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The practical value and usefulness of IT-assisted instruction for Taiwanese preschool children are popular topics in academic and practical settings. The purpose of this study was to survey early childhood pre-service teachers' attitudes regarding the workplace advantage of IT-related pedagogy and their learning intentions regarding IT-based applications for teacher education in Taiwan. The researcher used a survey to collect data, and analyzed the data through structural equation modeling. The value obtained for the model fitness indices using the confirmatory factor analysis indicated that the measurement model demonstrated an acceptable level of fitness. The results demonstrate positive relationships among the hypotheses for pre-service teachers' attitudes regarding preschool infrastructure, workplace advantage, and utility value. The findings revealed that pre-service teachers consider IT-assisted instruction to be a useful tool for enhancing their teaching knowledge and abilities. Their perceptions of IT-related applications as useful positively influenced their learning intentions in IT-related courses in teacher education and their perception of the importance of advancing their technology skills to assist young children in preschool learning. The implications of the findings are also discussed.

This study evaluates the multivariate hypothesized model that predicts the significance of, and relationships among, various self-perception factors for being a qualified teacher and their direct and mediated effects on self-learning activities among teacher education students. A total of 248 teacher education students enrolled at an education university in Taiwan completed a study questionnaire in August and September 2014. Structural equation modeling was used to model the relationships among the following four latent variables: perceived teacher roles, self-concept, self-efficacy, and self-learning. The resulting model had an adequate fit to self-perceptions influencing self-learning activities among teacher education students. Teacher education students' self-efficacy plays a crucial role in facilitating self-learning.

Learning outcome is an important indicator for educators in evaluating curriculum design. The focus of this study has been to examine the factors within internship programs, recognizing the complex nature of knowledge application in a practical industry environment. Flow theory was adopted to explain the psychological state of hospitality students during internship and relate it to their learning outcome. A total of 152 responses were collected via self-administrated questionnaires from hospitality students at their initial and final stages of internship in Taiwan. Results from SEM analysis indicate that both skill and the challenge from work have significant influence on the interns' flow experience, wherein skill has a positive influence, while challenge does not. The flow theory was well confirmed at the final stage of the internship, which becomes the complete mediator for the skill and challenge to influence the learning outcome. Learning for the interns is not exclusively concerned with skill improvement, but includes a process to overcome the unfamiliarity of the challenge, which consequently leads to a direct positive effect on learning. Thus, proper challenge and improvement of skill are important counterparts, which influence the learning outcome simultaneously, where each of them cannot result in the proper learning outcome alone. The practical implication, which can be derived, is that proper cooperation between the educator and the intern supervisor should create an environment for optimum skill development, in which the challenge is balanced with the acquired new skills. Achieving such a balance via flow will facilitate a better learning outcome.

This study employed social cognitive theory and social cognitive career theory (SCCT) as foundations to explore the influence of high school students' beliefs about female gender roles and female engineer role models on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) self-efficacy and professional commitment to engineering. A total of 88 students from a national girls' high school participated in STEM project-based learning. A survey questionnaire named The STEM Self-efficacy and Professional Commitment to Engineering Questionnaire, developed by the researchers, was administered to collect data, and a structured equation model was employed to confirm the multi-theoretical model developed in this study. The results of this study show that enhancing the gender role beliefs and engineer role models of female students may increase their STEM self-efficacy and professional commitment to engineering. In other words, the female high school students' professional commitment to engineering model can explain students' intentions for future engineering careers. Thus, this study suggests integrating STEM project-based learning into the curricula of various schools and integrating female engineer role models into STEM project-based learning activities for female students, which can enhance female high school students' STEM self-efficacy and professional commitment to engineering.

Drawing on Dewey's pragmatic perspective on talent cultivation and previous research on promoting employee creativity in industry, this study investigates student creativity performance in relation to teacher's encouragement, intrinsic motivation, and creative process engagement. Based on survey data collected from 140 vocational high school students who participated in a nation-wide contest in Taiwan, path analyses were performed using structure equation modeling techniques. The results indicate that both teacher's encouragement and intrinsic motivation have a significant, although indirect, effect on student creativity, and that creative process engagement, as opposed to teacher encouragement or intrinsic motivation, has a direct and significant mediating effect on student creativity. This finding is in partial agreement with prior research which reports student creativity is positively associated with teacher encouragement and intrinsic motivation, highlighting the mediating role of creative process engagement in facilitating student creative performance.

The increasing online access to courses, programs, and information has shifted the control and responsibility of learning process from instructors to learners. Learners' perceptions of and attitudes toward e-learning constitute a critical factor to the success of such system. The purpose of this study is to take TAM (technology acceptance model) as a foundation and include perceived convenience as a new external factor in predicting students' perceptions about the acceptance and use of Moodle, an open source e-learning system. A total of 47 college students and 35 senior high school students participated in this research. The results indicated that perceived convenience had a direct effect on perceived usefulness. Perceived ease of use, perceived convenience, and perceived usefulness had significantly positive impacts on attitude toward using Moodle. Continuance intention to use Moodle was directly influenced by attitude toward using Moodle. Several practical implications of the present study are offered at the end of paper. (Contains 2 figures.)

Voice over Internet Protocol- (VoIP) enabled online learning service providers struggling with high attrition rates and low customer loyalty issues despite VoIP's high degree of system fit for online global learning applications. Effective solutions to this prevalent problem rely on the understanding of system quality, information quality, and individual beliefs about the usefulness of this technology. This research aims to provide insights into increasing the loyalty of users to VoIP-enabled global learning programs from the perspectives of information systems (IS) success and control belief. A theoretical model is proposed to integrate seven major constructs of IS success and planned behavior theory. We tested our model using the path analysis of data collected from an experiment where 66 undergraduate students from the USA and Taiwan worked in pairs using Skype to improve their English and intercultural communication skills. Data analysis results showed that information quality and perceived behavioral control are much more important than system quality in increasing satisfaction with the use of Skype. An increase in user satisfaction can lead to an improvement in intercultural communication competence and to increased user loyalty. Theoretical and practical implications are drawn from the findings to conclude this study.

The authors conducted two studies to explore online game players' flow experiences and positive affect. Our findings indicated that online game are capable of evoking flow experiences and positive affect, and games of violent or nonviolent type may not arouse players' aggression. The players could be placed into four flow conditions: flow, boredom, anxiety, and apathy, as determined by level of perceived challenges and skills. The majority of players entered the flow condition when playing violent or non-violent online game. The path analysis results suggested that violent online games may have a significant but indirect effect on positive affect via flow experience mediation. (Contains 2 figures and 1 table.)

Social cognitive career theory (SCCT) was used as a basis for investigating the factors influencing the career intentions of Taiwanese sports management students. Participants (N = 696) completed measures gauging social support, self-efficacy, outcome expectations, career interests, and career intentions. The results of a path analysis supported SCCT, indicating that self-efficacy contributed to career interests, outcome expectations, and career intentions. Social support was related to self-efficacy, and outcome expectations were related to career interests. However, the results did not support the hypotheses that social support and outcome expectations contribute to career intentions. The practical implications of these findings for counseling Taiwanese sports management students are presented.

Teachers' professional development (PD) receives a great deal of attention in current educational settings. However, research has shown that many teachers hesitate to attend PD programs. In this study, data were collected from 270 elementary school teachers and were subjected to confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling to examine their intention to attend the weekly PD programs on Wednesday afternoons (PDWAP). The results revealed that the participants value the acquisition of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) more than they value pedagogical knowledge (PK) and content knowledge (CK) because of the expected usefulness of each for teaching. Moreover, the results of this study have implications for PD program design, and call for a stronger focus on PCK.

Integrated speaking test tasks (integrated tasks) provide reading and/or listening input to serve as the basis for test-takers to formulate their oral responses. This study examined the influence of topical knowledge on integrated speaking test performance and compared independent speaking test performance and integrated speaking test performance in terms of how each was related to topical knowledge. The researchers derived four integrated tasks from TOEFL iBT preparation materials, developed four independent speaking test tasks (independent tasks), and validated four topical knowledge tests (TKTs) on a group of 421 EFL learners. For the main study, they invited another 352 students to respond to the TKTs and to perform two independent tasks and two integrated tasks. Half of the test takers took the independent tasks and integrated tasks on one topic combination while the other half took tasks on another topic combination. Data analysis, drawing on a series of path analyses, led to two major findings. First, topical knowledge significantly impacted integrated speaking test performance in both topic combinations. Second, the impact of topical knowledge on the two types of speaking test performances was topic dependent. Implications are proposed in light of these findings.

The rapid development of technology and economy has largely enhanced the quality of life. Nevertheless, various social and environmental problems have emerged. It would be the key solution to develop environmental education in order to have people present the environmental knowledge and the attitudes and value to concern about the environment and develop the skills and action to solve environmental problems. Environmental education teachers in 25 colleges and universities in central and southern Taiwan are researched in this study. Total 250 copies of questionnaires are distributed, and 224 valid copies are retrieved. The research results conclude the significant positive correlations (1) between professional development and professional knowledge & competence; (2) between teacher belief and professional knowledge and competence; and (3) between teaching efficacy and professional knowledge and competence. According to the research result, suggestions are eventually proposed in this study. It expects to arouse the public cognition of environment to care for the environment through curriculum instruction of environmental education teachers and have people present the environmental knowledge and the attitudes and value to concern about environment.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the decisions of civil servants to use Web 2.0 applications while engaging in online learning. The participants were 439 civil servants enrolled in asynchronous online learning programs, using an e-learning portal provided by Taiwan's Regional Civil Service Development Institute. The participants completed a questionnaire which measured their responses to 12 constructs (perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, compatibility, peer influence, superior influence, self-efficacy, facilitating conditions, attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavior control, behavior intention, and behavior) based on the decomposed theory of planned behavior. The research results revealed that the participants' perceived usefulness of online learning was the strongest predictor affecting their attitude. Peer influence was also the primary factor influencing their subjective norm. The construct of self-efficacy appeared to be the most important element determining their perceived behavioral control. Also, the results of the path analysis showed that the participants' attitude was the strongest indicator of their behavior intention to use Web 2.0 applications, followed by the perceived behavior control and subjective norm. Theoretical and practical implications and recommendations are provided based on the results of the study.

The purpose of this study was to develop and validate two survey instruments to evaluate high school students' scientific epistemic beliefs and goal orientations in learning science. The initial relationships between the sampled students' scientific epistemic beliefs and goal orientations in learning science were also investigated. A final valid sample of 600 volunteer Taiwanese high school students participated in this survey by responding to the Scientific Epistemic Beliefs Instrument (SEBI) and the Goal Orientations in Learning Science Instrument (GOLSI). Through both exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, the SEBI and GOLSI were proven to be valid and reliable for assessing the participants' scientific epistemic beliefs and goal orientations in learning science. The path analysis results indicated that, by and large, the students with more sophisticated epistemic beliefs in various dimensions such as "Development of Knowledge," "Justification for Knowing," and "Purpose of Knowing" tended to adopt both "Mastery-approach" and "Mastery-avoidance" goals. Some interesting results were also found. For example, the students tended to set a learning goal to outperform others or merely demonstrate competence ("Performance-approach") if they had more informed epistemic beliefs in the dimensions of "Multiplicity of Knowledge, Uncertainty of Knowledge," and "Purpose of Knowing."

Since augmented reality (AR) has been increasingly applied in education recently, the investigation of students' learning experiences with AR could be helpful for educators to implement AR learning. With a quantitative survey using three questionnaires, this study explored the relationships among 153 students' perceived cognitive load, motivation, and attitudes of perceived control, perceived usefulness, behaviour of learning, and behaviour of AR learning, when they engaged in an AR book reading activity. The results indicated that, in general, the students perceived less cognitive load, stronger motivation, and more positive attitudes towards the experiences when reading an AR book. However, dissimilar to past studies, the perceptions of low level cognitive load cannot be guaranteed to lead to positive intentions to learn. Interestingly, motivation mediated the relationships between the students' perceived cognitive load and behavioural intention to learn. Only when the students' perceptions of motivational factors such as attention or confidence were significant did the perceived usefulness and cognitive load play a role in their behavioural intentions to take part in future AR learning. The findings of this study may provide insights for future AR-related studies to explore the role of cognitive load in learning performance with consideration of motivational factors.

This study measured aspects of the couple relationship to examine direct and indirect relations with parental involvement in education and children's school outcomes. The sample (n = 100) consisted of families that have at least one child between the ages of 8 and 11 in urban central Taiwan. Findings indicated that couple relationship quality is related to parent involvement and parent involvement is related to child school outcomes. Aspects of the couple relationship were also related to children's negative attitudes toward school. Path analyses showed a direct path from dyadic consensus to school success and an indirect path from co-parenting strategy use to child school success through parental involvement in education. Bootstrap analyses confirmed the reliability of the models.

Hands-on making (e.g., "Maker") has become prevalent in current educational settings. To understand the role that students' epistemic curiosity plays in hands-on making contests, this study explored its correlation to students' positive affect and continuance intention to participate in a hands-on making contest called "PowerTech". PowerTech requires students to produce miniatures in the morning and use the miniatures to take part in relay racing and tug-of-war competitions in the afternoon. Data from 514 individuals were collected and subjected to confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling by AMOS 20. The results revealed the two types of epistemic curiosity (EC), interest (I-type) and informational deprivation type (D-type), played a mediating role in bonding participants' positive affect and their continuance intention to join a hands-on making contest. The implication of this study suggests students' epistemic curiosity can be aroused in the process of participating in competitive hands-on making contests such as PowerTech.

This study applies the theory of planned behavior as a basis for exploring the impact of knowledge, values, subjective norms, perceived behavioral controls, and attitudes on the behavioral intention toward science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education among Taiwanese preservice science teachers. Questionnaires (N = 139) collected information on the behavioral intention of preservice science teachers engaging in STEM education. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, path analysis, and analysis of variance. Results revealed that, in terms of direct effects, higher perceived behavioral control and subjective norms were associated with stronger STEM teaching intention. More positive attitude and greater knowledge were indirectly associated with higher subjective norms and perceived behavioral control, which resulted in stronger STEM teaching intention. Additionally, gender did not affect preservice teachers' intention to adopt STEM teaching approaches. However, preservice teachers whose specialization was in different fields tended to influence their knowledge and perceived behavioral control; these issues require further investigation.

"Building information technology" and "cost estimating" are two core skills of construction education. However, in traditional education, students learn these two important subjects in separate courses. This study proposes a blended learning environment which can provide students with support for their face-to-face learning activities in the classroom and also give them the opportunity of "learning by doing" through their practice with online construction projects in the web-based BIM (building information modeling) and cost estimating system. Then the TAM3 (Technology Acceptance Model 3) theory was used to compare the expert and novice students' acceptance of this blended learning model. Finally, the path analysis method was used to verify the research hypotheses developed in this study based on the TAM3 method and then further explore the cause-effect among the TAM3 variables in these hypotheses. Our result found that the blended learning environment developed in this study was generally accepted by all the participating students and it could also enhance the students' acceptance of the blending learning strategy that combines classroom-based education and on-line learning. Even though there are significant differences between novices and experts in certain variables as found in this study, students can still achieve desirable learning results through repeated and continuous practice and learn how to solve problems through "learning by doing" and discussions with their peers inside and outside the classroom. As a consequence, they will have better learning results in the end.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to explore the ways in which social smoking expectations mediate the relationship between adolescent smoking behaviour and the smoking behaviour of family and peers. Design: Descriptive, cross-sectional survey. Setting: Taiwan, Republic of China. Method: The participants were 921 senior high school students who completed a questionnaire to measure smoking status, family and peer smoking and social smoking expectations. The survey was conducted from November to December in 2009. Structural equation modelling was performed to test a mediation model. Analysis was performed using PRELIS 2 and LISREL 8.7 software. Results: After adjusting for students' gender, age and school type, it is clear that social expectations mediate the relationship between sibling smoking, peer smoking and adolescent smoking. The path coefficients of sibling and peer smoking on social expectations in the mediator model were moderate, ß = 0.15-0.41, p < 0.05, but the coefficient of social expectations on adolescent smoking was strong, ß = 0.95, p < 0.001. The total indirect effects between exogenous latent variables and adolescent smoking were 0.54, indicating a strong association that, in this model, is explained by the mediation of social expectations. Conclusion: Determining the mechanisms that influence adolescent smoking is of scientific interest because knowledge of these mechanisms is a prerequisite for the development of recommendations aimed at prevention. With this knowledge, health professionals can develop smoking-prevention policies and education programmes based on reducing the mediating effect of social smoking expectations on the relationship of family smoking and peer smoking with adolescent smoking.

This study examined the effect of online metacognitive strategies, hypermedia annotations, and motivation on reading comprehension in a Taiwanese hypertext environment. A path analysis model was proposed based on the assumption that if English as a foreign language learners frequently use online metacognitive strategies and hypermedia annotations, then they would increase their learning motivation, which, in turn, would enhance their hypertext comprehension performance. Participants consisted of 37 English majors enrolled at a private university in southern Taiwan. The results revealed that online metacognitive strategies most significantly predicted learning motivation and motivation directly affected hypertext comprehension. However, metacognitive strategies and hypermedia annotations did not directly affect hypertext comprehension. Consistent with expectations, motivation was found to mediate the relation between online metacognitive strategies and hypertext comprehension. On the other hand, the relation between hypermedia annotations and hypertext comprehension mediated by motivation was not obvious. Finally, the implications of these findings for future research are discussed and presented.

In order to promote scientific inquiry in secondary schooling in Taiwan, the study developed a computer-based inquiry curriculum (including structured and guided inquiry units) and investigated how the curriculum influenced students' science learning. The curriculum was implemented in 5 junior secondary schools in the context of a weeklong summer science course with 117 students. We first used a multi-level assessment approach to evaluate the students' learning outcomes with the curriculum. Then, a path analysis approach was adopted for investigating at different assessment levels how the curriculum as a whole and how different types of inquiry units affected the students' development of conceptual understandings and inquiry abilities. The results showed that the curriculum was effective in enhancing the students' conceptual knowledge and inquiry abilities in the contexts of the six scientific topics. After the curriculum, they were able to construct interconnected scientific knowledge. The path diagrams suggested that, due to different instructional designs, the structured and guided inquiry units appeared to support the students' learning of the topics in different ways. More importantly, they demonstrated graphically how the learning of content knowledge and inquiry ability mutually influenced one another and were reciprocally developed in a computer-based inquiry learning environment.

This study explored the relationships among language proficiency, two selected test-taker characteristics (i.e., topical knowledge and anxiety), and integrated speaking test performance. Data collection capitalized on three sets of instruments: three integrated tasks derived from TOEFL-iBT preparation materials, the state anxiety inventory created by Spielberger, and three topical knowledge tests constructed and validated by the researchers on a group of 421 English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners. For the main study, another 352 EFL learners answered the topical knowledge tests, took two integrated tasks (i.e., one practice task and one focal task), and responded to the state anxiety inventory. Furthermore, half took the focal task on one topic while the other half dealt with another topic. Path analyses revealed that in integrated speaking assessment, language proficiency did not represent a primary source of anxiety, whereas the impact of topical knowledge on anxiety varied, depending on the topics used. In addition, language proficiency and the two selected test-taker characteristics all exerted a significant influence on integrated speaking test performance. These findings disclosed the antecedents of anxiety in integrated speaking assessment, supported the inclusion of test-taker characteristics on second/foreign language (L2) theoretical models, and highlighted the validity threat posed by test-taker characteristics to test-score interpretations based on integrated speaking test performance.

Universities in Taiwan can be divided into two major categories of comprehensive universities and technological universities. Students studying engineering majors in comprehensive universities are often recruited from academic high schools while those in technological universities tend to be recruited from vocational high schools. The purpose of this research was to investigate differences in learning efficacy between college students with academic backgrounds and those with vocational backgrounds. Results indicated no significant differences in cognition between the two groups of students. Additionally, students with vocational school backgrounds performed better in comprehension skills compared with those with academic backgrounds and were more able to apply acquired knowledge to practical tasks according to path analysis studies and the Mann-Whitney "U" test.

The research presented in this paper is part of a 5-year renewable national research program in Canada, namely the NSERC/iCORE/Xerox/Markin research chair program that aims to explore possibilities of adaptive mobile learning and to provide learners with a learning environment which facilitates personalized learning at any time and any place. One of the sub-projects of this 5-year national research program is to design and develop context-aware mobile learning services. The research team of the sub-project applied narrative theory to design a location based Context-Aware Mobile Role Playing Game (CAM-RPG) in order to give students feeling of living in the game world and role playing, exploring the game world, completing the quests, and learning things. A pilot study was then conducted to see how the two game features--context-awareness and story generation--influence students' attitude towards the use of the mobile educational game. The research findings suggest that the story generated in CAM-RPG positively influences users' attitude towards game use and increases users' perceived game usefulness. With the research findings, other components and outcomes of sub-projects, such as natural language processing, location-awareness, multiple input forms, social networking, and student modeling, can then be put together as one piece to provide students effective and efficient mobile learning experiences.

This study explores factors that influence problem-solving coping style across cultures. There was no significant difference in applying problem solving across U.S., Taiwanese, and Chinese samples. The effective predictors of problem solving in the U.S. and Chinese samples were self-efficacy and trait resilience, respectively. In the Taiwanese sample, predictors were self-efficacy and trait resilience. Trait resilience was found to mediate the effect of self-efficacy on problem solving in the Taiwanese and Chinese samples. Practical implications are discussed. (Contains 2 tables and 4 figures.)

Integrated speaking test tasks (integrated tasks) offer textual and/or aural input for test takers on which to base their subsequent oral responses. This path-analytic study modeled the relationship between test anxiety and the performance of such tasks and explored whether test anxiety would differentially affect the performance of independent speaking test tasks (independent tasks) and the performance of integrated tasks. A total of 352 students studying English as a foreign language took two independent tasks for which they spoke without input support, performed two integrated tasks for which they orally summarized the reading and listening input, and completed the state anxiety inventory twice. To avoid topic effects, half of them took the tasks on one topic combination, and the other half took the tasks on another combination. Path analyses of the data reveal that (1) test anxiety significantly affected integrated performance, (2) test anxiety impacted independent performance and integrated performance in a statistically equivalent way, and (3) topic effects were absent. These findings suggest that the advantage of integrated tasks over independent tasks might not relate to the reduction of test anxiety or its impact on test performance and that integrated tasks suffer the construct validity threat posed by test anxiety as much as independent tasks. (Contains 4 tables and 4 figures.)

Three instruments (i.e., Internet-specific epistemic beliefs, self-regulation, and online academic help seeking questionnaires) were administered to 319 high school students with the aim of understanding the role of Internet specific epistemic beliefs and self-regulation in their online academic help seeking. Through a structure equation modeling analysis, the results confirm the mediated effects of self-regulation on the relationships between Internet-specific epistemic beliefs and online academic help seeking. Interestingly, naïve beliefs about how Internet-based knowledge is constructed and sophisticated beliefs about how Internet-based knowledge is evaluated are verified to be linked with the students' online academic help seeking. The results imply that, with the focus on the Internet as a context of information, the positive influences of sophisticated epistemic beliefs on learning might be challenged, and the role of personal epistemic beliefs should be reinterpreted.

In order to improve and promote students' environmental knowledge, attitudes, and behaviour, integrating environmental education into the primary education curriculum has become a key issue for environmental education. For this reason, this study aimed to investigate elementary school students' acceptance of technology applying digital game-based learning (DGBL) to environmental education. A total of 32 fourth graders in an elementary school participated in a seven-week DGBL teaching experiment. After the experimental teaching session, a survey concerning "perceived ease of use", "perceived usefulness", and "user intentions" was conducted. The results show that the DGBL system is suitable for both genders at all levels of experience. In addition, the 4th grade students' "perceived ease of use", "perceived usefulness", "attitudes toward use", and "intention to use" reveal a high degree of positive and significant correlations. Furthermore, a path analysis verifies that DGBL acceptance will be directly influenced by a learner's "attitude toward use" and "perceived usefulness." Finally, when designing DGBL for 4th graders, the rich learning content and ease of use should be taken into account because they significantly contribute to a learner's intention to use the system, which may result in greater learning effectiveness. (Contains 8 tables and 6 figures.)

In recent years, rapid changes in the Earth's climate and environment have influenced our lives greatly. The ocean occupies 70% of the Earth's surface and is intimately related to the regulation of climate, fostering of life, and also to social economy, as well as sports and leisure. Students in the senior years of primary education are in a phase of developing value systems. Concurrently, these students are also constantly using the Earth's resources. More importantly, they will play leading roles in the next generation. From the perspective of education, the learning status of student's cognition, attitudes, and behaviors regarding protection of the marine environment must be understood more clearly to avoid future mismanagement of marine environmental problems on the part of these students. Hence, this study uses correlative, regressive, and path statistical analysis to examine data collected from questionnaires. Results show that student knowledge of and attitudes toward marine environmental protection do not have significant influences on behaviors; however, student's marine environmental protection knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors are all within the medium to high range. Because of relatively low student curricular involvement, and because involvement has no correlation with knowledge performance, this study infers that school curricula are not the main sources of student information and attitudes regarding marine environmental protection. Rather, building student attitudes toward marine environmental protection by increasing their involvement in field trips indirectly influences behaviors that are protective of the marine environment. Such an approach is comparatively more effective and can serve as a reference for modifying the implementation methods of marine protection curricula.

E-learning systems, adopted by organisations for employee training to enhance employees' performance, are characterised by self-directed, autonomous learning. Learning motivation is then of importance in the design of e-learning practices in workplace. However, empirical study of the alignment of e-learning with individual learning needs and organisational goals is an area with limited research. This study intends to clarify the importance of learning motivation in employees' e-learning systems use behaviour, based on the information systems success model. Data from one hundred and eighty-five employees who used e-learning systems in their work environment were gathered in Taiwan and analysed with PLS. Results showed that employees' learning motivation, reflecting their learning needs and strengths, influenced perceived usefulness and satisfaction with e-learning, and their use of the systems, which enhanced their task performance. The results validated the importance of employees' learning motivation and the need for alignment of employees' learning needs and organisational goals in e-learning training. The clarification can help facilitate an organisation's human capital management, and contributes to further advancement of the information systems success model. (Contains 3 figures and 5 tables.)

This study examines the applicability of Western adult attachment perspectives to interpersonal difficulties experienced by individuals with indigenous Chinese cultural backgrounds. A total of 275 Taiwanese university students completed self-report surveys of adult attachment, ideal attachment, and interpersonal problems. Culturally adjusted attachment scores were generated by regressing self-report attachment on ideal attachment to control for cultural difference. Findings from path analyses indicated that culturally adjusted attachment scores had a better fit with the model depicting relationships between attachment and interpersonal problems. Results with adjusted attachment scores indicated that Taiwanese individuals scoring high on attachment dimensions tended to have more interpersonal difficulties, which is consistent with the theory's prediction. Findings and implications are discussed based on attachment perspectives and the Chinese cultural context in Taiwan. (3 tables and 2 figures.)

This study aims to examine the relationships between social withdrawal, peer rejection and peer victimization among Taiwanese middle school students as well as to explore the applicability of relevant models in an East Asia culture context. The sample of this study consists of 219 7th grade students from middle schools in Taiwan. Data from multiple informants including teacher and peer reports was utilized and potential path models were constructed and tested for fitness. Results showed that withdrawal, rejection, and victimization were significantly associated. Path analysis further suggested peer rejection as a mediator between social withdrawal and peer victimization. Implication of the findings for educators and social workers were discussed. (Contains 2 tables and 3 figures.)

This study investigates if satisfaction measures involve an implicit have-want comparison by examining the relationships between direct have-want discrepancy, amount, and satisfaction, which vary in their degree of explicitness. The have-want discrepancy measure explicitly asks respondents to rate the discrepancy between what they have and what they want. The amount measure requires respondents to think about the amount of discrepancy between what one has and what one wants, but does not explicitly ask about that. Finally, the satisfaction measure is assumed to incorporate a component of the have-want comparison but does not ask respondents to consider such a comparison in the question. Three hundred and thirty undergraduate students at National Taiwan University participated in this study. Correlation analysis showed that satisfaction has a closer relation with amount than have-want discrepancy. In addition, a mediation model in which have-want discrepancy influence amount, which then influences satisfaction, was generally supported in conventional mediation analysis and multilevel path analysis. In brief, this study showed that satisfaction measures involve an implicit have-want comparison.

Based on the decomposed theory of planned behavior, this study used path analysis to examine the relative strength of the factors that influence teachers' use of instructional technology. The study focused on teachers' use of word processors, spreadsheets, presentation software, e-mail, and Web browsers. A path analysis was performed on self-reported data from 242 secondary science teachers in Taiwan. Results showed that the decomposed theory of planned behavior seriously over simplified the web of forces that influence teachers' use of this technology. Teachers' technology use and their inclination toward its use (attitude and intention) are primarily determined by the teacher-technology interface (ease-of-use, computer self-efficacy, and perceived usefulness). The teacher-technology interface is influenced by the objective environment for instructional technology (technical support, computer access, and to a limited extent professional development opportunities). The objective environment is itself weakly influenced by the subjective environment (administrative support, peer use, and subjective norms). The study provided useful information for policymakers and school administrators by helping them realize the complexity of the task of influencing teachers to increase their use of instructional technology. (Contains 6 tables and 3 figures.)

This longitudinal panel study investigated the relationship between ability and achievement among elementary school children in Taiwan. Results are discussed in terms of theoretical and policy implications. (Author/MT)

The purpose of this study was to examine the predictors of quality of life (QOL) of women with breast cancer in Taiwan. A cross-sectional study assessed the quality of life of 394 women with breast cancer. Path models were used to test the direct and indirect effects of depression, anxiety, sleep quality and demographic factors on the four QOL domains. Mean age of the participants was 53.53 ± 7.82 years. The results of the path analysis showed that depression was the key predictor with direct effects on all four QOL domains from -0.248 to -0.580. Sleep quality was found to have direct effects from -0.171 to -0.278 on three QOL domains. Anxiety predicted the physical QOL directly (-0.249). Anxiety also indirectly predicted the physical and psychological QOLs through sleep quality (-0.088 and -0.054), respectively. As for the demographic factors, age had a negative direct effect (-0.125) on the physical QOL domain and economic status directly predicted the environmental QOL domain (0.225). Education had slight indirect effects of 0.108 and 0.090, respectively, on the physical and psychological QOL domains. The empirically validated causal model suggested that a multidimensional approach may be needed to improve the QOL of women with breast cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Health of the adolescents is an important determinant of adult health. Multiple factors may affect the adolescents' health. Aim: This exploratory cross-sectional study was to explore the effects of life stress, social support, and family hardiness on quality of life (QoL) in rural adolescents (15 to 19 years old) whose family had encountered adverse disaster events. Methods: Purposive sampling was used to recruit 350 adolescents met study criteria with 265 completing all questionnaires (response rate = 75.71%). Based on stress process model, we hypothesized that life stress and social support would directly and indirectly influence QoL, and family hardiness mediates the effects of life stress on QoL. Path analysis was employed to analyze the association among life stress, social support, family hardiness, and QoL. Results: The study showed that life stress, social support and family hardiness are significantly associated with adolescents' QoL: life stress (β = - 0.30, P < 0.001), social support (β = 0.18, P = 0.010), and family hardiness (β = 0.21, P = 0.002). Life stress and social support had significant association with family hardiness: life stress (β = -0.23, P = 0.001) and social support (β = 0.29, P < 0.001). Conclusion: Life stress directly and indirectly influences QoL through family hardiness. Family hardiness can buffer the effects of life stress. Social support could improve the adolescents' QoL. To promote QoL, it is important for healthcare providers to attend rural adolescents' life stress, and provide psychosocial interventions to enhance family hardiness and social support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the factors that influence cigarette smoking among adolescents is critical. We identified personal, community, and environmental factors associated with current cigarette smoking among adolescents. This population-based cross-sectional analysis study was conducted using the 2012 Taiwan Global Youth Tobacco Survey and the sociodemographic statistics of the city or county from Taiwan's Ministry of the Interior. A total of 27,524 participants (age: 12–18-years) was included. The associated factors were identified through logistic regression. A path analysis was performed to examine the pathway from the associated factors to current cigarette smoking. According to this analysis, the following factors were prominently and positively associated with adolescent cigarette smoking: one personal factor (pocket money), five environmental factors (home secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure, smoker friends, outside SHS exposure, school SHS exposure, and smoker parents), and two community factors (free cigarettes from tobacco companies and indigenous population). By contrast, five personal factors (feeling less comfortable smoking at social occasions, feeling indifferent about smoking or not smoking at social occasions, female sex, feeling that quitting is difficult, and feeling that quitting after having smoked is harmful to health) and one environmental factor (school antismoking education) had negative effects. Thus, comprehensive interventions promoting the perception of harm caused by smoking and interrupting access to cigarettes through social networks can reduce cigarette smoking in adolescents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Task value has a considerable effect on one's interest, motivation, and strategies in learning. Additionally, the social contexts in which a learner studies, such as subject specialization and gender, may potentially influence how successfully one learns. The purpose of this quantitative study is to examine the relationship between task value and social factors, which were mediated by three types of learning strategy, and students' test performance in English. A questionnaire survey was conducted with 776 Grade 11 EFL vocational high school students in Taiwan. The path model revealed that the participants' English test scores were strongly influenced by the task value. Only metacognitive and cognitive strategies mediated the relationship between task value and English test score. Emotion control strategies did not mediate the relationship between them. Students' subject specialization had a direct influence on students' English test score, but the learning strategies did not play a mediating role between them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Workplace bullying is a prevalent problem in today's work places that has adverse effects on both bullying victims and organizations. To investigate the predictors of workplace bullying is an important task to prevent bullying victims of nurses in hospitals. Objective: This study aims to explore the relationships among nurses' attitudes, negative perceptions, and negative acts regarding workplace bullying under the framework of the theory of planned behavior (TPB). Methods: A total of 811 nurses from three hospitals in Taiwan were surveyed. Nurses' responses to the 201 items of 10 scales were calibrated using Rasch analysis and then subjected to path analysis with partial least-squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). Results: The instrumental attitude was significant predictors of nurses' negative perceptions to be bullied in the workplace. Instead, the other TPB components of subjective norm and perceived behavioral control were not effective predictors of nurses' negative acts regarding workplace bullying. Conclusions: The findings provided hospital nurse management with important implications for prevention of bullying, particularly to them who are tasked with providing safer and more productive workplaces to hospital nurses. Awareness of workplace bullying was recommended to other kinds of workplaces for further studies in future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to promote scientific inquiry in secondary schooling in Taiwan, the study developed a computer-based inquiry curriculum (including structured and guided inquiry units) and investigated how the curriculum influenced students’ science learning. The curriculum was implemented in 5 junior secondary schools in the context of a weeklong summer science course with 117 students. We first used a multi-level assessment approach to evaluate the students’ learning outcomes with the curriculum. Then, a path analysis approach was adopted for investigating at different assessment levels how the curriculum as a whole and how different types of inquiry units affected the students’ development of conceptual understandings and inquiry abilities. The results showed that the curriculum was effective in enhancing the students’ conceptual knowledge and inquiry abilities in the contexts of the six scientific topics. After the curriculum, they were able to construct interconnected scientific knowledge. The path diagrams suggested that, due to different instructional designs, the structured and guided inquiry units appeared to support the students’ learning of the topics in different ways. More importantly, they demonstrated graphically how the learning of content knowledge and inquiry ability mutually influenced one another and were reciprocally developed in a computer-based inquiry learning environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Objectives: The purpose of this study was to explore the direct and indirect effects of alcohol-related socialization factors and cognitive factors on adolescent alcohol use in a country with a low prevalence of drinking. Methods: Data were obtained from the 2006 phase of the Child and Adolescent Behaviors in Long-term Evolution (CABLE) project, at which time the study participants were in grade nine (aged 14–15years). Data from 1940 participants were analyzed. The main study variables included the current alcohol use of each adolescent, alcohol expectations, alcohol refusal efficacy, alcohol use among parents and peers, attitudes of the parents toward underage drinking, and peer encouragement of drinking. Path analysis was conducted to examine whether parental and peer socialization factors had direct effects on adolescent alcohol use, or whether they acted indirectly via cognitive factors. Results: Among the participants, 19.54% had used alcohol in the previous month. Path analysis demonstrated that father, mother and peer alcohol use directly influenced alcohol use in adolescents. Attitudes of mothers toward underage drinking, peer drinking and peer encouragement of drinking had indirect effects on adolescent alcohol use that were mediated by cognitive factors. Conclusions: This study demonstrated that alcohol-related socialization factors could directly influence adolescent drinking behavior and had indirect effects on alcohol use that were mediated by cognitive factors partially. Parents and peers play important roles in preventing adolescent alcohol use. Establishing appropriate alcohol expectations and strengthening alcohol refusal skills could aid in decreasing alcohol use in adolescents. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The main problem facing emergency managers during disasters are insufficient manpower and limited material resources. In emergency situations, the issue of inadequate resources arises from multiple emergency response teams who have different disaster perceptions, and end up allocating assets in an inefficient manner. These varying assessments are a result of erratic levels of involvement by the disaster management, which lead to the weakness of organizational cohesion. This study took Kaohsiung City in southern Taiwan as the subject and conducted a survey through questionnaires to explore the correlations among resource sufficiency, organizational cohesion, and organizational effectiveness in the emergency response. The questionnaires were then analyzed using descriptive statistics, factor analysis, reliability analysis and path analysis. The main conclusions are as follows: (1) Resource sufficiency should be the main priority for emergency response because of its direct correlation with organizational effectiveness, which in turn mediates the organizational cohesion; (2) Senior executives directly affect organizational cohesion and the organizational effectiveness; (3) Quality and quantity of the equipment and personnel have causal relationship with organizational effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]