Mathematics: a female,male or gender‐neutral domain? A study of attitudes among students at secondary level

The aim of the current study is to investigate whether Swedish secondary school students perceive mathematics as a female, male or gender‐neutral domain. A sample of 1300 students in two age groups, 15‐ and 17‐ years, answered a questionnaire and about 50 students participated in interviews. The main part of the inquiry form consists of Who and mathematics, an attitude scale recently developed by other researchers. The results are analysed with respect to gender, school year and study programme. Gendered attitudes were found among considerable minorities. There is a marked tendency to view mathematics as a symbolically male domain: positive aspects are associated with boys and negative aspects perceived as more female. Older students hold more strongly gendered views than younger. Boys in the science programme have the strongest beliefs of mathematics as a male domain.     

高中英语教师对英语教学法的认知、运用和态度

问卷调查、课堂观察和访谈的结果发现:高中英语教师对英语教学法的了解仍处于浅层,教法思想片段多,而形成体系的抽象思考少;教师对教法的运用缺乏较多的理论指导,模仿因素多于理性因素。这种认知状态也同时会降低课堂教学中理性选择的成分,不利于教师反思能力的培养,不利于教师由实践者向理论型教学专家转化的长远发展。因此,我们有必要对高校英语师范专业培养方案中教学法课程的改革进行新一轮的深入思考。     

Effect of teacher support on students’ math attitudes: Measurement invariance and moderation of students' background characteristics

We examine the effect of students' perceptions of teacher support on attitudes towards math and whether the association varies between students from historically underrepresented groups in STEM. Participants included high school students enrolled in an AP Statistics course (N = 585, M_age = 16.75 years, SD_age = 0.88). Measurement invariance conducted on the basis of student background characteristics (i.e., biological sex, underrepresented race/ethnicity status, and parental educational attainment) provided evidence of metric invariance or greater. Standardized regression coefficients suggested potential differences, such that for students who were female, from an underrepresented racial/ethnicity group in STEM, or had parents with lower levels of education, the effect of teacher support appeared not as strong compared to their counterparts. However, scaled chi-square difference tests comparing nested latent path models did not suggest a moderation effect of these three characteristics. These findings have implications for understanding barriers many students face in receiving the benefits of teacher support.     

Student teachers’ beliefs about the teacher’s role in inclusive education

The main aim of this research is to examine the basic features of student teachers’ professional beliefs about the teacher’s role in relation to teaching mainstream pupils and pupils with developmental disabilities. The starting assumption of this analysis is that teacher professional development is largely dependent upon teachers’ beliefs about various facets of their professional work. These concepts strongly influence the way that teachers teach and the way that they develop as teachers. The participants in the research are 314 student teachers at the Faculty of Teacher Education of the University of Zagreb who are being prepared to teach in lower grades of primary school. The beliefs were explored using a metaphor technique derived from cognitive theory of metaphor. The differences between beliefs about the perceived teacher role in general, and the perceived teacher role in the education of pupils with developmental disabilities were analysed. The results indicate that the dominant belief about the teacher’s role in teaching mainstream pupils is of the teacher as a transmitter of knowledge, while the findings regarding the dominant belief about the teacher’s role in teaching pupils with developmental difficulties appeared to be self-cantered orientation. No differences were found between student teachers at different study levels. The findings are discussed in the light of the curriculum of initial teacher education.     

Pupils’ attitudes to school and music at the start of secondary school

This study aims to explore pupils’ affective engagement with school and music during their transition to secondary school. A gender comparison is also being made to ascertain any differences that may exist between boys and girls during this time. A sample of 182 pupils completed two questionnaires (attitudes to school and attitudes to music) three times (at the end of Year 6, at the beginning and end of Year 7). A series of one-way repeated measures analysis of variance tests showed that pupils’ overall attitudes to school dropped significantly from the end of Year 6 to the end of Year 7 with their enjoyment towards school and their satisfaction with the work environment declining. Pupils’ attitudes to music presented a significant fall at the end of Year 7 after a slight improvement at the beginning of secondary school. Girls held consistently more positive attitudes towards school and music than boys. It is suggested that pupils’ attitudes are malleable and responsive to environmental change and, therefore, this problem can be remedied if appropriate interventions are put into place particularly regarding the teacher-pupil relationship and pupils’ perceived autonomy in their learning.     

Pupils’ attitudes towards foreign-language learning and the development of literacy skills in bilingual education

The study investigated the effects of bilingual teaching on the development of children's literacy skills and attitudes towards language learning. In the bilingual classes 20% of the instruction was given in English. Pupils’ literacy skills in the bilingual classes were significantly better than in the monolingual classes. When observing pupils who started first grade with either a poor or an excellent level of school readiness, there was no significant difference between bilingual and monolingual groups. In addition, the pupils in bilingual classes showed significantly more positive attitudes towards foreign-language learning than the pupils in monolingual classes.     

Investigating learner attitudes toward e-books as learning tools: based on the activity theory approach

This paper investigates the use of e-books as learning tools in terms of learner satisfaction, usefulness, behavioral intention, and learning effectiveness. Based on the activity theory approach, this research develops a research model to understand learner attitudes toward e-books in two physical sizes: 10″ and 7″. Results suggest that screen size could affect learners' perceived self-efficacy in using 10″ and 7″ e-books. Interactive learning environments, acceptable screen size, perceived self-regulation, and self-efficacy could positively influence perceived satisfaction with and usefulness of e-books as learning tools. Perceived satisfaction and usefulness are crucial factors in learner behavioral intention which, in turn, contributes to learning effectiveness. The paper also proposes a conceptual research model based on the activity theory approach.     

Student affect and conceptual understanding in learning chemistry

This study explores the relationship between affective and cognitive variables in grade 9 chemistry students (n = 73). In particular, it explores how students' situational interest, their attitudes toward chemistry, and their chemistry‐specific self‐concept influence their understanding of chemistry concepts over the course of a school year. All affective variables were assessed at two time points: at the middle of the first semester of grade 9, and at the end of the second semester of grade 9, and then related to students' postinstructional understanding of chemical concepts. Results reveal that none of the affective variables measured at the earliest time point have a significant direct effect on postinstructional conceptual understanding. Looking at the different affective variables as intermediary constructs, however, reveals a pattern in which self‐concept and situational interest measured at the middle of grade 9 contribute to self‐concept measured at the end of grade 9, which in turn, has a positive, significant effect on students' postinstructional conceptual understanding. These results reveal the importance of a strong and positive self‐concept, the feeling of doing well in the chemistry class, for developing a meaningful understanding of scientific concepts. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 44: 908–937, 2007