Influence of the perception of biological or non-biological motion on movement execution

The perception of a human actor performing movements may involve processes related to action execution. This resonance of the motor system may support observational learning and imitation, and could also explain the fact that observers'/actors' movements are disturbed by the observation of a human model making different movements (Kilner et al., 2003). In this study, we tried to specify what information available in the model's behaviour triggers this influence on an observer's behaviour. In two experiments, we had participants make horizontal or vertical arm movements while observing similar movements. In the first experiment, the observers' pattern of behaviour was affected by the observation of a human model making incongruent movements. In the second experiment, similar results were obtained with participants observing a moving dot depicting either biological or non-biological motion. Movement execution was affected differentially by biological and non-biological motion observation. These results show that an observer's behaviour is sensitive to information available in biological motion.     

Girls in residential care: From child maltreatment to trauma-related symptoms in emerging adulthood

The current study examined the association between child maltreatment and trauma-related symptoms in emerging adulthood – over and above the incidence of such symptoms and conduct problems during adolescence – among a sample of female adolescents in residential care. This study used data from a longitudinal study. The sample was composed of 89 adolescent females who were first interviewed at time of admission in a residential center (M_age = 15.33 years, SD = 1.31) and later in young adulthood (M_age = 19.27, SD = 1.55). At time 1, trauma-related symptoms were assessed with the Trauma Symptom Checklist for Children and conduct problems with a composite measure. At time 2, child maltreatment was assessed retrospectively with the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, and trauma-related symptoms were reassessed with the Trauma Symptom Inventory-2. Results indicated that child maltreatment, especially emotional abuse and neglect, was related to anxious arousal, depression, and anger in emerging adulthood. This study showed that females from our sample often reported different types of maltreatment during childhood and that these traumatic experiences were significantly associated with poor adult psychological functioning.     

Cognitive load theory,the transient information effect and e-learning

When using modern educational technology, some forms of instruction are inherently transient in that previous information usually disappears to be replaced by current information. Instructional animations and spoken text provide examples. The effects of transience due to the use of animation-based instructions (Experiment 1) and spoken information under audio-visual conditions (Experiment 2) were explored in a cognitive load theory framework. It was hypothesized that for transient information presented in short sections, animations would be superior to static graphics, due to our innate ability to learn by observing. For transient information in long sections, animations should lose their superiority over static graphics, due to working memory overload associated with large amounts of transient information. Similarly, the modality effect under which audio-visual information is superior to visual only information should be obtainable using short segments but disappear or reverse using longer segments due to the working memory consequences of long, transient, auditory information. Results supported the hypotheses. The use of educational technology that results in the transformation of permanent into transitory information needs to be carefully assessed.     

Persisting students’ explanations of and emotional responses to academic failure

ABSTRACT

Academic failure is an important and personal event in the lives of university students, and the ways they make sense of experiences of failure matters for their persistence and future success. Academic failure contributes to attrition, yet the extent of this contribution and precipitating factors of failure are not well understood. To illuminate this world-wide problem, we analysed institutional data at a large, comprehensive Australian university and surveyed 186 undergraduate students who had failed at least one unit of study in 2016, but were still enrolled in 2017. Academic failure increased the likelihood of course attrition by 4.2 times. The students who failed and persisted attributed academic failure to a confluence of dispositional, situational, and institutional factors. There was a compounded effect of academic failure on already-vulnerable students resulting in strong negative emotions. Viewing persistence as an interaction between individuals and their sociocultural milieu opens up different avenues for research and considerations for support.     

Mathématiques de la vie quotidienne au Burkina Faso: une analyse de la pratique sociale de comptage et de vente de mangues

Mathematics teaching in Burkina Faso is faced with major challenges (high illiteracy rates, students’ difficulties, and high failure rates in mathematics, which is a central topic in the curriculum). As evidenced in many of these studies, mathematics is reputed to be tough, inaccessible, and far from what students live daily. Students here look as though they are living in two seemingly distant worlds, school and everyday life. In order to better understand these difficulties and to contribute in the long run to a more adapted teaching of mathematics, we tried to document and elicit the “mathematical resources” mobilized in various daily life social practices. In this paper, we focus on one of them, the counting and selling of mangoes by unschooled peasants. An ethnographic approach draws on the observation of the situated activity of counting and selling mangoes (during harvesting) and on “eliciting interviews” of the involved actors. The analysis of results highlights a richness of structuring resources mobilized and distributed through this practice, related to what Lave (1988) call “the experienced lived-in-world” and “constitutive order.” The mathematical resources take the form of “knowledge in action” and “theorems in action” (Vergnaud, Rech Didact Math 10(23):133–170, 1990), embedded in the social, economic, and even cultural structures of actors.     

Fostering the reading comprehension of secondary school students through peer-assisted learning: Effects on strategy knowledge, strategy use, and task performance

Based on the work of Fuchs and Fuchs [Fuchs, D., & Fuchs, L. S. (2001). Peer-assisted learning strategies in reading: Extensions for Kindergarten, first grade and high school. Remedial & Special Education, 22, 15–21], this study examined the effects of a peer-assisted learning strategies (PALS) program on the reading comprehension of 7th-grade students. In a pretest–posttest (active) control group design, eight intact classes consisting of 186 students were assigned either to a PALS condition or to a traditional instruction condition (TI). In 17 lessons, students were instructed by their regular teachers in the understanding of age-appropriate reading material. Treatment success was assessed with both performance-related (reading comprehension) and strategy-related (declarative and procedural strategy knowledge) test tasks. At posttest, PALS students (a) scored higher on experimenter-constructed and standardized comprehension tests, (b) achieved higher scores on declarative and procedural measures of summarizing strategies, and (c) improved to a greater extent in their understanding of self-regulated reading activities than TI students.     

The Mirror Neuron System and Observational Learning: Implications for the Effectiveness of Dynamic Visualizations

Learning by observing and imitating others has long been recognized as constituting a powerful learning strategy for humans. Recent findings from neuroscience research, more specifically on the mirror neuron system, begin to provide insight into the neural bases of learning by observation and imitation. These findings are discussed here, along with their potential consequences for the design of instruction, focusing in particular on the effectiveness of dynamic vs. static visualizations.

Students’ motivation in biology lessons—can student autonomy reduce the gender gap?

When it comes to biology lessons in Germany, girls generally exhibit higher levels of self-determined motivation than boys. Previous research suggests that fostering student autonomy could be a way to effectively address this gender gap. To investigate gender-related effects in biology education, a sample of 303 sixth-grade students (M_age = 11.31 years, SD_age = 0.58 years) participated in a 3-h teaching unit on harvest mice that was taught in either an autonomy-supportive or controlling manner. The results revealed a significant effect of the treatment on self-determined motivation, with the effect being stronger for the boys. In the treatment with controlling teaching behavior, gender-related differences in self-determined motivation became apparent. In contrast, the gender gap was mainly smaller in the treatment with autonomy-supportive teaching behavior. Thus, the results suggest that satisfying the need for autonomy appears to be an effective means to help bridge the gender gap in biology lessons.