The purpose of this study was to understand teachers’ conceptualizations of creativity and its difference among 3 countries. The conceptualization of creativity denotes the concept and exhibition of creativity, the traits of creative students, and the fostering and hindering factors for creativity in school settings. A questionnaire was administered to 515 teachers from China (N = 326), Germany (N = 139), and Japan (N = 50). Results showed that creativity was perceived as a divergent thinking ability that emphasizes novelty across 3 countries. It can be developed and more easily exhibited in art and science and is unrelated to school achievement. Creative students were perceived as imaginative, original, curious and willing to try new things. Besides the shared conceptualizations, there were also differences among countries. Chinese teachers thought it was less likely to exhibit creativity in literature. To them, the perceived fostering factors of creativity were critical thinking, independence, and motivation; hindering factors were evaluation system and resource limitations. German teachers thought it was less likely to exhibit creativity in mathematics. To them, the perceived fostering factors of creativity were encouragement and feedback, independence, and initiatives; hindering factors were working pressure, resources, and discipline. Japanese teachers considered creativity less likely to be developed. The results suggested cultural differences and have several implications for creativity cultivation.

Despite the positive effects of father involvement on children outcomes, mothers may hold inconsistent attitudes toward father involvement in childcare. Taking mothers’ diverse attitudes and behaviours into account, Puhlman and Pasley [(2013). Rethinking maternal gatekeeping. Journal of Family Theory & Review, 5(3), 176–193] defined maternal gatekeeping as a multi-dimensional construct which includes control, discouragement as well as encouragement. Following their framework, the current work explored how this father–mother relationship and father–child involvement affected children’s development. Analysis of survey data from 214 families in Beijing indicated that (1) mothers’ positive gatekeeping behaviours appeared more often than negative ones; (2) fathers involved more in rule teaching and emotional communication than in recreational activities and daily caring; (3) mothers’ encouraging and discouraging behaviours were significantly correlated with father involvement; (4) maternal gatekeeping could influence children’s social emotional development through the mediating effect of father involvement. The findings suggest the importance of co-parenting in dual-earner families.

In the science museum industry, exhibits related to virtual reality(VR) technology have grown rapidly in number. Demonstrating and using virtual reality technology in exhibits is becoming a new hotspot in science museums. However, most of these exhibits are non-interactive or only allow one person to interact with virtual environment. Few exhibits could realize multiplayer real-time interaction. Taking the exhibit of \"Virtual Experience on an Aircraft Carrier\" in China Science and Technology Museum as an example, this paper elaborates the design of a multiplayer interactive exhibit based on VR technology, including the game content and interactive ways of the exhibit, the software system architecture, the function of software system modules, software development tools, the hardware system and the equipment required. Through this, the paper is aimed to provide useful ideas for such multiplayer interactive exhibits based on virtual reality technology, which may make exhibitions in science museums more interesting and improve their science popularization effects.

Accurate measurement of metacognitive knowledge in reading is important. Different instruments and scoring methods have been proposed but not systematically compared for their measurement comparability across cultures and validity. Given student data from 34 OECD countries in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) in 2009, we compared two scoring methods for metacognitive knowledge in reading based on pair-wise comparisons of strategies and with conventional Likert-scale responses of selected items. Metacognitive knowledge scored with conventional Likert-scale responses demonstrated higher cross-cultural comparability than the pair-wise comparison method. Linked with reading competence, motivation and control strategy in reading, scores from the two scoring methods showed differential criterion validity, possibly related to the types of tasks (understanding and remembering versus summarising), item content (complexity and discrimination between preferred strategies in reading) and common method variance (e.g., individuals’ stable response style in rating scales). Theoretical and methodological implications are discussed..

This article reports a study that is based on the framework of personal epistemology proposed by Kuhn, Cheney, and Weinstock (2000). The instrument developed by Kuhn et al. (2000) for assessing the three positions (absolutist, multiplist and evaluativist) of epistemological understanding across five judgements’ domains was translated and administered to 180 Chinese middle and high school students. The data showed that the general trajectory of personal epistemology across different judgement domains proposed by Kuhn et al. (2000) could also be identified in a Chinese cultural context. Analyses by grade level showed no difference, whereas analyses by school curriculum showed that eighth graders from an experimental school hold more sophisticated positions of personal epistemology (less absolutist and more multiplist) than eighth graders from a regular school. These results indicated the importance of a constructive academic environment in the enhancement of personal epistemology.