Children Persist Less When Adults Take Over

Children need to learn to persist through challenges, yet adults sometimes step in to solve problems for them. Here, we looked at how adult taking over related to children’s persistence. In an observational study (N = 34, ages 4–8), we found that parents who took over more often during a challenging puzzle task rated their children as dispositionally less persistent. To establish whether taking over can cause reduced persistence, we ran two preregistered experiments (N = 150, ages 4–5). Children assigned to a taking over condition persisted less on a subsequent task compared to those in a teaching or a baseline condition. Reframing the context did not ameliorate the negative impact of taking over. The results suggest that taking over impairs children’s persistence.     

Developmental experiences of child sexual abusers and rapists

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to identify the distinct developmental experiences associated with child sexual abuse and rape. METHOD: For 269 sexual offenders (137 rapists and 132 child sexual abusers), developmental experiences were recorded from a behavioral checklist, a parental-bonding survey, and a sexual history questionnaire. Offender classification was obtained from official records and verified through polygraph examinations. RESULTS: Compared to rapists, child sexual abusers reported more frequent experiences of child sexual abuse (73%), early exposure to pornography (65% before age 10), an earlier onset of masturbation (60% before age 11), and sexual activities with animals (38%). In contrast to child sexual abusers, rapists reported more frequent experiences of physical abuse (68%), parental violence (78%), emotional abuse (70%), and cruelty to animals (68%). Both child sexual abusers and rapists (>93%) reported frequent exposure to violent media during their childhood. Most offenders (94%) described having insecure parental attachment bonds; 76% of rapists reported avoidant parental attachments and 62% of child sexual abusers reported anxious parental attachments. CONCLUSIONS: Findings from this study support the role of specific developmental experiences as etiological factors in differential sexual offending. Child sexual abusers' developmental histories were characterized by heightened sexuality; whereas rapists' childhood histories were more indicative of violence. These findings have implications for the treatment of sexual abusers and the prevention of sexual abuse. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: This study's findings suggest that sexual offenders have been socialized to satisfy human needs of intimacy and sexuality through maladaptive means, which implies that a risk management approach may not be sufficient treatment. Although risk models teach offenders skills to avoid high-risk situations, they fail to address the maladaptive strategies that they may have developed for satisfying needs. Instead, the focus of treatment should be to equip offenders with the knowledge, skills, and opportunities to achieve these needs in an acceptable manner. Thus, this model will provide these individuals with the opportunity to live a healthy life without sexual offending.     

Inventors and invention processes in Europe: Results from the PatVal-EU survey

Based on a survey of the inventors of 9017 European patented inventions, this paper provides new information about the characteristics of European inventors, the sources of their knowledge, the importance of formal and informal collaborations, the motivations to invent, and the actual use and economic value of the patents.     

Teaching and learning under COVID-19 public health edicts: the role of household lockdowns and prior technology usage

Higher Education - Public health edicts necessitated by COVID-19 prompted a rapid pivot to remote online teaching and learning. Two major consequences followed: households became students’...     

The ‘I knew it all along’ phenomenon: second-order false belief understanding and the curse of knowledge in primary school children

This study investigated two different expressions of the so-called curse of knowledge in primary school children: hindsight bias and outcome bias. Further, it explored the possible predictive function of false belief understanding in reducing these biases. Ninety-one children aged 7, 9, and 11 years (middle- to upper-middle class) were administered classical first- and second-order false belief tasks as well as hindsight and outcome bias tasks in a within-subjects design, while controlling for cognitive level. Both biases were found at all ages. Second-order false belief understanding seemed to reduce outcome bias but not hindsight bias. These findings indicate that the curse of knowledge is a multifaceted construct with potential relevant implications for learning in children.     

Résolution de problèmes d’hydrodynamique face à un circuit concret — Comparaison des stratégies avant et après apprentissage

The aim of this piece of research is to study physical reasoning and problem solving strategies among novices before and after a learning treatment in the field of hydrodynamics problems. The study is designed to investigate the meaning of becoming more expert in a specific domain. The results show several changes among novices after the learning treatment. Types of physical reasoning strategies appear which were not observed at the pretest. Nevertheless these correct reasoning strategies coexist with misconceptions (local reasoning). As far as general strategies are concerned, some changes are also observed. At the pretest most subjects proceed by trial and error. At the post-test their approach is guided by specific physical reasoning strategies, even if sometimes erroneous. Although the learning treatment did not deal with these various aspects, it appears that subjects experience a more rigourous approach, controlling much better than earlier the effects of their actions on the circuit. It seems as though, at the time of the pretest, the absence of domain-specific knowledge prevented students from applying a rigourous experimental approach, in principle independent of the domain concerned.     

Formative peer assessment in a CSCL environment: a case study

In this case study our aim was to gain more insight in the possibilities of qualitative formative peer assessment in a computer supported collaborative learning (CSCL) environment. An approach was chosen in which peer assessment was operationalized in assessment assignments and assessment tools that were embedded in the course material. The course concerned a higher education case‐based virtual seminar, in which students were asked to conduct research and write a report in small multidisciplinary teams. The assessment assignments contained the discussion of assessment criteria, the assessment of a group report of a fellow group and writing an assessment report. A list of feedback rules was one of the assessment tools. A qualitative oriented study was conducted, focusing on the attitude of students towards peer assessment and practical use of peer assessment assignments and tools. Results showed that students’ attitude towards peer assessment was positive and that assessment assignments had added value. However, not all students fulfilled all assessment assignments. Recommendations for implementation of peer assessment in CSCL environments as well as suggestions for future research are discussed.     

Children’s use of number line estimation strategies

This study tested whether second graders use benchmark-based strategies when solving a number line estimation (NLE) task. Participants were assigned to one of three conditions based on the availability of benchmarks provided on the number line. In the bounded condition, number lines were only bounded at both sides by 0 and 200, while the midpoint condition included an additional benchmark at the midpoint and children in the quartile condition were provided with a benchmark at every quartile. First, the inclusion of a midpoint resulted in more accurate estimates around the middle of the number line in the midpoint condition compared to the bounded and, surprisingly, also the quartile condition. Furthermore, the two additional benchmarks in the quartile condition did not yield better estimations around the first and third quartile, because children frequently relied on an erroneous representation of these benchmarks, leading to systematic estimation errors. Second, verbal strategy reports revealed that children in the midpoint condition relied more frequently on the benchmark at the midpoint of the number line compared to the bounded condition, confirming the accuracy data. Finally, the frequency of use of benchmark-based strategies correlated positively with mathematics achievement and tended to correlate positively also with estimation accuracy. In sum, this study is one of the first to provide systematic evidence for children’s use of benchmark-based estimation strategies in NLE with natural numbers and its relationship with children’s NLE performance.     

Helping students with cognitive disabilities improve social writing skills through email modeling and scaffolding

The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of email modeling and scaffolding on the social writing quality of students with cognitive disabilities. Ten students from a university-affiliated lab school (mean age = 19.3; SD = 1.2) with an average of IQ of 55.30 (SD = 5.98) and 10 teacher candidates in a university teacher education programme participated in the study. The results suggest that all students with intellectual disabilities were able to holistically improve their social writing quality after exchanging emails with mature writers over a period of 15 weeks. Specifically, the students progressively showed various degrees of improvement in the areas of writing mechanics, lexical and syntactic complexity, writing cohesion, pragmatic propriety and writing motivation. However, the figurative use of language remained unaffected by the email modeling and scaffolding. Taken together, this study suggests that Internet-mediated formats, such as email, can reduce the anxiety of students with intellectual disabilities. Students feel more motivated to engage in writing and do so more actively in social media exchanges, thus improving their virtual social communication skills through writing. Teaching implications of this study are discussed.