Understanding how struggling students approach math is vital to designing effective math lessons. Many low achieving students rely on a weak knowledge of procedures and attempt calculations without adequate consideration of the problem. We investigated how enabling or preventing premature calculations affected learning math. Students were presented with explanations of math problems that either contained numbers, thus allowing for calculations, or contained variables, thus preventing the possibility of calculations. In Experiment 1, we asked students to learn from a conceptual explanation and found that preventing calculations was beneficial, especially for students with less prior experience in math. In Experiment 2, when the lesson was procedures-focused, we found that preventing calculations did not have the same beneficial effect. Students with less prior experience performed poorly compared to those with more experience. Given students' prior math experience and their usual approach to problem-solving, we can facilitate learning by blocking maladaptive approaches.

Persons with moderate mental retardation were trained to use external memory strategies in order to overcome their working memory limitations. We expected that metacognitive training would allow these individuals to use external memories and that this would be associated with higher recall. It was further hypothesized that the training would be more effective when combined with a short verbalization instruction. Verbalization of one’s own thinking and actions should support and reinforce strategic thinking and structure representation. Verbalization should also permit the participants to acquire or access meta-knowledge, one of the basic components postulated for transfer of strategies. Furthermore, performance in analogical tasks should be improved by transferring the use of external memory strategies. The results show that only some of the participants of the experimental group with and without verbalization used the external memory strategy after training. Those who did use the external memory strategy at posttest performed well with regard to recall performance. We concluded that an external memory strategy is required if the task memory load is high and that the memory performance depends on the use of an external memory aid. The problem of transfer to analogical reasoning tasks remained, most likely because how external memories could be used in such tasks was not made explicit, and did the tasks did not allow much use of external memories.

The objective of this study was to investigate the reliability of three major domains of individual dynamic assessment (DA): (a) deficient cognitive functions (DCF), (b) types of mediation given during DA, and (c) non-intellective factors. A sample of 35 young adolescents was administered eight tests from the Learning Potential Assessment Device (LPAD) (Feuerstein, Rand, & Hoffman, 1979). The sample was composed of children diagnosed with learning disabilities and educable mental handicaps, and normally achieving children. The DA procedure for each case was videotaped for 8 to 15 hours and later rated for the three main domains. Results in general showed moderate reliability scores for DCF and mediational strategies and lower reliability scores for the non-intellective factors (NIF). Separate analyses were carried out for ratings which include a 0 category (examiners could not observe a behavior) and ratings without a 0 category. The results showed a general tendency for higher agreement among raters when the 0 category was removed. In type of mediation, ratings were similar with or without the 0 rating only in the training phase, when agreement was higher in approximately 10% of categories when 0 ratings were included than when not. These results were explained by referring to the interaction of type of task and phase of testing (situation) interaction.

After introducing the networked flow as a collective creativity process, this article analyzes whether certain social network analysis (SNA) indices could be possible predictors of the social structures’ collective creativity. An empirical study was conducted in which online collaborative groups of adults on a postgraduate course interacted by a web platform to achieve a shared objective. The groups’ final products were evaluated on their originality and transferability, and these were then compared to the groups’ collective activity parameters. Final results show that the Cliques Participation Index (CPI), purposely created for this study, is a potential predictor in the groups’ collective creativity.

This master’s thesis (Berger, 2003) concerns a new learning potential test of analogical reasoning, the Hessels Analogical Reasoning Test (HART; Hessels, 2003) aimed at the assessment of pupils from 5 to 15 years of age in a group situation. A frequently emphasized problem of learning potential tests is the time needed for their administration. We intend to be able to assess a whole group of approximately 20 pupils in the context of their classroom, in a relatively short time of about 45 to 60 minutes.

The analogies are presented in two different formats: 2 rows x 3 lines with six response alternatives or 3x3 with eight response alternatives. The number of elements varies from one to three, as does the number of transformations. We created nine series of increasing complexity for a total of 70 items. The items were constructed by pairs, meaning that two items had the same number of elements, and the same number and kind of transformations applied. The complexity, that is, theoretical difficulty, was defined by the number of transformations and elements present in the analogy. For example, an item with one element and one transformation is easier than an item with three elements and two transformations. The procedure was divided into two phases. In the first phase, a collective introduction was offered using four example items aimed at familiarizing the pupils with the tasks and the different formats of the matrices. Immediately after, a pre-test combined with training (after each item an explanation was given about the transformations applied) was administered using the first set. The second phase was a static post-test administered a few days after the pre-test/training using the parallel forms of the pre-test/training items. For each degree, a series of items was defined, according to level of difficulty, varying between 12 (1^st grade) and 20 items (6_th grade) for each phase of the test.

We administered the HART to 117 pupils of a primary public school (mean age 8;11). In addition, these pupils took the Standard Progressive Matrices of Raven (SPM) and an arithmetical test in a static and collective administration. Teachers of each class completed a rating scale for each of his pupils about three noncognitive variables (participation in the lessons, application in schoolwork, and behavior in class) and two cognitive variables (school success in French and mathematics).

The results showed that the training caused great inter- and intraindividual variation, explained by the learning process taking place during this phase. Due to this variation, internal consistency was low for this phase. Thus, for subsequent analysis, we only considered the reliable results of the post-test. Of main interest were the correlations between the HART and the other variables measured. The noncognitive factors given by the teacher’s judgments showed lower correlations with the HART than with the SPM. For instance, the HART showed a correlation of .08 (ns) with pupil’s behavior, whereas the SPM showed a correlation of .21 (p<.05). This result means that the score offered by the HART is more independent of behavior in class. Moreover, the arithmetic test is more correlated with the learning test than with the SPM. Finally, a stepwise regression analysis demonstrated that the SPM predicted 14.2% (F_1,116=19.151; p<.01) of the variance of success in mathematics; the HART predicted an extra 4% (F_1,115=5.557; p<.05). For French, the stepwise regression analysis shows that the HART has a slightly superior predictive validity.

These first results show that the instrument can be used in a group situation and has promising properties. The research will be extended to different populations, with variations in the procedures and methods.

The focus of this article is on the effects of mediated learning experience (MLE) interactions on children’s cognitive modifiability. In this article, I discuss the MLE theory, and selected research findings demonstrating the impact of MLE strategies in facilita ting cognitive modifiability. Research findings derive from mother–child interactions, peer-mediation and cognitive education programs. Mediation for transcendence (expanding) was found consistently as the most powerful strategy predicting cognitive modifiability and distal factors in samples of children with learning difficulties directly predict cognitive modifiability. Findings of peer-mediation studies indicate that children in experimental groups participating in the Peer Mediation with Young Children program showed better mediational teaching style and higher cognitive modifiability than children in control groups. Application of dynamic assessment as a central evaluation method reveals that the contribution of the cognitive education program was not simply supporting the development of a particular skill practiced during the program; it also involved teaching children how to benefit from mediation in a different setting and consequently improve their cognitive performance across other domains.

In two studies, we set out to examine whether the verbal working memory of high and low test-anxious students differed under performance-evaluative threat. In Study 1, 84 schoolchildren completed a backward digit span task under threat or no-threat conditions. In Study 2, 71 schoolchildren completed a backward digit span task in both threat and no-threat conditions. Results showed that the verbal working memory capacity of highly test-anxious students in Study 1 did not change under low or high threat conditions. In Study 2, the verbal working memory capacity of highly test-anxious students decreased under performance-evaluative threat when this condition was taken first but increased when this condition was taken second. To account for the effects of performance-evaluative threat, it is necessary to consider how increased effortful control may compensate for anxiety-induced reduced efficiency when tasks are not timed.

Education at its best allows students to experience the fruitfulness and joy of the creative process. One complexity of applying research findings to education is that creative work unfolds in phases and the various phases engage distinctively different cognitive processes. Since Wallas first described four phases, psychologists have elaborated on them and pointed to additional phases and subphases. Some involve effortful conscious processes; others entail implicit cognition and/or effortless attention. The field has benefitted from research in related areas as well as from direct studies of conditions that enhance various phases of creative performance. This article reviews current knowledge on the phases and incorporates findings from related areas. The challenge for educators is to structure student work in ways which support the different phases—both deliberate phases such as preparation and evaluation and those which appear to emerge spontaneously such as insight and flow. The findings underscore of the value of specific classroom activities, activities which scaffold and/or invite the different phases of creative work. The cognitive processes engaged by the creative process also benefit from other activities which enhance executive function, elevate mood, and allow opportunities for flow.

In their article, Levin and O’Donnell argue that educational research has sunk to the level that it is becoming irrelevant to educational theorizing or educational practice. They indicate several reasons for this. Among them are tensions between laboratory or experimental research approaches as contrasted with contextual approaches that tend to be poorly informed by theory or rigorous scientific method. Levin and O’Donnell go on to offer practical suggestions how to “fix” the problem by employing rigorous methodological approaches. In my commentary to Levin and O’Donnell I point out points of agreement with their general thesis and suggest historical as well as contemporary ways we might approach the problem. These include moving beyond simplistic qualitative versus quantitative arguments about educational research, contextualizing and clarifying “constructivism” in educational parlance, and reforming training in education so that graduates will be better versed in the method and content of ancillary fields that inform or should inform educational research and practice.

In this study the author examines the efficacy of translating socio-cognitive principles into practice, by using the FCL (Fostering Communities of Learners and Thinkers) method devised by Brown and Campione. The benefits of FCL are compared with traditional interventions, within the context of writing competence. The principle hypothesis of this study is that an FCL intervention program will deliver greater writing competence than more traditional methods. It is shown that students exposed to the metacognitive and shared problem solving environment that is created by FCL derive larger benefits than students exposed to traditional instruction. Moreover, it is shown that the benefits of the FCL approach increase with time, even after the intervention has ceased.

Although there is no universally accepted operational definition of critical thinking, there is agreement that it can be improved through various means of instruction. The purpose of this study was to explore the effectiveness of a modified, condensed version of the Cognitive Enrichment Advantage (CEA) approach and the Scaffolding approach in enhancing critical thinking skills in first-year university freshman.

A modified pre-test/post-test comparison group design was employed in this study. Participants were students enrolled in a freshman seminar course for first-year freshman in a merit-based scholarship program for African American students. The first phase, the Pre-Intervention Phase, included the first of three critical thinking assessment administration sessions to obtain baseline data of all participants’ critical thinking ability. This phase also included a two week period of direct instruction of critical thinking knowledge to all participants. After the pre-intervention phase, matched pairs were randomly assigned to the CEA group and the Scaffolding group, based on scores from the Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal (W-GCTA) obtained during the second assessment administration session.

The Intervention Phase included five weekly, 40-minute teaching sessions for both groups. During the intervention period, both groups completed practice worksheets, providing a step-by-step expert strategy for critical thinking. In the Scaffolding intervention, participants also received pre-determined verbal prompts and cues to support their critical thinking. In the modified CEA intervention, participants were encouraged to create their own personal strategies, based on the metastrategic knowledge (Building Blocks of Thinking & Tools of Learning) introduced during each session. Participants were also encouraged to provide both self-evaluation and evaluation on the contributions of their colleagues. Finally, in the modified CEA intervention, participants developed decontexualized principles for using the Building Blocks and Tools in other settings, encouraging transfer of learning. The Post-Intervention Phase included the final assessment administration session.

Results indicate no significant change in critical thinking performance in the CEA group, based on both assessment tools. Results, based on the critical thinking performance assessments, indicated no significant change in the Scaffolding group; however, results, based on the W-GCTA, indicated a significant decrease in critical thinking performance in the Scaffolding group. It was concluded that the modified CEA intervention supported the retention of the participants’ critical thinking skills and facilitated learning transfer, while the Scaffolding intervention did not positively influence the participants’ critical thinking skills. Recommendations for future research and issues related to conducting intervention research are offered.

This article is a literature review of stress and social problem solving skills. The authors emphasize the need for a joint consideration of stress and social problem solving. This article integrates some ideas and theoretical concepts from Goleman’s theory of emotional intelligence, as well as Sternberg’s theory of successful intelligence. The article contributes to knowledge regarding the relationship between cognitive (social problem solving) and affective (stress) processes. The information in this article is also useful for teacher education program reform. It should encourage student teacher educators to put an emphasis on certain emotional dimensions such as student teachers’ stress and social problem solving before, during, and after student teaching.

The aim of this study was to portray a model that describes the relationships between personality traits, life satisfaction, positive and negative affects, stress, and academic achievements among physical education teacher education students. Participants were 173 first-year students. Four questionnaires were used to collect data: The Big Five Personality Inventory; the five-item Satisfaction with Life Scale; the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule; and the Perceived Stress Scale. In addition, the students' average grades were calculated. A Structural Equation Modeling for analyzing the structural model was performed. According to the model, 47% of the variance in subjective well-being is explained by personality traits, and 23% of the variance in academic achievement is explained by subjective well-being and the direct and indirect effects from the personality traits. Our study provides an understanding of the predictive power of personality traits and subjective well-being on academic achievements of physical education student teachers.

Effective communication requires an understanding of the interlocutor's perspective. Being able to infer someone else's knowledge about a situation is a critical skill in any communication and social interaction. These abilities are part of Theory of Mind (ToM) skills and are known to be impaired in Down syndrome (DS). It therefore makes sense to investigate ToM development in this population. In our pilot study, we explore the possibility of improving ToM abilities in participants with DS and typically developing (TD) children matched for nonverbal mental age. Participants were assessed with the French adaptation of the “ToM Inventory” before and after a 10-week training session. Results show that trained groups perform significantly better on ToM tasks than untrained groups, whose performances remain stable between pre- and post-test. These results are encouraging as they suggest that, with a specific training, children with DS can improve their ToM skills.

The objective of this research is to comparatively analyze the performance of two generations of children (as first generation of immigrants) attending primary and secondary education in different geographical areas, evaluated in different decades but with equivalent age brackets. Two samples of 169 immigrant school populations in Portugal, with fair immigration criteria, were evaluated for the same verbal reasoning and auditory discrimination tasks in different periods (cohort 1—2001–2009 and cohort 2—2013–2017). The aim is to verify if age remains a differentiating variable of the performance and acuity, as maintained by the critical period hypothesis. That performance referring to two samples evaluated in second language decoding tasks, in different periods. Additionally, to evaluate the emergence of other factors that explain proficiency, cognitive and linguistic discrimination behaviors of two generations of immigrant students in Portugal. The results contribute to a new direction in the analysis and intervention for school groups that are highly diverse in terms of mother tongue and nationalities. The data point to a greater divergence of performance and difficulties not according only to the disparity of ages, but considering the nationality (country of origin and respective educational system). It is also clear, despite just the difference of a decade, how subjects are changing their immigration routes and their cognitive and social development.

Increasing people’s interest and involvement in science is a growing concern in education. Although many researchers and educators seek innovations for classroom instruction, much could be gained by harnessing the activities that people perform at their leisure. Although new media are constantly emerging, comic book reading remains a popular activity for children and adults. Recently, there has been an explosive increase in the creation of educational comic books, including many about science. This rapid increase in science comics far outstrips our understanding of how comics impact people’s beliefs and interests in science. In this theoretical article, we draw on research from cognitive science and education to discuss heretofore unexplored cognitive impacts of science comics. We propose several ways in which learning could be enhanced or impaired through reading science comics and discuss several broader issues related to the use of comic books in education, including individual differences and informal learning.

Cognitive education is usually considered in terms of its impact on students’ problem-solving skills and their acquisition of disciplinary knowledge. Little is known about the impact of cognitive training on the cognitive skills of teachers themselves. In this pilot study, 80 South African high school teachers participated in the cognitive education (Instrumental Enrichment) course and then implemented the principles of cognitive teaching/learning in their classroom instruction. Teachers’ problem-solving skills were evaluated before the start and after 9 months of training and implementation. Significant changes were observed in teachers’ problem-solving performance. Teachers with better mastery of cognitive education program also demonstrated better cognitive task performance on the posttest. Teachers with weaker pretraining cognitive performance made greater relative gains than teachers with stronger initial performance. Recommendations are made regarding the use of Instrumental Enrichment as a tool of cognitive enhancement for teachers.

The goal of this study was to examine behavioral norm effects in 2 peer contexts (classroom, school) on adolescent substance use (tobacco, alcohol, cannabis) and aggressive behaviors (bullying, physical fighting). Participants were 5,642 adolescents (M_age = 14.29 years, SD = 1.26; 49% boys). There were 3 hypotheses. First, behavioral norms in both contexts affect individual behavior. Second, classroom norms have stronger effects on individual behavior than school norms. Third, classroom and school norms interact and exacerbate each other’s influence. Results indicated that classroom norms had stronger effects than school norms on individual tobacco and alcohol use. Furthermore, school norms had equal or stronger effects than classroom norms on the 2 indicators of aggressive behaviors. There was no evidence for an interaction between classroom and school norms for any dependent variable. This study demonstrates that the complexity of multiple (nested) peer contexts should be considered to fully understand peer influence processes.

Within the last two decades over 200,000 children from overseas orphanages have been adopted in the USA. Research findings and clinical experiences about language, cognitive, and academic issues of internationally adopted post-institutionalized children in the cultural context of North America are discussed. Theoretical conceptualizations of Vygotsky and Feuerstein serve as the major paradigm in psycho-educational and remedial components of the cultural issues of international adoptees. Native language attrition and dynamics of English language acquisition are considered in the context of transculturality. The specificity of cumulative cognitive deficit (CCD) in international adoptees is linked to prolonged institutionalization, lack of cultural mediation in early childhood, and profound native language loss. The issue of remediation is examined with an emphasis on cognitive education in the context of acculturation.

In this article, traditional games are proposed as complementary tools for metacognitive intervention. Games allow addressing various cognitive and metacognitive processes and strategies involved in learning and thinking. They are easily available, stimulating for students who usually exhibit resistance to learning, and represent valuable learning devices for students for whom few cognitive education programs are available (young children and students with intellectual disability). A framework for analyzing games with regard to the (meta)cognitive processes involved is presented and criteria for mediation are formulated. Two adolescents with intellectual disability participated in an intervention based on this model. The students progressed on a procedural level as well as on different untrained tasks. Results were maintained after 8 weeks. This study, although not generalizable, illustrates the relevance of using games in a metacognitive perspective.

Dynamic testing has increasingly been recognized as a measure of neurocognitive modifiability. For instance, executive function deficits as measured by the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) can be ameliorated in a subgroup of schizophrenic patients by integrating instructions and feedback into the testing procedure. In the first study reported herein, we investigated the relation between learning typology on the WCST and chronicity in 60 first-episode patients and 44 patients with chronic schizophrenia. We found that nonretainer categorization of WCST performance is not related to chronic schizophrenia. In the second study, we investigated the relationship between learning potential on the WCST and cerebral metabolism, assessed by single-voxel proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), in 43 schizophrenic patients and 37 matched healthy control subjects. The level of N-acetylaspartate (NAA), a marker of neuronal integrity, in the DLPFC correlated with performance on the dynamic WCST in healthy subjects. In schizophrenic patients, a significant correlation was observed between NAA in the ACC and learning potential (cf. Ohrmann et al., 2008). These data suggest the involvement of different neuronal networks in learning among schizophrenic patients as compared to healthy controls.

Three experiments were conducted to investigate whether part-set cuing effects generalize to an educational style learning and assessment task. Mnemonic performance was assessed in terms of overall recall, item gain (reminiscence) and item loss (forgetting). In Study 1 we found that negative part-set cuing effects extended to the recall of general knowledge items. In Studies 2 and 3 we explored the boundaries of the observed partset cuing effect further, focusing on cue set size and cue set order. Greater inhibition was observed with 15 than 5 cue items (Study 2), and cue set order was found to affect item gain when cue set order was emphasized prior to or at retrieval (Study 3). The implications of these findings are discussed in the context of learning, recall and assessment.

The writing of narratives is a frequently used educational tool in teacher education. This activity has several aims, such as bridging the gap between theory and practice, transforming experience into knowledge, and fostering consciousness and reflexivity among prospective teachers. We consider that the writing of narratives, framed with some guidelines, represents a mean to build professional knowledge. To get a better insight into the processes involved in the writing of narratives, this article examines the cognitive and discursive mechanisms that underlie professional development. We rely on indicators of professional development observed through a psycholinguistic analysis of narrative texts. This type of text analysis is anchored in a Vygotskian perspective, according to which language; thinking and action are interdependent in the constitution of an individual’s system of mental representations. In this article, we present an educational artifact for narrative writing, a grid for the analysis of discourses in the context of teacher education (the Analysis of Discourses About Professional Apprenticeship grid), our methodological framework and some results. The use of this grid is illustrated with examples of the prospective teachers’ narratives and questionings. Finally, we suggest that professional knowledge results from the convergence between enunciative undertakings, regulations of action, and conceptions and reflective spectrum. This convergence determines the strength of professional knowledge built. Moreover, the texts that have been analyzed reveal the fundamental questionings the trainee teachers have when faced with the task of textualizing their professional knowledge as well as the meaning they give to their activity.

An approach to the teaching and learning of high school mathematics to special needs pupils, based on philosophies of Freire, Feuerstein, and Vygotsky, is described, as is the experience of two teachers who shared the teaching of a class. Learners were from minority ethnic communities that were characterized by poverty and unstable home situations. Major emphasis was placed on enhancing the learners’ self concepts as learners, their attitudes toward school learning, and their study and organizational skills.

This three-year longitudinal study assessed whether working memory (WM performance) when tested under dynamic testing conditions is related to growth on measures of phonological awareness and vocabulary in skilled readers and subgroups of children with reading disabilities (RD) (children with RD-only, children with both reading and arithmetic deficits, and low verbal IQ readers). A battery of memory and reading measures was administered to 78 children (11.6 yrs) across three testing waves spaced one year apart. WM tasks were presented under initial, gain, and maintenance testing conditions. The important results were (1) growth curve modeling showed that WM performance administered under initial and maintenance testing conditions was a significant moderator of growth in receptive vocabulary, whereas the number of probes and WM performance under gain testing conditions were significant moderators of growth in nonword fluency and (2) WM performance was statistically comparable within subgroups of children with RD, but inferior to skilled readers across all testing conditions. The results support the notion that children’s WM performance when measured under dynamic testing conditions was related to the rate of growth on basic reading and vocabulary measures.

This paper is a report of an evaluation of the Bright Start program that has been designed to assist the cognitive development of children in the early school years. Children in both experimental and control groups lived in the same public housing project in North Marseilles, France, went to school in the same district, and were of the same chronological age. Analyses were conducted on two non-independent criterion variables: overall school achievement, and achievement scores in specific subject areas. The results of the study showed that it is possible to learn to learn at preschool. Pupils who received cognitive early education in kindergarten learned better and applied more effectively a range of new academic knowledge in the two years that immediately followed the intervention than did comparable children who did not receive cognitive early education.

Between the idea

And the reality

Between the motion

And the act

Falls the Shadow

T. S. Eliot, “The Hollow Men”

This article reports on the development and evaluation of a meta-cognitive tool for practitioners’ reflection on the ‘shadow’ between espoused theories and theories-in-use. The learning theories profile (LTP) was developed to support practitioners in education to identify and reflect on the theoretical perspectives that underpin their professional decision-making. In order to assess the usefulness of the LTP for reflection on professional development and practice, 15 special educators who were enrolled in a university course took part in a trial of the tool. Data from pre-activity and post-activity surveys suggested that the LTP helped students to critically consider contemporary and traditional theories of learning, raised awareness of the application of learning theories in education practice and supported users to reflect on their own professional practice, and interactions.

Despite the global universality of physical space, different cultural groups vary substantially as to how they memorize it. Although European participants mostly prefer egocentric strategies (“left, right, front, back”) to memorize spatial relations, others use mostly allocentric strategies (“north, south, east, west”). Prior research has shown that some cultures show a general preference to memorize object locations and even also body movements in relation to the larger environment rather than in relation to their own body. Here, we investigate whether this cultural bias also applies to movements specifically directed at the participants’ own body, emphasizing the role of ego. We show that even participants with generally allocentric biases preferentially memorize self-directed movements using egocentric spatial strategies. These results demonstrate an intricate system of interacting cultural biases and momentary situational characteristics.

This study examined college students’ cognitive motivation based on goal intentions in the context of negative performance–goal discrepancies. Specifically, an integrated model of intended effort was developed to further understand the relationships between negative performance–goal discrepancies, self-reactive influences, and intended effort toward the next proximal goal. We explored these relationships within an authentic achievement-oriented setting by using actual exam performance with a sample of 451 undergraduate students. Primary results from a path analysis suggest that, among other things, future affective self-evaluation is more predictive of intended effort than performance–goal discrepancy or self-efficacy toward original goal attainment. Implications are primarily intended for those interested in fostering students’ cognitive motivation.

This study examined 78 students as they began learning how to use a computer system to create visual models of fractions ordering problems and then use the visual models to reason about the correct answers to the problems. We used quantitative data collected by the computer system during a 2-day intervention to identify groups of students with similar performance characteristics. After the intervention, we conducted individual interviews with 10 students for the purpose of investigating qualitative differences between the groups. Our results indicated that most of the 78 students learned to use the computer system to create accurate models in a relatively short period, but not all students learned how to use the models to reason about the correct answers to the problems by the end of the intervention. We hypothesize that we can improve future versions of the system by creating differentiated scaffolds for students with different performance characteristics. In addition, we may be able to improve the learning outcomes associated with implementing this type of technology in classrooms by providing teachers with more detailed data about their students’ performance and the correct and incorrect strategies their students use to solve problems.

Mastering the ability for learning to learn is the most ambitious goal of modern educators. A distinction is made between two relatively independent components of this expertise: (a) the reflective component of the learning to learn ability that allows a person comprehend what knowledge and skills he or she lacks to act in the new situation; (b) the search component of the learning to learn ability that allows the learner to find the missing knowledge and appropriate it. The article deals with the reflective component of the ability to learn and the method to develop it within the El'konin–Davydov system of school education. This system has grown from the hypothesis that reflective thinking belongs to the zone of proximal development of children starting school. Within this system, psychological tools are developed for fostering those reflective potentials of the human mind that are left neglected or even suppressed under the school system prevailing today. Psychological and educational means of developing reflection in class are illustrated through the clinical analysis of dialogs on a math lesson in the first grade. The developmental outcomes of the El'konin–Davydov educational system are exemplified using the cases of tasks with missing data. By the diagnostical assessment of the forth graders, we have confirmed that when the content of education is radically changed, the reflective components of the ability to learn can be successfully developed as early as in the elementary school.

Process-oriented dynamic testing aims to investigate the processes children use to solve cognitive tasks, and evaluate changes in these processes as a result of training. For the current study, a dynamic complex figure task was constructed, using the graduated prompts approach, to investigate the processes involved in solving a complex figure task and changes in these processes as a consequence of training. A new process-oriented measure was developed, which used computer-automated scoring to evaluate children's organization in drawing the figure. Participants were 106 regular primary school children (M = 7.8 years, standard deviation [SD] = 0.42 years). The graduated prompts training led to significantly more progression in complex figure drawing accuracy from pre-test to post-test, compared to unguided control. The level of organization of the figure also became more advanced as a result of training, as reflected by the highest category of organization being attained by trained children only. However, the training did not lead to transfer from the trained domain to an inductive reasoning task.

This study aims to examine the differences in numerosity estimation on a right-to-left number line between second- to fourth-grade students and undergraduate students, together with whether number-line estimation is related to basic arithmetic tasks (addition and subtraction). Hence, 53 Arabic-speaking children and 63 Arabic-speaking adults performed a paper-based number-line estimation task and also an arithmetic task. Number-line estimation was represented either by the percentage of absolute errors in positing the quantities on the line, by the accuracy, or by the r score for linearity of representation. The results show that, although children's addition (but not subtraction) performance resembles that of adults, the correlations vary between number line and arithmetic scores. Addition scores are positively correlated with error percentages in the children's number-line tasks, while subtraction is negatively correlated with adults' error percentages. These differences are assumed to be attributed to various uses of recall and procedural strategies.

This article offers a response to two questions: Can we reach a consensus in the domain of dynamic assessment? and Do we want to? The brief response to these questions is first: Yes, it may be possible to reach a sufficient degree of consensus that we can offer some guidelines as to what is and what is not “dynamic” about assessment. The response to the latter question of whether we want to or not is a more qualified, “Well sort of, and to some extent, but with a great deal of latitude, flexibility, and room for diversity.” The article goes on to discuss the core concepts of dynamic assessment, what a general consensus might look like (also known as generic model), and, finally, some reference to the exciting developments that have emerged which make me advocate for diversity and flexibility in our model-building.

Sociocultural theories of development posit that higher cognitive functions emerge through socially mediated processes, in particular through language. However, theories of human communication posit that language itself is based on higher social cognitive skills and cooperative motivations. Prelinguistic communication is a test case to this puzzle. In the current review, I first present recent and new findings of a research program on prelinguistic infants’ communication skills. This research provides empirical evidence for a rich social cognitive and motivational basis of human communication before language. Next, I discuss the emergence of these foundational skills. By considering all three lines of development, and by drawing on new findings from phylogenetic and cross-cultural comparisons, this article discusses the possibility that the cognitive foundations of prelinguistic communication are, in turn, mediated by social interactional input and shared experiences.

Traditionally, many educators and psychologists believed that successes and failures within the school context are attributable mainly to individual differences in such classic variables as ability, personality, and learning motivation. This article presents research evidence demonstrating that intellectual styles, that is, people’s preferred ways of processing information and dealing with tasks, also play critical roles in students’ learning and development and in teachers’ practices. It further demonstrates that some styles are more valued than are others and that styles are malleable.

The article is divided into four parts. The first part briefly introduces the background of the research to be presented. The second reviews the key literature, supporting the position that intellectual styles are value laden, with creativity-generating styles (also known as Type I styles) being more adaptive than are norm-favoring styles (also known as Type II styles). The third part highlights some research findings indicating that styles can be modified. The final and fourth part of the article discusses the implications of the research evidence for various parties of educational institutions at all levels—generally referred to as “schools” in this article.

The French National Cohort of Children Study (Etude Longitudinale Française depuis l'Enfance—ELFE) tested the literacy and numeracy skills of 4- to 5-year-old typically developing children in the second year of école maternelle. Tasks were administered by more than 4,000 teachers at schools across France. One of the study's numeracy tasks required participants to write the number of ducks (up to 5) they had counted. Analyzing the digits written by 14,904 children showed that miswritings were much more common for the digit 3 than for the digit 4. This result is consistent with the right-orienting rule, which young children in Western cultures apply when they do not know a digit's orientation, and which leads them to write, for example, ε instead of 3.The nature and frequency of miswritten digits did not differ significantly between the 466 children presumed to have written with their left hand and the 3,531 children presumed to have written with their right hand. However, a logistic mixed-effects regression showed that two other factors—age of entry to école maternelle and very early smartphone use—had a (modest) influence on the percentage of digits that were miswritten.

The purpose of this exploratory study was to examine the perceived opportunities and threats of teachers working on a primary level in North Rhine Westphalia, Germany, regarding inclusive schooling. Two open-ended questions using a standardized paper-pencil-questionnaire format were administered to 452 general and 130 special education teachers. Results of descriptive and inferential statistical analyses indicated that both teacher groups expressed strong concerns related to students’ educational needs and learning opportunities. Nevertheless, their perceptions differ significantly in specific categories. General education teachers anticipate inclusive schooling to improve social school climate; however, they expressed several concerns: declining teaching quality, having insufficient professional skills themselves, higher work load, and lack of resources. Their special education colleagues expected improved learning opportunities would result for all students but were worried about changes in their professional role and the political realization of inclusive schooling. Implications for practice, limitations, and the need for future research are discussed.

22 boys and girls with Down syndrome were given Bright Start, a cognitive curriculum for young children, using a version that included some special modifications for use with this population. Learners with Down syndrome showed consistent and sustained improvement in their cognitive processes and scores on intelligence tests, yielding effect sizes ranging from the .70s to 1.07. There are some problems in interpreting these results because the sample could not be selected randomly, and because there was no untreated control group; nevertheless, the gains that these learners made suggested the power of cognitive education, systematically applied, to enhance the cognitive development of children and youth with Down syndrome. This work should be repeated with random sampling from relatively homogeneous populations of learners with Down syndrome so the outcomes could be compared with those of other studies of the effectiveness of Bright Start.

Fifty-eight Grade 1 children experiencing reading difficulties were divided into two matched remediation groups: PREP (PASS Reading Enhancement Program) (see Das & Kendrick, 1997) and Meaning-Based Reading intervention. Both groups received remediation twice a week for 20 min over a 9-week period. Participants’ reading level was assessed pre- and post-intervention using Word Identification (WI) and Word Attack (WA) tests. Repeated measures ANOVAs showed a significant main effect of Testing Time for both WI and WA. For WA, the Testing Time by Remediation Group interaction was also significant; the PREP group gained more than the meaning-based group in terms of decoding skills. Next, the performance of High-Gainers and No-Gainers in both groups was compared on several cognitive processing tasks. Results indicated that High-Gainers in the PREP group were characterized by a somewhat higher level of successive processing, phonological processing, and word recognition skills at the beginning of the program. In contrast, High-Gainers in the meaning-based program were characterized by a higher level of planning, phonological processing, and visual memory. Implications for education and future directions for research on remediation are also presented.

Working memory capacity (WMC) is critical in maintaining goal-directed behavior and in inhibiting task irrelevant or conflicting thoughts. Using eye tracking data, the current study developed measures to investigate users' experiences of presence. We investigated the cognitive processing mechanisms of feelings of presence by examining how users of varying WMC coordinate their attention between their actions in using external controllers for computer mediated environments, and the actions produced by their avatars in virtual environments. To rule out the possibility of participants acting out of social pressure, a well-practiced everyday task with minimal social component was used. Participants performed vegetable cutting tasks in a desktop virtual environment by controlling an avatar's arm, with no pressure (Experiment 1) versus while pressured to improve the evenness of their cuts (Experiment 2). The results showed that high WMC participants experienced higher degrees of presence, as indicated by the attention allocated to the avatar's hand and to task planning. Under performance pressure, low WMC participants became more immersed in the tasks. The mechanisms of adaptive and personalized presence in virtual world simulation training environments are discussed in light of our findings on the effects of pressure and individual differences of WMC in experiencing presence.

The Concept Formation subtest of the Woodcock Johnson Tests of Cognitive Abilities represents a dynamic test due to continual provision of feedback from examiner to examinee. Yet, the original scoring protocol for the test largely ignores this dynamic structure. The current analysis applies a dynamic adaptation of an explanatory item response theory model to evaluate the impact of feedback on item difficulty. Additionally, several item features (rule type, number of target shapes) are considered in the item difficulty model. Results demonstrated that all forms of feedback significantly reduced item difficulty, with the exception of corrective feedback that could not be directly applied to the next item in the series. More complex and compound rule types also significantly predicted item difficulty, as did increasing the number of shapes, thereby supporting the response process aspect of validity. Implications for continued use of the Concept Formation subtest for educational programming decisions are discussed.

This article presents a unified model for cognitive education, WICS, which is an acronym for wisdom, intelligence, creativity, synthesized. The model can be applied to identification/admissions, instruction, and assessment. I first discuss why there is a need for such a model. Then I describe the model. Next I show how the model can be applied to admissions/identification. Then I show how the model can be applied to instruction and assessment. Finally, I present some conclusions.

A growing body of evidence supports the effectiveness of school-based interventions aimed at improving children’s social functioning and preventing emotional and behavioral difficulties. These social and emotional learning (SEL) programs vary in their pedagogical approaches, with some focusing on individual-level skill development and others emphasizing contextual changes designed to improve interpersonal dynamics and climate at the classroom or building level. Most programs use elements of both approaches in complementary ways. Ecological theory suggests that individual and environmental factors interact with and reciprocally influence each other in the context of school-based preventive interventions. Changes in school structure and culture may help improve outcomes for children, whereas enhanced social skills may lead to improved school climate. This article reviews evidence regarding these multilevel and cross-level prospective dynamics within school-based SEL interventions.

This study was designed to investigate the dynamic assessment of vocabulary abilities in preschool-aged children from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. Using a test-teach-retest model, we compared the labeling skills of children who received direct instruction (DI), mediated learning experiences (MLE), and hybrid methods during the teaching portion of a dynamic assessment of children’s labeling skills. Children in a control group received the pre- and post-tests without an intervening teaching phase. Children in all three dynamic assessment instruction groups labeled more pictures correctly at retest compared to children in the control group who did not demonstrate labeling gains. Of greater interest, the three teaching strategies resulted in varying degrees of improvement. The labeling scores of children who received MLE and Hybrid instruction improved more from test to retest than the scores of children who received DI. Results suggest that cognitively based dynamic assessment approaches (MLE and Hybrid conditions) help children from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds perform at their optimum level during dynamic assessment.

The aim of this study was to examine sociocultural influences on the development of specific sociocognitive developmental milestones. The self-recognition and self-regulation skills of 2-year-old children were assessed in two autonomous-relational cultural contexts: educated, urban, middle-class families from Costa Rica (N = 19) and Mexico (N = 15). These two cultural groups are representative of a consistent pattern of an autonomous-relational Latin American cultural model; there were no differences between the two groups in mothers’ socialization goals, maternal behavior during mother–child play, and toddlers’ self-recognition and self-regulation. As predicted by ecocultural models of development, consistent cultural models emerged: Sociodemographic factors were associated with mothers’ relative emphasis on autonomous socialization goals and lower levels of directive and didactic play. There were also significant correlations between facets of mothers’ cultural models and toddlers’ development of self-regulation, but not self-recognition. This study provides further evidence that the sociocognitive development of children’s self-regulation during the second year is dependent on the “ecological imprint” that is provided by their mothers’ cultural model. Furthermore, the same mechanisms that account for cross-cultural differences also seem to account for intracultural variation in maternal behavior and toddlers’ development.

An accurate differential diagnosis of children adopted from foreign language situations that include challenging conditions (e.g., neglect) often rests upon accurate measurement of cognitive abilities in the context of low English proficiency, specifically, and may also include generally poor linguistic skills in the native language. In addition, because the goal of any adoption program is ultimately to generate effective intervention supports when needed and measurable progress in function as the child assimilates into his/her new home, it is essential that these programs be designed within the context of valid measurement. Given the particular confluence of low language ability and entrée into a culture that may have differing social interactive norms than the previous culture, one can imagine that identifying disabilities generally, but social-interactive based disabilities such as autism spectrum disorders specifically, could be problematic. Thus, assessment and treatment in these children is difficult and fraught with potential pitfalls. Moreover, recent advances in the measurement of cognitive abilities have out-paced changes in diagnostic classification and treatment methods, and it appears that applications to international adoption cases have lagged even further. This suggests that diagnosis should not be guided solely by available subtests on an intelligence battery or on clinical ascertainment instruments, because these could be confounded by language ability and cultural background. The purpose of this paper is to review measurement of cognitive abilities and diagnosis in international adoption situations and discuss methods for ensuring that diagnosis and treatment include consideration of potential pitfalls. In addition, potential confounds on clinical instruments are discussed.

This article examines the implications of teachers’ beliefs about knowledge. We compare three epistemological world views we refer to as realist, contextualist, and relativist. An epistemological world view is a set of beliefs about knowledge and knowledge acquisition that influences the way teachers think and make important instructional decisions. We assume that different epistemological world views lead to different choices about curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment. We describe ongoing research that examines the beliefs held by teachers, instructional practices, and the consistency between beliefs and classroom practices. We summarize findings from our research and discuss their implications for teacher training. We also consider environmental factors such as school culture and mandated standards that affect teachers’ beliefs. We relate our findings to implications for teacher training. We also identify directions for future research.

Williams syndrome (WS) is a rare genetically based neurodevelopmental disorder resulting in mild to moderate mental retardation. People with WS are known for their particular weakness in visuo-spatial construction. In a block-design task and a jigsaw-puzzle task, we compared WS persons with normally developing children matched for mental age. Three hypotheses were contrasted: (a) the standard local hypothesis, maintaining that WS persons are biased toward local processing and have a deficit in processing the global level of stimuli (Bellugi & al., 1994); (b) the disengaging from the global level hypothesis, which states that they have difficulties disengaging from global configurations when local processing is required (Pani & al., 1999); and a new hypothesis (c) the disengaging from the local level hypothesis, which states that they have difficulties in disengaging from salient local features when global processing is required. The third hypothesis is compatible with most of the observations regarding visuo-constructive problems in WS. We propose an interpretation of WS persons’ problems in terms of executive functions.

The aim of the present study was to explore the support system that immigrant parents from Ethiopia can provide to their children who experience difficulties in school. One hundred and thirty seven families from five Israeli cities were interviewed by a specially trained team of veteran immigrants from Ethiopia who received further education in Israel. The results of the study indicate that there is a dramatic gap between the parents’ aspirations for the education of their children and the amount of support that immigrant families can or are willing to provide. Recommendations are made regarding the necessary changes in the educational support system provided to new immigrant students.

In this paper I describe the mediation of specific resources and learning strategies for sustaining pupils’ perceptions of a work of art. Participants in the research were aged between 8 and 11 years and of mixed gender and ability. Three complementary forms of intervention were designed. The first took the form of a video to explain the artist’s work and her working methods. In the second intervention I used the semantic differential instrument to support pupils’ perceptual exploration and interpretation of a piece of sculpture made by the artist. In the third intervention I used a semistructured interview to prompt pupils to evaluate and reflect about their recorded interpretations of the work in question. These interviews are presented in a case study format. The results show that the interventions had a substantial influence on the way participants were able to structure their perceptions and justify interpretations of the meaning of the sculpture in question.

The “implicit-explicit” distinction is usually used to specify the nature of mental processing or of essential memory systems. The purpose of this paper is to call attention to this distinction, too often neglected, within the domain of semantic knowledge. In fact, taking account of the degree of explicitation of specific knowledge may enable us to account for both the best performances by experts within their domain and also the idiosyncratic difficulties some learners encounter during the acquisition and generalization of both specific and general knowledge. The importance of processes of explicitation of knowledge within developmental and individual differences perspectives is discussed.

New evidence is presented that a basic cognitive function such as spatial memory is strongly culturally dependent and quite modifiable even in adult learners. The study was conducted with several groups of new immigrants from Ethiopia in Israel who were enrolled in a year-long educational program for young adults. Static administration of the Positional Learning Test demonstrated that these new immigrant students experienced considerable difficulty with spatial memory tasks. Learning potential (LP) assessment of spatial memory with the same task was then performed with two additional groups of new immigrant students. Though the groups had the same performance level in the static part of the test, their response to mediation was very different. This finding confirms that individuals with similar static performance may have very different LP. Students who demonstrated greater LP also benefited more from the Instrumental Enrichment intervention. The results of this study therefore suggest that LP assessment has added value for immigrant and minority students similar to those in this study, that spatial memory is both culturally dependent and modifiable, and that LP assessment may serve as a tool that can be helpful for planning cognitive education intervention.

The effects of a peer-mediation program and training in analogies versus math on mediation strategies, cognitive modifiability, and math were investigated with 78 tutor-tutee dyads. Experimental group tutors (EGT, n = 39) received the Peer-Mediation for Young Children program, whereas control group tutors (CGT, n = 39) received a substitute program. Grade 3 tutors taught kindergarten tutees analogies and math problems. Their interactions were videotaped and analyzed by the Observation of Mediation Interaction scale. Dynamic assessment measures were administered before and after the program. EGT showed higher levels of mediation strategies and cognitive modifiability than did CGT. EGT trained in teaching analogies showed higher mediation strategies and cognitive modifiability than did EGT trained in teaching math. EGT teaching math showed higher levels of mediation strategies than did EGT teaching analogies. EGT showed higher improvement in math than CGT. The findings are discussed in view of the mediated learning experience theory and transfer effects of intervention.

Redundant information has been found to be an important factor that can limit or enhance learning with multiple external representations (MER). As such, it is seen as a crucial factor in understanding how MER can help increase conceptual understanding with low prior knowledge learners, especially when these representations are presented in a sequence. In this study, multiple levels of redundant information are compared with each other to understand how redundancy determines learning with MER when these MER are sequenced. Ninety-two participants, undergraduates in education (age: M = 19.92 years, SD = 2.78 years), with low prior knowledge of the subject of chemistry participated in pretest-intervention-posttest randomized design to study texts and pictorial representations in a sequence. More specifically, we compared (a) 0% redundancy in MER, (b) 25% redundancy, (c) 50% redundancy, and (d) 100% redundancy. Results indicate that partial redundant information leads to the largest increase in understanding and ideas remembered.

Proponents of recent educational approaches to cognitive strategy training have emphasized the importance of ensuring that strategy training is incorporated within the teaching program of the classroom rather than being taught in academic and locational isolation. Designers of the Process-Based Instruction (PBI) model stress such an approach. Staff members in a primary school were trained to use PBI and provided consultancy support while they implemented the approach within their regular classroom academic programs. Students in the experimental school demonstrated significant gains in academic tasks, perceptions of ability, and some planning tasks when compared with the performance of participants in the contrast condition school. Limitations in the approach as well as future research issues are discussed.

This study explored the use of computerized dynamic testing in education for 8-year-old children. As for other domains, it was expected that the use of a computer would help overcome difficulties encountered with traditional dynamic test procedures. A recently developed computerized console was used, based on sensor technology, in combination with electronic tangibles. The main aim was to investigate if dynamic testing with graduated prompts offered by a computerized interface provided richer and more extensive information about test performance than with prompts offered by an examiner. Fifty-four children participated in the dynamic test procedure, which used a pretest–posttest training design. The results indicated no significant differences in children’s performance based on whether prompts were offered by either the computer or by an examiner. The suitability of the procedure was measured by several behavioral outcome scores, the recording of which was made possible by the use of sensor technology. In the light of the findings, the authors conclude that dynamic testing can profit greatly from the use of computerized procedures.

Here, we present to Journal of Cognitive Education and Psychology readers the first in a series of “Classical Articles.” The purpose of this series is to reprint some of the articles that have played pivotal role in the development of the field of dynamic assessment and cognitive education. Some of these articles never appeared in English, and others were published in already defunct journals or proceedings. It seems important to make the current generation of researchers familiar with these texts so that our theoretical discussions can be carried out with full awareness of what has been done before us and how the classics of our field articulated their ideas.

The rapid automatized naming task (RAN) is a well-established tool to evaluate risk of developmental disorders. Its potential use with 3-year-olds who are at risk for learning difficulties and factors affecting its dependent measures are not yet understood. This study investigated the effects of neonatal central nervous system compromise grouping (five levels, N = 617) on RAN task adapted for 3-year-olds, using two levels of information load and two presentation orders. Results showed that increased errors and slowed speed in toddlers are expected subsequent to severe neonatal CNS compromise. Furthermore, collaborative information may have a beneficial effect on processing speeds of toddlers born with severe, but not with moderate, neonatal CNS compromise. Finally, the study highlights the feasability of evaluating RAN performance in toddlers who are at a developmental risk for learning disabilities and the conditions of RAN that may facilitate performance of severely affected participants.

The recent rise of electronic media, and the move away from traditional reading and reading, are leading to a fundamental shift in the way in which the human brain processes information. This shift in patterns of human cognition has separate implications for new readers, individuals with reading disabilities, and children without access to schools. While this evolving method of reading may threaten the development of deep reading skills in new readers, it also promises to provide unprecedented access to information and instruction for children without access to formal schooling.

One of the challenges in today’s society is to satisfy the growing need for creativity and innovation, especially in design contexts, where designers have to come up with products that are both new and adapted to their users. Although designers’ professional experience is crucial, we consider that their creative skills can be nurtured in design schools. We therefore explored the effects of two types of design project-oriented methods, which were operationalized as specific courses offered to design students. As our objective was to determine the impact of this training on creativity, we looked at both the students’ evocation processes and their creative output. In the first of two studies, 32 design students had to perform the same creative design task, but half of them received training based on brainstorming principles and the other half training based on constraint management. Here, we focused our analysis on the students’ evocation processes. In the second study, we asked 16 teachers specializing in creative activities to assess the students’ output according to different criteria. These two studies showed that the two types of training had a differential impact and allowed us to explore relationships between constraints and ideas in creative design.

The authors summarize research on curriculum-based measurement (CBM) within four strands. They provide an overview of studies demonstrating the psychometric tenability of CBM. They discuss the body of work showing how teachers can use CBM to inform instructional planning. They examine CBM’s potential use in evaluating treatment effects. Finally, they summarize work on CBM for the purpose of identifying children who fail to profit from otherwise effective instruction.

This article represents a collaborative integration of ethnographic techniques and cognitive neuroscience for examining the dynamics of the movement pedagogy that takes place within Japanese traditional dance. The goal is to examine the extent to which the notion of multiscale entrainment, a hallmark assumption of prospective cognition, can enhance our understanding of the movement pedagogy dynamics that emerge during a given pedagogical session and the larger timescale events that come to be learned over sessions (e.g., the student–teacher relationship, the multiple sessions needed to learn an entire dance, and the annual events associated with Japanese dance pedagogy). The analysis will examine the extent to which Japanese dance pedagogy entails embodied anticipation (i.e., movement learning that gives rise to later movement anticipation) and multiscale embodied anticipation (i.e., multiscale events that come to be recursively associated with movement planning and, as a result, appear in one’s later movement planning). In addition, we analyze the extent to which the Japanese dance studio can be conceptualized as an external scaffold that affords (a) a space for student–teacher interactions, (b) the long-term maintenance of a historical–cultural tradition, and (c) the pedagogically driven emergence of a rich phenomenal sense of belonging to something larger than the timescale of one’s immediate movement planning.

The authors present findings from a large 2-year study exploring the development of self-regulatory and metacognitive abilities in young children (aged 3 to 5 years) in educational naturalistic settings in the United Kingdom (English Nursery and Reception classrooms). Three levels of analysis were conducted based on observational codings of categories of metacognitive and self-regulatory behaviors. These analyses supported the view that, within the 3- to 5-year age range, there was extensive evidence of metacognitive behaviors that occurred most frequently during learning activities that were initiated by the children, involved them in working in pairs or small groups, unsupervised by adults, and that involved extensive collaboration and talk (i.e., learning contexts that might be characterized as peer-assisted learning). Relative to working individually or in groups with adult support, children in this age range working in unsupervised small groups showed more evidence of metacognitive monitoring and control. Relative to children in supervised groups, they also showed more evidence of “other” and “shared” regulation. The implications for research, theory, and educational practice are discussed.

The main objectives of this study were to construct a conceptual model of parent–child math discourse strategies (MDS) and explore (a) the differences between mother's and father's MDS with their children, (b) the relations between parents' MDS and children's responses, and (c) the relations between parent–child MDS and children's math performance. A sample of 56 father–child and mother–child dyads were videotaped while interacting in math-related problems followed by arithmetic problems test administered to children. The interactions were rated by the Observation of Mathematical Discourse Scale developed for the current study. The findings indicate that fathers showed higher Mathematical Extension than mothers. Mathematical Language and Regulation strategies correlated with children's responsiveness. Mathematical Extension was significantly higher for father–boy than for father–girl and higher for mother–boy than for mother–girl. Children's math ability was positively correlated only with fathers' Regulation. The findings were explained in relation to theory and previous findings.

Literature reviews offer evidence for using systematic instruction to teach students with intellectual disabilities in mathematics. A new approach in teaching mathematical skills is to provide quantity–number competencies (QNC). However, this approach has not yet been examined in people with intellectual disabilities.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of a QNC training based on the developmental model by Krajewski (2008) in students with intellectual disabilities.

Based on their cognitive and mathematical abilities, 25 children with intellectual disabilities were assigned to one of two experimental conditions. The training group received a QNC training, whereas the control group received a language skills training.

The posttest findings indicate that the gains in mathematics competence in the QNC training group were substantially larger than in the control condition. However, the QNC training group could not keep up their advancement of competency until to the follow-up conducted 3 months afterwards.

With increased focus on the importance of teaching and learning in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines, both educational researchers and cognitive psychologists have been tackling the issues of how best to teach science concepts and scientific thinking skills. As a cultural activity, the practice of science by professional scientists is inherently prospective. Recent calls to make science education more “authentic” necessitate an analysis of the prospective, cumulative, and collaborative nature of science learning and science teaching. We analyze scientific thinking through the lens of prospective cognition by focusing on the anticipatory, social, situated, and multiscale aspects of engaging in science. We then address some of the implications for science education that result from our analysis.

The research study was developed to consider the influence of reflection as an element in bridging life experiences and decision making in professional contexts. The researcher wanted to find out what the reflective process looks like and how this practice might relate to the professional development and personal growth for professionals. Respondents defined reflection and discussed processes, which they used to facilitate reflection on their own professional development. A constant comparative procedure, which is a qualitative coding strategy, was used to examine the process(es) described and then initial themes and categories were established among the narrative responses. An analytic concept mapping procedure described by Novak (1998) and Novak and Gowen (1984) was employed to organize the narrative. This article was developed as a refinement of the initial model with a more nuanced and careful description of the cognitive component in the EVENT PATH model. The findings indicated that reflection for the participants is an internal, cognitive process. The participants engaged in a cognitive process whereby awareness surfaced; a sense of knowing emerged. Understanding cognition as an integral part of the reflective process cannot be overstated and therefore requires continued attention within the research on professional reflection.

A community’s conception of child development, “native theories” of socialization, the meta-communicative framework, the cultural meaning and value system—including the parent-child dyadic relationship—as part of the wider historical and cultural process significantly influence the construction of a person. It includes reference to literacy events, parents’ conceptions of the ideal child, their educational objectives, and indigenous conception of “intelligence,” all of which can influence the academic progress of Ethiopian children. Although these cultural practices, native theories of development, and conceptions of “schooling” are “functional” and valued within the group—especially in their Ethiopian socio-cultural and economic milieu—the group’s encounter with the Israeli schools and other social systems has created a conflict that works to the disadvantage of Ethiopian children. The data presented here show the rift between school ethos and home environment of Ethiopian children, which inadequately prepares them for formal demands of the Israeli school system. There is a discontinuity between home and school, non-existent among middle class Israeli children.

This paper is a report of research on the potential validity of concept maps as a representation of students’ knowledge of research methods in psychology. Concept maps may provide insight into the content and structure of students’ knowledge that traditional assessment methods do not. In this paper we examine the rationale underlying the use of concept maps and issues associated with their use. We also report a qualitative study in which we employed concept maps to assess students’ knowledge. Finally, there is a description of a potential application of concept mapping to the evaluation of students’ knowledge, currently being investigated by the authors.

This article is, first of all, a synthesis of the various views on cognitive education (CE) as presented by the guest authors of this issue, and it is also a critical discussion of the field. We discuss how Sternberg’s initial 5 questions were addressed by the authors, and we place these within the larger framework of the scientific literature on CE, metacognition, and dynamic assessment (DA). We try to unveil the strong and weak points of the various approaches, and we discuss some perspectives for the future.

Although kindergarten curricula typically center on the teaching of “basic skills,” cognitive education programs that pursue the same goal have not been entirely successful at fostering reading, writing, and numbers skills. Previous research in our laboratory reinforced our confidence in the ability of cognitive early education to promote educability, especially in children of low socio-economic status. As a preventive measure, we gave the “Bright Start” program of cognitive early education to a group of children from a very low SES group during the kindergarten year, and assessed its effects on acquisition of reading competence through the first three grades, in comparison to a control group from the same social milieu and a control group of much more socially advantaged children. The results affirm once again the influence of the socio-economic environment on learning, and provide evidence that cognitive early education can promote reading acquisition and can compensate in very large measure for socio-economic differences.

Education reform efforts are frequently introduced and discontinued without producing the promised impact. The problem may lie not with the quality of the reform initiative but rather with the quality of its implementation or treatment integrity. This article reviews the variables that influence treatment integrity and some specific approaches for increasing it and concludes with a proposed data-based decision-making approach to scaling up treatment integrity in large educational systems. If true education reform is to occur, then it will be necessary to assure that the reform efforts are implemented with integrity.

The use of Markman’s modification task in the study of class inclusion development revealed a developmental gap between the ability to compare the extensions of classes and subclasses and the understanding that the superiority of the class extension is a logical necessity. Barrouillet and Poirier (1997) have proposed that the main difficulty in Markman’s task lies in its demand for the processing of transformations. Indeed, necessity arises from the impossibility of transforming facts. The present study explores this hypothesis by comparing children’s performances on a task of logical necessity and a task that requires them to process transformations of class extension. The results, consistent with Barrouillet and Poirier’s view, are discussed with reference to Piaget’s morphism theory and Halford’s relational complexity theory.

The author of this study aimed to develop a method of assessment of real-life decision-making and self-advocacy skills and then to develop and evaluate a method for training those skills. A final sample of 24 young adults with mild learning difficulties and some emotional difficulties was studied using both group control design and a single subject evaluation. The dynamic assessment adopted yielded valuable material on individual training needs. The full training program yielded associated gains in both planning behavior and successful solutions. L’auteur de cette recherche cherchait à développer une méthode d’évaluation des capacités de prise de décision et de défense de ses intérêts dans la vie réelle puis de proposer et d’évaluer une méthode pour les entraîner. Un échantillon final de 24 jeunes adultes présentant des difficultés d’apprentissage légères et quelques problèmes émotionnels a été étudié en utilisant un groupe contrôle ainsi qu’une évaluation individuelle. L’évaluation dynamique adoptée a permis d’obtenir des informations utiles sur les besoins individuels d’entraînement. L’application du programme dans sa totalité révèle des progrès dans les domaines de la planification des actions et la découverte de solutions efficaces. Ziel der Autorin dieser Studie war es, eine Methode zur Erfassung von Entscheidungsverhalten im Alltag und von Fertigkeiten der Selbstbehauptung sowie eine Methode zum Training dieser Fertigkeiten zu entwickeln und zu evaluieren. Eine Stichprobe von 24 jungen Erwachsenen mit leichten Lernschwierigkeiten und emotionalen Problemen wurde mit Hilfe eines Kontrollgruppendesigns und einer Einzelfallevaluation untersucht. Die eingesetzte dynamische Erfassungsmethode ergab wichtige Hinweise auf individuelle Trainingsbedürfnisse. Das vollständige Trainingsprogramm ergab Gewinne sowohl im Planungsverhalten als auch bezüglich erfolgreicher Problemlösungen. El autor de este estudio se propuso desarrollar un método de evaluación de las habilidades para la toma de decisiones en la vida real y de autoapoyo, como igualmente para evaluar un método de entrenamiento de dichas habilidades. La muestra estuvo integrada por 24 jóvenes adultos con dificultades de aprendizaje de tipo medio y con algunas dificultades emocionales. El diseño disponía de un grupo de control y una simple evaluación temática. La evaluación dinámica adoptada produjo un material para la evaluación de las necesidades individuales del entrenamiento. El programa completo dio lugar a ganancias en conductas de planificación y en soluciones exitosas. L’autore di questo studio mirava a sviluppare un metodo di valutazione delle abilità decisionali e di self-advocacy nella vita reale per poi mettere a punto e valutare un metodo volto all’insegnamento di tali abilità. Il campione conclusivo dello studio comprendeva 24 giovani adulti con difficoltà di apprendimento lievi e qualche difficoltà nella sfera emotiva, con un designo di ricerca che prevedeva sia la presenza del gruppo di controllo sia una valutazione individuale dei soggetti. La valutazione dinamica impiegata ha fornito materiale prezioso in relazione ai bisogni individuali di training. Il programma di training completo ha prodotto vantaggi associati sia nel comportamento di pianificazione che nell’individuazione di soluzioni efficaci.

Based on an integration of Brown and Flavell’s theories on meta-cognition, a meta-reading model was tested on its validity components. The model is organized with three factors (meta-knowledge, planning, and monitoring) and four sub factors (the text, the goal for reading, the strategy, and the characteristics of the reader). 354 10^th grade students (15.6 yr. old) from ten religious high schools performed unseen tasks on three subjects: Talmud, History, and Math. After each task they were given the following: 1) A meta-reading questionnaire (based on the model) on the corresponding unseen subject. 2) An academic achievement test on the corresponding subject, 3) Raven’s Advanced Progressive Matrices, 4) Verbal thinking test (Glantz’s “Mem”).

Factor analysis showed that meta-reading components were organized according to the school subject and not according to the components of the model. Further analysis showed that this result fit Talmud and History but in Math the factors were organized according to the components of the meta-reading model. Results of canonical analysis confirmed the similarity between Talmud and History and the differentiation between them and Math. The general correlation between Talmud and History was due to a high contribution of the monitoring factor in both subjects. On the other hand, the general correlation found between Talmud and Math was created by the dominant monitoring factor in Math and the dominant planning factor in Talmud. The general correlation which was created between History and Math was created by the meta-knowledge factor in History while in Math the planning factor was found to be the highest contributor to the correlation with History. Regression analysis also indicated a great similarity between Talmud and History as opposed to Math. In Talmud and History the planning factor is the best factor to predict the grades in meta-reading; however, the monitoring factor was found to be the best predictor of the meta-reading grades in Math. Both in Talmud and History on the sub-factor level, the planning factor was found to be the best predictor and the text factor the second best. In Math the planning factor was found to be the best predictor and after that the learning factor. The text factor was not found to be predicting. The results of the research show that construct validity (general-domain or specific domain) is not an all or none phenomenon but a continuum. Therefore, rather than pose only two options, it should be asked: to what extent is there construct validity in meta-reading? In History the dispersion of information, new concepts, and the need to remember large amounts of information cause learners to devote their energy to the content itself, thus making the metacognitive factors secondary. As opposed to this, in Math, where the textual factors are less important, the information is more concentrated, and it seems that the distractions are fewer. There are more opportunities for learners to organize their learning on the basis of meta-cognitive factors, to use meta-knowledge, and to plan and monitor. Further studies in meta-reading that will choose other subjects to test, will be able to add information on the question: “To what extent do the structure of disciplinary knowledge and the presentation of the subjects influence the meta-cognitive activity?”

The low and non-significant correlation between meta-reading and intelligence tests indicates that there is discriminant validity; namely, meta-reading and intellectual abilities are separate variables measuring two different things. Achievement and meta-reading showed high significant correlations. Planning was the best predictor of achievement in Talmud and History and meta-knowledge was found to be the best predictor for Math. From the sub factors the planning factor was found to be the best predictor of achievements in all subjects. Meta-reading was found to be a better predicting factor of academic achievement than the Raven and Mem intelligence tests. The fact that the scores on the meta-reading tests were quite low (30%- 50%) decreases the efficiency of the tests and damages its sensitivity and its distribution. Therefore there is a need to increase the level of meta-reading by efficient teaching and then to replicate this research. In any case learners should study meta-reading (as well as meta-writing) within a meta-cognitive model and not wait for researchers to validate models.

Impaired insight is common in schizophrenia. Etiological models focusing on single determinants have not succeeded in explaining insight deficits. More complex models seem promising. This study tests Startup’s (1996) model of insight and cognition, predicting a curvilinear relationship and specific insight–cognition configurations. Patients with schizophrenia diagnoses (N = 248) were assessed with the Dynamic Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCSTdyn) and measures of psychopathology and premorbid intelligence. In a regression model connecting insight and WCSTdyn, the linear and quadratic term accounted for a small but significant proportion of variance. Cluster analysis yielded two cognitively high-functioning groups differing in insight and a group with impaired cognition and reduced insight. Results support Startup’s framework of multiple barriers to insight. Cognitive deficits seem to be one insight-limiting factor, but motivational influences on insight cannot be excluded. Research on therapeutic interventions should take these different pathways into account.