Social involvement and development as a response to the campus student culture

Given the widely accepted notion of whole person education in Confucian societies such as Hong Kong, Mainland China and Singapore, it is surprising that research literature originated in these societies pays little attention to how students learn and develop through out-of-class experiences at university. There is little research evidence on how the prevailing culture among student social communities (residential halls and student societies/clubs) influences students' social involvement and development. This paper examines 42 Chinese students' social experiences and development during their freshman year at a Hong Kong university. The majority of them were intensively involved in out-of-class activities. Their active social involvement was both a response to the culture of student communities and a conscious choice about social experiences at university. As a result, the students attained development in four dimensions: (1) the social competences of interpersonal and collaboration skills and new friendships; (2) the practical competences of time management, organisation, negotiation, decision making and leadership; (3) the intellectual competences of open-mindedness and independent judgment; and (4) the personal competences of self- responsibility and self-confidence. Educational implications are discussed towards the end of the paper on supporting and advising students regarding social involvement, particularly during the first year of university. © 2011 The Author(s).published_or_final_versionSpringer Open Choice, 21 Feb 201

Departures from sensible play in computer blackjack

published_or_final_versio

家長管教對青少年網上行為及態度的影響

眾所周知，互聯網對青少年的成長與發展有着重要的影響。然而影響是好是壞至今還沒有定論。近期的研究顯示，影響的好壞取決於青少年的社會及心理調整，對此家長的管教起著甚麼作用？有關家長管教行為對子女影響的研究不少，然而很少觸及互聯網或資訊科技的管教行為、及它們對青少年網上行為或態度的影響。本文報告一項包括1,212個隨機抽樣香港家庭的研究，探討互聯網對青少年的影響、及他們就互聯網有關的道德態度、以及它們與各類家長管教行為的關係。postprin

The effect of pre-operative information in relieving anxiety in oral surgery patients

Appropriate stress management of patients is essential for smooth running of invasive or surgical dental procedures conducted under local anaesthesia. Objective: The current study analysed the effectiveness of pre-operative information provision for anxiety reduction during dentoalveolar surgery in patients with high- or low-trait anxiety. Methods: Patients scheduled for oral surgical procedures performed by six private dental practitioners were invited to participate in the study. They were randomly assigned to four groups and received the following pre-operative information: (i) basic information only, (ii) basic information with details of the operative procedures, (iii) basic information with details of the expected recovery, and (iv) basic information with details of both the operative procedures and recovery. The participants' trait anxiety level was measured with the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS), then they were divided into high- or low-trait anxiety groups with the method of median-split on the basis of the DASS score. Self-rated anxiety was recorded immediately before, during and 10 min after the surgical procedures. Results: High-trait anxiety subjects gave higher self-reported anxiety levels (repeated-measures ANOVA, P < 0.05). Pre-operative provision of details about the expected recovery only or details concerning both the operative procedures and recovery led to significant reduction in self-reported anxiety among the participants throughout the procedure (P < 0.01). However, information on operative procedures led to anxiety reduction in low (P < 0.05) but not high-trait anxiety participants. Conclusion: Provision of pre-operative information of the recovery process leads to significant anxiety reduction in all patients who undergo surgical/invasive procedures with local anaesthesia. © Blackwell Munksgaard, 2004.postprin

Partial analogical transfer in problem solving: Roles of centrality and order

http://csjarchive.cogsci.rpi.edu/Proceedings/2002/CogSci02.pdfAntonietti (1991) first presented the idea of partial analogies in solving an ill-defined problem. Prior to that, studies looking into the role of analogies in problem solving used complete analogies. Antonietti concluded that partial analogies helped problem solving only when all the cues were present and presented in the correct order. The conditions for partial analogy to work as identified by Antonietti seem to be overly stringent. Partial analogy should be effective in most situations as most analogical cues available in daily life are partial in nature. This study therefore looks into the role of analogical transfer of partial analogies. Our study differs from Antonietti (1991) in a few ways. First, as it is logical to assume that some analogical cues are more crucial than the others, the notion of centrality of an analogy was examined. Second, we also revisited if analogical cues have to be presented in the exact order in order to be effective. Finally, we presented the partial analogies as problems for participants to solve rather than disguised them as arithmetic problems