Accelerating the Development of Second-Order False Belief Reasoning: A Training Study With Different Feedback Methods

One-hundred-six 5-year-olds’ (M_age = 5;6; SD = 0.40) were trained with second-order false belief tasks in one of the following conditions: (a) feedback with explanation; (b) feedback without explanation; (c) no feedback; (d) active control. The results showed that there were significant improvements in children's scores from pretest to posttest in the three experimental conditions even when children's age, verbal abilities, or working memory scores were controlled for. The training effect was stable at a follow-up session 4 months after the pretest. Overall, our results suggest that 5-year-olds’ failures in second-order false belief tasks are due to lack of experience and that they can be helped over the threshold by exposure to many stories involving second-order false belief reasoning, including why questions.     

Validity and Reliability of Turkish Version of the Balanced Index of Psychological Mindedness

The purpose of current study was to explore psychometric properties of the Turkish version of the Balanced Index of Psychological Mindedness (BIPM). Studies regarding psychological mindedness (PM) are still limited in Turkey; and there are few valid instruments to measure PM. The Turkish version of the BIPM and the 20-Item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS) was administered to 654 voluntary undergraduate students. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated a good fit for the model including two subscales (interest and ability dimensions of PM) with a total of 14 items (x²/df?=?3.11, p?<?.001, RMSEA?=?0.060, S-RMR?=?0.059, GFI?=?0.95, AGFI?=?.0.93, CFI?=?0.94). McDonald’s Omega (ω) for scores on the overall scale was .85, .73 for scores on the Interest Subscale and .76 for scores on the Insight Subscale. Test–retest reliability coefficients were found as .61 for the scores on the BIPM total score, .55 for scores on the Interest subscale and .56 for scores on the Insight subscale (p?<?.01). As expected, the BIPM total scale score were negatively correlated with TAS total score (r?=?-.59).

     

Early cognitive and home environmental predictors of reading fluency and reading comprehension in Turkish-speaking children

In this study, we aimed to determine the early cognitive and home environmental predictors of reading in Turkish-speaking children. A total of 362 children participated in the study. We monitored the children for 3 years and assessed the home environmental variables and cognitive skills in kindergarten, reading fluency at the end of the first grade, and reading comprehension at the end of the second grade. We found that home literacy environment and socioeconomic status predicted early literacy skills in kindergarten as they also predicted reading fluency and reading comprehension through early literacy in later years. In addition, we found that phonological awareness, letter knowledge, and rapid naming predicted reading fluency, while language and verbal working memory predicted reading comprehension. The results of the study showed us that it is important to consider reading and reading comprehension in Turkish-speaking children holistically, together with cognitive skills and home environmental variables.     

Character n-gram application for automatic new topic identification

The widespread availability of the Internet and the variety of Internet-based applications have resulted in a significant increase in the amount of web pages. Determining the behaviors of search engine users has become a critical step in enhancing search engine performance. Search engine user behaviors can be determined by content-based or content-ignorant algorithms. Although many content-ignorant studies have been performed to automatically identify new topics, previous results have demonstrated that spelling errors can cause significant errors in topic shift estimates. In this study, we focused on minimizing the number of wrong estimates that were based on spelling errors. We developed a new hybrid algorithm combining character n-gram and neural network methodologies, and compared the experimental results with results from previous studies. For the FAST and Excite datasets, the proposed algorithm improved topic shift estimates by 6.987% and 2.639%, respectively. Moreover, we analyzed the performance of the character n-gram method in different aspects including the comparison with Levenshtein edit-distance method. The experimental results demonstrated that the character n-gram method outperformed to the Levensthein edit distance method in terms of topic identification.     

The Red Blood Cell Acetylcholinesterase Levels of Depressive Patients with Suicidal Behavior in an Agricultural Area

Long-term exposure to organophosphate pesticides (OPs) without acute poisoning can lead to various OPs. Environmental exposure to organophosphate pesticides may be associated with depression and suicide attempts in a population living in a rural agricultural area. Patients (n = 149) suffering from major depressive disorder (with and without attempted suicide) and a control group of healthy individuals (n = 64) who had been living in the same rural district for at least 1 year were selected. Red blood cell acetylcholine esterase (RBC-AChE) activity was examined as the basis of evaluating the degree of chronic environmental exposure to OPs residues. There were negative association between RBC-AChE activity levels and suicide attempts, the number of past suicide attempts and hopelessness levels in the depressive patients. The results of the study may support the idea that environmental exposure to OPs may be associated with mental health in individuals living in agricultural districts who are not farmers or working in occupations with access to OPs.     

Discovering Socio-cultural Aspects of Science Through Artworks

Scientific literacy is one of the primary purposes of science education which briefly focuses on using and interpreting scientific explanations, understanding science within its culture. However, science curricula emphasize science with its cognitive aspects and underestimate affective and aesthetic aspects of science. Science education needs to cover beauty of science for students to cross borders between their own culture and culture of science and to achieve the aim of scientific literacy. Relating aesthetic aspects of science with content of science and paving the way for aesthetic experiences through artworks may enrich science education. The purposes of this study are to discuss the need of integrating aesthetic aspects of science in science instruction and to propose examples and pedagogical suggestions to promote aesthetic experiences into the science education. Artworks are selected to present socio-cultural aspects of science to demonstrate the culture of science, their stories are explained, and pedagogical suggestions are proposed. Advantages and difficulties of using artworks in science instruction are discussed as a result of the study.     

Examining the Effectiveness of a Learning Outcomes Assessment Program: a Four Frames Perspective

Assessment of learning outcomes at the program level is essential to evaluate whether students are achieving what is expected of them as graduates. In this article we present the results of a study in which faculty focus groups were consulted so as to understand the subjective issues that surround the learning outcomes assessment program of an institution. We hope that our study contributes to continuous improvement in institutional assessment practices and to the improvement of student learning. We analysed the data through the lens provided by a leadership model since leadership is a key driver of assessment practices that lead to changes to improve student learning.     

The impact of using mobile-supported learning management systems in teaching web design on the academic success of students and their opinions on the course

This research aimed to examine the impact of using mobile-supported learning management systems (LMS) in teaching web design on the academic success of students and their opinion on the course; and it was conducted on 70 volunteer students (35 experimental, 35 control) enrolled at Giresun University, Technical Sciences Vocational School, Computer Technologies Department, Program of Computer Programming in Spring 2015–2016. After the eight weeks long implementation of Mobile Moodle, which is a mobile-supported LMS, as a supplement to traditional learning methods; t-test was used in order to determine whether the methodology mentioned had a significant impact on the academic success of web design teaching. As a result of the t-test implemented; it was seen that there was a significant level of difference in favor of the experimental group; between the academic success of students in the experimental group where mobile-supported LMS is used and the academic success of the students in the control group where traditional learning methodologies are used. Also, it has been determined that using Mobile LMS has increased the students’ interest.