Students’ achievement goals,emotion perception ability and affect and performance in the classroom: a multilevel examination

Performance at school is affected not only by students’ achievement goals but also by emotional exchanges among classmates and their teacher. In this study, we investigated relationships between students’ achievement goals and emotion perception ability and class affect and performance. Participants were 949 Greek adolescent students in 49 classes and their Greek language and mathematics teachers. Results from multilevel analyses indicated that students’ mastery-approach and performance-approach goals were positively related to positive affect whereas performance-avoidance goals were negatively related to positive affect. At class-level, relationships between achievement goals and affect were moderated by students’ emotion perception ability. These findings highlight the importance of emotion abilities and their role in motivational processes for class-level outcomes.     

The contribution of PISA to the convergence of education policies in Europe

The international comparative studies on students’ outcomes have initiated analyses that have had a growing influence on national and sub‐national education policies in industrialised and developing countries. It is particularly the case of the OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) which started in 2000 and has organised surveys every 3 years, so that the 2015 survey was the 6^th. Its influence has been particularly important for several reasons: 1) it assesses the basic competences in reading literacy, maths and science of 15 year‐olds students, i.e. around the end of compulsory education in many countries; 2) the assessment is based on a reliable methodology and the tests are completed by qualitative surveys and studies; 3) and the results lead to recommendations and are amplified by the media in most countries. However, it is not easy to evaluate the real impact of PISA because of the existence of other international studies such as IEA's TIMSS and, particularly in Europe, the influence of the recommendations and benchmarks of the EU that has been growing steadily in the last 25 years. Our analysis of the impact of PISA and EU policy focuses on the evolution of the education policy in France, but also studies its evolution in a few other European countries. Finally, we underline the limits of the influence of PISA and international standards in education towards a convergence of education systems because of the importance of their specific historic and cultural contexts.     

中学优生的时间管理倾向与成就动机的相关研究

本研究探讨时间管理倾向与成就动机之间的关系。对四川成都市两所中学的175名中学优生的问卷调查研究发现：（1）中学优生的时间管理倾向各维度对追求成功动机存在着显著的正相关，与避免失败动机存在显著的负相关（时间监控观除外），（2）中学优生的时间管理倾向对成就动机具有显著的预测作用，表明时间管理倾向可能是影响学生成就动机的一个重要因素；（3）中学优生在时间管理倾向与成就动机上具有显著的年级差异，研究表明初二可能是培养时间管理倾向的关键时期。     

Unequal academic achievement in high school: the mediating roles of concerted cultivation and close friends

Building from the classic Wisconsin model of status attainment, this study examines whether a specific style of parenting, concerted cultivation, and a close friend’s school-related attitudes and behaviors mediate the relationship between a family’s socioeconomic status and their child’s academic achievement in the United States. Using a recursive path model on nationally representative panel data of high school students (N = 10,350), the results confirm a direct association between socioeconomic status and concerted cultivation. In addition, concerted cultivation and close friends are shown to mediate the relationship between a family’s socioeconomic status and their child’s academic achievement.     

Prospective primary teachers’ perceptions about the use of mathematics homework

The benefit of homework (HW) has been the subject of ongoing debate among various stakeholders. Within this debate, and in relation to teacher development, prospective teachers’ views of HW have received limited attention. In this study, we survey primary pre-service teachers’ (‘PSTs’) views of HW use (n = 45 teaching grades 2–5; n = 39 teaching grades 6 and 7) in a single discipline (mathematics) at one large Australian university.

The literature suggests students in upper primary and secondary grades will benefit from the use of mathematics HW. Results of the study, in contrast, suggest our PSTs teaching early primary grades planned to give proportionally (but not significantly) more mathematics HW than those teaching later grades. Reasons for this disparity are discussed. We argue there is a need in teacher development to equip PSTs with a better understanding of how classroom and home-based learning work together in the development of mathematical understanding.     

Family socioeconomic status,parental expectations,and adolescents’ academic achievements: a case of China

This study examines direct and indirect effects of family socioeconomic status (SES) and parental expectations on adolescents’ mathematics and problem-solving achievement in mainland China. SES here is composed of family wealth, home educational resources, and parental education. Over 5,000 ninth-grade students in 5 geographical districts of China participated in the study and were assessed by using the items adapted from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). Results from structural equation modelling indicated that 2 components of SES – home educational resources and parental education – positively predicted parental expectations; however, the 3rd component – family wealth – negatively predicted parental expectations. Family wealth, parental education, and parental expectations significantly predicted mathematics achievement, and home educational resources, parental education, and parental expectations significantly predicted problem-solving achievement. The 3 components of SES also had significant indirect effects on both mathematics and problem-solving achievement through parental expectations, and the effect of family wealth was a suppression effect. These results were further discussed from Chinese cultural contexts.     

“人以群分”适用于大学生的学业成就吗——基于社会网络分析和Meta分析的方法

嵌入班级网络中的大学生在交往中形成不同的小群体,这些小群体间的学业成就是否具有显著性差异?研究者将社会网络分析方法中的整体网分析与元分析(Meta分析)相结合,在对大学生班级内小群体的学业成就差异进行多项独立研究的基础上,运用元分析技术将29项研究(N=1076)的结果予以综合分析,得到如下结论:(1)每个班级的大学生都在互动过程中形成了不同数量的小群体,且每个小群体中的学生数量不同;(2)大学生学业成就存在着“人以群分”现象,即同一班级的大学生在互动中产生的小群体在学业成就上存在显著性差异。因此,大学生应加强与高学业成就水平的小群体之间的互动以提高学业成就;而高校管理者也应采用科学的方法识别班级中的不同小群体,从而采取相应的学业成就提升策略。     

Self-regulation of homework behaviour: relating grade,gender, and achievement to homework management

Abstract

The present investigation linked grade, gender, and maths achievement to homework management strategies using data from 305 Chinese students in grades 7, 8, and 9. These strategies included arranging the environment, managing time, handling distraction, monitoring motivation, and controlling potentially interfering emotion. A three-way MANOVA examined the effects of grade, gender, and maths achievement on homework management strategies. Grade or gender was not related to homework management strategies. Meanwhile, high-achieving students (compared with low-achieving students) were more likely to arrange the environment, manage time, handle distraction, monitor motivation, and control negative emotion.     

科研成果技术评价改革探讨

当前科研项目的投资主体呈现出多元化，而科研成果的技术评价方式仍由政府主管行政部门管理下的单一评价方式，存在某些弊端，导致了技术需求者对技术评价结论的质疑。要使技术评价结论有更高的权威性，还必须对目前技术评价中的某些不太完善的方面进行改革，体现技术评价结论的国家权威性。本文提出了改变现状的一些设想。     

关于科研单位参与市场竞争的几点认识

本文就科研单位适应市场经济，实现战略转变，总结了实践经验，讨论了几点认识。提出科研单位不能仅以科技成果转让为目标，应加速发展科技产业；不应仅满足于出成果，而应重视并着力于科技成果的转化，才能在社会主义市场经济条件下实现其价值和形成自我积累、自我发展的能力。