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A Case Study Exploring Pre-Service Teachers’ Programming Difficulties and Strategies when Learning Programming Languages
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Abstract [+]
Understanding the importance of training young people, this study sought to explore the early experience of pre-service teachers in their computational practices in terms of the difficulties they faced and the strategies they used while learning how to program. Based on convenience sampling, four participants were recruited from an undergraduate course focusing on computer science education in K-12. The literature on novice programmers’ difficulties and their strategies was used to establish the conceptual background for this study. We collected four semi-structured interviews with pre-service teachers, a total of five hour-long classroom observations, and 19 class activities (archival data). After conducting a content analysis, findings showed four categories in which pre-service teachers face difficulties: (a) understanding the computational concepts (semantic); (b) using the concepts inappropriately (syntax); (c) developing a program (algorithmic thinking), and (d) identifying problems (debugging). We also found five categories in which pre-service teachers overcome their difficulties: planning, using resources, seeking support, guessing and checking, and looking for visual assistance. This study emphasized that pre-service teachers encounter several difficulties in learning computational concepts through programming languages, which should be considered in pre-service teacher education.
Keywords
Computational Thinking; Computer science education; Pre-service teachers; Problem solving strategies.
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Current Issue
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Building Resilience in Children to Prevent Social Aggression: The Principles of Behavioral Sciences
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Most anti-bullying programs today are punitive. They rely heavily on schools enforcing procedures based on reporting, investigating, punishing, and labeling bullies. This paper challenges the notion that bullying behavior can be regulated effectively by legislative bodies and policymakers. Schools are communal ecosystems featuring unique social norms and behaviors. For example, in school, a student reporting a classmate to authorities may be labeled a ‘snitch’ because ‘tattling’ violates accepted social norms. Furthermore, the current legal definitions of bullying are confusing and complicated. In many cases, even trained lawyers have difficulty identifying acts of bullying. We suggest, the better approach to preventing bullying in schools, even the workplace, is to ground interventions using psychological frameworks to strengthen children’s social and emotional competence. We contend that social development models provide the psychological frameworks society needs to develop emotionally stable children and
adults while providing them with the internal fortitude to bounce back effectively from adverse situations like bullying.
Keywords
Bullying prevention; Social-emotional learning (SEL); Social development; Emotional strength; Social aggression; Anti-bullying; Self-awareness; Social-emotional competence; Power imbalance; Intentional; Columbine; Intervention.
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Exploring the Notion of Performance in Branch Sales Managers: A Narrative Approach
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Abstract [+]
Aim
The purpose of this study was to identify factors that affect the performance of branch sales managers (BSM) of a private bank in India. It also aimed to identify factors that differentiate high performing BSMs from the rest.
Methods
A phenomenological methodology known as narrative analysis was used to uncover the lived experiences of Branch sales managers. Open-ended semi-structured interviews were conducted with 50 Branch sales managers situated across the Northern, Western and Southern Regions of India who were pre-classified in two pools of talent–high performers and average performers based on their performance ratings.
Results
Results yielded two distinguishing profiles of high and average performing BSMs known as ‘Bulls’, and ‘Bears’ respectively. Ramifications of individual’s personality, family structure and education profile, birth order, educational and vocational choices, influence of their past work experience, etc., were found to contribute to distinct patters of wok behavior and thereby performance.
Conclusion
Sales organizations will need to hire both “Bull I/Bull II” and “Bears” as each brings a different work ethos that is critical for high and consistent performance within the sales function. Organizations will need to create specific performance levers to engage the “Bull I/Bull II” and “Bears”.
Keywords
Bears; Bull I; Bull II; Sales performance; Sloths.
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How the Desensitization of Police Violence, Stereotyped Language, and Racial Bias Impact Black Communities
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Abstract [+]
As the access to create media continues to expand, issues related to the desensitization of police violence, stereotyped language (racial baiting), and implicit bias within the criminal justice system are brought to the forefront highlighting the negative and harmful relationships between the criminal justice system and Black communities. In order to address these issues on a national scale, a call to action is made for psychologists to assist in restructuring the understanding of the relationship of violence, cognition, and media in order to advocate for social justice. Psychological research on the topics are discussed as well as how the field of psychology can inform training within police departments and the communities they serve.
Keywords
Police violence; Racial bias; Black communities.
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Does Progress Bars’ Behavior Influence the User Experience in Human-Computer Interaction?
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Therapeutic Relationship of Telepsychiatry and Telebehavioral Health: Ideas from Research on Telepresence, Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality
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A Review of Barriers to Treating Domestic Violence for Middle Eastern Women Living in the United States
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Impact of Insomnia on Optimism: A Predictor Factor among Young Adults in Indian Context
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Previous Issue
Does Progress Bars’ Behavior Influence the User Experience in Human-Computer Interaction?
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Therapeutic Relationship of Telepsychiatry and Telebehavioral Health: Ideas from Research on Telepresence, Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality
PDF 565.52 KB
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A Review of Barriers to Treating Domestic Violence for Middle Eastern Women Living in the United States
PDF 473.62 KB
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Impact of Insomnia on Optimism: A Predictor Factor among Young Adults in Indian Context
PDF 330.14 KB
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Abstract [+]
Objective
This study examined the impact of insomnia and its psychosocial correlates among young adults in a University in Indian Context.
Participants
Sample data were collected from 92 full-time university students (68.3 % females, mean age=19.33 SD=1.032 in Group 0 and in Group 1: 96.6% females, mean age=23.21 and SD=1.146).
Methods
Participants completed a self-reported questionnaire that included the pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI), and optimism index (OI). A PSQI global score equal to or greater than 5 indicated insomnia.
Results
There is a negative correlation between insomnia and PSQI and OI was found to be (r =-0.342, p<0.01) which means a higher level of optimism is related to better sleep quality and more sleeping difficulties relate to lower level of optimism.
Conclusion
Optimism and sleep quality were both cause and effect of each other a bidirectional causal relationship.
Keywords
Insomnia symptoms; Sleep duration; Optimism.
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Editor-in-Chief
Donald M. Hilty, MD
Associate Chief of Staff, Mental Health Northern California Veterans Affairs Health System 10535 Hospital Way, Mather, CA 95655 and Professor, and Vice-Chair, Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences University of California, Davis School of Medicine
Associate Editors
Guy Balice, PhD
Associate Professor Department of Clinical Psychology The Chicago School of Professional Psychology 617 W 7th Street Los Angeles, CA 90017, USA
E. Cruz Eusebio, PsyD, NCSP
Distinguished Associate Professor Department of School Psychology Faculty Council Chair-Chicago The Chicago School of Professional Psychology 325 N. Wells Street #519 Chicago, IL 60654, USA
N. Clayton Silver, PhD
Associate Professor Department of Psychology University of Nevada Las Vegas, USA
Deborah A. Gagnon, PhD
Professor of Psychology Member, Health Sciences Faculty Chair, Division of Social Sciences Coordinator, Cognitive & Brain Science Coordinator, Science, Health, & Values Wells College Aurora, NY 13026, USA