The effects of adapting a writing course to students' writing strategies

Background. When writing a text, students are required to do several things simultaneously. They have to plan, translate and review, which involve demanding cognitive processes. In order to handle this complexity, writers need to develop a writing strategy. The two most well‐defined writing strategies that have been identified, are those of a planning strategy and a revising strategy. Aims. To establish whether students will be more competent in managing the complexity of writing when writing instruction is adapted to their habitual writing strategy, thus resulting in better texts. Sample. 113 high school students (10th grade). Method. Students were randomly assigned to either the planning or the revising condition. To identify writing strategies, students completed a questionnaire concerning their planning and revising tendencies. To measure the level of writing skill, students' texts written during pre‐test and post‐test were analysed. Results. The effect of instruction based on a planning strategy interacted with the level of planning or revising strategy: the greater the use of such a strategy, the larger the effect on writing skill. In contrast, the effect of instruction based on a revising writing strategy did not interact with the level of planning or revising strategy. Results imply that students with strong tendencies to plan or revise profited from writing instruction based on a planning strategy, while students with a low tendency to plan or revise profited more from instruction based on a revising strategy. Conclusion. Adapting writing instruction to students' level of writing strategy, is an effective approach for learning to write.     

Evaluation of an informational and behavior change program to increase students' self‐reported energy conservation

A systematic evaluation of a program, consisting of sustainability education, self‐management strategies, and feedback, to decrease college students' energy use was conducted. During treatment, the experimental group showed increased self‐reported energy savings relative to baseline levels and relative to the self‐reported energy use of the comparison group who were shown only an instructional video on conserving energy. Treatment gains were maintained at a 2‐week follow‐up. More participants in the experimental group rated their experience as resulting in learning something new about green issues and influencing their pro‐environmental behavior compared to the comparison group. This study suggests that further research is warranted, specifically using these strategies in real‐life situations.     

Effectiveness of two smoking prevention programs according to type of applicator

Although research on the prevention of drug use has shown that the effectiveness of programs depends partly on who applies them, the results of studies designed to clarify this issue are contradictory. This study compared the effects on smoking, in the short and medium term, of the implementation of two school-based prevention programs, depending on the type of applicator. The sample was made up of 200 seventh-grade students distributed among five experimental conditions: four of intervention, in which the programs were implemented by teachers from the school or by external psychologists, and one of control. The results show that teachers applying the Barbacana program and psychologists applying the Construyendo Salud (Building Health) program succeeded in reducing the incidence of cigarette smoking (BR-teachers 15%; C.S-psychologists 5%) and strengthening attitudes against smoking. An interaction effect between type of program and type of applicators was clearly observed.     

Curriculum-based measures of writing across grade levels

This study compared the technical adequacy of curriculum-based measures in written expression across diverse grade levels. Students (n = 484) completed two narrative writing samples in response to story starters. Samples were scored for the number of words written (TW), the number of correct word sequences (CWS), and the number of correct minus incorrect word sequences (CWS-ICWS). Alternate-form reliability and criterion-related validity coefficients of the curriculum-based measures were examined to determine differences between the coefficients according to grade level.Results indicated moderate to strong alternate-form reliability coefficients and variable criterion-related validity coefficients. The data from this study support the need for curriculum-based measures of writing to become more complex as students age and become more skilled.     

Assessing changes in performance and monitoring processes in individual and collaborative tests according to students' metacognitive skills

This study assessed students' test performances and metacognitive processes in real classroom settings. Psychology undergraduates were categorised according to their metacognitive skills (high vs. low) and had their test performances and monitoring processes in two different types of tests (multiple-choice and short-answer tests) compared in individual and collaborative test conditions. Students' test preparation practices, attributions, and regulatory processes during test-taking were also compared by using open-ended questions. In the collaborative tests, three types of metacognitive pairings were made (high/high vs. high/low vs. low/low). Results showed that: (1) in individual tests, high-metacognitive students presented better performance and higher confidence levels due to their more effective test preparation practices and regulatory skills; (2) Differences in performance and confidence levels due to metacognitive skills disappear when students take tests collaboratively; (3) Over time, collaborative testing had particular positive effects on the low/low metacognitive pairings. Results are discussed focusing on their educational implications.     

Evaluating the efficacy of a program to enhance college students' self-regulation learning processes and learning strategies

The present study examines the efficacy of a program designed to enhance college students'learning processes and study strategies. The program was organised around a number of letters written by a freshman, Gervásio (Rosário, Nú?ez, & González-Pienda, 2006), telling about his new experiences, troubles, and successes in the university. This intervention program is intended to promote a series of strategies (cognitive, meta-cognitive, and supportive) which allow students to manage their learning processes in a more proficient, successful, and autonomous way. The collected data suggest that students who had the opportunity to follow the program significantly improved their declarative knowledge about learning strategies, reduced their use of surface approaches to study, and extended the newly acquired skills to new and different tasks and assignments.     

Adaptationism--how to carry out an exaptationist program

Adaptationism is a research strategy that seeks to identify adaptations and the specific selective forces that drove their evolution in past environments. Since the mid-1970s, paleontologist Stephen J. Gould and geneticist Richard Lewontin have been critical of adaptationism, especially as applied toward understanding human behavior and cognition. Perhaps the most prominent criticism they made was that adaptationist explanations were analogous to Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories (outlandish explanations for questions such as how the elephant got its trunk). Since storytelling (through the generation of hypotheses and the making of inferences) is an inherent part of science, the criticism refers to the acceptance of stories without sufficient empirical evidence. In particular, Gould, Lewontin, and their colleagues argue that adaptationists often use inappropriate evidentiary standards for identifying adaptations and their functions, and that they often fail to consider alternative hypotheses to adaptation. Playing prominently in both of these criticisms are the concepts of constraint, spandrel, and exaptation. In this article we discuss the standards of evidence that could be used to identify adaptations and when and how they may be appropriately used. Moreover, building an empirical case that certain features of a trait are best explained by exaptation, spandrel, or constraint requires demonstrating that the trait's features cannot be better accounted for by adaptationist hypotheses. Thus, we argue that the testing of alternatives requires the consideration, testing, and systematic rejection of adaptationist hypotheses. Where possible, we illustrate our points with examples taken from human behavior and cognition.     

Free writing: Evaluation of a preventive program with elementary school children

Eight-session free-writing workshops focusing on developing elementary schoolchildren's use of different describing words, reference to self, expression and clarification of feelings, and expression of stress responses were introduced to 324 fifth-grade children living on the northern border of Israel where the probability of war-related crisis is particularly high. The purpose of the study was to evaluate (a) the effectiveness of the workshop and (b) the applicability of free writing in an actual stressful event. Results indicated that the workshop group exhibited higher mean scores than the nonintervention control group on all behavior measures, both after the workshop and following a stressful event (shelling of the town). The theoretical background for free-writing conceptualization is given and the implications of the results are discussed in light of large-scale preventive intervention.     

Discrimination learning decreases perceived similarity according to an objective measure

Initial identification discriminations between two sizes and between two slants produced better overall performances on subsequent size and slant same-different discriminations, respectively. This size- and slant-specific transfer was due to an improvement on only the different pairs. Time-duration identification discriminations with the identical stimuli and response assignments improved neither overall same-different performances nor performances on different pairs. A good performance on different pairs relative to same pairs should indicate a low perceived similarity. The literature indicates that A-X and B-Y pairings produce a positive transfer on an A-versus-B discrimination when X and Y are relatively low in similarity, and also indicates that a low perceived (not physical) similarity improves discrimination learning. An increase in salience should have also improved performance on the same pairs. The conclusion: the initial discriminations decreased the perceived similarity of parts (size or slant). This decrease resembles perceptual contrast. A discrimination between two parts also seems to increase the extent to which each part is apprehended as a separate group. Therefore, the conclusion accords with the position that two groups are associated with contrast, including for visibility.     

Effectiveness of a mental training program for novice scuba divers

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to assess the effects of a mental training program on state anxiety, respiration rate and performance of novice scuba divers. Forty-four participants enrolled in novice open water diving courses served as participants. An intervention group (n = 15), in addition to scuba training, received an audiotaped mental training program designed to reduce anxiety and improve diving performance. A placebo-control group (n = 15) followed the same procedures except that their audiotape contained general information about scuba diving. A control group (n = 14) received only scuba training. The intervention group reported lower pre-dive scores for cognitive anxiety, higher pre-dive scores for self-confidence, performed better on bail-out and mask removal tasks, and showed lower respiration rate than either control group. Respiration rate and somatic anxiety scores significantly predicted bail-out performance. Respiration rate also predicted mask removal performance. These results suggest that novice divers may benefit from mental training as part of their pre-dive instruction.     

Comparative analyses of rider position according to skill levels during walk and trot in Jeju horse

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the rider position at walk and trot as a function of rider skill level by analyzing joint angles. Participants included three advanced riders and six beginners, and training was conducted for one hour, twice a week for 24 weeks. In the walk stage of the beginners’ group, the elbows and shoulders sustained postures comparable to those of the advanced riders group; the trunk tilted forwards at first, but later it tilted slightly behind the vertical. The knee, ankle, and left–right angle kept stable postures after 12 weeks of training (p < .05). The front-rear (FR) angle of the beginners group improved during training, but it was still lower than the advanced riders group after 24 weeks of training (p < .05). At trot, while the knee angle measurement of the beginners’ group was similar to the advanced riders, the ankle joint sustained a forward point posture. The ankle joint maintained dorsiflexion posture with 83.9° ± 5.3 in the advanced riders group, while the beginners group had plantar flexion posture with 98.7° ± 6.0. This study suggested that the correlation between the joint and body segment angles could be an important indicator in the evaluation of rider proficiency.     

Some considerations relating to the choice of an educational program

A random sample of 1098 new freshmen was cross-classified on sex and the extent to which the college major they selected was saturated with natural science and mathematics requirements. The responses of these students on 14 cognitive and 14 goal variables relating to the choice of an educational program were separately analyzed by means of the multivariate analysis of variance. The results of these analyses indicated that students entering natural science/mathematics programs tend to be oriented more towards the concrete and visible outcomes of an education and a career, e.g., training relevant to a career, an above average income, and success and recognition, than are students not choosing this type of program. Non-science students, on the other hand, value the interpersonal and usefulness to society outcomes of their educational and vocational pursuits. The results relating to the cognitive variables were less definitive, although students entering natural science/mathematics programs were more certain of successfully completing their educational program. Contrary to one of the major hypotheses the program groups did not differ with respect to the certainty of their choice of a college major. The results of this study were developed with a decision-making framework for choice of education and career.     

Effectiveness of a DAF conditioning program for adolescent and adult stutterers

The effectiveness of a 90-hr treatment program with 27 adolescent and adult stutterers was studied. The treatment, conversational rate control therapy, consisted of a conditioning program that employed DAF to establish slow stutter-free speech that was subsequently increased in speed to a normal rate. Stimulus control was then generalized to the everyday environment. Recordings of easy and difficult speaking situations were made before and after treatment. Stuttering was substantially reduced for all clients in the clinic and in everyday speaking situations.     

Effectiveness of a short audiovisual emotion recognition training program in adults

The ability to recognize emotions from others’ nonverbal behavior (emotion recognition ability, ERA) is crucial to successful social functioning. However, currently no self-administered ERA training for non-clinical adults covering multiple sensory channels exists. We conducted four studies in a lifespan sample of participants in the laboratory and online (total N?=?531) to examine the effectiveness of a short computer-based training for 14 different emotions using audiovisual clips of emotional expressions. Results showed that overall, young and middle-aged participants that had received the training scored significantly higher on facial, vocal, and audiovisual emotion recognition than the control groups. The training effect for audiovisual ERA persisted over 4 weeks. In older adults (59–90 years), however, the training had no effect. The new, brief training could be useful in applied settings such as professional training, at least for younger and middle-aged adults. In older adults, improving ERA might require a longer and more interactive intervention.     

Effects of guided reflexivity and team feedback on team performance improvement: The role of team regulatory processes and cognitive emergent states

The effectiveness of decision-making teams depends largely on the quality of information processing. Prior research has shown that guided team reflexivity and team feedback are important means of advancing team information processing and outcomes. However, the nature of the relationships, and how these relate to team regulatory processes, cognitive emergent states, and ultimately team performance, is currently poorly understood. Drawing on reflexivity and team information-processing theory, we proposed and found that teams that received guided team reflexivity or a combination of both guided reflexivity and feedback showed higher levels of actual reflection than teams that received neither a reflexivity intervention nor feedback. Conditional process analysis showed that the effects of team reflection on team performance improvement were mediated by a path from shared team mental models to shared task mental models and to adaptation. Finally, we also expected that team reflection would be lower in virtual teams than in face-to-face teams. These hypotheses were tested experimentally among 98 student teams that communicated either face-to-face or virtual (via chat) while completing a collective decision-making task. The information distribution among team members constituted a hidden profile. The results supported all our hypotheses, except for the one relating to virtuality.