Thesis (M.A.)--Leland Stanford Junior University, 1921. / Bibliography: leaves 60-62.

Thesis (M. Ed.) -- University of Alberta, 2010. / "A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Education in Theoretical, Cultural and International Studies in Education, Educational Policy Studies, University of Alberta. Title from pdf file main screen (viewed on May 19, 2010) Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--Calvary Theological Seminary, 1994. / Includes Chinese translation of survey. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 71-76).

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Boston University, 2005. / Major Professor: Catherine O'Connor. Includes bibliographical references (p. 241-249)

Chinese families investing in education for their children has prompted an increasing number of students to study abroad. Sweden is becoming one of the destinations that attract a large number of Chinese students. Why do they choose Sweden? What are the factors that affect their decisions to study abroad? This article analyzes Micro-level factors (Family Influence, Gaining International Experience, Expectation, Language, etc.), Meso-level factors (Scholarships, Tuitions, Reputation of the Institution, and Quality of Education in host country), and Macro-level factors (Immigration Policy, Security Factors, and Social Culture) to find out the factors influencing Chinese students to study in Sweden. Based on this, it provides suggestions for the future promotion strategies of Swedish Universities to attract more number of Chinese students.    The data was collected through interviews with Chinese students (Exchange, Undergraduate, Master Students as well as Postgraduate Students), Swedish Teachers and Chinese Teachers. Further, surveys were conducted with Chinese applicants for Study in Uppsala University to gather more comprehensive data. Therefore, we used both qualitative and descriptive research to analyze the data.

Syfte och forskningsfråga: Syftet med studien är att undersöka varför kinesiska studenter väljer att studera på universitetsnivå i Sverige. Med detta syfte i åtanke formulerades följande forskningsfrågor: Vilka faktorer spelar in i kinesiska studenters beslut att studera utomlands? Vilka faktorer spelar in i kinesiska studenters jämförelse av olika studiedestinationer? Hur spelar dessa faktorer in vid beslutet att studera i Sverige? Metod: Metodvalet för denna uppsats är av kvalitativ karaktär och forskningsansatsen är deduktiv. Den empiriska datan bygger på åtta semistrukturerade intervjuer med kinesiska studenter som valt studera i Sverige under minst sex månader. Empiri till uppsatsens förstudie består av tre semistrukturerade samtal med personal från Linnéuniversitetet, som har en relevant koppling till det valda ämnet. Slutsats: Kinesiska studenter påverkas starkt av rekommendationer och råd från alumner med erfarenhet av att studera i Sverige. Studien ger indikationer på att råd och rekommendationer från sociala länkar med egna erfarenheter har en stark inverkan på beslutet vid köp av en högengagemangstjänst i en kultur med en hög grad av Hofstedes kulturella dimensioner: kollektivism och osäkerhetsundvikande. / Purpose and research question: The aim of the thesis is to examine why Chinese students choose Sweden as a destination for studies abroad. With the above stated purpose in mind, the research questions are as follow: What factors influence Chinese students’ decision- making of studying abroad? What factors influence Chinese students comparison between different study destinations? How do these factors affect the decision to study in Sweden? Method: The study is based in a qualitative research method. The empirical data is collected through a pilot study with three semi-structured interviews with staff from Linnaeus University and a study with eight semi- structured interviews with Chinese students that currently are studying in Sweden or have studied in Sweden. Conclusion: Chinese students are highly affected by recommendations from alumni with experience from studying in Sweden. The result of the study indicate the importance of advice and recommendations from social links with similar experiences in the decision making when buying a high-involvement service in a culuture with a high degree of Hofstedeés cultural dimensions: collectivism and uncertainty avoidance.

Perfectionism has been related to both adaptive functioning such as positive achievement striving, as well as to negative outcomes such as procrastination and depression. Numerous studies, using primarily Caucasian subjects, document a relationship between multidimensional perfectionism and depression. Few studies have examined perfectionism in samples from different cultural backgrounds. The present multidimensional conceptualization and operational definition of perfectionism remains to be tested in terms of meaningfulness and applicability to other cultural groups. Therefore the overall aim of the current study is to determine if the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (Hewitt & Flett, 1991) shows evidence of construct validity in a sample of university students from Chinese cultural backgrounds. Evidence of construct validity is obtained by investigating similarities and differences between the two cultural groups in the following: the internal structure of the measure; and the relationships between the measure and other measures (concurrent validity). Differences in mean levels of perfectionism between Chinese-Canadian and European Canadian students are also investigated. Data for 191 subjects are reported for the following measures: Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (Hewitt & Flett, 1991); Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (Frost et al, 1990); Beck Depression Inventory (Beck et al, 1979); Suinn-Lew Asian Self-Identity Acculturation Scale (Suinn et al, 1987); a Background Information Sheet. Evidence of construct validity and of the previously documented relationship between socially-prescribed perfectionism and depression was found for the Chinese-Canadian sample. The current study lends support for using the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (Hewitt & Flett, 1991) with Chinese-Canadian university students. / Education, Faculty of / Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of / Graduate

No description available.

Emergence is a fundamental concept in many modern scientific theories, but emergent processes are difficult for science learners to understand. This dissertation investigated the following research questions. First, which type of instructional support is more effective in learning emergent processes while using computer simulation: receiving explanations directly (condition RE), or self-explaining (condition SE) simulation behavior. Second, can students form emergent schema without being explicitly told? Third, do students’ misconceptions about emergent processes come from a lack of the emergent schema? This study employed a 2x2 experimental design. The main independent variable is termed Cognitive Engagement, with two levels: high engagement (condition SE) versus low engagement (condition RE). The second independent variable is termed Schema, with two levels: comparing attributes of emergent and direct processes with examples (condition DES) versus only showing examples without mentioning any attributes (condition DEX). To address the first question, a pilot study was conducted among students at a U.S. graduate school of education. High-prior-knowledge participants were defined as those reporting that they had learned diffusion before. Low-prior-knowledge participants were defined as participants reporting they had never learned diffusion before. The results showed that both high-prior-knowledge and low-prior-knowledge participants who self-explained (SE) performed significantly better than those who received explanations (RE) in explaining the causal structure underlying emergent processes. To better understand which instructional support (RE versus SE) is more effective, the main dissertation study was conducted among Chinese middle school students in a classroom study. The students showed no knowledge of emergent processes before learning and were all considered as low-prior-knowledge participants. Contrary to the results of the pilot study, participants who received explanations (RE) performed significantly better than those who self-explained (SE) in understanding near transfer about diffusion and explaining the causal structure underlying emergent processes. These results might come from the differences in working memory across age, or from cultural differences surrounding the value of received instruction versus self-explanations. Regarding the second research question, middle school students who were only instructed in examples (DEX) improved significantly in understanding basic knowledge and near transfer about diffusion. Though not significantly, students in condition RE – DEX, where participants were only instructed in examples and read explanations, improved in understanding the causal structure underlying emergent processes at the posttest. These results suggested that students can form some knowledge of the emergent schema without being explicitly told. Regarding the third research question, middle school students who were instructed in the direct and emergent schema (DES) performed significantly better than those who were only instructed in examples (DEX) in understanding the basic knowledge, near transfer, and far transfer about diffusion, and explaining the causal structure underlying emergent processes. These results suggested that some misconceptions about emergent processes come from a lack of the emergent schema. However, participants in all conditions showed no difference in the categorization of the two processes. Participants more frequently mentioned emergent attributes in an example that had very similar surface characteristics with the emergent example shown in the DES condition. However, no one mentioned emergent attributes in the example that had very similar surface characteristics with the direct example shown in the DES condition. This result suggests that some misconceptions stem from difficulties participants have in correctly categorizing processes as having emergent properties or not.

The ability to think creatively has been recognized as a skill necessary for design students’ personal and professional development and success. Therefore, in recent years, the core educational aim of design education in China shifted emphasis from training students in skills such as drawing and painting, toward encouraging them to be creative and become problem-solvers. Based on a non-equivalent control group, pretest- posttest design, this quasi-experimental study examined the effectiveness of a creativity course in developing creative thinking in Chinese university design students. The researcher developed a ten-week course plan in concordance with Davis’ AUTA model (1982) (a model of creativity development based on Awareness, Understanding, Techniques, and Self-Actualization) to improve students’ creative thinking. This research design used a convenience sample of two first-year design classes that comprised a treatment group of 31 students and a control group of 31 students, making a total of 62 participants. The treatment group took the ten-week creativity training course, whereas the control group did not attend the course. ANCOVA was used to analyze the pretest and posttest scores for the Figural Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking. The results showed there were significant differences between the treatment group and control group on overall posttest scores and three subscores of creativity thinking in Fluency, Originality and Elaboration. Although there were no significant differences in two subscores of creative thinking, the treatment group did show improvement on all five subscores. The results demonstrated that the ten-week creativity training course improved design students’ creativity level, especially in the overall creative thinking. Recommendations for both educational policy makers and educators based on this study include: a) allowing creativity enhancing instruction as separate courses to become an integral part of the design educational process and no longer consider it as the inessential of the design curricula; b) providing students more opportunities to use creative skills and creative thinking techniques to solve real design problems; c) providing pre-service and in-service teacher training programs to implement creativity instruction effectively.