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Research has identified 10 high-leverage teaching practices (HLTPs) that can impact student learning of a foreign language. While acknowledging the importance of this work, more research is needed to inform the preparation of novice teachers to enact these practices. In response, the researchers conducted a case study involving two foreign language teacher preparation programs in the United States and Germany, to better understand how the two very different programs prepare their candidates to implement HLTPs, which HLTPs are emphasized, and how successful they are at preparing their aspiring teachers to implement one practice that has been identified in the research as particularly important (facilitating target language comprehensibility). Survey, teaching observation, and interview data collected from teacher candidates and their instructors suggested the critical nature of select HLTPs, that some of the subcomponents of one of these practices may be more challenging for novice teachers to master than others, and that there may be multiple approaches to preparing foreign language teachers to implement HLTPs.
This volume is largely about nontraditional data; this paper is about a nontraditional visualization: classification trees. Using trees with data will be new to many students, so rather than beginning with a computer algorithm that produces optimal trees, we suggest that students first construct their own trees, one node at a time, to explore how they work, and how well. This build-it-yourself process is more transparent than using algorithms such as CART; we believe it will help students not only understand the fundamentals of trees, but also better understand tree-building algorithms when they do encounter them. And because classification is an important task in machine learning, a good foundation in trees can prepare students to better understand that emerging and important field. We also describe a free online tool—Arbor—that students can use to do this, and note some implications for instruction.
The saving of previously encoded information boosts both memory for subsequent information (saving-enhanced memory; SEM) as well as cognitive performance in general (saving-enhanced performance; SEP). These findings have been replicated in a setting that involves the assistance by an intelligent software that automatically structures and saves work content in an interactive sidebar. It is assumed that beneficial effects on cognitive performance due to (automatic) saving are caused by a reduction in current workload by means of cognitive offloading. We tested this assumption by measuring neural activity in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) via functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS)—once after saving and once after deleting of previously collected information that had to be recalled later-on. On a behavioral level, there was a brief benefit of saving. However, cognitive offloading became most apparent on a neural level: after saving, participants showed significantly lower activation in the right DLPFC. Also, the more participants benefited from cognitive offloading, the more they were able to re-access previously collected, saved information. Thus, fNIRS results indicated reduced mental load after saving, confirming the assumption that saving triggers cognitive offloading.
Two experiments examined effects of including an information about a disability in a person description on memory about that person’s traits. In Experiment 1, this information impaired correct recognition of traits of a person that had been described in correspondence to gender stereotypes. In Experiment 2, it induced false memories in accordance with stereotypes about people with disabilities. Participants’ false alarms for traits belonging to the dimension of warmth increased, whereas false alarms for traits belonging to the dimension of competence decreased. Thus, activating stereotypes through a disability prime influenced what could be recognized correctly or falsely was assumed to be recognized about a person.
The notion of “bounded rationality” was introduced by Simon as an appropriate framework for explaining how agents reason and make decisions in accordance with their computational limitations and the characteristics of the environments in which they exist (seen metaphorically as two complementary scissor blades).We elaborate on how bounded rationality is usually conceived in psychology and on its relationship with logic. We focus on the relationship between heuristics and some non-monotonic logical systems. These two categories of cognitive tools share fundamental features. As a step further, we show that in some cases heuristics themselves can be formalized from this logic perspective. We have therefore two main aims: on the one hand, to demonstrate the relationship between the bounded rationality programme and logic, understood in a broad sense; on the other hand, to provide logical tools of analysis of already known heuristics. This may lead to results such as the characterization of fast and frugal binary trees in terms of their associated logic program here provided.
Retrieval-based learning has been investigated in various populations. The present study examined retrieval-based learning in a sample of students at a special-needs school with educational tracks for learning and mental development. In addition, a comparison group of students at a regular school was examined. Learning conditions were manipulated within participants. In a first session, participants either received restudy cycles only, or they received alternating test and restudy cycles. A second session then comprised the opposite form of practice. In both sessions, a final test assessed memory after a short distractor phase. This procedure was the same in two experiments but with different kinds of item material. For both kinds (images and image-word pairs), a testing effect occurred, that is higher recall of tested items. These results show that lower cognitive ability or lack of experience with regularly being tested in school do not prevent students from benefiting from retrieval-based learning.
For some people with strong motor impairments, controlling a computer with theeyes is the only possibility for human-computer interaction. In addition, gaze controlis becoming a new option as an input device for the general population as wellbecause of the increasing availability of eye-tracking technology. Yet, little is knownabout additional cognitive demands involved in gaze control and how to handlepotentially high demands when using the eyes not only for perception but also foraction. The present study shows that cognitive offloading improves performancewhen using gaze control. Memory for to-be-studied items benefitted significantlyfrom saving another set of items just studied before for later restudy. Employing cog-nitive offloading in a targeted manner may be a useful means to assist in mastering eye-gaze control.
We consider groups defined by non-empty balanced presentations with the property that each relator is of the form, where x and y are distinct generators and is determined by some fixed cyclically reduced word that involves both a and b. To every such presentation we associate a directed graph whose vertices correspond to the generators and whose arcs correspond to the relators. Under the hypothesis that the girth of the underlying undirected graph is at least 4, we show that the resulting groups are non-trivial and cannot be finite of rank 3 or higher. Without the hypothesis on the girth it is well known that both the trivial group and finite groups of rank 3 can arise.
Females and students of non-dominant ethnicity are less likely to aspire to science careers. However, overcoming discrimination in science and chemistry is a challenging task, especially in vocational orientation. Thus, there is a need for strategies to support young women in their identity formation in science and chemistry. This article presents a scheme for supporting young women’s science identity formation in conversations about vocational orientation. The goal is to support young women in developing a positive attitude towards careers in chemistry. This attitude is part of cultural chemistry capital. The scheme was developed based on a study conducted as part of the project DiSenSu. Here, coachings for vocational orientation for young women in science and chemistry are provided, following the idea of Science in Public. In the coaching, the attitudes towards science and chemistry were determined using quantitative data. Based on these results, coaches conducted conversations with the participants. Qualitative analysis of 11 conversations revealed strategies coaches used to support young women in their vocational orientation. The study shows how the participants’ attitude towards careers in chemistry is used as a starting point for coachings. Also, it provides strategies that can be used to promote young women’s cultural chemistry capital.
A crucial aspect of learning about (linear) functions is being able to change between graph and equation. Common German and Slovak textbooks propose different procedures for these representational changes. Within a sample of 49 German and 56 Slovak teachers, we analyzed if these different procedures can also be observed in the teachers’ corresponding knowledge of content and students, i. e. if the teachers expected different student strategies and errors. The results confirm this assumption and emphasize the importance to consider this teacher's knowledge in a country-specific way and being careful when comparing such knowledge of teachers from different countries.
The different facets of professional performance of teachers are being debated in the current educational
research discussion. Both qualitative and quantitative test constructions exist for vignette-based measurement of
competence. For economic reasons, a procedure with closed-ended items is often favored, a reference is required for
determining and comparing alternative responses. This paper sketches out the procedure for identifying adequate
reactions to responses that we call a technical education expert norm (PCK-T). This expert norm is generated from
a multi-step expert survey and, in addition, reveals possible validation steps that can be derived for developing
teaching situations. After a content validation (N1 = 8) a multi-step quantitative survey with specialised subject
experts at schools and universities, departmental heads at public colleges for education and teacher training, as well
as experienced teachers of technology was carried out (N2 = 79; N3 = 76). In order to assess teaching competencies
of pre-service teachers using a vignette-based test procedure, the generated technical education expert norm (PCKT) allows adequate responses to be differentiated from (rather) inadequate responses in the teaching situations
In this study, the relationship between religiosity and value priorities is differentiated, based on a multidimensional model of religiosity (Structure-of-Religiosity-Test). The structure of values is conceptualized using Shalom H. Schwartz’s two orthogonal dimensions of self-transcendence vs. self-enhancement and openness to change vs. conservation. The relationship between these two dimensions and the centrality of religiosity, seven religious orientations, seven emotions toward God, and three political orientations were tested with a correlational analysis in a sample of members of Abrahamic religions, the non-denominational, and organized secularists in Switzerland (n = 1093). The results show, that different values are preferred (self-direction, universalism, benevolence, tradition, security, and power values) depending on the content of the religious orientations and emotions toward God. The results indicate the importance of the content of religious orientations and emotions for predicting value-loaded behaviors.
To successfully cope with global challenges such as climate change or loss of biodiversity, it will require a substantial change in the ways societies make use of the natural resources of our planet. Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) is expected to support the transformation of societies towards more sustainable ways of thinking, working, and living. Although there is a broad range of literature on ESD, little is known about the role of school leadership in ESD. However, leadership is crucial for the implementation of ESD in schools. This article gives a short overview of the status of ESD within Germany, Macau, and the United States and a literature review on leadership for ESD in schools. It reports on a study that seeks to investigate what principals do in Germany, Macau, and the United States; specifically, what management strategies they use and which competences they need to successfully establish ESD in their schools.
Effective school leaders significantly influence the performance of their schools. Unfortunately, in many countries worldwide attracting qualified candidates to become school principals is becoming increasingly difficult. This paper reports on several comparative studies that were carried out within the framework of a long-term research cooperation between a German and an US-American University. The aim of these studies was to clarify the motivation of teachers in deciding for or against taking over a position as a principal. For a better understanding of the background, the article also includes a section on the similarities and differences between the school systems of Germany and the USA and the responsibilities of principals.
The factor structure of the German edition of the KABC-II for ages 5 and 6 was examined in a clinical sample. Participants were 450 children ages 5 and 6 who had been assessed due to various behavioral, emotional, or developmental disorders in five Centers for Social Pediatrics (SPCs). Confirmatory factor analyses of the standard test structure including core subtests of the Cattell-Horn-Carroll model and of the Luria model were conducted using maximum likelihood estimation. Several modified structures derived from CHC ability classifications were evaluated. Second-order factor structures corresponding to the standard test structure of the KABC-II demonstrated an adequate global fit for both theoretical models and were superior to unidimensional models. The fit of bifactor models was comparable to second-order models. In all subtests, the general factor accounted for more variance than group factors (broad abilities). However, in more than half of the subtests, unique variance explained the largest portion of the variance. The scale Learning/Glr showed a lack of convergent validity. At age 6, a model omitting subtest Rover significantly improved the fit. In the combined sample of 5- and 6-year-old children, both second-order and bifactor models with nine subtests demonstrated excellent fit
In the educational context, graph literacy describes the competence to read, comprehend, and interpret formative assessment data in terms of data-based decision-making (DBDM) in order to derive and justify individual adaptations of instruction based on them. Since misconceptions may arise in predicting a future learning progress due to the characteristics of the data base as well as the approach to graph literacy, effective supports are needed, especially for inexperienced teachers. We present two interrelated studies to broaden the field of support in graph literacy. In Study I, graph literacy procedures are collected from N = 196 university student teachers using an online survey that includes six case vignettes with learning progress prediction tasks. Results show that both regular and special education student teachers intuitively neglect important data points in interpretation and they do not use a consistent strategy in prediction across the case vignettes (Fleiss’ κ = 0.071; p < 0.001). Building on the results of Study I, a 3-min video intervention for linear trend identification using Tukey Tri-Split was developed. Study II tested the efficacy of the video intervention on the accuracy of future learning progress among student teachers and in-service teachers (N = 198) using randomized group assignment compared to a brief text hint. With a large effect size of Cohens’ f = 0.39, the video instruction shows high efficacy compared to the text hint. The increasing importance of DBDM in inclusive and special education is discussed.
Since students’ knowledge of scientific language can be one of the main difficulties when learning science, teachers must have adequate knowledge of scientific language as well as the teaching and learning of it. Currently, little is known about teachers’ practices and, thus, teachers’ knowledge of scientific language, in general, and the teaching and learning of it (Pedagogical Scientific Language Knowledge, PSLK) in particular. For this reason, with this systematic review, we seek to identify elements of pre- and in-service primary and secondary science teachers’ PSLK. The search was conducted on the database Education Resources Information Center (ERIC) and resulted in 35 articles with empirical evidence after the selection process. The results have been deductively and inductively categorized following the framework of the Refined Consensus Model of Pedagogical Content Knowledge, elaborating elements of different knowledge categories that shape PSLK, as well as PSLK itself (e.g., knowledge of (i) scientific language role models, (ii) making scientific terms and language explicit, (iii) providing a discursive classroom, and (iv) providing multiple representations and resources). We can conclude that more research on PSLK is needed as analyzed articles are mainly based on case studies. Additionally, this paper shows a need for a stronger focus on scientific language in teacher education programs. Implications for further research and teacher education are discussed.
We investigated retrieval-induced forgetting of motor sequences in samples of Chinese participants. Retrieval-induced forgetting occurs when selective retrieval of a subset of information stored in memory causes forgetting for the non-retrieved rest. This phenomenon critically depends on the organised storage of separate categories of memory representations. In studies with participants from a Western culture (Germany), a categorization in left- and right-hand movements previously had been supported by letter stimuli based on a spatial mental representation of the Roman alphabet. The same assignment of letters from the beginning or end of the alphabet to motor sequences performed either with the left- or the right-hand did not entail retrieval-induced forgetting in the present study, however (Experiment 1). In Experiment 2, visual features of displaying to-be-learned sequences additionally supported a distinction into left and right. In Experiment 3, learning trials provided verbal category labels. The occurrence of retrieval-induced forgetting in the latter two experiments suggests language-dependent organisation of non-verbal items in memory.
We investigated whether retrieval-based learning can facilitate the acquisition of cognitive skills, focusing on the control-of-variables strategy. This core scientific experimentation skill is regularly taught in science education classes because understanding it is essential for understanding experimental investigations in science. In the present study, participants initially read a text explaining the control-of-variables strategy. We compared the effects of subsequent retrieval practice and restudy of the text in performing a transfer test requiring the application of the control-of-variables strategy by judging the validity of a number of experimental designs. In addition, recall of the initially studied text was assessed as well. Repeated retrieval practice in combination with restudy opportunities resulted in better performance in both the transfer test and the recall test as compared to mere restudy or a single study opportunity. These findings demonstrate that retrieval practice is a useful tool for promoting deep conceptual learning.