Achievement,underachievement and cortical activation: a comparative EEG study of adolescents of average and above‐average intelligence

In this study the neural efficiency phenomenon (more efficient brain function in brighter as compared to less intelligent individuals) was investigated regarding differences in intelligence (average vs. above‐average intelligence) and scholastic achievement (achievers vs. underachievers). The cortical activation (assessed by event‐related desynchronisation in the EEG) of 31 male adolescents was measured while performing a verbal and figural version of Posner's letter matching task and two creativity tasks. During the figural Posner task, average intelligent underachievers showed higher frontal activation than similarly intelligent achievers and brighter underachievers, whereas average intelligent achievers showed higher posterior activation. During one creativity task underachievers were frontally less activated than achievers. The results provide first evidence that different achievement levels are also reflected in different levels of cortical activation.     

The Sexualized Girl: A Within‐Gender Stereotype Among Elementary School Children

Two studies (conducted in 2013) examined whether elementary‐aged children endorse a within‐gender stereotype about sexualized girls. In Study 1, children (N = 208) ages 6–11 rated sexualized girls as more popular but less intelligent, athletic, and nice compared to nonsexualized girls. These distinctions were stronger for girls and older children, and in accordance with our developmental intergroup theoretical framework, were related to children's cognitive development and media exposure. Study 2 (N = 155) replicated the previous findings using more ecologically valid and realistic images of girls and further explored individual differences in the endorsement of the sexualized girl stereotype. Additional results indicated that the belief that girls should be appearance focused predicted their endorsement of the sexualized girl stereotype.     

Conceptions of Research and Methodology Learning

In 15–16 year olds from Oslo, Norway, we investigated the occurrence of self‐reported dyslexia and reading/writing difficulties (RWD), and we measured dyslexic symptoms using the Duvan dyslexia screening test. The prevalence of self‐reported dyslexia was 8.2%, while 10.4% reported severe or moderate RWD. The group of self‐reported dyslexics obtained lower mean‐values on Duvan than the non‐dyslexic group (125.7 [SD = 20.2] versus 153.2 [SD = 23.4]), but not on the test of general ability. The questionnaire items on dyslexia and RWD, as well as gender, ethnicity and general ability, significantly predicted Duvan scores (explained variance, R ² = 0.25). More research is needed to explore the precision of Duvan as a screening tool for dyslexic symptoms among Norwegian adolescents.     

Individual | collective dialectic of free‐choice learning in a community‐based mapping project

In this article we describe an instance of free‐choice learning in the context of an eelgrass mapping and stewardship project (the Project) that covers over 500 kilometers of coastline in British Columbia, Canada, and involves 20 volunteer groups. In this ethnographic case study we sought to (a) explicate the relationship between individual and collective learning in this free‐choice setting and (b) understand how a network of Project participants could both constitute a free‐choice learning setting and support such a setting. We articulate a dialectic relationship between individual and collective learning, which, unfortunately in our view, has not yet been explored in educational research. In this relation, collective learning fosters individual learning and vice versa, whereby individuals produce resources in action and as outcomes of their activities. These resources expand the action possibilities of the collective, and thus constitute learning. The stability of the network of Project participants, which brings about and supports collective and therefore individual learning, rests on the flexibility of the Project that enables local innovation and tailoring of mapping activities as well as access to expertise and tools produced by other groups and Project partners. The possibilities that arise in the Project for local people to participate in relevant ways constitute free‐choice learning settings.     

Middle school behavioral profiles of antisocial and at‐risk control boys: Descriptive and predictive outcomes

Abstract

In this investigation we report two studies of the school behavior adjustment status of two groups of middle school‐age boys—an antisocial group (N = 39) and an at‐risk control group (N = 41). In study one, we compared the two groups on a series of behavioral measures across grades five, six, and seven that included (1) teacher ratings of social skills, (2) classroom observations, (3) playground observations, and (4) school archival records. Results indicated extremely problematic behavioral profiles for the antisocial subjects and much more favorable profiles for the at‐risk control students. The behavioral profiles for the two groups appeared to be quite consistent and stable across the middle school years with the exception that several variables (social skills ratings, attendance, math achievement, and school discipline contacts) tended to show gradually increasing negative trends for the antisocial subjects. In the second study, we used a series of selected fifth‐grade variables, derived from the four major clusters of study measures, as predictors in regression analyses of subjects' status on a series of seventh‐grade criterion measures of school success or failure. The criterion measures predicted in these analyses were reading and math achievement, school discipline contacts, attendance, and time spent within a nonregular classroom. There were low multiple Rs for reading achievement and time spent in a nonregular classroom setting. The multiple Rs for math achievement, school discipline contacts, and attendance were moderate to moderately high.     

The Didactics of Foreign Language Teaching with Multimedia

ABSTRACT

The way computers are used in foreign language teaching reflects teachers' ideas about how foreign languages should be learned. We describe different methods of foreign language teaching, one of which is at the base of our computer program IT'S English. In this program, different types of exercises are implemented: receptive, reproductive, and productive. To implement our ideas of a communicative approach to teaching into a computer program, we built an intelligent tutoring system, which incorporates a dictionary, grammar rules, and the digitized pronunciation of words and sentences stored on a CD‐ROM. The software is flexible in that the learning environment it offers can shift from a teacher controlled setting to a fully learner controlled environment. Four groups of eight pupils used the program during eight weeks and were compared with students not using the program. The research showed that the students interacting with the software used its various components in an adequate and goal‐appropriate way and found the use of the software to be a positive experience. After the experimental period, knowledge of vocabulary was significantly higher for one of the computer‐using groups compared to its control group, although in the word (re)production tests no significant differences were found between the experimental and control groups. Implications of the results of the experiments for teacher education are discussed, with an emphasis on the importance of teachers learning how to assess the pedagogical approach of software and the didactic principles involved in its design and intended use.     

Digital ITEMS Module 1: Reliability in Classical Test Theory

In this ITEMS module, we provide a two‐part introduction to the topic of reliability from the perspective of classical test theory (CTT). In the first part, which is directed primarily at beginning learners, we review and build on the content presented in the original didactic ITEMS article by Traub and Rowley (1991). Specifically, we discuss the notion of reliability as an intuitive everyday concept to lay the foundation for its formalization as a reliability coefficient via the basic CTT model. We then walk through the step‐by‐step computation of key reliability indices and discuss the data collection conditions under which each is most suitable. In the second part, which is directed primarily at intermediary learners, we present a distribution‐centered perspective on the same content. We discuss the associated assumptions of various CTT models ranging from parallel to congeneric, and review how these affect the choice of reliability statistics. Throughout the module, we use a customized Excel workbook with sample data and basic data manipulation functionalities to illustrate the computation of individual statistics and to allow for structured independent exploration. In addition, we provide quiz questions with diagnostic feedback as well as short videos that walk through sample exercises within the workbook.     

Following One's Nose in Reading W. G. Sebald Allegorically: Currere and Invisible Subjects

In education, we are concerned with the teaching and learning of subjects, but the word “subject” can refer to the discipline being studied as well as the individual who is studying. In this essay, Teresa Strong‐Wilson explores this “double entendre” (which William Pinar refers to as the “double consciousness”) of curriculum studies through the analogy afforded by German author‐in‐exile W. G. Sebald's working through of difficult subjects by way of semi‐autobiographical writing that takes the form of an “invisible subject”: a preoccupation with an unnamed injustice entangled with his own upbringing. Curriculum theory, as currere, has foregrounded the autobiographical. While the place of autobiography in curriculum studies has often been taken to mean writing (especially of a confessional sort), currere is more an allegorical method of study, of intellectual engagement, of learning through reading and writing, and of teaching so as to open spaces for agency. Strong‐Wilson suggests that Sebald can provide a strong example for us in curriculum studies of how to ethically bring into being an allegorical, autobiographical practice focused on “invisible” subjects of deep concern.     

Development of Scientific Thinking Facilitated by Reflective Self‐Assessment in a Communication‐Intensive Food Science and Human Nutrition Course

A one‐credit seminar on controversies in food science and human nutrition was a platform to introduce students to learning frameworks for thinking‐like‐a‐scientist. We hypothesized that explicitly engaging students in thinking about their thinking abilities within these frameworks would enhance their self‐perception of scientific thinking, an important general ability for food scientists. Our objectives were to assess thinking‐like‐a‐scientist using a student self‐assessment survey, and analyze their self‐reflections for evidence of such thinking. For students enrolled in one of the offerings of this course among 5 semesters from 2012 to 2014, differences in scores on a survey instrument for thinking‐like‐a‐scientist from the beginning to the end of the course showed gains in self‐assessed abilities (N = 21 to 22 students/semester). In each of the first 2 semesters in which we introduced thinking‐like‐a‐scientist frameworks, students thought they were better at defining problems scientifically by 13% to 14%. In the 3rd course offering, students’ self‐assessment of their abilities to seek evidence improved by 10%. In the 4th and 5th semester course offerings, students’ self‐assessed abilities to develop plans based on evidence improved by 7% to 14%. At the end of each semester, students’ self‐reflections on scientific thinking (N = 20 to 24/semester) included specific reference to asking questions (45% to 65% of reflections) and making plans based on evidence (26% to 50% of reflections). These data support the usefulness of self‐reflection tools as well as specific learning frameworks to help students to think about and practice thinking‐like‐a‐scientist.     

The purpose of the PhD: theorising the skills acquired by students

In the past decade there has been a marked push for the development of employability skills to be part of the PhD process. This push is generally by stakeholders from above and outside the PhD process, i.e. government and industry, who view skills as a summative product of the PhD. In contrast, our study interviewed stakeholders inside the PhD process – twenty final‐year, full‐time Australian PhD students – to provide a bottom‐up perspective into the skills question. Using grounded theory procedures we theorise the skills students develop during the PhD as a formative developmental process of acquiring intellectual virtues. Drawing on Aristotelian theory, we propose that theorising the PhD as a process of acquiring intellectual virtues offers a more robust and conceptually richer framework for understanding students’ development during the PhD than the instrumental focus on skills evident in contemporary debates.     

The threat of #RhetoricNotSoWhite

In seeking an alternative to objectivity in criticism we often characterize the critical experience as something produced by the critic's mind. Such an assumption causes us to embrace the very metaphysics that justifies objectivity in the first place. We can escape the dilemma by recognizing the role of appreciation in some criticism. The appreciative critic cares for what‐is‐as‐it‐is and so is open to the disclosures of sensual(aesthetic) revelation.     

Inclusive education and students without special educational needs

Background:?In the debate on inclusive education, students without special educational needs (SEN) are an important topic. However, there is a lot unknown about differences between these typical students in inclusive and non-inclusive classes. For example, the neutral results that are often found in earlier research could be caused by positive effects for some students, and negative effects for others.

Purpose:?This study investigated whether there is a relation between inclusive education and the academic achievement and socio-emotional functioning of typical students, and, more importantly, whether inclusive education affects the achievement and socio-emotional functioning of more and less intelligent typical students differently. Furthermore, we investigated whether differences occur by type of SEN of the included students. Here, we made a distinction between students with behavioural, cognitive and other problems.

Sample:?A representative sample of 27,745 students without SEN in Dutch primary education from a large cohort study in the Netherlands was used.

Design and methods:?Language and arithmetic tests were used to assess academic achievement. For socio-emotional functioning, both teacher and student questionnaires were used. A non-verbal IQ test was used to assess student intelligence. Based on the number of students with diagnosed SEN, the students without SEN were divided into several groups: typical students with no, a few and more than a few students with (certain types of) SEN in their class. Multi-level regression analyses were used to compare these groups.

Results:?For academic achievement, no differences were found between students without SEN in inclusive and non-inclusive classes. In this, we found no differences between intelligent and less intelligent typical students. For socio-emotional functioning, some differences were found, but the practical importance of these differences is unclear, since the effect sizes were small. The functioning of typical students does not meaningfully differ by type of SEN of the included students.

Conclusions:?The findings of this study are interesting in the light of the ongoing inclusion debate. Arguments against inclusive education often concern an assumed adverse effect on typical students. As in this study, hardly any differences were found between typical students in inclusive and non-inclusive primary school classes, this research strengthens the scientific evidence in support of inclusive education.     

Premature closure and guided reinvention: a case study in a web‐based learning environment

Just as linguistic errors have provided insights into the nature of linguistic competence(s), detailed analyses of blind spots or marked trajectories in the reflection cycles of novice teachers may provide a window on their underlying beliefs, and thus on relevant zones of proximal development. In this paper we analyse a case study in an experimental web‐based learning environment in which a novice teacher demonstrably just reproduces the assumptions she started out with rather than re‐inspecting them. Having located a problem of motivation uniquely inside the learners’ heads, she pointedly ignores hints in the feedback that her own verbal and nonverbal behaviour in the classroom might be a relevant domain of enquiry. Our findings show the need for structural interventions within a priori hypothesized, linearly ordered, stages in reflection models. We report on two small‐scale experiments that implement suggested changes in the architecture of the web site which yield more context‐sensitive ways of scaffolding reflection. In conclusion we argue that detailed discursive accounts of successful and less successful reflection trajectories are needed to refine and further develop models in teacher thinking.     

Nietzsche,Eternal Recurrence and Education: The Role of the Great Cultivating Thought in the Art of Self‐Cultivation (Bildung)

In this essay, I briefly outline Nietzsche's doctrine of the eternal recurrence that has implications for education, and life in general; and, lastly, I argue that from an educational point of view, Nietzsche's doctrine of the eternal recurrence is best viewed as the great cultivating thought that has radical ramifications for any project of character education. Indeed, Nietzsche's concern with self‐cultivation (Bildung) to a large degree brings together the central tenets of his thinking to emphasise an ethics of character that is meant to serve as an alternative approach to cultivating character or the self in such a way that it reveals ‘what one is’ now (being), and who they could become (becoming). In order to bring this about, Nietzsche does not conceive the eternal recurrence as a theoretical doctrine, but as an exercise that we incorporate into our lives as a habitual practice, vis‐à‐vis, through repeated and prolonged meditation, reflection, thought and dialogue on the significance of the idea in such a way that it transforms the individual for the better. Subsequently, the idea of the eternal recurrence only becomes cultivating and truly educational if it transforms our lives in such a way that we come to revalue the self as a work of art to a point where we are able to educate ourselves against our age.     

A framework for fostering a community of practice: scaffolding learners through an evolving continuum

This paper proposes a framework of an evolving community of practitioners along a simulation, participation, and codetermined interactions continuum. Simulation, participation, and codetermined interactions are three models of learning, which describe how learners can be brought through a scaffolded process within a community experience. The framework also focuses on the processes rather than on the outcomes or products of a community. In this paper, we describe a case study of a group of heads of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in schools being scaffolded through an experiential workshop to achieve learning outcomes such as ICT‐based project work (as product) and other constructivist dispositions of learning (as processes). The proposed framework is intended to be sufficiently broad so that learners are supported from simulation to codetermined interactions where autonomy of learners’ co‐construction efforts are encouraged and experienced.     

Enhancing executive function skills in preschoolers through a mindfulness‐based intervention: A randomized,controlled pilot study

Executive functions (EFs) develop rapidly in preschoolers and lay an important foundation for school readiness. One potential method of supporting EF development is through mindfulness‐based interventions (MBIs). Whereas studies with older children and adults have supported this approach, research with young children has been more limited. In the current study, we evaluated the effectiveness, acceptability, and feasibility of Mini‐Mind, a 12‐session MBI created specifically for preschoolers. We used a randomized controlled design in a sample of 27 (intervention n = 12) preschoolers (3–5 years old). The evaluation included indirect measures of EF skills completed by teachers who were blinded to the experimental condition of the students. Additionally, parents, teachers, children, and facilitators provided feedback about the acceptability and feasibility of the intervention. Findings revealed mostly nonsignificant, small‐to‐medium effects in favor of the intervention group on indirect measures of EF skills. Furthermore, Mini‐Mind was rated as highly feasible and acceptable by children and stakeholders. Overall, the findings support the implementation and continued evaluation of Mini‐Mind in more diverse settings.     

Developing Model‐Based Reasoning

Key elements of the structure and function of models in mathematics and science are identified. These elements are used as a basis for discussing the development of model‐based reasoning. A microgenetic study examines the beginnings of model‐based reasoning in a pair of fourth‐ and fifth‐grade children who solved several problems about chance and probability. Results are reported in the form of a cognitive model of children's problem‐solving performance. The cognitive model explains a transition in children's reasoning from tacit reliance on empirical regularity to a form of model‐based reasoning. Several factors fostering change in children's thinking are identified, including the role of notations, peer interaction, and teacher assistance. We suggest that model‐based reasoning is a slowly‐developing capability that emerges only with proper contextual and social support and that future study should be carried out in classrooms, where these forms of assistance can also be part of the object of study.

Model‐based reasoning is a significant intellectual milestone because it bridges the worlds of personal, intuitive knowledge, on the one hand, and mathematical‐scientific theory, on the other. However, across disciplines, consensus is still forming about what model‐based reasoning comprises, and there is little knowledge about its ontogenetic origins or how it develops. We consider analogy as the core of modeling, because in model‐based reasoning a system in one domain is used to understand a system in another. To understand how models come to play a role in reasoning, it is important to initiate study of their origins. Accordingly, we report a microgenetic study examining the beginnings of model‐based reasoning in a pair of young children solving problems about chance and probability. In this study we are engaged in the enterprise of modeling the development of modeling. That is, we report our results in the form of a cognitive model of children's problem‐solving performance that explains a transition in reasoning from a tacit reliance on empirical regularity to a form of model‐based reasoning. It is important to note the two distinct meanings for the term model used in this article. The first describes how children come to understand and appropriate a system of reasoning exemplified in practices of modeling. The second describes a research tool, a model of human reasoning—specifically, how children in this study began to use models of probability to reason about uncertain events. In this report, we use the terms model or model‐based reasoning to refer to the former interpretation, whereas references to a cognitive model denote the simulation of children's thinking—in this case, implemented as a computer program.

Before describing the empirical work, we first identify some key elements of the structure and function of models. Next, these elements of modeling are used as the basis for generating some conjectures about the development of model‐based reasoning. We describe a task that we used as a window to understanding progression in student reasoning toward reliance on models as tools for thought. We present our rationale for developing cognitive models of student performance and explain some choices concerning the implementation of the cognitive model reported here. Finally, we turn to the children's performance on chance and probability tasks and explain how that performance illuminates both what children do not understand about models and the kinds of relevant knowledge that they are acquiring.     

What Characterizes Adolescents Struggling With Educational Decision‐Making?

Educational decision‐making is a complex process where individual factors such as how adolescents think about and evaluate themselves could play an important role. In this study, (N = 84), we combined behavioral and neural correlates of self‐concept and self‐esteem to examine what characterizes adolescents who struggle with educational decision‐making. We included 38 adolescents (16–24 years, M = 18.7 years) from “the Gap‐Year program.” This program focuses on personal development for adolescents who have dropped out of higher education or stay undecided after high school. We compared these adolescents prior to the start of the training with 46 peers (17–21 years, M = 19.4 years) who reported to have successfully chosen a major. The results showed that adolescents struggling with educational decision‐making reported lower levels of self‐esteem and self‐concept clarity. Neurally, higher self‐esteem was associated with more self‐related activity in the medial prefrontal cortex. Together, these results suggest that healthy self‐esteem levels are an important condition for the ability to make a well‐suited educational choice.     

Schooling the new generation of German citizens: a comparison of citizenship curricula in Berlin and Baden‐Württemberg

In Germany, unlike other European countries, citizenship education has a long history. Since the Second World War, its role has evolved from promoting de‐Nazification in the West and state socialism in the East to emphasising common citizenship in a multicultural society. Today, the federal states (Bundesländer) are largely autonomous in matters of education. Drawing on citizenship curricula from two states with historically opposite political constellations – Berlin and Baden‐Württemberg – we argue that they share an emphasis on the fragility of democracy and the challenges arising from migration. While Baden‐Württemberg favours the concept of tolerance, Berlin privileges the idea of interculturalism. There are important within‐state differences: the Baden‐Württemberg curriculum for the vocational‐track Hauptschule being more similar to the curricula in Berlin, perhaps as a result of the larger concentration of migrants. This raises questions for educators and policy‐makers around the need for a single coherent model of citizenship education and the importance of citizenship in multicultural Germany for all.     

Some principles of intelligent tutoring

Research on intelligent tutoring systems is discussed from the point of view of providing moment-by-moment adaptation of both content and form of instruction to the changing cognitive needs of the individual learner. The implications of this goal for cognitive diagnosis, subject matter analysis, teaching tactics, and teaching strategies are analyzed. The results of the analyses are stated in the form of principles about intelligent tutoring. A major conclusion is that a computer tutor, in order to provide adaptive instruction, must have a strategy which translates its tutorial goals into teaching actions, and that, as a consequence, research on teaching strategies is central to the construction of intelligent tutoring systems.