Analogy,Metaconceptual Awareness and Conceptual Change: a classroom study

This qualitative study aimed at exploring whether students’ successful use of analogy in learning curriculum complex science concepts was related: (a) to the level of their understanding of a specific analogy and (b) to their metacognitive awareness of how the analogy was to be used and of the changes produced in their own conceptual structures. In implementing a biological curriculum unit, students’ prior knowledge has been taken into account in order to examine its conceptual growth and change via a not completely introduced analogy to 15 fifth graders as they were engaged in understanding the ways in which the new concepts (on photosynthesis) were similar to a familiar source (making a cake). Qualitative data present the children's mapping processes in elaborating the analogy and their metacognitive awareness of the meaning and purpose of the analogy itself, and their personal use of the analogy in changing initial conceptions. As hypothesised, the results showed a high positive correlation among the level of conceptual understanding of the new science topic, the level of understanding of the analogy, and the level of effective use of the analogy in integrating the new information into the pre‐existing conceptual structures. Key implications on the use of analogy for conceptual change in the classroom are outlined.     

Integrative assessment of Evolutionary theory acceptance and knowledge levels of Biology undergraduate students from a Brazilian university

The integrative role that Evolutionary theory plays within Biology is recognised by most scientific authors, as well as in governmental education policies, including Brazilian policies. However, teaching and learning evolution seems problematic in many countries, and Brazil is among those. Many factors may affect teachers’ and students’ perceptions towards evolution, and studies can help to reveal those factors. We used a conceptual questionnaire, the Measure of Acceptance of the Theory of Evolution (MATE) instrument, and a Knowledge test to assess (1) the level of acceptance and understanding of 23 undergraduate Biology students nearing the end of their course, (2) other factors that could affect these levels, including course structure, and (3) the most difficult topics regarding evolutionary biology. The results of this study showed that the students, on average, had a ‘Very High Acceptance’ (89.91) and a ‘Very Low Knowledge’ (59.42%) of Evolutionary theory, and also indicated a moderate positive correlation between the two (r?=?0.66, p?=?.001). The most difficult topics were related to the definition of evolution and dating techniques. We believe that the present study provides evidence for policymakers to reformulate current school and university curricula in order to improve the teachers’ acceptance and understanding of evolution and other biological concepts, consequently, helping students reduce their misconceptions related to evolutionary biology.     

Individual Differences in Infant Visual Attention: Are Short Lookers Faster Processors or Feature Processors?

Individual differences in the duration of infants' visual fixations are reliable and stable and have been linked to differential cognitive performance; short-looking infants typically perform better than long-looking infants. 4 experiments tested the possibility of whether short lookers' superiority on perceptual-cognitive tasks is attributable to attention to the featural details of visual stimuli, or simply to differences in the speed or efficiency of visual processing. To do this, the performance of long- and short-looking 4-month-olds was examined on separate discrimination tasks that could be solved only by processing either featural or global information. The global task was easier than the featural task, but as the amount of time allotted for infants to solve either type of task was decreased, short lookers' performance was superior to that of long lookers. These results thus lend support to a speed or efficiency of stimulus processing interpretation of infant fixation duration.     

The symbolic distance effect in monkeys (Cebus apella)

In making comparative judgments about pairs of stimuli that are linearly ordered, human subjects usually respond faster the greater the separation between-the-items of a test pair—the symbolic distance effect. A similar result has been obtained for associatively related items, such as the alphabet. We report evidence for a distance effect in monkeys tested with pairs of items drawn from a five-item series with which they had considerable previous experience-in a serial learning setting. This finding provides independent evidence that in learning a serial list of items, monkeys acquire knowledge about the ordinal positions of the items. Analysis of the positive results obtained in Experiment 2 and of the failure to find a distance effect in Experiment 1 suggested that in learning a serial list, monkeys construct both an associative chain representation of the series and a spatial representation, with the latter supplying the spatial markers that convey positional information. This dual coding of sequential events, which may be rather general among mammals, probably supports a variety of cognitive competencies.     

The role of collaboration in a comprehensive programme design process in inclusive education

This study focused on the role of collaboration in a comprehensive programme design process in inclusive education. The participants were six members of an inclusive education team and an educational designer who together comprised the design team. The study examined whether collaboration was evident in the practice of programme design and associated institutional processes. This was determined through an examination of institutional documents and reflections on collaborative practice provided by design team members in semi-structured interviews about their experiences. The study found that designing the programme collaboratively was more time intensive and at times challenging but ultimately produced a more coherent programme with transparent design, structure and content for students and teachers.     

The effective use of student time: a stochastic frontier production function case study

The relationship between student study time allocation and examination performance is little understood. We model the allocation of student time into formal study (lectures and classes) and self study and its relationship to university examination scores using a stochastic frontier production function. This case study uses unique time budget data and detailed personal records from one university in Spain. The results suggest that, within the formal system of teaching in Spain, both formal study and self study are significant determinants of exam scores but that the former may be up to four times more important than the latter. We also find that self study time may be insignificant if ability bias is corrected for.     

Divergent Thinking in Italian Students with and Without Reading Impairments

Several studies have explored the relationship between dyslexia and creativity, but results have been rather mixed. This study examines whether Italian dyslexic children are more creative than their peers without a reading impairment. One hundred ninety Italian children aged between 9 and 13 participated in this study, divided into two groups: Ninety five dyslexic students and ninety five peers without a reading impairment. All the participants’ creativity skills were assessed. The results indicated that dyslexic children outperformed their peers in the total score, and in the originality, elaboration, and titles sub-scores, whereas no differences were found in the fluency and flexibility sub-scores. The results are discussed in relation to the practical implications, and provide indications for supportive learning environments.