bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
THE LONG TERM EFFECTIVENESS OF PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT IN READING: A FOLLOW‐UP TO THE HARINGEY READING PROJECT
Authors: HEWISON JENNY 
Published: May 2011

Summary. The Haringey Reading Project was a two‐year educational intervention, which sought, firstly, to increase the amount of parental help given to 6–8 year‐old children learning to read, and secondly, to evaluate the impact of that help on the children's reading performance. As reported previously, at the end of the project children who had taken part in the parent involvement exercise were reading better than comparable children who had acted as controls. No such improvement was apparent in children given extra reading help, on a small group basis, from a supplementary teacher in school.Three years after the end of the project, the children were tested in reading by the LEA, as part of their routine monitoring and screening exercise for children transferring from junior to secondary schools. Analysis of these data revealed that the beneficial effects on reading performance of having taken part in the parent involvement exercise were still clearly apparent three years later. Again, no clear pattern of benefit could be seen in the children who had received extra teacher help as part of the project.
SIMILAR‐SEQUENCE AND SIMILAR‐STRUCTURE IN RETARDED AND NON‐RETARDED CHILDREN'S DEVELOPMENT
Authors: LISTER CAROLINE , LEACH CHRIS , McGRAW DES , SIMPSON LUCY 
Published: May 2011

Summary. Three questions important in relation to the developmental‐difference controversy were addressed. The first, to what extent do retarded and non‐retarded children show a similar sequence in their development of concepts, was answered using scalogram analyses which supported a common order of acquisition of conservation concepts when intermediate as well as conservation and non‐conservation categories were used. There was a high degree of similarity in sequence within as well as between attributes.The second question, how far does the similar‐structure hypothesis hold, was answered in the terms set by the developmental theorists. Multiple regression analyses and comparisons of mean mental ages for each of the conservation subgroups supported the similar‐structure hypothesis. Non‐retarded and retarded children with no known organic condition revealed similar structures.The third question concerned findings of volume conservation in retarded children and how these might be interpreted. It is argued that recognition of conservation in displacement volume tasks need not imply a generalised stage of formal operations nor be interpreted in terms of ceiling in development. Overall the findings have implications for ordering and providing appropriate levels of experiences for retarded children without assuming fixed limits in their development.
DIFFERENCES IN UNDERSTANDING AND THE USE OF REFLECTIVE VARIATION IN READING
Authors: MARTON FERENCE , CARLSSON MAJ ASPLUND , HALÁSZ LÁSZLÓ 
Published: May 2011

Summary. One group of Hungarian (N=29) and one group of Swedish (N=31) secondary school students read Franz Kafka's famous parable “Before the Law” several times, each reading being followed by the students recalling the story and stating how they had understood what the story meant. A limited number of qualitatively different ways of understanding the parable were found and these different ways could be related to each other in terms of how well they had captured the meaning of the story.In some cases the students used what we have called “reflective variation” in their reading of the story. Reflective variation could have the form of “variation in meaning”—the students trying alternative understandings of the story as a whole or of its constituent parts. Another form of reflective variation found was “elaborative variation” — the students making explicit the implications of their understanding of the story or of some of its constituent parts.The use of reflective variation was highly correlated with more advanced ways of understanding the parable.
Proximate causes of aggressive fighting in middle school children
Authors: Boulton Michael J. 
Published: May 2011

In study 1, 8‐ and 11‐year‐old girls and boys (N = 110) were interviewed individually and asked about why children in general, and themselves in particular, fight with fellow pupils in the playground. A substantial proportion of children (51 per cent) reported having had at least one aggressive fight during the previous year. The most common reasons for children resorting to fighting were retaliations to teasing, retaliations to unprovoked assaults, disagreements over aspects of the game that was being played, because another child was disliked, and to settle dominance disputes.In study 2, a direct observational methodology was employed to examine how often children of these ages engage in aggressive fighting, how long fights last, and their proximate causes. Among the younger pupils, a large proportion of fights (43.3 per cent) had no obvious immediate cause to an adult observer, but others were caused when a playful assault received an aggressive retaliation (15.4 per cent), and by disputes over space in the playground (13.5 per cent). Among the 11‐year‐old pupils, a smaller percentage of fights (14.8 per cent) had no obvious immediate cause. The two most common causes of fighting at this age were aggressive retaliations to teasing (25.9 per cent) and aggressive retaliations to accidental injury/hurt (18.5 per cent).In study 3, in situ interviews were combined with direct playground observations in order to reveal participants' views (or onlookers' views if participants were not available to be interviewed) about the causes of fights. Again, the most common causes of fighting were disputes over some aspect of the game being played (33.3 per cent), aggressive retaliations to teasing (25.0 per cent), disagreements over possession of toys/equipment (14.6 per cent), and aggressive retaliations to accidental injury/hurt (14.6 per cent). Age and sex differences are reported in some measures across all three studies. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for interventions aimed at improving children's experiences of life on the school playground.
Establishing the seriousness of learning in the early years of secondary schooling
Authors: Harris Susan , Rudduck Jean 
Published: May 2011

This paper is written on the basis of data gathered during the first phase of a longitudinal study involving three comprehensive schools. The study is interview‐based and is designed to contribute to knowledge and understanding of the ways in which students perceive, make sense of, and respond to opportunities for learning during the last four years of compulsory schooling.The strategies that schools use to signal the importance of learning and to establish a sense of institutional membership are discussed and suggestions made about how students are experiencing and interpreting these strategies. The various sub‐plots that are played out within the peer culture in relation to membership and learning are also examined.It is argued that the social and psychological upheavals of the first few terms of secondary schooling (complicated by students' physical and sexual maturation) are so exciting, disturbing and disorientating that it is difficult for students, both individually and collectively, to focus on the seriousness of learning. However, because secondary schooling is constructed and presented as a series of ‘stages’, there are formalised opportunities for students to re‐engage.
Person‐environment fit: using commensurate scales to predict student stress
Authors: Puccio Gerard J. , Talbot Reginald J. , Joniak Andrew J. 
Published: May 2011

The relationship between person‐environment fit and stress was examined for two samples of university students (N=55 and 79). The Kirton Adaption‐Innovation Inventory (KAI) was modified to assess the students' perceptions of the adaptor‐innovator style required by their course, the styles they exhibited in the course, and their ideal style preferences. To ascertain fit, the KAI total scores and subscale scores (Originality, Efficiency, and Rule/Group Conformity) were used to classify students on three dimensions: (1) perception of what style their course required, adaptive or innovative; (2) congruence between the style the course required and the style they exhibited in the course; and (3) the magnitude of the difference, if any, between the required style and the exhibited style. Points two and three are measures of fit. The dependent variable was stress. Also the students' ideal style scores, KAI total and subscales, were substituted for the exhibited scores and the classification and analyses were repeated.Analysis of the total scores revealed that a course requiring adaptive behaviours was perceived as more stressful than a course requiring innovative behaviours. Similarly, an analysis of the Rule/Group Conformity scores revealed that the greater the conformity required the greater the stress. Also the less originality demanded in the course the greater was the perceived stress. For the KAI total scores and Rule/Group Conformity scores, the two measures of fit (incongruity and magnitude of the incongruity) were not related to stress. However, analyses of the Originality and Efficiency subscales supported the importance of the P‐E fit position. For both subscales, stress was associated with the magnitude of the difference between what was required in the course and what students exhibited in the course. Educational implications derived from these findings as well as recommendations for future research are discussed.
Characteristics of self‐worth protection in achievement behaviour
Authors: Thompson Ted 
Published: May 2011

Two experiments are reported comprising an investigation of individual difference variables associated with self‐worth protection. This is a phenomenon whereby students in achievement situations adopt one of a number of strategies, including withdrawing effort, in order to avoid damage to self‐esteem which results from attributing failure to inability. Experiment 1 confirmed the adequacy of an operational definition which identified self‐worth students on the basis of two criteria. These were deteriorated performance following failure, together with subsequent enhanced performance following a face‐saving excuse allowing students to explain failure without implicating low ability.The results of Experiment 2 established that the behaviour of self‐worth protective students in achievement situations may be understood in terms of their low academic self‐esteem coupled with uncertainty about their level of global self‐esteem. Investigation of the manner in which self‐worth students explain success and failure outcomes failed to demonstrate a tendency to internalise failure but revealed a propensity on the part of these students to reject due credit for their successes.The implications of these findings in terms of the prevention and modification of self‐worth protective reactions in achievement situations are discussed.
Children's task and ego goal profiles in sport
Authors: Fox Kenneth , Goudas Marios , Biddle Stuart , Duda Joan , Armstrong Neil 
Published: May 2011

The purpose of this study was to examine the combined effects of task and ego goal orientations on children's sport motivation. Participants were 115 boys and 116 girls (mean age = 11.12 yrs). Unlike previous research, where the correlates of the two orientations have been examined separately, this study examined the motivational consequences of different task and ego combinations. Four groups were created based on mean splits on the task and ego scales of the Task and Ego Orientation in Sport Questionnaire. These were low task/low ego, low task/high ego, high task/low ego, and high task/high ego. The hi/hi group emerged as the most motivated and the lo/lo group least motivated in measures of sport enjoyment and perceived sport competence. The lo/lo group, made up primarily of girls, appear to be at high risk for non‐participation in sport.Children dominated by a task orientation were more motivated than those dominated by an ego orientation. A similar pattern emerged whether children were in the lower or upper third of the perceived sport competence distribution. A high task orientation appears to provide the vital element for sport motivation. The addition of ego involvement to task involvement may enhance sport enjoyment and does not appear to be motivationally detrimental. Task and ego profile analysis seems to offer important insight into the achievement motivation of children of this age.
Phonological awareness, spelling and reading abilities in Spanish‐speaking children
Authors: de Manrique Ana M. Borzone , Signorini Angela 
Published: May 2011

The relationship between phonological awareness, spelling and reading abilities was studied comparing first grade (N=39) Spanish‐speaking skilled and less skilled readers' performance on three measures: phoneme segmentation, word spelling and word reading. Results showed that skilled readers performed at ceiling on the three tasks, whereas less skilled readers had a better performance on spelling than on reading, and most of them reached segmentation criterion in the phonological awareness task. Performance on this task was significantly correlated with word spelling, while no association was found between phoneme segmentation and word reading. The less skilled readers could spell many words they could not read, and children in both groups spelled most of the words in a conventional way.It is agreed that certain characteristics of Spanish phonetic structure — small number of vowels, simple syllabic structure — and the relative transparency of its orthography may account for the early development of phonemic segmentation skills and allow the mastery of sound‐letter correspondence rules that is reflected in good spelling performance.
Technical note What is structured learning theory?
Authors: Cattell Raymond B. 
Published: May 2011

Structured Learning Theory is a radical departure from the current Pavlov‐Watson‐Skinner system. The latter represents learning change as a scalar quantity: structured learning represents learning gain as a vector quantity. The vector is the difference of loadings on a series of ability, personality and motivation factors between a pre and a post learning behavioural equation obtained by factor analysis.A glance at the post‐learning factor pattern matrix, which represents the dynamic lattice (Cattell, 1979), is sufficient to show how the learning has affected not only the given attitude strength but the whole dynamic lattice. That is to say, learning is represented by a complete change in the dynamic lattice, including the use of primary abilities.Thus, Structured Learning Theory links up with the equations in the dynamic calculus—equations dealing with conflict, decision theory and the internal readjustments of subsidiations to primary instincts (Murray, 1938).It is obvious that the complete description of an individual change through a learning experience requires not only a change in the loadings but also in the magnitude of the ability, personality and dynamic factors. This latter is obtainable by the usual estimations of factor magnitudes from the magnitudes of variables. The calculation of two vector changes may seem very demanding to experimenters, but this is the truth of what life learning does. It needs the use of matrix calculations because an individual is normally simultaneously experiencing exposure to several life‐path learnings.
Reasoning with Raven — with and without help
Authors: Roberts Maxwell J. , Stevenson Nicola J. 
Published: May 2011

Richardson (1991) showed that children's performance at items from Raven's Standard Progressive Matrices could be boosted by converting the elements to real‐life objects and setting them in a realistic context. From this, he concluded that people reason exclusively by using context dependent schemas and hence that measures of abstract reasoning ability may give a misleading impression of children's skills and potential. However, each realistic context item also had a cover story that was read to the child (ostensibly to activate the necessary schema), and this study investigated the possibility that these cover stories were giving the children additional help, perhaps by focusing their attention or by inadvertently giving clues as to the rules.Three factors were investigated; whether the items were abstract or set in context, whether each item was given with or without a commentary, and whether each commentary gave weak or strong guidance as to the rules. It was found that although items set in context were easier than abstract items their advantage was reduced when like was compared with like, and that the strong guidance commentaries were responsible for the greatest facilitation. It is concluded that the existence of domain‐free reasoning processes cannot be ruled out, and that it is unlikely that people reason exclusively by using knowledge.
Classroom goal structures, social satisfaction and the perceived value of academic tasks
Authors: Townsend Michael A. R. , Hicks Lynley 
Published: May 2011

Background. Perceptions of academic task value are affected by positive factors such as the intrinsic value of the task, and negative factors such as the loss of opportunities to engage in other desired activities. Previous research has shown that students' pursuit of social activities may be a negative factor that reduces the task value given to mathematics and language activities. However, the desire to meet social goals may be influenced by the degree to which classroom instruction provides opportunities for peer involvement and affiliation.Aims. This study examined the relationship between academic task values (for mathematics and language) and perceptions of personal social satisfaction for children in classrooms using a cooperative, interactive learning structure or in regular classrooms.Samples. Participants were 162 children (aged approximately 12–13 years) in six Form 2 classes at two intermediate schools. Three classes were taught by teachers using cooperative learning strategies.Methods. Children in each of the six classrooms were administered a Social Satisfaction Scale (to assess satisfaction with peer social relationships), the Academic Task Values Scale for mathematics and language, and the Competition and Task Orientation subscales of the Classroom Environment Scale.Results. Task values for engagement in mathematics and language activities were higher, and perceived costs lower, in classrooms using a cooperative goal structure. Higher task values and lower perceived costs were also associated with higher social satisfaction in students. These effects were mediated by gender.Conclusions. Research in achievement motivation needs to examine the coordination of multiple goals which extend beyond the academic domain.
Spontaneous study strategies and the quality of knowledge construction
Authors: Lahtinen Virpi , Lonka Kirsti , Lindblom‐Ylänne Sari 
Published: May 2011

Background. Previous research indicates that generative study strategies (e.g., summarising, concept mapping) produce qualitatively better learning as compared to reproductive strategies (e.g., verbatim notetaking, underlining). In the present study it was assumed that the more generative study strategies used the better the learning outcomes would be.Aims. This study considered the role that spontaneously used study strategies play in knowledge construction, that is, learning the content matter from text and writing answers to short essay‐type tasks on this basis.Samples. The study was conducted among 502 applicants to a medical school during an entrance examination.Methods. One‐way multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was used to examine the relationship between spontaneous study strategies and learning the content matter and writing performance.Results. As expected, it appeared that summarising and concept mapping were related to high scores in learning the content matter in most tasks. However, any type of overt notetaking activity was related to the good quality of written expression, measured as coherence in essay‐type answers. The subjects who did not produce any physical records while reading the text obtained the lowest scores on all measures.Conclusions. It was shown that generative study strategies were useful while learning from text, especially when application of knowledge was called for. Yet, more research on situations in which spontaneous study strategies are effective is needed in the future.
Relations between perceptions of the teaching environment and approaches to teaching
Authors: Prosser Michael , Trigwell Keith 
Published: May 2011

Background. Previous research has established substantial relations between students' approaches to study in higher education and their perceptions of the learning environment. More recently, there has been a growing body of research into teachers' approaches to teaching and conceptions of teaching. There has, however, been little research into their perceptions of the teaching context.Aims. This study aimed to develop an inventory of university teachers' perceptions of their teaching environment (PTE) and how those perceptions related to their approaches to teaching.Samples. The interview sample comprised 13 teachers of first year university physics and chemistry courses in two Australian universities, and the survey sample comprised 46 teachers from several Australian universities.Methods. In the qualitative study teachers were interviewed about the things they thought affected their teaching. The interviews were content analysed, and an inventory was produced. In the quantitative study, the results of the administration of the Approaches to Teaching Inventory and the PTE were analysed by correlational, factor and cluster analyses.Results. This exploratory study found systematic relations between the perceptions and approaches. The relations observed suggest that the adoption of a conceptual change and student focused approach to teaching is associated with perceptions that the teacher has control over what is taught and how it is taught, as well as perceptions that the department values teaching and that class size is not too large.Conclusions. The paper concludes by arguing that if we are to improve the quality of teaching and learning in higher education we will need to take account of the perceptions teachers have of their teaching context.
Bully/victim problems and their association with Eysenck's personality dimensions in 8 to 13 year‐olds
Authors: Mynard Helen , Joseph Stephen 
Published: May 2011

Background. Previous research which has investigated the association between bully‐victim problems and Eysenck's personality dimensions has shown an association between victimisation and introversion and an association between bullying and psychoticism (Slee & Rigby, 1993).Aims. The aim of the present study was to replicate these findings and to extend the investigation of the association between bully/victim problems and personality to children who are classified as both bullies and victims.Sample and method. One hundred and seventy nine children ranging in age from 8 to 13 years (mean age = 11 years) completed the Bullying‐Behaviour Scale and the Peer‐Victimization Scale (Austin & Joseph, 1996), the Self‐Perception Profile for Children (SPPC: Harter, 1985), and the Junior Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ Junior: Eysenck & Eysenck, 1975).Results. Forty‐nine per cent of children were classified as involved in bullying either as bullies (11 per cent), victims (20 per cent), or bully/victims (18 per cent). Bullies scored lower on the lie scale, victims scored lower on the extraversion scale, and bully/victims scored higher on the neuroticism and psychoticism scales than children who were classified as not involved in bullying.Conclusion. These data provide evidence that bully/victims are a distinct group from either bullies or victims and that they may be the group of children who are most readily distinguished in terms of personality.