The aim of this study was to examine the relationships among pre-service science teachers&rsquo / personality, self-regulation, and teaching self-efficacy by proposing and testing a comprehensive conceptual model. In the model, it was hypothesized that personality traits are directly linked to pre-service science teachers&rsquo / self-efficacy and academic self-regulation, and pre-service science teachers&rsquo / academic self-regulation is directly related to their self-efficacy. A total of 1794 pre-service science teachers (876 males and 905 females) from 27 education faculty partic ipated in the study. Self-efficacy (i.e. self-efficacy for student engagement, for instructional strategies, and for classroom management), academic self-regulation (i.e. achievement goals, task value, control of learning beliefs, test anxiety, metacognitive self-regulation, effort regulation, and peer learning), and personality trait (i.e. Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness) were assessed by self-report instruments. The results of the path analysis revealed that agreeableness, neuroticism, performance approach goals, and use of metacognitive strategies were positively linked to different dimensions of self-efficacy, namely self-efficacy for student engagement, instructional strategies, and classroom management. In general, while agreeableness and neuroticism were found to be positively associated with different facets of academic self-regulation and self-efficacy, openness was found to be negatively linked to these adaptive outcomes.

Adolescence is characterized as the transition period from childhood to adulthood and healthy adjustment invokes internal and external resources. The individual resources consist of the regulatory abilities, which are influenced by emotional family context. Emotional family context includes factors such as parenting, attachment quality to parents, and the level of marital conflict between parents. However, these three research areas have relatively remained separate from each other and the period of adolescence is mostly neglected in longitudinal research. In order to partially fill in this gap, both cross-sectional and longitudinal relationships between proximal family contextual factors, regulatory abilities and psychosocial adjustment of the adolescents were examined by collecting data from first and second grade students of two high schools (N = 426), their teachers (N = 353), and parents (N = 187 for mothers, N = 175 for fathers). In line with the propositions of the Attachment (Bowlby, 1969 / 1973) and Self-Determination Theories (SDT / Deci &amp / Ryan, 1985), and the frameworks within marital conflict literature (Davies &amp / Cummings, 1994 / Grych &amp / Fincham, 1990), it was anticipated that parental warmth, behavioral control, and secure attachment to both parents would influence regulatory capacities of the adolescents positively, and healthy regulation processes would be related to successful psychosocial adjustment of the adolescents. On the other hand, parental rejection, comparing adolescents with others, psychological control, and marital conflict would predict low levels of regulatory abilities, and in turn, they would be associated with poor psychosocial adjustment. Similarly, the longitudinal effects of marital conflict on parenting and the effects of attachment quality to parents on regulatory development of the adolescents were also examined. Participants completed multiple measures of the major variables in the study. The structural equation modeling (SEM) analyses were used to test the proposed mediated models. The findings of the study mostly supported the direct effects of emotional family context on regulatory abilities of the adolescents, their problem behaviors, and the quality of the relationships with their peers. The results were generally consistent with the previous research in the Western cultures. Positive emotional family context variables were related with the healthy development, whereas negative ones were related with poor developmental outcomes. The results of covariance analyses also showed that attachment strength to parents and the quality of peer relationships were related with healthy regulatory processes of the adolescents. The longitudinal SEM analyses showed that externalization problems of the adolescents, which were associated with the marital conflict between parents, predicted higher levels of negative parenting in the long run. Additionally, secure attachment to parents predicted high levels of positive and low levels of negative parenting, all of which were associated with adolescents&rsquo / high levels of positive regulatory capacities. This study contributed to the understanding of the effects of emotional family context on adolescent optimal development through time and showed that for a healthy adjustment, high-quality close relationships both with the family and the peers were required.

The purpose of this non-experimental, causal-comparative study was to examine how gender, reading ability, and mathematics ability differentially moderated students' mathematical problem-solving processes, linguistic explanations of those solution processes, achievement on a mathematical problem-solving test, self-efficacy on a self-reported rating scale, and self-assessment on a self-reported rating scale. The investigation addressed five research questions. First, to what extent are students' mathematical problem-solving processes related to gender? Second, to what extent is children's performance in mathematical problem solving related to gender, reading ability, and mathematics ability? Third, to what extent is the quality of students' linguistic explanations of their problem-solving processes related to gender, reading ability and mathematics ability? Fourth, to what extent is the relationship between students' feelings of self-efficacy when commencing work on a mathematical problem and their actual performance related to gender, reading ability and mathematics ability? Finally, to what extent is students' ability to assess their own performance on mathematical problem-solving tasks related to gender, reading ability, and mathematics ability? After being briefed in the use of the self-efficacy and self-assessment reporting scales, the students from 16 fifth-grade classrooms were tested with a 12-item mathematical problem-solving test. The final sample consisted of 237 students, 129 boys and 108 girls. All student responses were scored for performance and linguistic explanation using holistic rubrics, and were coded according to the solution process employed. The results indicate that gender does not play a significant role in students' choice of problem-solving processes. As expected, mathematics ability was significantly related to performance as was reading ability. Gender was not found to be a significant predictor of performance. Reading ability and mathematics ability were both strongly related to the quality of students' linguistic explanations of their problem-solving processes, but gender was not. Boys consistently exhibited higher levels of self-efficacy, but girls were more accurate in their self-efficacy feelings. Reading ability was also found to be a significant predictor of the accuracy of students' self-efficacy feelings, but mathematics ability was not. Reading ability was found to be the strongest predictor of the accuracy of students' self-assessment, with gender also showing a significant relationship.

Historically, youth with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) have experienced higher rates of absenteeism, lower grade point averages, and higher course failure than their non-disabled peers; as a result, students with EBD are at significant risk of school failure, dropping out of school, and experiencing poor life outcomes. Emerging literature suggests that teaching self-determination to students with EBD may be an effective strategy to address the in-school and post-school challenges faced by youth with EBD. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of teaching self-determination on adolescents with EBD's on- and off-task behavior, grades, progress towards self-selected goals, and global self-determination. The Self-Determined Learning Model of Instruction (SDLMI) was implemented with four high school students with EBD between the ages of 14 and 16 years who were having difficulty meeting classroom behavioral expectations in two general education classrooms. The SDLMI teaches key components of self-determination, is suitable for diverse students, and is compatible with major academic content areas. Twelve lessons were taught as a separate curriculum individually to each participant. The entire study took 25-weeks, between October and April, to complete. A multiple baseline across participants design was used to examine the functional relation between SDLMI intervention and the on- and off-task behaviors of high school students with EBD. The results showed that all four students significantly increased on-task behaviors and decreased off-task behaviors and all four participants maintained the increase of on-task behaviors and the decrease of off-task behaviors after the intervention was withdrawn. Moreover, all four students made progress towards their goal of implementing on-task behavior in the classroom and generalized on-task behavior to a second general education classroom. However, data regarding the impact on students' grades and self-determination were inconclusive. The study provides evidence of effective self-determination instruction that supports students to improve their behavior in a general education classroom. It also provides direction for future research exploring the relationship between behavior and academic skills. Contributions to the field, limitations, and implications for practice and future research are provided. / text

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INTRODUCTION Relevance of the scientific problem: Individual experience of teachers, perceiving one’s self as an instance of the subject’s activities in the teacher career is becoming one of the pre-conditions for professional development. However, modern educology still targets at general requirements for a teacher’s work rather than his/her professional individuality. It is impossible to realise the new paradigm of humanistic education without the quintessence of perception of an educator’s personality, aim, content and characteristics of professional development. All this cannot proceed without an expression of professional individuality, which realises the humanistic potential of educating. Nevertheless, solving of such problems in educology still encounters a number of obstacles: the boundaries, fields and goals of teacher activities, the realisation of which depend on a teacher’s individuality are not sufficiently defined, because everything what is individual is referred to as a common element. A statement of Ušinskas (1983) that in teaching everything is based on a personality and “only a personality is capable/may educate a personality” also remains declarative (1983, p. 14). Processes of individual professional becoming of college teachers have not been researched, but they continuously foster interest of scholars as there is a growing tendency to assess a teacher in terms of his/her individuality, uniqueness and individual style (Pukelis, 2004; Laužackas, 2003... [to full text]

This study developed a Methodology for the systematic and strategic fostering of creativity in graphic design education at university level. The thesis identified four social-psychological factors that have an effect on graphic design students' creative ability, namely their level of intrinsic motivation for creative activities; their ability to maintain autonomous, self-regulative behaviour that is conducive to creativity; a healthy self-belief in their creative ability and the minimization of negative stress in the educational milieu where creative tasks are undertaken. Each of these factors imply a range of strategies that may be used to maintain and stimulate creativity in graphic design education, such as the use of certain types of feedback, evaluation procedures that supports creativity, the creation of a safe, democratic, non-controlling classroom climate or the deliberate use of music and humoristic activities in the educational milieu. Additionally, a range of cognitive strategies that may be used for idea generation in graphic design are proposed. They include divergent thinking techniques, such as 'Random Association'; 'Morphological Synthesis'; 'Metaphors and Analogies'; 'Mind-mapping'; 'Idea Checklist'; 'Visual Thinking' and 'Sense Connections'. Each technique is described in terms of its unique methodology, advantages, creative potential and its applicability to graphic design. The study also proposes a tactical approach to the creative process, suggesting various cognitive strategies that may be used for each phase of the creative process. These strategies ensure that the whole spectrum of cognitive activities required for the successful production of a creative product is executed. The sum of these cognitive and social-psychological strategies provided the basis for the development -of two theoretical constructs that may be implemented as part of an undergraduate graphic design curriculum to cultivate creativity in students. They are: (1) a Learning Program in Creativity studies that consists of a number of study units and aims to provide tuition in the theoretical foundation that students need to enhance their creative ability (2) a range of General Guidelines that aim to provide educators with a range of didactic strategies and practices to support and stimulate creative ability in graphic design students. / Thesis (Ph.D. (History of Arts))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2006.

Relevance of the scientific problem: Individual experience of teachers, perceiving one’s self as an instance of the subject’s activities in the teacher career is becoming one of the pre-conditions for professional development. However, modern educology still targets at general requirements for a teacher’s work rather than his/her professional individuality. It is impossible to realise the new paradigm of humanistic education without the quintessence of perception of an educator’s personality, aim, content and characteristics of professional development. All this cannot proceed without an expression of professional individuality, which realises the humanistic potential of educating. Nevertheless, solving of such problems in educology still encounters a number of obstacles: the boundaries, fields and goals of teacher activities, the realisation of which depend on a teacher’s individuality are not sufficiently defined, because everything what is individual is referred to as a common element. A statement of Ušinskas (1983) that in teaching everything is based on a personality and “only a personality is capable/may educate a personality” also remains declarative (1983, p. 14). Processes of individual professional becoming of college teachers have not been researched, but they continuously foster interest of scholars as there is a growing tendency to assess a teacher in terms of his/her individuality, uniqueness and individual style (Pukelis, 2004; Laužackas, 2003; Leontjev, 1999... [to full text]

The factors of psychological training of athletes are researched not sufficiently enough. Many authors underline that psychological training of athletes is a complicated process, without which the enhancement of modern sports is impossible. The problem of the study is that data, which would reveal the influence of psychological training on the self-regulation and self-control of the athletes, is still lacking. Ability to control precipitation states can be characterised by indicators: self-regulation and self-control. This study is meant to analyse the peculiarities of self-confidence, self-control and self-regulation among basketball players of Lithuanian student‘s basketball league. The scientific problem is that we still lack information of how psychological skills training programs could help elite basketball players' train their psychological skills. During the research it was tried to unfold if there is a statistically reliable difference between female and male basketball players. The purpose of this study is to establish the peculiarities of self-confidence, self-control and self-regulation among basketball players of Lithuanian student‘s basketball league. Objectives: to establish the peculiarities of self-confidence and it‘s components, self-control and self-regulation among athletes. The following research methods have been applied in the study: P. Kelly, M. Snaider and J. J. Kiseliov questionnaires, data has been analysed by means of the mathematical statistics... [to full text]

Šiame darbe aptariant socialinių ir ekonominių struktūrų ypatumus pagrindinė analizė sutelkiama ties esminiu – savireguliacijos - principu. Pasitelkus socializmo, istoricizmo, psichologizmo, racionalizmo, biurokratinės ir verslinės tvarkos teorijas analizuojama kaip savireguliacijos mechanizmo principas veikia įvairiose visuomenės struktūrose. Aptariant bendrus šių teorijų bruožus siekiama atskleisti ir bendrus jų principus bei prigimtį. Kiekvienos teorijos mechanizmas funkcionuojantis pagal savus dėsnius tarnauja vienai ar kitai tvarkai. Vienos teorijos yra sureguliuojančios, t.y., jos būtinos ten, kur netinka savireguliacinė tvarka, o kitos yra spontaniškos prigimties ir joms negalioja su-tvarkymo mechanizmas. Centralizuoto valdymo siekis yra sukontroliuoti bendros tvarkos principų laikymąsi. Egzistuoja prieštara ir perskyra tarp centralizuoto valdymo ir saviregualicijos – savivaldos principų. Tie būdai, kurie tinka susireguliuojančiai tvarkai palaikyti, negali būti pritaikomi ir reguliuojančioje tvarkoje, todėl viena tvarka negali būti pakeista kitu tų pačių reikalų tvarkymo būdu. Savireguliacinis mechanizmas yra būdingas toms tvarkoms, kurioms negalioja su-reguliuojančios tvarkos būdas, tačiau tuo pačiu šios tvarkos visada yra koegzistuojančiame santykyje. Kai viena tvarka įgyja kitos tvarkos bruožų ji praranda savo esmines funkcijas. Iracionalumo principu paremtos teorijos priskiria vienai tvarkai kitos tvarkos bruožus. Šiame darbe aptariama socialinių ir ekonominių... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / In this paper, in which the structure of the social and the economic aspects are being discussed, the main analysis is based on the fundamental principal of self-regulation. Using theories of socialism, historicism, psichologism, rationalism, bureaucratic and business order the analysis of how the mechanism of self-regulation behaves in different social is being proceeded. In order to find out about the nature and the features of these theories, several discussions are being processed. Each single feature of a theory is dependant on some orders. Some theories are controlling which means they are required when self-regulation order is not appropriate. The others have spontaneous nature and no rules of the controlling mechanism can be applied to them. The purpose of centralist order is to control the following of the rules of the main order. There are the face off and distinction between the principles of centralist order and self-regulation (self-control). The methods that can be applied to the self-controlling order can never be applied to the controlling order and because of that, one order can not be replaced to another. Self-regulation mechanism is inherent to the orders to which the controlling order can not be applied. But at the same time, these two orders are always in a co-existent relationship. When one of them takes over some features from another, it loses its’ key functions. Theories based on the principal of irrationalism attribute the features of one order... [to full text]