The purpose of this study was to investigate whether or not there is a discrepancy between the parents' perceptions of children's personal problems and those of their preadolescent children.The research was designed to test eight null hypotheses which were formulated to this effect. The instrument utilized in this research was the Mooney Problem Check List (Junior High School Form) for both parents and children. The Problem Check List has 7 sub-sections which include 30 items for each area. The seven sub-sections are: Health and Physical Development (HPD), School (S), Home and Family (HF), Money, Work, and the Future (MWF), Boy and Girl Relations (BG), Relations to People in General (PG), and Self-centered Concerns (SC).The subjects for this study were fifteen sets of both parents and their eighth grade children. The children were all Caucasians and came from a rural area.The following procedure was adopted to collect the data: packages of materials were prepared and sent to each of the 45 parents randomly selected from one school. These contained two copies of the Mooney Problem Check Lists, a parents' consent form, an application form for an individual interview or family conference, and two stamped, addressed envelopes. The parents were requested to complete the forms and to return them within two weeks. This resulted in response from six single parents and fifteen sets of both parents.The mean scores for each of seven areas and the totals were obtained for the children, their fathers, and mothers separately. The group means were compared and analyzed in order to accept or reject the null hypotheses. Analysis of variance technique was applied to compare the means of the three groups--children, fathers, and mothers-on each of the seven areas and the total. In order to determine if the differences were significant, the alpha level of .05 was used. When the differences between the means were found to be significant for a given variable, the post hoc Tukey HSD procedure was used to carry out the further analysis (Kirk, 1968).The findings obtained showed that the null hypotheses of Health and Physical Development and School were rejected. Therefore, the Tukey's HSD procedures were used to determine which pairs of means differed in these areas. Post hoc analyses of the means by the Tukey's HSD indicated that the children's reports of personal problems significantly differed from the parents' report. The children disagreed with father and mother but father and mother agreed with each other in Health and Physical Development and School areas. Null hypotheses 3 through 8 were not rejected. All three groups agreed in the children's personal problems checked in Home & Family, Money, Work, the Future, Boy & Girl Relations, Relations to People in General and Self-centered Concerns areas and the total.Based on these results several conclusions were made. Parents perceived their children's Health and Physical Development and School problems differently from the way the children perceived them. Parents agreed with their children concerning Home and Family, Money, Work, the Future, Boy and Girl Relations, Relations to People in General, and Self-centered Concerns and Total areas. Parents agreed with each other on all seven categories. The differences shown in the two areas of Health and Physical Development and School as viewed by children and parents is possibly attributable to lack of communication between them. However, this study had a small sample size and interpretation must be cautious.

The incidence of suicide attempts and completions during academically gifted students' attendance at state-supported, residential high schools was the subject of this study. School personnel's perceptions of this environment, roles in identifying students at-risk for attempting suicide, and knowledge about suicide were also studied. Five schools participated in this study. Initial interviews were conducted with each school's director, measuring the incidence of suicide utilizing an adaptation of a survey developed by M. Hayes and R. Sloat (1990). Questionnaires distributed to personnel included questions about knowledge about the school's history concerning suicide, perceptions of the environment, and knowledge about suicide. The adaptation of Hayes and Stoat's survey was included in questionnaire materials, along with the School-Level Environment Questionnaire (Rentoul & Fraser, 1983) and 11 true/false statements measuring knowledge of suicide. A total of 83 questionnaires were completed. Telephone interviews were conducted with a random sample of 21 personnel who completed the questionnaire. These interviews consisted of open-ended questions measuring the environment of these schools and perceived roles of personnel in identifying students at-risk for suicide. Descriptive and qualitative analyses were conducted. Ten attempts and two completions occurred among 4899 students. Suicide attempts and completions were measured to be .20% and .04% respectively. These findings indicate that these schools need to be prepared in order to prevent suicide among this population. The environment of these schools was one of affiliation, autonomy, and innovativeness. However, affiliation predominately existed within specific departments and/or divisions. Personnel characterized their roles in suicide prevention as unofficial because of lack of time, academic priorities, and other individuals who were better equipped to respond to students. Even though personnel considered their roles unofficial, they attempted to meet students' emotional needs through support, observation, and involvement. Knowledge of suicide was observed in the areas of incidence of suicide among adolescents, importance of warning signs, factors increasing risk, and need for intervention. Respondents were less knowledgeable about the rate of suicide among adolescents, factors not increasing risk, and myths about suicide. / Department of Educational Psychology

The purpose of this study was to determine if the attitudes of a selected group of American high school students towards a different nation in general and Iranian's in particular would be affected as a result of presenting them with factual information about that culture through the use of audio-visual aids.One hundred and twenty high school students between ages of 13 - 18 who attended Burris Laboratory School in Muncie, IN. were randomly selected and assigned to an experimental and a control group. The number of students who responded to the questionnaire and participated in the study was 77. There were 40 students in the experimental and 37 students in the control group. A new semantic differential scale was developed by the researcher in order to obtain measures of attitude towards Iranians. In order to validate the measurement instrument a pilot study was performed. The study utilized a Posttest- only design.The experimental group received factual information about Iranian culture through a handout and also two series of slide-tape presentations, which were prepared by the investigator. The control group received no treatment. The information on the handout and slides was about Iranian life style, education, religion, art, tribes, industry, clothing, and architecture. The information was intended to be factual rather than political propaganda. Two weeks after the experimental group received the second series of slides the revised semantic differential scale was administered to both control and experimental groups. The data was analyzed by a 2 by 2 by 2 multivariate analysis of variance. The following null hypotheses were tested:1 - There is no significant difference between the means of the experimental and control groups for various outcome factors of the semantic differential scale when considered simultaneously.2 - There is no significant difference between the means of male and female respondents for experimental and control groups for various outcome factors of the semantic differential scale when considered simultaneously. Findings:1- There were no significant multivariate interactions (2 or 3 ways).2- There were no significant sex differences.3- There was a significant treatment difference in a multivariate sense. However the interpretation of the univariates did not permit the attribution of differences to either factor singly. Rather a linear composite of the 2 factors is needed to explain the difference found. Generally these linear composites are not interpretable in a conceptual sense.Conclusion:The results of the study suggest that giving factual information about Iranian culture through use of slide-tape presentation can bring about some change in the attitude of high school students about Iranian people. However the study failed to identify the nature of this change. Further study is needed to identify better the nature of the change as a result of giving factual information. / Department of Secondary, Higher, and Foundations of Education

Research demonstrates correlations between the sensing-intuitive dimension of psychological type as interpreted by the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) (Myers 1985) and science-related career choices. Alarming decreases in science-related career interests prompted this study which employed psychological type theory to investigate relationships between teaching strategies preferences of Indiana high school biology teachers and science-related attitudes of their academically-talented students. The purpose was to learn if good biology teachers instill positive attitudes within the context of the sensing-intuitive dimension by adapting teaching strategies to match the psychological type composition of their classes and therefore inspire students to pursue science-related careers. Teacher and student psychological type was determined by the MBTI. Teaching style preferences of 20 exemplary teachers and 16 randomly-selected teachers related to their 722 academically-talented students were explored by the Biology Teaching Strategies Inventory developed by the researcher. This instrument contained 40 forced-choice items with paired sensing and intuitive activities written to reflect sound biological conceptual themes from BSCS recommendations. An ANOVA determined that neither teacher group appeared to be adapting teaching strategies. Both teacher groups preferred teaching strategies corresponding to their own psychological type, sensing or intuitive, even when they were to select strategies to use with their specific classes.Science-related attitudes of 338 academically-talented students of 10 exemplary and 16 randomly-selected teachers were examined by seven scales of the Test of Science-related Attitudes (TOSRA) (Barry Fraser 1981). A covariant analysis of student science-related attitudes coupled with student variables of Psychological type (sensing and intuitive), career choice, gender, and socio-economic level indicated statistically significant differences in attitude scores of students of both teacher groups: females of exemplary teachers scored almost as high as males of both teacher groups on enjoyment of science learning and science leisure interests, sensing males of higher socio-economic levels had very low attitudes on adoption of scientific attitudes, females of both teacher groups had more positive attitudes than males on normality of scientists, students of exemplary teachers choosing biology-related careers had lower scores than students with similar career choices of randomly-selected teachers. Intuitive students had more positive attitudes than sensing students on all TOSRA scales. / Department of Biology

This study analyzed three different groups’ perceptions of 21st Century literacy and technology. The three groups were juniors and seniors at two large urban high schools, juniors and seniors in teacher education programs from four mid-west post-secondary schools, and the four deans of education at four post-secondary schools. A mixed methods research design was used including a survey of student groups and interviews of all four deans and representatives of each of the schools. Findings included differences in perceptions of each of the groups as well as differences in access and use of technology. The implications for teacher education and future research in the area of 21st Century literacy are included. / Department of Educational Leadership

Within the framework of social cognitive theory, the influence of self-efficacy beliefs and metacognitive prompting on genetics problem solving ability among high school students in Kenya was examined through a mixed methods research design. A quasi-experimental study, supplemented by focus group interviews, was conducted to investigate both the outcomes and the processes of students’ genetics problem-solving ability. Focus group interviews substantiated and supported findings from the quantitative instruments. The study was conducted in 17 high schools in Western Province, Kenya. A total of 2,138 high school students were purposively sampled. A sub-sample of 48 students participated in focus group interviews to understand their perspectives and experiences during the study so as to corroborate the quantitative data. Quantitative data were analyzed through descriptive statistics, zero-order correlations, 2 x 2 factorial ANOVA,, and sequential hierarchical multiple regressions. Qualitative data were transcribed, coded, and reported thematically. Results revealed metacognitive prompts had significant positive effects on student problem-solving ability independent of gender. Self-efficacy and metacognitive prompting significantly predicted genetics problem-solving ability. Gender differences were revealed, with girls outperforming boys on the genetics problem-solving test. Furthermore, self-efficacy moderated the relationship between metacognitive prompting and genetics problem-solving ability. This study established a foundation for instructional methods for biology teachers and recommendations are made for implementing metacognitive prompting in a problem-based learning environment in high schools and science teacher education programs in Kenya. / Department of Biology

The current study investigated the mediating role of motivational self-regulation (MSR) strategies (i.e., mastery self-talk, performance/extrinsic self-talk, performance/relative ability self-talk, interest enhancement, relevance enhancement, efficacy enhancement) in the relationships between achievement goals and cognitive and behavioral engagement (i.e., involved engagement, withdrawal in the face of difficulties, avoidance of challenges, rehearsal and elaboration) among 1096 Chinese gifted high school students (43% male). Structural equation modeling supported the mediating role of MSR strategies. Mastery goals positively predicted all six MSR strategies with medium to large effects whereas performance approach goals positively predicted five out of six MSR strategies with small to medium effects. While all six MSR strategies positively predicted involved engagement, rehearsal and elaboration, interest enhancement and efficacy enhancement showed additional benefits. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. / Department of Educational Psychology

This study investigated the attitudes of grade 11 female students towards the study of Physical Science in Mafikeng. Attitudinal measures, such as levels of student's interest and the perceived utility of science, were examined. The subjects of the study included grade 11 female students from selected high schools in the Mafikeng District. A total of 300 female students participated in the study. A survey method was used in this study. A questionnaire was administered to examine the perceptions and attitudes of female students towards the study of Physical Science. A three-point positive/neutral/negative scale was utilized in sections B. C. and Din order to encourage students to make an attitude choice. The research findings showed that the attitudes of grade 11 female students in the selected high schools were affected by parents, teachers, peers, classroom environment, personal perceptions and aspirations. / M. Ed. (Science Education) North-West University, Mafikeng Campus, 2006

This single case study in Peace Education (PE) was conducted in Central Mexico where violence is manifest in different ways and consequently, PE may be an important intervention. The aim of this study was to acquire an understanding of the impact of PE in Mexico and to understand how students conceptualize peace and violence and how these phenomena impact their aspirations. Participants in this study were a school principal, teachers as well as 9th grade students from a telesecundaria. This research produced a number of key findings: Mexico does not have one concrete conception of PE; the student participants’ definition of peace and violence reflect their reality; and their aspirations can be commensurate with the principles of PE. One of the main conclusions drawn from this study is that although there are a several practices of PE in Mexico, the country needs one concrete proposal of PE tailored to its specific reality.

Bakgrund: Sjukvården är i ständigt behov av blod och bloddonation har under senaste åren minskat. En viktig uppgift för blodcentraler är att rekrytera nya blodgivare. Forskning på gymnasieelevers inställning till blodgivning saknas. Syfte: Att undersöka gymnasieelevers inställning till blodgivning och deras anledningar till att donera och att inte donera. Könsskillnader ska också utredas. Syftet är också att utreda vad dem vet om blodgivning. Metod: Etthundra fyrtiofem gymnasieelever från Uppsala och Stockholm besvarade en enkät inriktad på bloddonation. Resultat: Endast 22,1% visste vad som krävdes för att donera blod. Majoriteten av gymnasieeleverna ansåg att det var bra med bloddonation. Hälften ville donera blod (52,4%). Den främsta anledningen att donera blod var att vilja hjälpa andra. Stick- och blodrädsla var den främsta anledningen till att inte donera blod. Främsta anledningen att inte donera blod för männen var ointresse (21,8%). Medicinska skäl var en viktig anledning för kvinnor att inte donera blod (19,1%). Slutsats: Kunskapen hos gymnasieelever angående bloddonation är bristfällig. Gymnasieelever anser att bloddonation är bra. Gymnasieelever vill donera blod för att hjälpa andra, och väljer att inte donera blod på grund av att de har stickrädsla och är rädda för blod. Anledningar till att donera blod är liknande mellan män och kvinnor, medan anledningarna till att inte donera blod har stor spridning. / Background: Health care is in constant need of blood and blood donation during the last few years has declined. An important task for blood centers is to recruit new donors. There’s a lack of research on high school students' attitudes towards blood donation. Objective: To examine high school students' attitudes towards blood donation and their reasons for donating and not donating. Gender differences will also be investigated. The aim is also to investigate what they know about blood donation. Method: One hundred forty-five high school students from Uppsala and Stockholm answered a questionnaire focused on blood donation. Results: Only 22.1% knew what was required to donate blood. The majority of high school students felt that it was good with blood donation. Half wanted to donate blood (52.4 %). The main reason to donate blood wanted to help others. Needle phobia and fear of blood was the main reason not to donate blood. Main reason for not donating blood for men was lack of interest (21.8 %). Medical reasons were an important reason for women not to donate blood (19.1 %). Conclusion: The knowledge of high school students about blood donation is flawed. High school students believe that blood donation is good. High school students want to donate blood to help others, and chooses not to donate blood because of their needle phobia and fear of blood. Reasons to donate blood are similar between men and women, while reasons for not donating blood is widespread.