From human resources to human rights: Impact assessments for hiring algorithms

Ethics and Information Technology - Over the years, companies have adopted hiring algorithms because they promise wider job candidate pools, lower recruitment costs and less human bias. Despite...     

Learning Neuroscience with Technology: a Scaffolded,Active Learning Approach

Mobile applications (apps) for learning technical scientific content are becoming increasingly popular in educational settings. Neuroscience is often considered complex and challenging for most students to understand conceptually. iNeuron is a recently developed iOS app that teaches basic neuroscience in the context of a series of scaffolded challenges to create neural circuits and increase understanding of nervous system structure and function. In this study, four different ways to implement the app within a classroom setting were explored. The goal of the study was to determine the app’s effectiveness under conditions closely approximating real-world use and to evaluate whether collaborative play and student-driven navigational features contributed to its effectiveness. Students used the app either individually or in small groups and used a version with either a fixed or variable learning sequence. Student performance on a pre- and post-neuroscience content assessment was analyzed and compared between students who used the app and a control group receiving standard instruction, and logged app data were analyzed. Significantly, greater learning gains were found for all students who used the app compared to control. All four implementation modes were effective in producing student learning gains relative to controls, but did not differ in their effectiveness to one another. In addition, students demonstrated transfer of information learned in one context to another within the app. These results suggest that teacher-led neuroscience instruction can be effectively supported by a scaffolded, technology-based curriculum which can be implemented in multiple ways to enhance student learning.     

The development of gender differences in affective expression and in the relationship between mood and achievement-related self-judgments

In this study, 434 children and adolescents completed the Control-,Agency-, and Means-ends beliefs Interview (CAMI). Moreover, we asked for current mood-state and achievement-related affect after success and failure at school. There was no gender difference in achievement-related affective expression in children (9 and 10 years old), but there was a substantial difference in adolescents (15 and 16 years old), boys reporting less affect than girls. A different pattern emerged for the impact of affect on achievement-related beliefs. Again, children did not show any gender difference. In adolescents, however, boys' current mood-state was related to agency beliefs to a higher extent than girls' current mood state. Thus, boys, in comparison to girls, may develop inhibition of affective expression, but over the same span, they continue to base agency beliefs on their current mood-state whereas girls do not.     

Attribution of conditions for school performance

210 children (110 girls and 100 boys) were interviewed individually about causes that lead to success or to failure in school tests. They were presented fictitious scenarios about an unknown peer who had either success or failure in a dictation task and a sums task. The free answers were taken as mirroring means-ends beliefs of the interviewed persons. A content analysis of the answers led to the differentiation of 30 different categories. Practice, specific abilities, and concentration were mentioned most frequently both in success and in failure situations. The gender differences were more pronounced in failure than in success situations: For boys, it was rather the (lack of) instant effort that counted, whereas girls stressed more the (lack of) lasting effort, e.g., preceding practice. As compared to children, adolescents mentioned more often specific abilities, fast understanding, practice, and didactical presentation, and less often extrinsic motivation. A cluster analysis and a principal components analysis proved that the 30 basic categories overlap partially and can be combined into eight groups of categories.