You cannot do this alone! Increasing task interdependence in cooperative educational videogames to encourage collaboration

Complex, multimedia software such as educational videogames offer a wide range of elements to modify learner behavior. The adjustment of such software might support learning, especially in complex settings like collaborative or cooperative scenarios. Coming from a theoretical background of educational psychology, our experiment seeks to implement the “jigsaw strategy” within educational videogames. We conducted an experiment with sixty participants to compare conditions with or without increased task interdependence through the jigsaw strategy (i.e., the distribution of game elements and essential information). The participants had to rebuild a house from the 1894 novel Effi Briest within an adjusted version of the “sandbox” game Minecraft. The results show increased play performance, and learning outcomes with increased task interdependence. We conducted mediator and moderator analysis, which revealed a strong impact of play performance on learning outcomes. Additional analyses of mental effort, cognitive load, and efficiency allowed for deep insights into the playing and learning process. These insights enrich current theories about collaboration, mental strain, and the working memory effect and highlight the applicability of collaborative mechanics within educational videogames.     

Pathsways to school achievement in very preterm and full term children

Individual differences in academic success were investigated in a geographically defined whole-population sample of very preterm children with a gestational age of less than 32 weeks or a birth weight of less than 1500 gm. The sample consisted of 264 very preterm children (75.6% of German-speaking survivors) and 264 controls matched for gender, socioeconomic status, marital status and age of mother, who were studied from birth. The present analyses focused on the impact of cognitive skills assessed at ages 6 and 8 on academic success at the age 13. IQ scores, prereading skills, reading, spelling, and math performance assessed during the last kindergarten year and again at the end of Grade 2 were used as predictors of academic success in early adolescence. Differences between very pretern children and controls in cognitive abilities already observed in earlier assessments remained stable over time, with controls on average performing more than half a standard deviation above the level of preterm children. Preterm children also performed poorer on the literacy measures and indicators of math performance. Multivariate and causal modeling revealed different prediction patterns for the two groups. Whereas IQ was particularly important for the prediction of academic success in the pre-term sample, general IQ was less relevant for the prediction of academic success in the control group. When subgroups of at-risk children were formed according to birth weight categories, we found that school problems were most pronounced for children with extremely low birth weight (1000 gm and less).     

The knowledge base and text recall: Evidence from a short-term longitudinal study

In a short-term longitudinal study, we investigated how domain-specific knowledge in soccer influences the amount of text recall and comprehension in elementary school and junior high school children of high and low overall aptitudes. Both level of soccer knowledge and overall aptitude were varied in a factorial design. Third, fifth, and seventh grade children were given several measures of text recall and comprehension and were retested on these measures about 1 year later. Performance was more a function of soccer knowledge than of aptitude level.     

Estimated student score gain on the act COMP exam: Valid tool for institutional assessment?

The higher education community needs measures of the value added to student development by the college experience. ACT provides a quick, easy method for estimating the extent of student growth in general education. An institution can test seniors with the ACT College Outcome Measures Project (COMP) exam, then subtract from the senior score anestimated freshman score obtained from a concordance table that is based on the known relationship between freshman ACT Assessment composite score and freshman COMP Total score. Studies using scores for 4,200 seniors and 2,100 freshmen tested during a two-year period at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, indicate that this method is not sufficiently reliable or valid to serve as the basis for making precise judgments about the quality of general education programs.     

Letter From the Editor

Journal of Science Teacher Education -     

Leseleistungen deutscher Schülerinnen und Schüler im internationalen Vergleich (PISA)

Zusammenfassung Der Vergleich der Lesekompetenz 15-j?hriger Schülerinnen und Schüler steht im Mittelpunkt des ersten Zyklus der PISA-Studie (Baumert u.a. 2001). Im Rahmen dieses Artikels wird ein überblick über die zentralen Befunde des 31 Staaten umfassenden internationalen Vergleichs gegeben. Neben den Leistungsverteilungen in den L?ndern wird der Anteil von Schülerinnen und Schülern auf verschiedenen Kompetenzstufen analysiert. Der relativ hohe Anteil an schwachen Lesern in Deutschland wird zum Anlass genommen, potenzielle F?rderm?glichkeiten von Lesekompetenz zu untersuchen. Hierzu werden auf Basis eines Vorhersagemodells die Effekte interventionsnaher Schülermerkmale (Lernstrategiewissen und Interesse) bei statistischer Kontrolle der Effekte der kognitiven Grundf?higkeit sowie der Dekodierf?higkeit der Schülerinnen und Schüler spezifiziert. Der relativ hohe Effekt des Lernstrategiewissens und der ebenfalls noch nachweisbare Effekt des Leseinteresses weisen darauf hin, dass eine F?rderung im Bereich der Informationsverarbeitungskompetenz sowie der Motivation vielversprechend ist. Zus?tzliche empirische Evidenz hierfür ergibt sich aus dem Befund, dass Schüler am unteren Ende der Leistungsverteilung über eine vergleichsweise geringe Informationsverarbeitungskompetenz und-bereitschaft verfügen.

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Summary Reading Literacy of German Students in International Comparison (PISA): Results and Explanations A comparison of the reading comprehension (reading literacy) of 15-year-old students is the central focus of the first cycle of PISA (Baumert et al. 2001). This article provides an overview of the main evidence from the international comparison of 31 countries. Besides the ability distribution of the participating countries, the proportion of students at each competence level is analysed. The relatively high proportion of weak readers in Germany is taken as grounds to investigate opportunities to support reading comprehension. On the basis of a prediction model, the effects of students’ characteristics related to intervention (knowledge of learning strategies, interest) are investigated whilst statistically controlling for basic cognitive ability and the students’ ability to decode written information. The relatively strong effect of knowledge of learning strategies and the effect of interest in reading, indicate that support of information-processing ability and motivation are the most promising support strategies. Additional empirical evidence for this can be found in the fact that students at the bottom of the ability distribution also show signs of weak information-processing ability and lacking motivation.

     

Reducing Inequality in Academic Success for Incoming College Students: A Randomized Trial of Growth Mindset and Belonging Interventions

Light-touch social psychological interventions have gained considerable attention for their potential to improve academic outcomes for underrepresented and/or disadvantaged students in postsecondary education. While findings from previous interventions have demonstrated positive effects for racial and ethnic minority and first-generation students in small samples, few interventions have been implemented at a larger scale with more heterogeneous student populations. To address this research gap, 7,686 students, representing more than 90% of incoming first-year students at a large Midwestern public university, were randomly assigned to an online growth mindset intervention, social belonging intervention, or a comparison group. Results suggest that after the fall semester, the growth mindset intervention significantly improved grade point averages for Latino/a students by about .40 points. This represents a 72% reduction in the GPA gap between White and Latino/a students. Further, this effect was replicated for both spring semester GPA and cumulative GPA. These findings indicate that light-touch interventions may be a minimally invasive approach to improving academic outcomes for underrepresented students. Our findings also highlight the complexity of implementing customized belonging interventions in heterogeneous contexts.     

Biomechanics and Developmental Neuromotor Control

By applying the principles and methods of mechanics to the musculoskeletal system, new insights can be discovered about control of human limb dynamics both in adults and infants. Here, we first provide a basic primer about biomechanics—its historical context, terminology, and analytical techniques. Next we review research with animals and human adults that illustrates how limb dynamics provides a window for examining the physical mechanisms underlying neuromotor control. Finally, we elaborate on how our research group has adapted dynamics techniques to investigate how infants gain control of their limbs and learn to reach in the first year of life.     

Growth and development following prenatal stress exposure in primates: an examination of ontogenetic vulnerability

Previous studies have found that stressful events during pregnancy can influence the developing fetus, resulting in attentional and neuromotor problems. This prospective study examined whether periods of vulnerability exist for neurobehavioral impairments associated with prenatal stress, using a nonhuman primate model. Twenty-eight rhesus monkey infants were born to mothers in 3 groups: (1) early gestation stress involving mild psychological stress from gestational days 45-90, (2) mid-late gestation stress from days 90-145, and (3) undisturbed controls. Infants were separated from their mothers on days 4, 9, 15, and 22 (+/- 1) postpartum for growth and neurobehavioral assessments. Results indicated that infants from the early gestation stress condition weighed less than infants from mothers stressed during mid-late gestation. Moreover, whereas both groups scored lower than controls on measures of attention and neuromotor maturity, early gestation stress was associated with more pronounced and more pervasive motor impairments than mid-late gestation stress. These results suggest sensitivity to prenatal stress effects peaks during early gestation, tapering off during mid-late gestation. Clarifying the period of greatest vulnerability to prenatal stress moves toward elucidating the underlying mechanism for prenatal stress effects and may lead to more successful intervention and/or prevention.