Emotional profiles regarding maths among primary school children – A two-year longitudinal study

Learning maths is challenging for many primary school students, and teachers must understand students’ learning and emotional processes specific to learning maths. The current research, grounded in control-value theory, focused on achievement emotions regarding maths. Primary school students (N?=?71) were studied with the primary objective of examining the longitudinal trajectories of achievement emotions of third graders over two years. The Portuguese Achievement Emotions Questionnaire for Elementary Students was administered biannually to assess enjoyment, anxiety, and boredom regarding maths. The results indicate that enjoyment decreased and boredom increased over time, revealing three emotional profiles: positive, negative and moderate. The positive profile showed the highest scores in maths achievement. Profile membership was moderately stable and became increasingly stable and structured. In examining the complexity of students’ emotional profiles and processes, the importance of understanding them to enhance educational support, development, and learning was highlighted.

     

Credibility versus fake news in digital newspapers on tablets in primary education / Credibilidad versus falsedad de las noticias de periódicos digitales sobre la tableta en la Educación Primaria

Abstract

The press is often attributed with little credibility, and the recent phenomenon of fake news has put it under the spotlight once again. As a result, the objective of this study is to discover the margin of the veracity versus falsehood of the news reports on tablets in primary education published in digital newspapers. This qualitative study has been developed on the basis of an analysis of 120 news items in Spanish newspapers. The conclusions show that news items on the topic correspond with reality and can be considered credible since they are in line with results provided in the scientific literature. Nevertheless, and in accordance with this type of publication, the treatment of the topic in these news items is superficial, even though they usually dedicate a full page to it. When discussing benefits and controversial points, both newspaper articles and scientific studies highlight the immediacy offered by tablets and the motivation generated in students. At the same time, their use is also linked with harmful effects associated with technopathologies.     

“Can I do well in mathematics reasoning?” Comparing US and Finnish students’ attitude and reasoning via TIMSS 2011

This study investigated differences between the US and Finland in terms of how students’ attitude is related to mathematical reasoning skills through the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2011. Attitude towards mathematics was observed via 3 TIMSS contextual variables: liking mathematics, valuing mathematics, and confidence in mathematics. Scores for mathematical reasoning were collected from the TIMSS 2011 database. We used hierarchical linear modelling to construct multilevel models with interactions of the attitude variables. Findings showed that confidence in mathematics had the strongest positive relationships with mathematical reasoning in both countries. Finnish students generally reported stronger positive relationships between confidence in mathematics and reasoning than US students. Strong relationships between confidence and reasoning remained visible when examining valuing and liking mathematics. Findings provide important implications regarding the complex interactions between attitude towards mathematics and reasoning, critical for mathematics educators and policymakers to consider in an increasingly competitive international environment.     

The Sale and Purchase of Translation Rights in the Italian Market

What are the conditions of the sales and purchases of translation rights in the Italian Market? The article summarizes and compares the results of two research studies conducted, respectively in 2003 and 2008 by the Italian Trade Commission as part of the initiatives planned in the Sector agreement stipulated among the Italian Ministry for Productive Activity, the Italian Publishing Association and the Italian Trade Commission. The objective is to optimize synergies between public and private activities in Italy in order to increase the export activity of the publishing industry sector. Both years the survey has been conducted by DOXA, a major Italian statistic research company. The researches focused on three fundamental variables: the geographical area in which a sales-purchases relationship is established, the genre of the books and the size of the companies involved by the phenomenon.     

Health information in Italian public health websites: moving from inaccessibility to accessibility

AIMS: In January 2004, the Italian government passed new legislation designed to give people with disabilities access to online services. Starting from the new legislation requirements, the purpose of this study is to investigate whether Italian Local Health Authorities websites are accessible to users with different abilities. METHODS: One hundred and seventy websites were analysed evaluating their compliance to the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Priority 1 guidelines via a combination of appropriate accessibility testing methods. This review was carried out twice: the first time it took place between the end of 2003 and May-June 2004. The same survey was repeated again in December 2004, after the issuing of the draft of the Implementation Regulations for The Stanca Law in July 2004. In this second survey, all the websites analysed before were checked again to establish if some measures to make those sites accessible were taken. RESULTS: Seventy-six per cent of the analysed websites fail to satisfy the most basic W3C requirements, but Italian Local Health Authorities websites are likely to present significant improvements to access for some disabled user groups: the number of accessible websites increased consistently between the first and the second review. CONCLUSIONS: It seems that awareness of web accessibility issues is increasing among developers of health information websites because of law enforcement. Recommendations for future research and development are offered.     

Higher socioeconomic status is related to healthier levels of fatness and fitness already at 3 to 5 years of age: The PREFIT project

This study aimed to analyse the association between socioeconomic status (SES) and fatness and fitness in preschoolers. 2,638 preschoolers (3–5 years old; 47.2% girls) participated. SES was estimated from the parental educational and occupational levels, and the marital status. Fatness was assessed by body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), and waist-to-height ratio (WHtR). Physical fitness components were assessed using the PREFIT battery. Preschoolers whose parents had higher educational levels had lower fatness (P < 0.05). BMI significantly differed across occupational levels of each parent (P < 0.05) and WHtR across paternal levels (P = 0.004). Musculoskeletal fitness was different across any SES factor (P < 0.05), except handgrip across paternal occupational levels (P ≥ 0.05). Preschoolers with high paternal occupation had higher speed/agility (P = 0.005), and those with high or low maternal education had higher VO₂max (P = 0.046). Odds of being obese and having low musculoskeletal fitness was lower as SES was higher (P < 0.05). Those with married parents had higher cardiorespiratory fitness than single-parent ones (P = 0.010). School-based interventions should be aware of that children with low SES are at a higher risk of obesity and low fitness already in the first years of life.     

“To Ferguson,Love Palestine”: mediating life under occupation

In Ferguson, Missouri, Palestinian activists and black protesters created a transnational collective identity defined by what some scholars call a “community of feeling” following the murder of Michael Brown in August 2014. This paper focuses on the transnational politics of the Ferguson Movement through a textual analysis of digital media discourse and interviews with local community activists. Findings reveal that activists generated a transnational collective identity based on their shared experiences of oppression and resistance, which activists made visible across various digital platforms, including social media, blogs, and livestreaming. Informed by the literature on social movements, collective identity, and affect, the authors move beyond theoretical analyses that emphasize activists’ communicative practices as strategic; instead, this article underscores the affective linkages that led to the development of a transnational collective identity within the movement.