This paper explores the use of systems theory to inform the mainstreaming of sustainability in a university's functions as it responds to sustainable development challenges in its local context. Offering a case study of Rhodes University, the paper shows how the use of systems models and concepts, underpinned by a critical realist ontology and an…

The study assessed the prevalence and predictors of post-traumatic symptomatology and emotional and behavioral difficulties in siblings of children who incurred war-related injuries. It was predicted that injury severity, gender and attributional style would account for a significant amount of the variance in post-traumatic stress symptoms and…

This study investigates attitudes and motivation that influence heritage and non-heritage students' learning of Chinese as a second language, examining the similarities and differences among three subgroups: bilingual, heritage motivated, and non-heritage learners. The study uses the socio-educational model by Gardner (1985), the internal…

This study examined the relationships between decoding ability (the ability to relate graphemes to phonemes) in French as a foreign language, self-reported use of such decoding, and dimensions of motivation, specifically self-efficacy and attribution, among young-beginner learners in England. It investigated whether these factors were related to a…

The number of distance education (DE) offerings, including programs and courses, continue to grow in higher education. The current economic hardships have only increased the demand. However, with this increase comes the urgent need to maintain a reliable and consistent DE faculty. This need is complicated by the increasing reliance on contingent…

The current study was undertaken to examine the effectiveness of the Rowan University-School of Osteopathic Medicine - Summer Pre-Medical Research and Education Program (Summer PREP), a postsecondary medical sciences enrichment pipeline program for under-represented and disadvantaged students. Thirty-four former program participants were surveyed…

Relationships between cultural factors (ethnicity and religiosity) and dimensions of students' attributions for their success and failure (locus of control, stability, personal control and external control), along with motivational goals (learning, performance approach, performance avoidance, and work avoidance), self-efficacy, intelligence…

For decades, measures of academic outcomes have demonstrated the underachievement of minority students. The purpose of this study was to include student voices in a discussion of achievement by exploring the experiences and beliefs of minority girls that related to academic achievement in one single-sex urban high school. Moreover, the research…

In this dissertation, I aim to clarify the factors affecting a consumers' choice between the Internet and a financial planner for making saving and investment decisions, based on household production theory. Moreover, I explore the likelihood of an individual being an Internet user (vs. a non-user), a financial planner user (vs. a non-user),…

This study aims at identifying factors that influence students' choice not to pursue a chemistry-related career by analyzing the experiences of secondary education chemistry teachers in Greece and of Greek adults who have not pursued studies related to science. Data collection was done with the method of individual structured interviews. The…

Explanatory style, the ways in which people explain both good and bad events (Seligman, 1998), shares theoretical components with teachers' sense of efficacy (Tshannon-Moran & Woolfolk-Hoy, 2001), which is how capable teachers feel about teaching. According to Bandura (1994), efficacy informs explanatory style, but this assertion does not…

Children are believed to construct their causal theories through talk and interaction, but with the exception of a few studies, little or nothing is known about how young children justify and build theories of the world together with same-age peers through naturally occurring interaction, Children's sensitivity to when a pair or group of…

What are the factors that influence everyday attributions of cause and blame? The current studies focus on sequences of events that lead to adverse outcomes, and examine people's cause and blame ratings for key events in these sequences. Experiment 1 manipulated the intentional status of candidate causes and their location in a causal chain.…

This study examines Taiwanese preschool teacher education (PTE) students' attributions for studying in PTE, occupational knowledge, and initial teaching commitment, as well as the effects of the former two variables on the latter one. The study used mixed-methods which included questionnaire surveys and in-depth interviews. The Taiwanese PTE…

Research indicates that attendance at lectures and tutorials is associated with university students' level of success and satisfaction, and pre-service teachers' relatively low levels of attendance at scheduled classes is of significant concern to many lecturers. However, little research has been undertaken to investigate the factors associated…