Development of decision making in school-aged children and adolescents: evidence from heart rate and skin conductance analysis

Age differences in decision making indicate that children fail to anticipate outcomes of their decisions. Using heart rate and skin conductance analyses, we tested whether developmental changes in decision making are associated with (a) a failure to process outcomes of decisions, or (b) a failure to anticipate future outcomes of decisions. Children aged 8-10, 12-14, and 16-18 years performed the Hungry Donkey task, a child version of the Iowa Gambling Task, while heart rate and skin conductance activity were continuously recorded. Children aged 16-18 learned to make advantageous choices over task blocks faster than the two younger age groups. Age differences were present for anticipation-related autonomic activity but not outcome-related autonomic activity. The results are interpreted vis-à-vis models of prefrontal cortex maturation.     

Developmental trends for object and spatial working memory: a psychophysiological analysis

This study examined developmental trends in object and spatial working memory (WM) using heart rate (HR) to provide an index of covert cognitive processes. Participants in 4 age groups (6-7, 9-10, 11-12, 18-26, n=20 each) performed object and spatial WM tasks, in which each trial was followed by feedback. Spatial WM task performance reached adult levels before object WM task performance. The differential developmental trends for object and spatial WM found in this study are taken to suggest that these WM components are separable. Negative performance feedback elicited HR slowing that was more pronounced for adults than for children. The development of performance monitoring as indexed by covert HR slowing following performance feedback contributes to WM performance.     

Generation Psy: Student characteristics and academic achievement in a three-year problem-based learning bachelor program

This study investigated the simultaneous impact of demographic, personality, intelligence, and (prior) study performance factors on students' academic achievement in a three-year academic problem-based psychology program. Information regarding students' gender, age, nationality, pre-university education, high school grades, Big Five personality traits, intelligence (i.e., numerical, verbal, spatial), observed learning activities, and self-study time was collected among almost 1800 students enrolled in this psychology bachelor program at Erasmus University Rotterdam between 2003 and 2009. Academic achievement was measured by students' yearly number of acquired credit points, a course test, and a knowledge progress test. Multiple regression analyses showed that observed learning activities, first- and second-year performance, high school grades, conscientiousness, and verbal ability were most strongly and consistently related to academic achievement in the bachelor. Other student factors also contributed to academic achievement, but their influence was less prominent and mainly restricted to the first year. These results suggest that (prior) educational achievements and observable learning activities are most important for academic success in a problem-based learning bachelor program.     

Primary teachers conducting inquiry projects: effects on attitudes towards teaching science and conducting inquiry

ABSTRACT

This study used an experimental, pretest-posttest control group design to investigate whether participation in a large-scale inquiry project would improve primary teachers’ attitudes towards teaching science and towards conducting inquiry. The inquiry project positively affected several elements of teachers’ attitudes. Teachers felt less anxious about teaching science and felt less dependent on contextual factors compared to the control group. With regard to attitude towards conducting inquiry, teachers felt less anxious and more able to conduct an inquiry project. There were no effects on other attitude components, such as self-efficacy beliefs or relevance beliefs, or on self-reported science teaching behaviour. These results indicate that practitioner research may have a partially positive effect on teachers’ attitudes, but that it may not be sufficient to fully change primary teachers’ attitudes and their actual science teaching behaviour. In comparison, a previous study showed that attitude-focused professional development in science education has a more profound impact on primary teachers’ attitudes and science teaching behaviour. In our view, future interventions aiming to stimulate science teaching should combine both approaches, an explicit focus on attitude change together with familiarisation with inquiry, in order to improve primary teachers’ attitudes and classroom practices.     

The Construction and Evaluation of Simulations to Assess Professional Interviewing Skills

Courses preparing students for interviews commonly held in organisations often form part of the curriculum of senior secondary, higher, university, and in‐service education. In these courses, students are prepared for their future work practice. Assessment of student performance after attending such a course requires a different assessment method from the traditional written examination. In this article we describe the construction and evaluation of simulations. The results of an investigation into their quality show that they are reliable in terms of measures of internal consistency and inter‐rater reliability. However, it turned out that a student's score is highly dependent on the content of the interview. We found support for the simulations’ construct and content validity. Although the simulation is not an efficient instrument, its benefits are high: students are stimulated to do their best in practising for the interviews, and weaknesses in students’ performances will be detected so that remedial teaching can be offered.     

Comparing problem-based learning students to students in a lecture-based curriculum: learning strategies and the relation with self-study time

In educational theory, deep processing (i.e., connecting different study topics together) and self-regulation (i.e., taking control over one’s own learning process) are considered effective learning strategies. These learning strategies can be influenced by the learning environment. Problem-based learning (PBL), a student-centered educational method, is believed to stimulate the use of these effective learning strategies. Several aspects of PBL such as discussions of real-life problems, selecting literature by the students themselves, and formulating answers to learning issues encourage students’ use of deep processing and self-regulation. In the present study, third-year PBL law students were compared to third-year law students of a lecture-based program with respect to their learning strategies, which were measured with the Inventory Learning Styles (ILS; Vermunt in British Journal of Educational Psychology, 68, 149–171, 1998). In addition, the relation between time invested in self-study and learning strategies, when taking the instructional method into account, was explored. Results showed that PBL students reported to apply deep processing, self-regulation, and external regulation more frequently than their non-PBL counterparts. PBL seems to contribute to the use of effective learning strategies, but PBL students also relied more often on external sources for their regulation, such as teachers, course material, and assessment.     

Simulations for the Assessment of Counselling Skills

Assessment of students’ communication skills after a course in counselling, in which the students are prepared for work practice, requires another assessment method than the traditional written examination. In this paper we describe the construction and evaluation of simulations. The results of an investigation into the quality of the simulations show that they enable objective assessment of students’ mastery of skills in the situation which is simulated. In order to achieve generalisable scores, i.e. scores which indicate how well a student will perform in counselling interviews in general, more than one simulation has to be administered. Although the simulation is not an efficient instrument, its benefits are high: weaknesses in students’ performances will be detected so that remedial teaching can be offered, and clinical practice can be preserved for counsellors with a less than sufficient ability in counselling skills     

Antecedents of organizational citizenship behavior among blue- and white-collar workers in Turkey

This study investigated the relationship between employees’ beliefs about their social world (social axioms: reward for application, social cynicism, religiosity, social flexibility, and fate control), their relational identification with their supervisor, and their organizational citizenship behavior (OCB; i.e., interpersonal facilitation, job dedication and organizational support) within collectivistic Turkish society. We expected OCB to depend upon one's relational identification with the supervisor and also to depend on several social axioms, given their salience in collectivistic cultures. We also investigated these relationships across white- and blue-collar workers, as this has not been studied much. To this end, we conducted a survey among 376 Turkish blue-collar and 147 white-collar factory employees. A series of hierarchical regression analyses confirmed our expectations that for both blue- and white-collar workers the reward for application belief was positively related to job dedication and organizational support. Religiosity was positively related to job dedication and organizational support only among blue-collar employees. As hypothesized, relational identification with the supervisor related positively to all dimensions of OCB in blue-collar employees and to interpersonal facilitation and organizational support in white-collar employees. However, the relationship between relational identification with the supervisor and organizational support appeared stronger for blue-collar than for white-collar employees. Apparently, relational identification with the supervisor is an important antecedent of OCB, particularly for blue-collar employees. Theoretical and practical implications of the study findings are discussed.     

Two Decades of Cumulative Microtraining in The Netherlands: An Overview

ABSTRACT

In addition to recent meta‐analyses, the goal of this article is to give a narrative review and a meta‐analysis of 20 studies into the effectiveness of communication skills training programs, using a cumulative microtraining format (CMT). The aims of all training programs are directed at increasing knowledge of social skills, extension of the behavior repertoire and change of experience of communication situations (reduction of anxiousness and improvement of self‐confidence). Four groups of trainees are included in the study: (1) students, (2) paraprofessionals, (3) clients with problems in living, (4) communication skill trainers. The results of our meta‐analysis are comparable with the results of other meta‐analyses. The strongest effect is found for knowledge, but the effects for behavior and experience are also substantial. Explanations for the strong effects are: (1) the careful analysis of communication situations before the development of the training programs; (2) the cumulative character of the programs.