Florida College

About: Florida College is a education organization based out in Temple Terrace, Florida, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Medicine & Surgery. The organization has 395 authors who have published 206 publications receiving 18364 citations.

Teachers’ Beliefs and Educational Research: Cleaning Up a Messy Construct:

Abstract: Attention to the beliefs of teachers and teacher candidates should be a focus of educational research and can inform educational practice in ways that prevailing research agendas have not and cannot. The difficulty in studying teachers’ beliefs has been caused by definitional problems, poor conceptualizations, and differing understandings of beliefs and belief structures. This article examines the meaning prominent researchers give to beliefs and how this meaning differs from that of knowledge, provides a definition of belief consistent with the best work in this area, explores the nature of belief structures as outlined by key researchers, and offers a synthesis of findings about the nature of beliefs. The article argues that teachers’ beliefs can and should become an important focus of educational inquiry but that this will require clear conceptualizations, careful examination of key assumptions, consistent understandings and adherence to precise meanings, and proper assessment and investigation of spec...

Neglect and related disorders

Abstract: Neglect is a failure to report, respond, or orient to contralateral stimuli that is not caused by an elemental sensorimotor deficit. Subtypes of neglect are distinguished by input (attentional) or output (intentional) demands, the distribution (personal, spatial, and representational), and the means of eliciting the signs (unilateral or bilateral stimuli). In this article we discuss how to assess patients for neglect, the pathophysiology of neglect, and the treatment of neglect.

Role of self-efficacy and self-concept beliefs in mathematical problem solving: A path analysis.

Abstract: Path analysis was used to test the predictive and mediational role of self-efficacy beliefs in mathematical problem solving. Results revealed that math self-efficacy was more predictive of problem solving than was math self-concept, perceived usefulness of mathematics, prior experience with mathematics, or gender (N = 350). Self-efficacy also mediated the effect of gender and prior experience on self-concept, perceived usefulness, and problem solving. Gender and prior experience influenced self-concept, perceived usefulness, and problem solving largely through the mediational role of self-efficacy. Men had higher performance, self-efficacy, and self-concept and lower anxiety, but these differences were due largely to the influence of self-efficacy, for gender had a direct effect only on self-efficacy and a prior experience variable. Results support the hypothesized role of self-efficacy in A. Bandura's (1986) social cognitive theory. Social cognitive theory suggests that self-efficacy, "people's judgments of their capabilities to organize and execute courses of action required to attain designated types of performances" (Bandura, 1986, p. 391), strongly influences the choices people make, the effort they expend, and how long they persevere in the face of challenge. According to Bandura (1986), how people behave can often be better predicted by their beliefs about their capabilities than by what they are actually capable of accomplishing , for these beliefs help determine what individuals do with the knowledge and skills they have. Although researchers have established that self-efficacy is a strong predictor of behavior (Maddux, Norton, & Stoltenberg, 1986), research on the relationship between self-efficacy and academic performance in areas such as mathematics is still limited (Bouffard-Bouchard, 1989). Studies of math self-efficacy have been largely correlational, and researchers have emphasized the need to construct causal models with which to conceptualize and test hypothesized relationships (Hackett & Betz, 1989; Meece, Wigfield, & Eccles, 1990). When causal modeling has been used, most models have excluded key variables identified as influencing math performance (most notably, self-concept), or the theoretical framework used to hypothesize relationships was not based on social cognitive theory. Thus, results have added little to a better understanding of self-efficacy's influence. Bandura (1986) hypothesized that self-efficacy beliefs mediate the effect of other determinants of performance such as gender and prior experience on subsequent perfor

Generalized eta and omega squared statistics: measures of effect size for some common research designs.

Abstract: The editorial policies of several prominent educational and psychological journals require that researchers report some measure of effect size along with tests for statistical significance. In analysis of variance contexts, this requirement might be met by using eta squared or omega squared statistics. Current procedures for computing these measures of effect often do not consider the effect that design features of the study have on the size of these statistics. Because research-design features can have a large effect on the estimated proportion of explained variance, the use of partial eta or omega squared can be misleading. The present article provides formulas for computing generalized eta and omega squared statistics, which provide estimates of effect size that are comparable across a variet yo f research designs. It is often argued that researchers can enhance the presentation of their research findings by including an effect-size measure along with a test of statistical significance. An effect-size measure is a standardized index and estimates a parameter that is independent of sample size and quantifies the magnitude of the difference between populations or the relationship between explanatory and response variables. Two broad