The Power of the “OCEAN”: Another Way to Diagnose Clients

This article outlines the five-factor model of personality (i.e., “OCEAN”) and illustrates how it can be used to diagnose clients.     

On the concept “chemical equilibrium”: The associative framework

Word associations were used to map the conception of high school students concerning the concepts “chemical equilibrium” and “equilibrium.” It was found that the preconception of the two concepts was differentiated on noncritical dimensions; “equilibrium” being associated with everyday life experiences and “chemical equilibrium” with general chemical concepts. After studying the subject of chemical equilibrium at school the two concepts merged towards one, i.e., becoming synonymous. This can provide an explanation for misconceptions associated with chemical equilibrium via the transfer of static attributes from “equilibrium” to the dynamic “chemical equilibrium”.     

Beginnings of Place Value: How Preschoolers Write Three‐Digit Numbers

Place value notation is essential to mathematics learning. This study examined young children's (4‐ to 6‐year‐olds, N = 172) understanding of place value prior to explicit schooling by asking them write spoken numbers (e.g., “six hundred and forty‐two”). Children's attempts often consisted of “expansions” in which the proper digits were written in order but with 0s or other insertions marking place (e.g., “600402” or “610042”). This partial knowledge increased with age. Gender differences were also observed with older boys more likely than older girls to produce the conventional form (e.g., 642). Potential experiences contributing to expanded number writing and the observed gender differences are discussed.     

“Acquired” Equals Addition? Associating Verbs with Arithmetic Operations Impacts Word Problem Performance

Successful word problem performance often requires understanding the linguistic relations between characters and objects. However, the keyword method promotes associating specific words with mathematical operations while neglecting the situational context. Research has thoroughly investigated the detrimental effects of individuals associating relational terminology (e.g., “more”) with mathematical operations (e.g., “addition”). The current study expands upon this line of research by examining whether undergraduate students associate verbs with mathematical operations and if verbal associations affect word problem performance. Similar to relational terminology, the participants associated verbs with operations, which significantly impacted performance. The educational implications are discussed.     

Learning from scientific texts: personalizing the text increases transfer performance and task involvement

In an experiment with 65 high-school students, we tested the hypothesis that personalizing learning materials would increase students’ learning performance and motivation to study the learning materials. Students studied either a 915-word standard text on the anatomy and functionality of the human eye or a personalized version of the same text in which 60 definite articles (e.g., “the eye”) were replaced with 60 second-person possessive pronouns (e.g., “your eye”). Afterwards, participants answered comprehension and transfer questions. One week later, the participants were asked to restudy the text and to answer the same questions again with the aim to improve their performance. In the personalized text condition, students showed higher transfer performance, spent more time on restudying the text, and reported being more motivated than students in the standard text condition. However, only duration of restudying (not self-reported motivation) mediated the effect of personalization on transfer performance.     

The “Encounter” as an “Event of Truth” in Education: An Anthropological‐Pedagogical Approach

In this essay, Vasileios Pantazis examines how two philosophers having different orientations acknowledge and study the phenomenon of the “encounter” (Begegnung) and its fundamental importance to human life and education. On the one hand, Otto Friedrich Bollnow drew on existential philosophy and philosophical anthropology in his analysis of the encounter, while Alain Badiou, on the other hand, used psychoanalysis, mathematics, and Plato in exploring the concept. The approach Pantazis takes in this essay aims at fusing the concept of the encounter as developed by Bollnow with a philosophical view, specifically Badiou's understanding of the encounter in the context of his concept “event of truth.” Through the “fusion of horizons,” as Hans‐Georg Gadamer put it, between these two views, Pantazis seeks to enrich the concept of the encounter and to draw out a renewed meaning for philosophical and educational theory.     

The Significance of Physical Education Content: “Sending the Message” in Physical Education Teacher Education

Mind-body dualism has likely influenced how many view human beings and their behavior—mind (i.e., thinking) is elevated over body (i.e., performing)—even in Physical Education Teacher Education. The problem is that such a perspective makes physical education content (i.e., dance, games, play, and sport) subsidiary to more “intellectual” or “academic” content. This article invites Physical Education Teacher Education faculty to consider how to effectively “send the message” to future physical educators that physical education content is valuable and respectable and in many ways epitomizes intelligent human behavior. Specifically, Physical Education Teacher Education faculty are invited to (a) challenge traditional definitions of intelligence and introduce alternative definitions, (b) participate regularly in their own playgrounds, (c) provide a sufficient dose of activity courses in their curricula, (d) teach activity courses, (e) establish a performance-oriented culture, and (f) administer performance and/or game play evaluations.     

Let's Talk About Maths: The Role of Observed “Maths‐Talk” and Maths Provisions in Preschoolers' Numeracy

Developmental cognitive neuroscience highlights the importance of interactions between children and their environment. As young children spend increasing time in childcare, it is key to investigate the impact of “maths‐talk” and maths provisions in preschools. Qualitative insights from early educators indicate a greater bias toward counting activities than would be expected given the Early Years curriculum. In addition, we quantified the observed breadth of preschool practitioners' maths language (e.g., place‐value language), setting‐based maths provisions (e.g., quality of maths‐related activities), and their relation with children's early numeracy skills. In settings with greater practitioners' breadth of maths language, children display greater cardinality skills although our data call for the further investigation of parental socioeconomic status and education. We conclude with a discussion on the need to operationalize children's maths learning environments as diversely as possible. Enriching practitioners' skill sets may be an effective and needed way of improving early maths outcomes.     

“GAME” VERSUS “TEST” INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE WISC1

“Game” or “test” instructions on either verbal or nonverbal WISC scales were given to 160 third- and sixth-grade children. Ss in one condition were told they were going to take several tests, while Ss in the other condition were told they were going to play several games. Significant differences in performance due to task definition were found only on verbal tasks at the sixth-grade level with test instructions yielding superior performance. Results at the third-grade level failed to replicate previous results which suggested game instructions produce superior performance on nonverbal tasks.     

EDUCATION AND “THICK” EPISTEMOLOGY

In this essay Ben Kotzee addresses the implications of Bernard Williams's distinction between “thick” and “thin” concepts in ethics for epistemology and for education. Kotzee holds that, as in the case of ethics, one may distinguish between “thick” and “thin” concepts of epistemology and, further, that this distinction points to the importance of the study of the intellectual virtues in epistemology. Following Harvey Siegel, Kotzee contends that “educated” is a thick epistemic concept, and he explores the consequences of this for the subjects of epistemology and philosophy of education. Ultimately, Kotzee argues that its nature as a “thick” concept makes education suited to play an important role in explaining how the intellectual virtues can be acquired.     

Asking Children to “Be Helpers” Can Backfire After Setbacks

Describing behaviors as reflecting categories (e.g., asking children to “be helpers”) has been found to increase pro-social behavior. The present studies (N = 139, ages 4–5) tested whether such effects backfire if children experience setbacks while performing category-relevant actions. In Study 1, children were asked either to “be helpers” or “to help,” and then pretended to complete a series of successful scenarios (e.g., pouring milk) and unsuccessful scenarios (e.g., spilling milk while trying to pour). After the unsuccessful trials, children asked to “be helpers” had more negative attitudes. In Study 2, asking children to “be helpers” impeded children's helping behavior after they experienced difficulties while trying to help. Implications for how category labels shape beliefs and behavior are discussed.     

Labels or Concepts? The Development of Semantic Networks in Bilingual Two-Year-Olds

The adult lexicon links concepts and labels with related meanings (e.g., dog–cat). How do children's encounters with concepts versus labels contribute to semantic development? Three studies investigated semantic priming in 40 monolinguals and 32 bilinguals, who have similar experience with concepts but different experience with labels (i.e., monolinguals hear “dog,” bilinguals hear “dog” and “chien”). Similarities in performance across monolinguals and bilinguals at age 24 months, as well as across bilinguals’ two languages at age 30 months, support the position that encounters with concepts contribute more to early semantic development than encounters with labels. Findings also suggest that the effects of semantic priming are challenging to observe at 24 months but are strong in bilinguals by age 30 months.     

Do Lions Have Manes? For Children,Generics Are About Kinds Rather Than Quantities

Generic statements (e.g., “Lions have manes”) make claims about kinds (e.g., lions as a category) and, for adults, are distinct from quantificational statements (e.g., “Most lions have manes”), which make claims about how many individuals have a given property. This article examined whether young children also understand that generics do not depend purely on quantitative information. Five‐year‐olds (n = 36) evaluated pairs of questions expressing properties that were matched in prevalence but varied in whether adults accept them as generically true (e.g., “Do lions have manes?” [true] vs. “Are lions boys?” [false]). Results demonstrated that children evaluate generics based on more than just quantitative information. Data suggest that even young children recognize that generics make claims about kinds.     

“Helping” Versus “Being a Helper”: Invoking the Self to Increase Helping in Young Children

Can a subtle linguistic cue that invokes the self motivate children to help? In two experiments, 3‐ to 6‐year‐old children (N = 149) were exposed to the idea of “being a helper” (noun condition) or “helping” (verb condition). Noun wording fosters the perception that a behavior reflects an identity—the kind of person one is. Both when children interacted with an adult who referenced “being a helper” or “helping” ( 2 ) and with a new adult ( 3 ), children in the noun condition helped significantly more across four tasks than children in the verb condition or a baseline control condition. The results demonstrate that children are motivated to pursue a positive identity. Moreover, this motivation can be leveraged to encourage prosocial behavior.     

Bias among Professionals Who Erroneously Declare Students Eligible for Special Services

A computer simulation program was developed for the purpose of studying the processes diagnostic personnel in the schools engage in when making psychoeducational decisions about students. Initially, the program collected demographic data on 159 participants and assessed their knowledge base in assessment. Bogus referral information for one of sixteen “cases” was then provided and subjects were instructed that they were to make eligibility and classification decisions for the child. They were told that scores and other information (e.g., observations) were available to them on a variety of tests from among seven domains. Although the referral data indicated the student might be evidencing academic or behavior problems, all assessment data indicated a normal or average performance. Fiftytwo percent of the subjects (i.e., 83) declared the “average” child eligible for special education services; their classification decisions were further analyzed. Decisions about the 16 different children were found to be more a function of referral information than child performance data. The outcomes are discussed with regard to implications for the practice of psychoeducational assessment.     

Parochial Compliance: Young Children's Biased Consideration of Authorities’ Preferences Regarding Intergroup Interactions

Prosocial behavior is arguably influenced by an interaction between intrinsic dispositions (e.g., group bias) and extrinsic factors (e.g., institutional regulations). The current study investigated this interaction developmentally. Preschoolers (3‐ to 4‐year‐olds) and kindergarteners (5‐ to 6‐year‐olds; N = 111) participated in a resource distribution task in which they had to consider both the recipients’ group membership (minimal color‐based groups), and their own teachers’ preferences regarding how to distribute (give “all” or “none”). The results revealed that only kindergarteners were influenced by the experimental factors and differently across genders. Specifically, when the recommendation was to give “none,” girls followed it indiscriminately toward in‐ and out‐group recipients, but boys did so only toward out‐group recipients. Thus, boys exploited an authority's legitimization to act antisocially, according to a parochial bias.     

Interaction between examination type,anxiety state,and academic achievement in college science; an action-oriented research

The trait anxiety profile of future science teachers, as well as their preferences concerning types of examinations in science and mathematics, have been surveyed prior to the administration—within the various science courses—of several traditional and nontraditional types of examinations and the assessment of students' state anxieties as well as their respective performance, i.e., their academic achievements. Our major findings are that

• (a) Our students prefer by far examinations in which the emphasis is on understanding and analyzing rather than on knowing and “remembering,” that the use of any relevant material during the examinations be permitted, and that the time duration be practically unlimited (e.g., “take-home”–type examinations).
• (b) Students' state anxiety correlates with the type of the examination, with a tendency towards somewhat higher anxiety for females. The preferred types of examinations reduce test anxiety significantly, and result in higher grades accordingly.
• (c) The reduction of anxiety and the improvement in achievements as a function of the examination type are far more significant for low achievers compared with medium and high achievers.
• (d) Although teachers are aware of the student preferences, they persist in giving their students their own “pet”-type examinations.

These results are discussed in terms of the implications for upgrading both science education and college student testing and assessment mechanisms.     

“OUR SHARED VALUES” IN SINGAPORE: A CONFUCIAN PERSPECTIVE

In this essay Charlene Tan offers a philosophical analysis of the Singapore state's vision of shared citizenship by examining it from a Confucian perspective. The state's vision, known formally as “Our Shared Values,” consists of communitarian values that reflect the official ideology of multiculturalism. This initiative included a White Paper, entitled Shared Values, which presented pejorative assessments of the ideals of “individual rights” and “individual interests” as antithetical to national interests. Rejecting this characterization, Tan argues that a dominant Confucian perspective recognizes the correlative rights of all human beings that are premised on the inherent right to human dignity, worth, and equality. Furthermore, Confucianism posits that it is in everyone's interest to attain the Confucian ethical ideal of becoming a noble person in society through self‐cultivation. Tan concludes by highlighting two key implications for Singapore from a Confucian perspective on the Shared Values: first, schools in Singapore should place greater emphasis on individual moral development of their students, and second, more avenues should be provided for residents to contribute actively to the development of the vision of shared citizenship.     

A Developmental Model of Reading Acquisition Based upon Early Scaffolding Errors and Subsequent Vowel Inferences

This paper investigates the processes that predict reading acquisition. Associations between (a) scaffolding errors (e.g., “torn” misread as “town” or “tarn”), other reading errors, and later reading and (b) vowel and rime inferences and later reading were explored. To assess both of these issues, 50 6‐year‐old children were shown a number of CVC words, and word reading errors were noted. Children were then taught families of riming words that could serve as a basis for rime or vowel analogies (e.g., “bark”, “mark”, “dark” → “park” or “harm”) before attempting to read the CVCs a second time. Children’s reading ability was measured at age 6 and two years later at age 8. The results showed that, among word reading error groups, only scaffolding errors at age 6 were unique predictors of reading at age 8, after reading, vocabulary, and phonological awareness were controlled. Vowel but not rime inferences predicted reading at age 8. The results are used to inform a model of the role of phoneme awareness and grapheme use in early reading development wherein vowel inference‐use helps to specify precise representations of CVC words from preliminary scaffolding errors.     

From Genes to Environment: Using Integrative Genomics to Build a “Systems‐Level” Understanding of Autism Spectrum Disorders

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are pervasive neurodevelopmental disorders that affect an estimated 1 in 110 individuals. Although there is a strong genetic component associated with these disorders, this review focuses on the multifactorial nature of ASD and how different genome‐wide (genomic) approaches contribute to our understanding of autism. Emphasis is placed on the need to study defined ASD phenotypes as well as to integrate large‐scale “omics” data in order to develop a “systems‐level” perspective of ASD, which in turn is necessary to allow predictions regarding responses to specific perturbations and interventions.