Effects of Restructuring Training and Cognitive Style

Herman Witkin's research in differentiation theory proposed a conceptual framework describing the cognitive style known as field dependence‐independence. The operational measures of this construct are restructuring skills and interpersonal competencies, and were originally conceived to be fixed in an individual. A recent reconceptual‐isation, however, suggested that there may be some malleability in learning strategies that flow from cognitive style. Learners predisposed to field dependence might gain access to restructuring skills brought to problem‐solving situations by field independents. This study undertook to examine the effects and practicability of restructuring training as a means of addressing individual learner differences. Field independent subjects significantly out‐scored field‐dependent subjects on all three test tasks in the control group. Experimental group field independents did not significantly outscore experimental field dependents. Training enhanced field dependent subject performance on two dependent measures tasks. There was interaction across treatment and field dependence on all three dependent measures.     

Visual Imagery: a discussion

It is proposed that individual differences in visual imagery, together with a lack of understanding that others may think in a radically different way in this respect, may have had a profound effect on theories of thought and knowledge from ancient times onwards. From the end of the nineteenth century, however, there has been a growing awareness of these differences, and of the nature of mental imagery, which has been shown to be constructive and perceptual. Such fundamental differences in thinking style might have been expected to have important didactic and heuristic implications, yet attempts to validate measures of this variable in terms of educationally significant correlates have been relatively unsuccessful. Two possible reasons for this are the self‐report nature of most tests, and the failure to distinguish between different aspects of visual material in the validating tasks. It is argued that increased awareness of the issue of mental imagery, among both teachers and pupils, could lead to more flexible teaching methods which take greater account of a pupil's individual style of thought and its interaction with the nature of the learning task.     

Constructing knowledge with an agent-based instructional program: A comparison of cooperative and individual meaning making

Participants in the present study were 87 college students who learned about botany using an agent-based instructional program with three different learning approaches: individual, jigsaw, or cooperative learning. Results showed no differences among learning approaches on retention. Students in jigsaw groups reported higher cognitive load during learning than students who learned individually; scored lower on a problem-solving transfer test than students in individual and cooperative learning groups; and were less likely to produce elaborated explanations and co-construct knowledge with their peers than students in cooperative groups. Students in cooperative groups reported higher situational interest than their counterparts. Implications for cooperative and individual meaning making in agent-based instructional programs are discussed and future research directions are suggested.     

Does the Brain Have a Place in Educational Psychology?

Byrnes and Fox (1998) present the case for the relevance of cognitive neuroscience in educational psychology, including both logical and empirical arguments. In this commentary, I begin by briefly reviewing the history of the case for including the brain in educational psychology: Early educational psychology—as reflected in Thorndike's (1926) educational psychology textbook—emphasized the neuronal basis of learning; contemporary educational psychology—as reflected in educational publications—tends to ignore the brain; and future educational psychology will need to overcome the pitfalls encountered in previous misuses of brain research. Next, I examine two logical arguments for Byrnes and Fox's case, namely, that including cognitive neuroscience research makes educational psychology more complete and more plausible. Then, I examine the empirical argument of Byrnes and Fox by focusing on the value of cognitive neuroscience research in attention and memory as well as in reading and arithmetic. Finally, I suggest criteria for evaluating the contributions of cognitive neuroscience research in educational psychology, including the need for research on educationally relevant tasks and issues.     

The Conditional and Interaction Effects of Epistemological Beliefs on the Self-Regulated Learning of College Students: Motivational Strategies

This study examines the conditional and interaction effects of each of four dimensions of the epistemological beliefs of college students regarding the ability to learn, the speed of learning, the structure of knowledge, and the stability of knowledge on six measures of the motivational components of self-regulated learning strategies (intrinsic goal orientations, extrinisic goal orientation, task value, self-efficacy, control of learning and test anxiety). Students with more sophisticated beliefs about the nature of knowledge and learning were more likely than their peers to use educationally productive motivational strategies in their learning. Beliefs about one’s ability to learn and the structure of knowledge had the most significant and substantial effects on students’ use of self-regulated motivational strategies. Although a student’s belief about the stability of knowledge by itself had a statistically significant effect on only one motivational strategy, this belief did have four statistically significant interaction effects with beliefs about ability to learn and the structure of knowledge. Implications of these findings for theory, research, policy and practice are examined.     

Formulating ‘principles of procedure’ for the foreign language classroom: a framework for process model language curricula

This article aims to apply Stenhouse’s process model of curriculum to foreign language (FL) education, a model which is characterized by enacting principles of procedure which are specific to the discipline which the school subject belongs to. Rather than to replace or dissolve current approaches to FL teaching and curriculum development, this article seeks to improve and enrich communicative and task-based orientations with an additional criterion for assessing the educational worth of the tasks through which these orientations are developed. Unlike the objectives and competences models, principles of procedure provide an intrinsic justification of school curriculum by enacting the epistemological structure of any given area of knowledge in the educational process. Accordingly, the article will first justify the need to come up with a process model of curriculum for FL education which is built around such principles; then, it will formulate a basic framework that reflects the logical structure, concepts and epistemological perspectives of the language studies, as a first step to allowing these to enter the FL classroom and orient the teaching conducted in it; finally, it will present three tasks whose design was inspired by the abovementioned framework, and which were put into practice with Primary education English as a Foreign Language learners during the 2013–2014 and 2014–2015 academic years.     

Individual differences: A third component in problem-solving instruction

Present research in problem solving appears to be primarily concerned with problem-solving methods and with degree of knowledge acquisition. A brief argument is advanced that this conceptualization is incomplete because of failure to consider individual differences among problem solvers (other than in problem-solving methods and extent of knowledge). A viable theory of problem-solving instruction must take into account all three areas. Evidence for the argument is presented in the form of data on problem-solving success in junior high school students with extreme scores on Witkin's field independence-field dependence measure of cognitive style. Problem-solving protocols are examined as a second source of data. Field independent students significantly out-performed field dependent students on the problems. Examination of protocols revealed consistent performance patterns favoring field independent students.     

Exploring problem conceptualization and performance in STEM problem solving contexts

Problem solving abilities are critical components of contemporary Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education. Research in the area of problem solving has uncovered much about the representation, processes and heuristic approaches to problem solving. However, critics claim this overemphasis on the process of solving problems has led to a dearth in understanding of the earlier stages such as problem conceptualization. This paper aims to address some of these concerns by exploring the area of problem conceptualization and the underlying cognitive mechanisms that may play a supporting role in reasoning success. Participants (N?=?12) were prescribed a series of convergent problem-solving tasks representative of those used for developmental purposes in STEM education. During the problem-solving episodes, cognitive data were gathered by means of an electroencephalographic headset and used to investigate students’ cognitive approaches to conceptualizing the tasks. In addition, interpretive qualitative data in the form of post-task interviews and problem solutions were collected and analyzed. Overall findings indicated a significant reliance on memory during the conceptualization of the convergent problem-solving tasks. In addition, visuospatial cognitive processes were found to support the conceptualization of convergent problem-solving tasks. Visuospatial cognitive processes facilitated students during the conceptualization of convergent problems by allowing access to differential semantic content in long-term memory.

     

Controlled choice assignments: A new and more effective approach to school desegregation

The authors argue that conventional mandatory and voluntary school desegregation techniques have failed to provide minority students with maximum feasible relief from invidious discrimination because they do not redress the root causes of segregation. They demonstrate that residential-based student assignment plans as well as plans that give students limited access to a few educationally enriched magnet schools are not asymmetrical remedies to wrongful segregation and thus work to perpetuate the racial and social inequities that they purport to correct. The authors offer an alternative approach to school desegregation—controlled choice—that operates independently from residential housing patterns and which explicitly seeks to maximize personal choice within a racially unitary, equitable, and educationally enhanced system of public schooling. Controlled choice was originally pioneered in Cambridge, Mass. during the early 1980s and has recently been adopted in Little Rock, Ark., and Fall River, Mass. The policy is also being actively reviewed by several of the nation's largest school districts including Seattle, Memphis, and Boston.     

Dimensionality and Disciplinary Differences in Personal Epistemology

A growing body of work addresses the nature of epistemological development and epistemological beliefs: how individuals come to know, the theories and beliefs they hold about knowing, and the manner in which such epistemological premises are a part of and an influence on the cognitive processes of thinking and reasoning. This study investigates the dimensionality of personal epistemology as hypothesized in a recent review of the literature as well as the nature of disciplinary differences. First-year college students responded to a set of questionnaires that included an adaptation of a domain-general epistemological instrument and a discipline-focused questionnaire. Results suggest that there is an underlying dimensionality to epistemological theories that cuts across disciplinary domains, but that students, at least by the 1st year of college, discriminate as to how these theories differ by discipline. Disciplinary differences were strong, suggesting that 1st-year college students see knowledge in science as more certain and unchanging than in psychology, are more likely to regard personal knowledge and firsthand experience as a basis for justification of knowing in psychology than in science, view authority and expertise as the source of knowledge more in science than in psychology, and perceive that in science, more than in psychology, truth is attainable by experts. This contradicts existing research that suggests that epistemological development is domain general and that epistemological beliefs do not differ by discipline.     

Why Teachers Adopt a Controlling Motivating Style Toward Students and How They Can Become More Autonomy Supportive

A recurring paradox in the contemporary K-12 classroom is that, although students educationally and developmentally benefit when teachers support their autonomy, teachers are often controlling during instruction. To understand and remedy this paradox, the article pursues three goals. First, the article characterizes the controlling style by defining it, articulating the conditions under which it is most likely to occur, linking it to poor student outcomes, explaining why it undermines these outcomes, identifying its manifest instructional behaviors, and differentiating it from an autonomy-supportive style. Second, the article identifies seven reasons to explain why the controlling style is so prevalent. These reasons show how pressures on teachers from above, from below, and from within can create classroom conditions that make the controlling style both understandable and commonplace. Third, the article offers a remedy to the paradox by articulating how teachers can become more autonomy supportive. Three essential tasks are discussed. Special attention is paid to practical examples of what teachers can do to support students' autonomy.     

Explicit reasoning, creativity and co-construction in primary school children's collaborative activities

This paper describes research that explored the question of whether or not it is possible to characterise and teach a single type of educationally productive talk. We analysed and compared the quality of children's interactional strategies when jointly working on a reasoning task and a psycholinguistic task. The latter involved writing an integrated summary of three related texts. Sixth grade primary school children (11–12 years old) solved these two tasks as pre- and post-tests before and after training in the use of ‘Exploratory Talk’ (ET) to think together and argue as well as in strategies for producing summaries. After training, children improved substantially in the use of ET when solving the reasoning but not the psycholinguistic task. However, using ethnography of communication methods to analyse the talk further around the latter task revealed that both the number and quality of communicative events and acts increased importantly. These changes were accompanied by a significant improvement in the quality of the summaries produced. These findings suggest that the requirement for explicit reasoning in the definition and analysis of ET may be task dependent. To account for the common features of the educationally productive talk in the two settings, we propose the more inclusive concept of co-constructive talk to characterise the inter-subjective orientation, social ground rules and communicative actions that support effective collaboration, co-ordination and creativity.     

大学生应对应激事件的方式对心理健康的影响

研究大学生对突发事件的应对方式,对于指导学生有意识地纠正消极应对方式,提出切实可行的干预策略有实际指导意义。从不同性别、不同民族、不同年级大学生面对应激事件所采取的应对方式的差异检验显示,对大学生进行心理健康教育不能搞一刀切,应根据性别、民族和年龄的不同有针对性地进行。     

Do colleges cultivate critical thinking, problem solving, writing and interpersonal skills?

We investigate how much value college enrollment adds to students’ critical thinking, problem-solving and communication skills, and the role college inputs play in developing these competencies, using data from a 2009 collegiate assessment pilot study in Colombia. Relative to observationally similar first year students, students in their final year of college score about half of a standard deviation higher, with statistically significant higher scores on every individual component of the test. Sensitivity analyses indicate that results are robust to validity threats posed by selection bias. Students in private colleges exhibit significantly higher overall test score differences. Measures of college quality such as selectivity, rankings based on reputation, share of faculty with PhD, share of full-time faculty and expenditures per student, however, are not meaningfully associated with higher test score differences between last and first year students.     

Learning style and program design in interactive multimedia

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of variations in the design and delivery of interactive multimedia (IMM) on the learning and attitudes of elementary education majors. A multivariate analysis of variance was conducted with three independent variables—small group or individualized format, inductive or deductive design of instruction, and match of learner style to instruction—and four dependent variables—content scores, observation skill scores, overall satisfaction, and attitude toward learner control of instruction. Scores on the observation skills evaluation were significantly higher when the student's learning style was matched with the design of instruction. Satisfaction and attitude outcomes were significantly different for format: students in the small group were more satisfied, while those using the individual learning station were more strongly agreed that they controlled the pace and sequence of their own instruction. Content scores were not significantly different. In the future, the use of interactive multimedia with various formats and designs may serve to meet the needs of students with differing learning styles and at different developmental levels.     

Preparing Educational Researchers: The Role of Self‐Doubt

Educational scholars concur that research preparation courses should engage doctoral students with methodological differences and epistemological controversies. Mary Metz and Nancy Lesko recently published articles describing how courses guided by this aim engender self‐doubt for students. Neither scholar is entirely convinced that self‐doubt is educationally productive. Drawing on Hans‐Georg Gadamer's notion of Bildung, Deborah Kerdeman reframes the view of self‐doubt that Metz and Lesko assume and shows why self‐doubt can be transformative. Gadamer's argument regarding self‐doubt challenges constructivist views of agency and also demonstrates that engaging with difference is necessary for new understanding to emerge through conversation. Kerdeman concludes by considering why engaging in Bildung helps doctoral students become good educational researchers and why cultivating Bildung should therefore be an aim of research preparation courses that engage students with methodological differences and epistemological controversies.     

Professors' Perspectives on Their Teaching: A New Construct and Developmental Model

Building carefully on the college teaching and adult development literatures, this paper presents a model that describes the perspective of professors at various developmental positions with regard to their work as teachers. The model comprises five, interrelated positions: (a) three stable periods—Egocentrism (teacher-centeredness), Aliocentrism (learner-centeredness), and Systemocentrism (teacher/learner-centeredness); and (b) two transitional periods—one between each of the two potential movements from one stable period to the next. The model integrates the constructs of previous typologies, adds a significant new construct, and arranges the total array of perspectival constructs in a typical developmental sequence.     

Attention to semantic versus phonetic verbal attributes as a function of individual differences in arousal and learning strategy

It has been argued that deep processing of semantic information helps students to learn faster and perform better on classroom tests. Using paired associates tasks, it has been found that high arousal subjects make more errors when the response terms are phonetically similar. Subjects low on arousal make more errors when response words are semantically similar. If the encodings of semantic features are assumed to be “deeper” and more durable than the encodings of “shallow,” phonetic features, then studies have suggested that anxious students process shallowly and are thus at a disadvantage when learning information. The present study treats deep processing as a learning style and used the Synthesis—Analysis scale of the Inventory of Learning Processes to assess it. It is hypothesized that arousal would be negatively related to the learning style of deep processing. It is also hypothesized that the interaction obtained in earlier studies, i.e., greater susceptibility to semantic interference with low arousal and phonetic interference with high arousal, would occur only when Synthesis—Analysis scores are low. It is assumed that the habitual use of a deep processing strategy by students high on Synthesis—Analysis could counteract the limiting effect of arousal on cue utilization. The study provides support for both hypotheses.     

家风教育与大学生思想政治教育的关系研究

家风教育是作用在家庭内部、受社会影响的亲子交流活动。思想政治教育是根据一定社会要求,有目的、有计划地对受教育者施加系统影响,把思想道德规范转化为个体道德品质的活动。根据对家风教育和大学生思想政治教育的相关研究,我们挖掘了两大教育体系的三大共同属性,即现实感、认同感和归属感,构建了三维关系体系,教育内容的共通性,教育方法的互鉴性和教育作用的延续性。通过遵循时代性与历史性原则、整体性与多端性原则和因材施教原则,促进家风教育与大学生思想政治教育的有效融合。