Search for the roots of ratio: Some thoughts on the long term learning process (towards ... a theory)

The main subject is a ratio theme for third graders. The instructional text belonging to it was first submitted to an international, panel of experts. The reactions of the panel are reported and tested against classroom experiences.     

Small-scale curriculum changes for improving pre-service teachers’ preparation for Family-School Partnerships

Abstract

Family-School Partnerships (FSP) are important for students’ academic achievements and social-emotional development. Therefore, pre-service teachers need to learn how to establish this. However, in teacher education programmes this topic is insufficiently addressed partially attributed to already overloaded programmes. This study reports on a small-scale curriculum change, aiming to foster pre-service teachers’ awareness of the importance of FSP, to broaden their concepts and support them in identifying learning goals for the future. An assignment to interview novice-teachers about FSP was followed by a class on this topic. Afterwards, pre-service teachers reported in written reflections that they had become aware of the importance of FSP, emphasising that FSP is more than just communication. However, their focus for further professionalisation remained on improving their communication skills. Though this small-scale curriculum change seems to be a small step forward to a better preparation on FSP, further improvements are necessary to promote a comprehensive view of FSP.     

Children's media use in Indonesia

This article explores how Indonesian children have integrated media into their daily lives: media ownership at home, media uses, and gratifications sought, are discussed, as is the way in which gender and social-status influence the children–media relationship. Survey data of Jakarta-based children aged 9–15 (N=589) reveal that Indonesian children live in a media saturated environment, with high availability of media platforms in their homes and bedrooms. Similar to children in the US and Europe, children in Jakarta spend considerable amounts of time on a wealth of media platforms and experience multiple gratifications from using multiple media. Gender differences persist in that boys tend to be more into gaming, while girls focus more on communication aspects. High social-status children tend to have more media at their disposal in their bedroom, especially electronic games, computers, and Internet connections. Television is still prominent in the media menu of today, but mobile phones are ready to take its place in the near future.     

An experimental,video-based investigation into the motivating impact of choice and positive feedback among students with different motor competence levels

ABSTRACT

Background: Research stemming from Self-Determination Theory (SDT) shows that physical education (PE) teachers who endorse an autonomy-supportive and structuring motivating style positively affect students’ motivation, engagement and learning. Choice provision and positive feedback are two concrete strategies that are part of an autonomy-supportive and structuring style, respectively. While the benefits of choice provision and positive feedback have been shown in contexts other than PE, evidence in the specific context of PE is much scarcer. Grounded in SDT and relying on experimental design, the present study sought to examine the effects of choice provision and positive feedback on students’ motivational experiences in PE, and whether these effects were moderated by students’ actual motor competence (AMC).

Method: A sample of 277 students (41% boys, Mage?=?12.78 years) was randomly assigned to one of four experimental conditions (2?×?2 design). Prior to the experimental manipulation, participants’ AMC was measured with the Test of Gross Motor Development second edition. Participants then watched a videotaped PE lesson, in which the provision of choice (choice – no choice) and type of feedback (corrective feedback – positive and corrective feedback) were manipulated. Participants were asked to imagine how they would feel being a student in the displayed lessons. After watching the video, they completed validated questionnaires on their (1) anticipated need satisfaction and frustration and (2) autonomous and controlled motivation. MANOVAs were conducted to investigate the differences between the experimental groups in terms of anticipated need satisfaction, need frustration and motivation. Multiple linear regression analyses were used to examine the potential moderating role of AMC.

Findings and conclusions: The benefits of choice provision were clearly shown with students in the choice condition anticipating significantly more autonomy, competence and relatedness satisfaction and autonomous motivation, while they anticipated significantly less autonomy and relatedness frustration when compared to students in the no choice condition. Similarly, the addition of positive feedback to corrective feedback yielded clear benefits, with lower averages in anticipated need frustration found among students who watched the videos in which positive feedback was added to corrective feedback. No support was provided for a synergetic motivational effect between choice and positive feedback. Overall, the present findings show the importance of offering choice and providing positive feedback to motivate students in PE, with positive effects being present for all students independent of their initial AMC levels. Although few interaction effects were found, lowly motor competent students benefited even more from receiving positive feedback than highly motor competent students. The findings of this study are important to take into account in PE teacher education programs and professional training programs for PE teachers about how to teach in a (more) motivating way.     

Managing Social Media Use: Whither Social Media Guidelines in News Organizations?

Fears exist that social media use by news media and journalists may affect basic journalistic tenets such as objectivity, gatekeeping, and transparency. As a result, more and more news media organizations are issuing guidelines to manage employee use of social media. In this article we discuss the complex relationship of a selection of market-leading news media organizations with prescribed use of social media. Applying content analysis to 12 existing social media guidelines, we elaborate on the various types of rules linked with the basic principles of journalism. A key intention of this research is to provide insights for media management and journalism scholars to better understand the use of social media by journalists and the implementation of guidelines by media organizations. More practically, this article can aid media organizations who are shaping their own set of rules regarding use of social media by their staff.     

Assessment quality and practices in secondary PE in the Netherlands

Background: Assessment can have various functions, and is an important impetus for student learning. For assessment to be effective, it should be aligned with curriculum goals and of sufficient quality. Although it has been suggested that assessment quality in physical education (PE) is suboptimal, research into actual assessment practices has been relatively scarce.

Purpose: The goals of the present study were to determine the quality of assessment, teachers’ views on the functions of assessment, the alignment of assessment with learning goals, and the actual assessment practices in secondary PE in the Netherlands.

Participants and setting: A total of 260 PE teachers from different schools in the Netherlands filled out an online Physical Education Assessment Questionnaire (PEAQ) on behalf of their school.

Data collection: The online questionnaire (PEAQ) contained the following sections: quality of assessment, intended functions of assessment, assessment practices, and intended goals of PE.

Data analysis: Percentages of agreement were calculated for all items. In addition, assessment quality items were recoded into a numerical value between 1 and 5 (mean?±?SD). Cronbach’s alpha was calculated for each predefined quality aspect of the PEAQ, and for assessment quality as a whole.

Findings: Mean assessment quality (±SD) was 3.6?±?0.6. With regard to the function of assessment, most PE teachers indicated that they intended using assessment as a means of supporting the students’ learning process (formative function). At the same time, the majority of schools take PE grades into account for determining whether a student may enter the next year (summative function). With regard to assessment practices, a large variety of factors are included when grading, and observation is by far the assessment technique most widely applied. A minority of PE teachers grade students without predetermined assessment criteria, and usually criteria are identical for all students. There is an apparent discrepancy between reported PE goals and assessment practices; although increasing students’ fitness levels is the least important goal of PE lessons according to the PE teachers, 81% reports that fitness is one of the factors being judged. Conversely, while 94% considers gaining knowledge about physical activity and sports as one of the goals of PE, only 34% actually assesses knowledge.

Conclusions: Assessment in Dutch PE is of moderate quality. The findings further suggest that PE teachers consider assessment for learning important but that their assessment practices are not generally in line with this view. Furthermore, there seems to be a lack of alignment between intended learning outcomes and what is actually being valued and assessed. We believe that these results call for a concerted effort from PE departments, school boards, and the education inspectorate to scrutinise existing assessment practices, and work together to optimise PE assessment.     

The e-balanced scorecard (e-BSC) for measuring academic staff performance excellence

This research paper is a pilot study that investigated the suitability of adopting an automated balanced scorecard for managing and measuring the performance excellence of academic staffs in the higher education setting. A comprehensive study of related literature with requirements elicited from the target population in a selected premier university in Malaysia through document analysis, interviews and survey questionnaires provided the foundation for the system development. By adopting the balanced scorecard, the proposed system provided a means for top down alignment of organisational objectives while creating a medium of communication between the lecturers and management. Though the method suggested in this study primarily focuses on the academic staff, it addresses the lack of a representative form of performance measurement for lecturers that accommodates the complexities of the profession while providing the potential adoption of an unconventional method to encourage excellence and development amongst all levels of employees in the industry.     

Competitive pressure and arousing television news: a cross-cultural study

In many scholarly writings about journalism, the idea can be found that competitive pressure urges journalists to make news more arousing. This hypothesis was tested in two cultural settings: the Western European culture and the Chinese-dominated culture. A total of 3028 TV news stories from seven different markets, or 12 different news programs, were analyzed on the presence of arousing news characteristics. High competitive pressure at the market level appeared to contribute to the prevalence of arousing news, but this effect was more pronounced in the Chinese-dominated culture than in the Western European culture. Effects of high competitive pressure at the station level were only observed in the Western European culture.