Individual Aptitude Research Articles

An Eye on the Future: Student Plans for Higher Education in Qatar

Education is identified as very critical to the achievement of the goals that were specified as strategic to Qatar’s socio-economic progress and development. At the core of the country’s policy plans is the need to develop human capacity as is highlighted in the Qatar National Vision (QNV) 2030. Not surprisingly, education has been identified as a strategic key to achieving the goals outlined in the QNV 2030. The present exploratory study employed a quantitative research design in order to investigate the factors that are likely to influence the educational aspirations of Qatari students. Drawing on Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) and Attribution Theory (AT), this study sought to examine students’ aspirations for post-secondary education in Qatar. Data for this study were collected using the Qatar Education Study (QES) survey, which is a nationally representative survey involving K-12 students in the State of Qatar. The analysis of this study’s data revealed that personal and household characteristics play an important role in shaping post-secondary educational aspirations of student participants, including age, nationality, education and employment status, as well as parental influence. Based on the study’s results, statistically significant associations were observed between personal and household variables and students’ aspirations for higher education. This study concludes with relevant recommendations and proposes future studies to explore the potential impact of individual aptitude and contextual factors on student future academic plans.

중국 고교학점제 졸업제도 탐색

[Purpose] The purpose of this study is to examine the credit system and the corresponding graduation requirements of general high schools in China, and to present the associated issues and challenges. [Methods] The previous research related to the high school credit system and graduation requirements was analyzed, focusing on the literature. [Results] The analytical framework for this study is divided into graduation requirements, duration of study, grade promotion, and other related aspects. The findings based on this framework are as follows. First, to graduate, students must complete a minimum of 144 credits, which are categorized into mandatory courses, selective mandatory courses, and elective courses. The graduation exam can be taken from the second year of high school onwards, after meeting the minimum credit requirements set by the Ministry of Education's curriculum. The exam subjects vary monthly, and the results are classified into five grades. Courses are offered according to the national curriculum and the school's own curriculum.Second, high school education in China lasts for three years, and early graduation is generally not allowed.Third, the credit system is implemented alongside the grade-level system, so grade promotion is based on the grade-level system. Fourth, the comprehensive competency evaluation is conducted to observe, record, and analyze students' overall growth for character education purposes. For college entrance, there are two options: the 3+3 model and the 3+2+1 model. [Conclusion] FFirst, the graduation requirements include meeting the course completion standards and passing the graduation exam. Second, since the credit system aims to provide education tailored to individual aptitudes and talents, cases such as early graduation should be approached with caution. Third, as the credit system is currently implemented alongside the grade-level system, efforts are needed to fully realize the comprehensive implementation of the credit system. Fourth, it is necessary to enhance the comprehensive evaluation for the overall development of students, and continuously improve the college entrance evaluation system towards self-assessment and self-formation

Prediction of arithmetic abilities of children who practice sports: The use of the gamma model

Background and Aim of Study: The physical performance that children exhibit when engaging in sports or any form of physical activity will depend not only on their physical abilities but also on their psychological and cognitive attributes. The aim of the study: to analyze whether symptoms of anxiety, lie, attention, and age are predictors of arithmetic abilities in children practicing sports. Material and Methods: The study sample consisted of 108 children with an average age of 12.12 (±2.18) who practice various sports, with greater emphasis on futsal and soccer. The study protocol consisted of a sociodemographic questionnaire, the Revised Children’s Manifest Anxiety Scale, the d2 Test of Attention, and the Arithmetic subtest of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children. Results: The results showed that through the adjusted model, we identify four significant explanatory variables that are predictors of arithmetic abilities, namely anxiety symptoms (β=-0.009, p=0.009); and the attention sub-factors: processed characters (β=0.002, p=3.44e-14), default errors (β=-0.005, p=0.000), errors by marking irrelevant characters (β=-0.016, p=0.003). Conclusions: The presence of anxiety symptoms and attentional cognitive abilities play a significant role in predicting the arithmetic aptitudes of young individuals. These variables should be taken into consideration within training programs for young athletes, as they hold relevance for sports engagement.

대학 태권도 학생선수의 능력믿음, 운동스트레스, 진로미결정 및 중도탈락의도의 관계

The purpose of this study is to verify the relationships among ability belief, exercise stress, career indecision, and dropout intention of the college taekwondo athletes. College taekwondo athletes were subjected to questionnaire and based on convenience sampling, total of 348 out of 407, excluding 57 samples that were not suitable for analysis were used for final data analysis. For statistical methods for data processing, frequency analysis, reliability analysis, exploratory factor analysis, correlation analysis, and structural equation model analysis were implemented utilizing SPSS 20.0 and AMOS 20.0 programs. The ability belief of college taekwondo athletes had significant impact upon dropout intention, and exercise stress, The exercise stress of college taekwondo athletes had significant impact upon career indecision, and dropout intention, The career indecision of college taekwondo athletes had significant impact upon dropout intention. Ultimately, in order to reduce the dropout of athletes, it suggests the importance of psychological management to increase athletes' ability belief, the creation of a light sports culture to reduce sports stress, and the need for career education considering individual aptitudes and interests.

2022 개정 영어과 교육과정 ‘전략’의 의미와 적용 시 고려사항

This study is a theoretical inquiry on the term ‘strategies’, which appears in the official document of the 2022 revised English curriculum for elementary and middle schools in Korea. Although this term has been quite frequently investigated in the academic field of second language acquisition since the 1970s, it has not been fairly emphasized in the previous curricula probably because the teachability of strategies is not firmly established. As a result of a literature review, this study shows that despite the ambiguity of the definition of the term, strategies are generally considered as either L2 learners’ communication strategies (CS) to solve communication breakdowns or as their learning strategies (LS) to efficiently acquire knowledge. It also displays that strategies in the new curriculum turn out to be more LS than CS, both of which should be well instructed and evaluated in public schools under the new curriculum. This study then presents some significant considerations about how to teach and evaluate strategies. Unlike linguistic knowledge, strategies can be seen as procedural knowledge. Therefore, strategies should be treated in a similar manner to knowledge from the affective domain. English teachers are strongly advised to teach strategies according to L2 learners’ individual aptitudes and preferences, and to use processfocused assessment.

Experiential learning in physical geography using arduino low-cost environmental sensors

ABSTRACT Transmission teaching which centres around traditional lecturing discounts the variety of different learners and individual aptitudes. Physical Geography as a discipline has historically provided a range of teaching methods beyond lecturing which embrace field and laboratory activities, frequently adapting new research technologies to further student learning. While technological trends are increasing the demand for Geography graduates with GIS, modelling, or programming skills, Geography lecturers should remain open to using other technological advances as teaching tools. Using an example of low-cost environmental sensors, this paper demonstrates how technologically-focused exercises can effectively solidify a range of geographical skills through experiential learning. Using Kolb’s Experiential Learning Model to identify the key learning processes, we compare low-cost environmental sensor training to the UK’s current Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education’s (QAA) Geography benchmarks. We also consider the practical applications of this technology as a learning tool for Physical Geography. In comparison with a student evaluation, this paper provides an initial basis to support additional qualitative investigations into the learning outcomes of independent, technology-based learning activities.

Future Prediction of COVID-19 Vaccine Trends Using a Voting Classifier

Machine learning (ML)-based prediction is considered an important technique for improving decision making during the planning process. Modern ML models are used for prediction, prioritization, and decision making. Multiple ML algorithms are used to improve decision-making at different aspects after forecasting. This study focuses on the future prediction of the effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness which has been presented as a light in the dark. People bear several reservations, including concerns about the efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccine. Under these presumptions, the COVID-19 vaccine would either lower the risk of developing the malady after injection, or the vaccine would impose side effects, affecting their existing health condition. In this regard, people have publicly expressed their concerns regarding the vaccine. This study intends to estimate what perception the masses will establish about the role of the COVID-19 vaccine in the future. Specifically, this study exhibits people’s predilection toward the COVID-19 vaccine and its results based on the reviews. Five models, e.g., random forest (RF), a support vector machine (SVM), decision tree (DT), K-nearest neighbor (KNN), and an artificial neural network (ANN), were used for forecasting the overall predilection toward the COVID-19 vaccine. A voting classifier was used at the end of this study to determine the accuracy of all the classifiers. The results prove that the SVM produces the best forecasting results and that artificial neural networks (ANNs) produce the worst prediction toward the individual aptitude to be vaccinated by the COVID-19 vaccine. When using the voting classifier, the proposed system provided an overall accuracy of 89.9% for the random dataset and 45.7% for the date-wise dataset. Thus, the results show that the studied prediction technique is a promising and encouraging procedure for studying the future trends of the COVID-19 vaccine.

‘Fair and square’: what do students think about the ethnicity degree awarding gap?

ABSTRACT In UK higher education, minority ethnic students are less likely to graduate with a good degree than their White British counterparts, even when prior attainment is considered. Until recently, concerns about this ethnicity degree awarding gap have not received the research attention it deserves. In this paper, we contribute to this gap in knowledge with a focus on how students make sense of the difference in degree outcomes by ethnicity. Informed by 69 in-depth interviews with minority and majority ethnic students at a UK university, we explore their views towards the ethnicity degree awarding gap, why it exists and what would be their solution to reduce this difference. Although some students perceived the awarding gap as a reflection of individual aptitude, others have attributed social barriers for degree outcome differences. We present five recommendations as suggested by students for policy and practice. Firstly, the provision of greater economic support for minority ethnic students, which will improve access and a more diverse student population. Secondly, to establish an institutional commitment to challenge and eradicate all forms of racism on campus, including microaggressions. Thirdly, to increase representation of minority ethnic staff and students in higher education to improve students’ sense of belongings and aspirations, with the emphasis on greater staff diversity. Fourthly, to diversify the curriculum with a wider range of values and perspectives incorporated into teaching. Finally, universities need to be proactive and reflective to ensure structural barriers are reduced or eliminated through additional support or alternative provisions.

ПСИХОЛОГИЧЕСКОЕ ИССЛЕДОВАНИЕ ОДАРЕННОСТИ: ПРОБЛЕМА ТЕОРИИ И МЕТОДА

This article analyzes the current research state on the problem of giftedness in psychology. The authors draw attention to the fact that the leading indicator of giftedness, confirming its phenomenological reality, is a person’s high achievements in various fields of life, such as educational and extracurricular activities, professional activities, etc. This indicator is considered in most modern studies as the basis to understand the sources of giftedness, the possibilities of managing the processes of its development and formation. In view of this prevailing approach to giftedness, three groups of studies currently dominate in psychology, and three fundamen-tally different positions on giftedness exist. In the first approach, giftedness comes down to the phenomenon of creativity or the creative abilities of a person; in the second, to the phenomenon of intelligence and the establishment of the IQ level and the development of individual intellectual abilities. The third approach is aimed at overcoming the reduction of the problem of giftedness to any one indicator and involves the inclusion of many variables (cognitive, personal, social, etc.) in the research plan. The authors argue that the applied approach to giftedness understanding is not constructive, since it does not answer the key questions about the sources of development and the formation of giftedness, its structure, its developing dynamics in the process of school and vocational training, and professional activi-ty. The idea is formulated that the weakness of modern approaches to the study of giftedness, models of its diagnosis is explained by the absence of the theory of giftedness, in which the connection between aptitudes and giftedness of a person is consistently revealed. It is argued that the theory of aptitude and giftedness by V.D. Shadrikov allows one to solve a number of methodological, theoretical and experimental problems in the study of giftedness. This is primarily ensured by establishing of a methodological connection between the theory of aptitude, which distinguishes different types of aptitude (individual aptitude, aptitude of the subject of activity, personality aptitude), and understanding of their systemic relationship, which ensures high and ultrahigh achievements of a person in different areas of life.

Training of Skilled and Unskilled Labours for Handling Preliminary Machinaries in Manufacturing Units

India has gotten one of the world's quickest developing information based economies because of monstrously plenteous capital. Notwithstanding the vehement pressure laid on instruction and preparing in this nation, there is as yet a lack of talented labor to address the mounting needs and requests of the economy. Accordingly, the administration of India has been endeavoring to start and accomplish formal/casual aptitude improvement of the working populace through instructive/expertise preparing and other up and coming learning strategies. Government and private foundations offer expertise preparing programs, these projects experience the ill effects of deficient quality and importance, absence of coordination inside the division, and inadequate regard for work showcase results. In this foundation, legislature of India has distinguished aptitude improvement as one of the need divisions and taken up a few activities to address the difficulty of development of preparing limit with speed, excellent models and supportability. In this venture, the future work depends more on aptitudes of individuals not as a result of the capability degree they groups in their hand. The government has numerous expertise advancement programs Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY), Skill India. Representatives can add to associations achievement in the event that they are prepared to perform to industry standard. Enlisting incompetent work, those with constrained capability and preparing may appear to set aside your business cash. Be that as it may, incompetent laborers, especially for talented positions, can have weakness identified with creation, life span and generally organization execution. These are primary explanations behind work cutback in numerous modern areas

The effects of high versus low talker variability and individual aptitude on phonetic training of Mandarin lexical tones.

High variability (HV) training has been found to be more effective than low variability (LV) training when learning various non-native phonetic contrasts. However, little research has considered whether this applies to the learning of tone contrasts. The only two relevant studies suggested that the effect of HV training depends on the perceptual aptitude of participants (Perrachione et al., 2011; Sadakata & McQueen, 2014). The present study extends these findings by examining the interaction between individual aptitude and input variability using natural, meaningful second language input (both previous studies used pseudowords). A total of 60 English speakers took part in an eight session phonetic training paradigm. They were assigned to high/low/high-blocked variability training groups and learned real Mandarin tones and words. Individual aptitude was measured following previous work. Learning was measured using one discrimination task, one identification task and two production tasks. All tasks assessed generalization. All groups improved in both the production and perception of tones which transferred to untrained voices and items, demonstrating the effectiveness of training despite the increased complexity compared with previous research. Although the LV group exhibited an advantage with the training stimuli, there was no evidence for a benefit of high-variability in any of the tests of generalisation. Moreover, although aptitude significantly predicted performance in discrimination, identification and training tasks, no interaction between individual aptitude and variability was revealed. Additional Bayes Factor analyses indicated substantial evidence for the null for the hypotheses of a benefit of high-variability in generalisation, however the evidence regarding the interaction was ambiguous. We discuss these results in light of previous findings.

Effects of temperature and salinity on bilateral symmetry of Eugerres brasilianus (Cuvier, 1830) larvae: Implications for Brazilian mojarra rearing

In Brazil, marine fish farming have minor contribution to the primary sector, but some species have shown great potential, such as the Brazilian mojarra, Eugerres brasilianus. However, larviculture is still a bottleneck due to the lack of protocols supporting survival and performance. Fluctuating Asymmetry (FA), which is the random deviation in bilateral symmetry in response to environmental conditions, can be used as a proxy of fish performance. The main purpose of this study was to evaluate, through microcosms experiments whether the FA levels in larvae of E. brasilianus will change with different temperatures (20 °C, 25° and 30°) and salinities (25, 30 and 35). A total of 92 larvae were analyzed. The Student t-test (p = .53) rejected the occurrence of directional asymmetry and validated the presence of FA in larvae's. The survival of larvae did not differ significantly under different temperatures (PERMANOVA; p = .58) and salinity (p = .68), probably because the early larval stage (i.e. before yolk sac assimilation) and short duration of the experiments. Eye asymmetry changed significantly among temperatures (PERMANOVA; p = .0001), but not with salinity (PERMANOVA; p = .77), revealing that waters ≤20 °C might have adverse effects on the Brazilian mojarra. This species is eurihaline, tolerating a wide range of salinity, explaining thus the null effect of this variable on eye asymmetry. However, eye asymmetry at lower temperatures may reduce the visual acuity of Brazilian mojarra, decreasing, therefore, the individual aptitude for food searching and intake, and affecting thus the zootechnical performance of this species in fish farms.

The experience of virtual reality: are individual differences in mental imagery associated with sense of presence?

The concept of "presence" describes the quality of subjective experience in immersive virtual reality (IVR). Presence refers to a specific state of consciousness: we behave and feel as if we actually were in the virtual world even though we know there is nothing there. In their handbook of Virtual Reality, Burdea and Coiffet (Virtual reality technology, Wiley, New York, 2003) suggested that the experience of presence in IVR would emerge from the combination of three Is: Immersion or capacity to isolate from the external world, Interaction or capacity to naturally exploring the virtual environment, and Imagination or individual aptitudes with mental imagery. So far, several studies have investigated the technological and psychological factors affecting the degree of immersion and interaction. However, no study has explored the relationship between perceived presence and mental imagery. Here we aim at filling this gap through a correlational study comparing self-reports about sense of presence and mental imagery abilities. After experiencing two IVR scenarios (an art gallery and a living room), 142 male and female users were administered with questionnaires assessing the degree of presence (Igroup Presence Questionnaire), the degree of vividness (Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire) and control (Test of Visual Imagery Control) of subjective mental images. Results showed a clear positive correlation between presence and vividness: the higher the vividness of mental images the stronger the reported sense of presence felt in IVR scenarios. Instead, the capacity to control mental imagery showed a weaker association with presence. We may conclude that individual differences in the degree of perceived presence and mental imagery ability are associated.

Segregation, Stereotypes, and STEM

Scientific, technical, engineering, and mathematical (STEM) occupations are strongholds of gender segregation in the contemporary United States. While many Americans regard this segregation as natural and inevitable, closer examination reveals a great deal of variability in the gendering of STEM fields across time, space, and demographic groups. This article assesses how different theoretical accounts accord with the available evidence on the gender composition of scientific and technical fields. We find most support for accounts that allow for a dynamic interplay between individual-level traits and the broader sociocultural environments in which they develop. The existing evidence suggests, in particular, that Western cultural stereotypes about the nature of STEM work and STEM workers and about the intrinsic qualities of men and women can be powerful drivers of individual aptitudes, aspirations, and affinities. We offer an illustrative catalog of stereotypes that support women’s STEM-avoidance and men’s STEM-affinity, and we conclude with some thoughts on policy implications.

Superior pattern detectors efficiently learn, activate, apply, and update social stereotypes.

Superior cognitive abilities are generally associated with positive outcomes such as academic achievement and social mobility. Here, we explore the darker side of cognitive ability, highlighting robust links between pattern detection and stereotyping. Across 6 studies, we find that superior pattern detectors efficiently learn and use stereotypes about social groups. This pattern holds across explicit (Studies 1 and 2), implicit (Studies 2 and 4), and behavioral measures of stereotyping (Study 3). We also find that superior pattern detectors readily update their stereotypes when confronted with new information (Study 5), making them particularly susceptible to counterstereotype training (Study 6). Pattern detection skills therefore equip people to act as naïve empiricists who calibrate their stereotypes to match incoming information. These findings highlight novel effects of individual aptitudes on social-cognitive processes. (PsycINFO Database Record

Indigenous girls’ resilience in settler states: Honouring body and land sovereignty

abstractIn this article I explore colonial violence targeting Indigenous girls in Canada, an active settler state in which the European colonisers “never left” (Tuck and Yang, 2012:5). In settler states like Canada, sexual violence has been a common practice rooted in colonial logics of the objectification and dehumanisation of Indigenous women and girls. Despite living in one of the world’s wealthiest countries with a global reputation for upholding women’s rights, Indigenous girls in Canada experience the highest rates of poverty, incarceration, sexual exploitation, and gender violence, and are currently being disappeared and murdered at “epidemic rates” (Anaya, 2013:9). In a context of sustained colonial violence, understanding how Indigenous girls embody dignity and self-determination requires us to reject limited, overly Eurocentric psycho-social notions of resilience. Indigenous analyses instead foreground the systemic political, historical, economic, and sociocultural inequities that structure colonial heteropatriarchy and sexualised violence under settler regimes. Looking beyond a bio-psycho-social model of individual functioning and aptitudes, I document the entanglement of Indigenous girls’ body sovereignty and Indigenous self-determination. This conceptual shift takes Indigenous girls’ resilience out of its individualised definition and locates it instead in complex kinship networks, across generations, and in relationship with ancestors, lands, and all relations.

Mixing Musics: Turkish Jewry and the Urban Landscape of a Sacred Song

Mixing Musics: Turkish Jewry and the Urban Landscape of a Sacred Song

Démocratie représentative et bureaucratie démocratique : Mill et Bentham

What is the secret of good government? Both Mill in his Representative Government, and Bentham, in his Constitutional Code, believe that neither individual qualities or institutions are sufficient on their own and both are interested in institutional devices such as voting systems, civic education or public administrations that can shape and foster a new democratic citizenry. The paper will compare their two different approaches to the way individual aptitudes can be harnessed to democratic policies and processes.

Occupational closure in nursing work reconsidered: UK health care support workers and assistant practitioners: A focus group study

In healthcare, occupational groups have adopted tactics to maintain autonomy and control over their areas of work. Witz described a credentialist approach to occupational closure adopted by nursing in the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. However, the recent advancement of assistant, ‘non-qualified’ workers by governments and managers forms part of a reconfiguration of traditional professional work. This research used focus groups with three cohorts of healthcare support workers undertaking assistant practitioner training at a London university from 2011 to 13 (6 groups, n = 59). The aim was to examine how these workers positioned themselves as professionals and accounted for professional boundaries. A thematic analysis revealed a complex situation in which participants were divided between articulating an acceptance of a subordinate role within traditional occupational boundaries and a usurpatory stance towards these boundaries. Participants had usually been handpicked by managers and some were ambitious and confident in their abilities. Many aspired to train to be nurses claiming that they will gain recognition that they do not currently get but which they deserve. Their scope of practice is based upon their managers' or supervisors' perception of their individual aptitude rather than on a credentialist claim. They ‘usurp’ nurses claim to be the healthcare worker with privileged access to patients, saying they have taken over what nursing has considered its core work, while nurses abandon it for largely administrative roles. We conclude that the participants are the not unwilling agents of a managerially led project to reshape the workforce that cuts across existing occupational boundaries.

Leading Constant Growth through Sustainable Social Cultures: Three Fundamental Conditions for Conflict Transformation and Collaborative Inclusion of Diversity

Social-psychological dynamics and negative emotions can inhibit constructive sustainable relationships. In today’s volatile and uncertain environment, resilient social fabric is key for people to feel included, grow and benefit from diversity and conflicts and for organizations to constantly make progress and maximize business results. Supportive social cultures can foster mindfulness of social-psychological dynamics and also provide the necessary environment where people can exercise better ways of connecting for all to grow and thrive. In this paper, I propose a framework of three conditions to foster healthy interactions: 1. The mode of relation guiding people in their interactions -- how a constructive mode of connections can be built? 2. The approach taken toward conflict -- what enables transforming differences and conflicts to a positive, growing experience? And 3. Identity-relational needs -- How mindful leaders and organizations are of the deeper human dimension that drives relationships and conflicts?Together, the simple and practical framework captures a multiplicity of mostly hidden emotional social-psychological dynamics to be mindful of in order to reduce the gap between the relationships people and leaders intend to build and what they actually produce. The framework can be used as an X-ray to examine and improve personal growth as well as inner and outer organizational connections. It is not only helpful in increasing mindfulness to the deep human dimension driving relations on the micro-skillful level, but suggests a systemic approach to apply on the macro-structural level where daily organizational routines and practices can be adjusted to accomplish the desired transformation in the way of being together. In light of the increasing importance of relational environments for growth and best business results, leadership’s role is rapidly changing. Focusing on building best environments for personal and relational development gradually replaces an earlier focus on individual aptitudes and the omnipotent top-down leader, who does it all for others.