Delaying feedback promotes transfer of knowledge despite student preferences to receive feedback immediately

Educators and researchers who study human learning often assume that feedback is most effective when given immediately. However, a growing body of research has challenged this assumption by demonstrating that delaying feedback can facilitate learning. Advocates for immediate feedback have questioned the generalizability of this finding, suggesting that such effects only occur in highly controlled laboratory settings. We report a pair of experiments in which the timing of feedback was manipulated in an upper-level college engineering course. Students practiced applying their knowledge of complex engineering concepts on weekly homework assignments, and then received feedback either immediately after the assignment deadline or 1 week later. When students received delayed feedback, they performed better on subsequent course exams that contained new problems about the same concepts. Although delayed feedback produced superior transfer of knowledge, students reported that they benefited most from immediate feedback, revealing a metacognitive disconnect between actual and perceived effectiveness.     

Classroom Peer Relationships and Behavioral Engagement in Elementary School: The Role of Social Network Equity

Applying social capital and systems theories of social processes, we examine the role of the classroom peer context in the behavioral engagement of low-income students (N = 80) in urban elementary school classrooms (N = 22). Systematic child observations were conducted to assess behavioral engagement among second to fifth graders in the fall and spring of the same school year. Classroom observations, teacher and child questionnaires, and social network data were collected in the fall. Confirming prior research, results from multilevel models indicate that students with more behavioral difficulties or less academic motivation in the fall were less behaviorally engaged in the spring. Extending prior research, classrooms with more equitably distributed and interconnected social ties—social network equity—had more behaviorally engaged students in the spring, especially in classrooms with higher levels of observed organization (i.e., effective management of behavior, time, and attention). Moreover, social network equity attenuated the negative relation between student behavioral difficulties and behavioral engagement, suggesting that students with behavioral difficulties were less disengaged in classrooms with more equitably distributed and interconnected social ties. Findings illuminate the need to consider classroom peer contexts in future research and intervention focused on the behavioral engagement of students in urban elementary schools.     

Comparing acceptance and rejection in the classroom interaction of students who stutter and their peers: A social network analysis

PurposeRecent work has reported adverse effects of students’ stuttering on their social and emotional functioning at school. Yet, few studies have provided an in-depth examination of classroom interaction of students who stutter (SWS). The current study uses a network perspective to compare acceptance and rejection in the classroom interaction between SWS and their peers in secondary education.MethodsThe sample comprised 22 SWS and 403 non-stuttering peers (22 classes) of secondary education in Flanders (Belgium). Students' nominations regarding three acceptance and three rejection criteria were combined. Social network analysis offered procedures that considered direct and indirect interaction between all classmates.ResultsWe found few significant differences: SWS and their peers were distributed similarly across positive and negative status groups. Both considered and were considered by, on average, six or seven classmates as ‘a friend', who they liked and could count on, and nominated or were nominated by one or two classmates as ‘no friend', somebody who they disliked and could not count on. On average, SWS and their classmates also did not differ in terms of structural position in the class group (degree, closeness and betweenness), reciprocated rejection, and clique size. However, SWS do tend to be slightly more stringent or more careful in nominating peers, which led to fewer reciprocated friendships.ConclusionOur results suggest that SWS are quite accepted by peers in secondary education in Flanders. Such positive peer interaction can create a supportive and encouraging climate for SWS to deal with specific challenges.     

An Analysis of the Status and Stability of the Behaviors of Students with Emotional and Behavioral Difficulties

Students with emotional and behavioral problems are placed in a variety of classroom settings, presumably where their needs can be best served. Little attention, however, has been dedicated to monitoring their behavioral progress in these settings. This study analyzed data on student engagement, disruption, and destruction during 10 types of instructional activities. Data were collected at two times across one academic year in Pennsylvania and California in 90 classrooms, ranging from grades 1 to 12. Tests of mean comparisons (i.e., independent samples and paired t-tests) and the association between variables (i.e., bivariate correlation analysis) were conducted to address a number of concerns regarding the status and stability of classrooms for students with EBD. Independent paired sample t-tests showed a lack of significant improvement in behaviors across time, and the correlational data reflect a significant relationship between student engagement and classroom activity. Findings are discussed in light of limitations and directions for future research. In addition, practical implications are noted.     

Classroom problem behavior and teacher-child relationships in kindergarten: The moderating role of classroom climate

Young children with problem behavior in the classroom are at risk for developing more conflictual and less close relationships with their teachers. Two studies in kindergarten (N = 3798; N = 237) shed light on some aspects of classroom climate that can moderate this risk for relational problems. Results showed problematic classroom compositions, in terms of high average levels of internalizing or externalizing behavior, to exacerbate the risk for teachers to form more conflictual relationships with children showing externalizing behavior. Additionally, observed emotional support of teachers was found to be protective for the relational functioning of children at risk due to maladjusted behavior. Specifically, with emotionally supportive teachers, children who expose internalizing or externalizing behavior are no longer at risk for developing less close or more conflictual relationships with their teachers respectively. Practical implications and limitations of the studies are reported and suggestions are made for future research.     

Reading First kindergarten classroom instruction and students' growth in phonological awareness and letter naming–decoding fluency

This study investigated the role of the amount, content, and implementation of reading instruction provided by 17 kindergarten teachers in eight Reading First elementary schools as it related to students' progress (n = 286 students) on early reading assessments of phonological awareness and letter naming–decoding fluency. Children's phonological awareness and letter naming–decoding fluency grew significantly from fall to spring. On average, across the three 60 min observations, teachers provided over 30 min a day of phonological awareness and phonics instruction and 15 min a day of vocabulary and comprehension instruction. Global ratings of instructional quality revealed two implementation factors: explicit and individualized implementation and meaningful interactions around text. Hierarchical linear modeling revealed that the amounts of specific instructional content, as well as how this instruction was implemented, was related to students' letter knowledge and phonological awareness skill growth.     

小学教师课堂信息表征对知觉加工能力影响的研究

对80名20～40岁小学教师进行实验室实验与心理测验,探讨小学教师表征深度对不同类型课堂信息加工速度和判断准确性的影响,并对部分参加实验教师的课堂教学情况进行了访谈。结果表明:表征深度对课堂信息加工速度有显著的影响,对课堂信息判断正确率没有影响;教师课堂教学情况的访谈结果与实验研究结果基本一致。     

Nurturing spirituality in secular classrooms

Since 1999 the New Zealand secular school curriculum has included a statement on fostering children's spirituality in classrooms. This statement defines spirituality in a broad fashion and includes reference to Maori (indigenous New Zealander) views on spirituality. The implications of this for classroom teachers have not been researched in this country and therefore this paper reports on a study that examined teachers' views on spirituality and the implications for the children they teach. The methodology focused on the experiences of nine teachers in two multicultural secular primary schools. The classroom experiences of a spiritual nature that the teachers recounted, while many and varied, revealed some common themes that related to the climate of the classrooms. Such classrooms were characterized as being non-judgemental and non-self-conscious and as places where a community of spiritual discourse was encouraged and where deeply meaningful activities and events occurred. The findings suggest that while teachers cannot plan and predict precisely what will foster spirituality in classrooms, teachers can cultivate a climate that enhances children's spirituality.     

Effects of variation in teacher organization on classroom functioning

This study examined effects of variation in teacher organization on how time is spent in classrooms, focusing on time spent in transitions and instruction, including child skill by teacher organization interactions. Forty-four first-grade classrooms were observed three times over the school year. Timed narratives of each activity were recorded. “Orient-organize” referred to time teachers spent orienting students to classroom procedures or organizing the class for specific assignments, and included instructional clarity, where teachers described objectives of activities to students. Using hierarchical linear modeling, substantial variation across teachers in orient-organize was observed. Overall, classrooms spent less time in organization as the school year progressed. In addition, spending more time in organization was related to less time spent in transition. Students in classrooms that spent more time in organization in the fall also experienced greater amounts of time in child-managed activities in the spring. There was also an interaction between child vocabulary and amount of orient-organize in the winter. Students with lower vocabulary scores were more likely to be in classrooms that spent more time in spring child-managed activities if they continued to receive substantial amounts of orient-organize in the winter. The opposite was the case for students with high vocabulary skills.     

Trajectories of classroom externalizing behavior: Contributions of child characteristics, family characteristics, and the teacher-child relationship during the school transition

The unique and interactive contributions of past externalizing behavior, negative parenting, and teacher-child relationship quality to externalizing behavior trajectories after the transition to school were examined. In a sample of 283 children, random regression analyses indicated that conflict in the teacher-child relationship during the school transition contributed to faster rates of increase in externalizing behavior from kindergarten through third grade above and beyond negative parenting and initial levels of externalizing behavior. A significant interaction between teacher-child closeness and the externalizing behavior intercept indicated that decreases in externalizing behavior were associated with teacher-child closeness, especially for children with the highest levels of externalizing behavior upon school entry. Family socioeconomic status and initial levels of classroom externalizing behavior in kindergarten were also significant contributors to the prediction of externalizing behavior trajectories.