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Purpose: This study introduces a policy with great strategic significance and far-reaching impact by analyzing the background, measures, and future development trends of teacher evaluation reform in China. Design/Approach/Methods: This study primarily conducts a policy text analysis of the section on teacher evaluation of the "Overall Plan for Deepening the Reform of Educational Evaluation in the New Era". Findings: The "Overall Plan for Deepening the Reform of Educational Evaluation in the New Era" was drafted to enhance the quality of Chinese teachers and address many problems in teacher evaluation. It comprised four sections: teachers' professional ethics, teaching effectiveness, evaluation models and methods, and honorary titles. The policy has distinctive features such as the high status and authority of the issuing body, a holistic and systematic nature, and an orientation toward practical issues. This article proposes three major policy foresights: promoting implementation through the force of political trends, giving schools autonomy in teacher evaluations, and implementing progressive reforms. Originality/Value: This study conducted a specialist analysis of the policy in combination with the real scenario and institutional environment of Chinese teacher evaluation, which could encourage international peers to better understand Chinese teacher evaluation policies and promote policy learning and dissemination internationally.

The Qin Zheng, an ancient Chinese musical instrument, embodies centuries of cultural heritage and artistic expression. Amidst its strings, melodies resonate with stories of ancient China, reflecting the country's rich history and cultural identity. The objective of this study is to analyze the Qin Zheng playing techniques of Zhou Wang in musical literacy development. The research investigates Zhou Wang's historical development, pedagogical approach, and playing techniques through a qualitative analysis. The study focuses on the Xi'an Conservatory of Music as the primary research site, where Zhou Wang has taught and mentored students for over three decades. Key informants include Zhou Wang herself, her students, and colleagues in the field of Chinese musical education. Data analysis involves structured interviews, observations of performances and teaching sessions, and transcription of musical examples. The findings reveal Zhou Wang's mastery of Qin Zheng techniques, including intricate right-hand and left-hand skills, and their significance in fostering musical literacy development. The study highlights the potential benefits of integrating music education, particularly traditional Chinese music like Qin Zheng, into curricula as a means to enrich students' language skills, cognitive abilities, and emotional intelligence.

Background: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a multifactorial, pervasive, neurodevelopmental disorder, of which intestinal symptoms collectively represent one of the most common comorbidities. Methods: In this study, 1,222 children with ASD and 1,206 typically developing (TD) children aged 2-7 years were enrolled from 13 cities in China. Physical measurement and basic information questionnaires were conducted in ASD and TD children. The Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS), Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS), and Autism Behavior Checklist (ABC) were used to evaluate the clinical symptoms of children with ASD. The six-item Gastrointestinal Severity Index (6-GSI) was used to evaluate the prevalence of intestinal symptoms in two groups. Results: The detection rates of constipation, stool odor, and total intestinal symptoms in ASD children were significantly higher than those in TD children (40.098% vs. 25.622%, 17.021% vs. 9.287%, and 53.601% vs. 41.294%, respectively). Autistic children presenting with intestinal comorbidity had significantly higher scores on the ABC, SRS, CARS, and multiple subscales than autistic children without intestinal symptoms, suggesting that intestinal comorbidity may exacerbates the core symptoms of ASD children. Conclusion: Intestinal dysfunction was significantly more common in autistic than in TD children. This dysfunction may aggravate the core symptoms of children with ASD.

Background: To better understand the intricate science of reading development, both cognitive and affective factors must be taken into consideration. This developmental study aims to enrich the literature by exploring how reading motivation -- an affective factor -- contributes to reading comprehension in Chinese elementary schoolers, beyond well-accepted cognitive-based reading skills, such as decoding and vocabulary. Methods: We used a cross-sectional design with 420 native Mandarin-Chinese-speaking students (Grade 2: N = 95; Grade 3: N = 216; Grade 4: N = 109), with age-appropriate materials to measure their decoding skills, vocabulary knowledge, reading motivation, and reading comprehension. Three sets of hierarchical regression analyses were run for the three grade samples to examine the unique contributions of reading motivation to reading comprehension while controlling children's demographic profiles, such as age and gender, and two cognitive-based reading skills. Results: We replicated previous findings: children's decoding and vocabulary are robust predictors of reading achievement across Grades 2 to 4. Importantly, reading motivation contributed uniquely to reading comprehension in all three grades and explained an increasing amount of the variances in reading comprehension from Grades 2 to 4. Intrinsic reading motivation was critical in Grade 3, while extrinsic reading motivation became important in Grade 4. Conclusions: Taken together, our findings reveal the complexity of reading development and advance the existing cognitive-based reading theories by including affective dimensions.

This research paper investigates the intersection of the maker movement and educational innovation, using the China-U.S. Young Maker Competition as a foundational example. It examines how maker education, fueled by hands-on learning and a curiosity-driven approach, can evolve and influence. The study explores the roles and impacts of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Design-Driven Innovation (DDI), and Cross-Cultural Perspectives (CCP) within maker education. It highlights HCI's connection of technology with learning, DDI's focus on user-centered solutions, and the significance of CCP in enhancing cultural collaboration, vital for fostering an innovative and creative future. This paper offers a detailed perspective on the current state and future potential of maker education. It proposes a roadmap for the coming decade, emphasizing collaborative learning and creative endeavors, all set within the engaging environment of the competition.

The present study examined whether and how early cognitive flexibility, metalinguistic awareness, including phonological awareness (PA) and morphological awareness (MA), Chinese word reading (CWR), and listening comprehension (LC) influenced Chinese children's later reading comprehension. In total, 153 Chinese children were recruited. Path analysis showed that cognitive flexibility measured when the children were in Grade 1 (M[subscript age] = 85.92 months, SD = 4.36) significantly explained the variance of later reading comprehension at Grade 3 (M[subscript age] = 103.03 months, SD = 3.80) and all concurrent domain-specific precursors of reading comprehension, except LC. Multiple mediation analyses further demonstrated that MA and CWR partially mediated the effect of cognitive flexibility on reading comprehension. Also, the effect of cognitive flexibility on reading comprehension was mediated partially by two two-mediator paths, PA-LC and MA-CWR. These findings demonstrated that cognitive flexibility could be related to reading comprehension directly and indirectly through multiple pathways involving metalinguistic awareness, word reading, and language comprehension. These findings particularly highlighted the roles of MA and word reading in the association between Chinese readers' cognitive flexibility and their reading comprehension.

It is essential for modern medical students to continuously enhance their clinical thinking abilities. This study aims to evaluate the efficacy of the combined World Café discussion and case-based learning (CBL) approach within the clinical thinking training course. The clinical thinking training course incorporated the combined World Café discussion and CBL approach. The assessment of the accuracy and rationality of clinical symptoms, medical examination, pathological processes, diagnostic results, diagnostic basis, and drug use was conducted through case-related queries. Feedback from students and instructors regarding the teaching content, teaching process, and teaching effect was gathered through questionnaires. The findings indicate that the students achieved high marks in all assessed areas, including clinical symptoms, medical examination, pathological processes, diagnostic results, diagnostic basis, and drug use. The feedback from students and instructors on the teaching content, teaching process, and teaching effect was positive. Medical educators can use our findings to implement the combined World Café discussion and CBL mode to enhance student engagement.

The study investigated the effect of task complexity (TC) on second language (L2) learners' affective responses and writing performance and how these were modulated by cognitive and affective individual difference (ID) factors. A total of 412 Chinese 8th-grade English-as-a-foreign-language learners completed a working memory (WM) test, a scale measuring trait-like L2 writing enjoyment, a simple (n = 206) or complex (n = 206) argumentative writing task, and posttask scales measuring task-specific enjoyment and motivation. Independent t-test results showed that increased TC contributed to a slight but significant enhancement in task motivation and enjoyment and a significant performance improvement in content and organization but not in language. Structural equation modeling results showed that the cognitive and affective ID factors predicted writing performance jointly: WM and task motivation predicted writing performance consistently in both simple and complex tasks, task-specific enjoyment only played its role in the complex task, and trait-like enjoyment became insignificant in predicting task performance. These findings support the integrated task-mediated cognitive-affective model of L2 writing we propose by synthesizing and extending existing models. This study highlights the need to pay attention to the affective dimension of tasks and suggests TC as an intervention strategy to make a task more motivating and enjoyable.

This study explores the relationship between childhood trauma and malevolent creativity in college students and examines the chain mediation roles of positive parenting and resilience. Data is collected through survey questionnaires in a quantitative research approach. The SPSS macroprocess 4.2 and SPSS 27.0 are used for data analysis. The sample consists of 860 participants from eight universities and vocational colleges across four provinces in China. The findings indicate that childhood trauma significantly predicts malevolent creativity in college students. Positive parenting and resilience mediate this relationship forming a chain mediation effect. Positive parenting enhances resilience which in turn reduces malevolent creativity. The results highlight the importance of positive parenting and improved resilience in mitigating the negative impacts of childhood trauma. This study confirms the significant influence of childhood trauma on malevolent creativity and highlights the chain mediation roles of positive parenting and resilience. The findings provide valuable insights for developing interventions to promote mental health and prevent malevolent behaviors among college students.

Primary Scientific Literature (PSL) significantly contributes to cultivating students' scientific literacy. However, students' visual strategies while reading PSL remain unclear. This study utilized eye-tracking technology to clarify students' visual attention allocation and fixation transactions during PSL reading, and explored their associations with students' self-reported reading strategy levels and reading outcomes. Thirty-eight undergraduate students majoring in biology (22 females and 16 males) participated in the study. They wore eye-tracking glasses while reading a PSL that included sections like abstract, introduction, methods, results, discussion, and reference. Participants also completed a Primary Scientific Literature Strategies Assessment and a post-reading exam. The study demonstrated that reading time and fixation count on the results page were positively correlated with self-reported PSL reading strategy scores and reading outcomes. The reading time and fixation count on the methods page are positively correlated with self-reported PSL reading strategy score. Moreover, the higher group showed significantly greater attention to results compared to the lower group. The higher group exhibited significant interaction between texts and figures in fixation transactions within the results, whereas this interaction was absent in the lower group. The research provided recommendations for educators to enhance students' PSL reading strategies and abilities.

This study employs Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) and the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) framework to explore the factors influencing Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) usage among college students in Southwest China. Using probability sampling, data were collected from 602 participants through an online survey distributed over a period of ten days, yielding a robust sample for analysis. The survey, divided into 7 sections, focused on various dimensions of user interaction with MOOCs, including perceived ease of use, usefulness, and value. The findings indicate that perceived usefulness significantly impacts user engagement, with attitude serving as a critical mediator. The study's theoretical contributions include extending TAM by emphasizing cultural and regional specifics in MOOC adoption. Practically, the results suggest targeted strategies to enhance user engagement and highlight the importance of designing MOOC platforms that cater to the educational expectations and preferences of students in diverse socio-economic settings.

Purpose: This study provides an overview of the changes and developments of the sociology of education in China as it enters the new era as well as its future outlook. Design/Approach/Methods: This study combed and analyzed research in the field of the sociology of education in China during the period from 2012 to 2022 on three issues--educational fairness, rural education, and educational reform--to clarify the field's research characteristics and trends. Findings: In the new era, scholarship on the sociology of education has shifted to focus on achieving high-quality education, modernization, and digitization as new avenues for promoting educational fairness, rural education, and educational reform. As a result, research on the sociology of education in China has employed broader perspectives, adopted a more reflexive approach toward research objects, and embraced more humanistic values. Originality/Value: This study compiles research on the sociology of education in China in the new era and identifies that the field is moving toward a highly integrative approach. The findings provide useful references for learning and understanding the sociology of education in China.

Purpose: This study re-examines the relationship between "jiao" (lit. teaching) and "xue" (lit. learning)-- the foundational education concepts in the traditional Chinese cultural context--to enlighten our contemporary understandings of education and educational research. Design/Approach/Methods: This study first lays its foundation on an etymological investigation. It then integrates two mutually connected approaches--"the classics" and "the self" as method--to present a comprehensive analysis. Finally, it critically reviews the methodology used in this study. Findings: The interdependency of "xue" and "jiao" has an etymological foundation, supported by canonical doctrines and verified by individualized experiences. The interpretation of "xue" as "xiao" (to imitate) describes the origin and process of education in which the junior imitated and followed the elder, while the extended interpretation of "xue" as "jue" (to awaken) stresses the effects and functions of education. In the classical Chinese context, greater significance was placed on "xue"--the keyword concurrently connoting the meaning of "teaching" and "learning" in the modern sense. It is misleading to narrowly render the originally meaningful word group "xuexi" as "learning" in modern English. Originality/Value: This study consults sources in multiple languages and integrates both "the classics" and "the self" as method. Based on this, the etymological investigation, canonical analysis, and experiential reflection are collated to provide a rich and deep discussion. By focusing on the core characteristics and the concepts they imply, this study also touches on the key characteristics of the hieroglyphic system and the unique way of thinking it represents.

Teachers' discourse is instrumental in facilitating the emergence of students' scientific discourse. Many studies have shown that teachers' cognitive demand levels and discursive moves are the main factors in eliciting students' scientific discourse, but few focus on whole-class (non-grouped) teaching settings. This research explored the correlation between teachers' discourse strategies (the cognitive demand of questions and discursive moves) and students' scientific discourse quality in whole-class teaching without intervention. Applying the chi-square test, correspondence analysis, and content analysis, the study revealed the correlation structure between teachers' discourse strategies and students' scientific discourse quality. The teachers' lower (remembering and understanding) cognitive demand questions, primarily elicited students' low-quality (everyday discourse and elementary) scientific discourse responses. High (analyzing and creating) cognitive demand questions, primarily elicited students' high-quality (moderate and advanced) scientific discourse responses. The teachers' discursive moves also elicited students' high-quality scientific discourse, particularly following the teacher's high cognitive demand questions. High-control discursive moves (e.g., "providing opinion") elicited students' moderate scientific discourse responses, and low-control discursive moves ("allocation and organization") elicited students' moderate and advanced scientific discourse responses. Based on these findings, suggestions were made for science teachers.

A central objective of science education is to foster a profound comprehension of fundamental scientific principles among students. Research has shown that a highly integrated knowledge structure is a key factor in achieving a deep understanding. This research has developed a friction force conceptual framework to model students' different understandings of friction force from a knowledge integration perspective. Utilizing the established conceptual framework, this study devised and implemented an evaluation of friction force among a cohort of 598 grade-10 students in China. The assessment outcomes were then analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively. The results show that the conceptual framework model effectively represents the knowledge structures of students at different levels of knowledge integration, and the students' understanding of friction force can be divided into three levels: novice, intermediate, and expert. Furthermore, emphasizing the passivity of friction force can help students gain a deeper understanding of the concept of friction force, thereby forming a more comprehensive knowledge structure. This study provides an effective strategy for students to progress from novices to experts.

Si Zhu Yue music is a traditional Chinese folk music genre characterized by stringed and bamboo wind instruments. It originates from the Yangtze River basin in China. This study aims to propose guidelines for transmitting literacy studies in traditional Chinese folk music in Si Zhu Yue. We synthesize literature to provide insights into the cultural heritages. Three key informants with expertise in Si Zhu Yue music, educational settings, and cultural preservation efforts were purposefully selected to provide diverse perspectives on Si Zhu Yue music's transmission and literacy studies. Data analysis involved qualitative approaches to identify recurring themes, patterns, and insights from interviews and observations. The findings highlight the significance of integrating cultural values into planning processes, the challenges of preservation in the face of modernization and globalization, and the need for innovative approaches to safeguard intangible cultural heritage. Recommendations include prioritizing cultural heritage preservation in planning policies and adopting interdisciplinary approaches to address the complexities of cultural sustainability planning.

Youyang folk songs represent a significant component of China's intangible cultural heritage from Youyang County in Chongqing Municipality, China. The study objective is to analyze the education literacy in preserving and transmitting Youyang Chinese folk songs within the cultural context of Chongqing Municipality, China. The research content encompasses various aspects, including integrating folk songs into educational curricula, artistic engagement in rural communities, government initiatives for transmission enhancement, and preservation through publication and book distribution. The research site primarily focuses on Youyang County, renowned for its cultural heritage and ethnic traditions. Three key informants include governmental bodies, educational institutions, private organizations, and individual custodians involved in preservation efforts. Data analysis involves qualitative methods such as document analysis and interviews with stakeholders. The research results highlight a concerted effort from stakeholders to preserve and transmit Youyang folk songs, emphasizing the importance of legislative support, increased funding, and community involvement in safeguarding intangible cultural heritage. Suggestions for further improvement include strengthening legislative support, increasing funding for preservation efforts, and enhancing community involvement in protecting intangible cultural heritage.

The Poya Songbook, an integral part of Zhuang traditional culture, embodies rich music and folklore passed down through generations. This study aims to examine the historical development and literacy transmission of the Poya Songbook for education and literacy studies in Funing County, Wenshan Prefecture, Yunnan Province, China. Drawing upon a combination of ethnographic methods and semiotic analysis, the research delves into the intricate journey of the Poya Songbook, contrasting its state before and after the pivotal year 2006, when it received official recognition as an intangible cultural heritage. Three key informants, deeply rooted in the local cultural milieu, provide valuable insights into the songbook's transformation, its role in education, and the challenges of preserving its authenticity amidst modern influences. The data analysis discerns shifts in transmission methods, content, and performance, shedding light on the evolving relationship between tradition and cultural identity. The findings underscore the importance of balancing preservation with adaptation to ensure the continued vitality of this cherished cultural heritage. Suggestions for the sustained safeguarding of the Poya Songbook include innovative educational initiatives that integrate its teachings into contemporary curricula, fostering a deeper understanding and appreciation of Zhuang cultural identity.

Biotechnology has great importance as a socioscientific issue in STEM education. This study aimed to explore the knowledge and attitudes of college students toward biotechnology. A total of 236 university students participated in the study. Questionnaires on knowledge and attitudes towards biotechnology were used for data collection. The results revealed that participants had inadequate knowledge about several basic concepts related to genetics and biotechnology, particularly those concerning genetically modified organisms. The results regarding the attitudes revealed more neutral results. The participants had a neutral attitude towards biotechnology, with mean scores ranging from 2.71 to 3.55. They were generally against buying genetically modified products but supported biotechnology for medical purposes and strongly desired to increase their knowledge about genetically modified products. The participants did not have a negative opinion of biotechnology in general but were critical of its purpose and use. The correlation analysis between knowledge and attitudes produced weak correlations. Offering supplementary resources on biotechnology can enhance students' and individual's understanding and attitudes of this topic.

The objective of this study is to investigate the effects of implementing the Collaborative Strategic Reading (CIRC) approach in reading instruction on the development of reading and writing abilities among third-grade children in primary schools. Utilizing a unified pre-test and post-test experimental design. The study's sample consists of 43 students that are enrolled in Class 1 of Grade 3. The study involved the implementation of Collaborative Integrated Reading and Composition (CIRC) methodology in Chinese reading instruction. Additionally, self-designed assessments were administered to measure the students' reading and writing proficiency levels. These assessments were conducted both before to and after the experimental intervention, allowing for the examination of any variations in the students' scores. The data underwent analysis utilizing the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), which involved calculating the mean, standard deviation, and conducting a T-test. The findings of the study suggest that the use of CIRC (Cognitive Instructional Reading Comprehension) in Chinese reading instruction yields a substantial enhancement in the reading and writing proficiencies of elementary school children. Moreover, there is a notable increase in the scores across several dimensions of reading and writing skills. Based on the findings of this study, the researchers propose the implementation of CIRC technology in Chinese reading instruction across several grade levels as a means to augment students' proficiency in reading and writing.

Chinese Dongbei Dagu vocal songs, a traditional genre hailing from Northeast China's Dongbei region, possess a rich history spanning over two centuries, distinguished by their unique combination of rhythmic speech-like delivery and melodic elements. The objective of this study is to investigate the fostering of literacy through the transmission of Chinese Dongbei Dagu vocal songs in Xiuyan County, Liaoning Province. The research utilized questionnaires and interviews with six key informants as research tools, including two academic experts, three singers of Dongbei Dagu, and one musical accompanist, who played a pivotal role in providing invaluable insights into various facets of Dongbei Dagu, ranging from its historical significance to the methods employed for its traditional and modern transmission. Qualitative data analysis revealed the existence of two primary modes of transmission: the time-honored apprentice style and the familial family-style methods within traditional settings. Moreover, it uncovered contemporary transmission modes that ingeniously adapt to folk activities, tea houses, theaters, and specialized training workshops. The research findings underscore the paramount importance of cultural databases, governmental support, educational initiatives, innovation, audience expansion, and early education in the continuous preservation and promotion of Dongbei Dagu. Ultimately, this study not only enhances our comprehension of intangible cultural heritage but also offers a pragmatic blueprint for sustaining traditional art forms within the context of contemporary society.

Chengdu's popular music, with its profound historical and cultural significance, serves as an educational resource at the intersection of music, literacy, and cultural education. This research aims to propose guidelines for the teaching resource of Chengdu popular music for fostering literacy and cultural education. Located in the culturally diverse Sichuan Province, Chengdu boasts a rich tapestry of musical traditions, from folk to hip-hop, making it an ideal research site. Two key informants, experts in folk and hip-hop music, provide valuable insights into Chengdu's musical evolution. Data analysis involves thematic analysis of questionnaires and interviews, offering a comprehensive understanding of the city's music culture. The study reveals Chengdu's historical role as a cultural crossroads and the evolution of its pop music into a distinctive force within China's music landscape. Advocating for the integration of Chengdu popular music into educational curricula, this research emphasizes the need for well-structured teaching resources to capture its cultural authenticity. The benefits of cultural education include fostering diversity appreciation, enhancing cultural understanding, promoting literacy skills, cultivating emotional intelligence, strengthening cultural identity, and inspiring creativity and expression. Chengdu popular music offers a transformative approach to fostering cultural literacy, empowering students to thrive in a globalized world.

The purpose of this study was to explore the influence of educational choice on the intention to enter the examination, and the mediating role of career decision-making self-efficacy. A total of 1391 freshmen from six higher vocational colleges in Guangdong Province of China were investigated with Education Choices Scale, Career Decision-Making Self-Efficacy Scale and Willingness to Apply Scale. The results showed that educational choice and career decision-making self-efficacy had significant effects on the willingness to apply. Career decision-making self-efficacy plays a mediating role in the significant positive impact of educational choice on the willingness to apply. Therefore, China's educational institutions and policy makers should focus on cultivating vocational students' career decision-making self-efficacy and improving their confidence and ability in career decision-making. To help students better understand their interests, values, and career goals, and to help students better understand the career fields they face professionally.

Hands-off data-driven learning is a data-based, student-oriented learning model characterized by inquiry and discovery. English context vocabulary teaching is the key to English teaching in colleges and an important indicator to evaluate the quality and level of college English teaching, which is a language teaching paradigm focusing on the language environment. Combining the two approaches can give students a more realistic, practical, and meaningful language learning experience. This paper analyzes the vocabulary learning level of two non-English major undergraduate classes at Southwest University of Political Science and Law before and after the application of the context experiment. The positive effect of context vocabulary teaching in the control groups is verified by comparing and analyzing the influence of context teaching based on hands-off data-driven learning on their scores and learning results between the experimental and control groups. It shows that the combination of context in English vocabulary teaching with hands-off data-driven learning can help to improve students' ability to understand, absorb, and apply English vocabulary.

This study examines the interplay between academic anxiety, emotional intelligence management, and academic resilience in Chinese international postgraduate students in Thailand. Using a correlational design and a sample of 353 valid participants, the study employed the Weighted Emotional Intelligence Scale (WEIS), Academic Anxiety Scale (AAS), and Academic Resilience Scale-30 (ARS). Contrary to expectations, the analysis revealed no significant differences in academic anxiety, emotional intelligence management, or academic resilience across demographic cohorts (gender, academic major, and occupation). Weak and non-significant correlations were also observed between academic anxiety, emotional intelligence management, and academic resilience. These findings challenge assumptions about demographic influences on these constructs and suggest a broader challenge for international students. Despite the prevalence of academic anxiety and deficiencies in emotional intelligence management and resilience, these constructs were not influenced by demographic factors. The study highlights the importance of holistic educational approaches that prioritize cultural and contextual factors and underscores the need for further research to unravel the complex dynamics of academic anxiety, emotional intelligence, and resilience.

Leveraging data from a longitudinal study of Chinese families (n = 364), this research aims to understand the role of secure base script knowledge as a cognitive mechanism by which early caregiving experiences inform adolescents' friendship quality and feelings of loneliness. Results showed that observed maternal sensitivity at 14 and 24 months old was negatively associated with adolescents' self-reported conflicts with close friends ([beta] = -0.17, p = 0.044) at 15 years old, and this association was partially mediated by their secure base script knowledge assessed at 10 years old. Further, secure base script knowledge moderated the link between adolescents' friend conflict and feelings of loneliness ([beta] = -0.15, p = 0.037). The results support a cognitive script perspective on the association between early caregiving experiences and later socio-emotional adjustment. Furthermore, this study adds to the developmental literature that has previously focused on more stringent and authoritarian aspects of parenting in Chinese families, thereby contributing to our understanding of how sensitive and supportive parenting practices contribute to socio-emotional development outside of Western contexts.

This study explored Chinese students' motivations for selecting a cross-border university in China's Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area (GBA) and how they perceive their undergraduate experiences. The GBA was developed as an international economic cluster in China. Despite the vitality of the GBA's international education sector, few studies have focused on individual students' perspectives on cross-border higher education choices and experiences. We interviewed twenty students and two academics in charge of university admissions about their opinions and reflections concerning a GBA cross-border university. Students' university choices were linked to different admission profiles, parental influences, institutional features and interactions between students and the institutions. Our study has significant implications for leaders and policymakers in higher education seeking to attract talented university students, improve enrolment and promote students' learning experiences in cross-border higher education institutions.

Greenspaces on university campuses have gained recognition for their multifaceted impact on the physical, social, emotional and intellectual well-being of students. The allocation of resources towards the development and maintenance of greenspaces is regarded as a strategy in the pursuit of sustainable development goals. However, the research on greenspaces within higher education has been inadequate. This study conducts an assessment of greenspaces within 2556 Chinese universities using remote sensing and geospatial technology, analysing the disparities in their distribution and exploring the spatial patterns and driving factors on a national scale. A national university greenspace database is obtained. Unexpectedly, the study finds that greenspace area and proportion within Chinese universities are relatively low in comparison to the greenspace areas outside the campus and of the city. There is heterogeneity and a decreasing trend in university greenspace. Compared to university faculty and off-campus population, university students have the lowest per capita greenspace area. Of concern is the significant issue of greenspace inequality. Our research suggests that the inequality in greenspace provision for university students can be explained by factors of economic development, educational investments and provincial greenspace supply. This study provides an in-depth analysis of the state of greenspaces in Chinese universities and calls for interdisciplinary and interdepartmental cooperation to address issues of greenspace inequality and campus greening, ensuring the sustainability and livability of urban areas and university campuses.

While the effect of reading strategies on L2 test performance has been extensively researched, the effect of test-taking strategies remains underexplored, with mixed results due to varying contextual factors. This study, therefore, investigated the latent structure of test-taking strategies and the relationships among test-taking strategies, lexico-grammatical ability, and test performance in a test of local-level reading comprehension questions (LRCQs) by 217 Chinese EFL learners. Confirmatory factor analyses revealed test-taking strategies could be composed of test-management and test-wiseness strategies. Structural equation modeling provided further empirical evidence for this conceptual distinction, as only test-management strategies were significantly affected by lexico-grammatical ability. However, while lexico-grammatical ability had a large effect on test performance, neither test-management nor test-wiseness strategies had a significant impact on test performance. This study helps researchers and teachers better understand the test-taking strategies at play in LRCQs and their impact on test performance and carries implications for L2 reading pedagogy.

Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) refers to methods and tools that facilitate communication for individuals with limited functional speech. This study aims to present and analyse the research status of AAC interventions for children with special needs in mainland China using a bibliometric analysis approach. The researcher conducted a literature search in the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) database to identify relevant studies. Based on the literature search, 80 articles met the inclusion criteria. The research literature spans from 2007 to 2022, with a notable increase in publications after 2015. The majority of studies focus on children with autism, while other disabilities, such as intellectual disabilities and cerebral palsy, receive less attention. AAC interventions primarily utilize low-technology communication aids, with limited use of high-technology tools. Research on AAC interventions for children with special needs in mainland China has grown recently. However, it still falls short of meeting the potential demand to promote the application and development of AAC. More diverse research is needed, including various disabilities and higher-technology AAC tools. The effectiveness of AAC in impacting users and their communication partners will increase their quality of life and social interactions.

This paper employs the notion of a "career script" as a conceptual basis to examine how age-based academic career norms are internalized, strategized, and reproduced among PhD students aspiring to become academics. It draws on interviews with 70 PhD students at leading universities in mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macau that were organized and explored using narrative inquiry. The findings suggest that the tournament-like, age-based career scripts are primarily shaped by institutional policies on recruitment and funding applications and reinforced through social interactions. Doctoral students internalize the established criteria for success defined by the career scripts and stigmatize those who lag behind in the attainment of institutionally predetermined milestones, thus discouraging any attempt to rescript career norms. While enacting successful career scripts, students experience age and temporal anxiety at a fairly young age, exacerbating ageism in the academic labor market.

In the context of digital technologies, computational thinking (CT) is considered a key competence of primary school teachers. However, assessment tools to measure in-service teachers' CT competence are rare. The current study explains the design, development, and validation of a scale to determine the in-service teachers' mastery level of their Computational Thinking Competence (CTC) in the Chinese context. The validity and reliability of the scale have been studied by conducting exploratory factor analysis (EFA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and calculating internal consistency coefficients. The sample of this study consisted of 631 in-service teachers from different Chinese primary schools (EFA N = 189; CFA N = 442). The 31-item scale mirrors five factors: cognitive knowledge of CT, practices and skills of CT, attitudes and perspectives of CT, CT teaching design, and CT teaching implementation. The discussion of the results looks at the future use of the CT scale in Chinese educational settings that mirror a specific national education policy, talent demand, and educational culture.

Previous research has not adequately explored students' behavioral processes when addressing computational thinking (CT) problems of varying difficulty, limiting insights into students' detailed CT development characteristics. This study seeks to fill this gap by employing gamified CT items across multiple difficulty levels to calculate comprehensive behavioral sequence quality indicators. And then, through latent profile analysis, we identified four distinct latent classes of behavioral process. We then examined the in-game performance differences among these classes, uncovering each class's unique attributes. Class 1 students consistently demonstrated high-quality, efficient behavioral sequences regardless of item difficulty. In contrast, class 2 students applied significant cognitive effort and trial-and-error strategies, achieving acceptable scores despite low behavioral sequence quality. Class 3 students excelled in simpler items but faltered with more complex ones. Class 4 students displayed low motivation for challenging items, often guessing answers quickly. Additionally, we investigated the predictive value of students' performance in gamified items and their behavioral process classes for their external CT test scores. The study finally elaborated on the theoretical implications for researchers and the practical suggestions for teachers in CT cultivation.

Students' perception of teachers' mindset beliefs (TMB) is associated with their school engagement (SSE). Based on SSE's contextual-personal interplay, perceived classroom goal structures (CGS) and students' mindset beliefs (SMB) were considered. Data from 1071 high school students were analyzed. The results show that CGS significantly mediated the negative connection between perceived headteachers' fixed mindset beliefs and SSE. Students who perceived headteachers to endorse more fixed mindset beliefs aligned with classroom performance goal structure (PGS) rather than mastery goal structure (MGS) environments, predicted fewer engagements. SMB played a moderated role. The effect of MGS on SSE was much stronger for students with low fixed mindset beliefs, whereas the effect of PGS on SSE was significant only for students with high fixed mindset beliefs. These findings corroborate SSE's development-in-sociocultural-context theory, indicating the value of inculcating growth mindset among teachers, and the fitness of classroom-student motivational systems to improve adolescents' engagement.

Job burnout can lead to serious mental health problems and damage physical health, so it is meaningful to explore the predictors of job burnout. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between resilience, self-regulation and job burnout of parents of deaf and hard-of-hearing children in mainland China. A questionnaire on resilience, self-regulation and job burnout was conducted for 416 parents of children with deaf and hard of hearing, and the data were analyzed using mplus. The results show that resilience can reduce job burnout, and self-regulation regulates the relationship between resilience and job burnout. This study focuses on the relationship between resilience, self-regulation and job burnout of parents of deaf and hard-of-hearing children in mainland China, and expands the research field of resilience and job burnout. The limitation and influence of this study are also discussed.

Across all cultures, parents have intuitive ideas ("ethnotheories") of what undesirable child characteristics are as well as how to explain them. Yet there have been relatively few cross-cultural comparisons of parents' ethnotheories about the nature and causes of child misbehavior. 108 mothers of 5-year-old children from the United States (N = 52; M[subscript age] = 5.26, SD = 0.07) and mainland China (N = 56; M[subscript age] = 5.31, SD = 0.20) were recruited to participate in a semi-structured interview that allowed parents to generate open-ended responses in relation to the nature and causes of children's misbehavior. Parents were asked to describe the behaviors they would least like to see in their children, before providing causal attributions to a series of hypothetical vignettes depicting a range of externalizing-type child behaviors. Parents' responses were coded based on common themes. Across both cultures, mothers endorsed social insensitivity as the most undesirable child characteristic. With regard to cross-cultural differences, mothers from the US highlighted aggressive and disruptive behaviors as the most salient child misbehaviors, whereas parents from mainland China emphasized cognitive and motivational difficulties. Regarding causes of child misbehaviors, American mothers were more likely than Chinese mothers to report momentary internal states as the primary causes of child misbehavior, followed by immature development. Conversely, Chinese parents attributed child misbehavior primarily to social influences, followed by temperament. Our results provide a significant contribution to our understanding on how parents across cultures define and explain misbehaviors in young children.

Are children from "Eastern" cultures less emotionally expressive and reactive than children from "Western" cultures? To answer this, we used a multi-level and multi-contextual approach to understand variations in emotion displays and cortisol reactivity among preschoolers living in China and the United States. One hundred two preschoolers from China (N = 58; 55% males) and the United States (N = 44, 48% males) completed three (i.e., control, interpersonal-related, and achievement-related) emotion-challenging paradigms over 3 days. Behavioral emotion expressions were coded, and salivary cortisol was sampled 30 minutes before and across 90 minutes post-task. Without considering context, Chinese preschoolers displayed fewer levels of positive and negative emotion expressions relative to their United States counterparts. However, Chinese preschoolers displayed similar levels of expressions as their United States counterparts during an achievement-related challenge that is more salient to their sociocultural emphases and showed higher negative emotion expressions in this challenge, relative to other contexts. Moreover, only the achievement-related challenge elicited increased cortisol levels among Chinese preschoolers, and this was correlated with higher levels of negative expressions. For US preschoolers, no cortisol increase was observed in any challenging paradigms, nor was cortisol associated with emotional expressions. Findings counter prior notions that East Asian children are generally less emotionally expressive. Instead, an achievement-related challenge elicited higher emotion expression and cortisol reactivity among Chinese preschoolers, suggesting that children's emotion expression and biological reactivity may be most responsive to contexts salient to their socio-cultural environments. We discuss the importance of considering cultural contexts when studying emotion regulation.

Research excellence is one of the key missions of universities and an important engine for socio-economic development. However, the outbreak of COVID-19 has affected academic research in many ways. This study examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the research performance of science and engineering faculty members in China's top research universities. It is found that the pandemic caused a decline in the numbers and quality of published articles, and the effects persisted over time. The negative effect of the pandemic on research excellence was more pronounced in the older faculty groups and departments of science. In addition, the pandemic has harmed international research collaborations among academics, which is likely to obstruct research excellence in the long run. In the end, this paper proposes several policy recommendations to reinvigorate universities' capacity for research innovation in the post-pandemic era.

Previous studies have substantiated the pivotal role of emotions and teachers in student learning, but the underlying mechanism of teachers and emotions on academic engagement remains underexplored. The present study examined the mediating role of teacher support in the relationship between foreign language learning anxiety (FLLA) and academic engagement in online classrooms. Participants were 415 Chinese university students who completed an online questionnaire. The findings of structural equation modelling indicated that teacher support had a partial mediation effect between FLLA and academic engagement. FLLA exhibited a significant negative impact on academic engagement, both directly and indirectly via perceived teacher support. Through both direct and indirect effects, FLLA could explain 44.8% of the variation in academic engagement and the mediation effect accounted for 47.3% of the total effect. The practical implication is that foreign language teachers should extend more support for learners during online learning, and provide learners with feedback adapted to their emotions.

Social support is a crucial factor in the academic engagement of doctoral students, which is vital to their overall success. While past studies have mostly focused on the support from doctoral supervisors, support from other significant groups, including institutions, peers and families, has been largely neglected, and even no study has investigated their contributions to doctoral students' development. Drawing from the job demands-resources model, this study investigated the contributions of different sources (institutions, supervisors, peers and families) of social support to doctoral students' academic engagement. It further examined the mediating role of grit within these relationships. A sample of 472 doctoral students across various disciplines from 10 universities in mainland China responded to an online survey. Results showed that institutional support and supervisory support positively predicted doctoral students' academic engagement, while peer support and family support did not significantly predict academic engagement. Furthermore, grit was found to mediate the relationship between support from institutions and supervisors and academic engagement. Practical implications for higher education institutions, doctoral supervisors and programs are discussed.

Background: Recent research showed that cross-notation magnitude knowledge of fractions and decimals was related to better performance in fraction arithmetic, but it remains unclear whether it made an independent contribution to fraction arithmetic longitudinally when other cognitive variables are considered. Aims: To examine the extent to which children's earlier knowledge of cross-notation magnitude predicted subsequent performance in fraction addition and subtraction as well as fraction multiplication and division longitudinally. Sample: Three hundred and fifty-four Chinese children (Mage = 112.1 months). Methods: During the first wave of assessment, a range of cognitive abilities of children were measured, including within-notation fraction and decimal magnitude comparisons, whole-number arithmetic fluency, non-verbal intelligence, attentive behaviours, counting recall, word-level reading, and phonological awareness. Twelve months later, the same children were assessed again with two tasks of fraction arithmetic: fraction addition and subtraction as well as fraction multiplication and division. Results and Conclusions: Multiple linear regressions showed that within-notation fraction and decimal magnitude knowledge predicted fraction addition and subtraction longitudinally, after the effects of working memory, nonverbal intelligence, language skills, attentive behaviour, and whole-number arithmetic were controlled. Cross-notation magnitude knowledge made independent contributions to fraction addition and subtraction longitudinally beyond the influence of within-notation fraction and decimal magnitude knowledge and other covariates. However, within-notation fraction and decimal magnitude knowledge were not associated with fraction multiplication and division, whereas cross-notation magnitude knowledge remained a unique predictor. These findings suggest that it may be useful to incorporate cross-notation knowledge in the assessments of children's mathematics abilities and teaching.

Purpose: This study investigated irony comprehension by Mandarin-speaking children with cochlear implants, focusing on how prosodic and visual cues contribute to their comprehension, and whether second-order Theory of Mind is required for using these cues. Method: We tested 52 Mandarin-speaking children with cochlear implants (aged 3-7 years) and 52 age- and gender-matched children with normal hearing. All children completed a Theory of Mind test and a story comprehension test. Ironic stories were presented in three conditions, each providing different cues: (a) context-only, (b) context and prosody, and (c) context, prosody, and visual cues. Comparisons were conducted on the accuracy of story understanding across the three conditions to examine the role of prosodic and visual cues. Results: The results showed that, compared to the context-only condition, the additional prosodic and visual cues both improved the accuracy of irony comprehension for children with cochlear implants, similar to their normal-hearing peers. Furthermore, such improvements were observed for all children, regardless of whether they passed the second-order Theory of Mind test or not. Conclusions: This study is the first to demonstrate the benefits of prosodic and visual cues in irony comprehension, without reliance on second-order Theory of Mind, for Mandarin-speaking children with cochlear implants. It implies potential insights for utilizing prosodic and visual cues in intervention strategies to promote irony comprehension.

Adolescence is a critical period during which youth develop and shape their behaviors. Because differences between youths are strongly connected to environmental factors, we aimed to elucidate possible pathways from home-school regulation and atmosphere to youths' prosocial and antisocial behaviors. Data were derived from the China Education Panel Survey. This study involved a total of 9291 students aged 14-15 years (4834 boys, 4457 girls). We used structural equation modeling (SEM) with LISREL 8.80 and Monte Carlo resampling with R to conduct the analysis strategy. In the home-school regulation, parental supervision on the one hand and teacher criticism on the other hand have direct positive and negative predictive effects on youths' prosocial behaviors, respectively, while their direct effects on antisocial behavior are the opposite; teachers praise does not directly affect adolescents' prosocial and antisocial behaviors. In the home-school atmosphere, family interaction and perceived good class climate directly positively affect youths' prosocial behaviors, while the direct effects of both on antisocial behavior are not significant. The SEM results reveal that academic self-efficacy and depressive symptoms may be underlying mediating mechanisms through which home-school regulation and atmosphere during adolescence affect students' prosocial and antisocial behaviors. Intervention programs targeting home-school supportive environments and prevention programs targeting positive emotion and self-awareness may yield benefits for proper social behavior in adolescents. For example, by enhancing the way and frequency of parent-child interaction, teachers and students jointly create a good class climate of care and friendship to strengthen a home-school supportive environment. Improve adolescents' positive emotions such as contentment, optimism, and hope to reduce the possibility of depression.

Multilingual perspectives have become the mainstream research paradigm in language motivation studies lately. The motivational interplay between English and French, as two important foreign languages in China, has received little academic attention, but this topic is becoming increasingly significant for language education in the era of global English. This study set out to explore the motivational differences between English majors and non-English majors learning French as the second foreign language (SFL) in a Chinese university, and identify the influencing factors of learners' motivation. A motivation scale was designed in the form of questionnaire, and participants (n = 56) from two classes were tested. Variation sampling was then adopted for interviews to capture learners' multiple motivational profiles. The results reveal that the learners' SFL motivation fluctuates constantly with their first foreign language being English. Overall, the non-English majors have a significantly higher motivation than English majors. This proves that the conclusion in the literature of L2 English having a negative impact on L3 motivation is oversimplified. We found it applies to English majors, but not to non-English majors. We also proposed an original three-dimensional motivation model, taking into account the influencing factors at the macro, meso and micro levels. It helps to reveal the dynamic interplay of different motivational forces. Teachers are suggested to help maintain and promote learners' motivation by constantly strengthening supporter language awareness and emphasizing the benefits of being multilinguals.

The purpose of the current article is to evaluate social responsibility, digital ethics, and knowledge about safe data storage among students of different ages. Four hundred students took part in the study: 200 people each in the first and fifth years of study. Their ages were 19.2 years (SD = 1.08) and 24.4 years (SD = 1.18), respectively. The research tools were the Chinese University Students' Social Responsibility Scale (CUSSRS), the Digital Ethics Level Scale (SLDE), and the Cyber Security Awareness Survey (CSA). It was found that with age, the indicators of Social Responsibility become higher. Digital Ethics also increases with age: in the category of Privacy and Data Protection, first-year students had a mean value of 11.49 versus 16.04 of fifth-year students; in the Ethical Use of Technology -- 12.05 versus 16.49; in Digital Security -- 11.02 versus 15.00, respectively. At the same time, the Digital Accessibility subscale was the same for the two groups, without significant differences. In addition, the value of Cybersecurity Awareness was higher among fifth-year students with an indicator of 58.86 against an indicator of 46.33 for first-year students, that is, it was 12.53 higher.

At present, the research on the teacher-student interaction (TSI) mode in smart classroom (SC) was not in-depth enough, and a few studies mainly focuses on top-down theoretical deduction. This study adopted a bottom-up approach to study the TSI modes in SC and proposed specific implementation suggestions, which had important theoretical value and practical significance for promoting the development of students' higher-order thinking (HOT) and the digital transformation of education practice. The study used lag sequential analysis to encode and analyze 12 SC teaching videos that won first prize in Jilin Province, China. A total of 4617 sequence relationships and 48 significant activity sequences were generated. The analysis of these significant activity sequences showed that SC was divided into four types of TSI modes: discovery question, conceptual scheme, validation scheme, and creating products. There was a sequential relationship between the four types. The research proposed specific implementation suggestions from four aspects: interaction goals, interaction methods, interaction content, and interaction media. This will guide teachers in building high-quality SC and assist students in developing HOT.

Distance learning continues to gain popularity among musical specialties due to the necessity and advantages of this training format. This study aimed to study students' experience of distance learning in Choral Performance. To this end, questioning, testing, and quasi-experiment methods were applied. The research involved 88 students from the Taizhou University. It was revealed that students studying choral art generally positively perceived the introduction of distance learning (90% of respondents were satisfied with the learning experience). Most participants noted that the advantage of this education format is the saving of time they would have spent on the road to the educational institution. A significant statistical difference (t = 6.133) was observed between the indicators of the average progress of university students in the period of face-to-face education (M = 84.97 ± 5.73) and during distance learning (M = 69.51 ± 5.41). The present findings are helpful for administrations of educational institutions to establish distance learning processes in musical disciplines and not only. In future research, exploring as many factors as possible that can affect teaching and learning in a distance format is essential. Moreover, the effectiveness of various technologies gradually introduced in distance music education, namely a virtual choir and multiple applications, platforms, and music systems, can be subject to the study.

Purpose: The present study evaluated the applicability of the sentence-focused framework to Mandarin-speaking children with cochlear implants (CIs) by examining the relative contribution of receptive/expressive noun and verb lexicon sizes to later grammatical complexity. Method: Participants were 51 Mandarin-speaking children who received cochlear implantation before 30 months of age. At 12 months after CI activation, parents were asked to endorse words that their child could understand only or understand and say using the infant version of the Early Vocabulary Inventory. At 24 months after CI activation, parents were asked to endorse the grammatical structures that their children were able to say using the Grammatical Complexity subtest in the Mandarin Communicative Development Inventory--Taiwan. Children's receptive/expressive noun and verb lexicon sizes and grammatical complexity scores were computed from these parent checklists. Results: Correlational analyses showed that children's receptive/expressive noun and verb lexicon sizes at 12 months after CI activation were all highly correlated with their grammatical complexity scores at 24 months after CI activation ([rho]s = 0.52-0.63, ps < 0.001). Regression analyses further revealed that verb lexicon sizes at 12 months after CI activation outweighed noun lexicon sizes in accounting for grammatical complexity at 24 months after CI activation. Conclusions: Our findings supported the prediction of the sentence-focused framework. Emphasizing the role of verbs in early intervention has the potential to enhance grammatical outcomes in Mandarin-speaking children with CIs.