Students’ engagement in different STEM learning environments: integrated STEM education as promising practice?

In this paper, we explore how students’ engagement varies in different STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) learning environments. More specifically, we focus on the significance of a learning environment applying an integrated STEM (iSTEM) approach and the significance of STEM learning environments’ student-centredness. Moreover, we explore the relative importance of different student-centred principles (lesson plan and implementation, communicative interactions, student-teacher relationships) for students’ engagement in the STEM learning environment. Applying a mixed-method approach, we draw from observational data of 24 STEM lessons in combination with data from seven focus groups with 67 grade 9 students. The quantitative findings, based on the observational data, show that a learning environment applying an iSTEM approach seems to support students’ engagement. Further investigation made it clear that the student-centredness in this learning environment is especially significant. Regarding the specific student-centred principles, all principles had a significant impact on students’ engagement. The focus group data make clear that, besides student-centredness, the integrative aspect and the use of authentic real-world problems in iSTEM can also be engaging for students. These results indicate that iSTEM is a good practice to engage students in the STEM learning environment, as it facilitates teachers’ implementation of a general student-centred approach.     

What Does Prone Skateboarding in the Newborn Tell Us About the Ontogeny of Human Locomotion?

The crawling behavior of sixty 2-day-old newborns was studied while they were supported prone on a mini skateboard and on a pediatric mattress without additional support. Analyses of the number and types of limb movements and their characteristics, the coactivation of limb pairs, and the displacement across the surface, revealed that newborns can crawl with locomotor patterns similar to those documented during quadrupedal locomotion in animals and human adults. This was particularly apparent on the skateboard. This discovery suggests that locomotor circuitry underlying quadrupedal locomotion develops during fetal life. Drawing upon other evidence for a quadrupedal organization underlying bipedal gait, we argue that early quadrupedal training may enhance interventions designed to hasten the onset of independent walking.     

Three- to Four-Year-Old Children Rapidly Adapt Their Predictions and Use Them to Learn Novel Word Meanings

Adults create and update predictions about what speakers will say next. This study asks whether prediction can drive language acquisition, by testing whether 3- to 4-year-old children (n = 45) adapt to recent information when learning novel words. The study used a syntactic context which can precede both nouns and verbs to manipulate children's predictions about what syntactic category will follow. Children for whom the syntactic context predicted verbs were more likely to infer that a novel word appearing in this context referred to an action, than children for whom it predicted nouns. This suggests that children make rapid changes to their predictions, and use this information to learn novel information, supporting the role of prediction in language acquisition.     

The impact of formative and shared or co-assessment on the acquisition of transversal competences in higher education

The use of formative and shared or co-assessment has been shown to improve the motivation, involvement and learning of university students. The aim of this study is to analyse the effect that implementing these processes has on university students’ perception of their acquisition of transversal competences. The participants in the study were 1021 students from five Spanish universities taking degree courses in primary education or physical education and sport science. They all experienced formative and shared or co-assessment throughout a complete academic year of their courses. For the data collection, a Self-Perception Scale of Transversal Competences was created, which had adequate values of reliability and validity. Using a transversal design (inter-subjects), inferential statistical analysis was undertaken of the differences in means between the perception of a range of transversal competences before and after the course. The results show significant perceived improvements at the end of the course for most of the competences analysed, which indicates, among other thing, the value and importance of this type of assessment for the educational process.     

Effect of political socialization on children: quasi-experimental study with Argentinian children / Efecto de la socialización política en población infantil: estudio cuasi-experimental con niños/as argentinos/as

This study evaluates the effect that two experiences of political socialization had on different psychosocial and psychopolitical variables (social dominance orientation, right-wing authoritarianism, attitudes towards equality, socially conscious behaviour, empathy, attitude towards unfair behaviour by authorities, sociopolitical participation) in children in the city of Córdoba (Argentina). Specifically, it analyses the effect of participation in a social organization that promotes citizen education (Study 1), and participation in the Alternative Political Socialization Programme (APSP) (Study 2) created for this research. Likewise, a comparative analysis of both experiences was performed (Study 3). Children aged 10 and 11 participated in the experiences. A quasi-experimental design was used with a pre- and post-test, along with a quasi-control group. The results suggest a significant effect in the variables studied based on participation in these experiences, with differences according to the kind of programme. The study underscores the importance of designing alternative political socialization mechanisms geared at citizen training in childhood.     

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International Journal for Educational and Vocational Guidance -     

Transitions in the representation and implementation of a language-learning project within a multicultural context

European Journal of Psychology of Education - The paper explores the involvement of teachers, children, and parents in a project based on learning a second language (L2) within a multicultural...     

Using an adaptation programme to introduce children to the early years of schooling in Slovakia

The article presents a new adaptation programme entitled ‘With a smile to school’ for pupils of the first year at primary schools. The adaptation programme comprises several methods and measures which are focused on the regulation of pupils’ adaptation process. The efficiency and effectiveness of the adaptation programme were verified through an experiment at selected primary schools in Slovakia in the school year 2016/2017. Based on the experiment results, a proposal for implementation of the adaptation programme to school practice was drawn up. The experiment results were evaluated by means of selected statistical methods.     

Effects of orthographic consistency and word length on the dynamics of written production in adults: psycholinguistic and rTMS experiments

Reading and Writing - Recent studies on written word production aim at studying how information is transmitted between central (linguistic) and peripheral (motor) processes. Neurocognitive models...     

Predatory and exploitative behaviour in academic publishing: An assessment

The issue of “predatory” publishing continues to affect many scholars around the world who publish. When one reads the fairly vast literature surrounding “predatory” publishing, there is an erroneous tendency to continue pivoting around Jeffrey Beall's blacklists of “predatory” open access (OA) journals and publishers. However, to be “predatory” involves much more than defining a handful of select behaviours, and it is becoming increasingly important to start defining, or curtailing, the lexicon to avoid referring to any journal or publisher that might display one of the following qualities (exploitative, deceptive, excessive, unscrupulous, abusive, advantageous, manipulative, profit-seeking, or others) as synonymously meaning “predatory”. This paper focuses mainly on the oft-interchangeable terms “predatory” and “exploitation”, and explores the morality of predatory and exploitative actions by applying a deontological ethics approach which implies that certain actions are wrong even if they achieve good consequences, with the understanding that because a predatory entity aims to exploit others, these actions would be considered morally wrong from a deontologist's perspective. In articulating our argument, we attempt to expand the conversation around this important topic, with the hope that it might bring additional clarity to the issue of what might constitute a “predatory” journal or publisher.