Sistema Regional de Información
en línea para Revistas Científicas de América Latina,
el Caribe, España y Portugal

One century after the Great Kanto Earthquake devastated Tokyo and Yokohama in September 1, 1923, the remains of the foundation of the Jūnikai (Twelve-Stories), or Ryōunkaku (Cloud-Surpassing Tower), the first Skycraper of Japan, have been discovered in the old Asakusa Park, in Tokyo. It was designed by the Scottish sanitary engineer William Kinnimond Burton (1856-1899), and inaugurated in 1890. Contemporary of Adler and Sullivan’s first high-rise buildings in Chicago, it was the icon of the Asakusa Park, a copy in Japan of the cheerful western entertainment districts such as Broadway or Montmartre. The Ryōunkaku was the focus of several pages of Japanese modernist literature and its powerful presence in Tokyo’s skyline made it one of the symbols of the country’s opening to the west, which started with the Meiji Restoration, a time of transformations in which domestic intimacy moved from the strict horizontality of Japanese dwellings—embodied by the delicate platforms built to observe the moon in the town of Katsura—to the vertiginous verticality of the new forms of high-rise living of modern towers.

A significant way to contribute in the analysis of deficiencies in school performance, a known issue particularly in mathematics, is by delving into children’s development of informal mathematics during their early childhood, and thus have better elements to intervene in a more timely, effective manner. From this point of view, this study analyzes how the relationship between parenting behavior and early mathematics can be mediated by the development of self-regulation in children. The sample of the study is made of 85 students, between 5 and 6 years old, who are in their last year of preschool in two public schools in Lima. The instruments used are the Spanish translations of the Test of Early Mathematics Ability - 3, Head-Toes-Knees-Shoulders task and Parent Behavior Inventory. The main results show that self-regulation in children and their caregivers’ parenting behavior are significant predicting variables in early mathematical development. Specifically, the findings suggest that self-regulation in children can significantly mediate the relationship between the dimension of support/engagement in parenting behavior and the development of early mathematics in children during preschool.

The research aims to examine the relationships between sensation seeking and positive and negative experience, emotional autonomy, and coping strategies in adolescents. The study group consisted of 371 adolescents who attended middle and high schools; the ages ranged from 11 to 17. 55.7 % of participants were female (N=137), and 44.3% were male (N=109). Data were collected via Adolescent Coping Scale (KIDCOPE), Emotional Autonomy Scale, Adolescent Positive and Negative Experiences Scale, and Short Sensation Seeking Scale. The relationships between the study variables were analyzed via correlational analysis and regression analysis. The correlation analysis revealed a statistically significant negative correlation among sensation seeking, emotional autonomy, active coping, and positive experience. On the other hand, a statistically significant positive correlation among sensation seeking, avoidant coping, negative coping, and negative experience. The regression analysis results showed that emotional autonomy, avoidant coping, negative coping, and negative experience predict sensation seeking, yet active coping and positive experience variables did not predict.

Over the last two decades, several studies have overlooked at-school belonging and engagement, two dimensions that are associated with several positive outcomes. However, the relative influence that contexts and interventions may have on these components has received much less attention. In this study, school belonging and engagement were examined as a function of the implementation and application of classroom rules. The study took place in two Moroccan schools, and participants were 238 students from 9th grade (101 boys, 137 girls; Mage = 15.1) living in the cities of Casablanca and Témara. They all completed a questionnaire that allowed to measure their belonging and engagement in conjunction with the manner in which rules are implemented and applied. Correlational and structural equation modeling methods were used to analyze the aforementioned relationships. Results showed that implementation of classroom rules had a positive effect on school belonging, which, in turn, had a positive effect on school engagement. These results indicated the need to conduct further empirical research to measure the contribution of classroom management practices on school belonging.

In this article, we explore a program designed to engage high school and college students with learning disabilities (LD) in conversations about their hopes, expectations, and fears for the future. We explore the mindset of students by focusing on their self-identified passions for life and sense of strengths and limitations. We found that males and females differed in goals related to Academics, Work Ethic, Degree Specific Statements, and Money and Finances. For example, females emphasized “Academic Goals” more frequently than males and focused on topics such as GPA and work ethic in school. However, males made more “Degree Specific Statements” than females, more often emphasizing the desire to be financially stable or have a career with a large income. These differences suggest that college transition staff may want to focus on goals identified by male and female students with LD as a way to be more responsive to student self-identified goals.

Two studies examined the relationships between motivational orientation, college student success, and first-year retention.  In Study 1, 523 college students completed measures of motivational orientation and student success.  Results indicated that intrinsic and extrinsic motivation were positively related to college GPA, student-university match and adjustment to college. In contrast, amotivation was negatively related to these dependent variables. Study 2 examined a mediational model in which motivational orientation, most consistently amotivation, predicted lower college student GPA and poorer college match. These, in turn predicted a decrease in first-to-second-year retention among 385 first-year college students. These results suggest that colleges may wish to address amotivation among students as a way to enhance student success and retention. 

The first year of boarding senior high school marks a period of great change for students. The extent to which students are able to adjust to successfully navigate this change (adaptability) likely has an impact on their psychological wellbeing. It has also been theorized that students’ personality traits and perceived social support may impact upon their adaptability and, directly and/or indirectly through adaptability, influence their psychological wellbeing. However, the literature examining independent and mediating effects of adaptability on psychological wellbeing is sparse particularly among students from non-Western cultures. In the present study, 102 grade-one high school students in China, were surveyed for their personality, perceived social support, adaptability, and psychological wellbeing (life satisfaction, mental well-being, and psychological distress). Findings showed that adaptability (along with neuroticism, extraversion, and social support) made a significant independent contribution to students’ psychological wellbeing. Further, adaptability was found to fully mediate the relationships between personality (conscientiousness and neuroticism) and psychological wellbeing, and to partially mediate the relationships between extraversion and psychological wellbeing, and social support and psychological wellbeing. These findings have important theoretical and practical implications for researchers and educators who are seeking to support students’ adjustment to boarding senior high school.

The Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) aims to provide comparative data on 15-year-olds’ academic performance and well-being. The purpose of the current study is to explore and compare the variables that predict the reading literacy and life satisfaction of U.S. and South Korean students. The random forest algorithm, which is a machine learning approach, was applied to PISA 2018 data (4,677 U.S. students and 6,650 South Korean students) to explore and select the key variables among 305 variables that predict reading literacy and life satisfaction. In each random forest analysis, one for the U.S. and another for South Korea, 23 variables were derived as key variables in students’ reading literacy. In addition, 23 variables in the U.S. and 26 variables in South Korea were derived as important variables for students’ life satisfaction. The multilevel analysis revealed that various student-, teacher- or school-related key variables derived from the random forest were statistically related to either U.S. and/or South Korean students’ reading literacy and/or life satisfaction. The current study proposes to use a machine learning approach to examine international large-scale data for an international comparison. The implications of the current study and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Positive personal characteristics such as happiness or wellbeing can motivate students to elevate their school performance in higher education. Orientation to happiness is a construct that combines three sources of happiness: pleasure, meaning, and engagement, all of which have been identified as a predictor of university student’s engagement. However, most research in this area has been conducted during ideal situations or face-to-face education, and no cross-country research has been published examining the relationship between these two concepts during the COVID-19 era, where online education was predominant. This study aimed to investigate the relation between orientation to happiness and student engagement after twelve months of distance education in a sample of 1723 students from six American countries, including the USA, Mexico, El Salvador, Colombia, Peru, and the Dominican Republic. Results indicate that university student´s' engagement is influenced by the orientation to happiness. Further implications of these results are discussed.

The objective of this study was to examine possible antecedents and consequences of teachers’ emotions in the classroom. Based on a cognitive-social perspective and self-determination theory, we examined the relationship between basic psychological needs (BPNs), teachers’ class-related emotions and teachers’ life satisfaction. A sample of 595 teachers from Andalusia (Spain) participated in an online survey. A structural equation model was tested, in which BPNs predicted teachers’ emotions (β = .69; p < .001 positive emotions and β = -.42; p < .001 negative emotions). In addition, BPNs (β = .36; p < .001) and positive emotions (β = .23; p < .001) predicted satisfaction with life. The results show that the fulfilment of work-related BPNs is important to generate positive emotions and well-being in teachers. In addition, the study is the first to provide extensive details on the psychometric properties for assessing teacher emotions with the Achievement Emotions Questionnaire - Teachers (AEQ-T) in a Spanish sample.