Discrimination would be negatively correlated with Career Motivation. Interactions were expected for Sex, Religious Orientation and Social Class. Main effects found in the regression analyses supported hypotheses related to Sex, Social Class, Community Discrimination and Early Family Socialization. It remained for the interpretation of three significant interaction effects to shed light on the contribution of Religious Orientation to Career Motivation. The three significant interactions found were Sex × Social Class; Sex × Religious Orientation; and Religious Orientation × Community Discrimination. It appeared that the religion measure was confounded by the new movement within Islam led by the Mojahedin Khalgh group that is supportive of women 's careers, in contrast to the dominant Shia Islam group. The Community Resources measure was significantly (p<.05) and positively related to career motivation but it did not contribute importantly to the prediction equation. The equation derived including interaction terms accounted for 41% of the variance. It was concluded that the analysis used provided an important addition to understanding complex phenomena such as career motivation in a changing social context.     

Feminist pedagogy in the law schools

Michael Weiss is a fellow at the Texas Public Policy Foundation and articles editor of theTexas Law Review. This essay was prepared with the assistance of Cory Birenbaum.     

Adolescents' declining motivation to learn science: A follow‐up study

This is a mix methods follow‐up study in which we reconfirm the findings from an earlier study [Vedder‐Weiss & Fortus [ 2011 ] Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 48(2), 199–216]. The findings indicate that adolescents' declining motivation to learn science, which was found in many previous studies [Galton [ 2009 ] Moving to secondary school: Initial encounters and their effects. Perspectives on Education, 2(Primary‐secondary Transfer in Science), 5–21. Retrieved from www.wellcome.ac.uk/perspectives ; Osborne, Simon, & Collins, [2003] International Journal of Science Education 25(9), 1049–1079], is not an inevitable phenomenon since it appears not to occur in Israeli democratic schools. In addition to reinforcing previous results in a different sample, new results show that the differences between the two school types are also apparent in terms of students' self‐efficacy in science learning, students' perceptions of their teachers' goals emphases, and students' perception of their peers' goals orientation. Quantitative results are accompanied by rich verbal examples of ways in which students view and articulate their own and their teachers' goal emphases. Content analysis of students' interviews showed that students in traditional schools are directed more towards goals that are external and related to the outcome of learning in comparison to democratic school students who are motivated more by goals that are internal and related to the process of learning. Structure analysis of these interviews suggests that democratic school students experience a greater sense of autonomy in their science learning than traditional school students do. Implications for research on students' motivation are discussed, such as considering not only the teacher and the classroom but also the school culture. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 49: 1057–1095, 2012     

Examining Massive Digital Libraries (MDLs) and Their Impact on Reference Services

Massive Digital Libraries such as Google Books and the HathiTrust can provide libraries with virtual ready-reference collections that match the scope of print collections. Their impact reaches into the tens of millions of public domain and copyrighted titles. Yet, problems persist with these digitized book collections. This article examines some of the flaws and unintended consequences of relying on Massive Digital Libraries at the expense of local print collections. Such problems include lack of metadata accuracy, poorly implemented optical character recognition, lack of quality control in the mass-digitization process, the problem of linguistic representation, and the lack of subject diversity in the source collections.     

Goal Orientation and the Modeling Process: An Individual's Focus on Form and Outcome

Abstract

One's achievement goal orientation (e.g., task, ego) is suggested to reflect a differential focus on skill mastery and performance outcome (Duda, 1992). Goal orientation has further been suggested to be an important observer characteristic in the observational learning of motor skills (McCullagh, Weiss, & Ross, 1989). This study assessed the relationship between goal orientation and a focus on form and outcome aspects of a motor skill demonstration with college students (N = 30) having low perceived ability, knowledge, and experience in tennis. Participants viewed several videotaped demonstrations of a correctly performed tennis forehand and then visual recognition and verbal recall accuracy of form and outcome task characteristics were assessed. A canonical correlation analysis revealed a nonsignificant relationship between goal orientation and recall and recognition of form and outcome task characteristics. These results provide preliminary evidence to suggest that goal orientation may not be an important observer characteristic in the learning phase of the modeling process. Also, achievement goal orientations may not be associated with a differential focus on skill mastery or performance outcome but instead remain a reflection of divergent processes of success evaluation.     

The locus of focus: The effect of switching from a preferred to a non-preferred focus of attention

Abstract

Focusing strategies are known to play a significant role in motor performance, with individuals who use an internal focus on body movement typically showing poorer outcomes than those who focus on features of the external environment. Focus of attention and switching of one's focus are examined in the context of two different complex motor skills along with a factor not previously examined systematically, individual preference. In both experiments, participants were introduced to focusing strategies that might be employed when attempting a sensorimotor task. Explanations of both strategies were given to participants. Specifically, for an internal focus, participants were instructed to concentrate on their body movements, while for an external focus, they were instructed to focus on aspects in the environment. They were then asked which strategy they preferred. Participants then continued either with their preferred focus or were instructed to switch to their non-preferred focus. The advantage that the external focus typically enjoys turns out not to be a simple one and interacts with individual preference and with the “forced-opposite” manipulation. Our results support the growing consensus that encouraging individuals to adopt an internal focusing strategy is counterproductive in complex sensorimotor tasks. They also suggest that individual preferences play a role.     

Developmental modeling effects on the quantitative and qualitative aspects of motor performance

The purpose of the present experiment was to replicate and extend previous developmental modeling research by examining the qualitative as well as quantitative aspects of motor performance. Eighty females of two age groups (5-0 to 6-6 and 7-6 to 9-0 years) were randomly assigned to conditions within a 2 x 2 x 2 (Age x Model Type x Rehearsal) factorial design. Children received either verbal instructions only (no model) or a visual demonstration with experimenter-given verbal cues (verbal model) of a five-part dance skill sequence. Children were either prompted to verbally rehearse before skill execution or merely asked to reproduce the sequence without prompting. Both quantitative (order) and qualitative (form) performances were assessed. Results revealed a significant age main effect for both order and form performance, with older children performing better than younger children. A model type main effect was also found for both order and form performance. The verbal model condition produced better qualitative performance, whereas the no model condition resulted in better quantitative scores. These results are discussed in terms of differential coding strategies that may influence task components in modeling.