Journal of Advances in Education Research

8

Authors: David Palmer

There is a need to clarify the nature of motivation because, in spite of much research on motivation, there are still widely divergent views about exactly what motivation is. For example, motivation can be viewed as either a short-term state or as a long-term predisposition. The purpose of the present paper is to critically compare these two conceptualizations with reference to the research literature and recent definitions. It was found that motivation should not be viewed as a long-term predisposition, or a collection of beliefs. Instead, it is argued that motivation should be viewed as a short-term state of mind that can be influenced by one’s long-term predispositions.

10

Authors: Laura M.D. Smucker, John W. McCarthy, Joann P. Benigno, Jamie B. Boster

There is a lack of interventions to understand and change attitudes of school-age children toward peers with severe speech and physical disabilities. The effect of reading a first-person narrative on the attitudes of 66 fifth-grade children toward individuals who use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) was investigated using a quasi-experimental design. Children were randomly assigned to either an experimental narrative condition (n = 37) or a control non-fiction, nondisability condition (n = 29). Children’s prior experience with individuals with disabilities and their biological sex had significant effects, with girls and those with previous experience having more positive attitudes than boys and those with no previous experience. Pre/post differences highlighted the potentially reactive nature of attitude testing. Reading the narrative did not lead to significant differences between groups in mean attitudes, but qualitative analyses revealed that the narrative led to a more comprehensive view of people with severe communication challenges and highlighting the misconceptions that many school-age children might have toward individuals with severe communication challenges.

11

Authors: Anna Han, Kyungbin Kwon

The study introduces a case study of a system managing the extracurricular activities (ECA) of students at the university level. A survey asking how students perceived the ECA system was administered and 2591 students participated. Results revealed that 1) 85% of the students were aware of the ECA system and showed moderate attitudes towards the system; 2) students perceiving the ECA system as helpful and easy to use expressed that activities discovered through the ECA system were beneficial to their curriculum learning and participation in ECA, and, in turn, to their career development and college life overall.