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Background: Higher vocational education is an essential part of the higher education system that complements conventional education. In the context of information and communication technology (ICT) development and academic competition, more and more literature has proved the importance of ICT use in educational development (academic achievement and mental health) and the relationship between information literacy and the educational development of higher vocational students. Objectives: Based on one of the most extensive surveys of higher vocational students, the study combined the Opportunity‐Propensity (O‐P) framework and ecological model to explore the direct effects of different types of ICT use on educational development and the indirect effects from psychological and social factors. Methods: The data involved 28,956 students from seven higher vocational colleges. The class fixed effect and causal mediation analysis models verified the results. Results and Conclusion: The results found differential effects of different types of ICT use on academic achievement and mental health. Information literacy ability can improve the academic achievement of higher vocational students, but at the cost of mental health. ICT use not only directly impacts the academic achievement and mental health, but also has an indirect impact through psychological factors represented by self‐efficacy and technostress and social factors represented by social support. Implications: This study promotes integrating and expanding the O‐P framework and ecological model, enriching the relevant research in ICT use and educational development. Meanwhile, it also provides practical suggestions for realizing rational interventions in ICT use and improving the educational development level of higher vocational students. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic: Information and communication technology (ICT) use is closely related to the educational development of higher vocational students.The trend of ICT use in higher vocational education has become increasingly apparent.The effects of ICT use are heterogeneous among groups with different information literacy. What this paper adds: O‐P framework and ecological model provide the perspective of theoretical integration.The impact of different types of ICT use on educational development varies.Information literacy can improve academic achievement at the cost of mental health.Psychological and social factors play a mediating role in educational development. Implications for practice and/or policy: The research is helpful to guide students to allocate their time reasonably for different ICT uses.Mental health counselling should be strengthened while cultivating information literacy ability.Develop appropriate ICT usage strategies for students with different information literacy.It is helpful to develop appropriate interventions from a psychological and social perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: As adequate support, virtual reality (VR) has been increasingly introduced into the classroom to help students learn a new language. However, empirical studies exploring the educational potential of using 360° spherical video‐based virtual reality (SVVR) in high‐school Chinese language classrooms are still lacking. Objectives: A mind mapping‐based SVVR learning system is proposed for international high‐school students' Chinese courses and examines its effects on improving Chinese learning achievements and perceptions among Grade 10 students who learn Chinese as a foreign language. Methods: This study adopted a quasi‐experiment design. Participants (N = 66) were assigned to one of three conditions: mind mapping‐based SVVR (MMBSVVR), conventional SVVR (CSVVR), or traditional lecturing (TL). Our mixed‐method approach employed pre‐and post‐tests to measure Chinese learning achievements, questionnaires to measure Chinese learning motivation, problem‐solving ability, and self‐efficacy, and semi‐structured interviews to further explore students' feelings and attitudes about Chinese courses in corresponding learning environments. Results and Conclusions: The results showed that the MMBSVVR classroom significantly improved high students' Chinese learning achievements in Chinese vocabulary and making sentence, problem‐solving ability, and self‐efficacy. Moreover, SVVR stimulates students' learning interest and class participation, and mind mapping provides students with a clear guide to arrange the knowledge. These findings help interpret the relationships between MMBSVVR and learning achievements, Chinese learning motivation, problem‐solving ability, and self‐efficacy in an international high school Chinese courses, thus providing insight on integrating MMBSVVR into existing classrooms. Lay Description: What is Already Known about this Topic: By creating fully immersive 3D environments, 360° spherical video‐based virtual reality (SVVR) in promoting language learning has been confirmed by many scholars with a focus on English language learning.Mind mapping effectively enables second language learners to review and retain new words in the target language meaningfully. Also, it can create a more vivid learning atmosphere through images and graphics and promote learners' memory and learning motivation. What This Paper Adds: A mind mapping‐based SVVR learning system has been developed with the support of the constructivism theory.A mind mapping‐based SVVR learning system is proposed to facilitate international students' Chinese learning performance in Chinese vocabulary acquisition and sentence construction.In addition to promoting international students' learning outcomes, the proposed approach indicated promising results in learning motivation, problem‐solving ability, and self‐efficacy. Implications for Practice and/or Policy: This study provides an evidence base for further research through the utilization of VR learning environments in Chinese language classrooms.This study advocates introducing SVVR technology in the Chinese learning classrooms to increase the learning context for international students. It is also worth encouraging scholars to design VR learning systems with different learning strategies.Due to the cognitive requirements of the Chinese language learning process, it is necessary to introduce mind maps in the SVVR learning system to assist students in constructing knowledge and combining prior and new knowledge to generate long‐term memory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Assignments that involve writing based on several texts are challenging to many learners. Formative feedback supporting learners in these tasks should be informed by the characteristics of evolving written product and by the characteristics of learning processes learners enacted while developing the product. However, formative feedback in writing tasks based on multiple texts has almost exclusively focused on essay product and rarely included SRL processes. Objectives: We explored the viability of using product and process features to develop machine learning classifiers that identify low‐ and high‐performing essays in a multi‐text writing task. Methods: We examined learning processes and essay submissions of 163 graduate students working on an authentic multi‐text writing assignment. We utilised learners' trace data to obtain process features and state‐of‐the‐art natural language processing methods to obtain product features for our classifiers. Results and Conclusions: Of four popular classifiers examined in this study, Random Forest achieved the best performance (accuracy = 0.80 and recall = 0.77). The analysis of important features identified in the Random Forest classification model revealed one product (coverage of reading topics) and three process (elaboration/organisation, re‐reading and planning) features as important predictors of writing quality. Major Takeaways: The classifier can be used as a part of a future automated writing evaluation system that will support at scale formative assessment in writing tasks based on multiple texts in different courses. Based on important predictors of essay performance, a guidance can be tailored to learners at the outset of a multi‐text writing task to help them do well in the task. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic?: Both product and process features should be used to inform formative feedback on writing.Providing product‐ and process‐oriented feedback to learners is challenging.Automatic writing evaluation systems have mainly relied upon product features.Automated analysis of learners' trace data and their essay drafts is a promising venue. What this paper adds?: An accurate machine learning classifier that identifies low‐ and high‐scoring essays.The classifier utilized both product and process features.We obtained process features from learners' trace data in digital learning environment.We computed product features using state‐of‐the‐art text analytical methods. Implications for practice and/or policy: The classifier can be used as a part of a future automated writing evaluation system.We revealed learning processes and essay characteristics that influence performance.Based on important predictors of performance, formative feedback can be given to learners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Study: The effects of the flipped classroom (FC) on students' academic performance remain ambiguous, and the use of pre‐class videos may be one of the main factors hindering students' progress. A software package called GeoGebra has been proposed as a substitute for pre‐class videos to aid students' learning. Objective: This study investigates the effect of the FC using GeoGebra (FCG) on mathematical performance and memory among senior secondary students. Methods: One hundred and sixty students of a senior high school in China were selected. A quasi‐experimental design was implemented in which the classes were split into the intervention group (FCG), control group A (FCV) and control group B (TL) by random assignment. Pretest, Post‐test 1 and Post‐test 2 were introduced. Results and Conclusion: The results indicate that both the FCG and the FC with pre‐class videos (FCV) were more effective than traditional lectures in enhancing students' academic test scores, and that the effect of the FCG was comparable to its video counterpart, F(2, 136) = 3.752, ρ = 0.026, η2 = 0.052. Although their effects were similar, the qualitative results revealed some hidden benefits associated with the replacement of pre‐class video with GeoGebra. Furthermore, although they were equally effective in promoting students' performance in the short‐term, the long‐term effects on academic performance of both forms of FC were non‐significant when compared with traditional lectures. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic: Flipped classroom is an effective strategy in teaching mathematics.Among those challenges, video may be one of the main factors hindering the effect of flipped classroom. What this paper adds: GeoGebra could be an effective alternative to video.Effect between the flipped classroom using GeoGebra and the flipped classroom using video were similar.Both the flipped classroom with GeoGebra and the flipped classroom with videos were more effective than traditional lectures. Implications for practice and/or policy: Students' short‐term performance could be enhanced by visualisation provided by flipped classroom.To enhance students' long‐term performance, an appropriate amount of homework is suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Study: As flipped learning is a flexible pedagogical methodology to tailor students' needs and maximize the learning effects, this study integrated peer learning with MosoTeach‐supported flipped mode in an undergraduate blended EFL course. MosoTeach is a popular online learning platform in China with a variety of learning resources. Objectives: The study aimed to test the impact of MosoTeach flipped learning (MTFL) mode on undergraduate EFL students' perceived motivation, participation, feedback, and test performance. Methods: A quasi‐experimental design was carried out in Z university during the spring semester of 2020, with the experimental group (n = 34) adopting the MTFL model and a control group (n = 33) the non‐flipped mode. Results and Conclusions: The independent t‐test results showed that the experimental MTFL group outperformed the control group in post‐test scores, and a positive correlation was found in the relationship between the experimental MTFL group's post‐test scores and MosoTeach learning experience points (LEPs). Moreover, the course perception questionnaire survey indicated a higher level of students' perceived motivation, participation, and feedback in the experimental MTFL group, which corresponded to the results of the content analysis of students' responses to open‐ended questions and reflective reports. But students in both groups experienced challenges such as isolation, procrastination and technological anxiety. Lay Description: What is currently known about this topicFlipped language learning is mostly reported to be effective in improving EFL learning.Peer learning is mostly reported to be effective in improving EFL learning.MosoTeach was investigated in English learning contexts before, but without experimental design. What this paper addsMosoTeach proved as a valid online learning platform in flipped language learning, and the learning experience points (LEPs) on MosoTeach could predict students' exam performance.Students in the experimental group (MosoTeach‐supported flipped) had better exam performance and a higher level of motivation, participation and feedback.Students in both groups experienced isolation, procrastination and technological anxiety. Implications for practice:Peer discussion boards in MosoTeach provide learning support effectively for students in pre‐class learning.Group projects and peer assessment in MosoTeach integrate pre‐class peer discussion into in‐class interaction successfully.MosoTeach provides equal opportunity for every student in the large‐size Chinese English classes, thus contributing to the equity of in‐class peer interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: While a number of learner factors have been identified to impact students' collaborative learning, there has been little systematic research into how patterns of students' collaborative learning may differ by their learning orientations. Objectives: This study aimed to investigate: (1) variations in students' learning orientations by their conceptions, approaches, and perceptions; (2) the patterns of students' collaborations by variations in their learning orientations and (3) the contribution of patterns of collaborations to academic achievement. Methods: A cohort of 174 Chinese undergraduates in a blended engineering course were surveyed for their conceptions of learning, approaches to learning and to using online learning technologies, and perceptions of e‐learning, to identify variations in their learning orientations. Students' collaborations and mode of collaborations were collected through an open‐ended social network analysis (SNA) questionnaire. Results and Conclusions: A hierarchical cluster analysis identified an 'understanding' and 'reproducing' learning orientations. Based on students' learning orientations and their choices to collaborate, students were categorized into three mutually exclusive collaborative group, namely Understanding Collaborative group, Reproducing Collaborative group and Mixed Collaborative group. SNA centrality measures demonstrated that students in the Understanding Collaborative group had more collaborations and stayed in a better position in terms of capacity to gather information. Both students' approaches to learning and students' average collaborations significantly contributed to their academic achievement, explaining 3% and 4% of variance in their academic achievement respectively. The results suggest that fostering a desirable learning orientation may help improve students' collaborative learning. Lay Description: What is currently known about the subject matter: There are variations in students' learning orientations.Various learner factors have been found to shape patterns of students' collaborations. What this paper adds: Patterns of students' collaborations differed by variations in students' learning orientations.Students' average collaborations significantly contributed to academic achievement. Implications of the findings for practioners: Fostering a desirable learning orientation may improve collaborative learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Video conferencing learning offers a more accessible and flexible learning mode for students who cannot attend face‐to‐face class in person. However, research about the video conferencing learning is still lacked, especially for students' engagement in this setting. Objectives: This study adopts the self‐system model of motivational development to uncover effects of the video conferencing learning environment (VCLE) to students' engagement. Methods: Two hundred and ninety‐eight primary school students involved in the VCLE were surveyed. The partial least square structural equation modelling was employed to explore the link between the VCLE and students' engagement with a mediating role of basic psychological needs satisfaction (BPNS). Results and Conclusions: Results showed that the BPNS played a mediating role in the processes from the VCLE to engagement. Both pedagogical and social affordance had a significant effect on the BPNS. However, their influences were different. Specifically, pedagogical affordance yielded a stronger effect on the BPNS for autonomy than social affordance. The predicting power of social affordance on BPNS for relatedness and competence was stronger than pedagogical affordance. Generally, social affordance yielded more contributions to behavioral and emotional engagement than pedagogical affordance. Moreover, BPNS for competence was the only significant mediator between the VCLE and behavioral engagement, and it owned the strongest mediating power on the relationship between the VCLE and emotional engagement, followed by autonomy, and the smallest of relatedness. This study suggests that practitioners and researchers should give more consideration to improve social affordance of the VCLE and to meet students' BPNS especially for competence in order to design and implement an engaged video conferencing course. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic: Video conferencing learning provides an accessible and flexible learning mode.Mechanism from learning environment to engagement is helpful to design an engaged video conferencing course.Less is known about how video conferencing learning affects students' engagement. What the paper adds: This study uncovered the functioning process of video conferencing learning to students' engagement.PLS‐SEM was employed to verify the mediating role of BPNS in this process.BPNS for autonomy, competence, and relatedness played mediating roles and their powers were different. Implications for practice and/or policy: More attention is needed to improve to social affordance to enhance students' emotional engagement.BPNS especially for competence deserves special consideration to improve students' behavioral and emotional engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Situational engagement plays a critical role in promoting students' academic performance. In a smart classroom environment, this study collected longitudinal real‐time data for 105 college students at a university in central China to investigate the relationship among situational engagement, personal characteristics and learning environment perceptions. Hierarchical linear modelling showed that environmental perception and students' personal factors have different effects on situational engagement. Specifically, (1) social support perceptions, autonomous motivation and controlled motivation have a significant impact on behavioural engagement; (2) perceptions of social and media support, autonomous motivation and controlled motivation have a significant impact on shallow cognitive engagement; and (3) perceptions of teacher and social support, self‐efficacy and autonomous motivation significantly predict deep cognitive and emotional engagement. This study suggests that the effect of the perception regarding advanced technology‐supported learning environments on students' situational engagement is limited, and instructors should pay more attention to improving students' perceptions of teacher and social support, self‐efficacy and autonomous motivation to promote students' situational deep cognitive engagement in smart classrooms. Practitioner notesWhat is already known about this topic Compared with overall engagement, situational engagement fluctuates and changes with time and context.Situational engagement is a product of environmental and personal factors.Few studies have focused on the nature of situational engagement and how environmental and personal factors influence situational engagement in smart classrooms.What the paper adds This study contributes to the existing literature by investigating the critical factors that predict situational engagement, using the experience sampling method in a smart classroom at a Chinese university.Environmental perception, self‐efficacy and students' motivation factors have different effects on situational engagement in a smart classroom.Perceptions of teacher and social support, self‐efficacy and autonomous motivation significantly predict deep cognitive and emotional engagement, while perceptions of media support only have a significant impact on shallow cognitive engagement.Personal factors (controlled and autonomous motivation) moderate the relationship between environmental perception factors and situational engagement.Implications for practice and/or policy Rather than only providing external technology‐rich conditions, instructors should focus more on improving students' perceptions of teacher and social support, self‐efficacy and autonomous motivation in the smart classroom environment.Instructors should promote students' perception of teacher support and their autonomous motivation to enhance their deep cognitive engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the perceptions and experiences of a teacher and students in a Shanghai public primary school when digital games were used in a second‐grade math class. The participants included one teacher and 45 students. Data collection methods included classroom observation, focus‐group and individual interviews, and document analysis. Digital gameplay, when used once daily over a 6‐day period, was found to enhance student engagement and interest in learning; many students, however, were concerned about its effect on academic achievement and eyesight. The teacher employed a "making thinking visible" approach using pencil and paper and problem‐solving strategies to help students understand the game's mathematical principles and master mathematical knowledge. Obstacles included large class size, difficulty evaluating learning outcomes, balancing fun and learning, and effective game–classroom integration. This study found that exam‐oriented education and traditional teacher‐centred teaching in China influenced participants' perceptions and experiences of digital game‐based learning. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic: Digital game‐based learning is effective and leads to a more relaxed learning environment that promotes students' engagement, interest, motivation, and confidence.Learning with digital games helps students acquire mathematics knowledge more effectively than traditional classroom lectures.Digital game‐based learning is helpful in math class as it makes students feel challenged and more capable, thereby improving self‐efficacy and task persistence. What this paper adds: Mathematics teachers and students have a contradictory attitude that shows both approval and concern towards game‐based learning.In the Chinese context, exam‐oriented culture is an important factor that influences the teacher's and students' perceptions and experiences of digital game‐based learning.While digital game‐based learning helps students' engagement and interest in math, it also faces numerous challenges such as large class size, balancing fun and learning, and effective game–classroom integration. Implications for practice and/or policy: Digital game‐based learning may be more effective when combined with pencil and paper to write down the process and make thinking visible.Fun and learning should be balanced in digital game‐based learning.Teachers need training and support for digital game‐centred programmes to succeed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since little is known about the effects of free textbooks on compulsory school students in China, this paper examines the effects of free textbooks on the academic performance of Chinese middle school students. It combines propensity score matching and difference‐in‐difference estimation to control for both observable and unobservable factors that affect the probability of obtaining free textbooks as well as students' academic performance. Results indicate that free textbooks significantly improve the midterm scores of girls and rural students, and the effects vary across different subjects. Moreover, the impact mechanisms of free textbooks are different for different groups and different subjects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Considerable evidence suggests that students' achievement emotions are important contributors to their learning and success online. It is, therefore, essential to understand and support students' emotional experiences to enhance online education, especially under the COVID‐19 context. However, to date, very few studies have investigated how students' achievement emotions might be affected by teaching and learning factors in online learning environments. Objectives: Based on Pekrun's (2006) control‐value theory of achievement emotions, this study examined the influence of students' perceived online teaching quality and appraisals of control and value on their achievement emotions in an online second language (L2) learning context instigated by the COVID‐19. Methods: Data were collected using an online survey of 1503 undergraduates from ten universities across different regions of China. Confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) were performed to test the validity of the instruments and structural equation modelling were conducted to examine the relations between L2 teaching and learning variables. Results and Conclusions: Results revealed that perceived teacher internet and communication technology competence had positive effects on enjoyment, but negative effects on anxiety and boredom, and these effects were fully mediated by perceived control and/or value. Perceived chaotic teaching structure (CTS) had reverse effects for the three emotions. Perceived CTS effects on enjoyment and anxiety were fully and partially mediated by perceived control, respectively. Takeaways: Online teaching quality is critical for students' appraisals and emotions towards L2 learning. Teachers should strive to improve online teaching quality and design interventions targeting students' perceived control and value to temper their affective experiences associated with the crisis‐prompted online teaching practices. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic: Teachers' internet and communication technology (ICT) competence and pedagogical design can enhance students' e‐learning efficacy, motivation and interests.Students' perceived control and value can influence their achievement emotions in online learning.Teacher's ICT competence and pedagogical design can impact students' emotions in online learning. What this paper adds: Perceived teacher ICT competence and chaotic teaching structures can have differential impact on students' perceived control and value for e‐learning.Perceived control and intrinsic value differently mediated the effects of the two teaching factors on students' emotions for e‐learning.Perceived teacher ICT competence and chaotic teaching structures can have both direct and indirect effects on students' e‐learning emotions via perceived control and value. Implications for practice and/or policy: Teacher training and development programs should prepare teachers for varying teaching formats including unplanned online teaching due to a forced switch to remote teaching.Teachers should acquaint themselves with using various online platforms and software to communicate the goals, expectations, structures and requirements of their language lessons to students' in a clear manner.Online language teaching interventions aiming to increase or decrease a specific emotion could directly target specific combinations of teaching characteristics and appraisals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Failure to effectively organize and manage learning time is an important factor influencing online learners' performance. Investigation of time‐investment patterns for online learning will provide educators with useful knowledge of how learners engage in and regulate their online learning and support them in tailoring online course design and teaching. However, understanding of how learners invest and manage their time during online learning remains limited. Objectives: This study aims to discover the typical time‐investment patterns of MOOC learners and their temporal‐learning characteristics based on a systematic time‐investment analysis framework and their relationship with learning performance. Methods: Based on a proposed time‐investment‐analysis framework, this study applied statistical, cluster and lag sequential analyses to investigate learners' time‐investment patterns and their relationships with learning performance, session time allocation, and learning sequences by analysing the learning data from 12,463 participants of a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) in China. Results and Conclusions: Seven time‐investment patterns of MOOC learners were defined, and learning performance was found to differ among them. Further analysis shows that high performers invested time throughout the whole course and allocated time to multiple activities, exam‐takers performed better in time management and produced more behavioural sequences related to cognitive strategy and recourse use, and learners' motivation and prior knowledge affected the management and effectiveness of their time investment. Implications: The results support the recognition and evaluation of online learning time‐investment patterns and suggest relevant cues for improving MOOC design and teaching. Lay Description: What is currently known about the subject matter: Insufficient learning time affects learning persistence and effectiveness in open and online education programs.Learning time investment and management regarded as an element of self‐regulated learning is a predictor of learning performance.Some proxy behavioural variables or characteristics of online learning time management have been found in previous studies.Learning analysis can be used to dig the knowledge implicit in learning data for online teaching evaluation and improvement. What is paper adds to the subject: Based on a comprehensive analytic framework, seven time‐investment patterns of MOOC learners and their relationship with achievement are identified.Under different time frames, learners' time allocation and learning behaviour pattern are different.Learners performing better in time management across course learning allocate more time to multiple activities in session learning.Exam‐takers perform better in time management across MOOC learning, and produce more behaviour sequences related to cognitive strategy and course recourse use. The implications of study findings for practitioners: The recognition of time investment pattern can support online course design and teaching improvement.MOOC design and teaching need to consider the differences in learners' time resources and their ability of time management.MOOC design and teaching need to encourage learners lacking of performance motivation to engage in various learning activities instead of just watching videos.MOOC design need consider the differences in learners' prior knowledge, and offer personalized learning path based on assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past decade, the call to foster computational thinking (CT) in every child has received considerable attention. However, there is little understanding of whether children are developmentally ready to think computationally and what specific CT concepts and skills can be developed at various ages. This study explored the developmental and gender differences in CT skills of 197 Grade 4–6 students (aged 9–13) before being exposed to instruction and investigated the age–gender interaction effects on their CT acquisition in an intervention combining both programming and non‐programming (unplugged) activities. Results show that students' CT skills followed a developmental progression before instruction. Gender difference across ages was insignificant in conditionals, logical operators, pattern recognition and generalization skills. Additionally, students of different ages developed CT differently during the intervention, and their CT acquisition was unaffected by gender. Implications for practice and research in CT education were discussed. Lay Description: What is currently known about the topic: Learning progressions for computational thinking have been defined in K‐12 curricula globally.Engaging in programming and non‐programming (unplugged) activities can increase students' CT skills.Controversial results have been reported on the age–gender interaction effects on CT development.Lack of understanding on children's actual progressive development of CT. What this paper adds: A developmental progression was found in CT skills of students aged 9–13. Students aged 12 and above had some a priori understanding of CT.No gender difference across ages existed in conditionals, logical operators, pattern recognition and generalization skills before instruction.Students aged 9–11 benefitted the most from an intervention combining both programming and unplugged activities compared to older students. Students' CT acquisition in the intervention was unaffected by gender.Given the intervention, students aged 9 and above developed conditionals, logical operators and pattern recognition skills. However, generalization skill was developed only for students aged 12 and above. Implications for practice and policy: The findings lay the foundation for designing evidence‐based age‐appropriate CT learning progression and pedagogies.Age‐appropriate learning content: Given appropriate learning experiences, students aged 9 and above may be ready to learn certain CT concepts and skills, including conditionals, logical operators and pattern recognition.CT pedagogies: Using programming and unplugged activities to develop CT requires careful consideration of students' cognitive development and gender needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the increasing pervasiveness of today's digital society, mobile devices are changing the face of education. Students can interact with mobile devices in context‐aware environment. This paper presents a mobile application based on expert system (Plant‐E) for students to acquire knowledge about plant classification by answering decision‐making questions. In order to study effectiveness of Plant‐E and cognitive load of students who experience different kinds of interaction in learning process, another mobile application (Plant‐G) only providing information pages of plants was developed. A quasi‐experiment was conducted with three classes of 137 seventh graders. The three classes, Class A with 46 students using Plant‐E in campus, Class B with 44 students using Plant‐G in campus, and Class C with 47 students using Plant‐G in a traditional classroom, constitute three groups with different interaction complexity. The research conducted pretest, posttest, and delayed test to evaluate learning performance of students in three classes and used a questionnaire to investigate their perceptions and attitudes towards proposed system. Results show that interaction complexity has an impact on students' learning performance and mental effort in mobile learning; the higher the interaction complexity is, the higher mental effort and the better learning performance in mobile learning will be. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic: Mobile devices can be used to meet the urgency of learning need and can provide guidance and clues for learners in context‐aware environment.During mobile learning in context‐aware environment, students need to interact with mobile devices and environment.Mental effort reflects cognitive load related to interaction complexity, and it can affect learning performance.Self‐efficacy affects the degree of mental effort by affecting the firmness of performance goal.Cognitive load and learning performance are the main concerns that need to be considered when evaluating the effectiveness of mobile learning. What this paper adds: Interaction complexity has an impact on students' learning performance and mental effort in mobile learning.In terms of the three levels of interaction complexity in this study, the higher the interaction complexity is, the better the results that students will get in mobile learning.The higher the interaction complexity is, the higher the mental effort that students invested into in mobile learning would be.The medium self‐efficacy group invested the most mental effort and got the best grades, rather than the high or low group.Rule‐based mobile learning expert system is feasible and effective for students to learn by interacting with learning objects in context‐aware environment. Implications for practice and/or policy: Efforts should be made to make mobile learning systems more interactive; for example, learners can learn more effectively by interacting with mobile system, which can improve the frequency of observing learning objects.Rule‐based mobile learning expert system can give learners more opportunities to know how experts do when solving problems and can provide a potential method for students to learn in context‐aware environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the digital age, the internet has become an essential source of information gathering and maintains a network of social contact. In this paper, we use microdata from the China Family Panel Studies to examine the effects of guardian's internet use on teenager's cognitive skills. Using mobile internet users and base station density as instruments, we found that guardian's internet use had a significant impact on teenager's cognitive abilities as measured by math and verbal tests. Heterogeneity analysis shows that the impact is more substantial for guardians in rural areas and less-educated guardians. Further exploration of the mechanism shows that internet usage affects cognitive skills through monetary investment, time investment, and parental environment. The result suggests that promoting internet usage for less educated families in rural areas can potentially improve children's academic performance and decrease inequality across regions and generations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, it has become common to use the internet or computer tutoring with a programme or application for additional instruction (ICTPAAI), in addition to the mandatory school schedule. This study aimed to understand students' participation in ICTPAAI and its relation to academic achievement. Multilevel structural equation modelling was conducted on a sample comprising 6,425 Chinese students (Mage 15.72 years; 48.9% girls) who had various forms of additional instruction during the 2014/2015 school year. Results showed that the use of information and communication technology (ICT) to complete schoolwork, whether in school or outside of school, was positively associated with students' participation in ICTPAAI; however, students' ICT interest, ICT self‐efficacy and ICT autonomy were not. Students' participation in ICTPAAI was negatively associated with their academic achievement at the end of the school year; much variance was explained at the school level. These findings suggest that students should be cautious about participating in this form of additional instruction and that schools play an important role in students' participation in ICTPAAI. Lay Description: What is already known about this topicWhen having more ICT opportunities at and outside of schools and higher ICT propensities, students are more likely to participate in ICT‐related learning activities.Students with higher achievement motivation are more likely to be involved in learning activities.ICT use at school and outside of school may not improve students' academic achievement.What this paper addsICT opportunities at and outside of school, and student gender link to participation in internet and computer tutoring with a programme or application for additional instruction (ICTPAAI), but ICT autonomy, ICT self‐efficacy, ICT interest and achievement motivation do not.More variance of participation in ICTPAAI were explained at the school level than at the student level.ICTPAAI negatively associates with academic achievement.Implications for practice and/or policySchools play an important role in students' participation in ICTPAAI.Students, at least Chinese students, should be cautious about participating in ICTPAAI.Pay more attention to boys to prevent them from spending too much time on ICTPAAI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emotions are critical to learning. However, the function of emotions in the emerging context of massive open online courses (MOOCs) has been under‐researched. The present study complemented this line of research by modelling the relation between learner emotions, engagement with videos, engagement with assignments, and self‐perceived achievement in a small private online course—a localized instance of an extended MOOC. The results suggested that whereas enjoyment, excitement, boredom, and annoyance were all significant predictors of video engagement, only excitement and annoyance were significant predictors of assignment engagement. Excitement, in particular, was the strongest or stronger predictor of both types of engagement. In addition, both types of engagement predicted self‐perceived achievement, but video engagement predicted self‐perceived achievement via the mediation of assignment engagement. Implications for designing more effective MOOCs were proposed. Lay Description: What is currently known about the subject Emotions predict engagement in learning settings other than MOOCs.Engagement predicts achievement in learning settings including MOOCs.Assignment engagement predicts achievement in MOOCs better than video engagement. What this paper adds The two types of engagement are predicted by different sets of emotions.Engagement predicts self‐perceived achievement in the SPOC.Video engagement predicts self‐perceived achievement via the mediation of assignment engagement.The majority of systematic reviews did not evaluate the quality of the primary papers which they examined. Implications for practitioners MOOC researchers should pay more attention to the design of assignments.MOOC developers should try to build more emotionally‐sound courses and platforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: To investigate the relationship among emotional intelligence (EI), resilience and academic procrastination (AP), and provide suggestions for the development of targeted intervention strategies and lowering of AP level of nursing undergraduates. Design: A cross‐sectional study. Methods: Three provincial universities offering nursing courses in China were investigated in this study. A convenience sample of 256 nursing undergraduates from May 2021 to September 2021 were recruited, with a response rate of 91.4%. Data were collected using face‐to‐face interviews. The survey tools included the General Information Questionnaire, Academic Procrastination Scale, Emotional Intelligence Scale and Resilience Scale. IBM SPSS v19.0 and Amos 22.0 were used for data analysis. Results: The AP of sampled nursing undergraduates was at the middle level (54.4 ± 21.5). The AP of nursing undergraduates was negatively correlated with EI and resilience. Moreover, the analysis on the mediating role of resilience via structural equation model showed a good fit, with χ2/df = 2.34, RMSEA = 0.07, CFI = 0.99, GFI = 0.95, TLI = 0.98. Patient or Public Contribution: No patient or public contribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: To determine the effectiveness of blended learning using the community of inquiry framework on nursing students' learning gains in a sudden patient deterioration module. Design: A quasi‐experimental trial. Methods: 233 Chinese nursing students in their fourth semester of a sudden patient deterioration learning module were assigned to control (N = 113) and experimental group (N = 120). Students in experimental group engaged in community of inquiry‐based blended learning in sudden patient deterioration module, including computer‐aided self‐instruction, team‐based topic discussion and simulation training. Control group learned similar contents through face‐to‐face teaching comprising of a presentation with lecture, tutorial and simulation training. Student assessment of learning gains, knowledge and practical ability was quantified after the interventions. Results: Compared with control group, students in experimental group had improved student assessment of learning gains (p =.001, Cohen d = 0.69) and practical ability (p <.001, Cohen d = 0.48). Although no significant difference in overall knowledge score, experimental group students did better performance in application and analysis (p =.001, Cohen d = 0.45). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: This study aimed to investigate the associations between perfectionism and undergraduate nursing students' academic procrastination, the mediating effects of self‐efficacy and the moderating role of resilience. Design: A cross‐sectional survey. Methods: The survey was conducted from March to May 2022 with a sample of 587 undergraduate nursing students in two undergraduate universities in China. A descriptive statistical approach, Pearson's correlation analysis and the Hayes' PROCESS Macro model 4 and 14 were used to analyse the available data. Results: Adaptive perfectionism and maladaptive perfectionism negatively and positively predicted academic procrastination in nursing undergraduates, respectively. Self‐efficacy played a partially mediating role in the association between adaptive perfectionism and academic procrastination. Furthermore, resilience played a moderating role in the association between adaptive perfectionism and academic procrastination. Conclusions: Maladaptive perfectionism and low levels of resilience and self‐efficacy may increase the risk of academic procrastination among nursing undergraduates. Nursing educators can take measures to decrease the risk of academic procrastination among nursing undergraduate students by guiding them to cultivate adaptive perfectionism tendencies and improve their self‐efficacy and resilience. Impact: The findings of this study can be used to develop targeted coping and prevention measures for nursing educators to reduce the incidence of academic procrastination among nursing undergraduates. Patient or Public Contribution: Five hundred eighty‐seven undergraduate nursing students from two undergraduate universities participated in the study and responded to questions on perfectionism and academic procrastination, etc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study tested a moderated mediation model that included critical thinking disposition (independent variable), emotional intelligence (moderator), academic self‐efficacy (mediator), and academic achievement (dependent variable) in a sample of 642 high school participants aged 14–16 years (M = 15.59, SD = 0.97, 48.44% males) in China, using data from an in‐school questionnaire. Study findings showed that critical thinking disposition was positively associated with academic achievement. Academic self‐efficacy played a mediating role between critical thinking disposition and academic achievement. Moreover, emotional intelligence played a moderating role in the second half of the mediation process, in which critical thinking disposition affected academic achievement through academic self‐efficacy. The results revealed the mechanism of critical thinking disposition on academic achievement. Practitioner points: Critical thinking disposition was positively associated with academic achievement.Academic self‐efficacy played a mediating role between critical thinking disposition and academic achievement.Emotional intelligence played a moderating role in the second half of the mediation process, in which critical thinking disposition affected academic achievement through academic self‐efficacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's higher education system has undergone a rapid expansion over the last two decades. By drawing on hand‐collected data, we explore students' experiences in college and in the labor market post‐graduation in the wake of this expansion. According to our data, the largest employer of college graduates in the labor market was the state sector, followed by the domestic private sector. To explain the returns to college education in China, we explore three mechanisms: human capital, social networks, and signaling. We find that human capital measures, apart from a student's college English test scores, cannot explain the college wage premium, whereas both social networks (for example, membership of the Communist Party) and signaling matter significantly. This seems to indicate that in China, connections are crucial for student success in the labor market, whereas the higher education system itself is more a system for selecting talented individuals than it is for educating them. Finally, students allocate their time accordingly, for example, by spending more time studying English in college than any other subject. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: To explore the relationship between university nursing students' academic procrastination, mindfulness, and future time perspective. Design: A cross‐sectional study. Methods: A total of 343 university nursing students recruited from eight provinces in China have reported procrastination characteristics through fulfilling an online website link. The main instruments involved Mindfulness Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS), Zimbardo Time Perspective Scale, and Procrastination Assessment Scale (PASS). Results: Participants who self‐assessed higher frequency and degree of academic procrastination tended to possess lower future time consciousness, and lower mindfulness. Mindfulness served as a mediation effect between future time perspective and academic procrastination. The study indicates that weakening an individual's procrastination can be alleviated through future time awareness and mindfulness. Concentrating on influencing factors, strengthening nursing student's future time perspective, and practicing mindfulness training could assist educators to decrease students' procrastination intentions and behaviours. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: To investigate undergraduate nursing students' general study engagement using intra‐individual assessment and to evaluate the impact of core self‐evaluation and career calling on study engagement. Design: A descriptive and cross‐sectional design. Methods: Data were collected using a self‐administered questionnaire survey. Four hundred and twenty nursing students from first‐ to fourth (final)‐academic year in Guangzhou Medical University were invited to participate in the spring of 2021. The Cronbach's alpha, one‐way analysis of variance, Bonferroni post hoc analysis, Pearson correlation analysis and multiple stepwise regression analysis were used to analyse the data. Results: The first‐ and fourth‐year undergraduates showed significantly higher levels of study engagement (first‐year undergraduates, 3.52 ± 0.59; fourth‐year undergraduates, 3.54 ± 0.64), core self‐evaluation (first‐year undergraduates, 3.04 ± 0.48; fourth‐year undergraduates, 3.11 ± 0.45) and career calling (first‐year undergraduates, 3.65 ± 0.47; fourth‐year undergraduates, 3.69 ± 0.50) than those of second‐year undergraduates (study engagement, 3.32 ± 0.61; core self‐evaluation, 2.93 ± 0.52; career calling, 3.41 ± 0.50) and third‐year undergraduates (study engagement, 3.16 ± 0.61; core self‐evaluation, 2.88 ± 0.50; career calling, 3.34 ± 0.38). The Pearson correlation analysis among nursing students revealed a significant positive correlation between core self‐evaluation, career calling and study engagement (p < 0.01). A partial mediation effect of career calling was present in the relationship between core self‐evaluation and study engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine the role of teachers in explaining the urban-rural gap in educational outcomes. Using a large panel data set of students and teachers collected from China and explicitly controlling for the endogeneity of prior student academic achievement, we find that the urban-rural difference in teacher effects contributes in large part to the observed urban-rural gap in student academic achievement. In other words, if rural teachers were of the same quality as urban teachers, the urban-rural gap in student academic achievement would be reduced substantially. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: As a non‐cognitive trait, grit plays an important role in human learning. Although students higher in grit are more likely to perform well on tests, how they learn in the process has been underexamined. Objectives: This study attempted to explore how students with different levels of grit behave and learn in an exploratory learning environment. Methods: In this study, 66 students participated in seven exploratory tasks in Snap! for approximately 60 min after a 30‐min lecture. Students were categorized into a high grit group and low grit group using a grit scale. The Mann–Whitney U test, epistemic network analysis and lag sequential analysis were used to explore the differences between groups in learning performance, technology acceptance and behavioural patterns. Results: Students with different levels of grit engaged in explorative tasks in a short period of time might not present significantly different learning performance, perceptions of usefulness and ease of use, but students higher in grit, actively engaging more different types of activities, tended to put greater sustained effort to solve the challenging task. Take Away: Although grit was not significantly correlated with learning performance when students engage in classroom‐based explorative activities, grit did predict whether students are more likely to explore and put greater sustained effort into solving the challenging task. Lay Description: Students higher in grit are likely to be actively engaging more different types of activities.Students higher in grit tend to put greater sustained effort to solve the challenging task.Grit was not significantly correlated with learning performance in classroom‐based explorative activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Peer effects are at the center of educational policy debates regarding school choice, ability grouping, and instructional design. Though emerging empirical evidence suggests that positive peer effects exist, less is known about how it affects students with varying cognitive abilities. Using a nationally representative sample from China, we generated a student‐level measure of classroom composition of peers based on cognitive ability to understand the benefits or pitfalls of placing low‐ability students with heterogeneous or homogenous classmates. We conducted this analysis separately for grades seven and nine students after controlling for student background, family characteristics, and school endogeneity. We reaffirmed the overall positive—but small—peer effects on the performance rankings. Low‐ability children scored much lower than their counterparts when they studied in cognitively diverse classrooms. However, this effect negates the overall positive impact of studying with high‐ability peers and the pattern is consistent across rural and urban schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Many countries are driving forward policies and practices to train medical students for later rural practice. Previous research has investigated individual (e.g., rural upbringing) and structural factors (e.g., curricular exposure) associated with rural practice intention. However, the relationship between academic performance in medical school and rural practice intention has been neglected, although optimisation theory suggests there may be a relationship. To address this gap, our aim was to identify the relationship between academic performance and rural practice intention. Methods: Data were collected via a cross‐sectional (self‐report) survey in 2021. Participants were students from 60 of the 96 rural order directed (RODs) medical programmes across China. We asked students their rural practice intention. We conducted univariate analyses to test for associations between rural practice intention and independent variables, including socio‐demographics, ROD location, grade year and academic performance measures. We used multilevel logistic regression models to test whether students' academic performance in medical school could be used to predict rural practice intention, holding the other factors constant. Results: There were 13 123 respondents, representing roughly 77.6% of the student population from the 60 schools. There was a statistically significant relationship between student (self)‐reported academic performance in medical school and rural practice intention. Higher performers had a lower likelihood (ORs: 0.65–0.78) of rural practice intention. This held across all performance measures (GPA rank, academic awards and student leadership) and for the sub‐group with rural upbringing (ORs: 0.68–0.78). Discussion: This is the first study to identify a relationship between medical school performance and rural practice intention. The findings suggest that students maximise their utility when choosing career options, with higher performers having lower rural practice intention. These data provide insight into the complexity of medical career decision making and can be used by medical school and workforce planners to inform rural training, recruitment and retention strategies. You et al. report that medical students with higher perceived academic performance have lower rural practice intention, illustrating an important factor in students' consideration of career options. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Attention‐deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a risk for learning. Because ADHD commonly includes behaviours of inattention and behaviours of hyperactivity/impulsivity, how the two types of behaviours independently affect children's academic competence remains poorly understood. Aims: To investigate the impact of behaviours of inattention and behaviours of hyperactivity/impulsivity on Chinese students' academic competence. Samples: Parents of 167 preschoolers (Cohort 1), parents of 313 first graders (Cohort 2), and 1,003 high school students (Cohort 3). Methods: The ADHD‐RS‐IV Preschool version (Cohort 1), ADHD‐RS‐IV Home version (Cohort 2), and BASC‐SRP (Cohort 3) were used to measure behaviours of inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity. Academic competence was operationalized as school readiness (Cohort 1), math and language arts scores at two time points provided by school (Cohort 2), and self‐reported academic performance (Cohort 3). Multiple regressions were performed to investigate the relationship between academic performance and behaviours of inattention alone (Step 1), and behaviours of hyperactivity/impulsivity alone (Step 2), and behaviours of inattention together with behaviours of hyperactivity/impulsivity (Step 3). Results: For each cohort, both types of behaviours were negatively correlated with academic competence. However, regression analyses showed that in Step 3, behaviours of hyperactivity/impulsivity either failed to predict academic competence or predicted better academic competence. Overall, behaviours of inattention alone accounted for a similar amount of variance in academic competence as did behaviours of inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity combined. Conclusions: Behaviours of inattention presented a risk for academic competence but the effect of behaviours of hyperactivity/impulsivity varied. Implications for instructional strategies for behaviours of inattention were discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As an important part of adolescents' social capital, teacher‐student relationship (TSR) and parental involvement (PI) are important for student learning. However, we know little about how PI works with TSR in relation to adolescents' learning outcomes. The present study aimed to examine the association between TSR and adolescents' learning outcomes in China, as well as testing the potential moderating role of PI. Participants were 332 fourth graders and 321 eleventh graders from Shandong province, China. Student‐perceived TSR and home‐based PI, and curriculum‐based measures of academic achievement were collected in October 2019. The major findings of the study included: (1) TSR and students' academic performance positively correlate with each other; (2) PI moderates the relationship between TSR and students' academic performance; (3) High PI in primary school reduces the impacts of lower TSR on student performance; (4) High PI in secondary school has no compensating effect on low TSR, but it still reduces the influence of TSR on academic performance. The present research verifies and extends the association between TSR and academic achievement to parental factors, and holds substantive theoretical and practical implications for teacher education and family education research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: To investigate the influencing factors in professional identity of undergraduate nursing students after the outbreak of COVID‐19. Design: Cross‐sectional study. Methods: The study covered 2,999 nursing students in six undergraduate nursing schools. Several self‐report questionnaires were used to collect the general information, psychological stress, coping styles and professional identity of the undergraduate nursing students. Results: The overall average score of the professional identity of nursing students (3.67 ± 0.51) has increased significantly after the outbreak of COVID‐19. The professional identity of the undergraduate nursing students was negatively correlated with psychological stress (r = −0.23, p <.001), expectation (r = −0.12, p <.001) and avoidance (r = −0.16, p <.001), but was positively correlated with solving problems (r = 0.18, p <.001) and seeking support (r = 0.12, p <.001). Academic performance, positions, grades, reasons for choosing a nursing profession, parents or relatives engaged in nursing work and the risk degree of residence were the factors influencing the professional identity score of undergraduate nursing students' (p <.001). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To explore the association between bullying and HRQoL among Chinese school‐aged children and adolescents utilizing a cross‐sectional survey design. Bivariate associations were used to determine the correlation between the experience of bullying and lower HRQoL, and multivariate logistic regressions were evaluated. A total of 2,155 participants, 32.57%, reported experiencing bullying: traditional bullying, 27.80% (n = 599) (β = −3.55, p <.001, SE = 0.41), and cyberbullying, 7.47% (n = 161) (β = −2.50, p <.001, SE = 0.71). The degree of traditional bullying (β = −10.28, p <.001, SE = 1.19) was negatively significantly associated with HRQoL. Other determinants of the impact of the bullying in this cohort were the children's school performance and their relationship with parents, teachers and classmates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Family Process is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Background: Many studies on parental involvement in their children's education have limitations in cross‐sectional designs in spite of examining the relationships between this involvement and achievement goal orientations. Thus, little is known about whether and how parental involvement affects achievement goal orientations over time. Aims: This study examines the influence of parental involvement on achievement goal orientations among Chinese high school students. Sample: The participants included 741 high school students (367 girls; Mage = 15.51 years, SD =.46) in China. Methods: The data were collected in five waves with a 6‐month interval, starting in the autumn of tenth grade and ending in the autumn of twelfth grade. In each wave, participants reported their perceived degree of parental involvement, mastery goal orientation, performance‐approach goal orientation and performance‐avoidance goal orientation. Results: Over time, a decline was seen in these high school students' perceived level of parental involvement and mastery goal orientation, while an increase in their performance‐approach goal orientation and stability in terms of their performance‐avoidance goal orientation were found. In addition, the results indicated that the level of and changes in parental involvement had significant effects on the changes in mastery goal orientation, and were unrelated to those of two performance goal orientations. Conclusions: These findings evidence the dynamic nature of parental involvement and students' achievement goal orientations, as well as the positive influence of such involvement on the endorsement and development of mastery goal orientation, while this was not the case for the other two performance goal orientations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compared with fully face‐to‐face or online learning environments, implementation of hybrid learning spaces is costly given the spaces making all learning options available for learners. Therefore, decisions on investments in hybrid learning are critical for institutions. Satisfaction and experience of learners is one of the important indicators for assessing the cost‐effectiveness of learning space implementation; thus, predictions of learners' satisfaction and experience can inform institutions' decision making on learning space investments. Moreover, learning competences are found correlated with learners' satisfaction and experience in general and e‐learning settings. Therefore, the present study aimed at exploring predictive learning competences for hybrid learners' experience and satisfaction. A hybrid learning space was built upon a proposed model at Shanghai Open University. 211 students' learning competences and their satisfaction and experience in the hybrid learning space were examined. The results showed that except cognitive engagement competence, most predictive competences were not significantly associated with hybrid learners' satisfaction and experience. The findings indicated that since hybrid learning keeps all options available, to experience satisfying learning, students need not have certain competences but cognitive engagement competence, which is correlated with learners' cognitive ability to figure out the right mix of learning options. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This cross‐cultural study of Finnish and Chinese students set out to compare the levels of achievement motivation (AM) in order to investigate whether the differences in them might be explained by the different cultural response styles and whether these response styles could be controlled for with a method which includes response style variables as covariates in ANCOVA. This study also scrutinizes relationships between perceived teaching‐learning environments (TLE) and AM within each cultural group. The survey sample consisted of 3,035 Finnish and 2,309 mainland Chinese university students. Finnish students were found to rate the level of AM markedly higher than do Chinese students. It was determined that the method applied for response style controlling is not suitable for cross‐cultural studies, even though it is recommended for this use. A modification of the method, which is based on robust statistical tools, was found not to change this conclusion, but it can nevertheless be used to obtain useful information about the effects of response style differences. The results also show that similar relationships between AM and TLE could be identified in the data of both groups. However, for the Finnish group AM is related to perceived suitable workload, whereas for the Chinese group it is related to teacher encouragement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Previous research has explored the impact of different types of praise and criticism on how children experience success and failure. However, less is known about how teachers choose to deliver feedback and specifically whether they deliver person (ability) or process (effort) feedback. Aim: The aim of the current study was to use vignettes to explore how teachers would deliver feedback following success and failure. Sample: The sample consisted of Chinese Primary school English teachers (N = 169). Method: Participants read vignettes depicting children's educational successes and failures. They rated their perceptions of task difficulty, likelihood of giving feedback, and likelihood of giving both person and process forms of feedback. They also completed measures of whether they viewed intelligence as fixed or malleable. Results: Results suggested that teachers stated that they would be more likely to give praise than criticism and would be more likely to give feedback for tasks perceived to be more challenging than easy. Following success, teachers endorsed the use of person and process feedback interchangeably, while following failure they endorsed more process feedback. Finally, teachers' understanding of intelligence was also associated with feedback delivery. If teachers believed that intelligence was fixed (vs. something that can be developed), they said that they were more likely to give more person and process praise, but following failure gave more process feedback. Conclusion: The current research gives insight into how teachers give feedback, and how perceived task difficulty and teachers' views of intelligence can influence these choices. Further research is needed to understand why teachers may make these decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study investigated the factor structure of and measurement invariance in the information and communication technology (ICT) engagement construct, and the relationship between ICT engagement and students' performance on science, mathematics and reading in China and Germany. Samples were derived from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2015 survey. Configural, metric and scalar equivalence were found in a multigroup exploratory structural equation model. In the regression model, a significantly positive association between interest in ICT and student achievement was found in China, in contrast to a significantly negative association in Germany. All achievement scores were negatively and significantly correlated with perceived ICT competence scores in China, whereas science and mathematics achievement scores were not predicted by scores on ICT competence in Germany. Similar patterns were found in China and Germany in terms of perceived autonomy in using ICT and social relatedness in using ICT to predict students' achievement. The implications of all the findings were discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children's social status in China includes both informal (e.g., social preference) and formal (e.g., class leader) statuses. This study examines the associations among caregivers' characteristics, children's characteristics, children's social preference, and being a class leader by using multiple sources of information (caregiver reports, self‐ratings, sociometric methods, and achievement data). The participants were 1,926 fourth‐ to ninth‐ graders (Mage = 12.7; 49.7% males) and their primary caregivers. The caregivers' characteristics were found to be related more closely to class leader than to social preference. Both higher children's interpersonal character and academic achievement were associated with higher social preference and class leader; however, academic achievement showed stronger relationships with both types of status than interpersonal character. The children's characteristics mediated the associations between caregivers' characteristics and children's social statuses. The grade difference test showed that interpersonal character had a stronger association with social preference, and academic achievement had a stronger association with class leader in secondary school than in primary school. The results suggest that children's characteristics (especially academic achievement) are strongly related to Chinese children's social preference and being a class leader. In addition, the potential role of caregivers' characteristics and the influence of child age are noteworthy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Reading Research Quarterly is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

For schooling to play an important role in the development of human capital, the system of education needs to provide quality education, which among other things requires high‐quality teachers. Facing fiscal constraints and growing enrolments, school systems in developing countries often supplement their teaching staff by hiring contract teachers. However, there is limited evidence on how the effectiveness of these teachers compares to that of civil service teachers. We use a dataset from rural primary schools in western China to estimate the causal effect of contract teachers on student achievement and find that gains in student scores on standardised examinations in mathematics and Chinese are less in classes taught by contract teachers than in classes taught by civil service teachers. The results demonstrate that China's education system needs to focus on producing high‐quality teachers to improve the quality of schooling in its rural education system. The findings imply that educators in developing countries should not only seek to hire increasingly more civil service teachers in rural schools, but they should also identify ways of improving the quality of contract teachers. If efforts to improve teaching can succeed, rural students can learn more, earn higher incomes and contribute more to the productivity of the overall economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on classic social identity theorizing (Tajfel, Differentiation between social groups: Studies in the social psychology of intergroup relations, London, UK, Academic Press, 1978), we propose that low-status minority group members' self-efficacy and performance on intellectual tasks can be enhanced by prompting them to believe in a better future for their group (i.e., increasing awareness of cognitive alternatives to the existing low-status position). Study 1 manipulated cognitive alternatives among 157 migrant workers' children in China, showing that self-efficacy was enhanced in the high compared to the low cognitive alternative condition. Study 2 extended this experimental finding among 114 migrant workers' children: Participants in the high cognitive alternative condition performed better on mathematics and attention tasks than did participants in the low cognitive alternative condition. Results highlight the power of believing in a better future for the collective as a means of enhancing self-efficacy and educational outcomes among members of disadvantaged groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Feedback is central to successful teaching and learning. Despite extensive research on the relationship between feedback, pedagogy and learning, there remain no conclusive answers as to how feedback can be effectively utilized by learners. Recently, there is emerging research exploring how feedback is conceptualized as dialogic processes to facilitate provision and uptake of feedback; and how feedback utilization is best supported by learner active involvement in the iterative feedback process for future learning. Drawn from this knowledge base, this article aims to review four aspects of feedback scholarship including nature, paradigms, issues and trends which serve as a theoretical basis, together with instructors’ interviews, to inform how five common assessment tasks in one social sciences faculty could be strategically revamped to promote feedback utilization. The article concludes with pedagogical insights to suggest three conditions wherein feedback could be made sustainable to support learning through a redesigning of conventional assessment tasks in the higher education contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Academic socialization by low-income immigrant mothers from Mainland China was investigated in two studies. Immigrant Chinese mothers of first graders (n = 52; Mage  = 38.69) in the United States (Study 1) and kindergartners (n = 86; Mage  = 36.81) in Hong Kong (Study 2) tell stories that emphasized achieving the best grade through effort more than did African American (n = 39; Mage  = 31.44) and native Hong Kong (n = 76; Mage  = 36.64) mothers, respectively. The emphasis on achievement was associated with mothers' heightened discussion on discrimination (Study 1) and beliefs that education promotes upward mobility (Study 2), as well as children's expectations that a story protagonist would receive maternal criticism for being nonpersistent in learning (Study 2). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study estimates the effect of parental absence on the development of children in rural China. Although some previous studies have looked into the effect of parental absence on children's academic achievements, we investigate the effects of parental absence on both the cognitive and non-cognitive skills of children. Our results show that parental absence during early child development mostly incurs negative effects on the academic achievement and non-cognitive development of children. A child whose parents are both absent tends to have lower Chinese and mathematics test scores, lower self-assessment on his/her behavior, and is less likely to be happy and satisfied. A gender difference is also observed in the effect of parental absence: girls suffer more from the effect of both parents being absent on their mathematics test scores than do boys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background A number of methods to investigate growth have been reported in the literature, including hierarchical linear modelling ( HLM), latent growth modelling ( LGM), and multidimensional scaling applied to longitudinal profile analysis ( LPAMS). Aims This study aimed at modelling the mathematics growth of students over a span of 6 years from Grade 3 to Grade 9. Sample The sample comprised secondary longitudinal data collected in three waves from n = 866 Hong Kong students when they were in Grade 3, Grade 6, and Grade 9. Method Mathematics achievement was measured thrice on a vertical scale linked with anchor items. Linear and nonlinear latent growth models were used to assess students' growth. Gender differences were also examined. Results A nonlinear latent growth curve with a decelerated rate had a good fit to the data. Initial achievement and growth rate were negatively correlated. No gender difference was found. Conclusion Mathematics growth from Grade 6 to Grade 9 was slower than that from Grade 3 to Grade 6. Students with lower initial achievement improved at a faster rate than those who started at a higher level. Gender did not affect growth rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]