68 research outputs found
An Australian case for relational resilience. Building academic pathways in first year, preservice teacher education
Slatkovodno ribarstvo SR Hrvatske u 1975. godini
Preliminary studies of strength-based parenting (SBP), a style of parenting that seeks to build strengths knowledge and strengths use in one's child, have reported benefits such as higher life satisfaction, subjective wellbeing, and positive emotions together with lower stress in children and teens. Two proximal mediators conveying these effects have been identified: teen's own use of strengths and strength-based coping, along with a small moderating effect of growth mindsets relating to strengths. The current study tests the potential mediating effect of self-efficacy, a sense of agency in life, in the relationship between SBP and mental health (wellbeing and illbeing) in teens. Self efficacy has been linked to wellbeing and strengths processes in past studies and is classed as a basic human need and form of eudaimonic happiness. This study reconfirmed the adaptive benefits of SBP in a large sample of Australian adolescents (N = 11,368; 59% male; Mage = 14.04, SDage = 1.99) sourced from 28 schools. Using structural equation modeling, SBP significantly and directly predicted higher happiness and lower depression, with direct effects falling into the 85th and 95th percentile of meta-analytically derived individual differences effect sizes. In addition, self-efficacy was a significant partial mediator, accounting for 40.0% of the total effect on happiness and 52.7% of the total effect on distress. Self-efficacy was also a full mediator in the case of anxiety, with a strong indirect effect. Results suggest that building strengths in teens can also build self-efficacy, and given the large effect sizes, that SBP is a promising leverage point for increasing teen wellbeing
Video game addiction, engagement and symptoms of stress, depression and anxiety: The mediating role of coping.
A number of studies have reported a co-occurrence between video game addiction and poorer mental health, but few have contextualised this relationship by identifying mediating variables. Further, there remains uncertainty in how to differentiate high engagement from what may be termed addiction in the context of video gaming. This study examined the mediating role of coping between one measure of video game addiction and engagement, and mental health. An international sample of 552 adult participants (M age 24.9 years, 52.3% Australian) completed an online survey including the Computer Addiction-Engagement Scale (CAES), Depression, Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS-21) and Approach/Avoidance Coping Questionnaire (BACQ). Multiple mediation analysis showed that coping explained a significant portion of the relationship between video game addiction and symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress. However, even after accounting for coping, a direct relationship remained. Video game engagement, on the other hand, indicated full mediation with no direct connection to declined mental health, except in the case of anxiety. Less use of approach coping strategies and particularly more use of resignation and withdrawal coping strategies were related to poorer mental health. Gaming for distraction was unrelated to mental health. This study identified maladaptive coping as a partial explanation of the relationship between video game addiction and poorer mental health. Also, the findings provide validity for making a distinction between video gaming engagement and addiction. Highly engaged gamers with maladaptive coping styles may be more vulnerable to developing video game addiction
Tracing the growth, gaps, and characteristics in positive education science: a long-term, large-scale review of the field
This large-scale quantitative review used publication data to track the presence of positive education terms over a 100+ year period across 35 psychology journals and education journals utilizing two analytical methods. First, computer-generated linguistic word count analysis identified that positive education terms have shown small but steady growth in psychology and education research for more than a century. From 1904 to 2016, positive education terms have risen consistently, with increases in 1952, 1982, 2010, and 2014 to over 4, 5, 6, and 7 percent, respectively. Four new terms were present in the top 20 most prevalent terms following the official launch of positive education in 2009: well-being, satisfaction, motivat*, and engag* (note: terms ending with an asterisk are word stems). Three terms also increased in rank order prevalence from 2009 onwards: emotion*; health; and goal*. The second analytical method involved in-depth human coding of a subset of positive education abstracts (n=2,805) by a team of five researchers1 to identify trends pertaining to how positive education research has been conducted in terms of paradigms, designs, methods, tools, samples, and settings from 1950 to 2016. College students and students in secondary school make up the most common samples, with little research in the early childhood years. Quantitative, cross-sectional studies using self-report surveys have been the most common design and method used over the past six decades, suggesting room for growth in qualitative methods and the need for greater longitudinal and intervention designs. The human coding was also used to classify positive education variables into broader categories of research. Nine categories were identified: positive functioning; well-being; ill-being; strengths; agency; connection and belonging; identity and personality; school climate and outcomes; and demographics. By tracking positive education science over time, the current paper allows researchers to take stock of the field, identify gaps, outline areas of growth, and pursue fruitful topics for future research
SEARCH: a meta-framework and review of the field of positive education
This paper presents a data-driven, meta-framework to support evidence-based decisions for researchers and practitioners when designing, investigating and implementing positive education interventions: the SEARCH framework. SEARCH was developed through a two-stage process. Stage one comprised a large-scale bibliometric review and thematic grouping of topics based on natural language processing of over 18,403 positive psychology studies. Stage two involved action-research with ten schools testing the practical validity of the wellbeing themes identified in stage one with educators. The result of these two stages identified six overarching pathways to wellbeing that formed the SEARCH framework: 1) strengths, 2) emotional management, 3) attention and awareness, 4) relationships, 5) coping and 6) habits and goals. The aim of this current review paper was to examine the existing educational and psychology literature for evidence of whether each SEARCH pathway has been found to successfully foster student wellbeing. Seventy five peer-reviewed studies (total student N = 35,888) were reviewed from North America, Europe, the United Kingdom, Asia, Australia and New Zealand. Results demonstrate the value and applicability of the SEARCH framework. The comprehensive review conducted in this paper is then used to discuss current gaps in positive education research as well as present the utility of SEARCH as a framework to support positive education science and practice
A combination of active learning strategies improves student academic outcomes in first-year paramedic bioscience
Leadership to Improve Mathematics Outcomes in Low SES Schools and School Networks
Instructional and transformational leadership is reportedly required to improve the mathematics outcomes of students in low socio-economic status school communities. This study of 43 schools in two networks of schools in rural Victoria explored leadership practices and found evidence to support both these leadership approaches along with distributed leadership practice. School leaders established network and school structures and relationships at various levels of the network and school organisation to enable and support ongoing improvement in teachers’pedagogical content knowledge and teaching practice and to build the leadership
capacity of teachers within their schools. The leaders’ knowledge of effective mathematics teaching practice enabled them to mentor teachers in their school or team and to support the practices of professional learning teams within their school
The Roles of Depression, Life Control and Affective Distress on Treatment Attendance and Perceived Disability in Chronic Back Pain Sufferers throughout the Duration of the Condition
The aims of this study were to examine psychological factors that predict treatment seek-ing and disability over the total duration of experiencing back pain. A sample of 201 adults experi-encing chronic back pain was recruited through health professionals and completed the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS), the Oswestry Back Pain Disability Questionnaire (ODQ), the McGill Pain Questionnaire (MPQ) and the life control and affective distress variables of the West Haven–Yale Multidimensional Pain Inventory (WHYMP), and participants disclosed the number of treatment sessions attended over the course of the illness. Depression, life control and affective dis-tress were tested as indirect predictors of disability severity that were mediated by treatment at-tendance. Each unit increase in life control predicted attending nearly 30 more treatment sessions, each unit increase in affective distress predicted attending 16 fewer treatments and each unit in-crease in depression predicted 4 fewer treatments, together explaining 44% of variance in treatment seeking. The effects of life control and affective distress on disability were explained by treatment attendance, whereas depression retained a direct effect on disability. Treatment attendance had an effect on disability. The findings show that participants with lower life control and higher affective distress and depression had higher levels of pain and disability, in part due to due to their treat-ment-seeking behaviour
Does Strength-Based Parenting Predict Academic Achievement? The Mediating Effects of Perseverance and Engagement
How does team-based guided inquiry learning improve student engagement?
Bioscience is a fundamental component of undergraduate tertiary allied health programs, providing students the scientific basis underlying clinical practice. However despite its significance, Bioscience subjects prove to be a hurdle for many students (Jordan et al , 1999). The introduction of a Process Oriented, Guided Inquiry Learning (POGIL) (an example of an active learning approach) has been shown to significantly improve students’ marks in physiology (Brown, 2010). Guided group based activities would aid in building broader skills and capabilities like teamwork and communication skills, as well as physiology discipline knowledge and skills (Rathner et al 2013).
This paper aims to assess the impact of changed teaching approach on student performance in first year physiology. . The redesign of the unit, Bioscience for paramedics 1 (a first year introductory unit for study of anatomy and physiology) in 2013 utilised team based guided inquiry to encourage time-on-task, active learning and constructive teamwork to promote good learning and study habits.
Students were centrally assigned to a tutorial team. Teams were made up of between 4-6 students, and these teams, after week one of semester, were then stable throughout the semester. A typical tutorial group was made up of five teams. In 2012, tutorials were of one hour duration, more likely reflected a traditional didactic based tutorial activity. There was no assessment activity based on team participation of function. In 2013, students earned 20% of their final grade based on weekly team participation by submitting weekly team submission based on work done during the tutorial (2.0% per week for 10 tutorials). An opinion based survey was conducted at the end of semester.
There was no significant difference in final exam result in any of the instances of the subject. Nor was there any difference in intrasemester test results between the 2011 and 2012 instance of the subject. However, students in 2013 outperformed both of the earlier instances of the subject (
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