Effects of Video Self-modelling Interventions on Reducing Task Avoidance Behaviours of Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders

This study investigated the effects of video self-modelling (VSM) on reducing task avoidance behaviours of four elementary-aged students with autism spectrum disorders. A multiple-probe design across participants showed that the performance of two of the four participants was positively changed immediately after the VSM interventions were implemented. The performance of one participant did not change positively until the original VSM was modified. The performance of another participant was not improved even after the modified VSM was implemented. In addition, improved attentiveness to the video did not necessarily lead to positive effects of the VSM interventions.     

Assessing multiple object tracking in young children using a game

Visual tracking of multiple objects in a complex scene is a critical survival skill. When we attempt to safely cross a busy street, follow a ball’s position during a sporting event, or monitor children in a busy playground, we rely on our brain’s capacity to selectively attend to and track the position of specific objects in a dynamic scene. This ability to visually track simultaneously moving objects in a continuously changing and multisensory environment is a critical component of nearly all forms of visual-motor coordination. While methods for assessing Multiple Object Tracking (MOT) in adults are well established, due to challenges associated with designing a MOT task suitable for young children, we have little understanding of MOT abilities under the age of 5 years. To better understand how and when young children learn to track multiple objects, we designed, implemented and evaluated TrackFX, the first game-based MOT task running on a touch tablet designed for children as young as 30 months old. We present findings from an empirical study of 31 children between the age of 30 and 58 months and implications for game-based learning.     

Researching the Attitudes Towards Mathematics in Basic Education

The objective of this study was to check attitudes towards mathematics and to analyse if there are differences in attitudes that could be attributed to the type of school, gender, grade, age, the frequency in which mathematical problems were understood, the amount of days dedicated to the study of mathematics, school failure, whether help on the completion of homework was offered and to the self-perception of mathematical performance. A total of 209 students of the 3rd and 4th Grades of basic education in the private school system in Campinas, Sao Paulo, Brazil, were surveyed. They responded to an attitude towards mathematics scale and to a questionnaire for their characterisation, during school hours and in the absence of their mathematics teacher. The average figure on the attitudes scale was 52.718, with a standard deviation of 11.837. Significant statistical differences were found (alpha = 0.05) in the attitudes according to the type of school, the frequency in which the subjects understood the mathematical problems solved in the classroom, grade, age and to the self-perception of mathematical performance.