Cognitive load of critical thinking strategies

Argument–counterargument integration (Nussbaum, 2008) refers to the process of evaluating, refuting, and synthesizing arguments on two sides of an issue when creating justification for an overall conclusion. This study compared the cognitive load of two critical thinking strategies related to argument–counterargument integration: (a) constructing design claims that minimize disadvantages of an alternative, and (b) weighing refutations (which weaken an argument by arguing that there are more important values at stake). College students (N = 285) first completed the Need for Cognition (NFC) scale and were then presented with materials summarizing arguments and counterarguments on the topic of grading class participation. Participants completed a small, integrative essay justifying a stand on the issue, and completed the Mental Effort Rating Scale (Paas, 1992). Participants who generated complex weighing refutations reported more mental effort than those constructing complex design claims (and the control group), with a stronger relationship with those high in NFC. The need to coordinate disparate elements in working memory may explain the higher load associated with constructing weighing refutations. Students may need more (and different types of) scaffolding in using this strategy than when constructing a design claim, which is a more sequential process.     

Academic tracking is related to gains in students' intelligence over four years: Evidence from a propensity score matching study

Ability grouping or tracking during secondary schooling is widespread. Previous research shows academic track schools are more successful than non-academic track schools in teaching mathematics, reading and foreign languages. Reasons include a more favorable student composition and higher instructional quality. However, there is less evidence that between track differences are even large enough to differentially affect the students' cognitive development. We used data from a large Hamburg panel study to test this hypothesis (N = 8628). By employing several propensity score matching algorithms we formed parallelized samples of academic track and either non-academic track students or comprehensive school students. After four years of tracking, academic track students showed considerably higher intelligence scores than their counterparts at the non-academic tracks and slightly higher scores than students at the comprehensive schools. Our results underline the importance of a cognitively stimulating learning environment in school to support students' cognitive development.     

用认知弹性理论指导心理健康教育课程教学

学校心理健康课程教学中存在简单化倾向和"高原现象",需要引起高度重视。认知弹性理论提出的知识观和教学观,有利于正确理解心理健康课程教学,它提出的支持结构不良领域高级知识获得的教学策略,为心理教育课程的复杂概念理解和知识迁移提供了有效途径,即小组合作学习;交互式学习;问题情境性学习。     

地方本科院校翻译课程的教学思考

由认知翻译角度出发,尝试以pioneer翻译为案例教学,由具体翻译过程探究翻译课程教学的模式与价值判断,旨在为翻译教学提供参考之用。     

莫言小说实体隐喻初探

莫言不仅继承、发展了中国文学的历史传统,而且借鉴了西方作家、学者的创作与研究成果。他在小说中大量使用富有强烈代入感的实体隐喻尤其是身体隐喻,以及雅俗相济的口语化语言,准确而形象地反映了特定时代的社会风貌和个人感受,使其产生了震撼人心的艺术感染力,具有重要的文化意义。     

Mathematics achievement and mathematics learning strategies: Cognitive competencies and construct differentiation

Responding to a survey requires cognitive abilities similar to those for any other linguistic task. We argue that, when faced with a cognitively challenging task, individuals respond by simplifying the task, declining it, or performing it poorly. Using the 2003 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA 2003) data sets, we document that the extent of construct differentiation in students’ mathematics learning strategies is strongly associated with their level of mathematics achievement. Likewise, the higher the level of mathematics achievement, the lower is the probability of a non-response to the mathematics learning strategy questions. Finally, the higher the students’ level of mathematics achievement, the more varied were their responses to the learning strategies items. These associations were examined across 40 participating countries.     

Learning from direct instruction: Best prepared by several self-regulated or guided invention activities?

Learning from direct instruction can be enhanced by preparatory invention tasks: students invent an index that allows to differentiate a set of cases regarding important aspects (self-regulated). However, contradictory results have been found. As self-regulated activities often need practice, we tested whether the contradictory findings persist when students can practice inventing. We randomly assigned 99 eighth-grade students to two conditions (independent variable): they either invented twice (self-regulated; n = 49) or worked through worked solutions of the two tasks (guided; n = 50) before learning about ratios in physics from a lecture. Extraneous load, deep-structure recall, knowledge-gap perception, and self-efficacy were potential mediators. Transfer was the dependent measure. Guidance led to less extraneous load. However, self-regulation led to higher transfer because the students devoted more attention to the deep structure of the preparation tasks. Our findings suggest that—given some practice—self-regulated outperforms guided preparation for learning from direct instruction.     

Effects of performance feedback valence on perceptions of invested mental effort

We investigated whether the valence of performance feedback provided after a task, would affect participants’ perceptions of how much mental effort they invested in that same task. In three experiments, we presented participants with problem-solving tasks and manipulated the presence and valence of feedback between conditions (no, positive, or negative feedback valence), prior to asking them to rate how much mental effort they invested in solving that problem. Across the three experiments–with different problem-solving tasks and participant populations–we found that subjective ratings of effort investment were significantly higher after negative than after positive feedback; ratings given without feedback fell in between. These findings show that feedback valence alters perceived effort investment (possibly via task perceptions or affect), which can be problematic when effort is measured as an indicator of cognitive load. Therefore, it seems advisable to measure mental effort directly after each task, before giving feedback on performance.     

On the effects of motivation on reading performance growth in secondary school

This research aimed at identifying unique effects of reading motivation on reading performance when controlling for cognitive skills, familial, and demographic background. We drew upon a longitudinal sample of N = 1508 secondary school students from 5th to 8th grade. Two types of intrinsic reading motivation (reading enjoyment, reading for interest), one type of extrinsic reading motivation (competition), and reading self-concept were measured by self-report questionnaires. Cognitive skills (reasoning, decoding speed) and reading performance were assessed using standardized tests and background variables were collected using student and parent questionnaires. Applying latent growth curve modeling, positive unique effects of reading enjoyment and reading self-concept and a negative unique effect of competition on the initial level of reading performance were recorded. Moreover, a positive unique effect of reading for interest on reading performance growth was recorded. One may conclude that enhancing students’ interest might be fruitful in terms of nurturing reading performance.