Immediate and long-term effects of a cognitive intervention on intelligence,self-regulation,and academic achievement

The main purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of a package of activities, knows as “Portfolio”, on cognitive functioning, self-regulation, and academic achievement. The study was carried out with a group of 40 students from Compulsory Secondary Education (mean age 13 years old) during 12 hours distributed over two school years. A quasi-experimental pretest-posttest-1 and posttest-2 design was employed. Treatment consisted of the administration of specifically selected tasks, assessed in previous studies, from the psycho-pedagogical Instrumental Enrichment Program, the Philosophy for Children Program, and Project Intelligence. The students were evaluated in the criteria variables at the beginning and at the end of treatment, and once again two years later. The results indicate that the procedure was effective in all the variables studied and that gains observed at posttest-1 were maintained for at least two years after the intervention. Some relevant conclusions and suggestions at the educational and scientific level are commented upon.     

Assessment matters—Maximizing campus responsibility for the writing assessment process

The Writing Across the Curriculum movement sensitized institutions to the need for institutionwide commitment to improving student writing. At the University of South Florida, a widely used rubric has offered a powerful method for moving from spoken commitment to real change.     

Validity of the comprehensive receptive and expressive vocabulary test in assessment of children with speech and learning problems

The current researchers investigated construct, predictive, and differential validity for the Comprehensive Receptive and Expressive Vocabulary Test (CREVT). Participants were 243 public school students, ages 5.5 to 17.25 years. They represented four primary disabilities: Learning Disability (n = 115), Learning Disability with Speech Impairment (n = 29), Mental Retardation (n = 40), and Speech Impairment (n = 59). Adequate construct validity for the CREVT was documented, using the Wechsler Intelligence Test for Children–III as a criterion. Also, the CREVT significantly predicted the scores on the Wide Range Achievement Test–3. Lastly, the CREVT effectively differentiated between students with disabilities. These findings suggest that the CREVT may be helpful in identifying the presence of learning problems. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 39: 613–619, 2002.     

AIDA: a methodology independent support tool for educational software authoring

Many authoring tools have been proposed in an attempt to find more effective ways to face the challenge of developing educational software. However, most of them are reported to be restrictive, since they are strongly connected to a specific educational software development methodology. The AIDA (Ambiente Integrado para o Desenvolvimento de Aplicações educacionais) authoring environment was developed at the University of Coimbra having as its main objectives the support of most of the activities involved in authoring and making educational software development easier. The AIDA system is based on a design module, i.e. a prototyping tool allowing the creation of Windows-based software, including multimedia features. The system assists evaluation activities and it caters also for support on translation and cultural adaptation, as well as on the reutilization of educational materials. The use of the AIDA environment is illustrated by three small examples using different development methodologies.     

Science and Mathematics Instruction of Beginning Elementary Teachers

Journal of Science Teacher Education -     

Metacognition and EFL/ESL reading

Several distinct research streams are converging in the field of foreign or second language reading in the U.S. Separate research streams in metacognition, in reading strategies, and in the training of reading strategies are converging in the field of English as a foreign or second language. This confluence of research is dramatically impacting the teaching of English to adult non-native speakers for academic purposes. In this article we will briefly review these distinct research streams for their relevance to the population in question, and will then describe the research design for an empirical study we are currently conducting to further investigate the efficacy of metacognitive strategy training for adult EFL/ESL reading.     

Young Children Are Wishful Thinkers: The Development of Wishful Thinking in 3- to 10-Year-Old Children

Previously, research on wishful thinking has found that desires bias older children’s and adults’ predictions during probabilistic reasoning tasks. In this article, we explore wishful thinking in children aged 3- to 10-years-old. Do young children learn to be wishful thinkers? Or do they begin with a wishful thinking bias that is gradually overturned during development? Across five experiments, we compare low- and middle-income United States and Peruvian 3- to 10-year-old children (N = 682). Children were asked to make predictions during games of chance. Across experiments, preschool-aged children from all backgrounds consistently displayed a strong wishful thinking bias. However, the bias declined with age.     

Evaluation and publication delay in Ibero-American scientific journals

This article analyses the review, acceptance and publication dates of a sample of 21,890 articles from 326 Ibero-American scientific journals from all subject areas and countries included in the Latindex Catalogue 2.0 and published between 2018 and 2020 (freely available as an open access dataset). The aim is to discover evaluation and publication times. The evaluation process takes a median of 110 days, the publication process, a median of 82 days, and the whole process, a median of 224 days. Statistical differences are found according to periodicity, subject areas, countries, existence of a printed version and article type (Call for Papers or General articles). From the data we find that the delay in publication is longer than publishers themselves report to the DOAJ. STEM areas present the most similarity in publication patterns, having a higher number of evaluation days (Ed) than publication days (Pd); Arts and Humanities present the opposite pattern, with a higher Pd than Ed. In the case of Social Sciences, the times are similar. General articles and Call for Papers articles differ in terms of Ed, but not Pd, indicating that Call for Papers revisions are faster.     

Examining the Library as a Site for Intervention: A Mixed-Methods Case Study Evaluation of the “Innovative Solutions to Homelessness” Project

Abstract

This study examined a project that delivered social work services to homeless individuals. A mixed-methods case study was conducted using quantitative and qualitative data from 93 library employees and the project’s Homelessness Prevention Outreach Worker (HPOW). There was an increase in the number of clients accessing community supports during the project, and the HPOW was integral to the provision of support and resources to homeless individuals. Staff training was associated with significantly greater knowledge, comfort, and skills in working with homeless individuals. These findings can inform the delivery and implementation of similar programs for homeless individuals.