Process Evaluation of A Physical Activity Self-Management Program For Children: Spark

Abstract

SPARK is a controlled field study of a multi-component elementary school program to promote physical activity. One component is a weekly classroom-based self-management program, with the goal of increasing physical activity outside of school. The curriculum included goal setting, behavioral skills training, a reward system, and parent involvement. An evaluation of curriculum implementation and association between process and outcome was conducted using direct observation of lessons, subjective ratings by 24 teachers and 391 parents, and participation records of 549 students. Teachers viewed the self-management curriculum less positively than the physical education curriculum. Teachers were observed implementing an average of 65% of curriculum elements, which may have contributed to the limited effects of the self-management program. Student participation in the program, measured by points earned for doing out of school physical activity, was correlated significantly with changes in body mass index and multiple psychosocial variables among boys but not girls. Barriers to full program implementation were identified, and a remaining challenge is to improve self-management curriculum implementation by teachers.     

Can Creativity Be Improved by an Attention-Broadening Training Program? An Exploratory Study Focusing on Team Sports

ABSTRACT

A look at a number of recent experiments reveals that the interaction between breadth of attention and creative performance is mainly based on correlational studies and laboratory creativity tasks, yet task complexity is seldom taken into consideration. Discussion of several methodological aspects recommends the field of sport in particular as a fruitful area in which complex behavior can be studied in a complex context.

An exploratory 6-month longitudinal study (n = 48) proved the influence of an attention-broadening training program on the development of creative performance in the area of team sports. Creative performance was measured by a real-world sport-specific creativity task with 2 different kinds of complexity levels. A comparison between a control group and a treatment group, which focused on training a narrow breadth of attention, showed that the creative performance improved significantly (partial χ² = .51). An attention-broadening training program facilitated greater improvements in creative performance in complex tasks than in simple tasks. The results of this exploratory study are discussed in terms of theoretical and practical implications.     

Strategy instruction for writing composition at school and at home

Abstract

The objectives of this study are 1) to analyze the effectiveness of a writing composition intervention program aimed to increase children's writing performance and other personal variables; 2) to analyze whether implementation in the environment (school and home) or responsible figures (parents and teachers) produced different effects in program effectiveness; and 3) to check whether increasing parental involvement in doing homework was sufficient to improve children's outcomes or whether prior family training is required to enable them to be efficient. The sample consisted of 112 students (5th-6th grade) and their families. 26 of them made up the EFP group (mothers implementing a writing program), 25 of them were assigned to the PAD group (mothers increasing help with writing homework), 35 to the PRO group (teachers applying a writing program) and 26 to the OC group (ordinary curriculum). We analyze the results and present and discuss our conclusions.     

Teachers’ creativity,playfulness, and style of interaction with children

Abstract:

This investigation examined the relationships among a teacher's creative thinking, playfulness, and degree of sensitivity in their interactions with preschool children during play. These variables were operationally defined as scores on measures of ideational fluency, playful disposition, and quality of self‐reported play interaction. The Multidimensional Stimulus Fluency Measure, the Adult Behavior Inventory, and the Play Interaction Scale were administered to 46 students and 37 teachers of three‐ and four‐year old children. The Play Interaction Scale, developed for this study, was based on environmental components identified in earlier research as facilitative of play. Subjects indicated the frequency with which they might respond in a structured, elaborative, or unstructured manner to 20 vignettes describing the play of children. Results indicated that the expected positive relationships among creativity, playfulness, and an elaborative teaching style were found only for the students. The predicted negative relationships between creativity and a structured interaction style were found only for the experienced teachers.     

Do the benefits from autonomy-supportive PE teacher training programs endure?: A one-year follow-up investigation

ObjectiveAn earlier study (Cheon, Reeve, & Moon, 2012) showed wide-ranging benefits from a training program designed to help teachers be more autonomy-supportive toward students during PE instruction. The present study collected a follow-up data set to determine whether those earlier-observed benefits endured one year later.DesignWe used an experimentally-based 3-wave longitudinal design. The experimental group consisted of 8 PE teachers from the original teacher training study and their 470 middle- and high-school students; the control group consisted of 9 matched PE teachers and their 483 students. Dependent measures included 3 manipulation checks, 3 measures of student motivation, and 6 course-specific outcomes.MethodTrained raters scored teachers' instructional behaviors at mid-semester, while students reported perceptions of their teachers' motivating style and their own course-related motivation and outcomes at the beginning, middle, and end of the semester. We tested our hypotheses using hierarchical linear modeling to account for the hierarchical structure of data in which repeated measures were nested within students who were nested within teachers.ResultsCompared to teachers in the control group, teachers in the experimental group were scored by raters and perceived by students as more autonomy supportive and less controlling. Their students consistently reported greater motivation and more positive outcomes than did the students of teachers in the control group. All 8 teachers in the experimental group reported being significantly more autonomy supportive than a year earlier.ConclusionTeacher- and student-related benefits from the earlier autonomy-supportive training program endured.     

Group Creativity Training for Children: Lessons Learned from Two Award‐Winning Teams

The development of group creativity can be challenging for both young students and their teachers. This study examined the processes and learning outcomes of group creativity training from the perspectives of elementary school students and teachers while identifying critical factors that contributed to the success of the training. Data were collected from two Korean elementary school teams that won the gold (1st) and a special medal at the 2011 Destination Imagination global competition. Both individual and group interviews were carried out with 13 students and two teachers to investigate their perspectives of group creativity training. The analysis of the interview data revealed three major factors and subthemes: group dynamics (conflict and play), individual characteristics of the students (personality and motivation), and teachers’ roles (training strategies, training style, and commitment). In addition, a semi‐longitudinal survey conducted a year after the interviews examined nine skill or competency domains (self‐management, creativity, leadership, interpersonal relationship, patience, cooperation, information processing, communication, and presentation) to evaluate effects of the group creativity training on student learning. Synthesizing the analyses, we addressed the following three topics that arose from the discussions: the Safe Nest Effect, teachers’ training style, and multiple learning experiences derived from group creativity training.     

Effects of Conflict Resolution Training Integrated Into a High School Social Studies Curriculum

Abstract

The authors examined the effectiveness of conflict resolution and peer mediation training among California high school students. The authors randomly assigned 2 of 4 classes to receive 5 weeks of conflict resolution and peer mediation training integrated into the required social studies curriculum. The remaining 2 classes studied the same social studies curriculum for an identical amount of time (105 min every other day) without conflict resolution and peer mediation training. The authors investigated 2 issues. The 1st was the effectiveness of the conflict resolution and peer mediation training. The trained students, compared with the untrained students, learned the integrative negotiation and peer mediation procedures better, applied the procedures more completely, chose an integrative over a distributive approach to negotiation, and developed more positive attitudes toward conflict. The 2nd issue was the impact of the training program on academic achievement. Integrating conflict resolution and peer mediation training into an academic course promoted higher achievement, greater long-term retention of the academic learning, and greater transfer of academic learning in social studies to language arts.     

The Indirect Effect of Teachers’ Creative Mindsets on Teaching Creativity

Understanding how teachers’ implicit beliefs promote and inhibit students’ creativity has important implications for fostering creativity in the classroom. This study investigated whether the effect of teachers’ fixed creative mindset on their self‐efficacy for teaching creativity was mediated by their perceptions of students’ potential and the degree to which this indirect effect varied by level of growth creative mindset. A sample of educators (N = 119) completed an online survey containing questions regarding creative mindsets, perceptions of students’ potential, self‐efficacy for teaching creativity, and a set of relevant covariates. A moderated mediation analysis indicated that the more teachers believed creativity to be innate, the less teachers tended to perceive every student to possess creative potential. Consequently, teachers’ confidence in their ability to teach for creativity was diminished. Results from the corresponding tests of simple indirect effects indicated that this negative indirect effect of a fixed creative mindset was lessened by teachers’ growth creative mindset. Taken together, the findings suggest the likely significant role of teachers’ fixed and growth creative mindsets for fostering creativity in classroom.     

Evaluating Training Needs for Home-Based Family Therapy: A Focus Group Approach

Therapists and supervisors engaged in the delivery of home-based services participated in two rounds of focus groups. Participants discussed the challenges they face doing home-based therapy, and how an accredited family therapy program could modify its curriculum to better prepare trainees to meet these demands. Eight topic areas considered necessary for home-based practice were identified and the implications for training reviewed. The focus group methodology is described in detail and is recommended as a useful tool to assess training needs and as a way of promoting improved collaboration among training sites.     

L’entraînement de la mémoire de travail par le programme Cogmed et le TDAH

IntroductionAttention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a prevalent neurodevelopmental disorder. Inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity are key symptoms of ADHD. It is typically associated with working memory deficits at the cognitive level. For this reason, interventions have been designed to train working memory in ADHD. Currently, Cogmed Working Memory Training program is the most commonly used and studied program in clinical practice and research. This program is proposed as an intervention for ADHD that targets working memory deficits with specific exercises through intensive training sessions.ObjectivesThe goal of this literature review is to examine the effects of the Cogmed program in children and adolescents with ADHD on working memory, inhibition, non-verbal reasoning, attention functioning, ADHD symptoms and academic achievement. All existing studies on the subject that included a control group (n = 8) are reviewed.ResultsIt is clear from most studies that Cogmed training program increases and verbal and visuospatial working memory (or the phonological loop and visuospatial sketchpad in Baddeley's model (1986, 2007), among ADHD participants. However, transfer of learning is not demonstrated on other components of working memory that are not directly targeted by the program such as the central executive described in Baddeley's model or the secondary memory defined by Unsworth & Engle (2007). With regards to far transfer measures, results are controversial for inhibition, non-verbal reasoning, ADHD symptoms reported by parents, and reading abilities. No improvement is demonstrated for attentional capacities, ADHD symptoms reported by teachers and mathematic reasoning.ConclusionCogmed training improves verbal and visuospatial working memory, two cognitive functions that play an important role in ADHD. However, Cogmed's exercises need to be modified in order to train more complex working memory components such as the central executive (Baddeley, 1986, 2007) and the secondary memory (Unsworth & Engle, 2007), which are more impaired in ADHD than the phonological loop and visuospatial sketchpad. Another approach would be to design programs that can tackle a larger range of cognitive functions that are impaired in ADHD (e.g., inhibition). In future, studies evaluating such modified programs, direct observation instruments that are more sensitive to short-term changes need to be included. Follow-up measures should also be systematically included.     

The Emergence of Student Creativity in Classroom Settings: A Case Study of Elementary Schools in Korea

This research explores the emergence of student creativity in classroom settings, specifically within two content areas: science and social studies. Fourteen classrooms in three elementary schools in Korea were observed, and the teachers and students were interviewed. The three types of student creativity emerging in the teaching and learning process found in this research were: (a) heuristic creativity when the students express their thoughts about a new concept based on their experience, (b) interpretive creativity when the students explain the meaning of materials based on students' knowledge, and (c) integrative creativity when students generate new solutions or make new products based on their internalized knowledge. The study results will challenge teachers to find instances of student creativity in their teaching and learning situations and to facilitate student creativity when the students interpret data or materials related to the contents of the curriculum.     

Saint Paul School of Theology

Summary

Saint Paul School of Theology has an endowed program in aging studies. Aging materials have been integrated into the curriculum of both the M.Div. and D.Min. degrees. The program is headed by a tenured and trained gerontologist.     

The Development of Motor Creativity in Elementary School Children and Its Retention

ABSTRACT

This article presents a follow-up study regarding whether motor creativity, developed in 3rd-grade children nine 9 years ago with the implementation of a special physical education program, has been retained. It was found that the experimental group continued to show statistically significant superiority in motor creativity. These follow-up findings can be considered far more important than the original ones, because they reveal that if motor creativity is developed in a child, it remains active for a long time, potentially the rest of his or her life, with all the subsequent advantages.     

The effect of extrinsic constraints on children's creativity while using a computer

Abstract:

Two studies were conducted to examine the impact of extrinsic constraints on children's performance while using a computer. Open‐ended tasks were presented and possible differential effects of rewards and evaluations imposed by human (experimenter) and non‐human (computer) sources were explored in relation to product creativity, motivation, and affective response. Both studies provide support for the hypothesis that reward and evaluation will undermine creativity and motivation, even when a computer serves as the source of these constraints. In addition, a developmental trend emerged with older children being far more adversely affected than their younger counterparts. The theoretical and applied significance of these results are discussed.     

Student outcomes after 1 year of front line staff implementation of the PEAK curriculum

Systems‐level interventions built by behavior analysts often rely on others to implement, and this may be especially true in public education settings where behavior analysts are scarce. This study evaluated the effectiveness of the Promoting the Emergence of Advanced Knowledge Direct Training (PEAK‐DT) curriculum when implemented by school teachers and direct care staff. Thirty‐nine children with autism took part in the study (19 PEAK, 15 control), where the experimental group received applied behavior analytic instruction through the PEAK‐DT curriculum, and the quasi‐randomized control group received training as usual. The PEAK‐DT assessment was first administered to the participants at the onset of the study and again following 1 year. Participants who received PEAK training gained more skills on the PEAK‐DT assessment compared to the control group (PEAK: M = 16.0, SD = 17.8; control: M = 6.1, SD = 14.4, F(1,33) = 10.66, p < .05), suggesting that systems level implementation of behavior analytic procedures can be effective in teaching language skills as prescribed in a packaged curriculum designed by behavior analysts.     

Creative Justice? The Relationship between Prospective Teachers' Prior Schooling Experiences and Perceived Importance of Promoting Student Creativity

Prospective teachers (N = 117) enrolled in an introductory educational psychology course completed questions measuring their perceptions of past schooling experiences, current views regarding the importance of promoting student creativity, and their perceived ability to promote creativity. Statistically significant differences were found between the low importance and high importance groups. Prospective teachers who viewed promoting creativity of students as highly important were significantly less likely to indicate that they enjoyed school. In addition, prospective teachers in the high importance group indicated significantly lower levels of experiencing belongingness (relatedness) and significantly lower self‐judgments of their past ability to be successful in school (competence). Judgments regarding the choices afforded in school (autonomy) were mixed, but favored prospective teachers who placed less importance on promoting student creativity. Finally, prospective teachers who viewed promoting student creativity as highly important were significantly more likely to indicate that they had the ability to promote student creativity. A creative‐justice hypothesis was derived from these results. This hypothesis posits that individuals committed to promoting creativity are driven by their own past experiences with creativity diminishing environments. These individuals then seek out opportunities to transform the experiences of new inhabitants in similar environments.     

Creativity and mental health in everyday life

Abstract

The connection between mental health and creativity has traditionally been studied in terms of outstanding aesthetic‐professional creativity and mental illness. More interesting however, is the possible connection between “everyday “ creativity and mental health. Everyday creativity involves attacking day to day activities in a divergent way: It derives from a complex of cognitive, affective, personal, motivational, and social factors, and is characterized by openness, flexibility, autonomy, playfulness, humor willingness to take risks, and perseverance. These characteristics are also consistently emphasized in models of “normal”; personality growth, so that the possibility of promoting mental health arises by fostering creativity in day to day life. Several small studies described in this article give examples of how this might be done and the kinds of benefits which can result.     

The Effects of Visual Arts Pedagogies on Children's Intrinsic Motivation,Creativity, Artistic Skill,and Realistic Drawing Ability

This exploratory study compared the effects of two different teaching methods (teacher‐directed vs. choice‐based) on the overall art skills, realistic drawing ability, intrinsic motivation to pursue art, and creativity in art productions in children attending the two art programs. The sample consisted of 83 third graders who completed two art exercises and an intrinsic motivation questionnaire. Using the Consensual Assessment Technique, 20 undergraduate art majors rated each drawing on creativity, overall artistic skill, and realistic drawing ability; these scores showed high‐internal consistency and served as measures for art skills and creativity. Children from the teacher‐directed program scored significantly higher on art skill (M = 3.09) than the children from the choice‐based program (M = 2.53, p = .025). Children from the teacher‐directed program also performed better on realistic drawing (M = 3.7, p = .038) than the children from the choice‐based program (M = 2.99). Art teaching method did not predict intrinsic motivation or creativity. Further analyses showed significant correlations between intrinsic motivation scores and overall art skill (r = .376, p = .002) and realistic drawing skill (r = .335, p = .007). Participating in the teacher‐directed program is associated with higher levels of artistic skill and realistic drawing ability, which are correlated with increased intrinsic motivation.     

The effectiveness of creativity training: A quantitative review

Over the course of the last half century, numerous training programs intended to develop creativity capacities have been proposed. In this study, a quantitative meta‐analysis of program evaluation efforts was conducted. Based on 70 prior studies, it was found that well‐designed creativity training programs typically induce gains in performance with these effects generalizing across criteria, settings, and target populations. Moreover, these effects held when internal validity considerations were taken into account. An examination of the factors contributing to the relative effectiveness of these training programs indicated that more successful programs were likely to focus on development of cognitive skills and the heuristics involved in skill application, using realistic exercises appropriate to the domain at hand. The implications of these observations for the development of creativity through educational and training interventions are discussed along with directions for future research.