The Asia-Pacific Education Researcher

Previous research examined the importance of flourishing in promoting optimal outcomes in academic settings. However, no empirical research has been done on the relationships of flourishing with personal best (PB) and the four aspects of student engagement. The current study addresses this gap by investigating PB goals as the mediating variable in the relationship between flourishing and the four aspects of student engagement (behavioral, emotional, cognitive, and agentic). The data were collected from a total sample of 617 undergraduate students in Malaysia. The hypothesized model was tested using structural equation modeling (SEM). The results reveal that flourishing significantly predicted PB goals, behavioral, emotional, cognitive, and agentic engagement. Except for agentic engagement, significant indirect relationships were found from flourishing to behavioral, emotional, and cognitive engagement through PB goals. The results offer meaningful insights into the role of PB goals as one of the mechanisms by which flourishing may associate with the aspects of student engagement. The implications for theory and practices are discussed.

In this study, we examined aesthetic development in girl students. Participants consisted of 75 female students from five age groups (7–9, 9–11, 11–13, 13–15, and 15–17-year-old). Students were presented with eight paintings (two from each of the four different styles). Paintings were presented one at a time and students were asked to explain in writing what they thought about each painting. Responses were coded and the results suggested that participants from different age groups had different ways of describing aesthetic paintings. Responses of the two youngest age groups (ages 7–9 and 9–11) reflected objectivism, the responses of groups 3 and 4 (ages 11–13 and 13–15) reflected Abstractivism, which encompasses three different categories named story-telling, affectivism, and evaluating, and symbolism was reflected in the responses of only the oldest students (ages 15–17). These findings may provide support for a developmental progression of aesthetic development.

The purpose of this study is to explore the relationships among preschool teacher’s self-efficacy, teacher–child interaction, and peer interaction, and tried to find out any differences occurred based on young children’s emotional intelligence. The research participants of the study were 68 preschool teachers and 210 preschool-aged children. Teacher’s self-efficacy test was conducted using measurement tools, and young children’s emotional intelligence, teacher–child interaction and peer interaction were analysed through correlation analysis and regression analysis by collecting data using survey questions from teachers. As a result, first, it was found that teacher’s self-efficacy had a positive effect on teacher–child interaction, and teacher–child interaction had a positive effect on peer interaction. Second, teacher’s self-efficacy did not directly affect young children’s peer interaction but influenced peer interaction through the mediating effect of teacher–child interaction. Third, as a result of verifying whether the influence of teacher’s self-efficacy on peer interaction through teacher–child interaction appears differently depending on young children’s emotional intelligence, there was no significant difference found. These results show that the higher the teacher’s self-efficacy regardless of young children’s emotional intelligence, the higher the positive interaction between teacher and children, the more positive interaction with young children’s peers.

The flipped classroom has been widely discussed in recent years, but some important issues still need in-depth exploration, including how to increase learners’ autonomous learning motivation before the class, how to work with in-class discussion activities, and how to improve learner’s concentration on discussions and lower their learning anxieties for high-level cognitive thinking. This study integrated theories of digital game-based learning (DGBL) and flipped classrooms, proposing the mini-game-based flipped classroom (MGFC) teaching model. In this teaching model, learners used a mini-educational game developed based on cognitive theories for DGBL autonomous learning in class, and then worked with collaborative problem solving (CPS) activities to improve learning and discussions. The study involved a quasi-experiment to evaluate this teaching model. The experimental group used MGFC, while the control group used the traditional flipped classroom teaching method by watching the video first and then having group discussions. The study analyzed the differences in the learning performance and acceptance of the two groups, and analyzed gender differences. Moreover, this study used quantitative content analysis (QCA) to explore learner’s concentration on their discussion content. The results showed that the MGFC group had significantly higher scores than the control group in their learning performance and acceptance. The MGFC group also showed a high level of flow. The QCA results showed that MGFC enhanced the frequency of learner’s learning discussions and their concentration in the learning process.

Research indicates that learning from erroneous examples (EE) is superior to correct examples because errors may provide students with a stimulus to spontaneously produce more self-explanations, leading to better learning outcomes. However, because most studies were conducted in individual settings, it remains an open question whether the advantage of EE could be reproduced in collaborative settings. Therefore, this study used a 2 × 2 factorial design varying in example types (correct vs. erroneous examples) and learning settings (individuals vs. collaboration). An experimental study of a 2-week course on subtraction for third grade students was conducted (N = 109). Results indicated that collaborative learning may enhance the transfer knowledge of subtraction. The improvements were still maintained over 2 weeks. In addition, collaboration also facilitated students’ confidence in handling errors. However, there was no significant difference in promoting isomorphic and transfer knowledge between learning from correct and erroneous examples. Additionally, this study also explored the absence of the intended benefit of erroneous examples from a cognitive load perspective.

Drawing upon various scholars’ conceptual work on the knowledge domains that underpin teaching in the era of globalization, this paper examines the aspects of teaching they have affected and the extent of their influence. This article reports the results from a mixed-methods study with 138 preschool teacher participants in Singapore. The findings first uncover that pedagogical knowledge influences teaching practices most, whereas global trends least influence teaching practices. Second, sociological knowledge was developed on top of pedagogical knowledge by practicing and adapting it. Third, personal knowledge significantly influences practices of responding to children’s needs. We discuss these findings in detail and suggest ways to utilize the various knowledge types optimally to support teaching in the age of globalization.

Self-regulation and language learning motivation have always been the research focus of foreign language acquisition. In higher education, the heterogeneity of college students creates diversity in SRL abilities, especially with the prevalence of online learning nowadays. The current study investigates the profiles of college EFL learners’ self-regulation and predictive role of self-determination motivation on the membership of SRL profiles in an online learning environment. Online self-regulation learning questionnaire was administered to examine the potential profiles, and self-determination motivation questionnaire to reveal the relationship between online self-regulation and self-determination motivation with a total of 439 college EFL learners. Latent profile analysis yielded three subgroups of online self-regulation: high, median, and low. Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that external regulation, intrinsic motivation–stimulation, and intrinsic motivation–accomplishment in self-determination motivation can effectively predict the online self-regulation profiles membership. These results altogether suggest that online SRL profiles can be predicted by several aspects in self-determination motivation in EFL learning.