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The objective of the research is to explore the consistency of specialized nursing competency models of nursing students. The participants in this research are 165 Year 4 nursing students at Boromarajonani College of Nursing, Chakriraj, Thailand. The data was collected using a questionnaire consisting of 45 questions, answered with the use of a 5-level scale. The questionnaire was evaluated by three experts, and the questionnaire's accuracy ratings ranged from 0.70 to 1.00. The internal reliability of the questionnaire was measured using Cronbach's alpha coefficient, resulting in values of 0.763 for educational excellence, 0.757 for socio-economic factors, 0.806 for lifestyle, and 0.814 for personal factors. The study's findings showed that competency. 1) Education throughout nursing student training. 2) The socio-economic context. 3) Habits pertinent to everyday existence. 4) Attitude towards the nursing profession. 5) GPAx represents the grade point average. 6) OSCE refers to the objective structured clinical examination. The confirmatory factor analysis of specialized nursing aptitude is consistent with the empirical data, Chi-Square = 14.226; df = 8; Relative Chi-Square = 1.778; p-value = 0.076; GFI = 0.974; NFI = 0.943; TLI = 0.951; CFI = 0.974; RMSEA = 0.069; RMR = 0.113. Each element has a standard element weight value of between 0.010 and 0.817, with a standardized weight value ranging from 0.010 to 0.817.

Education in Bhutan aims to provide holistic education focused on developing Head, Hand and Heart aspects of human development. Currently, the school programs are mainly focused on head development with a heavy emphasis on cognitive skills and testing. To help students maximise their individual potential, schools in one area (n=18) implemented an intervention program called, "One Child Seven Skills" to provide each student opportunity to learn at least seven skills. Through written interviews with key stakeholders from a primary school (teachers=5 & students=50), and a high school (teachers=14 & students=217), this study examines perceptions of the effectiveness of the intervention program. The findings revealed that the program helped students develop multiple skills, realize their innate potential, enhance self-confidence, and prepare for an uncertain future. The study suggests that adopting "One Child Seven Skills" program could be a much-needed alternative to the prevailing exam driven education in Bhutan.

It is common to encourage people to envision life as a process of fulfilling their potential. But what exactly does this mean? Traditionally, this question has been addressed by way of 'complementarity'; dividing the human into biological and cultural components. Fulfilment is placed on the side of the cultural; an acquisition of encoded secondary information transmitted from predecessors that represents what it means 'to know'. Potential has been defined from the biological, as a suite of innate capacities localised to the mind and body, passed on through a mechanism of genetic inheritance. Founded upon a metaphor of "inter-generational transmission," this perspective leads to a conceptualisation of life as a progressive closure, 'filling up' the biologically innate with the culturally acquired. However, despite its prominence, this static view leads to a troubling question: "with one's potential fulfilled, where is one to go next?" In this theoretical commentary, we offer an alternate, dynamical account of potential and fulfilment by leaning on Ingold's notion of "wayfaring." From this perspective, life is not a process of being 'filled up' with secondary information, but of responsively 'opening up'; "corresponding" with varied experiences cast forward by others, as they to ours, situated within a continually unfolding field of relations. Ontologically, this view is of 'us', not as beings, but "becomings," finding our way along generative paths inhabited alongside others. Knowledge is not transmitted inter-generationally, but is grown by primarily experiencing the coming-into-being of things we enter into correspondence with. Initiated through a prologue, these ideas are exemplified in sharing our storied journey as sport scientists "in-becoming," following not objects of convention, but corresponding with things of curiosity.

Teachers play a fundamental role in guaranteeing an inclusive teaching practice using Educational Robotics (ER). However, they may hold gender-differentiated views of their students' academic abilities and aptitudes in ER. This quasi-experimental test investigated gender-differentiated attributions and behavioral intentions of N = 158 Italian learning support teachers (LST) answering a questionnaire at the end of a post-graduate ER course. Participants read one of two vignettes regarding a student failing an ER activity in class: - (1) a boy; or (2) a girl. Then participants answered items based on measures that assessed their gender stereotypes, attributions for the child's failure, and hypothetical intentions to use ER with the same child. Results of moderation analyses indicated that the failure of the depicted girl was attributed to internal, stable and uncontrollable causes (i.e., low abilities in ER) to a greater extent than the same failure of the depicted boy, among LST with high levels of gender stereotypes. Furthermore, LST with high levels of gender stereotypes declared less intention to use ER with the depicted girl as compared with the depicted boy.

According to an aptitude-treatment interaction experiment (Lehmann et al., "Metacognition and Learning, 11," 89-105, 2016, N = 47, published in "Metacognition and Learning"), perceptually disfluent texts facilitated retention and comprehension performance (but not transfer performance) only for learners with higher working memory capacity (WMC). No effects of WMC for a fluent text were found (albeit theoretically, fluency may be more advantageous for learners with lower WMC). The findings of our (pre-registered) direct replication (supervised online sample of N = 96) show a substantial deviation from the original results: In contrast to the interaction effect (disfluency and WMC) of the primary study, we obtained null results for disfluency, WMC, and their interaction for all learning outcomes. Our replication data are not indicative of WMC as a boundary condition moderating the disfluency effect on learning. We discuss discrepancies in the results of the primary study and our direct replication regarding particular methodological and analytical decisions, questioning the robustness and generalizability of Lehman et al.'s results beyond their primary study.

Admission procedures to elementary school in Music Conservatoires in Portugal consist in the assessment of aural aptitude. This investigation aims at assessing the power of aural aptitude at predicting future musical achievement as well as the assessment of two other variables for the same purpose: motivation and intentions of parental support. For that matter, our sample includes the cohort of the admitted candidates and their parents to the 2019 to 2020 academic year. We used a longitudinal approach that followed the musical achievement of the sample during the 2019 to 2020 and 2020 to 2021 academic years. Questionnaires were administered to both children and parents to collect information on motivation to learn a musical instrument and anticipation of parental support provision. Our results point that, after 2 years of music education, neither of the tested variables were able to predict the students' musical achievement. These results suggest that the model of admission procedures to Music Conservatoires based on aural aptitude must be rethought and that this line of investigation could be revisited later when our sample enters middle school to assess again the predicting power of motivation and parental support.

The aim of this study was to determine the predispositions of the studied groups of students to work in the IT sector. The basis for predisposition assessment was their voluntary self-assessment of certain preferences, which are related to the theory of multiple intelligences of Professor Gardner. The study was conducted on a reference group of IT sector employees, assuming that they will be the model, to which the results of the study will be related. The method used to obtain data about the students' predispositions was a test carried out in an auditorium mode or online. More than 500 students from several countries were surveyed and interesting statistical material was obtained allowing for comparison between groups. The most important result was to find a way to sort the students into groups in order from most similar in their aptitude to the market pattern to least. This made it possible to determine the boundary beyond which students could be considered selected for a job in the IT sector. Statistical hypotheses about the similarity of the student groups to the reference group were verified. The results were both positive, confirming that a large percentage of students have predispositions to work in the IT market, and less promising. The authors are convinced that the method can be applied all over the world, as they examined groups in very diverse countries, taking into account, for example, location, education system, culture or religion.

Musical training has long been viewed as a model for experience-dependent brain plasticity. Reports of musical training-induced brain plasticity are largely based on cross-sectional studies comparing musicians to non-musicians, which cannot address whether musical training itself is sufficient to induce these neurobiological changes or whether pre-existing neuroarchitecture before training predisposes children to succeed in music. Here, in a longitudinal investigation of children from infancy to school age (n = 25), we find brain structure in infancy that predicts subsequent music aptitude skills at school-age. Building on prior evidence implicating white matter organization of the corticospinal tract as a neural predisposition for musical training in adults, here we find that structural organization of the right corticospinal tract "in infancy" is associated with school-age tonal and rhythmic musical aptitude skills. Moreover, within the corpus callosum, an inter-hemispheric white matter pathway traditionally linked with musical training, we find that structural organization of this pathway in infancy is associated with subsequent tonal music aptitude. Our findings suggest predispositions prior to the onset of musical training from as early as infancy may serve as a scaffold upon which ongoing musical experience can build.

With the development of science and technology, the demand for programmers has increased. However, learning computer programs is not an easy task. It might cause a significant impact on programming if misconceptions exist at the beginning of the study. Hence, it is important to discover and correct them immediately. Chatbots are effective teaching aids, they can assist students in eliminating misconceptions. They also assist teachers to instruct students according to their aptitude, which teachers found it hard to accomplish without technical supports when teaching in large classes. Therefore, this experiment uses chatbots to assist learners in the correction phase. We consider that learners who failed unit quizzes might have misunderstandings in programming concepts. We believe chatbots can teach according to individual misunderstandings and give correct responses to their unclear concepts. It is more effective than traditional teaching methods. In addition, to prevent human-computer interaction barriers, such as picking wrong keywords and giving plausible replies, or learners not being able to express their problems clearly, this experiment also adds concept maps to the chatbots' dialogue, to work as the dialogue structure for each chatbot. The maps help the chatbots to explain concepts in each unit systematically and logically. The chatbots give questions according to the concepts on the concept maps and ask learners to reply with their answers. An ANCOVA test investigated students' scores. Result showed the "p"-value is below 0.001, indicating that the group using concept map chatbots has better correction effects than the other group using only concept maps.

This investigation proposes to apply the methods of training creativity in the natural sciences to teaching a foreign language for specific purposes. This approach is based on the testing of foreign language competencies in different countries, on the task of training higher education specialists, including foreign language training, on the requirements for learning foreign languages, formulated by the European institutions, and on the requirements for specialists in EU. The methods of teaching creativity of specialists in the natural sciences are based on Molyako's (2008) five strategies of creative design activity. Their practical application demonstrated in teaching physics has been used in teaching English for specific purposes. The analysis of the results of the application of the proposed methods was carried out based on a questionnaire by Popek (2000), which allows differentiating persons with creative aptitudes. The results of the analysis indicate the feasibility of applying the proposed methods for the creative development of personalities following the needs of modern social relations, focused much more on synthesis and interconnection than on the analysis of individual phenomena and processes.

Continuous changes in social demand and development provide an acute and continuous pressure on universities. The question is whether higher education institutions (HEI) in Ecuador deliver graduates with the competences to provide timely economic, ecological, and sustainable solutions. Additionally, HEIs should prepare graduates to find employment in a society characterized by greater uncertainty, extensive use of information technology, speed, risk, complexity and interdisciplinary work. To face this challenge, universities need lecturers to possess a mix of aptitudes, attitudes, and professional development in teaching, research, and services. Unfortunately, knowledge is sparse about the readiness of their pupils to function effectively in a rapidly changing and increasingly globalized environment. Accordingly, this study uses an explanatory sequential mixed-methods approach to explore the impact of lecturers' aptitudes, attitudes, and professional development on teaching and student learning at the University of Cuenca. Lecturers' perceptions about their aptitudes and their attitudes are higher than the students' perceptions. Faculty representatives believe that untenured lecturers have a better attitude and aptitude than the tenured lecturers. A third part of lecturers have achieved one of the required criteria in research development. Students from biological sciences are more satisfied with their lecturers and the competence development that they receive than the students from social sciences or engineering. Understanding the likely implication of the variables, aptitudes, attitudes and professional development, on the quality of teaching and learning is fundamental for the design and carrying out of educational reforms.

It is imperative to bridge the disparity between college students' practical capabilities and professional expectations. To help facilitate such a progression, an electronic engineering course oriented around the Creative Innovation Practice project has been designed with the objectives of student-centric instruction, integration of both theoretical and practical components, and application of knowledge through project case studies. Adopting the open engineering education approach, there has been an initiation of project-driven blended teaching centered on "constructivism," constituting a model that joins online and offline instruction, in-class and out-of-class tasks, activities inside and outside the laboratory, coursework, and contests. This amalgamated mode of learning has had a beneficial outcome in enhancing learners' self-learning capabilities, hands-on practice, as well as their inventive aptitude. According to an analytic hierarchy process (AHP) evaluation and assessment, blended teaching could effectively augment participants' eagerness to learn and motivation.

Asset-based approaches to public service reform suggest a need for policymakers to shift attention from 'fixing' the perceived deficits of disadvantaged neighbourhoods, to recognising and building on the resources, or assets, they hold. However, these approaches have also been critiqued for interpreting assets so broadly that they effectively become meaningless, or so narrowly that they perpetuate deficit views. To counter these tendencies, a new conceptually and methodologically robust endogenous assets-mapping approach is proposed. This has been designed to enable nuanced insights into the assets young people living in disadvantaged neighbourhoods may draw upon to pursue positive educational and wider life outcomes. The approach's utility is illustrated through the case of Ayesha, a 14-year-old student with a difficult relationship with school. The paper concludes that an endogenous assets-mapping approach can help to generate more positive narratives for vulnerable learners living in disadvantaged neighbourhoods than schooling may typically enable.

Creative potential is one of the most important topics for research. It is difficult to study because, unlike creative products, potential is by definition latent. There are several useful methods. One involves comparing creative activity expressed in various settings. Previous research has, for example, compared creativity expressed in school with that expressed by the same individuals when they are in the natural environment (i.e., outside of school). There tends to be more creative activity outside of school, suggesting that individuals have creative potential but it is only expressed in certain settings. The present investigation extended this line of research by comparing creative activity in school, at home, and that occurring outside of school and home. Results indicated that the creative activity scores from the three settings shared less than 52% of their variance. The measures were highly reliable, so the conclusion was that, as in previous research, various settings do indeed differentially allow the expression of creative potential. Comparisons of means also supported this finding. Interestingly, creative activity at home was significantly more common than creative activity at school and when outside of the home and school. A statistical test of method variance indicated that it was not a notable contribution nor confound. Limitations are discussed at the end of the article.

Integrating creativity into science classes may pave the way to tapping complex scientific phenomena. Although not yet conclusively defined nor assessed using standardized measures, creativity is understood to support cognitive learning in formal and informal settings. However, the successful integration of creativity in educational modules depends on many factors. As our knowledge of how to identify these factors is still limited, teachers may have difficulties effectively monitoring and fostering creativity. Consequently, a valid means to measure creativity would help teachers to identify creativity and its influencing factors within the limited scope of science lessons. In the present study, we collected data from 538 Bavarian secondary school students (M ± SD = 16.96 ± 2.99; 65.4%, female) focussing on personality and creativity measures. Comparable to previous studies, two subscales for creativity were applied: "act," comprising conscious and adaptable cognitive processes, and "flow," describing a creative mental state of full immersion. Since personality is understood to be linked to creativity, we used the "Big Five" scale with its shortened item battery to assess personality. We found that personal characteristics such as "conscientiousness" and "flow," "openness" and "agreeableness," and "extraversion" and "neuroticism" were significantly correlated. Anticipated gender and age differences were only evident when extreme groups were compared: "age" influenced "act" in younger male students and "flow" in older female students. Drawing on the literature and our results, we suggest pedagogical approaches to provide opportunities for creativity in science classrooms.

The development of students' entrepreneurial confidence, aptitude and self-efficacy, irrespective of their discipline, is strongly advocated by researchers, policy makers and the media as an important societal institution, indispensable for economic growth and development, social cohesion, job creation and indeed the changing world of work. This study reinforces the view that entrepreneurship education (EE) is a core, vital research space that warrants continued and consistent investigation given its significant role in fostering entrepreneurial mindsets and encouraging entrepreneurial behaviour. The main aim of this study is to evaluate and measure the impact of EE on entrepreneurial confidence, aptitude and self-efficacy. First, it investigates whether participation in EE influences or changes students' perception of entrepreneurship as a career choice, and their confidence, aptitude and self-efficacy in relation to that career. Second, it investigates what aspects of EE impact students' entrepreneurial confidence and aptitude. Third, the study investigates the impact of EE on self-efficacy, and students' belief in their ability and motivation to start an entrepreneurial venture, having completed a specialist EE programme.

Evaluating novelty in design education is subjective and generally depends on expert's referential metrics. Presently, practitioners in this field perform subjective evaluation of answers of prospective students, but many a time, humans are prone to errors when associated with repetitive tasks on large-scale. Therefore, this paper attempts to automate the process of evaluating novelty by a proposed computational model. The present study explores design aptitude to evaluate novelty in solutions provided by students in an examination. Mixed-methods research is conducted based on structured questionnaire and analysis to investigate features of subjective evaluation of novelty practiced for evaluation in design education. The survey resulted in features that closely resemble human evaluation strategies for evaluating novelty from descriptive solutions. Further, a computational model is proposed, designed, and implemented that evaluates novelty. Scores are generated for each feature by unsupervised learning techniques, eventually calculating novelty score by a scoring function. This model suggests unambiguous scores to solutions, which might help in a consistent selection of students aspiring admission to design schools. This study attempts to reduce pain points of educational practitioners by offering a voluntary automated technique for subjective evaluation and optimize trustworthiness of students in examination process. In future, this model can be extended for evaluating any other domain of interest.

Computer programmers in the U.S. labor force are facing a shortage. Focusing on recruiting females has the potential to address this shortage. Computing is a male dominated field which provides an opportunity to recruit the other 50% of the population, females, to fill the open positions. This work studies gender differences in computer programming based on an Hour of Code tutorial. Following a pre- and post-test design, this work demonstrates that males have significantly more previous exposure to computer programming and are significantly more interested in pursuing computer programming. Results also indicate that females do equally as well or better in programming comprehension. In one comprehension question following the tutorial, women significantly outperformed men demonstrating that women may have a higher aptitude for computer programming; however, they are underrepresented in the job market. Based on our results, we suggest that more should be done in early formative years to attract females into computer programming to aid in filling the gap of the projected employment market.

A master's degree from an ALA-accredited institution can prepare graduates for a wide range of job functions and career paths, but the variety of jobs raises some questions about how LIS programs are meeting the wide range and evolving needs of employers in order to best prepare students for professional positions. What knowledge, skills, and aptitudes (KSAs) are necessary for practitioners? What are common competencies and foundational areas of knowledge that apply across information settings and job functions, and which skills and competencies are specialized enough to be relevant only to certain positions? This study reports on the results of a nationwide survey of over 2,000 practicing information professionals and LIS faculty who were asked to rate 53 skills and competencies as core or specialized. The findings identified 11 core KSAs but also suggest that areas of emphasis vary by type of information setting. The findings have implications for LIS programs and faculty.

India's National Science Talent Search (NSTS) examination (1963 to 1976) was imagined and implemented by some top scientists of the period. It aimed to identify "talented" secondary school students with an aptitude for science and mathematics. Selected students attended undergraduate summer schools, did research in special labs during their Master's degree, and were supported by a scholarship until the completion of a Ph.D. Today, the extent to which NSTS changed the discourse of "talent" as well as the mode and content of large-scale testing in India is often forgotten. Among the innovations that the examination introduced and legitimized include the multiple-choice question (MCQ) format. It shaped a positivist discourse around a special category of questions called the "thought-type" in scientifically establishing the mental acuity of students. It also defined and used "extra-curricular knowledge" as a proxy for scientific interest. Another legacy of NSTS's discourse of objectivity was a misplaced confidence in separating the performance of candidates from the social advantages/disadvantages that shaped their school experience. Additionally, the importance of expertise in designing the examination did not give space to the input of school science teachers. Eventually, the design of the scheme fell short of the expectations of policy-makers as well as the aspirations of those who were selected. In 1977, the examination was redesigned as a general National Talent Search Examination (NTSE). A critical analysis of the short history of the NSTS enables us to reflect on the construct of "science talent" and the challenges in identifying and nurturing talented students in science.

Transformative human rights education (HRE) implies a pedagogic intention to generate human rights cultures, protecting against and preventing human rights violations. This article draws on Freirean critical pedagogy to define transformative HRE as requiring four pedagogical principles: an explicit pedagogic intention; critical engagement on purposes of education; a critical holistic approach; and cosmopolitan perspectives. A thematic analysis of ten upper secondary school teachers' narratives on working with human rights in Iceland reveals reliance on tacit rather than explicit pedagogical intentions, a lack of critical engagement on purposes of education, and limited opportunities to develop human rights and HRE knowledge, inhibiting a critical holistic approach and cosmopolitan perspectives. However, the narratives offer content and contexts that provide possibilities to develop the four pedagogical principles required for transformative HRE through processes of critical relational dialogue. This paper raises questions of significance for teacher education in Iceland and internationally.

The purpose of the study was to construct and validate a Physics Aptitude Test (PAT) for senior secondary schools. The test was designed primarily as an assessment tool for senior secondary school students who have aptitude for Physics. Four research questions guided the study. It was an instrumentation study designed to produce an assessment tool for senior secondary school students. A sample of 200 students was randomly selected through stratified random sampling technique. The data collected were analysed to determine the validity of the test, item validity through item analysis and reliability of the Physics Aptitude Test. The findings revealed that the Physics Aptitude Test (PAT) has adequate face and content validities. It is made up of 50 items. The difficulty and Discrimination indices were appropriate because they are within the standard range of indices for the test. Difficulty indices range from 0.30 to 0.70, Discrimination indices range from 0.30 to 0.44. A reliability coefficient of 0.94 was obtained through Kuder Richardson formula 20 as a measure of internal consistency. Since the Physics Aptitude Test (PAT) was highly valid and reliable, it was recommended that it should always be used as an assessment tool for determining the aptitude of senior secondary school students in Physics.

The assumption that students are differently talented often underlies the public and philosophical debate about the justice of school systems. It is striking that despite the centrality of the notion of 'talent' in these debates, the concept is hardly ever explicated. I will suggest two explications: First, philosophers who point to different talents often assume that these are somehow fixed potentials that pose limits to what someone can achieve. According to this understanding, no matter how hard someone tries, she simply cannot perform well due to a lack of talent. Second, talking about different talents can be understood as saying that two students who will receive the same amount of educational resources are nevertheless expected to perform differently in the future. In the public as well as the philosophical debate it is common to assume that educational prospects should be equalized when it comes to unequal social backgrounds, but not when it comes to unequal talents. In this paper, I put into question three reasons that could speak in favor of this assumption: the first refers to the connection between talents and limits, the second to the relation between talents and the transformation of resources and the last one to the idea that talents somehow go back to the person's true self.

Studies over the past two decades have provided relevant data on the relationship between music and reading abilities although they fundamentally refer to aspects of the first language reading process of young children. The foreign language reading acquisition process of adult learners has, in this sense, been less explored. Research in this area refers to working memory as a "common cognitive marker" for musical aptitude and reading ability, but little is known about the relationship between musical aptitude and silent reading fluency of adult foreign language learners, the hallmark of skilled readers. Specifically, this study seeks to determine whether musical aptitude as well as cognitive factors such as working memory, general intelligence and plurilingualism could contribute to the understanding of adults' silent reading abilities in a foreign language. For this purpose, thirty-eight undergraduates, native speakers of German and learners of Spanish, were tested. Additionally, their FL reading comprehension level and their musical training were controlled to categorise the learners. Our data shows a strong association of musical aptitude, working memory, general intelligence and plurilingualism with learners' foreign language silent reading fluency. In addition, a multiple linear regression analysis reveals that musical aptitude and knowledge of different foreign languages influence their silent reading fluency. But when in a second linear regression the lower reading proficiency level (A2) was introduced as a controlling variable, only musical aptitude is significant. In conclusion, further studies on the silent reading capacity of adult foreign language learners need to consider abilities such as musical aptitude and plurilingualism to better understand the whole reading acquisition process.

In this article, the author problematizes two well-known positions on the relationship between means and ends in education. On the one side, there are those who problematize the means of education without necessarily redefining its ends, and on the other hand, there are those who challenge the purported ends of education while maintaining certain means. These two positions can take any number of progressive and conservative forms. While there are virtues to these projects, this article argues that both take for granted an underlying sense of education as a means to an end, and thus lend themselves to some version of instrumentality. Proposing a radically different formulation, this article turns to Giorgio Agamben and his notions of the impotential act, pure means, and use. The author suggests that the current challenge to think education beyond instrumentality ought to conceptualize education not as a means to an end or an end in itself but as a pure means. The article then offers three versions of education as a pure means: allowing, preferring not to, and contemplating. Each of these examples proposes a specific kind of inoperative, non-instrumental form of educational life for teachers and studiers, respectively.

This study investigates 128 Chinese college students to examine the effects of their musical aptitude and musical training on phonological production in four foreign languages. Results show that musically-trained students remarkably possessed stronger musical aptitude than those without musical training and performed better than their counterpart in foreign language suprasegmental production. Students of high musical aptitude performed significantly better in suprasegmental production and Russian production as compared with those of low musical aptitude. Musical aptitude could exert some effects on foreign language phonological production. With the music-phonology link confirmed in this study, pedagogical implications for teaching and learning of foreign language phonology are discussed.

Purpose: The purpose of this preliminary study was to identify a vocal task that could be used as a clinical indicator of the vocal aptitude or vocal fitness required for vocally demanding occupations in a manner similar to that of the anaerobic power tests commonly used in exercise science. Performance outcomes for vocal tasks that require rapid acceleration and high force production may be useful as an indirect indicator of muscle fiber complement and bioenergetic fitness of the larynx, an organ that is difficult to study directly. Method: Sixteen women (age range: 19-24 years, M[subscript age] = 22 years) were consented for participation and completed the following performance measures: forced vital capacity, three adapted vocal function tasks, and the horizontal sprint test. Results: Using a within-participant correlational analyses, results indicated a positive relationship between the rate of the last second of a laryngeal diadochokinesis task that was produced at a high fundamental frequency/high sound level and anaerobic power. Forced vital capacity was not correlated with any of the vocal function tasks. Conclusions: These preliminary results indicate that aspects of the laryngeal diadochokinesis task produced at a high fundamental frequency and high sound level may be useful as an ecologically valid measure of vocal power ability. Quantification of vocal power ability may be useful as a vocal fitness assessment or as an outcome measure for voice rehabilitation and habilitation for patients with vocally demanding jobs.

Historically, the potential of a person has been perceived as fixed and primarily inherited, thus, different from achievement. Current thinking broadens our view of human potential, not as a fixed capacity, but as malleable and incremental, depending on multiple factors, exogenous as well as endogenous, facilitative or inhibitive. This conception opens the door for new ways of thinking about strategies and provisions of gifted education. In this theoretical analysis, I first critique the traditional trait conception of human potential undergirding gifted education practice. I then present an alternative, a process model of talent development, that views human potential as contextually and developmentally shaped, a result of dynamic interplay of endogenous and exogenous forces, revealing the power of nurture as well as nature. Finally, I discuss the policy and practical implications of this new conception of human potential for gifted education.

This paper presents two studies examining the interrelation of grading and teacher judgment. Study 1 revealed the structure of teacher judgment two teachers and their classes, based on data from long-term ethnographic research. Through inductive analysis of teacher statements about students, four criteria by which teachers judge their students were identified: performance, aptitude, effort, and communicativeness. Using quantitative data from 639 students and 32 teachers, Study 2 explored the relationship between the criteria for teacher judgment identified in Study 1 and the grade assigned to a particular student. Evaluation questionnaires that teachers completed about their students were used. All four criteria identified in Study 1 positively correlated with the grade, but as the multiple linear regression analysis showed, the final grade was most influenced by the category of performance. However, a teacher's perception of a student's performance did not always fully align with their performance as measured by a standardized test.

While many career development theories (e.g., Gottfredson, in: Brown SD, Lent RW (eds), Career development and counseling: Putting theory and research to work, Wiley, Hoboken, 2005) posit that occupational perceptions are fundamental for understanding youngsters' career aspirations, research relating school students' perceptions of engineers and students' career interest in engineering has been scarce. This study sought to (a) identify the factors underlying the image of engineers to secondary school students, (b) test the invariance of the factors' measurement model across gender and school years, and (c) examine the hypothesis that the factors mediate the effects of engineering experiences at school on students' career interest. Data were collected via a questionnaire from a representative sample of 3724 students at Hong Kong. A measurement model with four latent perception factors (innovation and entrepreneurship competencies; aptitudes related to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics; hands-on work status; and career prestige) fit the responses well and was replicable across gender and school years. Construct validity of the factors was supported by the pattern of their partial mediation effects in the relationship between students' experiences and their career interest in engineering. The results deepened the understanding of the image of engineers and the image's influences on students' career aspiration in engineering. The perception dimensions identified provide a framework useable for engineering education in school.

Recent studies on the learning of L2 prosody have suggested that pitch gestures can enhance the learning of the L2 lexical tones. Yet it remains unclear whether the use of these gestures can aid the learning of L2 intonation, especially by tonal-language speakers. Sixty-four Mandarin speakers with basic-level Spanish were asked to learn three Spanish intonation patterns, all involving a low tone on the nuclear accent. In a pre-post test experimental design, half of the participants received intonation training without the use of pitch gestures (the control group) while the other half received the same training but with pitch gestures representing nuclear intonation contours (the experimental group). Musical (melody, pitch) abilities were also measured. The results revealed that (a) the experimental group significantly improved intonational production outcomes, and (b) even though participants with stronger musical abilities performed better, those with weaker musical abilities benefited more from observing pitch gestures.

A common theme uniting articles in this special issue is a focus on aptitude-by-treatment interactions (ATIs). This timely and welcome focus allows the field to synthesize current substantive findings on ATIs in educational intervention research in both reading and math domains. In this methodological commentary, we begin by reviewing traditional approaches for detecting and reporting interactions in single-level and multilevel models. Next, we discuss some limitations of traditional approaches for theorizing about and modeling ATIs, and we suggest some solutions. These solutions include interpreting level-specific (unconflated) ATIs, understanding and ameliorating threats to adequate power for detecting ATIs, expanding focus beyond linear ATIs, and increasing the number of measurement occasions beyond two to allow use of a growth modeling framework for investigating ATIs. Incorporating some of these advances into future research can motivate new research questions about educational interventions and lead to new discoveries in the search for ATIs.

Various texts related to education policy and education research have recently started using two conjugate concepts "competency" and "competence". These terms are sometimes treated as synonyms of a single concept; however, in other cases they are separated and used as two terms of different educational concepts. English also has some confusion over the terms "competency" and "competence". They are presented and discussed differently in different resources, i.e. in some cases their meanings correspond but in other cases they differ. All this unnecessary confusion indicates the necessity of concept harmonisation. The analysis of the features of the Lithuanian concepts and their comparison with the English equivalents has shown no objective reasons to use both concepts. These reasons are revealed when discussing the whole microsystem of the concept "competence". The microsystem involves such concepts and terms as "competence", "skill", "aptitude", "ability", "knowledge", "understanding", and "automatic skill". The authors of the article suggest to stop using the English term "competency" and the Lithuanian "kompetencija" as they do not have a clear place in the system of concepts, are synonymously used together with other terms to name already existing concepts or sometimes even do not signify any concept at all. This would prevent from both subject field and translation related confusion. (Contains 15 footnotes.)

Background: Students with disability show an increasing incidence of school failure. Quality teaching and appropriate support may foster high self-efficacy, a predictive factor for successful school outcomes. Physical Education (PE) can provide students with a context in which self-efficacy and participation are promoted leading to improved academic achievement. The transition into secondary school can be challenging for many students with increased educational demands, developmental changes and individual social identification coinciding. A disability may add to the challenge of success. Methods: Three groups of students, aged 13 years and enrolled in Swedish mainstream schools were targeted (n = 439). Groups included students with (1) A diagnosed disability, (2) Low grades in PE (D-F), and (3) High grades (A-C) in PE. Questionnaires were collected and analyzed from 30/439 students with a diagnosed disability (physical, neuro-developmental and intellectual) from 26 classes, their classmates and their PE-teachers (n = 25). Relationships between student self-reports and PE-teachers' self-ratings were investigated. Also examined was the potential to which students' functional skills could predict elevated general school self-efficacy, PE specific self-efficacy and aptitude to participate in PE. Results were compared with the total sample and between the three target groups (n = 121). Results: For students with disabilities, better self-rated teaching skills were related to lower student perceived general school self-efficacy, PE specific self-efficacy and aptitude to participate in PE. The impact of classroom climate in PE was more obvious among students with disabilities. Perceived functional skills were associated with elevated general school self-efficacy, PE specific self-efficacy and aptitude to participate in PE. Better socio-cognitive functional skills had an overall positive effect on all outcomes. Students with disabilities reported results similar to the total sample, the D-F group scored lower and the A-C group higher than the total sample and the disability group. Elevated self-efficacy in PE is six times less probable in students with disabilities, compared to the A-C group. Conclusions: Our findings that better teacher planning and grading skills, are detrimental to students disadvantaged by disability is contradictive. Improving the establishment and communication of adapted learning standards at the transition to secondary school is a crucial and a predictive factor for promoting positive school experiences for students with disability. Students with disabilities need to be assured that the intended learning outcomes can be reached by doing activities differently than their typically functioning peers. Consideration of class composition is suggested as a means of promoting a positive learning climate, which would particularly benefit students with disabilities. Allocation of resources to support student socio-cognitive skills would improve experiences for the D-F group and likely promote a positive learning environment.

Learning a new sound system poses challenges of a social, psychological, and cognitive nature, but the learner's decisions are key to ultimate attainment. This presentation focuses on two essential concepts: CHOICE, or how one wants to sound in the target language; and LIMITS, or various challenges to one's goals vis-a-vis accent. Qualitative and quantitative data underscore the relevance of autonomy as a guiding principle from which to explore related constructs such as self-determination, motivation, decision-making and self-concept. I also review several prominent LIMITS on phonological attainment to counterbalance and contextualize the aspect of CHOICE. Suggestions are given for both teaching and research that prioritize autonomy with reference to a complexity perspective.

This study investigated evaluations and advice communicated to male and female technology interns experiencing work difficulties, using a 2 (workplace issue: ability or interpersonal) ×2 (intern gender: male vs. female) between-subjects experimental design. Technology professionals rated hypothetical interns on competence, qualifications, intelligence, and potential field issues. Results suggest that female interns with ability issues are viewed as having lower field aptitude than male interns with ability issues, when judged by individuals holding both hostile and benevolent sexist beliefs. Rater gender was not a significant predictor of aptitude rating. Aptitude assessments of male and female interns with interpersonal issues did not differ; however, open-ended analyses revealed that male interns were expected to be agentic and dissuaded from help seeking when facing interpersonal issues, while female interns were expected to find mentors and control their emotions. Findings show how sexist beliefs, workplace issues, and intern gender can affect responses and assessments by potential mentors.

Sales competitions provide students with opportunities to apply their understanding of sales. Despite a long tradition of scholarship on sales role-plays, the answer to what drives student performance in sales competitions remains elusive. In this research, we examine how motivation (work engagement) and ability (cognitive aptitude and selling-related knowledge) affect student performance in sales role-play competitions. We also examine how success in sales role-plays engenders job attainment for the students. Using data from a sales competition held at a large public university in the United States, we provide empirical evidence that both motivation and ability affect sales performance. But, contrary to expectation, they have a substitution effect and not a complementary one. We also find evidence that success in sales role-plays translates into improved success in job interviews and that this effect is stronger for students with greater cognitive aptitude, that is, sales role-play performance complements the cognitive aptitude of the student to improve their mock interview performance.