Counteracting detrimental effects of misconceptions on learning and metacomprehension accuracy: The utility of refutation texts and think sheets

Instructional Science - Previous research has shown that misconceptions impair not only learners’ text comprehension and knowledge transfer but also the accuracy with which they predict their...     

Why teachers cooperate: an expectancy-value model of teacher cooperation

European Journal of Psychology of Education - While cooperation among teachers is considered an important indicator of school quality, the empirical evidence on the efficacy of teacher cooperation...     

Hamburg’s Family Literacy project (FLY) in the context of international trends and recent evaluation findings

The authors of this article begin with an introduction to the holistic concept of family literacy and learning and its implementation in various international contexts, paying special attention to the key role played by the notions of lifelong learning and intergenerational learning. The international trends and experiences they outline inspired and underpinned the concept of a prize-winning Family Literacy project called FLY, which was piloted in 2004 in Hamburg, Germany. FLY aims to build bridges between preschools, schools and families by actively involving parents and other family members in children’s literacy education. Its three main pillars are: (1) parents’ participation in their children’s classes; (2) special sessions for parents (without their children); and (3) joint out-of-school activities for teachers, parents and children. These three pillars help families from migrant backgrounds, in particular, to develop a better understanding of German schools and to play a more active role in school life. To illustrate how the FLY concept is integrated into everyday school life, the authors showcase one participating Hamburg school before presenting their own recent study on the impact of FLY in a group of Hamburg primary schools with several years of FLY experience. The results of the evaluation clearly indicate that the project’s main objectives have been achieved: (1) parents of children in FLY schools feel more involved in their children’s learning and are offered more opportunities to take part in school activities; (2) the quality of teaching in these schools has improved, with instruction developing a more skills-based focus due to markedly better classroom management und a more supportive learning environment; and (3) children in FLY schools are more likely to have opportunities to accumulate experience in out-of-school contexts and to be exposed to environments that stimulate and enhance their literacy skills in a tangible way.     

Developmental surface and phonological dysgraphia in German 3rd graders

The investigation of developmental reading and spelling disorders within the framework provided by cognitive neuropsychology has yielded interesting results for several alphabetic orthographies, for example English, Italian, and French. However, this approach has not attracted much attention in German speaking countries up to now. The following study, carried out with 35 German dysgraphic 3rd graders provides evidence that there is no less reason to apply this line of research to German children than to children acquiring other alphabetic orthographies. By evaluating the individual scores of the dysgraphic children on spelling nonwords and orthographically irregular or inconsistent words against the corresponding mean scores established for two non-dysgraphic control samples (grade-matched and 2nd grade), nine children could be assigned to the surface dysgraphic and 12 to the phonological dysgraphic subtype. In order to restrict the range of cognitive deficits which might have caused the spelling patterns of the two dysgraphic subgroups at more distal links of the causal chain, individual performance profiles were determined for several spelling-related phonological and visual-graphemic tasks. On average, the phonological dysgraphic children showed poorer performance in different phonological tasks than the children assigned to the surface subtype. In addition, both subgroups showed subnormal skills in visual-graphemic tasks. Dissociations between the different spelling related tasks were observed not only between but also within the subgroups. This may reflect individually varying cognitive processing deficits underlying developmental dysgraphia in German.     

Student teachers' views on national education: the need for greater alignment between policy and praxis

This study examines student teachers' views on their country and on National Education (NE), with the aim of promoting teachers' understanding of the need for NE. A 40-item survey was administered to 1,650 student teachers, to assess their sense of belonging, protective attitude, perceived right, ethnic tolerance and community and political involvement, as well as their perceptions of the importance and learning outcomes of NE. Significant differences were observed between the genders and between the various programme groups in terms of the student teachers' responses, suggesting the need for a more comprehensive approach to NE in initial teacher education.     

Effiziente Vertr?glichkeitsprüfung und automatische Migration von Workflow-Instanzen bei der Evolution von Workflow-Schemata

Sollen Workflow-Management-Systeme (WfMS) in umfassender Weise für die rechnerbasierte Verwaltung und Steuerung von Gesch?ftsprozessen einsetzbar sein, müssen die von ihnen verwalteten Workflow-Schemata und -Instanzen bei Bedarf rasch anpassbar sein. Dabei müssen die auf Basis eines (alten) Workflow-Schemas erzeugten Instanzen auch nach dessen ?nderung ungest?rt weiterlaufen k?nnen, etwa durch Bereitstellung geeigneter Versionskonzepte. Sehr viel schwieriger wird es, wenn die angewandten Schema?nderungen – wo gewünscht und m?glich – auch auf die bereits (vielleicht in gro?er Zahl) laufenden Workflow-Instanzen übertragen werden sollen. Dies bei Bedarf zu k?nnen – und zwar ohne Inkonsistenzen oder Fehler zu verursachen – ist aber ungemein wichtig, wenn ein WfMS breit und flexibel einsetzbar sein soll. In diesem Beitrag wird ein Ansatz zur effizienten Prüfung der Vertr?glichkeit von Workflow-Instanzen mit einem ge?nderten Workflow-Schema vorgestellt. Durch Einbeziehung aller Beschreibungskonstrukte (z.B. auch Schleifen und Datenflüsse) und damit zusammenh?ngender Fragestellungen wird darüber hinaus zum ersten Mal die Grundlage für ein umfassendes ?nderungsmanagement geschaffen. Au?erdem wird aufgezeigt, wie der Benutzer bei der Migration vertr?glicher Instanzen auf das neue Schema konkret unterstützt werden kann.     

Looking at Eye Gaze Processing and Its Neural Correlates in Infancy—Implications for Social Development and Autism Spectrum Disorder

The importance of eye gaze as a means of communication is indisputable. However, there is debate about whether there is a dedicated neural module, which functions as an eye gaze detector and when infants are able to use eye gaze cues in a referential way. The application of neuroscience methodologies to developmental psychology has provided new insights into early social cognitive development. This review integrates findings on the development of eye gaze processing with research on the neural mechanisms underlying infant and adult social cognition. This research shows how a cognitive neuroscience approach can improve our understanding of social development and autism spectrum disorder.     

Clear Self,Better Relationships: Adolescents’ Self‐Concept Clarity and Relationship Quality With Parents and Peers Across 5 Years

This study examined reciprocal associations between adolescents’ self‐concept clarity (SCC) and their relationship quality with parents and best friends in a five‐wave longitudinal study from age 13 to 18 years. In all, 497 adolescents (57% boys) reported on their SCC and all informants (i.e., adolescents, both parents, and adolescents’ best friends) reported on support and negative interaction. Within‐person cross‐lagged analyses provided systematic evidence for both parent effects and child effects, with the direction of effects being strongly dependent on the relational context. For example, higher maternal support predicted higher adolescent SCC, supporting a parent effects perspective, whereas higher SCC predicted lower paternal negative interaction, supporting a child effects perspective. Peer effects on adolescent SCC were not consistently found across adolescent and best friend reports.