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The importance of using innovative technologies in modern education is continuously growing. This paper examines the influence of intelligent painting systems (IPS) on student self-efficacy and involvement. The conducted study involved 234 students from the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts. An experimental approach was used to ensure scientific validity of the study. The experimental group trained using the IPS (based on deep learning and uses a fine-tuned ResNet-50 model), whereas the control group studied according to traditional methods. The results obtained upon completion of the training confirmed the positive influence of the implemented system. The Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) also showed statistically significant differences between the groups. The practical significance of the study lies in the fact that it justifies the introduction of intelligent systems into art education to increase its effectiveness as well as student involvement. The findings of the study have important implications for the development of educational and artistic policy. Furthermore, they contribute to the improvement of teaching methods and the quality of education in this field. The study can also serve as an impetus for further research on the use of technology in education and its impact on pedagogical practice.

Painting is the most fundamental kind of art, and is one important part of creative practice in art courses. In typical painting classes, students paint a picture independently with only a few theoretical explanations and may lack authentic experience of the painting topic. It would therefore be meaningful to construct a new painting form to enhance students' learning efficiency and creativity. Previous research indicated that high-quality collaboration and digital technology have the potential to enhance students' innovation in art courses. Therefore, in the current study, a virtual reality-based collaborative painting (VR-CP) approach was developed and applied to painting in a primary school art class to verify its effectiveness. A total of 45 fifth graders from China were recruited and randomly divided into an experimental group, with 21 students learning with the VR-CP approach, and 24 students in the control group, which adopted the conventional paper-and-brush collaborative painting (C-CP) approach. The results showed that the VR-CP approach can facilitate students' creative thinking behaviors of exploring, knowing what they want to do, analyzing ideas, and taking risks, as well as the development of product creative quality. It was found that the students learning with the VR-CP approach tended to demonstrate better collaboration levels and used more bidirectional-sharing strategies than the students learning with the C-CP approach.

Background: Painting is the foundational expression across all art forms and is one of the key creative practices for fostering students' aesthetic ability and creativity within fine arts courses. Collaborative painting in the form of socially shared regulation of learning (SSRL) can be recognized as an effective strategy for enhancing creativity in both individual and group work. However, the absence of contextual experiences and collaborative spaces poses challenges for students in cultivating their creativity in painting. Objectives: The present study explores students' creativity, socially shared regulation (SSR) and positive painting behaviours using an SSRL-based collaborative painting approach in the metaverse (Meta-CP). Methods: Via a quasi-experimental design, a total of 40 Chinese students in fifth grade were recruited and were randomly divided into an experimental group and a control group, with 20 students utilizing the Meta-CP approach, while the remaining 20 students followed the conventional SSRL-based paper-and-brush collaborative painting (C-CP) approach. The Meta-CP approach not only offers an authentic painting context and a collaborative space but also facilitates the collaborative process through the SSRL framework. The data collection included students' creative tendency, painting works and painting process. Results and Conclusions: The Meta-CP approach effectively enhances students' creativity concerning adventure, curiosity and imagination, as well as results in the creation of more distinctive and logical artistic works. Furthermore, the approach significantly improved the quality of students' SSR. Additionally, students utilizing the Meta-CP approach displayed more positive painting behaviours compared with those employing the C-CP approach.

Language learners' positive and negative emotions were integrated with their social anxiety and their suppression in technology-enhanced learning environments. A total of 878 Chinese English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners participated in this study. They completed a Computer Technology Integration Questionnaire (CTIQ), an Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ), a Positive and Negative Affect Scale (PNAS) and a Social Interaction Anxiety Scale (SIAS). Results of SEM analysis indicated that while positive emotions were directly related to the learners' perceptions of technology-enhanced learning environments, their negative emotions adversely predicted their emotion regulation and their perceptions of technology integration. The outcomes confirmed that there were significant and positive relationships between Chinese EFL students' emotion regulation and their perceptions of technology-enhanced learning environments. The findings of the study suggest implications to reduce learners' anxiety and encourage them to use technology in their classrooms. This study is intended to enhance our understanding of positive and negative events in technology-enhanced learning environments.

Most graduate students in higher education are classified as adult learners, being 24 years old, and have responsibilities and commitments outside of higher education. This literature review presents how Chinese international graduate students face challenges in the US due to sociocultural, ideological, and educational differences. This systematic literature review explores these students' critical thinking skills, which are crucial factors for academic success but have been underexplored. Three themes were identified as follows: (1) critical thinking education in China, (2) stereotypes of perceived lack of critical thinking, and (3) comparative views of critical thinking between Chinese and American college students. Each theme presents a landscape of how critical thinking is interpreted. Themes suggest several trends, including cultural variations that may impede Chinese international students from showcasing their critical thinking abilities, notwithstanding their inherent capacity for critical thinking. Recommendations include ways to improve critical thinking among international students and call for more comparative studies between Chinese and American college students. The findings offer valuable insights into the internationalization of higher education curricula and the promotion of global learning.

This study aims to develop an evaluation framework to assess the mathematical deductive reasoning competence (MDRC) of eighth-grade students in China based on Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) and Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). The framework includes four dimensions of MDRC: cognitive level, reasoning context, reasoning form, and reasoning content. A sample of 58,532 students took the test entitled MDRC Assessment in 90 min. Their MDRC was classified into four levels, and the percentages of students who were at level 1 to level 4 are 17.3%, 25.2%, 26.7%, and 30.8%, respectively. Girls performed significantly better than boys in total and in each of the dimensions of the evaluation framework, but the differences were at a low practical level. Students from urban schools outperformed students from rural schools at a significant level and a higher percentage of students in rural areas were at level 1 (poorest performance) than of students in urban areas. This research proposed a framework for assessing MDRC levels of students and used it with Chinese as well as international studies. Implications of gender and geographical inequalities in this performance were also discussed.

Background/purpose: The process of shaping students' creative thinking in modern society takes on a new, deeper, and broader dimension. Therefore, studying the role of Chinese music in developing the creativity of primary, secondary, and tertiary education students is deemed relevant. The purpose of this study was to comprehend ways of forming creative thinking of students through the study of Chinese music. Materials/methods: The research problem was addressed through searching for and collecting data, analyzing and compiling the information obtained, identifying and deducing categories of the collected data, and through compiling tables and figures to demonstrate the research problem as an integral, multi-component system. Results: The role of Chinese music in developing creative thinking among students is multifaceted, and includes teaching methods and material support. This system is essential to achieving global education goals, introducing students to other cultures, creating a multicultural learning environment, and promoting emotional responsiveness to Chinese music. Conclusion: The relevance of the research problem, its responsiveness to the demands of the time and flexibility determines the promise of study in the area under consideration and determines its value from both theoretical and practical perspectives.

The social responsibility of college students in the later stages of adolescence for sustainable development is emphasized, and the role of universities has become a crucial task. This study aimed to explore the level of college students' cognition, attitude, and behavior towards sustainable development and the association among them through the moderation effect of informal online learning. The difference verification and structural equation modeling were applied to 559 students who majored in science, and statistical validity was confirmed. Regarding the sustainable development level of college students, there was a significant difference in cognition, attitude, and behavior towards sustainable development between males and females, formal education, and informal online learning. Further, college students' attitudes towards sustainable development played a significant mediating role between cognition and behavior. The study also found a significant moderation effect of informal online learning on students' cognition and attitude toward sustainable development behavior. Accordingly, this study suggests that universities should systematically design educational programs to promote college students' behavioral change toward sustainable development through personal life-oriented learning courses.

Data mining has been applied to a large extent in various information application fields this year. In this paper, it is applied to the students' physical exercise for partial optimization and compared with some traditional algorithms for improvement. Different analysis results are obtained under different potential information analysis backgrounds, which improves the accuracy and results of clustering analysis. This study used the physical activity rating scale and the subjective well-being scale to assess the status, subjective well-being level, and interaction mechanism of middle school students in Sichuan Province participating in physical exercise. The physical activity of students is insufficient, and the physical activity of girls is seriously insufficient; the overall level is above average, and the average score of boys in the two dimensions of life satisfaction and emotional balance is higher than that of girls; the relationship between each dimension of physical exercise and life satisfaction and emotional balance is shown.

Self-directed learning with mobile technology (SDLMT) is critical to students' learning success. However, only minimal research has been conducted on the manner by which significant aspects (e.g., selfefficacy, student engagement) are related to SDLMT. This study analyzed the answers of 485 Chinese students (seventh to ninth grades) who were surveyed, and evaluated the relationships among self-efficacy (Internet selfefficacy and online communication self-efficacy), student engagement (behavioral, cognitive, emotional, and social engagement), and SDLMT. Structural equation model revealed that SDLMT was positively predicted by self-efficacy, and SDLMT was positively impacted by student engagement. Moreover, the mediation analysis was performed using the PROCESS plugin in SPSS and determined that after controlling for gender and grade, the relationship between self-efficacy and SDLMT was partially mediated by student engagement. Findings established the value of self-efficacy for SDLMT, and further emphasized the vital mediating role of student engagement. Hence, developing K-12 students' SDLMT entails enhancing self-efficacy and student engagement.

To explore and explain teaching and learnign issues in a current veterinary infectious disease course, the author proposed the concept of blended learning with a BOPPPS (bridge-in, objective, pre-test, participation learning, post-test, and summary) teaching model (BL-BOPPPS) based on the background of 'Internet plus education'. The study put blended learning (including 'flipped classroom' and the application of 'Rain Classroom' and 'presentation-assimilation-discussion (PAD)') combined with the BOPPPS online and offline model into practice and summarised the teaching effects and reflections that strengthened participatory learning and students' independent learning, thinking and innovation skills, in order to develop them as lifelong learners. This study also aims to provide a new theoretical basis and reference for teaching reform of veterinary infectious disease.

In science education, chemistry is a discipline that involves macroscopic matter and microscopic particles. It is difficult for the traditional teaching approach to help learners comprehend abstract chemical knowledge. Researchers have attempted to use Virtual Reality (VR) to help learners realize meaningful knowledge via visualizing the learning content. However, merely engaging students in experiencing the scientific contexts is not enough. To fill this gap, the present study adopted Spherical Video-based Virtual Reality (SVVR) to create authentic learning contexts for learners, and proposed an exploration-based SVVR approach which aimed to promote students' understanding of abstract concepts and improve their competence of completing chemistry experiments. A quasi-experimental design was employed to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed approach. A total of 136 junior high school students from three classes were recruited for the experiment. The experimental group adopted the exploration-based SVVR approach, control group I adopted the conventional SVVR approach, and control group II adopted traditional instruction. The results showed that the exploration-based SVVR approach not only improved students' learning achievement, but also increased their learning motivation, learning attitude, and creative thinking tendency. Besides, students adopting this approach had more positive behaviors, including finding problems, making assumptions, investigating and verifying, and discussion.

The integration of ChatGPT as a supplementary tool for writing instruction has gained traction. However, uncertainties persist regarding how ChatGPT complements teacher assessment and the overall effectiveness of this combined approach. To address this, we conducted a mixed-methods investigation involving 46 undergraduate students from a research university in southern China, engaging them in a Chinese academic writing task. The intraclass correlation coefficient results revealed ChatGPT's efficiency in scoring students' writing, showing moderate to good consistency with teacher evaluations. A paired sample t-test unveiled significant differences in feedback quantity and types between ChatGPT and teacher assessments. Drawing from both interview data and quantitative findings, the study uncovers three ways in which ChatGPT complements teacher assessment, benefiting students with various writing proficiency levels: (1) fostering deeper comprehension of teacher assessments among students, (2) encouraging students to make judgments regarding feedback, and (3) promoting independent thinking about revisions. This study contributes to a more comprehensive understanding of the role of ChatGPT within the context of a combined assessment approach. It underscores that certain inherent weaknesses in ChatGPT's functioning can paradoxically lead to favorable outcomes. By shedding light on the synergy between ChatGPT and teacher assessments, this research seeks to inform and enhance writing instruction in higher education.

This study focuses on the role of visual resources in constructing the brand identity of Chinese universities. By drawing on the theoretical concept of corporate visual identity (CVI), this study analyzed universities' logos and typography of names from the social semiotic approach. Nine elite Chinese universities were selected as the corpus to qualitatively investigate how the institutions' logos and typography of their names are designed and utilized for corporate branding. The analysis shows that both the logos and names are graphically and typographically designed as effective visual elements and semiotic resources with meaning potentials to signify the Chinese universities' brand identity.

Collaborative problem-solving competence (CPSC) is a core skill in the twenty-first century. As an innovative literacy, CPSC was assessed for the first time in the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2015. Our study aims to identify the effects of student's perceptions toward interpersonal relationships on CPSC in PISA 2015. Multiple linear regression was used to examine these effects across Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, and the four affluent communities in China. After controlling student's gender and socio-economic status, the results indicated that: (a) Student's external perceptions such as teacher unfairness and disciplinary climate, and student's internal perceptions such as valuing relationships and valuing teamwork significantly predicted CPSC; (b) Disciplinary climate was the strongest predictor among all the external perceptions analyzed; (c) Regarding the internal perceptions, valuing relationships positively predicted CPSC, while valuing teamwork negatively predicted CPSC. These findings enlighten educational practitioners to help students develop their CPSC from the perspective of interpersonal relationships.

Objective: The present study aims to examine whether secondhand smoke exposure (SHSE) in university students can affect three indices of self-satisfaction related to depression as indiced by appearance, weight, and freedom of life choice. Participants: We collected data from 740 nonsmoking students in the summer of 2018, of which 57.84% were exposed to secondhand smoke. Methods: Depressive symptoms, SHSE, smoking status, weight satisfaction, appearance satisfaction, and freedom of life choice were self-reported via a questionnaire. Results: The generalized linear analyses revealed that SHSE was linked to lower scores of perceived freedom of life choice but not significantly associated with weight nor appearance satisfaction. The mediation analyses indicated that perceived freedom of life choice fully mediated the association between SHSE and depressive symptoms. Conclusions: These findings shed light on the importance of SHSE and its effects on mental health in university students. Preventive strategies should therefore locally target university campuses.

Chinese as a second language (CSL) learning has attracted more attention and supporting learners with adaptive resources becomes difficult. Some online systems recommended pre-designed resources from existing databases while the resources could not match learners' context. Designing resources dynamically according to learners' needs could be a solution while it's time-consuming. Targeting this problem, we proposed a "content-structure" loosely coupled model. Based on the model, we developed an automatic resource generation system and used it in a university. One class was chosen and the students were randomly assigned to the experimental (22 students) and control group (21 students). They participated in the course all the same except the resources generation method. During the learning process, the online behaviors were recorded for behavioral analysis and the learners' learning outcome and perceptions were measured by tests and questionnaires. Results showed that the system played positive roles in improving learners' learning outcome and perceptions. Moreover, we found that learners in experimental group participated more actively and there's evidence that the system could help learners better reflect on their needs. The results revealed the effectiveness of the system in supporting CSL learners' contextualized learning. This design will provide inspiration for future context-aware CSL learning research.

This paper proposes a distance-based doctoral supervisory model to support students in the process of navigating self, agency, and emotions over their doctoral journey. The model emerged through our examination of the lived experiences of three Chinese female doctoral students who, though enrolled as internal students in our New Zealand university, were prevented by the pandemic from returning from their Spring Festival sojourn to China, and continued their study by distance. We employed narrative analysis to deeply engage with their stories shared in diaries and one-on-one interviews, alongside social media interactions. These revealed a strong commitment to study emanating from answerability toward their research projects, already underway, and agentive actions to maintain peer-to-peer academic and emotional support, enabling resilience and reflexivity about personal values and needs. Learning from this experience, we emphasize in our model the need to nurture important bonds between students, their peers and their supervisors in online environments.

"Global Engineering Education Accreditation" (GEEA) is an internationally accepted quality assurance system for engineering education in universities, and technology competitions for college students are also considered important approaches to achieve the educational objectives and meet graduation requirements of GEEA in practice aspects. In this paper, the competency of guiding teachers of technology competitions for Chinese college students is evaluated through a case of "National Competition of Transportation Science and Technology for Students" (NACTranS). Firstly, 7 theoretical hypotheses of the modified "structural equation modeling" (SEM) for competency were developed by concentrating on some principles pertaining to the key concepts of GEEA. Secondly, competition results were set as the dependent variable and 3 dimensions of competition (topic selecting, works producing and team managing) were set as the independent variables under the modified SEM. Meanwhile, both administrative ranks and regional locations of universities where guiding teachers work were set as intervening vectors so as to explain the formation mechanisms of competency. Thirdly, a case study of NACTranS data from 68 universities in China's mainland was done through modified SEM calculating. The conclusions indicate that competency of guiding teachers is not only represented by 3 dimensions but also indirectly manipulated by 2 intervening vectors. According to the case calculating by modified SEM, the determinant of guiding teachers' performance in topic selecting is the administrative ranks of universities, whereas their performance in works producing is dictated by the regional locations of universities. Various improvements on the competency of guiding teachers can be carried out in schools of engineering in Chinese universities, such as sufficient academic communications, efficient industry-university-research cooperation and so on.

Different instructional strategies have been drawn to assist elementary school students in improving computational thinking (CT) skills and student engagement (SE) in unplugged programming activities. This paper aimed to explore how the interactive strategies of unplugged programming affect CT skills and SE. The study was conducted based on a quasi-experimental research method. The sample was composed of 104 sixth-grade students from northern China. The students in the experimental group learned with interactive unplugged programming, whereas those in the control group learned with non-interactive unplugged programming. Analysis of Covariance statistics and Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling were adopted for data analysis. Results showed that the performance of the experimental group in CT skills and SE was considerably better than that of the control group. Moreover, the predictive relationships were more complex between CT skills and SE in the experimental group. In general, these findings confirmed the teaching value of interactive unplugged programming, and further emphasized the important role of students' CT skills in programming engagement. Therefore, through the application of interaction in instruction design, each student can be assigned a positive role to create a programming classroom that is more conducive to students.

Background: The ability to translate concrete manipulatives into abstract mathematical formulas can aid in the solving of mathematical word problems among students, and metacognitive prompts play a significant role in enhancing this process. Aims: Based on the concept of semantic congruence, we explored the effects of metacognitive prompts and numerical ordinality on information searching and cognitive processing, throughout the process of solving mathematical word problems among primary school students in China. Sample: Participants included 73 primary school students (38 boys and 35 girls) with normal or corrected visual acuity. Methods: This study was based on a 2 (prompt information: no-prompt, metacognitive-prompt) × 2 (number attribute: cardinal number, ordinal number) mixed experimental design. We analysed multiple eye-movement indices, such as fixation duration, saccadic amplitude, and pupil size, since they pertained to the areas of interest. Results: When solving both types of problems, pupil sizes were significantly smaller under the metacognitive-prompt condition compared with the no-prompt condition, and shorter dwell time for specific sentences, conditional on metacognitive prompts, indicated the optimization of the presented algorithm. Additionally, the levels of fixation durations and saccadic amplitudes were significantly higher when solving ordinal number word problems compared with solving ordinal number problems, indicating that primary school students were less efficient in reading and faced increased levels of difficulty when solving ordinal number problems. Conclusions: The results indicate that for Chinese upper-grade primary school students, cognitive load was lower in the metacognitive prompting condition and when solving cardinal problems, and higher when solving ordinal problems.

Critical thinking in children is a growing concern for early childhood educators; however, few studies have examined children's critical thinking in an out-of-class context. This case study aimed toward filling this research gap by examining the critical thinking of a Mandarin-speaking child aged 5 years and 8 months in an out-of-class context. The child's natural utterances produced in free conversation and story-readings have been audio- and video-taped twice a week over two months. The recordings have been transcribed and analyzed according to the Delphi Report and 'level of questions' to examine the child's critical thinking level. Findings revealed that the child demonstrated critical thinking, and two indicators, 'spontaneous statements' and 'continuous questions', reflected children's critical thinking level. It also found that these categories were reasonable and practical to identify young children's critical thinking levels.

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.

International students are a significant resource for many host countries because they increase cultural diversity within the community, offer talent and innovation to universities, and make notable economic contributions. Many studies, however, have shown that international students have lower psychological well-being. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate the associations between psychological well-being as a dependent variable and perceived social support as an independent variable, and test the mediating roles of resiliency and spirituality in the link between perceived social support and psychological well-being. This is a cross-sectional study with a random sampling method. A total of 300 Chinese international students in Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) participated in this study and completed four questionnaires, namely the Perceived Social Support scale, Psychological Well-being scale, the Spiritual Values scale, and Connor-Davidson Resilience scale. The results from PLS-SEM showed that greater levels of social support are associated with greater levels of psychological well-being. Resiliency and spirituality partially mediated the relationship between social support and psychological well-being. The findings of this study not only revealed an association between perceived social support and psychological well-being among Chinese international students in Malaysia but also expanded our knowledge of the mediating roles of resilience and spirituality in the relationship.

The present study evaluated treatment acceptability for behavioral interventions addressing challenging behaviors with Chinese caregivers of children with autism spectrum disorder. Factors influencing treatment acceptability (i.e., severity of challenging behavior and Chinese child-rearing values) were investigated. Caregivers of children aged 2-12 years (N = 216) participated in this survey study. Results suggest that caregivers found positive strategies including noncontingent reinforcement and positive reinforcement the most acceptable; punishment-based strategies were rated as the least acceptable. Furthermore, positive punishment was perceived as more acceptable for severe challenging behavior. Caregivers who endorsed "training" were more likely to find positive strategies acceptable, whereas those who endorsed "shaming" were more likely to rate punishment-based strategies as more acceptable. Implications for future research and culturally competent behavioral treatments in Chinese context are provided.

Research identifying the core features of Growth Mindset Pedagogy (GMP) in Chinese mathematics education is limited. This is also the first time we have examined the barriers to implementing GMP. We used semi-structured interviews to collect data. By analyzing the interview data, we identified four core features of GMP in mathematics classrooms: differentiation as the foundation of pedagogical practice, no stereotypes about mathematics learning, encouraging students to think in a process-oriented manner, and promoting a persistent learning attitude. We also found five barriers to GMP implementation: (a) lack of professional support; (b) lack of time; (c) student differences and class size; (d) ignoring cultural contextual elements; and (e) poor partnership between parents and teachers. In our discussion section, we outlined the implications of these findings for research and practice in educational contexts.

Background: Students' academic performance and learning experiences are crucial in school education, yet their relationships with instructional characteristics remain an open question. Aims: The present study examined how cognitive activation and teacher support were associated with students' academic emotions and achievement in math classrooms via domain- and task-specific self-efficacy. Sample: In total, 5388 eighth graders from central China participated in this study. Methods: Cognitive activation, teacher support, math-related enjoyment and anxiety, and domain- and task-specific self-efficacy were measured with self-reported student questionnaires. The math achievement was measured with a standardized test. Results: Our findings showed that the two instructional characteristics were positively related to math achievement and enjoyment but negatively related to math anxiety, with the mediation effects of task- and domain-specific self-efficacy. In detail, cognitive activation had a stronger relationship with math anxiety through task-specific self-efficacy than domain-specific self-efficacy. Whereas, cognitive activation had a greater linkage with math enjoyment through domain-specific self-efficacy than task-specific self-efficacy. In addition, teacher support had a greater association with learning outcomes through domain-specific self-efficacy than task-specific self-efficacy. Conclusions: The relational mechanism of cognitive activation and teacher support on math achievement and academic emotions were differentially mediated by task- and domain-specific self-efficacy in Chinese math classrooms.

Previous studies on students' conceptions of learning science (COLS) have focused primarily on formal environments. In these studies, students' COLS were positively associated with their approaches to and outcomes for science learning. However, little research has been conducted to explore students' conceptions of learning science in informal environments (COLSIE), despite its importance to students' academic achievement. To fill this research gap, this study qualitatively and quantitatively explored Chinese primary school students' COLSIE. First, in Study I, interview data gathered from a group of 80 students were analysed using the phenomenographic method, and ten hierarchical categories of COLSIE emerged (e.g., communicating and explaining). Based on these categories, a survey was developed and distributed to another group of 414 students in Study II. Exploratory factor analysis was conducted to validate the survey, which revealed nine factors matching the ten categories except for the initial categories of applying and understanding. This study also revealed the commonalities and uniqueness of COLSIE in comparison with students' COLS in formal environments. The findings suggested that informal science learning experiences may strengthen students' impressions of science practices. Science educators are encouraged to provide their students with opportunities to engage with science practices in informal environments.

As the education for sustainable development (ESD) has been advocated in diverse educational contexts, increasingly more attention has been paid to facilitate teachers as the promoters of such educational practice in higher education. Yet, less sufficient research has focused on the ESP (English for Specific Purposes) teachers, who are regarded as the pioneers of ESD practice, and their professional development. This study aims to promote teacher professional development in the area of ESD practice by investigating the identity construction of eight ESP teachers from a northern Chinese university. Drawing on a model of ESP teacher identity, the authors conducted life-history interviews concerning the five frames of identity construction. The results reveal a complex picture of ESP teachers' professional identity construction. It is revealed that a majority of participants claimed a sense of achievement in their teaching of ESP skills and sustainability competences in graduates for the local socioeconomic development. However, their professional identification is undermined by such factors as the marginalization of ESP as a legitimate discipline, lack of acknowledgement of ESD in curriculum design, and teachers' professional insecurity resulted from their professional incompetence and low academic status. This study provides a new and innovative perspective on the issue of ESD development in higher education.

As an essential community of practice which could facilitate teachers' professional development and enrich research in teacher education, the teacher--researcher partnership (TRP) has not been sufficiently investigated in China. As reported in this paper, we conducted an empirical study on TRPs between secondary school mathematics teachers and university researchers by applying activity theory to investigate their collaboration and contradictions, through the process of co-designing lesson studies. We found four levels of contradictions, namely, primary, secondary, tertiary, and quaternary, within which the fourth one occurs less frequently compared to the other three. To ameliorate or even resolve the contradictions, it requires both sides to (1) achieve agreement on understanding the objects, (2) promote equality in communication and mutual respect, (3) facilitate transformation in identity, and (4) construct a united community. In addition, the investigation provided a depiction of how teachers learn and grow in the TRP as well as how teachers and researchers interact in the partnership, which in turn enriches both teacher education and activity theory.

With heightened uncertainties and risks in the fluctuating business environment, existing studies have concentrated on elucidating how service organizations leverage human resource practices to adapt to and survive such unforeseen and disruptive threats. However, how such practices could serve the strategic objective of cultivating a sustainably thriving workforce across different situations is not well understood. Thriving is a core transitional state that fosters positive behaviors, such as creative customer‐related problem‐solving. Applying social information processing theory, we propose and test a model by exploring how organizations that engage in thriving‐oriented human resource management (HRM) encourage employees to take responsibility and promote constructive change, thereby activating their creative problem‐solving behaviors. Specifically, we theorize and develop measures to promote thriving‐oriented HRM in Study 1. In Study 2, we collected multisource and multi‐wave data from 296 frontline service employees and 45 supervisors in China. Our findings reveal that thriving‐oriented HRM is positively related to felt responsibility for change, which ultimately encourages creative problem‐solving. We also show that the threat imposed by a crisis, that is, the COVID‐19 pandemic, strengthens the positive relationship between thriving‐oriented HRM and felt responsibility for change. Our study contributes to the HRM literature, especially on thriving‐oriented HRM and employee perception, and has practical implications for service organizations in the uncertain context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transcultural doctoral education has become a space to create opportunities for candidates to construct transcultural knowledge from the Global South. Rancière's ideas about the ignorant schoolmaster and the role of dissensus have created cosmopolitan pedagogies in doctoral education. However, the role of history in transcultural doctoral education remains unexplored and draws principally on Western theorists. This article explores Chinese and First Nations philosophies about time and history to reframe transcultural doctoral education. We argue that these philosophies can create spaces for innovative approaches to doctoral research. They can also rehumanise doctoral education and assist First Nations and transcultural doctoral candidates to connect their micro histories with macro cultural, cosmic understandings of what it means to be a researcher in the twenty-first century. This is vital if the dominant fast, linear timescapes of contemporary doctoral education are to be made more inclusive for First Nations and transcultural doctoral candidates.

Word spacing is important in guiding eye movements during spaced alphabetic reading. Chinese is unspaced and it remains unclear as to how Chinese readers segment and identify words in reading. We conducted two parallel experiments to investigate whether the positional probabilities of the initial and the final characters of a multicharacter word affected word segmentation and identification in Chinese reading. Two-character words were selected as targets. In Experiment 1, the initial character's positional probability was manipulated as being either high or low, and the final character was kept identical across the two conditions. In Experiment 2, an analogous manipulation was made for the final character of the target word. We recorded adults' and children's eye movements when they read sentences containing these words. In Experiment 1, reading times on targets did not differ in the two conditions for both children and adults, providing no evidence that a word initial character's positional probability contributes to word segmentation. In Experiment 2, adults had shorter reading times and made fewer refixations on targets that comprised final characters with high relative to low positional probabilities; a similar effect was observed in children, but this effect had a slower time course. The results demonstrate that the positional probability of the final (but not the initial) character of a word influences segmentation commitments in reading. It suggests that Chinese readers identify where a currently fixated word ends, and via this commitment, by default, they identify where the subsequent word begins.

With the ever-increasing adoption of MOOCs, the study of MOOCs learning behavior has been paid more and more attention, both in practice and in academia. This study aims to understand the impact of resource integration (including platform resources, teacher resources, and learner resources) on learners' perception of value co-creation (including knowledge value, hedonic value, and social value), as well as the impact of value co-creation on users' continuance intention. A total number of 372 learners participated in this study. The empirical results show that learner resources have a significant impact on value co-creation, which in turn enhances their continuance intention to use the platform. In addition, platform resources have a significant impact on social value. Moreover, teacher resources have a significant impact on knowledge value and hedonic value. The results offer inspirations for managers of MOOC platforms to maintain and promote learners' continuance intention.

Higher education (HE) in the changing context requires leadership training and development as a vital element for university governance and innovation. While there are several theoretical frameworks on leadership development, most of them are outcome evaluation-oriented. Consequently, there is a lack of a leadership development model which emphasises both design process and expected outcomes. In addition to this, HE leadership development has been gradually transformed toward complexity and flexibility due to the volatile external environment of the 21st century. Thus, instead of having a development programme that simply focuses on individual skill enhancement, a comprehensive leadership development programme that equally fosters leaders' competencies (leader development) and develops collective leadership (leadership development) is increasingly utilised. Unfortunately, previous theoretical frameworks fail to take into consideration these new features. The main aim of this study was to develop a comprehensive theoretical model for academic leadership development (ALD) that promotes both leader development and leadership development. In the present study, 24 academic leaders, lecturers and researchers from five European and six Chinese HE institutions co-designed the ALD model. The constructed model consists of four main dimensions: theoretical core, types of training and providers, training format and ultimate goals. The results contribute to developing, promoting and enhancing leadership development in academic settings.

This study examined academic self-efficacy as a mediator in the relationship between family functioning and learning engagement by constructing a structural equation model. The participants were 817 students from public junior high schools in rural China. The data were collected by measuring family functioning, academic self-efficacy, and learning engagement using self-report assessments. The results indicated that family functioning was positively associated with learning engagement; academic self-efficacy significantly mediated the correlation between family functioning and learning engagement. In addition, the mediating effect of academic self-efficacy varied across dimensions of family functioning. These findings contribute to understanding the internal relationship between family functioning and learning engagement, and have implications for improving the learning engagement of disadvantaged students in rural areas.

Based on Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives and the assessment framework of PISA, this study aimed to develop a three-dimensional assessment framework to measure junior high school students' higher order thinking skills in mathematics in China. A total of 28,153 eighth graders from 11 districts and counties in Z city were involved in the test. The results showed that (1) in the "Mathematical ability" dimension, students scored the lowest in "Problem-solving"; (2) in the "Cognitive level" dimension, students scored the lowest in "Evaluate"; (3) there was little difference between students' scores on problems in "Realistic" and "Intramathematical situations"; (4) there were significant differences in the higher order thinking skills of students at different academic levels; and (5) there were no gender differences in students' higher order mathematical thinking skills (HOMTS). Implications for assessment in HOMTS and suggestions for future study are discussed.

Critical thinking, a rational and open higher-order thinking mode in human cognition, is becoming imperative to success in modern life. Therefore, cultivating students' critical thinking has become a common goal of education reform worldwide. Teachers play a crucial role in cultivating students' critical thinking. However, existing studies have paid little attention to teachers, especially middle school teachers' knowledge and understanding of critical thinking. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the perspectives of ten Chinese middle school chemistry teachers on critical thinking using concept maps, thinking aloud, and in-depth interviews based on concept maps. Results showed that most of the teachers believed that critical thinking means reflection and questioning and requires evidence awareness. All teachers had a positive attitude towards critical thinking and believed that it can promote evidence awareness, problem solving, decision making, teaching evaluation, logic, and systematisation. Teachers recognised that critical thinking can be taught, and the major factors affecting the development of students' critical thinking were the environment, students themselves, teachers, evaluation, subject characteristics, and types of knowledge. Several strategies for developing students' critical thinking in chemistry teaching were proposed, including setting diversified and different types of chemistry courses, developing controversial curriculum themes in real situations, and implementing experimental, project-based, problem solving, and history-based teaching. In addition, this study showed that teachers and students promoted the development of critical thinking within one another. Further, this study demonstrated an effective methodology for probing individual subjective thoughts.

This study aimed to investigate teachers' learning through researcher--teacher partnerships (RTPs). The theoretical framework, developed by Bannister, was applied to examine teacher learning in RTPs. Specifically, a case study of an RTP was conducted, in which university researchers collaborated closely with mathematics teachers. The data--including audio recordings of lesson-preparing discussions, lesson plans, videotaped lessons, and post-lesson interviews--were collected and analyzed to describe the case. It was found that the identity of the participating teachers changed from "problem posers and solution receivers" to "collaborative problem solvers" in the process of negotiating and finding solutions to practical problems with researchers within the RTP. Moreover, the selected theoretical framework was enriched by the inclusion of enactment and reflection.

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) over the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) has been shown to enhance divergent and convergent creative thinking. Yet, how stimulation impacts creative performance over time, and what cognitive mechanisms underlie any such enhancement, remain largely unanswered questions. In the present research, we aimed to (1) verify the impact of DLPFC tDCS on both convergent and divergent thinking, and further investigated (2) the temporal dynamics of divergent thinking, focusing on the serial order effect (i.e., the tendency for ideas to become more original and less frequent over time), and (3) any role that cognitive inhibition may play in mediating any effect of stimulation on creative thinking (considering the DLPFC's involvement in driving inhibitory processes that are also relevant for creative thinking). In a within-subjects design, twenty-six participants received three types of cross-hemispheric tDCS stimulation over the DLPFC (left cathodal and right anodal, L-R+; left anodal and right cathodal, L+R-; and sham). Before stimulation, they completed a pre-flanker task measuring cognitive inhibition; during stimulation, they completed the Alternate Uses Task (AUT), Remote Associates Test (RAT), and post-flanker task. Results showed that, compared with the sham stimulation, originality of responses in the AUT was significantly enhanced in the L+R- condition, while no tDCS effect was observed for the RAT. Additionally, compared with the other stimulation conditions, we found a diminished serial order effect in the L+R- condition characterized by an accelerated production of more original ideas. Critically, the L+R- condition was accompanied by better performance on the flanker task. Our findings thus verify that L+R- tDCS over the DLPFC accelerates idea originality also providing tentative clues that inhibition may act as a cognitive mechanism underlying enhancements in divergent thinking resulting from frontal lobe neuromodulation.

In view of the rapid growth of English-medium instruction (EMI) in higher education institutions (HEIs), we observe the need to account for the educational and linguistic consequences of HEIs' decision to 'Englishise' their curricula. Especially, EMI in Asian countries (e.g. China) are fuelled by state-level initiatives to internationalise the higher education sector and implemented top-down in local universities. Although empirical studies report on the (mis)alignments between policymaking and implementation of EMI, little is known about how the interplay between EMI and internationalisation of HEIs is contextualised and negotiated in local contexts. Using the ROAD-MAPPING framework [Dafouz, E., and U. Smit. 2016. 'Towards a Dynamic Conceptual Framework for English-Medium Education in Multilingual University Settings.' "Applied Linguistics" 37 (3): 397-415], we present a case study of an internationally-oriented Chinese university with five distinctive types of EMI. Triangulated documentary and interview data reveal: (1) contextualised policymaking of EMI, which takes into account the bi-directional internationalisation and the needs of the target student cohort, is crucial at the practitioner-level; (2) norms of language use are shaped both top-down and bottom-up, and the teacher-practitioners exercise their agency in enabling bi/multilingual language use and awareness toward Global Englishes from the bottom-up. We also shed new light on how the integration of language and content in EMI is negotiated and/or realised by presenting three special cases.

Most previous studies focused on foreign language learning anxiety, whereas relatively few have ever examined the foreign language teaching anxiety (FLTA), particularly experienced by pre-service EFL (English as a Foreign Language) teachers. By administering the "Foreign Language Teaching Anxiety Scale" (FLTAS) and a semi-structured interview, the current study examined whether the EFL teaching practicum had an influence on FLTA by comparing the differences of FLTA between pre-service EFL teachers who had 4 months of practicum experience and those without the practicum, and explored the potential factors contributing to FLTA. Results of descriptive analyses showed that overall the pre-service teachers had a relatively high level of FLTA. Results of independent sample t-test analyses indicated that the practicum group had significantly higher FLTA compared to the non-practicum group. Furthermore, within the two groups, female teachers consistently showed higher FLTA than the male teachers. Results of the interview content analyses revealed that anxiety-provoking factors primarily originated from fear of negative evaluation, low self-perception of language proficiency, and teaching inexperience. The findings of the current study provide insights of anxiety research in EFL context and implications for teachers to better reduce anxiety in English teaching practice.