Evaluating the perception of disability and the inclusive education of teachers: the Italian validation of the Sacie-R (Sentiments,Attitudes, and Concerns about Inclusive Education – Revised Scale)

This study aimed to verify the factorial structure, internal validity, reliability, and criterion validity of The Sentiments, Attitudes and Concerns about Inclusive Education Revised Scale (SACIE-R) in an Italian sample. The SACIE-R is a useful tool to measure three aspects of teachers’ perceptions about inclusion, which are Sentiments, Attitudes and Concerns, providing valuable information to address the needs of teachers working with special students. A measure of this construct is currently not available in Italian, and a validation process is required. In order to provide an initial psychometric evaluation of the Italian adaptation, the SACIE-R was translated for use in Italian-speaking populations. Four hundred Italian teachers enrolled in educational teaching courses completed the SACIE-R. Confirmatory factor analyses demonstrated a good fit to the hypothesised 3-factor model, and adequate internal consistency for the scale was evidenced. A confirmatory factor analysis showed the same factor structural validity as the original instrument (although some items in the original version were deleted). Furthermore, taken together, the results showed a good level of reliability, and convergent and discriminant validity. Finally, the Italian version of the SACIE-R has good psychometric characteristics that can make it a useful measure of teacher attitude toward inclusion in the Italian educational context.     

Effort and ability attributions as explanation for differences in study choice after failure: evidence from a hypothetical vignette study among first-entry bachelor students in a Belgian university

European Journal of Psychology of Education - This study investigates to what extent differences in ability and effort attributions can explain students’ reluctance to reorient after failure...     

Query reformulation mining: models,patterns, and applications

Understanding query reformulation patterns is a key task towards next generation web search engines. If we can do that, then we can build systems able to understand and possibly predict user intent, providing the needed assistance at the right time, and thus helping users locate information more effectively and improving their web-search experience. As a step in this direction, we build a very accurate model for classifying user query reformulations into broad classes (generalization, specialization, error correction or parallel move), achieving 92% accuracy. We then apply the model to automatically label two very large query logs sampled from different geographic areas, and containing a total of approximately 17 million query reformulations. We study the resulting reformulation patterns, matching some results from previous studies performed on smaller manually annotated datasets, and discovering new interesting reformulation patterns, including connections between reformulation types and topical categories. We annotate two large query-flow graphs with reformulation type information, and run several graph-characterization experiments on these graphs, extracting new insights about the relationships between the different query reformulation types. Finally we study query recommendations based on short random walks on the query-flow graphs. Our experiments show that these methods can match in precision, and often improve, recommendations based on query-click graphs, without the need of users’ clicks. Our experiments also show that it is important to consider transition-type labels on edges for having recommendations of good quality.     

Teaching style and academic achievement: The mediating role of learned helplessness and mastery orientation

Although several studies have investigated the roles of teaching practices during the learning process on students, the role of school learned helplessness (LH) and mastery orientation (MO) has not been deeply examined. The present study aimed to verify the dynamics between academic achievement and the perception of the students of their teacher's psychological control and autonomy support by examining the mediating role of school LH and MO. Results confirmed that perceived teacher psychological control can predict school LH, whereas perceived teacher autonomy support can predict school MO. Additionally, academic achievement was positively predicted by school MO, whereas it was negatively predicted by school LH. Finally, analyses have shown that school LH and MO play a mediating role in the relationship between academic achievement and the perceived teacher autonomy support and psychological control. Limitations and implications are discussed.     

Infrared thermography and Georadar techniques applied to the “Sala delle Nicchie” (Niches Hall) of Palazzo Pitti,Florence (Italy)

Two noninvasive geophysical techniques, infrared thermography and georadar, were used in this study to investigate the internal walls of the “Sala delle Nicchie” (Niches Hall) of Pitti Palace, in Florence. The aim of this work was to verify that the original architectonic setting of this Hall was as reported in a planimetry of anonymous author dated late 1700. This document shows that the “Sala delle Nicchie” was characterized at that time by 10 niches instead of the six that are visible today. Both the infrared thermography and georadar surveys confirmed the presence and location of the niches as indicated in the planimetry. This study results prove the importance and benefit of using nondestructive techniques in sites of artistic and historical interest.