A Jewish Museum in an Arab Country

Jews have lived in comparative peace with their neighbors in North Africa for millennia. In the last century, however, political forces have altered an ancient live‐and‐let‐live ethos. A Peace Corps volunteer who began work at the Museum of Moroccan Judaism—the only Jewish museum in the Arab world—just before the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York describes the shock waves engulfing her small museum and the Jewish communities whose artifacts it shelters.     

“Research-based” and “profession-oriented” as prominent knowledge discourses in curriculum restructuring of professional programs

This article questions what kind of actors become involved and analyzes what forms of knowledge are activated, when discourses such as “research-based” and “profession-oriented” become basic preconditions in national curriculum change processes in Norway. A “mapping” is conducted, comprised of actors and ideas, played out in two national curriculum change processes in Norway, namely “the Integrated Master Program in Teacher Education” and “the Bachelor Program in Engineering.” The analysis shows that actors and the roles they were able to play may have had an effect on what kind of knowledge forms was prioritized in the curriculum change processes. In both, curriculum process integration of discipline-based/theoretical knowledge and practical and context-specific knowledge are emphasized. However, in the teacher education process, principled knowledge about specific professional problems and theory-based decisions are highlighted as important, while, in the engineering education process, procedural knowledge about how to solve problems and innovative capacity is more emphasized. The analysis shows a relationship between such curriculum change processes and the composite “epistemology” of the wider and contextually developed policy space. It is also demonstrated, in the two cases, that the knowledge base for professional work is subject to negotiations far beyond the academic community and is embedded in a wider set of social, professional, and political institutions and frames.     

Effects of Example Choice on Interest,Control, and Learning

We investigated example choice as a new method for the teaching of formal theoretical principles. Formal principles are presented with several examples from different topics, and students choose the one that interests them most. Example choice might be related to prior knowledge, interest, or perceived control. In an experimental study, we examined the effects of degree of example choice and degree of prior knowledge on interest, perceived control, and learning outcomes in a presentation on confirmation bias. The main finding was that participants who could choose an example showed more interest in the presentation of the formal principle than participants who either were given an example by the experimenter or only saw the presentation. Control was lowest for the group without example choice and without prior knowledge. Finally, prior knowledge, but not example choice, increased performance on a transfer of knowledge task. Example choice thus offers a new approach for closing the gap between formal principles as presented at school and a student's interests.     

Motor development of deaf children with and without cochlear implants

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of a cochlear implant (CI) on the motor development of deaf children. The study involved 36 mainstreamed deaf children (15 boys, 21 girls; 4- to 12-years old) without any developmental problems. Of these children, 20 had been implanted. Forty-three hearing children constituted a comparison group. Motor development was assessed by three standardized tests: the Movement Assessment Battery for Children, the K?rperkoordinationstest für Kinder, and the One-leg standing test. Results showed that the hearing children performed on average significantly better than the deaf children (whether or not using a CI). Regarding the use of a CI, there was only a significant difference on one subtest between both groups, although there was a nonsignificant trend for the deaf +CI group to score somewhat worse on average than the deaf -CI group. This led to some significant differences between the hearing group and the deaf +CI group on measures requiring balance that did not hold for the hearing/deaf -CI comparison. Although this study could demonstrate neither a positive nor a negative impact of CI on balance and motor skills, the data raise the need for further, preferably longitudinal, research.     

Eliciting Reciprocal Peer-Tutoring Groups’ Metacognitive Regulation Through Structuring and Problematizing Scaffolds

The study examines whether structuring (SS) versus problematising scaffolds (PS) differently affect reciprocal peer-tutoring (RPT) groups’ adoption of particular regulation skills, deep-level regulation, and tutee-initiated regulation. A quasi-experimental design involving two experimental groups (SS versus PS condition) was adopted. The first, third, and sixth RPT-session of eight randomly selected RPT-groups (four from the SS condition, four from the PS condition) were videotaped (48hr). Mixed ANOVAs were conducted to investigate the impact of both scaffold types on RPT-groups’ metacognitive regulation. The results indicate that neither scaffold type encourages RPT-groups into a balanced adoption of, or initiative for, regulation skills and a deep-level approach. Nevertheless, the PS condition significantly outperforms the SS condition in evoking deep-level monitoring, tutee-initiated orientation, and tutee-initiated monitoring.     

Mine the process: investigating the cyclical nature of upper primary school students’ self-regulated learning

The present study investigates primary school students’ self-regulated learning (SRL) process by exploring the sequence in which SRL activities are conducted during learning. The aims of this study are twofold: investigating the presence of the theoretically hypothesized cyclical nature in students’ SRL process, as well as potential differences herein for high, average, and low achievers. Think-aloud data of 104 upper primary school students were analysed by means of process mining analysis. The results indicate that students commonly adopt a cyclical approach to learning by implementing preparatory, performance, and appraisal activities during learning. However, the results indicate clear differences in the quality of students’ SRL process. High achievers, compared to low and average achievers, show a more strategic and adaptive approach to learning during all phases of their learning process. They more strategically and effectively orient on and plan assignments, combine different cognitive strategies, and adopt self-evaluation to regulate their learning process.

     

Mind maps as primers when reading-for-learning in elementary grades? An eye tracking study

Mind maps are often used to help readers process texts, but their effectiveness is empirically under-investigated. This study explores whether the use of mind maps presented either before or after the text can prime successful selective processing strategies related to the text topic structure. Differences in performance outcomes (i.e., memory and comprehension) are also investigated. Sixty-four late elementary education students were randomly assigned to a text-only-condition (T), mind map-text-condition (MMT) or text-mind map-condition (TMM). All groups studied an informative text while their eye movements were registered. Multilayered posttests and interviews were administered. Linear mixed effect models and one-way analysis of variances show that presenting a mind map beforehand primes more successful selective processing strategies than when the mind map is presented afterwards or not presented. In contrast, the TMM-condition outperformed the others in their amount of free recall and coherence. This study suggests that both receiving a mind map before or after text processing can be beneficial during targeted instruction in view of successful reading-for-learning.

     

Collaborative learning groups’ adoption of shared metacognitive regulation: examining the impact of structuring versus reflection-provoking support and its relation with group performance

European Journal of Psychology of Education - This study investigates (1) the impact of structuring versus reflection-provoking support on university students’ adoption of socially shared...     

Promoting elementary school students' autonomous reading motivation: Effects of a teacher professional development workshop

Responding to the declining trend in reading motivation in and beyond the elementary school years, the authors aimed to enhance late-elementary school students' autonomous reading motivation. Toward this end, the authors evaluated the influence of a teacher professional development grounded in self-determination theory on fifth-grade students' (n = 664) autonomous motivation for in-school and leisure-time reading. A quasi-experimental repeated measures design was set up with experimental and control conditions. The experimental condition consisted of teachers participating in a professional development workshop aimed at providing the knowledge and skills necessary to implement an autonomy-supportive and structuring teaching style, whereas the control condition included teachers who continued with their current teaching repertoire. Multilevel piece-wise growth analyses corroborated that students in the experimental group reported increased recreational autonomous reading motivation from pretest to posttest relative to the control group. Additional analyses made clear that boys in particular benefitted from their teachers' professional development.