The Effect of a Classroom-Based Intensive Robotics and Programming Workshop on Sequencing Ability in Early Childhood

This paper examines the impact of programming robots on sequencing ability during a 1-week intensive robotics workshop at an early childhood STEM magnet school in the Harlem area of New York City. Children participated in computer programming activities using a developmentally appropriate tangible programming language CHERP, specifically designed to program a robot’s behaviors. The study assessed 27 participants’ sequencing skills before and after the programming and robotics curricular intervention using a picture-story sequencing task and compared those skills to a control group. Pre-test and post-test scores were compared using a paired sample t test. The group of children who participated in the 1-week robotics and programming workshop experienced significant increases in post-test compared to pre-test sequencing scores.     

Coping strategies,optimism, and life satisfaction among first<Emphasis Type="Italic">-</Emphasis>year university students in Italy: gender and age differences

The transition to university appears to be a complex and delicate time in students’ lives, involving a sequence of changes regarding both the personal/affective and social/professional spheres, facilitating students’ ability to adapt to a new life context. It represents a challenging time that requires students to use adaptive resources to face many changes, including a new academic environment (Park and Adler Health Psychology, 22(6), 627, 2003; Anderson et al. International Journal of Educational Research, 33(4), 325–339, 2000). This paper presents an investigation that focuses on Italian students in transition to university to assess existing gender and age differences in coping strategies and optimism. Furthermore, the study also was designed to explore the impact that coping strategies and optimism have on students’ life satisfaction. The sample consists of 298 first-year undergraduate Italian students enrolled in social science courses at the University of Cagliari (Sardinia): 152 (51%) were female and 146 (49%) were male. The ages of the participants ranged from 18 to 37 years, with a mean age of 23.2 years (SD = 3.9) The statistical analysis revealed a strong influence from optimism and coping strategies on life satisfaction, as well as an important role played by both gender and age in shaping students’ coping strategies, optimism, and life satisfaction. This research could contribute to helping students better face this life transition, thereby increasing life satisfaction and class-attendance levels, improving academic performance, and reducing the number of university dropouts.     

Self-Regulation and Economic Stress in Children of Hispanic Immigrants and Their Peers: Better Regulation at a Cost?

Research Findings: Although there is a well-established relationship between economic stress and children’s self-regulation, few studies have examined this relationship in children of Hispanic immigrants (COHIs), a rapidly growing population. In a sample of preschool children (N = 165), we examined whether economic stress predicted teacher evaluations of children’s self-regulation, whether economic stress predicted children’s physiological reactivity (via cortisol levels), and whether economic stress had a similar effect on self-regulation and children’s cortisol for COHI versus nonimmigrant children. Greater economic stress was associated with poorer child self-regulation and heightened physiological reactivity across a challenging classroom task for the sample as a whole. However, when we examined children by group, greater economic stress was associated with poorer teacher-reported self-regulation for nonimmigrant children only. In contrast, greater economic stress was related to greater cortisol reactivity across a challenge task for COHIs but not for nonimmigrants. Practice or Policy: Results demonstrate the importance of considering physiological indices of self-regulation (heightened stress physiology), in addition to traditional external indices (teacher report), when assessing self-regulation or risk more generally among preschool samples that are diverse in terms of ethnicity, economic risk, and parents’ nativity.     

Evaluations of Conflicts Between Latino Values and Autonomy Desires Among Puerto Rican Adolescents

Puerto Rican adolescents (N = 105; M_age = 15.97 years, SD = 1.40) evaluated hypothetical situations describing conflicts between Latino values (family obligations and respeto) and autonomy desires regarding personal, friendship, and dating activities. Adolescents judged that peers should prioritize Latino values over autonomy, which led to greater feelings of pride than happiness. However, they believed that teens would prioritize autonomy over Latino values, which led to greater feelings of happiness than pride. Adolescents reasoned about autonomy desires as personal issues, whereas reasoning about Latino values was multifaceted, including references to conventions and concerns for others. Furthermore, judgments and reasoning depended on the type of autonomy desire and Latino value and sometimes, by participants' age and sex.     

Predictors of self-reported and peer-reported victimization and bullying behavior in early adolescents: the role of school,classroom, and individual factors

European Journal of Psychology of Education - The purpose of the present study was to examine individual and contextual predictors of victimization and bullying on a sample of early adolescents....     

Tracking changes in pre-service EFL teacher beliefs in Greece: A longitudinal study

This article reports on a longitudinal study that aims to investigate pre-service EFL teacher beliefs about learning and teaching in Greece. The study attempts to track possible changes in those beliefs during a 3-year teacher education program and explores the impact of teaching practice, in particular, on student teachers’ beliefs. The results indicate that while there is a gradual and sometimes significant development in student teachers’ beliefs during the program, student teachers’ engagement in the teaching practice seems to have a low impact on the development of their beliefs. Those findings are interpreted with reference to the structure and context of the specific teacher education program and can be useful for the design and development of EFL teacher education programs.     

Teachers’ empathy: can it be predicted by self-efficacy?

Teachers’ social-emotional competencies seem to play a significant role in promoting social-emotional learning in schools. Empathic teachers were found to possess a higher level of morality; to communicate more successfully with their students; to encourage them to forge empathic relationships; and to successfully motivate their students. Yet, there is a dearth of literature on how to develop such empathy in teachers. The present study, which is based on a large body of research, investigated the contribution of teachers’ self-efficacy and emotional self-efficacy to teacher empathy. The sample comprised 543 teachers from the central region of Israel who completed self-report questionnaires. Findings indicated that both types of self-efficacy contribute to empathy in teachers, but the contribution of teacher self-efficacy is greater. These findings can benefit teacher educators, principals and others involved in teacher performance and well-being throughout the world. Findings may suggest that both efficacies are compelling variables that need to be addressed and enhanced in relation to teacher empathy. In addition, the findings strengthen the notion that social-emotional competence in teachers is strongly associated with teachers’ self-beliefs regarding their teaching efficacy.