Positive biases in self-assessment of mathematics competence, achievement goals, and mathematics performance

The study examined how biases in self-evaluations of math competence relate to achievement goals and progress in math achievement. It was expected that performance goals would be related to overestimation and mastery goals to accurate self-assessments. A sample of French high-school students completed a questionnaire measuring their math achievement goals and their perceived competence in math. Students’ math grades for the three trimesters of the school year were collected from school records. Bias in self-evaluations was computed by comparing students’ rating on the ‘perceived competence in math’ scale with their actual math achievement as measured by their second trimester math grades. Students were classified into one of three groups (over-raters, accurate raters, or under-raters) depending on whether their self-perceptions of competence in math were higher than, similar to, or lower than their relative math achievement in their class. As expected, overrating of one's performance was related to performance goals. Furthermore, the over-raters were the only group who progressed in their math achievement from Trimester 2 to 3. No relation was found between mastery goals and accurate self-assessment.     

What Does Prone Skateboarding in the Newborn Tell Us About the Ontogeny of Human Locomotion?

The crawling behavior of sixty 2-day-old newborns was studied while they were supported prone on a mini skateboard and on a pediatric mattress without additional support. Analyses of the number and types of limb movements and their characteristics, the coactivation of limb pairs, and the displacement across the surface, revealed that newborns can crawl with locomotor patterns similar to those documented during quadrupedal locomotion in animals and human adults. This was particularly apparent on the skateboard. This discovery suggests that locomotor circuitry underlying quadrupedal locomotion develops during fetal life. Drawing upon other evidence for a quadrupedal organization underlying bipedal gait, we argue that early quadrupedal training may enhance interventions designed to hasten the onset of independent walking.     

Intensity-dependent reductions in resting blood pressure following short-term isometric exercise training

To reduce resting blood pressure, a minimum isometric exercise training (IET) intensity has been suggested, but this is not known for short-term IET programmes. We therefore compared the effects of moderate- and low-intensity IET programmes on resting blood pressure. Forty normotensive participants (22.3 ± 3.4 years; 69.5 ± 15.5 kg; 170.2 ± 8.7 cm) were randomly assigned to groups of differing training intensities [20%EMG_peak (~23%MVC, maximum voluntary contraction, or 30%EMG_peak (~34%MVC)] or control group; 3 weeks of IET at 30%EMG_peak resulted in significant reductions in resting mean arterial pressure (e.g. ?3.9 ± 1.0 mmHg, P < 0.001), whereas 20%EMG_peak did not (?2.3 ± 2.9 mmHg; P > 0.05). Moreover, after pooling all female versus male participants, IET induced a 6.9-mmHg reduction in systolic blood pressure in female participants, but only a 1.5-mmHg reduction in systolic blood pressure in male participants, although the difference was not significant. An IET intensity between 20%EMG_peak and 30%EMG_peak is sufficient to elicit significant resting blood pressure reductions in a short-term training period (3 weeks). In addition, sexual dimorphism may exist in the magnitude of reductions, but further work is required to confirm this possibility, which could be important in understanding the mechanisms responsible.     

Metamemory Assessment and Memory Behavior in a Simulated Memory Professional Task

This study investigated metamemory knowledge related to a professional task and the relationships between metamemory knowledge and memory performance in a simulated professional task, which was a beverage-service job with memory constraints changes. Metamemory knowledge was assessed by interviewing student waiters about hypothetical recall tasks concerning lists of beverages. They then carried out a simulated beverage-service task, including a first paired-associate recall (beverage-customer), then a global recall (order to the bartender), followed by a second paired-associate recall (beverage-customer). Memory constraints were manipulated with table size and perceptive cues. Results revealed that in metamemory knowledge, task-strategy, and strategy were the only variables that were related. Metamemory knowledge produced an effect on all memory performance, whatever the constraints were. The implications of these findings for professional training are discussed in terms of strategy instruction for enhancing professional performance when memory demands change in the work environment.     

Occupational Memory Practice and Memory Beliefs with Age

This study examined effects of intensive memory use during one's profession on metamemory beliefs. Fifty-one actors and 60 controls aged from 20 to 73 years were compared with the Metamemory Inventory in Adulthood. Both intensive job-related memory practice and younger age were associated with stronger memory self-efficacy beliefs. Irrespective of age, actors reported a higher stability of their memory with time and a higher controllability. No significant effect was found on metamemory knowledge. These findings show the relevance of the dissociation between metamemory knowledge and metamemory beliefs. Both memory practicing during occupation and age appear to influence only metamemory beliefs.     

Research-based education as a model to change the teaching and learning environment in STEM disciplines

This paper discusses the benefits and threats of promoting and reinforcing a research-based education environment to STEM undergraduate students. The paper explores the rationale for research-based education as a pedagogical driven approach, where undergraduate students learn through enquiry and discovery. Research evidence of a STEM case study conducted in an English university is then presented, which sheds light on how this institution and STEM research-active academics are fostering students’ learning in a research-based education environment, the constraints they face, and the pedagogical solutions they propose to empower students’ learning. The paper concludes with a set of recommendations aimed to raise the research-based education environment of STEM Faculties or Departments.     

Role of technology in the design of learning environments

Learning Environments Research - The design of learning environments is being increasingly investigated, largely as a result of higher-education providers being challenged by both societal and...     

Memory strategies and metamemory knowledge under memory demands change in waiters learners

This study aims to examine how adults use memory strategies when memory demands change and how it depends on metamemory and may account for individual differences. Metamemory about strategy was assessed by interview in forty waiters learners. Then, they were asked to execute a simulated beverage-service task (three successive recalls) for which memory demands were manipulated with table size and perceptive cues. At last, working memory span was assessed. Results revealed a significant contribution of the various variables (memory demands, metamemory knowledge, span) on recall performances when the three different recalls were considered as separated. By contrast, the four strategy patterns observed on this sample could not be distinguished neither according to metamemory knowledge nor as a function of performance. The issue about the individual differences in strategy efficiency is explored by pointing out methodological limits. Moreover, the non linear progression of performance with the increase in the level of elaborative strategy use is discussed.     

Corporate social responsibility in engineering education. A French survey

In this paper, we present and discuss the results of a survey of how corporate social responsibility (CSR) is being discussed and taught in engineering education in France. We shall first describe how those questions have been recently tackled in various programmes of higher education in France. We shall also analyse what faculty members have to say about their motivation or reluctance to enhance these new topics in their teaching. While this survey covered various fields of higher education, in this present, we mostly discuss the issues surrounding CSR teaching in engineering education.