The influence of teacher expectations on student achievement in physical education classes: Pygmalion revisited

Educational Data Mining Techniques for Student Performance Prediction: Method Review and Comparison Analysis

Student performance prediction (SPP) aims to evaluate the grade that a student will reach before enrolling in a course or taking an exam. This prediction problem is a kernel task toward personalized education and has attracted increasing attention in the field of artificial intelligence and educational data mining (EDM). This paper provides a systematic review of the SPP study from the perspective of machine learning and data mining. This review partitions SPP into five stages, i.e., data collection, problem formalization, model, prediction, and application. To have an intuition on these involved methods, we conducted experiments on a data set from our institute and a public data set. Our educational dataset composed of 1,325 students, and 832 courses was collected from the information system, which represents a typical higher education in China. With the experimental results, discussions on current shortcomings and interesting future works are finally summarized from data collections to practices. This work provides developments and challenges in the study task of SPP and facilitates the progress of personalized education.

Always look on the bright side of students: does valence of teacher perceptions relate to students’ educational performance?

We studied the role of the valence of female teachers’ perceptions in predicting various student outcomes. Using a prospective design, at the beginning of Grade 5 (T1), we assessed evaluations by 43 female teachers of either mathematics or German, belonging to 22 secondary schools in Germany. We combined a qualitative measurement by using an open-ended question, with a quantitative data analysis. At T1 and T2 (4 months later), the assigned students (N = 635) reported their subject-specific achievement, learning and performance goals, and quality of relationship to their teacher. Multilevel analyses revealed that positive teacher perceptions increased future student achievement, while negative teacher perceptions reduced immediate and future learning and performance goals. Further, positive teacher perceptions explained differences in student outcomes between classes, whereas negative teacher perceptions explained differences in student outcomes between schools.

Birth Cohort Effects, Regions Differences, and Gender Differences in Chinese College Students' Aggression: A Review and Synthesis

This cross-temporal meta-analysis involved 86 studies (N = 71,397) on aggression among Chinese college students conducted from 2003 to 2017. We collected articles investigating college students' aggression using the Aggression Questionnaire. The results showed that college students' aggression generally decreased steadily over 15 years. Compared to 2003, aggression in 2017 decreased by 1.030 standard deviations. The decline in physical aggression, verbal aggression, and hostility among college students were more rapid than anger. College students from the Eastern region of China demonstrated this decline more than those from the Center and Western regions. Both male and female college students showed decreasing aggression, and the decline was larger in males compared to females.

Managing Chronic Pain in the Classroom: Development and Usability Testing of an eHealth Educational Intervention for Educators

Although chronic pain is relatively common in childhood, many teachers feel ill-prepared to work with students with chronic and recurrent pain in the classroom and would like to learn more about supporting these students. A web-based eHealth intervention designed to provide information about pain and pain management in the classroom was developed based on input from clinicians, and usability was tested using three groups of stakeholders (i.e., youth with chronic pain, parents of youth with chronic pain, and teachers). Preliminary testing indicated that the usability goals were met, with the majority of participants in all groups indicating that the website was easy to use and that they would either recommend it to teachers or use it themselves. Minor design and content changes were suggested and made, whereas major changes will be made in the future. Results provide encouraging preliminary support for the utility of eHealth interventions as knowledge translation and dissemination tools for educators.

Gender equity in physical education: The use of language

This study analyzed Spanish teachers' behavior and the transmission of gender stereotypes. We observed 48 physical education lessons given by four Spanish teachers (two men and two women). Descriptive codes, which were generated iteratively, were clustered, categorized, integrated, recoded, and re-categorized. They allowed us to identify four major themes related to the transmission of gender stereotypes of teachers: male generics, stereotyped expressions, nominative attention, and priority order. We used a coding sheet as well as audio and video recordings to register the categories. The Kruskal-Wallis test produced significance levels lower than .05, resulting in the rejection of the null hypothesis. Sexist behavior was found in the male generics, nominative attention, and priority order. However, we found no difference in stereotyped expressions.

The Role Of The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy In Young Adolescents' Responsiveness To A Substance Use Prevention Program

This research examined whether naturally-occurring self-fulfilling prophecies influenced adolescents' responsiveness to a substance use prevention program. The authors addressed this issue with a unique methodological approach that was designed to enhance the internal validity of research on naturally-occurring self-fulfilling prophecies by experimentally controlling for prediction without influence. Participants were 321 families who were assigned to an adolescent substance use prevention program that either did or did not systematically involve parents. Results showed that parents' perceptions about the value of involving parents in adolescent substance use prevention predicted adolescents' alcohol use more strongly among families assigned to the prevention program that systematically involved parents than to the one that did not. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

An experimental assessment of physical educators' expectations and attitudes: the importance of student weight and gender

BACKGROUND

At school, physical education (PE) teachers and coaches may be key supports for physical activity. Unfortunately, PE teachers may endorse negative stereotypes and attitudes toward overweight youth. These biases may influence the amount of instruction physical educators provide to students and their participation in PE or other physical activity.

METHODS

This study assessed physical educators' (N = 162) ability and performance expectations, attributions, and attitudes toward overweight and non-overweight students.

RESULTS

Physical educators endorsed inferior ability expectations for overweight students compared to non-overweight students. Poorer performance expectations were limited to overweight female targets, but when controlling for participant characteristics, this effect became marginally significant for overweight male targets. There was a trend such that participants endorsed more external attributions for the abilities and performance of overweight female students, yet this effect was reduced to marginal significance when controlling for participant characteristics. Participants endorsed more negative attitudes for both overweight males and females compared to non-overweight youth.

CONCLUSIONS

Findings indicate that physical educators' expectations, attributions, and attitudes regarding students may be negatively influenced by youth body weight, and differ by student gender. The potential effect of physical educators' weight bias on adolescent participation in physical activity and its implications for students' physical health, academic achievement, and social development are discussed.

The role of teachers' expectations in the association between children's SES and performance in kindergarten: a moderated mediation analysis

This study examines the role of teachers' expectations in the association between children's socio-economic background and achievement outcomes. Furthermore, the role of children's ethnicity in moderating this mediated relation is investigated. In the present study, 3,948 children from kindergarten are examined. Data are analysed by means of structural equation modeling. First, results show that teachers' expectations mediate the relation between children's SES and their later language and math achievement, after controlling for children's ethnicity, prior achievement and gender. This result indicates that teachers may exacerbate individual differences between children. Second, children's ethnicity moderates the mediation effect of teachers' expectations with respect to math outcomes. The role of teachers' expectations in mediating the relation between SES and math outcomes is stronger for majority children than for minority children.

Teachers’ Perceptions of the Interactive Boards for Teaching and Learning

The interactive board is an integral part of the modern classrooms and a tool that teachers utilize for its didactic and pedagogic potentialities. The main goal of this research was to examine teachers’ perceptions of the educational aspects (pedagogic, didactic, technical-pedagogic and technical-didactic) of the interactive board for teaching and learning in the Arab sector in Israel, where interactive boards have been introduced into the classrooms for almost two years. Three hundred ninety five teachers from three school types (primary, middle and secondary) from different districts participated in the research. A questionnaire was built to examine teachers’ perceptions in the four educational aspects. The research findings show that teachers from the three school types had positive perceptions of the interactive boards for teaching and learning. Further, significant differences were found in teachers’ perceptions of the interactive boards that could be attributed to school’s type and experience of teachers in using the interactive board in the classroom. Moreover, no significant differences were found in teachers’ perceptions that could be attributed to participating in a preparatory workshop or to gender.

Predictors of situational disengagement in the academic setting: the contribution of grades, perceived competence, and academic motivation

BACKGROUND. Although psychological disengagement is a well-documented phenomenon in the academic setting, the attempts to identify its predictors are scarce. In addition, existing research has mainly focused on chronic disengagement and less is known on the determinants of situational disengagement. AIMS. The purpose of the present study was to identify the predictors of situational disengagement in a physical education (PE) setting. In line with the core postulate of psychological disengagement, it was hypothesized that grades contribute to discounting through a decrease in perceived competence. Drawing upon self-determination theory, it was also expected that devaluing reflects the motivational orientations of individuals. SAMPLE. A total of 120 students who were in seventh, eighth, and ninth grades. METHOD. Students were asked to report their motivation towards PE and their perceived competence at the beginning of a 10-week cycle. Perceived competence in PE and psychological disengagement were assessed at the end of cycle, after grades were communicated individually to each student. RESULTS. The results revealed that grades significantly predicted discounting, through perceived competence, but did not predict devaluing. Devaluing was negatively predicted by integrated and identified regulations, and positively predicted by amotivation, whereas no motivational variables were related to discounting. CONCLUSION. The present study extends the core postulate of psychological disengagement to situational disengagement. It revealed that students may temporarily disengage their self-esteem from performance feedback through discounting, but are less inclined to devalue the academic domain when faced with negative feedback in a particular situation because of their motivational orientations.

Girls' and boys' perceptions of physical education teachers' feedback: effects on performance and psychological responses

In this study, we examined the perceptions of physical education (PE) teachers' feedback patterns with female and male high school students (n = 325). Eight physical education teachers (4 females and 4 males) were involved. We examined (a) whether teachers' feedback was perceived differently by boys and girls, and how the sex of the teacher influenced these perceptions, and (b) the effects of types of feedback (praise, no response-successful, encouragement, technical information, criticism, no response-unsuccessful, and teacher's invested time) on students' perceived competence, effort, enjoyment, and their PE performance. A multivariate analysis revealed an interaction between teacher and student gender on perceptions of teacher feedback. Hierarchical regression analyses highlighted that the perceived feedback significantly predicted students' perceptions of competence (DeltaR(2) = 0.088), effort (DeltaR(2) = 0.119), enjoyment (DeltaR(2) = 0.085), and their PE performance (DeltaR(2) = 0.039) after accounting for the gender of the students and teachers and the students' initial PE performance. The perceptions of praise and teachers' invested time were positively linked with the dependent variables, whereas encouragement and technical information and criticism were negatively linked. The findings are discussed in terms of teaching effectiveness and gender equity.

Teacher expectations and self-fulfilling prophecies: knowns and unknowns, resolved and unresolved controversies

This article shows that 35 years of empirical research on teacher expectations justifies the following conclusions: (a) Self-fulfilling prophecies in the classroom do occur, but these effects are typically small, they do not accumulate greatly across perceivers or over time, and they may be more likely to dissipate than accumulate; (b) powerful self-fulfilling prophecies may selectively occur among students from stigmatized social groups; (c) whether self-fulfilling prophecies affect intelligence, and whether they in general do more harm than good, remains unclear, and (d) teacher expectations may predict student outcomes more because these expectations are accurate than because they are self-fulfilling. Implications for future research, the role of self-fulfilling prophecies in social problems, and perspectives emphasizing the power of erroneous beliefs to create social reality are discussed.