Cognitive and Developmental Effects on Item Performance in Intelligence and Achievement Tests for Young Children

Performance on items in intelligence and achievement tests can be represented in terms of child development and information processes. Research is reviewed on item performance that supports developmental and information processing effects, particularly in children. Some suggestions for item development in intelligence and achievement tests are presented.     

小学课堂教学中的问题设计与呈现

小学课堂教学中,教师总会呈现一些问题,它们一般以提问、作业、质疑、讨论的形式出现在课堂教学活动中。课堂呈现的这些问题一般都是教师事先设计好了的,它的出现有助于学习者学习的成功。     

关于小学课堂教学控制的分析

课堂教学过程是在教师有计划、有目的的指导下,学习者发生认知的过程,也是他们身心发展并形成一定思想品质的过程。这个过程的本质是教师作为施控者对受制者的某种控制活动过程,通过施控者的有效控制,课堂教学的功能得以发挥。分析小学课堂教学过程中的教学控制,提升教师的认识与教学水平。     

Individual Differences in Achievement Goals among Young Children

Smiley, Patricia A., and Dweck, Carol S. Individual Differences in Achievement Goals among Young Children . Child Development, 1994 65 , 1723–1743. Developmental research has generally not found evidence of helpless responses to failure in young children; a prevailing view is that young children lack the cognitive prerequisite for helplessness. However, recent evidence suggests that even preschoolers are vulnerable to helplessness in some situations. In the present study with 4- and 5-year-olds, we tested a goal-confidence model that predicts achievement behavior during failure for older children. We first categorized preschoolers' orientations toward "learning" or "performance" goals based on their preference for a challenging or nonchallenging task. As for older children, goal orientation was independent of ability and predicted cognitions and emotions during failure. Further, consistent with the model, within a learning goal, children displayed the mastery-oriented pattern regardless of confidence level, whereas within a performance goal, children with low confidence were most susceptible to helplessness. These behavior patterns were found on a second task as well. Thus, our findings show that individual differences in achievement goals emerge very early.     

Cognitive Control Predicts Academic Achievement in Kindergarten Children

Children's ability to shift behavior in response to changing environmental demands is critical for successful intellectual functioning. While the processes underlying the development of cognitive control have been thoroughly investigated, its functioning in an ecologically relevant setting such as school is less well understood. Given the alarming number of children who face failure in the U.S. school system, the purpose of this project is to determine whether subtly different measures of cognitive control differentially predict academic achievement. Sixty‐five kindergarten children were given two versions of a Dimensional Change Card Sort task—a geometric version followed by a linguistic version. Educational outcomes consisted of a standardized measure of academic achievement as well as assessments used by the school district. Results revealed that cognitive control, particularly as assessed by the linguistic variant, predicted children's academic performance on math and school‐based assessments, thereby suggesting that deficient cognitive control negatively impacts educational success.     

Using the Multiple Intelligences to Enhance Instruction for Young Children and Young Children with Disabilities

The theory of the multiple intelligences are discussed in relation to working with young children and young children with disabilities. A rationale for the use of the multiple intelligences is discussed as well as practical suggestions on how they can be incorporated into early childhood programs.     

Effective Education for Young Children in Primary Schools

This ongoing Dutch study into the school careers of young children in primary schools has focused in part on the influence of school and class organisation on linguistic and cognitive development. In the first year of the study, data on the school and class characteristics were gathered in 28 primary schools by means of questionnaires, interviews, journals and observation. A multi-level analysis shows that differences in pupil achievements between classes already exist at the beginning of primary school, but that these differences are, to a large extent, explained by the characteristics of the pupils’ backgrounds. The Dutch vocabulary of pupils at the end of their first year is mainly determined by earlier linguistic achievement and the ethnicity and SES of the pupil, rather than the school or class organisation. The scores on a performance intelligence test (block patterns) at the end of the first year could not be exclusively explained by the pupils’ background characteristics but also by some school characteristics.     

加拿大小学的学生成绩评定及课程评介研究——安大略省的案例

本文对加拿大安大略省小学四年级学生的成绩报告单作了简单介绍,并借此评析了安大略省小学课程的特点和学生成绩评定特点。     

Motivation and Self-Regulation as Predictors of Achievement in Economically Disadvantaged Young Children

The primary purpose of the present study was to better understand the roles of motivation and self-regulated task behavior for early school achievement differences among young, economically at-risk and not-at-risk children. Of the at-risk participants, 43 were 5-6-year-olds and 42 were 7-8-year-olds. Of the not-at-risk participants, 21 were 6-year-olds, and 21 were 8-year-olds. Results of the study showed that child-and-teacher-reported motivation levels were comparable among the at-risk and the not-at-risk children. However, the at-risk children showed poorer abilities to regulate their task attention than the not-at-risk children did. In addition, younger at-risk children's achievement scores were predicted by their levels of attention-regulation abilities. Results are discussed in relation to the importance of at-risk children's attention-regulation skills.     

The Relative Achievement of the Objectives of Elementary School Science in Minnesota Schools

The authors investigated the relationship between self-perceptions of ability and achievement in math, science, and English from Grades 8 to 11 (N = 342). A state-trait model that included an association between stable (i.e., trait-like) components of self-perceptions and achievement as well as time-specific (i.e., state-like) effects during the transition to high school (i.e., Grade 8 to Grade 9) demonstrated superior fit to alternative models that did not incorporate these features. Stable components of self-perceptions of ability and achievement exhibited a substantial association in this model. In most instances, however, there also was evidence of a positive effect of self-perceptions in Grade 8 on achievement in Grade 9.     

Teacher Behaviors Related to the Mathematical Achievement of Young Children

Abstract

Some scholars argue that the effects of small classes in the early grades are not cumulative—that the benefits of small classes accrue in the 1st year of small classes. That argument suggests both policy implications and scientific questions of why additional benefits should not accrue from additional exposure to small classes. In this article, the cumulative effects of small classes on achievement were investigated with data from Project STAR, a 4-year, large-scale randomized experiment on the effects of class size. Controlling for achievement in the previous-year small classes in Grades 1, 2, and 3 yielded additional positive effects on reading and mathematics achievement. Thus, there are additional (cumulative) effects of small classes after the 1st year that may be large enough to be important for education policy.     

Cognitive and Attitudinal Predictors Related to Line Graphing Achievement among Elementary Pre-service Teachers

The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which six cognitive and attitudinal variables predicted pre-service elementary teachers’ (N = 87) performance on line graphing. Predictors included reading comprehension and mathematics scores, logical thinking performance scores, as well as measures of attitudes toward science, mathematics and graphing. Results indicated that mathematical and logical thinking ability were the most significant predictors of line graph performance among the other variables, accounting for 41% of the total variability. Findings from this study suggest that elementary science education programs augment instruction to include aspects of mathematics and logical thinking.     

Foreign Language Study in Elementary Schools: Benefits and Implications for Achievement in Reading and Math

Educators and policy makers in many countries have been expressing concern about how to improve students’ achievement in reading and math. This article explores and proposes a solution: introduce or increase foreign language study in the elementary schools. Research has shown that foreign language study in the early elementary years improves cognitive abilities, positively influences achievement in other disciplines, and results in higher achievement test scores in reading and math. Successful foreign language programs for elementary schools include immersion, FLES, and FLEX programs.     

中小学青年体育教师专业成长的几点建议

研究中小学青年体育教师专业成长的快速之道,对中小学体育教学质量的提高、学校体育工作的发展有着重要的意义。通过文献资料法、调查法之研,建议：中小学青年体育教师应加强自身素质修养,严谨生活、工作作风,爱岗敬业,乐于奉献;在体育课教学上,多观摩学习和争取参赛全国、省、市、县举办的中小学体育教学展示课,提高自身体育课堂教学能力和教学水平;组织好学校课外体育活动和带好学校课余运动代表队训练;积极参加学校体育科研;加入体育学术组织,通过组织锻炼培养造就专业水平提高,从而快速走出自己的专业成长之路。     

Factors Related to the Achievement and Adjustment of Young African American Children

Data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) were used to examine factors related to the achievement and adjustment of African American children in the early elementary grades. All African American children between the ages of 6 and 9 years for whom data were available in the NLSY were included in this study ( N = 378). Consistent with past research, there was a positive relation between the number of risk factors children were exposed to and the probability that they were experiencing academic or behavioral problems. Favorable outcomes in the cognitive and social-emotional domains (i.e., scoring in the top quartile for this sample) were associated with high scores on an "advantage index." The need for more research on successful African American children is discussed.     

Adaptive Instruction and Pupil Achievement

In this article the results are reported of a quasi-experiment on effects of adaptive instruction on reading results of children in the first year of reading instruction in Dutch primary schools. The research involved 456 pupils from 23 schools (12 experimental and 11 control group schools). Teachers in the experimental group show significantly higher adaptive instruction behaviour consisting of: optimizing time on task, using the model for direct instruction, working according to the principles of the 'phonics construction method' for initial reading and degree of diagnostic teaching, than the teachers in the control group. The pupils in the experimental group were significantly more successful on the attainment of higher reading results in comparison with the pupils in the control group. This experimental effect does not only remain after correction for the pretest, but also after correction for intelligence, social economical background and pleasure in reading.     

Enjoyment,Boredom, Anxiety in Elementary Schools in Two Domains: Relations With Achievement

This study investigated the enjoyment, boredom, and anxiety of elementary school students and the relations of these emotions with achievement in two domains. Seven-hundred-and-sixty-seven second- and fourth-graders completed an adaptation of the Achievement Emotions Questionnaire-Elementary School (AEQ-ES: Lichtenfeld, Pekrun, Stupnisky, Reiss, & Murayama, 2012) assessing their emotions in their native language and mathematics. The hierarchical model of the instrument was invariant across countries (Italy, Germany, United States), grades, gender, and domains. Anxiety related negatively to achievement, while enjoyment related positively to achievement only in mathematics. Second-graders reported more enjoyment and less boredom and anxiety than fourth-graders. Overall, mathematics resulted in better emotions than native language. The results have implications for future research on achievement emotions in elementary school.