Does formative feedback on search behaviour help students in answering comprehension questions from an available text? / ¿Ayuda la retroalimentación formativa sobre el comportamiento de búsqueda a contestar preguntas de comprensión en lecturas con texto disponible?

This study analyses the efficacy of formative feedback to boost students’ search behaviour when answering comprehension questions in a with-text reading situation, which is a common reading situation in instructional and assessment settings. In these reading situations search strategies play an important role to predict students’ performance. Sixty-five high school students read two texts and answered eight multiple-choice comprehension questions per text using the software Read&Answer, which recorded all the students’ actions. After answering each question, students received either global-search-feedback or specific-search-feedback, which differed in the specificity of their information, or no-feedback. Participants who received any feedback had a second chance to correct their wrong answers. Specific-search-feedback increased students’ search decisions and improved their use of relevant information to repair wrong answers over global-search-feedback. Consequently, specific-search-feedback improved students’ performance when they corrected wrong answers over global-search-feedback. These results have implications for the design and implementation of formative feedback in computer-based systems aimed at improving students’ performance and teaching reading literacy skills.     

Children's physical activity and physical self-perceptions

The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between physical self-perceptions and physical activity in Canadian school children aged 10–14 years. The sample consisted of 220 boys and 246 girls in grades 5–8. Physical activity was assessed by 7-day recall using the Physical Activity Questionnaire for Older Children. Selfperceptions of physical conditioning, sports competence, strength, body appearance and general physical selfworth were measured by the Physical Self-Perception Profile (PSPP). We found that boys were more physically active than girls and had higher perceptions of sport competence and strength. All PSPP scales were significantly correlated with physical activity in both boys and girls. Structural equation modelling procedures found the hierarchical PSPP model provided a good fit to the observed data, with little evidence of diff erences between the sexes. Analysis of five alternative structural models of the relationship between the PSPP and physical activity found the most parsimonious model to have significant pathways from both physical conditioning and sport skills to physical activity. Models for the sample as a whole, for boys and for girls were similar, accounting for an R 2 of 0.27–0.29 for physical activity. Our results demonstrate that physical self-perceptions, especially physical conditioning and sport skills, are significant correlates of activity in this population.     

The mediating role of self-compassion in the relationship between victimization and psychological maladjustment in a sample of adolescents

The objectives of the present study were to analyze the relationship between victimization and psychological maladjustment in adolescents and the role of self-compassion as a mediator in this relationship. The sample was composed of 109 adolescents aged from 15 to 18 years old with poor school performance. The participants filled out a battery of questionnaires made up of: a socio-demographic data questionnaire; the Juvenile Victimization Questionnaire (JVQ); the Youth Self-Report (YSR); and the Self-Compassion Scale (SCS). Results indicated that victimization was positively associated with psychological maladjustment. Moreover, adolescents reporting poly-victimization showed significantly higher level of psychological maladjustment and different types of victimization show different effects on adolescents’ psychological maladjustment. Self-compassion partially mediated the relationship between victimization and psychological maladjustment and reduced negative consequences in adolescents who reported having been victimized. Adolescence is a time of development and search for identity in which strengthening personal protective factors could help overcome any traumas experienced. Therefore, developing self-compassion in adolescence could be a good way to help young people recover from bad experiences and protect themselves against future negative experiences. As self-compassion can be improved with practice it could be included in adolescent intervention and prevention programs.     

Is music downloading the new prohibition? What students reveal through an ethical dilemma

Although downloading music through unapproved channels is illegal, statistics indicate that it is widespread. The following study examines the attitudes and perceptions of college students that are potentially engaged in music downloading. The methodology includes a content analysis of the recommendations written to answer an ethical vignette. The vignette presented the case of a subject who faces the dilemma of whether or not to download music illegally. Analyses of the final reports indicate that there is a vast and inconsistent array of actions and underlying feelings toward digital music downloading. The findings reveal inconsistencies between participants’ recommendations (what the subject should do) and their attitudes and opinions on the matter (what they would do in a similar situation). These inconsistencies support the notion that as technology evolves, it creates discrepancies between the way things are and the way the law expects them to be, leaving society in a muddle, trying to reconcile the two. What remains to be seen is whether the discrepancy in the case of music downloading becomes extreme enough that the law changes to accommodate an increasingly prevalent behavior, or whether new business models will emerge to bridge the gap between legality and reality.     

Effect of strength training on rate of force development in older women

We analyzed the effect of an 8-week strength training (ST) program on the rate of force development (RFD) and electromyographic activity (EMG) in older women. Seventeen women (M age = 63.4 years, SD = 4.9) without previous ST experience were randomly assigned to either a control (n=7) or training (n=10) group. A leg-press isometric test was used for assessment. ST (three sessions/ week, three sets of 10-12 repetition maximum, five different exercises) induced significant increases (p < .05) on peak RPD (48.4%) and on RFD) and EMG of vastus medialis at time intervals of 0-50, 0-100, 0-150, and 0-200 ms (41.1-69.2% and 43.8-64.3%, respectively). Therefore, ST resulted in favorable changes in neuromuscular responses in older women.     

Lending a helping hand for English-Chinese bilingual children’s idiom comprehension and retention: implications for early childhood educators

Idiom comprehension and production reflect a child’s language competence. Research suggests that there is a positive relationship between children’s reading comprehension skills and their idiom understanding. This study examines whether adult verbal scaffolding, in conjunction with the deliberate use of iconic gestures, can facilitate young bilingual children’s comprehension and retention of idiomatic expressions in their different languages. Twenty-three five-year-old English-Chinese bilingual children learned novel idioms across two experimental conditions. In Experiment 1, a native Chinese-speaking adult and a native English-speaking adult, respectively, taught children a set of Chinese and English idioms via speech only. In Experiment 2, the same adults, respectively, taught a different set of Chinese and English idioms via speech–gesture combinations. The results suggest that children could comprehend more idioms in both languages after being taught via the speech–gesture modality than the speech-only modality. They also tended to retain more idioms taught in the speech–gesture modality than in the speech-only modality in both languages. Moreover, those children who scored high in their idiom comprehension and retention also scored high both in their recast of the gestures used by the adults and in their rate of speech–gesture mismatches. Educational implications for early childhood settings are discussed.     

THE EFFECTS OF A SOCIAL–EMOTIONAL LEARNING PROGRAM ON ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CHILDREN: THE ROLE OF PUPILS’ CHARACTERISTICS

This quasi‐experimental exploratory study investigated whether a social–emotional learning program, implemented during a 1‐year period, could lead to gains in social–emotional competencies and a reduction in internalizing and externalizing problems. Furthermore, it showed which pupils would benefit most from the program. The program was applied to 213 fourth‐grade Portuguese pupils. One hundred five controls followed an Origami curriculum during the same period. Sixteen teachers also participated in this study. Self‐report (pupils) and hetero‐report (teachers) questionnaires were administered before and after the intervention. There were significant intervention gains in some social–emotional competencies, namely, peer relations and social competence, but no gains were found in internalizing and externalizing problems. Intervention pupils with average pre‐test scores profited more in self‐management and peer relations than controls. Boys showed greater gains in self‐management, aggressiveness, and social problems than girls. There were no significant differences regarding socioeconomic status.     

Family of origin environments in two clinical samples of survivors of intra-familial, extra-familial, and both types of sexual abuse

OBJECTIVE: It has been suggested that survivors of ongoing childhood sexual abuse (CSA) tend to have been reared in ineffective family environments that render them particularly vulnerable to maltreatment and which foster psychological difficulties beyond those accounted for solely by their abuse. If this conjecture is valid, one would expect that the family of origin environments of CSA survivors would be disturbed whether their abuser was intra-familial or extra-familial. To assess this hypothesis, two studies compared the childhood family of origin environments and supportive parenting characteristics of a clinical sample of women sexually abused by family members only (the intra-familial group), by non-family members only (the extra-familial group), and by both family and non-family members (the "both" group). METHOD: Study 1 compared the three groups (total N = 213) using the Family Environment Scale (FES). Study 2 compared groups (total N = 86) on the positive parenting scales of the Exposure to Abusive and Supportive Environments Parenting Inventory (EASE-PI). RESULTS: In Study 1, multivariate analyses indicated significant differences on the independence, cohesion, and conflict subscales of the FES. Pairwise comparisons revealed that the extra-familial group reported significantly higher levels of family independence and lower levels of conflict than the other two groups. In addition, the extra-familial group reported higher levels of cohesion than the intra-familial group. However, the effect sizes of these comparisons were extremely small. In Study 2, multivariate analyses revealed no group differences on the EASE-PI scales. CONCLUSIONS: Low effect sizes on the three significant FES scales, non-significance on the remaining seven FES scales, and non-significance on the EASE-PI scales suggest that there is considerable similarity in the family of origin environments of adult female CSA survivors seeking therapy regardless of whether their perpetrators were family members, non-family members, or both family and non-family members.