An examination of the multidimensionality of situational interest in elementary school physical education

It has been demonstrated that situational interest in physical activity may derive from five dimensional sources, Novelty, Optimal Challenge, Attention Demand, Exploration Intent, and Instant Enjoyment. The purpose of this study was to examine the multidimensional sources in elementary school physical education. The five dimensions were measured in 5,717 students in third, fourth, and fifth grades from a random sample of 30 elementary schools. Students' responses were randomly divided into two samples for a two-step confirmatory factor analysis. The results confirmed that the five dimensions are primary sources of situational interest for elementary school physical education. The findings implied that situational interest should be taken into account as a necessary curricular component in elementary physical education

Conceptualizing a Theoretical Model for School-Centered Adolescent Physical Activity Intervention Research

Adolescent physical inactivity has risen to an alarming rate. Several theoretical frameworks (models) have been proposed and tested in school-based interventions. The results are mixed, indicating a similar weakness as that observed in community- based physical activity interventions (Baranowski, Lin, Wetter, Resnicow, & Hearn, 1997). The theoretical models were decontextualized, thus are unable to address issues central to adolescents' physical activity behavior. In this article, we propose using a theoretical model derived from school-based research on learning behavior change. We review related research on adolescents' physical activity to demonstrate the relevance of using the model to study the dynamic impact of personal, school curriculum, and community variables on adolescent physical activity. We also translate the conceptual model into empirically testable cross-sectional and longitudinal latent growth models and propose concrete steps researchers can take to design empirical studies to examine them. We believe that research studies guided by the proposed conceptual and empirical models will provide useful data for us to better understand the mechanisms of adolescent physical activity motivation and behavior change

Classroom activities and scientific practices related to student situational engagement

This dissertation examined how classroom activities and scientific practices are related to student situational engagement. Research has traditionally focused on student engagement, measuring it with questionnaires or observations. However, if we want to have a closer look on the activities that engages students, the focus should be on student situational engagement. Student situational engagement was selected as main research subject, because it has several benefits for students' learning. Furthermore, student situational engagement is something that can be enhanced and modified by different activities that teachers decide to use in their science lessons. In this research, student situational engagement was defined as balance between high situational interest of an ongoing task, high evaluation of students' own situational skills and high situational challenge experienced when working on the task. This definition for situational engagement is rather new and was developed during the research. Nevertheless, it has a strong theoretical background in flow-theory and research focusing on situational interest. This dissertation consists of three original studies in which data was collected using experience sampling method (ESM). Due to the novelty of the research, Study I aimed at uncovering the level of student situational engagement in eight science classes in Helsinki area. The result revealed that student situational engagement varied by their grade level and gender. Girls as a group reported above average situational engagement in life science lessons and boys in exact science lessons. Study II and III extended the investigation by focusing on activities used in science classes in an international context. Study II showed that classroom activities were indeed related to student situational engagement. The result supported previous findings that lecturing was associated with lower levels of situational engagement. However, there were more variation in classroom activities that were related to higher levels of situational engagement. The main finding of Study III was that scientific practices, especially connected to modeling, were related to higher level of student situational engagement. This dissertation conclude that the level of student situational engagement experienced in science classes can vary depending on activities used in science lessons. The result existed when using three-level hierarchical logistic regression models that took account of classroom, student and response levels. Thus, it is reasonable to assume that the role of different activities in science lessons is something that should be emphasised e.g. in teacher education. This information could be used to highlight the role of well-structured lesson plans that include carefully selected activities when teacher training students prepare their practice lessons in pedagogical studies.Väitöskirjatutkimuksen päätavoitteena on tarkastella miten luokkahuoneaktiviteetit ja tiedekäytännöt ovat yhteydessä oppilaiden tilannekohtaiseen sitoutumiseen luonnontieteen oppitunneilla. Aikaisempi tutkimus on tyypillisesti keskittynyt oppilaiden yleiseen sitoutumiseen mitaten sitä kyselylomakkeilla tai havainnoimalla oppitunteja. Jos kuitenkin haluamme saada tarkempaa tietoa niistä aktiviteeteista, jotka sitouttavat oppilaita, tulee huomio kiinnittää oppilaiden tilannekohtaiseen sitoutumiseen. Oppilaiden tilannekohtainen sitoutuminen valikoitui tutkimuksen kohteeksi, koska se hyödyttää oppilaiden oppimista useilla eri tavoilla. Tämän lisäksi tilannekohtaista sitoutumista on mahdollista kehittää ja säädellä erilaisilla aktiviteeteilla, joita opettajat käyttävät oppitunneillaan. Tässä tutkimuksessa oppilaiden tilannekohtainen sitoutuminen määritellään tasapainoksi meneillään olevan tehtävän tarjoaman korkean tilannekohtaisen kiinnostuksen, oppilaiden korkeaksi itsearvioimien tilannekohtaisten taitojen ja tehtävän korkean tilannekohtaisen haasteellisuuden välillä. Tämä tilannekohtaisen sitoutumisen määritelmä on uusi ja kehittyi tutkimuksen aikana. Tästä huolimatta, tutkimuksella on vankka teoreettinen tausta flow-teoriassa ja tutkimuksessa, joka keskittyy tilannekohtaiseen kiinnostukseen. Väitöskirja koostuu kolmesta artikkelista, joissa aineisto kerättiin kokemusotantamenetelmällä. Tutkimuksen uutuuden takia osatutkimus I pyrki kartoittamaan, kuinka tilannekohtaisesti sitoutuneita oppilaat olivat kahdeksassa luonnontieteen luokkahuoneessa Helsingissä. Tuloksen mukaan oppilaiden tilannekohtainen sitoutuminen vaihtelee sukupuolen ja luokka-asteen välillä. Tytöt ryhmänä raportoivat keskiarvoa korkeampaa tilannekohtaista sitoutumista elämän (biologian) tiedon oppitunneilla ja pojat eksaktien (fysiikka ja kemia) tieteiden oppitunneilla. Osatutkimukset II ja III laajensivat ensimmäistä osatutkimusta keskittyen luonnontieteen oppituntien aktiviteetteihin kansainvälisessä yhteydessä. Osatutkimuksen II tuloksen mukaan luokkahuoneaktiviteetit ovat yhteydessä oppilaiden tilannekohtaiseen sitoutumiseen. Tämä tulos oli yhtenevä aiemman tutkimuksen kanssa, jonka perusteella luennointi on yhteydessä matalampaan tilannekohtaisen sitoutumisen tasoon. Kuitenkin niiden luokkahuoneaktiviteettien välillä, jotka ovat yhteydessä oppilaiden korkeampaan tilannekohtaiseen sitoutumiseen, oli enemmän vaihtelua. Osatutkimuksen III keskeisen tuloksen mukaan tiedekäytännöt, etenkin mallintamiseen liittyvät, ovat yhteydessä oppilaiden tilannekohtaisen sitoutumisen korkeampaan tasoon. Tämä väitöstutkimus osoittaa, että oppilaiden tilannekohtainen sitoutuminen luonnontieteen luokkahuoneessa on yhteydessä luonnontiedon oppitunneilla käytettäviin aktiviteetteihin. Tämä tulos esiintyi kolmetasoisessa hierarkkisessa logistisessa regressioanalyysissa, jossa huomioitiin luokkahuoneen, oppilaan ja yksittäisten oppilaiden vastausten tasot. Täten on järkevää olettaa, että erilaisten luonnontieteen oppitunneilla olevien aktiviteettien asemaa tulisi korostaa esimerkiksi opettajankoulutuksessa. Väitöskirjan antamaa tietoa voidaan käyttää korostamaan hyvin suunnitellun ja tarkoin valittuja aktiviteetteja sisältävän tuntisuunnitelman merkitystä opetusharjoittelijoille, kun he suunnittelevat heidän ensimmäisiä oppituntejaan osana pedagogisia opintoja

Self-regulation and emotion: predicting risky choice

All of the experiments presented in this dissertation focus on people's risk taking. In order to shed light on mechanisms underlying this phenomenon, I point out how emotions (i.e., anticipated emotions, integral emotions, anticipated regret, and emotion regulation strategies) and individuals' goal-oriented self-regulation (i.e., regulatory mode) affect risky behaviors. First – in the present dissertation – I introduce a comprehensive series of three studies (i.e., chapter 2) demonstrating whether and how individuals' regulatory modes affect individual differences in taking risky choices. I further focus on the role of anticipated regret to explain how it arises from regulatory mode, and in turn, affects risk taking. In keeping with this view, the present work sheds light on mechanisms underlying the relationships among decision-maker's regulatory mode, anticipated emotions and risk taking. Second (i.e., chapter 3), I introduce a relatively new theory studied in decision-making research (Emotion Regulation Theory; ER, Gross & John, 2003), demonstrating how ER strategies adopted from people predict risky choices occurring in deliberative processes (i.e., processes which predominantly involve anticipated emotions). But the present work does more than this. Indeed, the chapter 4 shows how situationally induced ER strategies affect risky choices occurring in decision processes related to high emotional arousal level (i.e., processes which predominantly involve integral emotion) as well as demonstrating how a personality variable (i.e., negative focus on potential outcome; see chapter 4, for more details) moderates the relationship between ER strategy and risk taking. To summarize – on the one hand – findings of the present studies shed light on emotional processes underlying human decisions under risk. On the another hand, they shed light on both regulatory mode theory and emotion regulation theory. More specifically, these findings extend our knowledge in five ways: First, they show how decision maker's self-regulatory mode (i.e., assessment and locomotion) affect people's risky choices (i.e., chapter 2). More specifically, I find that assessment mode – in comparison to locomotion mode – lead to decreased risk-taking level. It is worth nothing that, these tendencies have been shown in both habitual use and situationally induced of regulatory modes. Second, they show the trajectory of anticipated regret in making decisions under risk (i.e., chapter 2). In particular, I show that assessment mode increases the regret emotion, which in turn, decreases risk-taking level. By contrast, locomotion mode decreases the regret emotion, which in turn, increases risk-taking level. Third, they show that habitual use of emotion regulation strategies (i.e., cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression) predict individual differences in taking risk under deliberative processes (i.e., chapter 3). More specifically, cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression were significantly correlated with risk taking, in opposite directions: Stronger habitual use of reappraisal was associated with increased risk taking while stronger habitual use of suppression was associated with decreased risk taking. Four, they show how situationally induced emotion regulation strategies affect people's risky choices which involve higher arousal levels (e.g., when occurring integral emotions; i.e., chapter 4). In particular, situationally induced suppression ER strategy—compared to reappraisal—significantly decreases risk taking only among people with a higher negative outcome focus. Five, based on chapter 4's findings it is showed that habitual use of negative outcome focus on risky choice moderates the expressive suppression's effect in human decisions under risk. The experiments presented in the following chapters offer solid evidence of the mediating role of anticipated regret between decision-maker's regulatory modes and risky behavior. Moreover, robust evidence is showed on mechanisms underlying the relationship between ER strategies and risky decision making. Thus, we can claim that the quality of a decisional output is not only influenced by integral or anticipated emotions, but also by the effectiveness the regulatory strategies employed to control the affective states

Self-regulation and emotion: predicting risky choice

All of the experiments presented in this dissertation focus on people's risk taking. In order to shed light on mechanisms underlying this phenomenon, I point out how emotions (i.e., anticipated emotions, integral emotions, anticipated regret, and emotion regulation strategies) and individuals' goal-oriented self-regulation (i.e., regulatory mode) affect risky behaviors. First – in the present dissertation – I introduce a comprehensive series of three studies (i.e., chapter 2) demonstrating whether and how individuals' regulatory modes affect individual differences in taking risky choices. I further focus on the role of anticipated regret to explain how it arises from regulatory mode, and in turn, affects risk taking. In keeping with this view, the present work sheds light on mechanisms underlying the relationships among decision-maker's regulatory mode, anticipated emotions and risk taking. Second (i.e., chapter 3), I introduce a relatively new theory studied in decision-making research (Emotion Regulation Theory; ER, Gross & John, 2003), demonstrating how ER strategies adopted from people predict risky choices occurring in deliberative processes (i.e., processes which predominantly involve anticipated emotions). But the present work does more than this. Indeed, the chapter 4 shows how situationally induced ER strategies affect risky choices occurring in decision processes related to high emotional arousal level (i.e., processes which predominantly involve integral emotion) as well as demonstrating how a personality variable (i.e., negative focus on potential outcome; see chapter 4, for more details) moderates the relationship between ER strategy and risk taking. To summarize – on the one hand – findings of the present studies shed light on emotional processes underlying human decisions under risk. On the another hand, they shed light on both regulatory mode theory and emotion regulation theory. More specifically, these findings extend our knowledge in five ways: First, they show how decision maker's self-regulatory mode (i.e., assessment and locomotion) affect people's risky choices (i.e., chapter 2). More specifically, I find that assessment mode – in comparison to locomotion mode – lead to decreased risk-taking level. It is worth nothing that, these tendencies have been shown in both habitual use and situationally induced of regulatory modes. Second, they show the trajectory of anticipated regret in making decisions under risk (i.e., chapter 2). In particular, I show that assessment mode increases the regret emotion, which in turn, decreases risk-taking level. By contrast, locomotion mode decreases the regret emotion, which in turn, increases risk-taking level. Third, they show that habitual use of emotion regulation strategies (i.e., cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression) predict individual differences in taking risk under deliberative processes (i.e., chapter 3). More specifically, cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression were significantly correlated with risk taking, in opposite directions: Stronger habitual use of reappraisal was associated with increased risk taking while stronger habitual use of suppression was associated with decreased risk taking. Four, they show how situationally induced emotion regulation strategies affect people's risky choices which involve higher arousal levels (e.g., when occurring integral emotions; i.e., chapter 4). In particular, situationally induced suppression ER strategy—compared to reappraisal—significantly decreases risk taking only among people with a higher negative outcome focus. Five, based on chapter 4's findings it is showed that habitual use of negative outcome focus on risky choice moderates the expressive suppression's effect in human decisions under risk. The experiments presented in the following chapters offer solid evidence of the mediating role of anticipated regret between decision-maker's regulatory modes and risky behavior. Moreover, robust evidence is showed on mechanisms underlying the relationship between ER strategies and risky decision making. Thus, we can claim that the quality of a decisional output is not only influenced by integral or anticipated emotions, but also by the effectiveness the regulatory strategies employed to control the affective states

Operationalized Intent for Improving Coordination in Human-Agent Teams

With the increasing capabilities of artificial intelligent agents (AIAs) integrated into multi-agent systems, future concepts include human-agent teams (HATs) in which the members perform fluidly as a coordinated team. Research on coordination mechanisms in HATs is largely focused on AIAs providing information to humans to coordinate better (i.e. coordination from the AIA to the human). We focus on the compliment where AIAs can understand the operator to better synchronize with the operator (i.e. from the human to the AIA). This research focuses specifically on AIA estimation of operator intent. We established the Operationalized Intent framework which captures intent in a manner relevant to operators and AIAs. The core of operationalized intent is a quality goal hierarchy and an execution constraint list. Designing a quality goal hierarchy entails understanding the domain, the operators, and the AIAs. By extending established cognitive systems engineering analyses we developed a method to define the quality goals and capture the situations that influence their prioritization. Through a synthesis of mental model evaluation techniques, we defined and executed a process for designing human studies of intent. This human-in-the-loop study produced a corpus of data which was demonstrated the feasibility of estimating operationalized intent

Which One Is the “Best”: a Cross-national Comparative Study of Students’ Strategy Evaluation in Equation Solving

This cross-national study examined students’ evaluation of strategies for solving linear equations, as well as the extent to which their evaluation criteria were related to their use of strategies and/or aligned with experts’ views about which strategy is the best. A total of 792 middle school and high school students from Sweden, Finland, and Spain participated in the study. Students were asked to solve twelve equations, provide multiple solving strategies for each equation, and select the best strategy among those they produced for each equation. Our results indicate that students’ evaluation of strategies was not strongly related to their initial preferences for using strategies. Instead, many students’ criteria were aligned with the flexibility goals, in that a strategy that takes advantages of task context was more highly valued than a standard algorithm. However, cross-national differences in strategy evaluation indicated that Swedish and Finnish students were more aligned with flexibility goals in terms of their strategy evaluation criteria, while Spanish students tended to consider standard algorithms better than other strategies. We also found that high school students showed more flexibility concerns than middle school students. Different emphases in educational practice and prior knowledge might explain these cross-national differences as well as the findings of developmental changes in students’ evaluation criteria

Non-local first-order modelling of crowd dynamics: a multidimensional framework with applications

In this work a physical modelling framework is presented, describing the intelligent, non-local, and anisotropic behaviour of pedestrians. Its phenomenological basics and constitutive elements are detailed, and a qualitative analysis is provided. Within this common framework, two first-order mathematical models, along with related numerical solution techniques, are derived. The models are oriented to specific real world applications: a one-dimensional model of crowd-structure interaction in footbridges and a two-dimensional model of pedestrian flow in an underground station with several obstacles and exits. The noticeable heterogeneity of the applications demonstrates the significance of the physical framework and its versatility in addressing different engineering problems. The results of the simulations point out the key role played by the physiological and psychological features of human perception on the overall crowd dynamics.Comment: 26 pages, 17 figure

Individual and Situational Interest: The Role of Gender and Skill

The purpose of this study was to examine individual and situational interests in learning motor skills as associated with gender and skill. Individual and situational interests and motor skill were measured in middle school girls (n = 109) and boys (n = 82). A correlation analysis for the entire sample showed a moderate correlation between skill and individual interest (r = .63) and weak relationships between individual and situational interest (r r p = .05). However, when individual interest, skill, and gender were compared between students with high or low situational interest in a hierarchical log linear model, it was found that both groups did not differ in number of boys and girls (p = .98). But the high situational interest group had more students with high skill (p = .001) and high individual interest (p = .02). The results suggest that discrepancies in acquired skill accounted for the gender difference and that acquired skill is associated with individual interest and high situational interest in learning motor skills

Individual differences in self-enhancement and self-protection strategies: an integrative analysis

Research has identified a large number of strategies that people use to self-enhance or self-protect. We aimed for an empirical integration of these strategies. Two studies used self-report items to assess all commonly recognized self-enhancement or self-protection strategies. In Study 1 (N = 345), exploratory factor analysis identified four reliable factors. In Study 2 (N = 416), this model was validated using confirmatory factor analysis. The factors related differentially to the key personality variables of regulatory focus, self-esteem, and narcissism. Expanding this integrative approach in the future can reveal a great deal about the structure and dynamics of self-enhancement and self-protection motivation