In his Preface the author' says that he started out to review all the more important theories upon the topics ordinarily discussed under human motivation but soon found himself more and more limited to the presentation of his own point of view. This very well characterizes the book. It is a very personal product. It is an outline with some defense of the author's own thinking about instincts and appetites and sentiments and how they function in human behavior. And as the author draws so heavily upon James and McDougall, especially the latter, the book may well be looked upon as a sort of sequel to their efforts. There is a thought-provoking distinction presented between instinct and appetite. An instinct is said to be aroused always by something in the external situation; and, correspondingly, an appetite is said to be aroused by sensations from within the body itself. This places, of course, a heavy emphasis upon the cognitive factor in all instinctive behaviors; and the author prefers to use the cognitive factor, especially the knowledge of that end-experience which will satisfy, as a means of differentiating one instinct from another. In this there is a recognized difference from McDougall who placed more emphasis for differentiation upon the emotional accompaniment. The list of instincts arrived at by this procedure is much like that of McDougall, although the author is forced by his criteria to present the possibility of food-seeking and sex and sleep operating both in the manner of an appetite and also as an instinct. The Shand-McDougall concept of sentiment is taken over and used in the explanation of moral motivation. There is the development within each personality of a sentiment for some moral principle. But this sentiment is not a very powerful motivating factor. It is reinforced by social pressures and by religion, which is treated as an effort of finite man to live in harmony with the infinite reality. Those whose psychological thinking is largely in terms of McDougall will doubtless find this volume a very satisfying expansion; but those who are at all inclined to support their psychological thinking by reference to experimental studies will not be so well pleased. The James-Lange theory, for example, is discussed without mention of the many experimental studies which it has provoked. Theoretical sources appear in general to be preferred to experimental investigations.

Human MotivationThe Mind in Action: A Study of Motives and Values. A. Campbell Garnett

Inclusion of students with disabilities into regular schools is now one of the most significant issues facing the education community both nationally and internationally. In order to address this issue there is widespread acceptance that teacher training institutions must ensure that new teachers are trained to teach effectively in classrooms where there are students with a variety of learning needs. Utilizing a data set of 603 pre‐service teachers from Australia, Canada, Hong Kong and Singapore this study reports the effects of training in inclusive education on pre‐service teacher attitudes towards inclusion, their sentiments about people with a disability and their concerns about inclusion. The results are discussed in relation to a range of factors that could have produced different gains in their attitudes, sentiments and concerns among cohorts from different countries.

Impact of Training on Pre-Service Teachers' Attitudes and Concerns about Inclusive Education and Sentiments about Persons with Disabilities.

The preparation of teachers for regular schools has clearly needed to undergo quite significant change in recent years. One major adjustment has been the necessity to prepare teachers for progressively more diverse student populations as they will increasingly be required to teach in inclusive classrooms. Many teacher education institutions are, therefore, offering units of work that aim to tackle this. Utilizing an international data set of 603 pre‐service teachers, consideration is given to the effect of a range of demographic differences on changing pre‐service teacher attitudes toward inclusion; sentiments towards people with a disability and in reducing their concerns about inclusion when involved in a focused unit of work. Pre‐ and post‐training comparisons are made which identify a range of variables that impact on changing pre‐service teacher perceptions about inclusion. The discussion focuses on the importance of differentiating teacher preparation courses to address these different needs of pre‐...

Demographic differences in changing pre‐service teachers’ attitudes, sentiments and concerns about inclusive education

Building resilience in teacher education: An evidenced informed framework

This study investigates the nature of concerns and attitudes held by preservice teachers regarding inclusive education and their degree of comfort on interaction with people with disabilities. Pre-service training may be the optimal time to address educators’ concerns and alter any negative attitudes about inclusive education. This paper reports the perceptions of pre-service teachers prior to their involvement in units of work focusing specifically on inclusive education in universities located in Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, and Singapore. Results indicate significant differences exist between the students in the eastern countries of Singapore and Hong Kong, and those in the western countries of Canada and Australia. Participants in the Western countries tended to have more positive sentiments and attitudes towards students with disabilities, and more concerns than their Eastern counterparts. The study also suggests that in most instances pre-service teachers have more positive attitudes towards people with disabilities and inclusion, and more confidence in implementing inclusive practice when they have had additional training and / or experience with people with disabilities.

/pdf/pre-service-teachers-attitudes-concerns-and-sentiments-about-4qz7rbkr9t.pdf

Pre-Service Teachers' Attitudes, Concerns and Sentiments about Inclusive Education: An International Comparison of Novice Pre-Service Teachers.

http://selfdeterminationtheory.org/SDT/documents/2009_LiuWangTanEeKoh_LAID.pdf

A self-determination approach to understanding students' motivation in project work

This study examines young children's number sense in subjects from Finland (n=254), Hong Kong (n=246), and Singapore (n=130). Chinese, English and Finnish versions of the Early Numeracy Test (ENT; Van Luit et al., 1994) were used. Two highly correlated aspects of number sense were measured, one reflecting children's abilities to organize and compare quantities (i.e. relational skills), and the other pertaining to their ability to operate with number-word sequence (i.e. counting skills). The results showed significant age-related gain on the relational and counting scales. No gender or language differences were found. The children in Hong Kong and Singapore outperformed those in Finland in relational and counting tasks starting at the age of four years. The children in Singapore also had better relational and counting skills than those in Hong Kong. Differences in teaching were assumed to explain the findings.

Young Children’s Number Sense in Finland, Hong Kong and Singapore

A survey of 91 pre-service teachersfrom Australia and Singapore was conducted to investigate their attitudes and concerns about implementing inclusive education in regular schools. Results indicated that Australian pre-service teachers were more in favour of including students with disabilities into the regular school compared to their Singaporean counterparts. The findings suggested that the pre-service teachers' beliefs may be significantly influenced by prevailing policies in the county. Schools worldwide are increasingly moving towards the inclusion of students with disabilities in the regular classroom. While some countries have legislations, other countries have formulated policies supporting inclusion. Australia and Singapore are among the latter category. Although the importance of legislation and policies have been and continue to be stressed for the successful implementation of inclusion reforms, equally important are the positive attitudes of in-service and pre-service teachers. Jones (1984) has stated: It should not be surprising to any informed observer that meaningful implementation of legislative acts will require that we give as much attention to attitudinal barriers as we have given to the elimination of barriers of physical access, barriers of employment access and barriers of educational access. (p. vii)

/pdf/a-comparison-of-australian-and-singaporean-pre-service-6oh8racjd1.pdf

A Comparison of Australian and Singaporean Pre-Service Teachers' Attitudes and Concerns About Inclusive Education

High-Achieving Students: Their Motivational Goals, Self-Regulation and Achievement and Relationships to Their Teachers' Goals and Strategy-Based Instruction.

Background. The project work (PW) initiative was launched in 2000 by the Ministry of Education, Singapore, to encourage application of knowledge across disciplines, and to develop thinking, communication, collaboration, and metacognitive skills. Although PW has been introduced for a few years, few studies have examined the motivation of students in PW, especially with the use of the recently proposed 2 £ 2 achievement goal framework. Aim. To use a cluster analytic approach to identify students’ achievement goal profiles at an intra-individual level, and to examine their links to various psychological characteristics and perceived outcomes in PW. Sample. Participants were 491 Secondary 2 students (mean age ¼ 13:78, SD ¼ 0:77) from two government coeducational schools. Method. Cluster analysis was performed to identify distinct subgroups of students with similar achievement goal profiles. One-way MANOVAs, followed by post hoc Tukey HSD tests for pairwise comparisons were used to determine whether there was any significant difference amongst clusters in terms of the psychological characteristics and perceived outcomes in PW. Results. Four distinct clusters of students were identified. The cluster with high achievement goals and the cluster with moderately high goals had the most positive psychological characteristics and perceived outcomes. In contrast, the cluster with very low scores for all four achievement goals had the most maladaptive profile. Conclusion. The study provides support for the 2 £ 2 achievement goal framework, and demonstrates that multiple goals can operate simultaneously. However, it highlights the need for cross-cultural studies to look into the approach– avoidance dimension in the 2 £ 2 achievement goal framework.

Jessie Ee

Papers

A self-determination approach to understanding students' motivation in project work

Young Children’s Number Sense in Finland, Hong Kong and Singapore

A Comparison of Australian and Singaporean Pre-Service Teachers' Attitudes and Concerns About Inclusive Education

High-Achieving Students: Their Motivational Goals, Self-Regulation and Achievement and Relationships to Their Teachers' Goals and Strategy-Based Instruction.

Understanding students' motivation in project work: A 2×2 achievement goal approach