1,720,968 research outputs found
Performance in Timss mathematics test: the influence of self-concept and socio-economic background
No full textThe purpose of this study is to evaluate the influence of students’ attitudes towards mathematics, mathematics self-concept and socio-economic status on their performance in Timss mathematics test. It also examined the relevance of the different schools’ characteristics for the prediction of students’ performance. We analyzed data related to 3997 Italian students of 170 schools, a representative sample of students in eight grade school, that participated to the Timss 2007. A multilevel analysis was conducted to distinguish how much of the variability of performance was due to student characteristics and/or to characteristics of schools and of the territorial context in which schools are located. The results showed that self-concept in mathematics helps to explain the differences in performance in mathematics. Further, the socio-economic status, at school level, contributed to the prediction of the performance in mathematics. Furthermore, in the Italian context, significant differences in performance depending on geographic area were evidenced
Status socio-economico e culturale e mathematical literacy: analisi multilevel sulle prestazioni dei quindicenni italiani alle prove PISA
No full textObiettivo principale del presente contributo è valutare la relazione tra lo status socio–economico e culturale degli studenti e il loro livello di competenza in matematica misurato all’interno del progetto internazionale OCSE PISA, considerando anche la rilevanza delle diverse caratteristiche delle scuole per la predizione della performance degli studenti. A tal fine, sono stati analizzati i dati relativi a 10835 studenti raggruppati in 364 scuole, partecipanti al progetto PISA 2003, che rappresentano un campione rappresentativo dei quindicenni italiani scolarizzati. É stata condotta un’analisi di regressione multilevel per distinguere quanta della variabilità delle performance fosse dovuta alle differenze nella condizione socio-economica e culturale dello studente e/o a caratteristiche della scuola e del contesto territoriale in cui è inserita. I risultati delle analisi evidenziano che le differenze socio–economiche e culturali a livello del singolo studente contribuiscono alla predizione della performance in matematica mentre l’indice di status socio–economico e culturale, calcolato per ciascuna scuola, permette una migliore comprensione delle ampie differenze tra scuole riscontrate in Italia. Si osservano inoltre, nel contesto italiano, rilevanti differenze nella performance tra diverse tipologie di scuola e in funzione area geografica
La didattica laboratoriale nelle università italiane: uno studio esplorativo
No full textL’area della didattica di laboratorio a livello universitario costituisce nel nostro paese un territorio inesplorato dalla ricerca empirica. Lo studio presentato in questo contributo ha avuto pertanto una funzione prevalentemente ricognitiva e si proponeva (a) di delineare un primo “profilo” delle attività formative di laboratorio, secondo una prospettiva multidimensionale e integrata della progettazione curricolare e didattica; e (b) di offrire evidenze empiriche per l’elaborazione di una mappa provvisoria di indicatori di qualità della didattica di laboratorio. A tal fine, è stata condotta una rilevazione nazionale su un campione di giudizio di 109 laboratori didattici in 31 atenei e su un gruppo di 49 laboratori dell’Università di Lecce, equamente ripartiti per macroaree disciplinari (area umanistico-giuridica e delle scienze sociali e area scientifico-tecnologica). Nell’indagine sono stati inoltre inclusi tre ministudi di caso, intesi ad approfondire particolari nuclei tematici. Lo studio ha evidenziato dimensioni specifiche e comuni nell’architettura didattica dei laboratori nei due ambiti disciplinari. In particolare, i risultati relativi alle procedure di valutazione/autovalutazione e al raccordo tra diverse componenti del curricolo (in particolare le attività di tirocinio) sembrano evidenziare difficoltà nella progettazione integrata della proposta formativa, che richiedono un impegno più sostenuto sul piano della ricerca didattica. In relazione al tema dell’allineamento del curricolo e alla progettazione di ambienti formativi “ricchi” di apprendimento, oggetto di recenti filoni di indagine e di progetti di innovazione curricolare a livello internazionale, vengono formulate alcune proposte per futuri sviluppi di ricerca
Evaluating the Contribution of Schools to the Development of Young People as Future Citizens
No full text
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
There is a limit to your openness: Mental illness stigma mediates effects of individual traits on preference for psychiatry specialty
Full text linkObjective: The widening gap between the need for mental health professionals and the low percentages of medical students pursuing a psychiatric career urges an examination of how individual traits, stigma attitudes, and related intended behaviors interact to better explain the variance in preferences for psychiatry as a specialty choice. Methods: Participants were second-year, preclinical medical students at Bologna University, Italy. The study consisted in completion of an online questionnaire evaluating preferences for the psychiatry specialty (one single item and a scenario-based response), personality traits (the Big Five Questionnaire), attitudes (Mental Illness for Clinicians’ Attitude scale), behaviors (Reported and Intended Behavior Scale), and fears toward mental illness (questionnaire created ad hoc). Sociodemographic data were also collected. Results: A total of 284 medical students [58.8% female, mean (SD) age 20.47 ± 1.90] completed the questionnaire. Preference for the psychiatry specialty was significantly and positively associated with openness to experience and negatively related with Mental Illness for Clinicians’ Attitude scale and Reported and Intended Behavior Scale. The full-mediation model provided good indices explaining 18% of the variance. Mental illness stigma was strongly and negatively associated with both openness to experience and preference for psychiatry, and the mediation results evidenced a positive and significant effect. Conclusions: Mental illness stigma influences medical students’ choice of psychiatry as a specialty, accounting for the effects of the openness to experience trait. Stigma awareness and reduction programs should be introduced as early as possible in medical education
Pain and satisfaction: healthcare providers’ facial appearance matters
No full textTrait inferences based solely on facial appearance affect many social decisions. Here we tested whether the effects of such inferences extend to the perception of physical sensations. In an actual clinical setting, we show that healthcare providers' facial appearance is a strong predictor of pain experienced by patients during a medical procedure. The effect was specific to familiarity: facial features of healthcare providers that convey feelings of familiarity were associated with a decrease in patients' perception of pain. In addition, caring appearance of the healthcare providers was significantly related to patients' satisfaction with the care they received. Besides indicating that rapid, unreflective trait inferences from facial appearance may affect important healthcare outcomes, these findings contribute to the understanding of the mechanisms underlying social modulation of pain perception
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