Within-year changes in children’s intrinsic and extrinsic motivational orientations: Contextual predictors and academic outcomes

The present study was designed to investigate the nature, timing, and correlates of motivational change among a large sample (N = 1051) of third- through eighth-grade students. Analyses of within-year changes in students’ motivational orientations revealed that both intrinsic and extrinsic motivations decreased from fall to spring, with declines in intrinsic motivation especially pronounced for the adolescents and declines in extrinsic motivation especially pronounced for the elementary students. These changes in motivation were explained, in part, by shifts in students’ perceptions of the school goal context. Findings suggested that typical age-related declines in intrinsic motivation may be minimized by a school-wide focus on mastery goals. Finally, the potential academic consequences of students’ motivational orientations were examined with a series of hierarchical multiple regressions. Intrinsic motivation and classroom achievement appeared to influence one another in a positive and reciprocal fashion. Poor classroom performance minimally predicted higher levels of extrinsic motivation, but extrinsic motivation was not a source of low classroom grades.     

Educational Attainment as Process: Using Hierarchical Discrete-Time Event History Analysis to Model Rate of Progress

Variables that address student enrollment patterns (e.g., persistence, enrollment inconsistency, completed credit hours, course credit load, course completion rate, procrastination) constitute a longstanding fixture of analytical strategies in educational research, particularly research that focuses on explaining variation in academic outcomes. However, nearly all measures of enrollment patterns are handicapped by untested assumptions about a more fundamental measure, namely students’ rate of progress. In this paper, I first explain how a variety of widely used measures of enrollment patterns are inextricably linked to students’ rate of progress. I then describe a method of modeling mathematically students’ rate of progress that employs hierarchical (multilevel) discrete-time event history analysis of repeated events. I conclude with an empirical example of the application of this method in which I test several hypotheses concerning students’ rate of progress through the remedial math sequence toward the outcome of college-level math competency. In addition to the utility of the method that is proposed here, the issues discussed in this paper have important practical implications for institutional research, particularly with respect to the use of the various measures of enrollment patterns to explain variation in students’ attainment.

Developmental co‐ordination disorder (DCD): more than just a movement difficulty

Developmental co‐ordination disorder (DCD) also known as dyspraxia, is characterised by severe impairment of movement that has a detrimental effect on activities of daily living. This impairment of movement can be the result of poor planning or execution during an action. An assessment for DCD usually comprises of a standardised test for movement skills and clinical observations, but an assessment may not always consider both planning and/or execution components. This study used an ecologically valid task to examine how typically developing children compared with children with DCD plan and execute their movements in response to a novel movement challenge. Children were asked to cross a ‘river’ using as few ‘stepping stones’ (carpet tiles) as possible without falling in. The study measured a number of variables in order to construct a profile of the child's ability to plan and execute movements, including pattern and consistency of movement, and distance travelled by each child, as well as the ability to formulate and correct their plan. The results of this pilot study showed both differences and similarities between the two groups, with the DCD group showing more difficulties in planning, executing and in correcting their movements, as well as being more inconsistent in their movement patterns. The results are discussed in terms of the need for multiple measures for a complete assessment of a child, the implications for educational practice and the potential of an additional clinical tool to aid intervention in children with DCD.     

成人从经验中学习：现状、问题与期待

经验学习作为成人教育学的理论假说之一。研究者一直在不懈地加以确证。文章综述分析了前人在这方面的研究成果和观点,包括成人从经验中学习的重要性、学习过程、影响因素、学习模式和方法等;同时分析了前人研究存在的缺陷：缺乏系统框架,缺乏深入机理,缺乏案例研究,缺乏成人有实际指导意义的方法体系,缺乏组织从经验中的学习研究。并提出了今后期待的研究重点和方向。     

Positive childhood experiences predict less psychopathology and stress in pregnant women with childhood adversity: A pilot study of the benevolent childhood experiences (BCEs) scale

This pilot study examined the psychometric properties of the Benevolent Childhood Experiences (BCEs) scale, a new instrument designed to assess positive early life experiences in adults with histories of childhood maltreatment and other adversities. A counterpart to the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) questionnaire, the BCEs was developed to be multiculturally-sensitive and applicable regardless of socioeconomic position, urban-rural background, or immigration status. Higher levels of BCEs were hypothesized to predict lower levels of psychopathology and stress beyond the effects of ACES in a sample of ethnically diverse, low-income pregnant women. BCEs were also expected to show adequate internal validity across racial/ethnic groups and test-retest stability from the prenatal to the postnatal period. Participants were 101 pregnant women (M = 29.10 years, SD = 6.56, range = 18–44; 37% Latina, 22% African-American, 20% White, 21% biracial/multiracial/other; 37% foreign-born, 26% Spanish-speaking) who completed the BCEs and ACEs scales; assessments of prenatal depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, perceived stress, and exposure to stressful life events (SLEs) during pregnancy; and demographic information. Higher levels of BCEs predicted less PTSD symptoms and SLEs, above and beyond ACEs. The BCEs showed excellent test-retest reliability, and mean levels were comparable across racial/ethnic and Spanish-English groups of women. Person-oriented analyses also showed that higher levels of BCEs offset the effects of ACEs on prenatal stress and psychopathology. The BCEs scale indexes promising promotive factors associated with lower trauma-related symptomatology and stress exposure during pregnancy and illuminates how favorable childhood experiences may counteract long-term effects of childhood adversity.     

技术开发类科研机构创新能力直觉模糊排序方法及应用——以广东省属10所技术开发类机构为例

依据我国技术开发类科研机构的基本特征,从创新支撑、活动、产出、影响、运营能力五大维度出发,提出技术开发类科研机构创新能力评价指标体系。利用熵权法求取各指标权重大小,通过直觉模糊数相关系数计算各科研机构与理想、临界机构加权相关系数,提出直觉模糊排序方法。最后,选取广东省属10所技术开发类科研机构为样本,并利用该方法进行创新能力评价研究,给出提升该类科研机构创新能力的相关建议。     

中德文化与语言差异简析

中国人和德国人在哲学思想、文化理念、语言使用、生活习俗等方面的某些认知差异具体表现在:对哲学思辨、皇帝宗教、道家理论等问题的看法各异, 在做客、送礼、饮食、服饰等方面的生活习俗不同,从而使得中德两国的跨文化交际不时出现误解或者障碍.认真分析对比这种民族文化差异,有助于进一步了解日耳曼民族的文化内涵与风土人情,掌握德语的使用特点.     

广西城乡学校初中生科学态度的调查与比较——以南宁横县两所学校为例

基础教育课程改革将培养学生的科学素养作为科学教育的总目标,其中科学态度是科学素养的重要组成部分之一,通过调查城乡基础学校学生的科学态度能够了解学生对待科学情感与价值观,从而更好的审视教育均衡发展问题。文章以广西南宁横县的城乡两所学校为例,对126名初二学生的科学态度开展调查。调查发现总体上科学态度是比较积极的,城乡学生对科学态度有差异性,城镇学校女生相对男生的科学态度较积极,而乡镇学校则是男生较积极。这为更好的培养学生的科学素养提供了基于研究的证据并提出指导性建议。     

发展性评价在少数民族地区普通高中健美操选修课教学中应用的实证研究

以广西百色高中健美操选修课程学生为研究对象,采用文献资料法、实验法、数理统计法、逻辑分析法,论证了在少数民族普通高中的健美操选修课中使用发展性评价的优越性;通过实验研究,证明了其在健美操选修课程中的可行性,验证了对学生兴趣、身体素质、健美操专项能力和自我评价上的助益,并提出了建议。     

Biomedicine,psychology and the kindergarten: children at risk and emerging knowledge practices

This study moves in the space between two fields: science and technology studies (STS) and childhood studies; it thus belongs to the broader STS literature that investigates everyday practices outside the laboratory. The interpretation of ethnographic and bibliographic data on contemporary cardiovascular and obesity prevention in German kindergartens makes evident that when knowledge travels from biomedical laboratories to the preschool, then psychology comes into play! Bodies of knowledge such as behavioural or cognitive theories shape prevention and intervention practices, which could be seen as originally resulting from biomedical findings and trends. Accompanying this development is a change in the primary sciences that deal with childhood: these are no longer pedagogy or developmental and educational psychology (at least in their traditional forms), but ‘developmental science’. All this shapes contemporary childhood in quite normative ways. It thus remains an open question what non- or less normative institutional practices and bodies of knowledge could look like.