Group Assessment in Systems Analysis and Design: a comparison of the performance of streamed and mixed‐ability groups

The results from a controlled experiment in methods of group formation for a group assessment exercise on a second‐year systems analysis and design module are presented. The experiment was undertaken in response to analysis of module results from the previous 3 years. In the group assessments the members of each group received the same group grade. The experiment compared the performance of streamed and mixed‐ability groups. The results are analysed and discussed. It shows that high ability students obtain considerably lower grades in mixed‐ability groups than in streamed groups whereas the reverse is the case for students at the lower end of the ability range. The study also indicates that lower ability students do better in subsequent examinations after having worked in mixed‐ability groups than those in streamed groups whereas the reverse is the case for higher ability students. The implications of the results and directions for future research are discussed.     

Do teachers’ perceptions of children’s math and reading related ability and effort predict children’s self-concept of ability in math and reading?

This study investigated to what extent primary school teachers’ perceptions of their students’ ability and effort predict developmental changes in children’s self-concepts of ability in math and reading after controlling for students’ academic performance and general intelligence. Three cohorts (N?=?849) of elementary school children and their teachers were followed for four years. Children’s self-concepts and performance ability in math and reading were measured annually during Waves 2–4. Teachers rated the children’s ability and effort at each of the four waves. Domain-specific differences and developmental changes could be identified in the associations between teachers’ perceptions and children’s ability self-concepts. Teachers’ ability perceptions predicted children’s concurrent and subsequent ability self-concepts in math and reading, whereas teachers’ effort perceptions predicted children’s math ability self-concept only at Wave 4. Analyses with multi-sample procedure showed that these models were similar for boys and girls and for children in different cohort groups.     

Small group learning: Do group members' implicit theories of ability make a difference?

We examined the impact of members' implicit theories of ability on group learning and the mediating role of several group process variables, such as goal-setting, effort attributions, and efficacy beliefs. Comparisons were between 15 groups with a strong incremental view on ability (high incremental theory groups), and 15 groups with a weak incremental view on ability (low incremental theory groups). Groups worked on a computer-based management simulation. The task required the groups to learn the underlying structure of the simulation to be able to control the system effectively. High incremental theory groups set more challenging group goals, attributed their performance more to effort, developed stronger group efficacy, and displayed steeper learning trajectories than low incremental theory groups. Group goals mediated the impact of group members' implicit theories on group learning. Exploratory analyses of the group communication process revealed that members of the high incremental theory groups communicated more openly about the task and maintained a stronger task focus compared with members of the low incremental theory groups. Research on group learning benefits from a stronger individual differences perspective that incooperates variables such as implicit theories of ability as determinants of emerging group processes and outcomes.     

Relationship between children’s counting ability and their ability to reason about number

The work presented here compares two groups of three- and four-year-old children who differ in their school entrance age and consequently in the social expectations of what they should know at these particular ages. The comparison was made in order to assess the effect of children’s counting ability on their ability to reason about number. An experiment was designed to make sure that children who succeeded were basing their answers only on the operation performed. The experiment included a set size with more items in it than any of the children would supposedly be able to count. Also, some of the tasks combined addition and subtraction with lengthening and shortening and homogeneous sets were used to avoid the possibility of an answer being based on the presence or absence of a specific item. Three possible outcomes were predicted and the results obtained were analysed in the light of these. The results support the conclusion that young children may reason about number even without having represented it and that children’s counting ability does not necessarily underlie their capacity to identify number-relevant operations but rather that the ability to make number-based judgements develops independently from the knowledge of counting.     

The interaction of attitudes toward racial membership and learning ability in school‐age children

Although prejudice exists during childhood, it is unclear how attitudes toward peers of lower or higher academic ability and from one's own or a different racial group interact. This study qualifies previous research by showing that prejudice varies according to whether children are asked to evaluate peers based on academic ability, racial membership, or both, and whether evaluations are based on cognitive, behavioural, or affective components of attitudes. Younger children, particularly girls, had greater negative biases toward lower‐ability and different‐race target children. Gender differences were specific to attitude component, age, and target child characteristics. Consistency in prejudice was found within components, but components were differentially correlated across target children. Results are discussed from a theoretical and applied perspective.     

Phonological specificity relates to phonological awareness and reading ability in English–French bilingual children

Reading and Writing - The 1-year longitudinal study presented here examined the extent to which the ability to build phonologically specific lexical entries as a result of increasing vocabulary...     

Gifted,talented and high ability: selection for education in a one‐dimensional world

This article attempts to explain why it is that in England, despite twentieth‐century moves towards egalitarianism in education, the selection and segregation of those regarded as being gifted, talented, or of higher ability in better resourced schools and programmes is now increasingly acceptable. Explanations for moves away from attempts to offer a common curriculum in equally well‐resourced comprehensive schools centre round the hegemonic view that in a world of global economic competitiveness, national economies need to nurture high levels of knowledge and skills. Unsurprisingly, selective policies benefit the upper socio‐economic groups with some concessions made to selecting out the able poor. The latest set of selective policies adopted by the English government centre round programmes for the ‘Gifted and Talented’. The article uses work from the Frankfurt school of critical theorists, notably Herbert Marcuse’s notion of ‘One‐Dimensional Man’ to suggest that there is an irrational one‐dimensional view of the world economy which leads to a competitive scramble to acquire élite qualifications, abandoning notions of equality and meritocracy, and deploying ruthless strategies which require economic, cultural and social capital. Parents and students in this one‐dimensional world are subject to a permanent oppressive educational competition. The article concludes that many middle‐class parents may come to feel dispossessed as promises held out for education and employment fail to materialise, and success in a competitive global economy proves to be a one‐dimensional mirage.     

Students’ achievement goals,emotion perception ability and affect and performance in the classroom: a multilevel examination

Performance at school is affected not only by students’ achievement goals but also by emotional exchanges among classmates and their teacher. In this study, we investigated relationships between students’ achievement goals and emotion perception ability and class affect and performance. Participants were 949 Greek adolescent students in 49 classes and their Greek language and mathematics teachers. Results from multilevel analyses indicated that students’ mastery-approach and performance-approach goals were positively related to positive affect whereas performance-avoidance goals were negatively related to positive affect. At class-level, relationships between achievement goals and affect were moderated by students’ emotion perception ability. These findings highlight the importance of emotion abilities and their role in motivational processes for class-level outcomes.     

Partnership,participation and parental disillusionment in home–school contacts: a study in two schools in Norway

This small‐scale study investigates the origins of parental disillusionment with school, with a focus on the extent to which disillusionment is related to the level and quality of partnership between parents and teachers. It also compares the reactions of parents when teachers take the initiative in contacting them about a child's learning or social problems with those of teachers when parents contact them. Sixteen pairs of parents and teachers who had met to discuss such problems agreed to take part in separate interviews. At least at the outset, partnership was consistently more effective when teachers initiated the contact than when parents initiated it. Initial tensions in the relationship could be reduced when either a parent or a teacher took action to improve the relationship. Parental disillusionment occurred in only three cases, where neither parent nor teacher could see their way to any compromise.     

Can a targeted,group-based CBT intervention reduce depression and anxiety and improve self-concept in primary-age children?

This pilot study examined the impact of a 10 session, group-based, early-intervention cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) programme (Cool Connections) on anxiety, depression and self-concept in nine 8–11 year old pupils in Northern Ireland. The intervention was facilitated by a teacher, education welfare officer and two classroom assistants, with support from the school’s educational psychologist. A group of pupils identified by teachers as presenting with symptoms of anxiety and depression or low self-esteem and who scored in the mild, moderate or severe range of difficulties on the Beck Youth Inventories took part. Findings indicate statistically significant improvements in both anxiety (t(8) = ?3.29, p < 0.017) and depression (t(8) = ?3.06, p < 0.017) but not self-concept (t(8) = 2.63, p = 0.030). The article concludes with strengths and limitations of the current study, professional reflections on implementing a multi-agency, group-based, CBT intervention and implications for future research and educational psychology practice.     

Influence of gender and academic ability in a computer‐based Spanish reading task

In order to determine the effects of gender and scholastic ability on vocabulary retention and reading comprehension in a foreign language, 181 men and women enrolled in a first‐year Spanish course were asked to either read a passage in Spanish on a computer and create annotations for a list of words found in the passage (experimental group), or simply to read the already annotated passage (control group). They were administered vocabulary and reading comprehension tests, and a questionnaire concerning their attitude toward the task. Results showed rather complex interactions between the variables of sex and ability. Although the differences overall failed to achieve statistical significance, an analysis of the attitude questions separately resulted in several significant interactions for gender.     

How do children who understand mixed emotion represent them in freehand drawings of themselves and others?

This research is the first to assess children’s representation of mixed emotion using a freehand drawing task. Two hundred and forty-one 5–11-year olds completed a drawing and a colour preference task. Children heard a condition appropriate vignette about themselves or a protagonist designed to evoke mixed emotion, and were asked to draw the self or the protagonist experiencing neutral, happy and sad affect. Children who reported mixed emotions after the story also drew themselves or the protagonist experiencing mixed emotion. For mixed emotion, children used red, green and blue more in drawings of the protagonist, and yellow more in drawings of the self. Interestingly, strategies for mixed emotion drawings were similar to those used for happy drawings; more specifically, in drawings of the self, children were particularly more likely to use smiles (for happy and sad drawings) and fewer frowns. Findings are discussed in relation to self-presentational behaviour.     

Classroom management practices and their associations with children’s mathematics skills in two cultural groups

The aim of the study was to examine the extent to which contextual factors predict children’s mathematics skills in different cognitive domains. The sample consisted of 1734 students from 26 Estonian- and 17 Russian-language schools in Estonia. Mathematics and non-verbal reasoning tests were carried out at the beginning of the third grade. In addition, teachers were asked about their classroom management practices. The results of multilevel modelling showed that applying supportive practices in the classroom contributes to higher achievement in mathematics. Teachers from Estonian- and Russian-language schools were also found to differ with regard to their management practices, and these practices were shown to have different effects on children in Estonian- and Russian-language schools in terms of mathematics achievement.     

Does learning the alphabet in kindergarten give children a head start in the first year of school? A comparison of children’s reading progress in two first grade classes in state and Montessori schools in Switzerland

Abstract

The main purpose of this study was to examine whether the age at which children start to learn to read affects their later progress. The study was conducted in Zürich, Switzerland, and compared a first grade class in a local school with two first grade classes in a Montessori school. It was found that although the Montessori children had an advantage over the local children in alphabet knowledge at entry to Grade 1, this was not translated into a significant advantage at the end of Grade 1 in either phonemic awareness or reading ability. Further analysis revealed that pretest alphabet knowledge for the whole group was significantly related to progress. In addition, scatterplots showed that some children started school with high levels of alphabet knowledge but did not make progress, indicating that alphabet knowledge is necessary for literacy progress but not sufficient.     

Students’ knowledge acquisition and ability to apply knowledge into different science contexts in two different independent learning settings

Background: Recently, there is a growing interest in independent learning approaches globally. This is, at least in part, due to an increased demand for so-called ‘21st century skills’ and the potential of independent learning to improve student skills to better prepare them for the future.

Purpose: This paper reports a study that explored the effectiveness of two different independent learning approaches: (i) guided independent learning and (ii) unguided independent learning with independent research, in enabling students in an undergraduate Macromolecules course to acquire knowledge in one chemistry context and apply it successfully in another.

Sample: The study involved 144 chemistry students commencing their first term of undergraduate study at a northern university in England. Students completed pre- and post-intervention tests containing 10 diagnostic questions, of which 4 measured students’ knowledge acquisition in one context and 6 measured their ability to apply it in another.

Design and methods: Diagnostic questions had been identified using a Delphi approach. Paired t-tests and chi-square tests were used to analyse the significance of any change in students’ responses to the diagnostic questions and the number of responses evidencing misconceptions, respectively.

Results: Whilst guided independent learning settings were found to improve students’ knowledge and ability to apply that knowledge in novel situations, unguided independent learning had no statistically significant effect. Unguided independent learning was also linked to a statistically significant increase in the number of student misconceptions in one of the diagnostic questions.

Conclusions: The results of this study show that guidance in independent learning activities is a key necessity for effective learning in higher education. This paper has strong relevance and high significance to tertiary STEM education, especially in the light of increased importance of teaching, such as the Teaching Excellence Framework in the UK, and shifts to more independent learning activities.     

Early years education in Germany and Ireland — a study of provision and curricular implementation in two unique environments

This paper highlights the differences and similarities between a Kindergarten outside Bremen in Lower Saxony, Germany and a Primary School Junior Infant Class in County Cork, Republic of Ireland. Both are concerned with the education of the young child but whereas the Kindergarten is attended by three to six year olds, the Junior Infant Class caters almost exclusively for four to five year old children.

A case study account of both groups is given and an analysis of the activities which took place in each using the ‘Target Child Observational Schedule’ [Sylva et al., (1980)] is presented in bar‐graph form.

The paper concludes that Erzieherinnen, Kinderpflegerinnen and Junior Infant Class teachers need to engage in more interaction with the children in order, in particular, to raise the frequency and quality of linguistic interaction. An increase in the structure of the children's play would help to enhance cognitive development.     

Elephants,Donuts and Hamburgers: young children co‐operating to co‐operate and co‐operating to compete in two primary schools

Abstract A total of 152 5‐6‐year‐old schoolchildren worked alone or in groups, cooperatively within groups or competing against another group, over 4 weeks. New measures allowed us to consider their preferences for collective or individualistic styles. Three factors: individualism/collectivism, sociability and altruism were identified. The first two were found to be stable over time; the third changed and was related to whether the children worked co‐operatively or competitively. Differences were found in collectivism/individualism. Girls (particularly older girls) preferred working co‐operatively significantly more than boys at Time 1; however, this decreased over time for girls, whilst boys became less individualistic over time. Younger children scored significantly less than older children on a sociability factor, but this increased significantly over time compared to the older children‐‐artificially in the group co‐operative condition. Findings are discussed in light of curriculum and pedagogy of primary schools and social psychological research with children.     

Relationships and learning: a review and investigation of narrative coherence in looked‐after children in primary school

This review and investigation draws on principles from attachment theory regarding the importance of early relationships and their impact on the coherence and organisation of psychological functions. Comparisons are made between the narrative coherence scores of an experimental group of 17 looked‐after children with problematic relationship histories in mainstream school and a matched control group of 17 of their peers. There were significant differences between the groups in the coherence of children's narratives, denial and avoidance in story play themes and in their use of intentionality. The paper considers the theory and discusses the results in terms of the implications for teaching, learning and intervention.     

Morphological awareness, phonological awareness, and reading in English–Arabic bilingual children

The paper reported an exploratory study that tested (a) the relationship between phonological and morphological awareness in English (L1)–Arabic (L2) bilingual children in Canada (N = 43), and (b) the relevance of these skills to word and pseudoword reading accuracy, and to complex word reading fluency. The results showed a significant correlation between phonological awareness in English and in Arabic. However, morphological awareness in the two languages was not correlated. Phonological awareness predicted reading cross-linguistically, but only Arabic morphological awareness predicted word reading in English. Moreover, while both phonological and morphological awareness in English predicted independent unique variance in English word reading, only phonological awareness in Arabic predicted Arabic word reading. Complex-word reading fluency was predicted by morphological awareness within both languages. Similarly, in both languages, phonological awareness was the single factor predicting pseudoword decoding accuracy. The results are discussed in terms of cross-linguistic differences between English and Arabic in orthographic depth and in morphological structure and transparency.