Cognitions,Emotions, and Applications: Participants' Experiences of Learning about Strengths in an Academic Library

This study examined academic library employees' experiences during “strengths education,” a process of learning about individual strengths during a positive psychology intervention. Participants took the Clifton StrengthsFinder test, attended a workshop, and then were interviewed about what they considered to be the effects of the strengths training. The focus of the qualitative analysis was the interviewees' statements about the intrapersonal and interpersonal effects of learning about their strengths. We categorized and coded these statements as cognitions formed, emotions experienced, and applications envisioned. Our findings raise interesting implications for job satisfaction and employee self-esteem, especially during times of change.     

The constitutive force of the Catecismo del Pueblo in Puerto Rico's popular democratic party campaign of 1938–1940

This paper explores the formation of a political order, a constituency, during the 1938–1940 senatorial campaign of the Partido Popular Democratico in Puerto Rico. In particular it examines the constitutive force of the Catecismo del Pueblo, a small booklet in the form of questions and answers regarding the party's basic assumptions and orientations. This booklet developed a political constituency by mediating a covenantal relationship through discourse in the form of a catechism. Burke's notion of constitutional dialectics is used to explore the Catecismo's nature as constitutive, as a catechism, and as the mediator of a political covenant between the Party and the jíbaros.     

The ‘World Politics’ course: changing thinking on international relations education in Ontario Secondary Schools, 1850–1970

ABSTRACT

What do secondary school students in Ontario, Canada, need to know about the world in which they live in? How did a secondary school ‘World Politics’ course that emerged in Ontario in the 1960s address this question? The ‘World Politics’ course that emerged in the 1960s clearly came about as a result of societal and educational developments. Educators in nineteenth-century Ontario felt no need for such a course. In more recent times, post-Second World War, the discipline of history underwent dramatic upheavals. The opportunities for new courses meant possibilities to reach out to new groups of students. Simultaneously, with this change, the importance of international relations in the history curriculum was reduced but this also allowed for its re-emergence elsewhere. Finally, ‘World Politics’ emerged as one of the responses to the need for an understanding of a much more complex world.     

PUSH(ing) Limits: Using Fiction in the Classroom for Human Behavior and the Social Environment

The use of fiction and autobiography in social science course work has been shown to enhance students' learning experience. Using the novel PUSH, by Sapphire, we designed a curriculum supplement for the social work course, human behavior and the social environment (HBSE) that encourages students to integrate course content in an innovative way and enables them to apply the material to life-like situations. The HBSE supplement allows students to explore poignant and problematic issues that push them past intrapersonal and interpersonal limits. Classes are infused with energy and the critical consciousness of the students. Final projects are a systematic case study of a chosen character (or characters) in the book and are a testament to student critical thinking and creativity. Methods, assignments, and student experiences in an introductory BSW course are described.     

Cognition in Context: Students’ Perceptions of Classroom Goal Structures and Reported Cognitive Strategy Use in the College Classroom

This study examined contextual and personal factors related to the use of cognitive strategies by undergraduates. Specifically, students’ goal orientations (intrinsic or extrinsic) and perceptions of the classroom environment (i.e., task or performance structured) were evaluated as predictors of student use of deep or surface level cognitive strategies. Results confirmed earlier work, which indicated intrinsic goal orientation was related to use of deep cognitive strategies and extrinsic goal orientation was related to use of rehearsal. There was no interaction between intrinsic and extrinsic goal orientations on use of either cognitive strategy. In addition, students’ perceptions of classroom environment were significantly correlated with students’ goal orientations. In particular, task structure of classrooms was significantly positively correlated with use of both types of cognitive strategies. Thus, student goal orientation, perception of classroom structure, and use of cognitive strategies appear interdependent, with intrinsic goal orientation moderating the effect of perceived classroom structure on the use of deep cognitive strategies. Results of this study suggest the need for university instructors to be more aware of the roles of both personal and contextual factors affecting student motivation and learning.     

Treatment fidelity reporting in intervention outcome studies in the school psychology literature from 2009 to 2016

Both student outcomes and treatment fidelity data are necessary to draw valid conclusions about intervention effectiveness. Reviews of the intervention outcome literature in related fields, and prior reviews of the school psychology literature, suggest that many researchers failed to report treatment fidelity data. The purpose of this study was to replicate and extend previous reviews of treatment fidelity in four school psychology journals between 2009 and 2016. Results indicate that a plurality of studies reviewed operationally defined some, but not all intervention(s). Further, the majority of studies (72.8%) include a quantitative treatment fidelity data, a 35% increase from the Sanetti, Gritter and Dobey (2011) review of these same journals. Results also indicate many studies include data on multiple dimensions of fidelity. Of the multiple dimensions, adherence is (a) the most commonly reported dimension, (b) most often reported using a single index, (c) assessed using in vivo observation, and (d) high in a majority of studies. Further, results indicate some study and design characteristics are associated with the presence of operational definitions and treatment fidelity data.