The role of metacognitive competences in the development of school achievement among gifted adolescents

Gifted underachievers perform worse in school than would be expected based on their high intelligence. Possible causes for underachievement are low motivational dispositions (need for cognition) and metacognitive competences. This study tested the interplay of these variables longitudinally with gifted and non-gifted students from Germany (N = 341, 137 females) in Grades 6 (M = 12.02 years at t1) and 8 (M = 14.07 years). Declarative and procedural metacognitive competences were assessed in the domain of reading comprehension. Path analyses showed incremental effects of procedural metacognition over and above intelligence on the development of school achievement in gifted students (β = .139). Moreover, declarative metacognition and need for cognition interactively predicted procedural metacognition (β = .169), which mediated their effect on school achievement.     

Patterns of Instructional-design Factors Prompting Reflective Thinking in Middle-school and College Level Problem-based Learning Environments

Reflective-thinking skills are important in problem-based learning environments as they help learners become deeply engaged in learning. The literature suggests several instructional-design factors (e.g., environment, teaching methods, scaffolding tools) that may prompt reflection in learners. However, it is unclear whether these factors differ based on age or developmental stage. The results of this study indicate that middle-school students perceive the learning environment factor as more important to prompting their thinking, while college students perceive the scaffolding methods factor as more important. While the elements clustered into two factors, most college students disagreed with their helpfulness in prompting reflective thinking, a finding opposite to that obtained for middle-school students. Different patterns were also found between learners’ perceptions of the most helpful elements within each factor. Based on these results, suggestions are given for designing developmentally and age-appropriate PBL learning environments that support reflective thinking.     

Distance education plans: Course planning for online adult learners

TechTrends - There can be an untethered excitement connected with ever-expanding technologies and the vastness of educational opportunities that online learning generates. Yet, these new and...     

汉语背景中文化、教育、职业和劳动概念的语源学分析

文化、教育、职业和劳动这四个概念,以及表达它们的汉字反映了劳动组织所植根的社会历史背景。因此,在汉语语境中对这几个概念进行语源学分析,了解其特定结构和形成过程,把握其蕴涵的精神实质,对于准确理解就业管理、职业世界和职业教育等都具有重要意义。     

Setting the Students’ Bearings and Balance in Appraisal

The author, a professor at the University of Toronto, touches briefly on the extensive and rich archival literature that supports the teaching of macroappraisal, but notes that this is not the only educational material she offers her students when teaching appraisal theory. She discusses the usefulness to archivists of literature from the fields of ethnography, organizational knowing, records in history, personal documentary behaviour, memory, and communications, noting that the use of texts from these fields can encourage students to reflect on their own presumptions and to develop a taste for the wide reading and research that must support appraisal.     

Sex Bias and the Validity of Believed Differences between Male and Female Interscholastic Athletic Coaches

Abstract

Previous research indicates that young athletes as well as athletic administrators hold gender-role stereotypical beliefs about coaches that disfavor females. The validity of two such beliefs (lack of qualified female coaches and time constraints due to family responsibilities) was examined in a statewide survey of 256 female and 296 male interscholastic coaches and a nationwide survey of 2,719 male and 1,449 female interscholastic coaches. Statistical analyses (p < .001) indicated that female coaches were (a) more qualified than their male counterparts with respect to coaching experience with female teams, professional training, and professional experience; (b) as qualified as male coaches with regard to intercollegiate playing experience; and (c) less qualified than male coaches with respect to high school playing experience and coaching experience with male teams. Findings also indicated that male rather than female coaches more often experienced time constraints due to family responsibilities.     

Meeting the Dual Goals of Content Knowledge and English language learning: A study of the CCUEI curriculum materials

This article reports a study on the China-Canada-United States English Immersion (CCUEI) Moral Education and Social Studies (MESS) curriculum materials for elementary classes (Grades 3–6) with the aim of learning how the curriculum addressed the dual goals of MESS content and English language learning. An analysis comparing the CCUEI third grade MESS textbook with an equivalent level Chinese textbook demonstrates how China’s national standards in MESS and English education can be met, and drawbacks encountered in the process. The CCUEI textbook was found to embrace grade level MESS content standards, but showed a varied degree of depth of content across standards. The textbook addressed all of the general goals of Level One English language learning (Grades 3–4) and most of the language skills indicators (16 out of 20). An additional in-depth teacher survey provided a user’s perspective on MESS materials. The teachers rated the textbook highly for its activity-centered format and knowledge-rich content. They emphasized the importance of teaching English language as preparation for the MESS content teaching, and asked for more systematic support in language teaching from curriculum materials.     

Influence of improved teaching practices on student satisfaction ratings for two undergraduate units at an Australian university

To track the quality of instruction delivered at the University of Western Australia, the university surveys all units using its Students’ Unit Reflective Feedback (SURF) metrics, and faculties use these metrics to benchmark student satisfaction. Consequently, teaching staff are actively encouraged to adopt teaching practices that will increase the average levels of these metrics. Using a ‘before-after’ approach, we compared these metrics before and after the implementation of improved teaching practices that addressed specific weaknesses identified through student responses for two undergraduate units. Despite the implementation of improved teaching practices, SURF scores did not increase significantly for the two units assessed, due possibly to the components of the academic programme covered by the SURF questions, the field-based nature of the units, and the difficulty in measuring an increase in the SURF scores of units which already score highly. This poor sensitivity of the SURF metrics to the implementation of improved teaching practices could have implications for their use for performance assessment by the university.     

Questioning Styles and Students' Learning: Four case studies

A study of the relationships between students' questioning and learning styles is being conducted on data collected in two university semesters with a sample of 300 students. This report discusses the results of case studies looking in depth at four of the students. These were involved in further data collection through written and oral questions, interviews and classroom observation experiments. The main aim is to unravel the interrogative bases of the students' learning by looking at the quality and quantity of questions they ask. This means that among other characteristics, the nature and the deliberative or spontaneous use of questions by the four students were investigated. It was possible to distinguish question‐askers by tallying their questions. Their learning styles were characterised using Kolb's Learning Styles Inventory. The study also allowed for snapshots of how particular learners shape questions. Looking at the way in which these questioning styles fit with their orientations to learning, and how this drives learning, informs what teaching might best then ensue.