Validation of the Intrapersonal Technology Integration Scale: Assessing the Influence of Intrapersonal Factors that Influence Technology Integration

Teachers' beliefs about their self-efficacy for integrating technology, their outcome expectations for integrating technology, and their interest in using technology to support student learning influence their intentions for incorporating technology into their instructional practices. To date, instruments developed to examine the relationships among these factors have focused primarily on measuring self-efficacy. The Intrapersonal Technology Integration scale was developed to expand our understanding of intrapersonal cognitive variables that affect teachers' predispositions toward integrating technology into their teaching.     

Down to the Wire: Confronting Climate Collapse,by David W. Orr

ABSTRACT

This article examines environmental education by focusing on recreationist expectations for interpretation on marine tours, satisfaction with this interpretation and whether expectations were met, and how these perceptions correlate with components of the norm activation model. Recreationists surveyed before and after tours to Molokini, Hawaii (n = 439) had high pre-trip expectations for interpretation (e.g., about reefs, history), but satisfaction was lower and expectations for many recreationists were not met. Those who had their expectations met had higher problem awareness and ascribed more responsibility (i.e., norm activation) than those who did not, suggesting that interpretation is desired and may promote pro-environmental behavior.     

The Educational Attainment Process Among Adolescents with Disabilities And Children of Parents with Disabilities

This article uses data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 (NLSY97) to examine the relationship between disability, parental and youth university expectations in 1997, and youth high school completion and university enrolment by 2003. Results indicate that educational attainment is not equal for young adults with and without disabilities in the United States. Parents—but not adolescents—are likely to reduce their educational expectations when adolescents have a mild or serious disability, net of school performance. These parental—but not adolescent—expectations are significantly associated with high school completion. Finally, even after controlling for educational expectations and school performance, youth with serious disabilities are much less likely to graduate from high school than youth without disabilities. Despite the considerable strides made in the implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, students with disabilities are not achieving educational parity in graded schooling.     

Investigating the Power of Authentically Caring Student-Teacher Relationships for Latinx Students

Culturally responsive and authentically caring pedagogy is vitally important to academic success for Latinx students. This type of teaching is based on reciprocal relationships between students and teachers, and incorporates students’ funds of knowledge. This qualitative case study brings the voices of Latinx students to the forefront by examining how their teachers help create “funds of caring” for the students by cultivating authentically caring relationships, and by highlighting what these relationships mean for the students. Findings show that teachers can make school a meaningful and positive experience for Latinx youth by interacting with students in authentically caring ways.     

“Turned off” or “ready to fly” – Ability grouping as an act of symbolic violence in primary school

This paper presents findings from a mixed methodological study exploring teacher perspectives on the use of ability grouping in primary schools in Ireland. Results indicated that teachers were shown to ‘funnel and filter’ children into differentiated ability groups, conceptualised as acts of symbolic violence. This had particular implications for learners assigned to the ‘weaker’ groups, most especially boys, minority ethnic/migrant children and those with additional support needs. Factors related to length of teacher experience and engagement with continuous professional development were found to mediate the strength of framing of children's learning in ability groups.     

Academic entitlement: relations to perceptions of parental warmth and psychological control

Academic entitlement characterises students who expect positive academic outcomes without personal effort. The current study examined the relations of perceived parental warmth and parental psychological control with two dimensions of academic entitlement (i.e. entitled expectations and externalised responsibility) among college students. Psychology students participated by completing measures of perceived parenting and academic entitlement through an online survey system. Results demonstrated that perceived parental warmth was a negative predictor of externalised responsibility and parental psychological control was a positive predictor of externalised responsibility. Additionally, there was a warmth by control interaction such that parental psychological control was related to greater externalised responsibility only when combined with moderate to high parental warmth. For entitled expectations, both perceived parental warmth and psychological control were positive predictors. The findings suggest that parenting practices may play an important role in academic entitlement and highlight the need for further research to elucidate potential developmental pathways of academic entitlement.     

Teacher Perceptions of Learning Motivation and Classroom Behavior: The Role of Student Characteristics

The present study investigates whether teacher perceptions of students’ cognitive skills, their learning motivation, and their classroom behavior differ according to students’ socioeconomic status, immigrant background, and gender. Data from N = 4746 German fourth graders and data from their parents and teachers were analyzed using structural equation modeling. Controlling for student achievement as measured in a standardized achievement test and student motivation as measured by student and parent reports, we found that teachers overestimated the cognitive skills of high-SES students and girls in comparison to those of low-SES students and boys. Similarly, teachers perceived high-SES students, students who are not from an immigrant background, and girls as having a higher learning motivation and as having more cognitive skills. Finally, we found that teachers’ perceptions of students’ learning motivation and classroom behavior mediated the relationship between student characteristics and cognitive skills as perceived by the teacher.     

When worlds collide: Academic adjustment of Somali Bantu students with limited formal education in a U.S. elementary school

This paper reports on the findings of a two-year ethnographic study of newly arrived Somali Bantu refugee students in a U.S. elementary school (K-6) in Chicago. These data paint a detailed picture of students’ behavioral and academic adjustment to school, and the drivers behind “behavioral incidents” (instances when children’s behavior presented a problem for school staff) and their academic engagement or disengagement. Bantu students required a degree of flexibility and accommodation from their teachers, whose attitudes toward acculturation could generally be characterized as “assimilationist” (requiring students to conform to U.S. culture and school rules) or “multicultural” (respecting and accepting the students expressing their heritage culture at the school). This study illustrates the difficulties faced by refugee students with limited or interrupted formal education (SLIFE) when adjusting to U.S. schools, and the pressures placed on teachers and other school staff. Strategies used by teachers in working with SLIFE are described. These findings also extend the literature on the academic engagement of immigrants to this group of SLIFE. In this study, SLIFE were disengaged not because of disinterest or resisting adult expectations at school but because they were unfamiliar with the culture of schooling and did not have the academic background necessary to complete school tasks. The study also illustrates the need to provide schools with adequate support to accommodate the needs of SLIFE.