bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
INDIVIDUAL AND GROUP DIFFERENCES IN STUDY PROCESSES
Authors: BIGGS J. B. 
Published: May 2011

Summary. Study processes are postulated to intervene between classes of presage variables (personological, institutional) and product variables (academic performance). Results from several studies indicate that particular study strategies are deployed with differing success according to certain personality factors, most notably a syndrome of characteristics related to internal or external locus of control. Institutional factors that have an effect on study behaviour include Faculty membership (Arts/Science), mode of evaluation (Objective/Essay), and method of combining marks for final grade.The interaction between personality and environmental factors as determining performance is, however, rather complex and no easy generalisations can be drawn, beyond saying that academic success is not achieved by any single study strategy; ‘good’ students work effectively in quite diverse but characteristic ways. Ten dimensions of study process have evolved as sub‐scales in a Study Process Questionnaire (SPQ), and they show a stable second‐order structure consisting of three orthogonal dimensions: Reproducing, Internalising and Organising. Each dimension comprises a unique version of the value‐motive‐strategy complex. Two different models of the interaction between dimensions are postulated together with implications for future research.
INVITED ADDRESS: SCOTTISH COUNCIL FOR RESEARCH IN EDUCATION*
Authors: VERNON P. E. 
Published: May 2011

Summary.— Changing ideas on intelligence testing and the heritability of intelligence are followed through a fifty‐year period. Common criticisms of intelligence tests are examined, but it is concluded that intellectual tests will continue to be of value in diagnosing the strengths and weaknesses, particularly of exceptional children.The arguments about the extent to which heredity and environment contribute to the development of intelligence are traced through a turbulent period. The evidence presented is consistent with an environmental contribution of over 20 per cent of the variance, although the precise value is not considered to be as important as recognising that both genes and environment have very substantial effects on the measured intelligence of children. The inaccuracies detected in some of the research reports on the heritability of intelligence are not considered to invalidate the argument as a whole.
KINDERGARTEN PROGRAMMES AND THE YOUNG CHILD'S TASK ORIENTATION AND UNDERSTANDING ABOUT TIME SCHEDULING
Authors: NASH B. C. 
Published: May 2011

Summary. In a cumulative study over five years, detailed evaluation of kindergarten programmes was made along the dimensions of teacher treatment of time, classroom spatial arrangement, equipment and materials, and communication between people. After preliminary studies, four types of programme varying in time scheduling and planning for and reinforcement of task orientation were defined. The effects of the programmes on four‐ and five‐year‐old pupils were observed.As predicted, the task orientation of the children in both age groups varied with the degree of attention to programme planning to enhance it. Detailed description of the task orientation enhancing programme is provided. Girls in all programmes increased their task orientation more than boys, and in regular programmes decreased their task orientation in response to teacher‐planned interruptions.In the enhancing programmes, children felt more responsibility for their own learning. It is concluded that the climate of the classroom for young children is set mainly through the treatment of time. The early part of the school is the period when task orientation can be increased and during the second half of the year it is consolidated or decreased. In programmes of the type most commonly used in North America and Great Britain, task orientation was found to decrease between January and May for almost half the children.
SOME DETERMINANTS OF EARLY SECONDARY SCHOOL PERFORMANCE
Authors: YOUNGMAN M. B. 
Published: May 2011

Summary. This paper reports further analyses of a study of primary/secondary transfer for which certain findings have already been published (Youngman and Lunzer, 1977; Youngman, 1978; Youngman, 1979). Here the concern is to examine the various pupil characteristics that might determine subsequent academic performance in secondary school. It employs covariance regression models rather than the more customary stepwise or complete models and consequently slightly different hypotheses are investigated. Specifically the analyses seek to determine what measures or sets of measures have independent effects on achievement or progress in reading or mathematics. Two samples (N=290 and 359) are analysed separately to test the possible generality of the results obtained.The results presented comprise the two sample correlation matrices, a covariance regression summary table for reading achievement, and summary charts for all four performance criteria analyses. Most of the discussion and interpretation is based on these summary charts. From them it is seen that in spite of differences in intellectual level (Youngman, 1978) variations between the results for the two samples are small. The predominant pattern indicates that neither biographic nor dispositional (that is, attitude or personality) characteristics show any marked independent effect on performance. On the other hand intellectual characteristics show strong effects, both individually and in association with other intellectual measures.
TEACHING STYLES AND PUPIL PROGRESS: A RE‐ANALYSIS
Authors: AITKIN M. , BENNETT S. N. , HESKETH JANE 
Published: May 2011

Summary. The object of the study was to examine the statistical techniques available for the analysis of process‐product studies involving non‐randomised quasi‐experimental designs, and to demonstrate the practical effects of their use on the data from the Teaching Styles study (Bennett, 1976). Of particular concern were the ‘unit of analysis’ or aggregation problem, and the differential effects of treatment grouping by cluster and factor methods.The original grouping of teachers into formal, informal and mixed styles was investigated using a latent class model for the 38 binary questionnaire items. Convincing evidence of three overlapping latent classes was found. The comparison of latent classes in terms of pre‐test gain scores was examined using a series of variance component models, allowing for correlation of children within the same class. Differences among classes were altered by the probabilistic clustering of the latent class model compared to the original findings, and the significance of the differences was reduced when the correlation among children was allowed for.
THE USE OF ABSOLUTE AND RELATIVE CODES IN CHILDREN'S DISCRIMINATION LEARNING
Authors: PRYCE SUSAN D. , SLATER A. M. 
Published: May 2011

Summary. Four experiments are described in which children's and adults' abilities to detect and respond to the absolute and relative features of stimuli varying in size were investigated. The first two experiments confirmed and extended previous findings and indicated that young children depend primarily on relative codes and have difficulties in registering the absolute values of stimuli. In Experiment 3 this finding was reversed and four‐year‐old children (a) performed best in a learning task in which both the absolute and relative components of the stimuli were held constant, and (b) learned more quickly in a task requiring abstraction of the absolute components of the stimuli than in one where relative cues only were available. Differences in the methodologies of the two designs were explored in Experiment 4 in order to resolve the apparently contradictory nature of these findings. Overall, the results of the four experiments lead to the conclusion that relational responding to a stimulus that is of intermediate size is more difficult than responding to the absolute properties of a stimulus, which in turn is more difficult than responding to a simple relational cue such as smallest or largest.The results of the experiments show that children from an early age are able to abstract and respond both to the relative and absolute properties of stimuli, and that the features responded to in a particular experiment are determined primarily, not by age, but by the characteristics of the experimental design and by the nature of the absolute or relative response required.
SEX DIFFERENCES IN OBJECTIVE TEST PERFORMANCE
Authors: MURPHY R. J. L. 
Published: May 2011

Summary. The choice of techniques used in making educational assessments may have a crucial influence on the relative performance of various groups of individuals. It has, for example, been suggested that males may obtain better results when objective (multiple‐choice) tests are employed rather than other methods of assessment. This particular possibility is explored in relation to a selection of 16 GCE examinations, which were selected for the investigation because they all included both objective tests and other methods of assessment in their overall schemes of assessment.The results from the majority of these examinations supported the hypothesis that males perform better, in relation to females, on objective tests than they do on other forms of assessment. The influence of different levels of written language skills on the performance of males and females on certain non‐objective forms of assessment is put forward as a possible explanation for these results. The implications of the findings for those wanting to avoid bias, when constructing schemes of assessment, are also discussed.
THE PSYCHOMETRY OF OBJECTIVE MOTIVATION MEASUREMENT: A RESPONSE TO THE CRITIQUE OF COOPER AND KLINE
Authors: CATTELL R. B. 
Published: May 2011

Summary. In the last 40 years the evaluation of tests has developed from an itemetric to a structural psychometric viewpoint. A contemporary critique of the Motivation Analysis Test, however, illustrates the need for a wider appreciation of this advance than is manifested in many current discussions on tests. Perhaps the most frequent instance of this problem is the confusion of the homogeneity coefficient with a reliability coefficient or even with a concept validity coefficient.The MAT criticism is shown to be faulty in not recognising that (a) validity tends to be better with low than high homogeneity; (b) item correlation with the test pool is, through specifics, substantially lower than with the factor; (c) when there are, as here, few items per scale, the removal of the item from the pool underestimates the mean r of items with the pool; (d) motivation and interest measurement, by contrast with, say, ability measurements, require, for a broad factor (e.g., an ergic (drive) expression), a far broader coverage in content and in method, i.e., low homogeneity is needed also on psychological grounds; (e) dynamic traits are also culturally more embedded than other modalities and the test examined had not been adapted to an English milieu.Advance in objective dynamic structure measures requires special skills (a) psycho‐metrically, because of the instrument factor and ipsative scoring problems and (b) psychologically, because high clinical insight and creative artistry is demanded in item construction.
VERBAL AND NON‐VERBAL COMMUNICATION IN TEACHING: A STUDY OF TRAINEE P.E. TEACHERS IN THE GYMNASIUM
Authors: FOX CYNTHIA , POPPLETON PAM 
Published: May 2011

Summary. Argyle and Kendon's (1967) model of social skills provided the framework for examining the relationship between verbal and non‐verbal aspects of the performance of trainee teachers in the particular context of the school gymnasium. Seventy‐seven female student teachers at a specialist PE college were observed during teaching practice by observers who had been trained to use a schedule containing 23 items grouped into four major categories of the verbal and non‐verbal behaviours shown by teachers and pupils. Factor analysis of the observational data produced eight oblique factors summarising the relationship between items. Cluster analysis of the same process variables identified four stable lesson “styles” which could be ordered along a dimension of pupil involvement. Observational data were also obtained on three major sets of context variables. These, along with personality measures and teaching practice ratings were used to discriminate between the clusters.The results are interpreted to reveal within this context (a) particular associations of verbal and non‐verbal elements in communicative acts, (b) the components of lesson styles relative to pupil responsiveness and (c) the relative importance of the standing features of student performance as compared to the dynamic features as these relate to the modifiability of teaching.
THE USE AND VALUE OF ILLUSTRATIONS AS CONTEXTUAL INFORMATION FOR READERS AT DIFFERENT PROGRESS AND DEVELOPMENTAL LEVELS
Authors: DONALD D. R. 
Published: May 2011

Summary. Controversy surrounds the role of illustrations in reading development. Supporters of the focal attention hypothesis claim that illustrations act as distractors in learning the cues to individual word recognition. Conversely, within a psycholinguistic framework, the contextual hypothesis maintains that in learning to read continuous text illustrations may constitute a legitimate source of semantic information. Whether this serves an adaptive function and at what levels of reading development was the essential research question.From 1868 children across grades I to V, 120 good and poor readers at reading ages 7 and 9 were selected. Subjects read narrative extracts of 320 words with or without illustrations. Results in general confirmed the contextual hypothesis. More specifically, illustrations were adaptively used in terms of textual message identification, information processing strategy and comprehension by good readers at RA7. Poor readers particularly at RA9 showed significant illustration effects but strategy results suggested a non‐adaptive function. Good readers at RA9 were least affected, appearing independent of illustrative information.
SCHOOLS AND SMOKING: SCHOOL FEATURES AND VARIATIONS IN CIGARETTE SMOKING BY CHILDREN AND TEACHERS
Authors: JOHNSON M. R. D. , BEWLEY B. R. , BANKS M. H. , BLAND J. M. , CLYDE D. V. 
Published: May 2011

Summary. There is a need for greater understanding of influences on childhood uptake of the smoking habit. Some evidence has been put forward that ‘school characteristics' as much as the personal characteristics of children and their families may play some role. A cohort study in Derbyshire secondary schools provided an opportunity to examine this thesis.The role of school organisational features unrelated to smoking, such as are found to affect educational achievement, was generally slight and inconclusive. Other more directly related issues such as health education provided counter‐intuitive results which may suggest a reversal of the causal hypothesis. Social class and peer influences were important and underline the need for a better understanding of the psychology of life‐styles and role‐modelling in smoking behaviour modification.
THE DETERMINANTS OF TEACHERS' ATTITUDES TO INTEGRATING THE INTELLECTUALLY HANDICAPPED
Authors: THOMAS DAVID 
Published: May 2011

Summary. The main purpose of this study was to identify those factors which serve as the best predictors of teachers' attitudes to integrating the intellectually handicapped. The factors that were investigated were selected on the basis of a review of the relevant research literature, a consideration of psychological and sociological theories of attitude formation and interviews with teachers and educational psychologists.Teachers' attitudes to integration were assessed by a Q‐sort, the content of which was derived from a review of the integration literature and discussions with teachers. The sample consisted of 550 primary and secondary teachers, special class and special school teachers, withdrawal teachers, special education advisers and school principals in Devon and Tucson, Arizona.The identification of interaction among the independent variables was the main feature of the data analysis. The attitude of the “contact” special educator, conservatism as a dimension of personality, type of teaching, the tradition of special educational organisation in the area and the teacher's perception of her competence in selecting appropriate methods were shown to be significant factors in teachers' support for or opposition to integration.
OPEN EDUCATION AND READING COMPREHENSION OF HIGH‐ABILITY AND LOW‐ABILITY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PUPILS
Authors: ESHEL YOHANAN , WAINRYB CECILIA , SHACHAR HANA 
Published: May 2011

Summary.Effects of open education on reading comprehension assignments involving both high inference and low inference items were assessed. Seven hundred and thirty‐three primary school children stratified by instructional methods, grade levels, and cognitive ability participated in the study. Open education pupils of both higher and lower IQ levels manifested higher performance than students of traditional classes on all four reading comprehension subtests employed. Differences between instructional methods were more pronounced, the higher the level of inference required. However, no cumulative effects of more prolonged exposure to open education were found. The results are discussed in terms of implementation of open education methods.
OPEN‐ENDED ATTRIBUTIONS FOR OUTCOME ON A MAJOR NATIONAL EXAMINATION
Authors: CHAPMAN JAMES W. , LAWES MERYL M. 
Published: May 2011

Summary.Free response attributions for outcome on the New Zealand School Certificate English examination were investigated. This examination is one of the major external subject‐based assessments in the New Zealand secondary school system. The study was designed to provide information on what attributions are actually made by students in response to outcome on major examinations involving high personal significance. In addition, examination outcome causes were also studied in terms of expected vs. actual examination outcome. Three hundred and eighty‐eight examinees participated in the study. The results indicated that typical and immediate effort attributions accounted for about 50 per cent of all attributions offered. Fewer attributions were made to other causes, with the English examination itself, ability, and teacher‐related factors being the main additional causes cited. Variations in attributions as a function of examination outcome (pass‐fail) and expectancy confirmation (confirm‐disconfirm) were discussed. Finally, implications for failing students were considered in terms of attribution retraining approaches.
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SCHOOL TYPE AND ADOLESCENT SELF ESTEEM, ATTRIBUTION STYLES, AND AFFILIATION NEEDS: IMPLICATIONS FOR EDUCATIONAL OUTCOME
Authors: FOON ANNE E. 
Published: May 2011

Summary. This paper explores the notion that the type of school attended will affect adolescents' self esteem, locus‐of‐control orientation, and affiliation needs. It proceeds to examine the view that these are in turn linked to success in particular subject areas, assessments of achievement in these same subjects, perceptions of the importance of school life and future career options.A sample of 1,675 school children, 896 males and 779 females from sixteen non‐government schools was employed. The majority (79 per cent) attended single‐sex schools while the remainder attended co‐educational schools. Major results indicated that type of school attended did have consequences in terms of adolescents' stated preferences and rated achievement in subjects. Students attending co‐educational school were found to have more traditional subject preferences and assessments of achievement in those subject areas than students attending single‐sex schools. Students attending co‐educational schools were also found to have lower self esteem, and greater affiliation with peers than students from single‐sex schools. However, these relationships were not simple. Sex differences mediated the major associations reported between type of school attended and adolescent self perceptions.Interpretations of these and other results and suggestions for further exploration of associations are given.
SECTIONAL DRAWINGS FROM SCIENCE TEXTBOOKS: AN EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION INTO PUPILS' UNDERSTANDING
Authors: CONSTABLE HILARY , CAMPBELL BOB , BROWN RON 
Published: May 2011

Summary. This paper examines aspects of children's understanding of illustrations used as an adjunct to learning. It reports an experiment designed to determine whether first‐year secondary school pupils could identify the cut surfaces of objects in six biological illustrations taken from commonly used textbooks.The results show that few children were able to perform the tasks correctly but that the illustrations were not equally difficult. Picture analysis indicated that not only the features of the object depicted but also the number and type of pictorial conventions employed posed significant difficulties.It is concluded that the findings have implications both for theories of perceptual development and for the role of illustrations in teaching. It is suggested that teachers should regard the use of illustrations as learning aids as problematical and consider the need to teach about illustrations.
WHEN LESS INFORMATION IS MORE INFORMATIVE: DIAGNOSING TEACHER EXPECTATIONS FROM BRIEF SAMPLES OF BEHAVIOUR
Authors: BABAD ELISHA , BERNIERI FRANK , ROSENTHAL ROBERT 
Published: May 2011

Summary. Teacher behaviour reflecting their differential expectations was investigated in a context‐minimal method, where judges rate extremely brief (10‐second) clips of videotaped teacher behaviour, separated into isolated non‐verbal and verbal channels (face, body, speech content, tone of voice, etc.). Teachers were recorded when talking about and talking to high‐ and low‐expectancy students. Contrary to recent claims that teacher expectancy effects are negligible and that teachers' differential behaviour is generally appropriate and reality‐based, expectancy effects of substantial magnitude were found in this study, especially in affective and non‐verbal behaviours.Teachers were rated as showing more negative affect in the non‐verbal channels, and as more dogmatic in the non‐verbal and transcript channels, when talking about low expectancy compared to high expectancy students. When talking to students and teaching them briefly, facially communicated expectancy differences were found in ratings of negative affect and active teaching behaviour.The findings supported a view of teachers as attempting to compensate low‐expectancy students in controllable, direct teaching behaviours, at the same time transmitting (or “leaking”) negative affect in less controllable, mostly non‐verbal channels. It was also found that teachers who were more susceptible to biasing information were more negative and showed more intense expectancy effects than unbiased teachers in certain verbal and non‐verbal channels.