Children use nonverbal cues from an adult to evaluate peers

What factors contribute to children’s tendency to view individuals as having different traits and abilities? The present research tested whether young children are influenced by adults’ nonverbal behaviors when making inferences about peers. In Study 1, participants (aged 5–6 years) viewed multiple videos of interactions between a “teacher” and two “students”; all individuals were unfamiliar to participants. In each clip, the students behaved similarly, but the teacher did not: She either smiled, nodded, touched, or shook her head at one student, and she looked at the other student with a neutral expression. In Study 1, children tended to infer that students who received more positive behaviors from the teacher were smarter, nicer, and stronger. Study 2 pitted differences in the teacher’s behavior against differences in the students’ performance. When asked who was smarter, children selected lower-performing students who received more positive nonverbal cues from the teacher rather than higher-performing students who received less positive cues. These findings indicate that an authority figure’s nonverbal behaviors can influence children’s inferences about others and shed light on one mechanism guiding young children’s evaluations of people in their social world.     

THE EFFECTS OF PEER TUTORING WITH GROUP CONTINGENCIES ON THE ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF COLLEGE STUDENTS1

Improving the academic performance of college students who do not demonstrate mastery of course material is a major concern in traditional and nontraditional systems of instruction, where students may drop out, take incompletes, or continue to perform at low levels. The present study examined within-course peer tutoring as a potential solution. Twenty-one undergraduate students enrolled in a three-credit introductory course in Educational Psychology served as subjects. The class met one and a half hours each weekday for five weeks. Five students withdrew from the course and one student was placed on independent study before assignments to experimental conditions were made. The primary source materials were portions of Skinner's Technology of Teaching, plus two additional articles. The material was divided into nine equal units, each unit accompanied by study objectives. Nine one-hour essay exams were administered, one every other class day. Two review days were scheduled before a cumulative final was administered. Students could score a total of 20 points on each exam and the final. If a student scored 90% or better on an exam a score of 10 was earned. If a student scored 80% to 90%, a score of eight was awarded, and so on. A total score of 90 of 100 possible points at semester's end earned a student an “A”, 80 a “B”, and so on. The study consisted of three phases: Baseline I, Intervention, and Baseline II. Baseline I: after an initial introductory class, three lectures were presented—one for each unit. Each lecture day was followed by an exam day. Intervention: following the third exam, students were rank ordered and divided into high, medium, and low levels of performance on the basis of their raw scores on the previous three exams, and assigned to a paired or independent group. This assignment procedure resulted in three high-low pairs, three middle-middle pairs, two high-middle pairs, three low-independent students, and two middle-independent students. If, and only if, both students in a pair met a 90% mastery criterion on an exam did each receive five bonus points for the exam(s) reaching the criterion. The bonus points were used to offset points lost on the cumulative final. If both students in a pair met the 90% mastery criterion for units 4, 5, and 6, the pair received an automatic score of 10 on the cumulative final and had the two review days off. Other students who studied independently received identical payoffs if they met the same mastery criterion. The previous lecture time was used for inclass study. Baseline II: Baseline I procedures were reinstituted for the final three units. The test scores are the independent and paired students are shown in Figure 1. Compared to baseline, performance during peer tutoring improved for every student paired with a high partner, and not for those students who studied independently. Between-group comparisons suggest that the effective variables were related to the tutoring or its combination with the group contingency. However, the opportunity for intergroup discussion about treatment procedures and unequal assignment of subjects to the tutored and independent groups make conclusions about the between-group portion of the experiment tentative. Half to two-thirds of the students in each performance category viewed the peer-tutoring procedure favorably, and two-thirds or more reported that the procedure was effective in improving academic performance. Proportionately fewer students assigned to independent study found that procedure effective or viewed it favorably. It appears that pairing students with others who do better on tests and rewarding them for their combined performance results in considerable improvement in the performance of lower-level students.     

Do students really prefer repeated rereading over testing when studying textbooks? A reexamination

ABSTRACT

Experimental studies have shown that testing promotes better long-term retention than repeated rereading. Regarding implications for educational practice, based on a survey study seemingly showing that students prefer repeated rereading over testing when studying [Karpicke, J. D., Butler, A. C., & Roediger, H. L. (2009). Metacognitive strategies in student learning: Do students practise retrieval when they study on their own? Memory, 17, 471–479. doi:10.1080/09658210802647009], it has been concluded that increasing the number of tests may boost students’ achievement. However, a closer look at the survey study reveals that “repeated rereading” has been operationalised in terms of “restudying” which represents a term that may subsume a variety of study strategies. We reexamined the study behaviour of students in a more fine-grained way by surveying both their hypothetical (Study 1) and real (Study 2) study behaviour when restudying texts. Results showed that rereading is preferred only by few students early in the learning process, with almost all shifting to testing late in the learning process, and that rereading is mainly performed in terms of “rereading not understood parts”, and rarely in terms of “repeated rereading”. These results indicate that the implications of the testing effect for educational practice may have to be reconsidered.     

Reducing stereotype threat in urban schools

Research suggests student performance may be negatively influenced by stereotype threat, “being at risk of confirming, as self-characteristic, a negative stereotype about one’s group” (Steele and Aronson in J Personal Soc Psychol 69(5):797, 1995). However, studies have also found that educating students about stereotype threat and the nature of intelligence can attenuate its effects. This paper explored whether a brief intervention could improve performance and attitudes for 109 at-risk students in a large urban school. Results found the intervention did not result in statistically significant differences in grades, or increases in student beliefs about their ability to succeed in school. Educational implications are discussed.     

Cross-national stereotypes of locus of control in university students1

Stereotypes of locus of control were studied in male and female university students from eight countries (Canada, France, West Germany, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, United States). The subjects took the Rotter Internal-External Locus of Control (I-E) Scale in standard fashion (“own” scores) and then in the role of students similar to themselves in their own country (attributed own) and in selected other countries (attributed other). Using the difference between “own” scores and “attributed” scores as the operational measure of stereotype, the results indicate (1) that scores attributed to students in a given country bear little relationship to those students “own” scores, thereby suggesting the presence of stereotypes of locus of control; (2) students in most countries attribute greater externality to the average student in their own country compared to themselves; (3) countries vary in the degree to which they stereotype other countries with the U.S. students significantly attributing greater externality to other countries and Japanese students significantly attributing greater internality to other students; (4) countries vary in the degree to which they are stereotyped with German students perceived as most internal and Italian students as most external; (5) the U.S.S.R. and U.S.A. are perceived differently on content subscales of the I-E Scale although their overall attributed scores do not differ.     

Effects of Self-Monitoring on the On-Task Behavior and Written Language Performance of Elementary Students with Learning Disabilities

The present study was conducted to determine the effects of self-monitoring and a changing criterion with public posting phase on student on-task behavior and written language performance. Four elementary school boys participated and were enrolled in an urban-based, elementary-level resource room for students with learning disabilities. Self-monitoring procedures for on-task behavior included the students listening to a tone recorded at 60-s intervals and responding to the question, “Am I on-task?” Written language performance involved the students writing for a 10-min. session and counting and graphing the number of words written. During baseline conditions, student on-task behavior and written language performance were collected. During the self-monitoring conditions, the students monitored their on-task behavior and written language performance simultaneously. In the changing criterion with public posting condition, the students received their goal for the day's session prior to writing, wrote, and recorded whether they met their goal. While the results show a functional relationship between self-monitoring and on-task behavior, the data for the relationship between self-monitoring and written language performance were less compelling. A greater increase occurred when the changing criterion with public posting condition was introduced. Results suggest that self-monitoring changed on-task behavior; however, further research needs to be conducted to determine the conditions that would produce comparable effects for written language performance. Several implications for students and teachers and parent training were discussed.     

How school climate relates to chronic absence: A multi–level latent profile analysis

Chronic absence is a significant problem in schools. School climate may play an important role in influencing chronic absence rates among schools, yet little research has evaluated how school climate constructs relate to chronic absence. Using multilevel latent profile analysis, we evaluated how profiles of student perceptions of school climate at both the student and school level differentiated school–level rates of chronic absence. Participants included 25,776 middle and high school students from 106 schools who completed a district administered school climate survey. Students attended schools in a large urban school district where 89% of 6th through 12th grade students were African-American and 61% were eligible for the federally subsidized school meals program. Three student–level profiles of perceptions of school climate emerged that corresponded to “positive,” “moderate,” and “negative” climate. Two predominant patterns regarding the distribution of these profiles within schools emerged that corresponded to the two school–level profiles of “marginal climate” and “climate challenged” schools. Students reporting “moderate” and “negative” climate in their schools were more likely to attend schools with higher chronic absence rates than students reporting that their school had “positive” climate. Likewise, “climate challenged” schools had significantly higher chronic absence rates than “marginal climate” schools. These results suggest that school climate shares an important relation with chronic absence among adolescent students attending urban schools. Implications for prevention and intervention programs are discussed.     

Vers une nouvelle appréhension des mathématiques par traitement EMDR : actualités et perspectives

ObjectiveEMDR for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing developed since 1989 by F. Shapiro has demonstrated its effectiveness in the treatment of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). In Science of Education, no study has been previously developed in the application of EMDR protocols. The purpose of this article is to demonstrate the relevance and effectiveness of EMDR in supporting cognitive and emotional remediation of students in Master 1, with respect to mathematics, preparing Schools Teacher contest. The first encounters with the students revealed, through their discourse, an aversion to mathematics linked to one or more particularly painful experiences in a learning situation. Mathematics may cause anguish, sometimes tinged beliefs such as “I’ll never be able to… I am very bad at math”. This represents even an insurmountable obstacle in the professional life of some.MethodsNearly 170 students in Master 1 “Professor of the Schools” registered on the ESPE (College of the Teaching profession and Education) were asked about their relation to mathematics, both in their emotions as their self-efficacy. Among those who suggested a traumatic memory in a learning situation in mathematics, forty were selected and divided into two groups. The control group received two hours of information about relaxation techniques that could be used before mathematics. The other group benefited of the EMDR treatment according to the standard protocol in eight phases.ResultsThe results showed that students who received EMDR treatment experienced after treatment and one month later, a significant decline in their negative emotions with mathematics and an increase in the strength of their self-efficacy, unlike the control group.DiscussionEMDR demonstrates its effectiveness in reprocessing beliefs and emotions of students with respect to mathematics and opens ways of research in Educational Sciences. So, it will be necessary, from the principle of alternated bilateral stimulation, to develop specific protocols for the struggling students, to measure the effects in the long term and develop them in a group situation.     

PROCEDURAL VARIATIONS IN GROUP CONTINGENCIES: EFFECTS ON CHILDREN'S ACADEMIC AND SOCIAL BEHAVIORS

There has been little research on the effects of the many procedural variables in applied group contingencies. In the present study, an individualized contingency and three group contingencies with different “responder” criteria (e.g., reward based on the group average, reward based on the work of a designated, low-achieving student, or reward based on the work of a randomly selected student) were applied to the academic work of primary grade children in a learning disabilities classroom. Group social interaction during each contingency was measured systematically. Although there were large individual differences in students' academic and social responses to the different contingencies, some consistent effects were observed. Two of the four low-achieving target students did their best academic work during the group contingency which focused on their performance as a designated responder. This type of contingency also produced high levels of positive social interaction in three of four groups of children observed.     

The effects of receiving help: Gender differences in motivation and performance

This study examined gender differences among Caucasian college students in reactions to receiving unsolicited help from a similar peer on an educational task. We found that women, but not men, were more likely to attribute their relatively poor performance to a lack of ability when they received help than when they did not. Also, women who received help performed better on a subsequent, unrelated task than women who did not receive help. In contrast, men who received help spent less time on the subsequent task and performed worse on it than men who did not receive help. Implications of the results for the threat to self-esteem model [A. Nadler (1986) “Self-Esteem and the Seeking and Receiving of Help: Theoretical and Empirical Perspectives,” in B. A. Maher and N. B. Maher (Eds.), Progress in Experimental Personality Research (Vol. 14), New York, Academic Press] and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

School Counselor Inclusion: A Collaborative Model to Provide Academic and Social‐Emotional Support in the Classroom Setting

The increasingly diverse student demographics reflect a myriad of needs in the interrelated arenas of educational achievement, social‐behavioral adjustment, and career development, while federal legislation, the ethical standards of the American School Counselor Association (ASCA; 2004a), and the ASCA (2005a) National Model have emphasized academic achievement and success for all students. This article describes a new model of school counselor “inclusion” that involves collaboration with classroom teachers and changes the setting of school counselor interventions to the classroom for small‐group and individual work.     

Group versus individual reinforcement contingencies within the context of group study conditions

We investigated the effects of two teaching variables on students' Spanish vocabulary quiz performance: (a) group study and (b) individual versus group contingencies. In Experiment 1, we compared students' quiz scores under conditions in which students either studied independently and received no programmed reinforcement or studied in groups and received individual rewards for high scores. The results showed that, on average, the group-study individual-reward condition produced superior quiz scores. In Experiment 2, we compared individual (i.e., the superior condition in Experiment 1) and group contingencies within the context of the group study condition. On average across the class, group contingencies produced performance superior to individual contingencies. In both studies, however, benefits for the classes as a whole were mitigated by effects on individual students. These results extend the literature on the effects of group-based instructional activities and reinforcement contingencies. Educators who choose such procedures may encounter conflicting findings depending on whether they examine results at the group or individual level.     

Bridging the “Great Divide” in Undergraduate Religion: An Experiment in Faculty/Student Collaboration

Undergraduate students today often enroll in introductory religious studies or theology classes because they want the time and space to reflect on their personal spiritual questions. Such a motivation can clash with the faculty's desire to introduce students to rigorous academic study of their field. Barbara Walvoord has proposed four “voices” that students may develop that will assist both student and faculty to cross this “great divide.” This essay explores the ways in which a course based in engaged pedagogical theory and practice – in this case, problem‐based learning – can provide an effective space for students to “find their voices,” take control of their own learning, and fulfill both their own and their professor's expectations.     

Improving reading and writing learning in underprivileged pluri‐ethnic settings

Background: Many studies carried out in first language contexts tend to demonstrate the positive effects of activity programmes aimed at (1) developing metaphonological abilities and (2) developing language skills through active story listening on learning to read and to spell by first‐grade students. Aims: This study seeks to extend previous findings by (a) including children, the majority of whom have French as a second language, who attend plurilingual schools and have not been included in previous studies, and (b) providing training based on three essential principles shared by the two kinds of programmes: integrating activities into realistic literacy practice contexts; encouraging active student participation through tasks which very often require problem solving; and tackling, one after the other, different kinds of operations or strategies. Sample: Three groups of students were created out a pool of 202 children enrolled in nine first‐grade classes in three underprivileged pluri‐ethnic schools. The control group was composed of 46 students who received typical, first‐grade methods for teaching reading and spelling. Experimental group 1 (DMPA), 91 students, received a training programme aimed at metaphonological abilities development. Experimental group 2 (DLS), 65 students, received a training intended to develop language skills through active story listening and production. Method: The students from the three groups were evaluated at the beginning (metaphonological task I, pre‐reading task) and at the end (metaphonological task II, word recognition task, text comprehension task, word spelling task) of their first year in elementary school. Results: The programme for the development of metaphonological abilities enabled DMPA group students to obtain significantly higher scores than the control group on metaphonological task II and word recognition task. The DMPA group children also did significantly better than the control and the DLS groups on the word spelling task. However, the DLS group, who benefited from language skills development activities, also progressed in that they obtained significantly better results than the control group in the word recognition task. Moreover, at the end of grade one, there was no difference in the scores obtained by the groups on a comprehension questionnaire administered after the reading of the narrative text. Conclusion: The word reading skills of first‐grade children in underprivileged pluriethnic settings can be improved through activities aimed at metaphonological abilities development or language skills development by means of active story listening and production. On the other hand, in order to develop word spelling abilities, the development of metaphonological abilities was more effective. Lastly, further research should seek to improve understanding of the absence of effects of either learning programme on narrative text comprehension.     

Evolution of nurses’ social representations of hospital hygiene: From training to practice

Nurses’ social representations of hospital hygiene were analyzed. A cross-sectional method was used to compare and analyze the social representations of the concept domain of “hospital hygiene” across three independent groups of participants (n = 744). The groups included: (a) professional nurses (n = 114); (b) student nurses (n = 315); and (c) psychology students (n = 315). Comparisons were drawn: (a) between professionals and students; and (b) between student nurse cohorts at three different levels (years) of training. The results show an ongoing evolution of the social representations of hospital hygiene during training and in the course of professional practice. The representation of hospital hygiene is structured around the element “cleanliness” at the beginning of training and around “asepsis” at the end of training. An increased specialization of vocabulary pertaining specifically to hospital hygiene is also observed. A comparative analysis between students and professionals shows a lower number of common lexical associations in the student group. A discussion of how these results are related to other research in cognitive ergonomics and the analyses of dialogues involving professional interactions between experts and novices is provided.     

Conflict performance as a function of instructional set and absolute strength

One-hundred-twenty-eight male and female introductory psychology students performed in a conflict task. It was found that neither prior knowledge of the “correct” response nor number of practice trials prior to the conflict trial (8 versus 24) had differential effects on performance on the conflict trial. However, subjects who were shocked following an incorrect response took longer to make a decision on the conflict trial than subjects who were not shocked, and females took significantly longer than males.     

SHORT- AND LONG-TERM EFFECTS OF CONTINGENCY MANAGED INSTRUCTION ON LOW,MEDIUM, AND HIGH GPA STUDENTS1

Undergraduate students had been assigned to a contingency managed course or a conventional lecture course (Du Nann and Fernald, Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 1976, 9 , 373–374). Two years later, some 35% (N = 86) of the original classes responded to a letter offering them $2.00 to participate in a study of their educational experiences. These students completed a multiple-choice test on material from the course, and answered questions about activities and attitudes that might have been affected by the experience in Introductory Psychology. In the contingency management course 2 yr past, students were tested each week on a chapter of textbook material with 10-item multiple-choice quizzes. The course employed a modified “Doomsday Contingency”, requiring each student to achieve 80% mastery on one of the four weekly quizzes or drop the course. Quizzes were given in small groups and scored individually, while the student stood near, by an undergraduate proctor assigned to that group. The proctor was asked to show interest in the students' quiz performances, help clear up difficult areas, and develop a friendly working relationship with each student. While many students passed the quiz on the first attempt, others were given individual tutoring, so that no one was in fact forced to drop the course. In addition to the weekly quiz assignment, students in the contingency managed group were asked to attend one lecture each week. While the contingency management course procedures had much in common with PSI (Keller, Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 1968, 1 , 79–89), several departures made them unique. First, self-pacing was curtailed because students were required to master one unit per week or drop the course. Second, proctors met with students in small groups, usually giving individual tutoring only to those students who did not pass the quiz on the first attempt. Finally, students were asked to attend one lecture per week. Students in the conventional lecture group were not asked to pass weekly quizzes, but instead attended three 50-min lectures each week. Two of these lectures followed the textbook material closely, while the third, which was also attended by students from the contingency management course, covered material only indirectly related to the text. This partition of lecture content allowed material to be similar across the two instructional groups. Although students in the lecture condition were told they could obtain copies of the quizzes, few of them did so. Course grades were determined by scores on two 45-item multiple-choice hourly exams, each covering half the semester material (each worth 25%), and by a 90-item final exam, which served as a measure of short-term retention. Before analyzing the follow-up data, several characteristics of the returning students were compared to determine the comparability of the sample from the two original classes. Most important, both attrition and the current mean GPAs of students from the two classes were very similar. These considerations, and others, suggested there was no systematic sampling bias to confound comparisons of student performance. A 2 (contingency management versus traditional lecture) by 3 (high, medium, and low GPA) analysis of variance was computed on the course final-exam scores and the follow-up measures. Instructional procedure and GPA interacted on the final exam such that low and medium GPA students performed significantly better under contingency management, but there was no significant effect of instructional procedure with high GPA students. On the 2-yr retention measures, students from the contingency management course performed significantly (p < 0.01) better on items drawn from quizzes used in their original course, and marginally better (p < 0.10) on items drawn from the final exams, but no interactions with GPA appeared. Furthermore, instructional method produced no significant main effects or interaction with how many students became majors or minors in psychology, how many psychology courses were later taken, how many books in psychology were reported to have been read, or on students' evaluation of the interest and importance of psychology.     

High-risk students in junior college: a special program

The college student who is considered a “high academic risk” offers to teachers, counselors, and curricula a great challenge. Most “bright” students have to exert little effort to achieve academic successs; however, there are other students for whom learning comes only with great personal effort, as well as great patience and concern on the part of their instructors, who can also benefit from higher education. The results of Project speed , representing one attempt to do something with high-risk students, strongly suggest that developmental programs can have a measurably positive influence upon their participants.     

Training of self-regulated learning skills on a social network system

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether self-regulated learning (SRL) skills trained using a social network system (SNS) may be generalized outside the training session. A total of 29 undergraduate students participated in the study. During the training session, students in the experimental group were trained to practice self-regulative thinking skills while using Twitter, an SNS. Students in the control group did not receive a training of SRL skills and simply used Twitter as it was. After the training session, students in both groups worked on their class projects and used Twitter where students interacted with each other. Using a content analysis, student posts or “tweets” on Twitter were analyzed. Students in the experimental group used significantly more SRL skills such as planning and reflecting than those in the control group. Also, students’ metacognitive awareness in the experimental group improved significantly after the training of SRL skills. The implications of the study are herein discussed.