Nerd Harassment and Grade Inflation: Are College Admissions Policies Partly Responsible?

[Excerpt] In the eyes of American parents, college admissions officers control the single most important gate their children will ever pass through. Nearly all parents hope their child will go to college. Perceptions of what it takes to get into preferred colleges and universities profoundly affect the courses students take, the standards teachers set and the effort students put out. Many (but not all) of the admissions selection criteria favored by American colleges and universities unwittingly create incentives for educationally dysfunctional behavior by secondary school students, teachers and administrators and by voters in school budget referendums. How can college admissions criteria be causing so many problems? Some selection criteria are fine: the rigor and challenge of academic courses should be given heavy weight as should externally assessed achievement in these courses. This will induce students to take challenging courses and to work hard in them. They also induce administrators to offer rigorous courses (eg. AP and IB courses) and to hire teachers who have the thorough content background necessary to teach them. Most of the other commonly used selection criteria— aptitude test scores, rank in class, high school GPA, rank in class and high school reputation—send as many pernicious signals as they send positive signals

The effects of motivational climate interventions on psychobiosocial states in high school physical education

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of task- and ego-involving climate manipulations on students’ climate perception and psychobiosocial (PBS) states in a physical education setting. Method: Two subsamples of female students (N = 108, 14-15 years of age) participated for 12 lessons on either a task- or an ego-involving climate intervention as grounded in the TARGET model. Results: At the end of the treatment, the participants of the ego-involved group reported lower scores in perceived task-involving climate and higher scores in perceived ego-involving climate than their peers in the task-involved group. Lower scores in pleasant/functional PBS states and higher scores in unpleasant/dysfunctional PBS states were also observed in the ego-involved group as a consequence of the intervention. Conclusion(s): Findings suggested that teacher’s induced achievement motivational climates can influence students’ perceptions and prompt PBS states consistent with the motivational atmosphere

Natal Family Disruptions and Lives in Non-Parental Care:Impacts on Children’s Emotional Health and Academic Success

This research used a mixed methods design to evaluate the negative impacts of strains in children’s natal family environment, on their emotional and academic core self-concept, as well as how healthy non-parental relationships can help repair the damaged self-concept. Analyses of National Survey of Children in Non-parental Care (2013) survey data, supplemented with interviews with five experts in the field, revealed the following: strains generated by disruptions in the child’s natal family negatively affected the emotional health of the children in non-parental care and indirectly their academic success; and living in non-parental care homes, particularly having healthy relationships with the caregiver, was positive for both the emotional and academic self-concept of children. Contrary to conventional wisdom, continued involvement of birthparents, after the children were removed from their care, neither benefitted nor harmed the children. These findings were theoretically explained using insights from the Strain (Agnews 1992) and Social Bond perspectives (Hirschi 1969) on the development of core and fluid self-concepts (Blumer 1969; Kuhn 1964), and added to current literature on the needs and well-being of children in non-parental care

Making films in a Brazilian slum with children: a participant observation research

This article stands for innovative learning opportunities to social inclusion by film education. The theoretical model is a combined structure coming from approaches and projects of social inclusion through film education. The aim is to describe and analyze the film education process in a project outside the school. This research is based on a participant observation research conducted on children in a Brazilian slum. Cinema, as other art forms, is a political and ideological tool that can be used with different purposes. Film education is a strong mediator to facilitate transformative learning, changing one's dysfunctional views and beliefs about oneself and the world by revising their frames of reference (Mezirow & Taylor, 2009). Films have a unique ability to promote empathy towards a role model, and promote resilience in situations similar to those the role model goes through. Furthermore, media, such as films, is capable of reaching people that might otherwise be uninterested (Buckingham, 2007; Gonnet, 2007; Silverstone, 2005; UNESCO, 2013).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Comparison of Career Decision Difficulties Between Nursing Freshmen and Interns

Career selection is one of the most important decisions an individual makes in his life. High career expectation could result in career decision difficulties. This study aimed to compare and analyze the career decision difficulties between nursing freshmen and interns. This cross-sectional study involved 110 and 66 nursing freshmen and interns respectively (n=176) in two private nursing colleges. Career decision difficulties questionnaire was used in data collection. Descriptive statistic and independent sample t test were used in data analysis (α<.05). Results showed that most respondents experienced moderate difficulties in both groups. Overall, there was no significant difference of career decision difficulty found between groups (p=.057), but indecisiveness, dysfunctional myths, lack of knowledge about the process of career decision making, lack of information, lack of information about occupations, lack of information about ways of obtaining additional information, and internal conflicts were significantly different between groups (all p<α). Career decision difficulties occur similarly both in nursing freshmen and interns

The Effect of Dysfunctional Thought Processes on Subjective Well-Being and Job Satisfaction

While the dispositional approach to job satisfaction has received a good deal of recent attention, a fundamental deficiency in past dispositional research is a failure to use existing theories to explain why individuals are unhappy and dissatisfied with their jobs. Locke (1976), Judge (in press), and Judge and Hulin (in press) suggested that thinking processes should be studied in relation to job satisfaction. This study tested the thesis that the cognitive theory of depression, which focuses on irrational thought processes, will help in understanding both subjective well-being and job satisfaction. A causal model involving subjective well-being, job satisfaction, dysfunctional thought processes, and other relevant influences was hypothesized and tested using a stratified random sample of university employees. Ratings were obtained from two sources in order to reduce single-source bias. The results indicated strong support for the overall model and for the efficacy of dysfunctional thought processes

Emotional maltreatment and disordered eating in adolescents::Testing the mediating role of emotion regulation

The present study aimed to determine if emotion regulation mediates the relationship between emotional maltreatment and disordered eating behavior in adolescents. Participants were 222 secondary school pupils (aged 14–18 years) from a state high school in the UK. Standardized questionnaire measures were used to gather self-report data on emotional abuse and emotional neglect, functional and dysfunctional emotion regulation strategies and disordered eating behavior. Results showed that disordered eating was associated with emotional abuse, dysfunctional emotion regulation and being female. Multiple mediation analysis found an indirect relationship between emotional abuse and disordered eating through dysfunctional emotion regulation. Interestingly, emotional neglect predicted lower levels of functional emotion regulation. The findings support previous research showing emotion regulation to mediate the relationship between childhood abuse and disordered eating in adults and a differential effect of abuse and neglect on emotion regulation. Longitudinal studies are required to confirm the direction of relationships; however these data suggest that dysfunctional emotion regulation is a significant variable in the development of disordered eating and may be a useful target for intervention

Learning from the experts: exploring playground experience and activities using a write and draw technique.

BACKGROUND: Qualitative research into the effect of school recess on children's physical activity is currently limited. This study used a write and draw technique to explore children's perceptions of physical activity opportunities during recess. METHODS: 299 children age 7-11 years from 3 primary schools were enlisted. Children were grouped into Years 3 & 4 and Years 5 & 6 and completed a write and draw task focusing on likes and dislikes. Pen profiles were used to analyze the data. RESULTS: Results indicated 'likes' focused on play, positive social interaction, and games across both age groups but showed an increasing dominance of games with an appreciation for being outdoors with age. 'Dislikes' focused on dysfunctional interactions linked with bullying, membership, equipment, and conflict for playground space. Football was a dominant feature across both age groups and 'likes/dislikes' that caused conflict and dominated the physically active games undertaken. CONCLUSION: Recess was important for the development of conflict management and social skills and contributed to physical activity engagement. The findings contradict suggestions that time spent in recess should be reduced because of behavioral issues