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1 – 10 of 468Silvana Maria R. Watson, João Lopes, Célia Oliveira and Sharon Judge
The purpose of this descriptive study is to investigate why some elementary children have difficulties mastering addition and subtraction calculation tasks.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this descriptive study is to investigate why some elementary children have difficulties mastering addition and subtraction calculation tasks.
Design/methodology/approach
The researchers have examined error types in addition and subtraction calculation made by 697 Portuguese students in elementary grades. Each student completed a written assessment of mathematical knowledge. A system code (e.g. FR = failure to regroup) has been used to grade the tests. A reliability check has been performed on 65 per cent randomly selected exams.
Findings
Data frequency analyses reveal that the most common type of error was miscalculation for both addition (n = 164; 38.6 per cent) and subtraction (n = 180; 21.7 per cent). The second most common error type was related to failure to regroup in addition (n = 74; 17.5 per cent) and subtraction (n = 139; 16.3 per cent). Frequency of error types by grade level has been provided. Findings from the hierarchical regression analyses indicate that students’ performance differences emerged as a function of error types which indicated students’ types of difficulties.
Research limitations/implications
There are several limitations of this study: the use of a convenient sample; all schools were located in the northern region of Portugal; the limited number of problems; and the time of the year of assessment.
Practical implications
Students’ errors suggested that their performance in calculation tasks is related to conceptual and procedural knowledge and skills. Error analysis allows teachers to better understand the individual performance of a diverse group and to tailor instruction to ensure that all students have an opportunity to succeed in mathematics.
Social implications
Error analysis helps teachers uncover individual students’ difficulties and deliver meaningful instruction to all students.
Originality/value
This paper adds to the international literature on error analysis and reinforces its value in diagnosing students’ type and severity of math difficulties.
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This paper investigates why mothers are losing to fathers in contested child custody battles that have occurred between 1980 and 2003. It employs quantitative, qualitative, and…
Abstract
This paper investigates why mothers are losing to fathers in contested child custody battles that have occurred between 1980 and 2003. It employs quantitative, qualitative, and contextual strategies to understand the complex set of forces involved. The findings suggest that single mothers and children are increasingly trapped in a war zone between cost conscious policymakers ideologically opposed to the welfare state, angry fathers shouldering the burden of a shift from public to private transfers of funding in the form of child support, religious zealots intent on turning back the clock to a mythical patriarchal Eden, and the legal doctrine of gender neutrality reflecting these political forces.
Jonna L. Bobzien and Sharon Judge
The purpose of this study was to examine the openness, growth and loneliness of typical peers volunteering at a summer day camp for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study was to examine the openness, growth and loneliness of typical peers volunteering at a summer day camp for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).
Design/methodology/approach
In this study, the authors obtained descriptive data on the attitudes and behaviors of 38 adolescent peer buddies without disabilities volunteering at a summer camp for children with ASD using four short surveys. Surveys were given prior to the start of camp in an attempt to capture the attitudes and perspectives of the participants before they became more familiar with the characteristics of the children with ASD who were attending the camp. The authors examined if there were group differences on attitudes and behaviors based on age, gender and first-time volunteer versus returning volunteer peer buddy.
Findings
The analysis showed that all volunteer peer buddies appeared open to interacting, playing and developing friendships with the child represented in the vignette with ASD. Participants indicated increased feelings of independence, ample ability to establish friendships and a desire for adventurous and explorative activities. Significant differences were found based on age and gender on openness to a peer with ASD characteristics.
Originality/value
The results of this study have the potential to serve a broader purpose by demonstrating the types of children and adolescents that may be optimal choices to serve as peer mentors or buddies for peers with ASD attending summer camps or other community-based programs, as well as in classroom settings.
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Lynne Caley, Sharon J. Williams, Izabela Spernaes, David Thomas, Doris Behrens and Alan Willson
It has become accepted practice to include an evaluation alongside learning programmes that take place at work, as a means of judging their effectiveness. There is a tendency to…
Abstract
Purpose
It has become accepted practice to include an evaluation alongside learning programmes that take place at work, as a means of judging their effectiveness. There is a tendency to focus such evaluations on the relevance of the intervention and the amount of learning achieved by the individual. The aim of this review is to examine existing evaluation frameworks that have been used to evaluate education interventions and, in particular, assess how these have been used and the outcomes of such activity.
Design/methodology/approach
A scoping review using Arskey and O’Malley’s five stage framework was undertaken to examine existing evaluation frameworks claiming to evaluate education interventions.
Findings
Forty five articles were included in the review. A majority of papers concentrate on learner satisfaction and/or learning achieved. Rarely is a structured framework mentioned, or detail of the approach to analysis cited. Typically, evaluations lacked baseline data, control groups, longitudinal observations and contextual awareness.
Practical implications
This review has implications for those involved in designing and evaluating work-related education programmes, as it identifies areas where evaluations need to be strengthened and recommends how existing frameworks can be combined to improve how evaluations are conducted.
Originality/value
This scoping review is novel in its assessment and critique of evaluation frameworks employed to evaluate work-related education programmes.
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The debate concerning the Quantified-Self Movement (QS) has been extremely polarised. As Tamar Sharon has pointed out, each aspect of the lifestyle promoted by Gary Wolf and Kevin…
Abstract
The debate concerning the Quantified-Self Movement (QS) has been extremely polarised. As Tamar Sharon has pointed out, each aspect of the lifestyle promoted by Gary Wolf and Kevin Kelly has provoked opposite reactions, generating a debate that revolves around some basic conceptual dichotomies: empowerment versus surveillance, self-awareness versus reductionism, and personalised healthcare versus disintegration of public assistance (Sharon, 2017). The aim of this chapter is to provide a critique of QS, namely an assessment of its limits and its (technological and social) conditions of possibility. In particular, the author’s analysis will focus on the relationship between technology and subjectivity, and its main theoretical framework will be Michel Foucault’s research on the notion of ‘care for the self’ (Foucault, 1986, 2005). Quantification is an essential and unescapable aspect of our present technological environment. The devices that make our onlife (Floridi, 2014) possible are connected with a complex technological system made of GPSs, satellites, computers, and networks. Health is no longer managed through a distinct set of practices within the limits of a well-defined space (the hospital or the ambulatory), but it rather becomes a dataset integrated into a system where all aspects of life (health, law, leisure, work, social relations) are treated and managed simultaneously. This technological condition implies a new form of cognitive and practical delegation (Ippolita, 2016; Morozov, 2013), which makes the very notion of ‘self-tracking’ at least problematic. Individuals do not track themselves anymore: on the contrary, they are tracked by prosthetic extensions of their own bodies. This, however, does not mean that they do nothing. Our digital devices require a specific set of practices, a determinate way of life. The author will argue that these practices are the product of design, understood as a specific way of conceiving and organising the interaction between subject and technical object (Flusser, 1999). Through our technological environment, design reshapes the social and political function of bodies, their interaction and the set of practices connected to them (Bratton, 2015; Dyer, 2016; Vial, 2014). Automated quantification is an aspect of our designed user experience. As such, this chapter discusses design as a key element to understand the role of quantification in our digital milieu. It analyses the QS movement as a specific way of responding to our new technological condition. The main research question will be the following: is QS to be regarded as a simple acceptance of a new form of delegated – and thus alienated – subjectivity, or is it a kind of practice that allows the subject to overcome his passivity, and to take part in the process through which quantification is designed and managed? Is it possible to understand QS as a technology of the self (Foucault, 1988, 2005)?
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Raymond L. Calabrese and Brian Roberts
Academic misconduct in research is of growing concern to funding agencies, scholars, and academic journal editors. Scholarly publication has ethical implications researchers…
Abstract
Academic misconduct in research is of growing concern to funding agencies, scholars, and academic journal editors. Scholarly publication has ethical implications researchers, reviewers, and journal editors. The theoretical background of the ethics of scholarly publication is explored as well as the use of a case study of an untenured researcher illustrates the dilemma faced by the researcher's colleagues, reviewers, and the journal editor. It also explores how the higher education culture promotes a “publish or perish” environment that impacts the behavior of faculty seeking tenure and promotion.
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Raymond Loi, Ngo Hang‐yue and Sharon Foley
This study examined the effect of professional identification on several job attitudes (i.e., job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and career satisfaction), and explored…
Abstract
This study examined the effect of professional identification on several job attitudes (i.e., job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and career satisfaction), and explored the moderating roles of gender and organizational tenure on these relationships. Informed by social identity theory, gender role theory, and organizational socialization theory, several hypotheses were developed and tested with a data set consisting of 309 salaried lawyers collected in Hong Kong. Regression analysis revealed that (1) professional identification had a significant positive effect on both job satisfaction and organizational commitment, (2) gender moderated the relationship between professional identification—job satisfaction and professional identification—organizational commitment, and (3) organizational tenure moderated the relationship between professional identification and job satisfaction as well as the relationship between professional identification and career satisfaction. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
Alessandra Girlando, Simon Grima, Engin Boztepe, Sharon Seychell, Ramona Rupeika-Apoga and Inna Romanova
Purpose: Risk is a multifaceted concept, and its identification requires complex approaches that are often misunderstood. The consequence is that decisions are based on limited…
Abstract
Purpose: Risk is a multifaceted concept, and its identification requires complex approaches that are often misunderstood. The consequence is that decisions are based on limited perception rather than the full value and meaning of what risk is, as a result, the way it is being tackled is incorrect. The individuals are often limited in their perceptions and ideas and do not embrace the full multifaceted nature of risk. Regulators and individuals want to follow norms and checklists or overuse models, simulations, and templates, thereby reducing responsibility for decision-making. At the same time, the wider use of technology and rules reduces the critical thinking of individuals. We advance the automation process by building robots that follow protocols and forget about the part of risk assessment that cannot be programed. Therefore, with this study, the objective of this study was to discover how people define risk, the influencing factors of risk perception and how they behave toward this perception. The authors also determine how the perception differed with age, gender, marital status, education level and region. The novelty of the research is related to individual risk perception during COVID-19, as this is a new and unknown phenomenon. Methodology: The research is based on the analysis of the self-administered purposely designed questionnaires we distributed across different social media platforms between February and June 2020 in Europe and in some cases was carried out as a interview over communication platforms such as “Skype,” “Zoom” and “Microsoft Teams.” The questionnaire was divided into four parts: Section 1 was designed to collect demographic information from the participants; Section 2 included risk definition statements obtained from literature and a preliminary discussion with peers; Section 3 included risk behavior statements; and Section 4 included statements on risk perception experiences. A five-point Likert Scale was provided, and participants were required to answer along a scale of “1” for “Strongly Agree” to “5” for “Strongly Disagree.” Participants also had the option to elaborate further and provide additional comments in an open-ended box provided at the end of the section. 466 valid responses were received. Thematic analysis was carried out to analyze the interviews and the open-ended questions, while the questionnaire responses were analyzed using various quantitative methods on IBM SPSS (version 23). Findings: The results of the analysis indicate that individuals evaluate the risk before making a decision and view risk as both a loss and opportunity. The study identifies nine factors influencing risk perception. Nevertheless, it must be emphasized that we can continue to develop models and rules, but as long as the risk is not understood, we will never achieve anything.
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