Teacher performance goal practices and elementary students' behavioral engagement: a developmental perspective

We investigated growth trajectories for classroom performance goal practices and for student behavioral engagement across grades 2 to 5 for 497 academically at-risk elementary students. This study is the first longitudinal investigation of performance goal practices in the early elementary years. On average, teacher use of performance goal practices increased and students' behavioral engagement declined across the four years. Using autoregressive latent trajectory (ALT) models, we examined the synchronous relations between teacher-reported performance goal practices and teacher-reported student behavioral engagement. As expected, as students move into classrooms with a new teacher with less emphasis on performance goal practices, they become more behaviorally engaged in school. Gender did not moderate these results. Implications for teacher professional development are discussed.     

Gliding across the liminal space between counsellor and counselling researcher: Using collective biography practices in the teaching of counselling research methodologies

Aims: Drawing on their engagement in a specific collective biography research project, the co-authors aim to demonstrate how the weaving together of creative story-telling and the theory underlining collective biography practices resulted in an understanding of rhizomatic research methodologies from within the process. This paper aims to demonstrate one way in which research methodologies training can become more firmly embedded within counsellor training courses. Method: A collective of counselling students and a session tutor colleague used collective biography practices to research their memories of traversing the liminal space between ‘counsellor’ and ‘counselling researcher’. Alongside the resulting collective stories, a collaborative review of the research process examined our chosen ways of working within the project. Outcomes: Engaging in collective biography practices resulted in an experiential shift from ‘learning to do counselling research’ to ‘becoming counselling researchers’. Weaving together research processes and researcher reflexivity generated personal and professional learning. Ways in which these research methodologies complement core components of counselling training, within and beyond the teaching of research, were identified. Conclusions: Collective biography practices offer a way of introducing non-arboreal creative research methodologies into counsellor training. Careful consideration of potential challenges surrounding the introduction of these practices is required.     

RACE DIFFERENCES IN TERMINATION AT WORK: THE ROLE OF EDUCATIONAL INEQUALITY

Prior research has demonstrated that race, at least to some extent, is related to employment decisions such as selection and performance appraisals. However, little prior research has addressed the impact of race on employment termination. The current study investigates whether race is related to employment termination and highlights the importance of education, an important component of human capital, in understanding racial differences in termination. Results based on 548 employees from a large hotel chain indicate that race is related to termination; however, race is not predictive of termination when education is included in the regression analysis as a predictor. These findings support the notion that a societal level variable (i.e., education) is an important factor in reducing racial inequality in employment practices.     

Swimming and Speaking Spanish

The dominant view of the status of knowledge of language is that it is theoretical or what Gilbert Ryle called knowledge-that. Defenders of this thesis may differ among themselves over the precise nature of the knowledge which underlies language, as for example, Michael Dummett and Noam Chomsky differ over the issue of unconscious knowledge; however, they all agree that acquisition, understanding and use of language require that the speaker have access to a theory of language. In this paper, I argue that this view is mistaken. Knowledge of language is properly seen as practical knowledge, knowledge-how. My target is Michael Dummett’s treatment of theory of meaning in The Seas of Language. If my argument goes through, underlying assumptions about the nature of cognition as computational must be adjusted to allow for other forms of knowledge, which are arguably more basic, and which underlie knowledge-that.     

心理学研究中的伦理

本文介绍了美国心理学会关于科学研究的伦理原则和相关的规定,以及结合心理学科研实践讨论怎样实施这些原则与规定。本文对我国心理学的伦理建设有一定参考价值。主要内容如下:1.人类参与的研究; a.知情同意及欺骗; b.自由退出; c.保护免受伤害和事后情况说明; d.清除有害后果; e.保密。2.动物研究的伦理:a.反对研究动物的论点; b.赞成研究动物的论点。c.研究动物的指南。3.科学欺诈。4.监督伦理实践。     

Les objets connectés et applications de santé : étude exploratoire des perceptions,usages (ou non) et contextes d’usage

In a contemporary context of major health challenges, the market of digital technologies has increasingly developed in past years. This article aims to explore main profiles of use in relation to connected objects and health apps, as well as attitudes related to uses, non-uses and contexts of use. Therefore, our objective is to contribute to the scientific debate by proposing an empirical study in psychology that focusses on the perspectives of consumers and non-consumers of these technologies in the French-speaking part of Switzerland. To do this, a survey was conducted among participants of a large public health exhibition (n = 760). According to our results, the majority of respondents declare not having a connected object/health app and a third of non-users does not intend to acquire such technologies. Also, there is a trend among younger generations to have a connected object/health app. Concerning the contexts of use, such technologies are employed to self-track physical activity and eating practices. The degree of satisfaction of such use is rather high. Given these results, our analyses point out a divide within our sample, between individuals who seem resistant and declare not willing to have this kind of technology and those who use it in the long run. These results cast new light upon concrete uses and contexts of use among consumers and non-consumers of connected objects/health apps beyond techno-scientific promises that prevail today in our societies.     

Confronting racism and white privilege in courses on religion and the environment: An inclusive pedagogical approach

Courses on religion and the environment must confront racism and white privilege in order to remain relevant for the diverse students who increasingly fill higher education classrooms. Recognizing that traditional approaches for understanding environmentalism can isolate students of color by failing to recognize their own communities and experiences, I offer two assignments – Ecological Footprint Journals and a community‐based research project – that empower students to think of environmentalism in new, more relevant ways. This approach has benefitted my students by displacing the dominance of Eurocentric thinking in my curriculum and creating a class culture that values diverse perspectives. It has also profoundly shaped my research trajectory, by helping me identify raced and classed biases that are embedded in my field, and leading me to develop a research project that complements my teaching by challenging some of those hidden assumptions.     

Exposure to Parental Cigarette Smoking and Child Problem Behaviors: A Longitudinal Study

This study examined exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), a major public health problem. ETS has been found to be associated with an increased risk of adverse health effects in children. This study utilizes data from a community-based, longitudinal investigation examining the relation between children’s exposure to ETS and later internalizing symptoms and externalizing behaviors. Interviews were administered to a representative community sample of participants from two New York State counties in 1983, with subsequent interviews in 1985–1986, 1992, 1997, and 2002–2003 (when the participants’ mean age was 32). Data was collected on various personality and behavioral characteristics of the participants, and on internalizing symptoms and externalizing behaviors demonstrated by their children. Results indicated that children’s exposure to ETS was associated with an increased risk for both internalizing symptoms and externalizing behaviors. This relationship was maintained despite control on a number of parental psychosocial risk factors (e.g., demographic variables, personality and behavioral attributes) that have been found to be associated with both parental cigarette smoking and behavior problems among children. These data, which indicate an association between exposure to ETS and internalizing symptoms and externalizing behaviors among children, support public health policies to further restrict children’s exposure to ETS.     

Children's perceptions of the classroom environment and social and academic performance: A longitudinal analysis of the contribution of the Responsive Classroom approach

This study examines the contribution of the Responsive Classroom (RC) Approach, a set of teaching practices that integrate social and academic learning, to children's perceptions of their classroom, and children's academic and social performance over time. Three questions emerge: (a) What is the concurrent and cumulative relation between children's perceptions of the classroom and social and academic outcomes over time? (b) What is the contribution of teacher's use of RC practices to children's perceptions and social and academic outcomes? (c) Do children's perceptions of the classroom mediate the relation between RC teacher practices and child outcomes? Cross-lagged autoregressive structural equation models were used to analyze teacher and child-report questionnaire data, along with standardized test scores collected over 3 years from a sample of 520 children in grades 3-5. Results indicate a significant positive relation between RC teacher practices and child perceptions and outcomes over time. Further, children's perceptions partially mediated the relation between RC teacher practices and social competence. However, the models did not demonstrate that child perceptions mediated the relation between RC practices and achievement outcomes. Results are explained in terms of the contribution of teacher practices to children's perceptions and student performance.