“Anyone free to chat?” Using technological features to elicit quality support online

This study examines how support seekers can integrate verbal and nonverbal cues in social network sites (SNSs) to elicit quality support from others. Building from sensitive interaction systems theory and verbal person centeredness (VPC), participants (N?=?579) evaluated a SNS profile that contained manipulated levels of directness in status updates used to seek support and nonverbal emotional expression in profile pictures. To capture the transaction of support, participants provided supportive messages in public and private conditions that were coded for their level of VPC. Negative emotional cues in profile pictures increased VPC in private messages, whereas directness in status updates negatively predicted VPC in private messages. Participants produced messages with higher levels of VPC after they viewed profiles that incorporated more features to disclose distress effectively. Broadly, this study addresses whether the content people post on SNS profiles shapes the quality of the supportive messages they receive.     

Learning environment,learning styles and conceptual understanding

In recent years there have been many studies on learners developing conceptions of natural phenomena. However, so far there have been few attempts to investigate how the characteristics of the learners and their environment influence such conceptions. This study began with an attempt to use an instrument developed by McCarthy (1981) to describe learners in Malaysian primary schools. This proved inappropriate as Asian primary classrooms do not provide the same kind of environment as US classrooms. It was decided to develop a learning style checklist to suit the local context and which could be used to describe differences between learners which teachers could appreciate and use. The checklist included four dimensions — perceptual, process, self-confidence and motivation. The validated instrument was used to determine the learning style preferences of primary four pupils in Penang, Malaysia. Later, an analysis was made regarding the influence of learning environment and learning styles on conceptual understanding in the topics of food, respiration and excretion. This study was replicated in the Philippines with the purpose of investigating the relationship between learning styles and achievement in science, where the topics of food, respiration and excretion have been taken up. A number of significant relationships were observed in these two studies. Specializations: science education, primary science, educational research and measurement, educational management.     

US duration and local trial spacing affect autoshaped responding

The acquisition and maintenance of signal-directed pecking was examined in week-old Leg-Horn chicks responding to a keylight stimulus paired with heat. In contrast with previous studies using pigeons with food as the US, both speed of acquisition and asymptotic level of keypecking were a direct function of US duration. Experiment 2 examined responding using a within-subject design to isolate the effects of trial spacing on performance during the immediate trial from the effects on performance during a following trial of fixed length. These comparisons revealed a significant effect of intertriai interval (ITI), with less responding after shorter intervals. The effect of different temporal spacing was apparent in responding on the immediate trial, but not on the following trial. These local ITI effects were better predicted by a recent autoshaping model based on relative waiting time (Jenkins, Barnes, & Barrera, 1981) than by a model based on relative US expectancy (Gibbons & Balsam, 1981). However, neither model predicted the effect of US duration. A reexamination of the US-duration literature suggested that the diversity of previous findings is consistent with the assumption that conditioned responding is an inverted U-shaped function of US duration.     

Humanisation in Russian Education: a transition between state determinism and individualism

This article is concerned with the development of humanisation in contemporary Russian education where it is regarded as a key factor influencing social change in the country. The authors draw on the proceedings of a seminar held in Moscow in 1994 concerned with the future of Russian education. Through an analysis of past Russian educational development and related psychological theory an argument is developed which suggests that present trends owe more than may be expected to the past. The concept of mediation is a central concern of the authors. They argue that the present discussion in Russia is overly individualistic and takes no account of processes of mediation in pedagogic formulations which render them incomplete and vulnerable to exploitation.     

Invoking politics and ethics in the design of information technology: undesigning the design

It is a truism that the design and deployment of information and communication technologies is vital to everyday life, the conduct of work and to social order. But how are individual, organisational and societal choices made? What might it mean to invoke a politics and an ethics of information technology design and use? This editorial paper situates these questions within the trajectory of preoccupations and approaches to the design and deployment of information technology since computerisation began in the 1940s. Focusing upon the dominant concerns over the last three decades, the paper delineates an interest in design and use in relation to socio-technical theories, situated practices and actor-network theory. It is argued that each of these approaches is concerned with a particular form of politics that does not explicitly engage with ethics. In order to introduce ethics into contemporary debates about information technology, and to frame the papers in the special issue, it is argued that Levinas’ ethics is particularly valuable in problematising the relationship between politics and ethics. Levinas provides a critique of modernity’s emphasis on politics and the egocentric self. It is from a Levinasian concern with the Other and the primacy of the ethical that a general rethinking of the relationship between politics, ethics and justice in relation to information and communication technologies can be invoked.     

The Influence of Cognitive Complexity,Empathy, and Mindfulness on Person-Centered Message Evaluations

More than 30 years of research shows that highly person-centered (PC) supportive messages that validate and acknowledge the feelings of others are consistently viewed as more beneficial than less PC-based messages. There are, however, differences in how well people can distinguish high and low PC messages. We argue that the combined influence of motivational factors (i.e., empathy) and cognitive factors (i.e., cognitive complexity, mindfulness) significantly impacts how people process and evaluate support messages that vary in PC. Participants (n = 331) completed a survey, and structural equation modeling analyses revealed that both cognitive complexity and empathy predicted the extent to which people are able to differentiate more and less PC messages. Interestingly and in line with past research, mindfulness directly predicted empathy but not cognitive complexity.     

Teaching Practices that Promote Motor Skills in Early Childhood Settings

Early childhood educators, especially those in preschool centers, are often expected to design and implement movement programs. However, these individuals may not have been taught these skills during their education. The purpose of this study was to determine if early childhood majors could successfully be taught to implement a mastery climate instructional approach to promote motor skill development to preschool-age children. Twenty undergraduate Early Childhood Education majors, who completed a Motor Development Across the School Years course, designed and implemented a movement program to develop preschoolers’ locomotor and object control skills. Fourteen preschoolers participated in an 11-week movement program. Preschoolers’ motor performance was assessed with the Test of Gross Motor Development—2nd Edition prior to and following the intervention. Results indicate significant improvements in total performance (p < .05) and locomotor skills (p = .037). Findings indicate that with guidance and training, early childhood majors can effectively design and implement a mastery-based movement program that enhances motor skill competence. The findings also demonstrate the need and value for early childhood majors to receive training in the design and implementation of movement programs. This paper provides a conceptual framework and practical recommendations to assist teachers and educators with implementing a mastery climate movement programs.     

The Role of the Microcomputer-Based Laboratory Display in Supporting the Construction of New Understandings in Kinematics

Teachers' failure to utilise MBL activities more widely may be due to not recognising their capacity to transform the nature of laboratory activities to be more consistent with contemporary constructivist theories of learning. This research aimed to increase understanding of how MBL activities specifically designed to be consistent with a constructivist theory of learning support or constrain student construction of understanding. The first author conducted the research with his Year 11 physics class of 29 students. Dyads completed nine tasks relating to kinematics using a Predict-Observe-Explain format. Data sources included video and audio recordings of students and teacher during four 70-minute sessions, students' display graphs and written notes, semi-structured student interviews, and the teacher's journal. The study identifies the actors and describes the patterns of interactions in the MBL. Analysis of students' discourse and actions identified many instances where students' initial understanding of kinematics were mediated in multiple ways. Students invented numerous techniques for manipulating data in the service of their emerging understanding. The findings are presented as eight assertions. Recommendations are made for developing pedagogical strategies incorporating MBL activities which will likely catalyse student construction of understanding.     

Preventing retention: First grade classroom instruction and student characteristics

Retention is a frequently used strategy to support children who are struggling academically. However, the strategy is costly, and research findings with regard to positive outcomes are mixed. This study examined whether efficacious reading instruction might reduce rates of retention in first grade. We also evaluated the reading instruction the students received compared with children with similar reading and vocabulary skills who were not retained. Additionally, we examined the impact students' self‐regulation may have on grade retention. Findings reveal that it was significantly less likely for students to be retained at the end of first grade if their teacher was implementing more efficacious reading instruction. Moreover, there were substantial differences in the literacy instruction provided for children who were and were not retained. Finally, students in the efficacious reading condition who were retained exhibited significantly weaker self‐regulation skills than did their matched‐promoted peers. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Adaptation of a computer programming course to the ESHE requirements: evaluation five years later

In the academic year 2010–2011, Spain finished the process of introducing the regulatory changes derived from the Bologna Declaration and the new European Space for Higher Education (ESHE). These changes have implied the updating of university degrees’ structure as well as the inclusion of the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS). This paper describes the process of adaptation of two basic first-semester core subjects of computer engineering to one of the basic aspects of the ESHE, the adoption of the ECTS. The process described in the paper was developed in the framework of the pilot plan undertaken by the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona between 2005 and 2010. The proposed course design implies a better coordination and integration of the contents of two different subjects that students follow simultaneously, and it is based on the combination of project-based learning and cooperative learning. After the experience finished, an extended quantitative and qualitative analysis of the academic results over the five-year period has shown an improvement in the students’ learning outcomes.