Spatial invariance of handwriting

Two aspects concerning the production of shapes in handwriting are distinguished in the present paper. The first aspect is indicated by thespatial variability of letters measured across replications. Spatial variability is assumed to reflect the basic spatial noise observed in everyday writing. The second aspect deals with the geometric characteristics of letter shapes, measured by the ratio of the vertical over the horizontal letter size (Y/X-ratio). The main question is whether the geometric characteristics and basic spatial noise originate from a common source. More specifically, we are interested in whether Y/X-ratio as well as spatial variability will alter across changed circumstances, or whether Y/X-ratio will alter without a change in spatial variability. Subjects wrote the simple letter sequencelelele in conditions with and without vision under three scaling conditions requirements (small, normal and large letter sizes). The main results were that geometric aspects of letters altered (Y/X-ratio) under no vision and under the scaling requirement to write in a small format. In contrast, shapes were produced with unchanged spatial variability in all conditions of vision and scaling requirements. The results suggest that alterations of geometric aspects of letters across changed circumstances do not necessarily involve an increase in spatial variability.     

Interventions in education to prevent STEM pipeline leakage

The so-called leaking STEM pipeline (dropout in STEM education) has been the subject of many studies. The large interest of scholars in plausible causes of this leakage has resulted in a number of meta-reviews describing factors at system, school and student level related to interest and persistence in STEM education. The STEM pipeline discussion has also resulted in a large number of programmes aimed at enhancing STEM interest and persistence in STEM education. Although these programmes have been widely evaluated, there seems to be no consensus about which interventions are successful in raising interest in STEM or persistence in STEM education. This study reports the results of a systematic review of empirical studies in which the effectiveness of STEM-related interventions are assessed. Initially, 538 studies were found. The quality analyses showed that only a few of these evaluation studies are designed in such a way that it is likely that the found effects are caused by the intervention. Although some potentially effective interventions were found, this review shows that there is still a need for research into the effectiveness of those programmes, especially with regard to programmes preventing talented and initially motivated STEM students to drop out of STEM education.     

Which Techno-mathematical Literacies Are Essential for Future Engineers?

Due to increased use of technology, the workplace practices of engineers have changed. So-called techno-mathematical literacies (TmL) are necessary for engineers of the 21st century. Because it is still unknown which TmL engineers actually use in their professional practices, the purpose of this study was to identify these TmL. Fourteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with engineers with a background in different educational tracks in higher professional education (e.g. civil, chemical, biotechnical and mechanical engineering). As a result of the data analysis, 7 commonly used TmL are identified: data literacy, technical software skills, technical communication skills, sense of error, sense of number, technical creativity and technical drawing skills. Engineers also noted a discrepancy between their education and workplace needs; they characterized mathematics in their education as an island with limited relevance. These findings lead to recommendations for the future of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) in higher technical professional education that can help students learn STEM for the future.     

Feedback seeking behaviour in higher education: the association with students’ goal orientation and deep learning approach

To make sure that feedback fulfils its aspirations, students’ active role in feedback should be acknowledged in higher education: It is students’ uptake of feedback that determines its effectiveness. In this study, feedback seeking behaviour of students is introduced in order to enrich our knowledge about students’ active role in feedback. Goal orientation was studied as antecedent of feedback seeking behaviour, and students’ deep learning approach as a mediating factor. Results indicated that students use both monitoring and inquiry strategies of feedback seeking, but they preferred monitoring. The association between feedback seeking behaviour and goal orientation was stronger for mastery goals than for performance goals. The preference for monitoring is stronger for students with more performance goal orientation. Deep learning approach was found to be a mediator in the relationship between goal orientation and feedback seeking behaviour. It can be concluded that students with the goal to learn from the activity will use more deep learning strategies and will seek more feedback, both in an active and passive way. This effect is less present for students with performance goals.     

Historical Networks in Science Education

Science & Education - This paper discusses the potential of the creation and analysis of historical networks as didactic strategies in science education. To this end, we first argue the...     

Progress to conservation: Conflict or correct answer?

One of the fundamental problems in socio-cognitive conflict theory concerns what it is that leads to cognitive growth. Is it conflict per se, i.e. the fact that two contradictory opinions are brought together, or is it the presence of the correct answer which is essential for growth. In this experiment, dyads, functioning on the same cognitive level, were formed and asked to solve a conservation-of-length task. The classification of the children in the pre-test was not done according to Piagetian norms, but according to Flavell’s appearance-reality (AR) model: AR non-conservers (AR-NC), AR intermediates (AR-I) and AR conservers (AR-C). Many children who would have been scored as non-conservers in a standard Piagetian task, showed an underlying conservation competence and were classified as AR-I. The results of the interaction suggest that conflict does not lead to appropriate change in AR-NC dyads or AR-I dyads. Furthermore, the results suggest that the most effective method for AR-I to become conservers, is to make them think about a problem and then, to create consensus by confronting the children with others who have also reached the correct solution.     

Object-naming deficits in developmental dyslexia

This paper reports two experiments which focus on the object naming deficits of dyslexic readers. In Experiment 1, dyslexic and normal readers were asked to name objects depicted by pictures or following their spoken definition. Ten-year-old dyslexics named fewer objects correctly than other children of a similar age, performing only as well as a younger group of 8-year-old normal readers. This was true irrespective of the modality through which they were tested. In terms of naming latency, however, they were similar to comparison groups. In Experiment 2, nine-year-old dyslexic and normal readers performed as well as each other in a receptive vocabulary test in which pictures had to be matched to spoken words. However, once again, on a picture naming test, the dyslexics did less well than controls. We argue that dyslexic children are subject to verbal naming difficulties which cannot be accounted for by generally low levels of vocabulary knowledge. Their problems are attributable not to difficulties in semantic representation but to difficulties with the lexical-phonological representation of spoken words they know. We propose that, in turn, these difficulties are related to their memory and reading problems.