Do parents’ and teachers’ views of children’s educational resilience matter?

This study set out to examine parents’ and teachers’ perceptions of children’s educational resilience. As expected, the parents attributed greater levels of educational resilience to their children than did the teachers. However, both the parents and teachers assessed the sixth graders’ educational resilience as higher than that of the third graders. The results suggest that perceptions of educational resilience may represent a different dimension from views relating to children’s achievement in school.     

How does career guidance at schools encounter migrant young people? Interactional practices that hinder socially just guidance

International Journal for Educational and Vocational Guidance - The aim of this article is to show how interaction research can contribute to the understanding and praxis of socially just guidance....     

Bangladeshi Science Teachers’ Perceived Importance and Perceived Current Practices in Promoting Science Education Through a Context-Based,Socio-scientific Framework

Science & Education - The paper reports a study that seeks to develop an instrument so as to explore Bangladeshi science teachers’ perceived importance and perceived current practices,...     

Subtypes of mathematical learning disability and their antecedents: A cognitive diagnostic approach

Using cognitive diagnostic modeling (CDM), this study identified subtypes of mathematics learning disability (MLD) based on children's numerical skills and examined the language and spatial precursors of these subtypes. Participants were 99 MLD children and 420 low achievers identified from 1839 Finnish children (966 boys) who were followed from preschool (age 6) to fourth grade (2007–2011). Five subtypes were identified: the arithmetic fluency deficit only subtype, the counting deficit subtype, the pervasive deficit subtype, the symbolic deficit subtype, and the counting and concept deficit subtype. Different subtypes depended on different constellations of language and spatial deficits. Findings highlight the effectiveness of CDM in identifying MLD subtypes and underscore the importance of understanding the specific deficits and antecedents of the subtypes.     

Maturation of consonant perception,but not vowel perception,predicts lexical skills at 12 months

Consonants and vowels differentially contribute to lexical acquisition. From 8 months on, infants' preferential reliance on consonants has been shown to predict their lexical outcome. Here, the predictive value of German-learning infants' (n = 58, 29 girls, 29 boys) trajectories of consonant and vowel perception, indicated by the electrophysiological mismatch response, across 2, 6, and 10 months for later lexical acquisition was studied. The consonant-perception trajectory from 2 to 6 months (β = −2.95) and 6 to 10 months (β = −.91), but not the vowel-perception trajectory, significantly predicted receptive vocabulary at 12 months. These results reveal an earlier predictive value of consonant perception for word learning than previously found, and a particular role of the longitudinal maturation of this skill in lexical acquisition.     

Professional competences of young psychologists: the dimensions of self-rated competence domains and their variation in the early years of the psychologist’s career

The study set out to explore an array of key competencies required by psychologists, along with a method for assessing them. The respondents (n?=?353) were a representative sample of young Finnish psychologists with professional experience of between 1 and 6 years. They were requested to rate 52 statements of competence. A set of explorative factor analyses was conducted separately for four predetermined competence domains: client management, personal/professional identity and autonomy, consciousness of professional limits and professional development. In total, the analysis generated 11 competence dimensions. It was found that the extent of work experience was related to the ratings of these competence domains. For instance, newly qualified psychologists tended to rate their competences higher than those of psychologists with a few more years of professional experience.     

Upper secondary and vocational level teachers at social software

This study focuses on upper secondary and vocational level teachers as users of social software i.e. what software they use during their leisure and work and for what purposes they use software in teaching. The study is theorised within a technological pedagogical content knowledge framework, the emphasis is especially on technological knowledge and technological pedagogical knowledge. Four hundred thirty seven teachers were surveyed using an online questionnaire with Likert scaled statements and open-ended questions. Results suggest that the number of different types of social software actively used for teaching is small and that the potential of social software as a tool for supporting collaborative learning has not yet been realised. Discussion of the results is framed in the context of teachers’ developing technological pedagogical content knowledge.     

Elementary school students’ strategic learning: does task-type matter?

This study investigated what types of learning patterns and strategies elementary school students use to carry out ill- and- well-structured tasks. Specifically, it was investigated which and when learning patterns actually emerge with respect to students’ task solutions. The present study uses computer log file traces to investigate how conditions of task types that might affect strategic learning. Elementary school students (N = 12) participated in two science study lessons. During these lessons the students were asked to solve well- and ill-structured tasks. For both of these tasks, the students used the gStudy learning environment designed to support strategic learning. In addition, gStudy records traces of each student’s strategic actions as they proceed with tasks. First, the students’ task solutions was rated according to three categories, namely “on track”, “off track” and “partial solution”. Second, learning patterns in terms of learning strategies that emerged throughout these tasks were investigated. Third, detailed cross case analysis was used to explore in depth how and when these learning patterns were used with respect to the students’ task solutions. The results show that young students’ can provide in-depth task solutions, but also adapt to the task complexity. However, despite the task types being different, the students had same types of learning patterns. The detailed cross-case comparison of the students’ task solutions with respect to learning patterns indicates that there are intra individual differences concerning how students allocate their learning strategy use. Especially if the task is ill-structured, it can also mislead the students to focus on irrelevant aspects and hinder strategic learning.     

Computer-Supported Instructional Communication: A Multidisciplinary Account of Relevant Factors

The papers in the present special issue summarize research that aims at compiling and understanding variables associated with successful communication in computer-supported instructional settings. Secondly, the papers add to the question of how adaptiveness of instructional communication may be achieved. A particular strength of the special issue is to bring together authors with diverse backgrounds within psychology and beyond. In this commentary, we introduce the central ideas of the special issue and give an overview of the papers.     

Personalizing e-Learning. The Social Effects of Pedagogical Agents

Numerous studies have evaluated the effects of pedagogical agents on students’ learning outcomes, but so far, beneficial effects have not been consistently demonstrated. The ambiguous results might partly be due to the strong emphasis on cognitive outcomes, which is characteristic for research in teaching and learning. The paper suggests a shift of attention to socio-emotional and relational variables, which might be considered as relevant moderator variables in learning or even as learning outcomes per se, for example, in social learning. In order to achieve this goal, we suggest a systematic account of the results from social psychology and in particular from nonverbal communication research, and findings from studies on the social effects of embodied agents in general. This perspective will include (1) a distinction between static and dynamic aspects of embodiment, such as the visual appearance of agents and their nonverbal behavior, and (2) a more systematic approach concerning the functions of embodiment and nonverbal behavior, such as modeling, discourse and dialogue functions, and socio-emotional effects. A further argument addresses the necessity of complementing outcome measures by process measures, which are sensitive to the tasks and the changing situational demands that occur during learning processes and tutor-learner interaction.