Happy thoughts: Enhancing well-being in the classroom with a positive events diary

Positive psychology interventions (PPIs) are effective in increasing well-being across the population. Whilst educators are recognising the importance of well-being in the classroom and of its long-term impact on life trajectory, the transformative potential of PPIs in educational settings is yet to be fully realised. This study investigates, for the first time, the effects of a PPI in school children by means of a daily dairy. Self-report questionnaires were used to measure well-being in school children aged 8–11 years. Across two studies, children kept a positive events diary, recording three experiences every day for a week. The intervention led to an increase in happiness and a decrease in depressive symptoms immediately following the intervention and at a three-month follow-up. Children who had unhappier baseline scores benefitted more from the intervention. This study demonstrates significant scope, in school settings, for targeted light-touch interventions to promote well-being in those with the greatest need.     

Looking forward: the effects of photographs on the qualities of future thinking

Future episodic thinking relies on the reconstruction of remembered experiences. Photographs provide one means of remembering, acting as a “cognitive springboard” for generating related memory qualities. We wondered whether photographs would also invite embellishment of future thought qualities, particularly in the presence (or absence) of associated memories. In two studies participants generated future events in familiar (associated memories) and novel (no associated memories) locations. Half of the participants viewed scene location photographs during event generation. All participants then imagined the events for one minute and completed a self-report measure of content qualities. Results of the current set of studies suggested that for novel locations, no differences in qualities emerged; however, for familiar locations, photographs did not enhance qualities and, in some cases, actually constrained perceptual (Experiments 1 and 2) and sensory (Experiment 1) detail ratings of future thoughts. Thus, photographs did not invite embellishment of future thought details.     

Anthropocentric by Default? Attribution of Familiar and Novel Properties to Living Things

Humans naturally and effortlessly use a set of cognitive tools to reason about biological entities and phenomena. Two such tools, essentialist thinking and teleological thinking, appear to be early developmental cognitive defaults, used extensively in childhood and under limited circumstances in adulthood, but prone to reemerge under time pressure or cognitive load. We examine the nature of another such tool: anthropocentric thinking. In four experiments, we examined patterns of property attribution to a wide range of living and non‐living objects, manipulating time pressure, response type, and property (either novel or familiar) in a total of 471 participants. Results showed no tendency toward increased similarity‐based attribution patterns indicative of anthropocentric thinking under time pressure. However, anthropocentric thinking was consistently observed for unfamiliar properties. These findings suggest that anthropocentric thinking is not a developmentally persistent cognitive default, but rather a cognitive strategy deliberately employed in situations of uncertainty.     

Developing a Learning Progression for Curriculum,Instruction, and Student Learning: An Example from Mathematics Education

Learning progressions have been demarcated by some for science education, or only concerned with levels of sophistication in student thinking as determined by logical analyses of the discipline. We take the stance that learning progressions can be leveraged in mathematics education as a form of curriculum research that advances a linked understanding of students learning over time through careful articulation of a curricular framework and progression, instructional sequence, assessments, and levels of sophistication in student learning. Under this broadened conceptualization, we advance a methodology for developing and validating learning progressions, and advance several design considerations that can guide research concerned with engendering forms of mathematics learning, and curricular and instructional support for that learning. We advance a two-phase methodology of (a) research and development, and (b) testing and revision. Each phase involves iterative cycles of design and experimentation with the aim of developing a validated learning progression. In particular, we gathered empirical data to revise our hypothesized curricular framework and progression and to measure change in students. thinking over time as a means to validate both the effectiveness of our instructional sequence and of the assessments designed to capture learning. We use the context of early algebra to exemplify our approach to learning progressions in mathematics education with a focus on the concept of mathematical equivalence across Grades 3-5. The domain of work on research on learning over time is evolving; our work contributes a broadened role for learning progressions work in mathematics education research and practice.     

A first grade student’s exploration of variable and variable notation / Una alumna de primer grado explora las variables y su notación

Abstract

This paper presents a case study of a first grade student to illustrate the diversity of her understandings related to variables and variable notation. While prior research has documented secondary school students’ difficulties with variables and variable notation, we identify many productive understandings in this much younger student, leading us to question the prevailing argument that students might have difficulties with variables due mostly to their own limitations. We draw our data from a teaching experiment that explored functional relationships. Individual interviews were carried out with a subset of the students in the experiment prior to, as well as mid-way through and at the end of the experiment. This paper focuses on a set of three interviews with one of the first grade students. We illustrate the shifts that occurred in the student’s understandings about variables and variable notation across as well as within each of the three interviews.     

Lost in (cyber)space: finding two adolescent boys hiding from their own humanity

This article explores the intense psychological effects of compulsive Internet use, which has become increasingly common among adolescent boys and young men. Two cases are presented and discussed to illustrate some of the psychic distortions around thinking and feeling, as these occurred in the analysis of a mid‐adolescent boy and of another patient in later adolescence. A kind of narcissistic omnipotence grounded in magical thinking appeared to take root in their minds, and it led to an avoidant pattern in relationships because of such strong wishes for both distance and control. A short review of the conceptual origins of magical thinking underscores its continued relevance because so many now engage with the Internet. In addition, Anzieu's idea of the ‘skin ego’ is applied to the clinical case material to provide a theoretical framework for the developmental challenges that can appear in adolescent boys who seek to use the Internet as a form of psychic container. Emerging problems that immersion in the Internet might bring into our practices, for example the depleting effects of massive projective identification, are considered and discussed, along with the obvious ways in which using the Internet can be beneficial for connecting with others, for creating new platforms of expression, and for education.     

蝴蝶效应与临床思维——一例多器官衰竭患者诊疗反思

多器官衰竭或多器官功能障碍综合征在临床中尤其是急诊及重症监护室内常见,各种病因所致的疾病进展到一定程度均可导致多器官衰竭。在本案例中,一例老年男性患者,以急性腹泻起病,后短时间内进展为多器官衰竭。通过对该例患者病史总结、病理生理机制的探讨,以及对整个诊疗过程的反思,结合“蝴蝶效应”理论,总结出一种新的临床思维,并探讨“蝴蝶效应”理论在对该例患者的诊断、治疗甚至医患沟通方面所起到的作用,以期通过参考该案例,对以后的临床工作起到一定帮助。     

直觉思维在麻醉临床决策中的应用

围手术期麻醉医师面临问题的复杂性、动态性和模糊性,要求其在具备良好逻辑思维能力的同时,还要学会应用直觉思维来进行麻醉危机管理。通过决策判断的双加工理论模型探讨说明直觉思维在临床麻醉决策中的可应用性,并给出麻醉医师直觉思维的培养途径,提高麻醉医师的思考能力,增加应急处理课程和临床训练,重视临床经验的学习,营造良好的教学氛围。为了在围手术期更好地保证患者的安全,麻醉医师应重视直觉思维在临床麻醉决策中的应用。     

牙髓病治疗过程的历史回顾与哲学思考

牙髓病的发生原因遵循多因素的模式,牙髓病的治疗方案的研究历程顺应该病发生原因研究进程和认识,在牙髓病治疗过程中体现了技术更新的跃进方式更新和渐进形式更新,说明一项新技术替代原有技术,实现了旧质向新质的转换,而疾病的防治需要科学的策略和措施。     

医生健康素养认知调查及内涵探析

调查医生对健康素养概念及内涵、健康教育方式、存在问题等方面的认知情况。调查显示,一半以上的医生对健康素养了解程度一般,96.3%的医生认为病人的健康素养一般或差,96.7%的医生认为其有责任对病人进行健康教育,同时86.2%的医生认为医生健康素养与病人有区别。基于调查,提出医生健康素养应该具有双重属性,第一重属性为医生作为个体应该具备维持和促进自身健康的知识和能力;第二重属性为作为医生应该具备的本科室常见病相关健康教育知识、运用健康知识,针对病人健康问题进行有效沟通,提高病人健康素养水平的能力。