Conference Proceedings
Reference
International Association for Cognitive Education and Psychology.
European Regional Conference: Cognitive Development and Learning from Kindergarten to University. Program and Abstracts
HESSELS, Marco G.P. (Ed.)
Abstract
Abstracts and program of the 2012 European Regional Conference "Cognitive development and learning from kindergarten to university" of the International Association for Cognitive Education and Psychology.
HESSELS, Marco G.P. (Ed.). International Association for Cognitive Education and Psychology. European Regional Conference: Cognitive Development and Learning from Kindergarten to University. Program and Abstracts. Genève : Université de Genève, 2012, 34 p. en couleurs
Available at:
http://archive-ouverte.unige.ch/unige:21552
Disclaimer: layout of this document may differ from the published version.
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European Regional Conference
Cognitive development and learning from kindergarten to university
Program and Abstracts Edited by Marco G.P. Hessels
May 25 – 26, 2012
Geneva, Switzerland
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Organised by the COGED-SOCO research group
COGnitive EDucation and SOcio-emotional COmpetences:
Research and implementation in special education Department of Special Education
Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences University of Geneva
With support of the
Department of Educational Sciences of the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences University of Geneva
Scientific committee
Marco Hessels, University of Geneva, Switzerland (Chair) Joe Elliott, University of Durham, United Kingdom
Christine Hessels-Schlatter, University of Geneva, Switzerland Wilma Resing, Leiden University, The Netherlands
Karl Wiedl, University of Osnabruck, Germany Local committee
Natacha Beaufort Mélanie Bosson Sophie Brandon Marco Hessels (Chair) Christine Hessels-Schlatter Mathias Jungo
Britt-Marie Martini-Willemin Geneviève Petitpierre Hildalill Rojas
Sophie Schorno
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Contents
Organisation 2
Conference Committees 2
Welcome to Geneva 4
General Information 5
Keynote speakers 7
Detailed Conference Program 9
Paper abstracts 14
Poster abstract 28
Symposium abstracts 28
Participants 35
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Welcome to Geneva
It is with great pleasure that we welcome you to the 2012 IACEP European Regional Conference “Cognitive development and learning from kindergarten to university” taking place at the University of Geneva from Friday, May 25 and Saturday, May 26, 2012.
The International Association for Cognitive Education and Psychology is a society of professionals from throughout the world who are interested in advancing the cognitive education of children, youth, and adults. IACEP strives to maintain an organization that brings together persons with diverse applied and theoretical interests. We welcome the participation of teachers, therapists, assessment specialists, administrators and research professionals. The Association recognizes the importance of collaborative inquiry that includes researchers and practitioners, working together or separately, in advancing the goals of cognitive theory, education, assessment, and therapies.
The meeting includes individual paper presentations, symposiums and a poster. Each conference day will begin with a keynote address. On Friday Li-fang Zhang, University of Hong Kong (China), will address the issue of learning styles and why teachers should care about students having different intellectual styles. On Saturday Ludolph Botha and Charl Cilliers, Stellenbosch University (South Africa) will speak about challenges for universities to optimise wellness as a prerequiste for cognitive development and learning, especially in
“adolescent” South Africa..
We hope this conference will be an intellectually exciting and enriching experience, as well as a pleasant social event.
On behalf of the Scientific and Local Committee,
Marco G.P. Hessels Vice-President Europe
Chair of the 2012 IACEP European Regional Conference
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General information
Conference venue
The conference will take place at the University of Geneva, Uni Mail, Boulevard du Pont d’Arve 40, CH-1205 Geneva, Switzerland. On Friday we are in rooms 2170, S130 and 1130 and on Saturday we are in rooms S130 and R150 (S = basement, R = ground floor). Posters will guide you to the conference desk in the Uni Mail building, which is on the second floor in front of room 2170. When entering the building from the tram stop, you go either go left and walk up the winding stairs to the second floor, or take the elevator just after the
caretaker’s office (huissier in French) on the left side, go up to the 2nd floor, when leaving the elevator walk back towards the tram side of the building (straight ahead), and turn right at the end of the corridor. The desk will be right in front of you.
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Registration
The registration desk will be open on Friday from 8:15 am to 9:00 am and on Saturday from 8:45 am to 9:00 am. During conference hours, the assistants at the desk are pleased to answer any questions you may have.
Fees
The registration fee includes the conference materials such as the abstract and programme book, coffee/tea breaks, the guided city walk on Friday (18:15) and the farewell reception on Saturday, including some Genevan wine tasting.
Social event
On Friday evening a guided city tour will take place from 18:15 to 20:00. Departure from the entrance of Uni Mail in front of the park. The tour will end at Place Neuve.
Internet
Free wireless internet access will be available for all conference participants.
Information
For further information please contact Marco Hessels, phone +41 22 379 9088 Email: Marco.Hessels@unige.ch
Or look at the website: http://www.unige.ch/fapse/SSE/teachers/hessels/IACEP/Index.html
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Keynote speakers
Friday, May 25, 9:00 – 10:00
Li-fang Zhang
University of Hong Kong (China)
Why Should Schools Care about Intellectual Styles?
School students’ successes and failures have traditionally been attributed mainly to their differences in abilities. This talk will demonstrate that intellectual styles, which broadly refer to people’s preferred ways of using their abilities, play an equally critical role in schools. The talk will begin with a brief introduction to the field of intellectual styles, followed by a
presentation of key research evidence revealing that both students’ and teachers’ styles, especially styles that are creativity-generating (i.e., Type I styles), matter a great deal in student learning and development. The talk will continue by providing research findings demonstrating that students can be trained to use Type I styles. Finally, the talk will conclude by offering a series of suggestions for school teachers, counselors, and senior managers respectively on how to foster Type I intellectual styles in their efforts to promote cognitive development.
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Saturday, May 25, 9:00 – 10:00
Ludolph Botha Charl Cilliers
Stellenbosch University (South Africa)
“Adolescent” South Africa (18 years since democratization): Challenges for universities to optimise wellness as a prerequiste for cognitive development and learning in a diverse society.
South Africa’s development since 1994 has been of interest to many people across the world as the diverse nature of our society, including growing diversity of student populations at our universities, demands very special interventions and initiatives to help create a healthier society. Research at Stellenbosch University demonstrates a positive relationship between wellness (which includes the intellectual, social, emotional, physical, spiritual; and career dimensions) and student success. The main focus of this presentation is on how a university can develop systemic-holistic strategies to enhance wellness. High levels of wellness in students contribute towards the formation of harmonious and healthy communities on campus where diversity is regarded as an asset. Furthermore, these “well” students one day enter the world of work as well-rounded professionals and global citizens who do not hesitate to continue to contribute towards the creation of a better society. Academic (or cognitive) success is of vital importance; however, student success in our very diverse context requires a much wider spectrum of characteristics or graduate outcomes to flourish and contribute optimally.
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Detailed conference program
Friday, May 25 and Saturday, May 26 (next to the conference desk) Poster
The psychosocial characteristics of families raising children with Asperger Syndrome in Greece.
Alexia Aroni, Postgraduate student in Harokopio University, preschool teacher in Athens
Friday May 25: Morning program (room 2170)
8:15 – 8:45 Registration (Hall in front of room 2170) 8:45 – 9:00 Welcome
Marco Hessels, Vice President Europe of IACEP Wilma Resing, President of IACEP
9:00 – 10:00 Keynote by Li-Fang Zhang
Why Should Schools Care about Intellectual Styles?
10:00 – 10:30 Coffee & Tea 10:30 – 12.00 Paper session 1
Intervening in dyslexia: do we need genes, brains or cognitive processes?
Julian Elliott, Durham University, England
Discriminating Disorder from Difference Using Dynamic Assessment with Bilingual Children.
Natalie Hasson, Bernard Camilleri, Caroline Jones, Jodie Smith, & Barbara Dodd, City University, London, England
A study of creativity development through creative writing in a Greek Primary school.
Dimitrios Zbainos & Mina Ioannidou, Harokopio University, Athens Implementation of Aurora test of successful intelligence in Greece.
Dimitrios Zbainos1, Maria Kotsoni1, & Mei Tan2, 1Harokopio University, Athens, Greece; 2Child Study Center, Yale University, USA
12:00 – 14:00 Lunch
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Friday May 25: Afternoon program (parallel session 1: Room S130)
14:00 – 15:30 Paper session 2
Identifying learning disabilities: an exploration of the RTI-model.
Marlous Tiekstra & Alexander Minnaert, University of Groningen, The Netherlands The dynamic version of the Bayley-III: test results and the opinion of practitioners.
Linda Visser, Selma A.J. Ruiter, Bieuwe F. Van der Meulen, Wied A.J.J.M.
Ruijssenaars, & Marieke E. Timmerman, University of Groningen, the Netherlands Attitudes to the Integration of Children with special needs in regular school- settings: Ideas for a revised concept.
Hansjörg Abegglen, University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland, Basel, Switzerland
Educational Standards for Students with Special Educational Needs (SEN): The P scales in a Swiss perspective.
Christian Liesen, University of Applied Sciences of Special Needs Education Zurich, Switzerland
15:30 – 16:00 Coffee & Tea 16:00 – 18:00 Paper session 3
Methodological Challenges and Technical Innovations in Sign Language Test Development – The Case of the German Sign Language Receptive Skills Test.
Tobias Haug, University of Applied Sciences of Special Needs Education Zurich, Switzerland
Teacher’s linguistic mediations: promoting the literacy and cognitive development of bilingual deaf pupils.
Edyta Tominska, University of Geneva, Switzerland
Does Working Memory Capacity Differ Across Educational Settings for Children with Hearing Loss?
Murat Dogan, Anadolu University, Turkey
Is the Word-Length-Effect in Children with Intellectual Disabilities Caused only during Output or also by Strategy Use?
Gerhard Büttner1,2, Sebastian Poloczek1,2 & Marcus Hasselhorn1,2,3, 1IDeA Research Center, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, 2Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, 3German Institute for International Educational Research (DIPF), Frankfurt am Main, Germany
”PianoMan – Tom”. The Music Therapy of an Autistic Man. A Longitudinal Research.
MinnaTörmänen1, ElinaKontu1, & RaijaPirttimaa2, 1University of Helsinki, Finland,
2University of Jyväskylä, Finland
11 Friday May 25: Afternoon program (parallel session 2: Room 1130)
14:00 – 15:30 Symposium 1
Dynamic testing of children’s reasoning skills: what have we learned?
(Organizers: Claire Stevenson & Wilma Resing)
New technologies in dynamic testing with the graduated prompts approach.
Anita Harrewijn & Wilma C.M. Resing, Leiden University, The Netherlands Can a robot reveal children's potential? Dynamic testing with Towers of Hanoi.
Karlijn A. Nigg & Wilma C. M. Resing, Leiden University, The Netherlands Dynamic testing of children with Autism: computerized versus tangible training.
Yasmin Vluggen, Evelien Broekhof & Wilma C.M. Resing, Leiden University, The Netherlands
The role of personality traits in children’s potential for learning to solve analogies.
Renee Zijlmans, Claire E. Stevenson & Wilma C.M. Resing, Leiden University, The Netherlands
15:30 – 16:00 Coffee & Tea 16:00 – 18:00 Symposium 2
Students' regulation of motivation in different educational contexts (Organizers:
Christian Brandmo & Jean-Louis Berger)
Students' regulation of motivation in higher education: The interplay between achievement goals, self-efficacy, and academic performance.
Christian Brandmo, University of Oslo, Norway
Does behavioral and emotional engagement influence the relations between students' achievement goals and their academic achievement?
Robin Ulriksen, University of Oslo, Norway
Self-regulation of motivation, procrastination, and motivation during high school.
Jean-Louis Berger1 & Delphine Rinaldi2, 1Swiss Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training, Switzerland Davinroy, 2University of Geneva, Switzerland When students rule the classroom: Investigating the development of self-regulated learning (SRL) and motivation, and their inter-relationship, in young science
students through an inquiry-based learning intervention.
Julie Moote, Joanne Williams, & John Sproule, University of Edinburgh, Scotland A study of Greek primary school students’ self-regulation for the development of successful intelligence.
Dimitrios Zbainos, Despina Kentouri, & Golfo Karoumpali, Harokopio University, Greece
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Saturday May 26: Morning program (Room S 130)
8:45 – 9:00 Registration (Hall in front of Room S 130) 9:00 – 10:00 Keynote by Ludolph Botha and Charl Cilliers
“Adolescent” South Africa (18 years since democratization): Challenges for universities to optimise wellness as a prerequiste for cognitive development and learning in a diverse society.
10:00 – 10:30 Coffee & Tea 10:30 – 12:00 Paper session 4
The role of baseline learning related skills to preschool children’s referential listening capacity.
Antonopoulou, K., Efstathiou, E. & Maridaki-Kassotaki, K., Harokopio University, Athens, Greece
The Connection between Primary School Students’ Self-Regulation in Learning and Perceived Teaching Quality.
Svenja Rieser1,2, Benjamin Fauth1,2, Jasmin Warwas1,3, Eckhard Klieme1,3, & Gerhard Büttner1,2, 1IDeA Research Center, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, 2Goethe-
University Frankfurt am Main, Germany, 3DIPF, Frankfurt am Main, Germany The Role of Learning Environment in Thinking Styles.
Jieqiong Fan, University of Hong Kong, China
Children´s Stress Regulation and Learning: - Demographic Factors, Temperament and the Quality of Preschool Environment as Predictors of Daily Cortisol Changes among Six-Year-Old Finnish Children
Minna Törmänen, Nina Sajaniemi, Eira Suhonen, Elina Kontu, Alisa Alijoki, & Mari Nislin, University of Helsinki, Finland
12:00 – 14:00 Lunch
13 Saturday May 26: Afternoon program (parallel session 1: Room S 130)
14:00 – 15:30 Paper session 5
Learning and transfer abilities of cognitive education teachers-in-training.
Alex Kozulin, Achva College of Education and Feuerstein Institute
The habits of mind among prospective teachers: implications for teacher training.
Mary Grosser, North-West University, South Africa
Impact of Teachers Attitudes towards Active Teaching Methods on Active Learning Practicing in the Classroom Case of Georgia.
Tamar Makhadadze & Anastasia Kitiashvili, Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University, Georgia
Learning Skills at University: Improving Note Taking and Time Management Strategies.
Delphine Rinaldi Davinroy1 & Jean-Louis Berger2, 1University of Geneva, 2Institut fédéral des hautes études en formation professionnelle
15:30 – 17:00 Farewell reception with wine and snacks
Saturday May 26: Afternoon program (parallel session 2: Room R 150)
14:00 – 15:30 Symposium 3
Unravelling Individual Differences in Children’s Dynamic Testing Performance (Organizers: Claire Stevenson & Wilma Resing)
Dynamic testing with the Combi-blocks.
Wilma C.M. Resing1, Tirza Bosma2 & Kirsten Touw1, 1Leiden University, the Netherlands; 2Free University Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Dynamic testing of analogical reasoning: the relationship between learning potential, working memory capacity and academic achievement.
Carlijn E. Bergwerff, Claire E. Stevenson & Wilma .C.M. Resing, Leiden University, the Netherlands
Availability of a German version of the Application of Cognitive Functions Scale (ACFS) for the assessment of retarded children.
Karl H. Wiedl, Vanessa Kampling, Ingrid König, Eva-M.Schevels & Manuel Waldorf, University of Osnabrueck, Germany
Dynamic testing of ethnic minority children’s potential for learning to solve analogies.
Claire E. Stevenson & Wilma C.M. Resing, Leiden University, the Netherlands Dynamic testing of- and in- the zone of proximal development.
Femke E. Stad, Claire E. Stevenson & Wilma C. M. Resing, Leiden University, the Netherlands
15:30 – 17:00 Farewell reception with wine and snacks
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Paper abstracts (in order of presentation)
Paper session 1 (Friday 25, 10:30 – 12:00, room 2170)
Intervening in dyslexia: do we need genes, brains or cognitive processes?
Julian Elliott
Durham University, England
This paper will examine the role of current knowledge in genetics, neuroscience and cognitive psychology in respect of intervention for dyslexia. It will argue that despite impressive advances in these fields, they have little to contribute to practice at the current time. In addressing this point, the paper will highlight the current learning disability debate in the US between those who advocate the use of cognitive assessments for this condition and those who contend that psychometric tools are of little value for program planning.
Keywords: dyslexia, reading disability, cognitive psychology
Discriminating Disorder from Difference Using Dynamic Assessment with Bilingual Children.
Natalie Hasson, Bernard Camilleri, Caroline Jones, Jodie Smith, & Barbara Dodd City University, London, England
The DAPPLE (Dynamic Assessment of Preschoolers’ Proficiency in Learning English) is currently being developed in response to a clinical need. Children exposed to English as an additional language may be referred to SLT because their proficiency in English is not the same as their monolingual peers.
Some, but not all, of these children are likely to have a core language learning difficulty. Clinicians need to be able to identify disorder from difference due to a child’s language learning context. The assessment used a test-teach-test format to examine children’s ability to learn vocabulary, sentence structure and phonology. The assessment, which takes less than an hour to administer, was given to 26 children who were bilingual, 12 currently on an SLT caseload and 14 children matched for age and socio-economic status who had never been referred to SLT. The DAPPLE data clearly discriminated the two groups. The caseload group required a greater amount of prompting to identify targeted words in the receptive vocabulary assessment and performed less well in the post-teaching
expressive component. For sentence structure, the caseload group required more cues to acquire the targeted clause elements in the teaching phase. The caseload group made more phoneme errors at the initial and final assessments than the controls and the type of errors made differed. Teaching resulted in greater positive change in percent phonemes correct for the caseload participants.
Qualitative analyses of individual children’s performance on the DAPPLE suggested that it has the potential to discriminate core language deficits from difference due to a bilingual language learning context. Future directions for development of the test are considered.
Keywords: bilingual, language impairment, dynamic assessment
A study of creativity development through creative writing in a Greek Primary school.
Dimitrios Zbainos & Mina Ioannidou Harokopio University, Athens
Traditionally, the Greek curricula have fostered memorization and rote learning. Only in the past two decades have curriculum reforms started focusing on the development of cognitive processes in schooling, mainly critical thinking. Creativity, defined “as the capacity to produce novel, original work that fits with task constraints” (Lubart & Guignard 2004) even in the new curricula is only mentioned sporadically with no apparent systematic effort toward its development. This study aimed at the cultivation of children’s creativity through a program of intensive teaching of creative writing within
15 the frame of the existing Curriculum of Modern Greek language. The sample of the study consisted of 98 students, aged ten to twelve years old, attending the 5th and 6th grades of a public elementary school, The mean age of the sample was 11,5 years. The sample was divided into two equal groups:
one experimental, with which the intervention took place, and one control, for whom the curriculum was taught in the traditional mnemonically-based way. The intervention to the experimental group lasted for two months. It included several techniques for generating ideas such as brain storming, lateral thinking, synectics, and creative problem solving. Data were collected through a self-report questionnaire and two equivalent versions of a self-made test assessing creativity. The first version of the self-made test was given to both groups before the intervention and the second afterwards.
Differences in creative components such as fluency (number of ideas), flexibility (divergence of perspectives represented in the ideas), originality (statistical infrequency) and elaboration of ideas were examined. The results of the study demonstrate that teaching creative writing increases creativity as measured by our self made test. It is therefore believed that a functional integration of creative writing in the Greek educational system could have multiple benefits for students.
Keywords: primary school, creativity, creative writing
Implementation of Aurora test of successful intelligence in Greece.
Dimitrios Zbainos1, Maria Kotsoni1, & Mei Tan2
1Harokopio University, Athens, Greece; 2Child Study Center, Yale University, USA
The Aurora Battery, which constitutes a new effort for assessing successful intelligence, is designed for younger students, aged 9-12, for the purpose of identifying gifted students from a variety of cultural, ethnic, and SES backgrounds. Aurora aims at detecting intellectual strengths that might not have been apparent through conventional testing, by measuring an augmented range of skills. It also intends to discern gifts of minority children, as well as those of children with learning disabilities who have strengths in previously unexamined domains. The aim of the present study was the assessment of school children’s successful intelligence. In particular it aimed at investigating the analytical, creative and practical abilities of school children (fourth, fifth and sixth grades). One hundred and seventy one student participated in the study, 53.8% of them were male and 46.2% female. The sample included children of Greek (57.9%) and of minority backgrounds (42,1%) from Athens (the capital) 50.9% and rural areas (49.1%). The results demonstrated high levels of internal consistency in almost all of the subscales. They also showed relatively normal distributions of the overall subscale scores. These attributes show that Aurora-a is a good paper and pencil test for the identification of gifted children according to the theory of successful intelligence among the population of school- aged children. They also show that Aurora allows the assessment of students’ abilities such as creativity and practical thinking, which are not appreciated by the official educational system.
However, some problems, such as the length of the test and some difficulties regarding the scoring of open-ended questions need to be dealt with.
Keywords: successcul Intelligence, creativity, analytical reasoning, practical thinking
Paper session 2 (Friday 25, 14:00 – 15:30, room S 130)
Identifying learning disabilities: an exploration of the RTI-model.
Marlous Tiekstra & Alexander Minnaert University of Groningen, The Netherlands
The traditional approach in identifying children with learning disabilities used to be the discrepancy between IQ and actual achievement. An alternative to the IQ-achievement discrepancy model has been developed in the United States, known as the Response to Instruction, or RTI-, model. In the IQ- achievement discrepancy model the discrepancy between actual test achievement and IQ is the core
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proof of a learning disability. Instead, the discrepancy between estimated response to instruction and actual response to instruction is compared in the RTI-model. Progress and results of each student are monitored systematically, which provides an insight to specific difficulties of the individual child. In this, teachers are able to estimate whether falling performances of a student are due to either a deficit in the student or inappropriate (i.e., not adaptive to student’s capacities) instruction of the teacher. The main aim of the model is to prevent learning disabilities due to effective and early intervention. Purpose of the paper is to give insight in the RTI-model and share some experiences. In the Netherlands a first attempt was made to implement the RTI-model in three groups (grade 2) at regular education. One could state that implementing the RTI- model is useful for the identification of learning disabilities in young children. Since the model provides several levels of science-based instruction, it can be seen as a screening trajectory for learning disabilities. However, experiences with the model also revealed some downside issues. The high drop-out rate is indicative for some problems when implementing the model in a Dutch setting.
Keywords: learning disabilities, response to intervention, dynamic assessment
The dynamic version of the Bayley-III: test results and the opinion of practitioners.
Linda Visser, Selma A.J. Ruiter, Bieuwe F. Van der Meulen, Wied A.J.J.M. Ruijssenaars, & Marieke E.
Timmerman
University of Groningen, the Netherlands
When problems are suspected with the development of a child, developmental assessment is often carried out as part of the diagnostic process (American Academy of Pediatrics, 2001). The test scores obtained indicate the levels of functioning at that moment in time in the domains investigated. This information appears insufficient for practitioners to formulate and evaluate an intervention and to predict future development (Tzuriel, 2000). In an attempt to provide more useful information to practitioners, tests have been constructed that are dynamic, rather than static, in nature. Dynamic tests aim at measuring the current skills, learning potential and sensitivity to different types of instruction. They have been designed for various groups, including young children. However, no standardized and well-researched instrument for developmental assessment of young children exists that employs a dynamic procedure. In the current research project a dynamic procedure has been developed for the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development - Third Edition (Bayley III, Bayley, 2006). The procedure is to administer the standard version of the Cognition scale and then train the negatively scored items. A week later, the Cognition scale is administered again. The difference between the scores on the second and first test administration is expected to give an indication of the developmental potential of the child. Initial results on the basis of test administrations with 33 children show that children obtain a higher score on the posttest than on the pretest. Children seem to vary in their degree of developmental potential, as indicated by a large standard deviation of the difference in scores between the pretest and the posttest. Children also appear to differ in the kind of support they benefit from. In the upcoming year, a larger sample of children with as well as without developmental problems will be tested using the dynamic version of the Bayley-III. We will relate the test scores to the development of a child as measured by a retest after six months. A group of children will be tested with the standard Bayley-III twice with a one-week interval to control for the learning effect. Usefulness of dynamic test results for setting up an intervention will be studied using expert interviews. The project will be finished by the end of 2013. The developed instrument will be published by Pearson Test Publishers in 2014 if the results support its validity.
Keywords: young children, dynamic assessment, Bayley-III, learning potential
17 Attitudes to the Integration of Children with special needs in regular school-settings: Ideas for a revised concept.
Hansjörg Abegglen
University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland, Basel, Switzerland The international research literature has long shown that the successful implementation of
integrative/inclusive school-forms and the implementation of inclusive school systems, respectively, largely depend on the positive attitudes of the involved actors. The Canton of Berne, through the implementation of the so-called 'integration article' (Article 17 of the Public Education Act) by 2011, also strives to for an integrative and common schooling system for children with and without special educational needs (SEN), together in regular classes. This offered the opportunity for a research project measuring the attitudes of the various actors in this process. The sample (N = 588) included student teachers (from preschool to primary school), teachers with different functions within the schools and school-headmasters from 30 teams. For all respondents it can be assumed that they were involved, in short term or medium term, in the implementation process of inclusive school forms. The extensive online-survey included a newly translated version of the ORI-scale (Opinions Relative to the Integration of Students with Disabilities; Antonak & Larrivee, 1995). The analysis of the data showed a high reliability of the German version of ORI, as well as for the construct “attitude towards the integration of SEN children”. A basic result in this study was that for the whole sample a rather negative attitude towards the integration of SEN children was found. Only the student- teachers and the special-education-teachers, working in ambulatory schooling-forms and functions showed a more positive attitude. Teachers working in regular schools-settings showed the most negative attitude to the integration of SEN children. Females in all subgroups showed a more positive attitude toward integration in comparison to their male counterparts. Furthermore, it was found that study-related preoccupation with special educational contents and positive contact experiences in integrative settings were predictive for the development of positive attitudes to the
integration/inclusion of SEN children. The construction of attitude-scales and the use of them in the debate on integration/inclusion of SEN children have a long tradition. However, the measurement of attitudes seems to be too limited to predict a successful integration/inclusion process. We tend to a practice in which a mix of variables is included, such as attitudes, self-efficacy, motivation for innovations and various forms of creative potential. These should be measured with scales aimed at the individual as well as the whole-team that is involved in the implementation of “integrative innovations”. We will use the above-mentioned study to try to develop a new design of study, based on the idea to create a general model that can explain, predict, support and evaluate innovations and innovative policies in schools systems.
Keywords: Inclusive schools, special educational needs, attitudes
Educational Standards for Students with Special Educational Needs (SEN): The P scales in a Swiss perspective.
Christian Liesen
University of Applied Sciences of Special Needs Education Zurich, Switzerland
In 1998, DfES/QCA in England introduced the P scales in order to measure the attainments of students with special educational needs (SEN) that fell below Level 1 of the National Curriculum. In 2008, after gathering data for up to 30,000 pupils per year, the P scales became a statutory part of the National Curriculum. They appear to be working well(Ndaji & Tymms, 2009, 2010). In
Switzerland, national educational standards were introduced in 2011. They serve to harmonize the educational goals of the 26 cantons, an obligation imposed on them in 2006 by Federal Law. The issue of goals and standards for SEN students, however, has been disregarded so far for political reasons. A small group of researchers from four Swiss institutions decided to address the issue nevertheless, drawing on experiences from England: Could the P scales be adapted for use in
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Switzerland? The talk will highlight some of the conceptual and empiricial difficulties the project has to deal with, such as dissimilar types of standards in England and Switzerland, huge data gaps, and varied approaches for setting improvement targets for SEN students. Results from two small-scale studies conducted in Zurich and Geneva will be given, looking into Swiss teacher‘s views towards the P scales. In addition, the roadmap ahead for the project is presented. A discussion of the project‘s priorities will complete the overview.
Keywords
Educational standards, special educational needs
Paper session 3 (Friday 25, 16:00 – 18:00, room S 130)
Methodological Challenges and Technical Innovations in Sign Language Test Development – The Case of the German Sign Language Receptive Skills Test.
Tobias Haug
University of Applied Sciences of Special Needs Education Zurich, Switzerland
Despite the current, international, need for reliable and valid test instruments to monitor the sign language acquisition of deaf children, very few tests are commercially available that offer strong evidence for their psychometric properties. This lack mirrors the current state of affairs for many sign languages, where very little research is available. The presentation centers on the adaptation of the Receptive Skills Test for British Sign Language (Herman et al., 1999) to German Sign Language (Haug, 2011a, 2011b) within the framework of an empirical study. A number of imposed methodological issues, such as the state of research that had an impact on validity and reliability, will be discussed and the new online-version of this sign language test will be presented. Based on the notion that the template for this test, the BSL Receptive Skills Test, has been adapted to many other sign languages, an online version offers the unique opportunity to use the same technical infrastructure for the test across different sign languages. Furthermore, this format will facilitate future cross-linguistic research based on the comparison of test results from different sign languages.
Keywords
Sign language, assessment, receptive skills
Teacher’s linguistic mediations: promoting the literacy and cognitive development of bilingual deaf pupils.
Edyta Tominska
University of Geneva, Switzerland
This contribution follows our PhD thesis, which is placed in the fields of both educational sciences and deaf studies, has multiple theoretical roots. It is based on literacy practices introduced in bilingual classrooms for deaf children, the rooted concepts of bilingual programs in the education of these children with concepts from the field of emergent literacy studies in the general population and, among others, from the field of didactic microgenetic studies. It also includes bilingualism in deaf children and its multimodal characteristics, observed through classroom interactions. It reveals an important challenge for the literacy acquisition of deaf children and their cognitive development.
We focus on teacher’s linguistic mediations of the teaching/learning matters in the complex situation of the Interactive Storybook Reading. Those mediations will be apprehending in the naturalistic classroom learning situations and trough the teacher’s literacy practices. This proposition has a qualitative, comprehensive approach, aiming at the following questions: How the teachers guide the pupils in their discovery of the storybook? How they do to manage the progressive establishment of the common meaning from the pictures and then from the text? How do teachers and pupils make
19 use of the two languages (French and French sign language-LSF) they have at their disposition? How do they profit from this bilingual setting to teach and to learn the French language using storybooks?
We illustrate our presentation by the results of a bilingual approach analyses aiming at the linguistic exchanges and positions with regard to the two languages. These results show that the teachers (one deaf and one hearing) guide differently the narrative structure knowledge construction and the letter or lexical knowledge construction according to the different use of two languages in these skills. The use of two languages serves the children to develop their individual verbal repertories (vocal and signed). These bilingual repertories between the sign language and the French were analyzed in their evolution during one school year. Our presentation contributes to a clearer understanding of the construction of meaning in reading and writing skills in deaf children in a naturalistic classroom setting and the role played by the two languages used. It also elicits questions with regard to the inclusion of deaf children in the regular classroom and the recognition of their bilingual
Keywords
teachers mediations, interactive reading, bilingual classroom, deaf children
Does Working Memory Capacity Differ Across Educational Settings for Children with Hearing Loss?
Murat Dogan
Anadolu University, Turkey
Research Questions Two questions to be answered in this study are: 1. Is there a statistically significant difference between the performances of children with normal hearing and children with hearing loss in WM tasks? 2. Do WM task performances differ across educational settings for children with hearing loss? Method Design Causal-comparative. Participants The sample [N = 223] consisted of normally hearing children [n = 103] and children with hearing loss [n = 120] from three different educational settings in Eskisehir, Turkey: Children from (1) Education and Research Centre for Hearing Impaired Children, namely İCEM [n = 62], (2) Mainstream settings [n = 26], (3) School for the Deaf [n = 32]. The age range was 7 to 15 in both groups. Groups were controlled for age and
performance IQ scores. Both groups had no diagnosed psychiatric or neurological problems, and also the teachers reported that the participants had no known learning or cognitive difficulties.
Instruments and Procedure The measures were pure tone audiometer for hearing level, WISC-R Performance subscales for performance IQ, sentence-digit span and digit span-backward tasks for verbal WM, paper folding task for visuo-spatial WM, and digit span-forward task for verbal STM. All the tasks were administered by the researcher in a quite testing room as individual sessions. Results The main group and subgroup differences were determined by multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) which also facilitated the control of age and IQ. MANCOVA indicated that (1) normally hearing children performed better than children with hearing loss in verbal WM tasks, but not in visuo-spatial task. (2) Participants from İCEM and mainstream settings performed better than the children who attend the School for the Deaf both in verbal and visuo-spatial tasks, when age and performance IQ were controlled. Discussion The finding that normally hearing children performed better than children with hearing loss in verbal tasks in an expected one. The second finding which indicates that İÇEM and mainstream children performed better than the children of School for the Deaf is probably because the good performing groups use oral communication. Although age and IQ were controlled in this study, there may be some other extraneous variables which could affect the differences between groups.
Keywords
children with hearing loss, cognition, educational settings, working memory
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Is the Word-Length-Effect in Children with Intellectual Disabilities Caused only during Output or also by Strategy Use?
Gerhard Büttner1,2, Sebastian Poloczek1,2 & Marcus Hasselhorn1,2,3
1IDeA Research Center, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, 2Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, 3German Institute for International Educational Research (DIPF), Frankfurt am Main, Germany
The development of the phonological short-term memory (PSTM) of children with intellectual disabilities (ID) seems to be impaired. One explanation for the problems with PTSM tasks is that children with ID do not use rehearsal strategies to refresh degrading memory traces. However, existing research concerning this explanation is inconclusive. Firstly, some studies found the word- length-effect as indicator of rehearsal in samples of children with ID while others did not. Secondly, in the existing studies, it is not clear if the WLE was caused by rehearsal or merely during output of the responses. We assume that for children with ID and a mental age of about 7 years longer output delays are the only cause of the word-length-effect. If children with ID unlike typically developing children do not use rehearsal during PSTM tasks, (a) then the word-length-effect (WLE) in the ID group should be smaller than in the mental age control group, (b) then for children with ID the WLE should not be present in the first word of each word list, but increase in later word positions. These predictions were tested in an experiment involving 34 children with mild to borderline ID (Mean IQ = 72.7, SD = 4.4; Age: 10 – 12 years) and 34 typically developing children matched for mental age, language background and gender (Mean IQ = 94.7, SD = 6.5; Age: 6 – 8 years ). The ANOVA revealed a significant main effect for word length as well as a significant word length x group interaction due to a smaller WLE in the ID group. Furthermore, the word position x word length interaction is significant because of a larger WLE in later positions. In the ID group, there is no WLE in position 1, but in later positions. In contrast, in the control group, the WLE is significant in position 1 as well as in later positions. This pattern of results supports the notion that the smaller word-length-effect in the group of children with ID might be only caused during the output of the word lists and therefore per se is not indicative of the use of rehearsal. In contrast, the larger WLE, which is present from output position 1 onwards, is consistent with the interpretation, that typically developing children aged 6 years 10 months to 8 years 7months used rehearsal in order to refresh decaying memory traces.
Therefore, one (partial) explanation of the phonological short-term memory impairments of children with ID aged 10 to 12 years seems to be that they might not have developed rehearsal strategies.
Keywords
children with intellectual disabilities, short-term memory, word-length-effect, verbal strategy use
”PianoMan – Tom”. The Music Therapy of an Autistic Man. A Longitudinal Research.
MinnaTörmänen1, ElinaKontu1, & RaijaPirttimaa2
1University of Helsinki, Finland, 2University of Jyväskylä, Finland
The aim of this case study is to describe and analyze piano playing skills of a man, named PianoMan Tom; his ability to learn new repertoire is also analyzed. Tom, who was born in 1974, has autistic ten- dencies and impaired vision. Tom’s interpersonal skills and adaptive skills related to his behavior are very weak. He is able to talk, but his speech consists of features of echolalia. He reacts very aggressi- vely, mainly screaming, when he is given encouragement and commands. He has a tendency to get stuck on different events from his childhood; he likes to talk about things in the past. This study applies a longitudinal data. Tom’s piano playing skills have been recorded by video in different music sessions when he was 17 years, 26 years and 33 years old. In these videos he also plays drums. Elina Kontu, who is a special education teacher and a music therapist, conducted the music sessions.
According to results, it was shown that Tom’s musical functions are significantly higher than his other functions; this was noticed specifically at the age of 26. From this perspective it is interesting to ana- lyze how Tom’s musical talent could be utilized in his learning and in affecting his behavior in general.
21 When analyzing the results of this study we have used Anderson’s (Anderson 1992, 2001) and Demetrious (2004, 2002) theories on different intelligences and theories of “savant phenomenon”, as well as the concepts of Relation of Communication (Kontu 2004, Kontu & Pirttimaa, 2007).
Keywords
piano playing skills, music therapy, longitudinal research, savant phenomenon
Paper session 4 (Saturday 25, 10:30 – 12:00, room S 130)
The role of baseline learning related skills to preschool children’s referential listening capacity.
Antonopoulou, K., Efstathiou, E. & Maridaki-Kassotaki, K.
Harokopio University, Athens, Greece
Previous research has shown that young children’s ability to assign meaning to simple messages and link them to a specific referential domain is associated with children’s mentalizing ability as reflected in false belief understanding. The present study further explores the link between referential listen- ing and mentalizing ability in young children, the focus being baseline learning related skills involved in language and social development. The aim of the present study, therefore, was to examine the relation between specific components of referential listening such as referent identification, message appraisal, comprehension of directions and verbal message evaluation and domains of baseline learning in early school life such as literacy, social behavior and independent/autonomous learning.
Sixty preschool aged children (mean age = 4.6 years old, sd= 6.28) took part in the study. The Listening Skills Test–LIST was used to assess children’s referential listening skills. Children’s baseline learning related skills were evaluated with the Greek version of the Infant Index/Baseline-PLUS. The results showed that there is a link between referential listening and baseline learning capacity in young children. More specifically, they revealed positive correlations between referential listening and (a) literacy (reading/writing), (b) social behavior (peer relationships, compliance and co- operation) and (c) independent learning (attention/concentration, motivation). Moreover, data analysis showed significant effects of baseline learning skills on child capacity to respond successfully in the role of listener. The present findings support and expand previous evidence attesting to a link between referential communication and learning related factors such social understanding, exposure to the written world (literacy) and autonomy in young children. The implications of the findings are discussed in terms of psychological and educational practice and learning outcomes.
Keywords
baseline capacity, learning related skills, referential listening, preschool children
The Connection between Primary School Students’ Self-Regulation in Learning and Perceived Teaching Quality.
Svenja Rieser1,2, Benjamin Fauth1,2, Jasmin Warwas1,3, Eckhard Klieme1,3, & Gerhard Büttner1,2
1IDeA Research Center, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, 2Goethe-University Frankfurt am Main, Germany, 3DIPF, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Key aspects of self-regulated learning are metacognition and volitional control (Boekaerts, 1999;
Zimmerman, 2000). Primary school students’ use of corresponding strategies can be fostered
efficiently through direct training programs (Dignath, Büttner, & Langfeldt, 2008). Studies concerning its promotion in regular classrooms, however, are scarce. The present study investigates the
hypothesis that in primary school classrooms self-regulated learning is systematically related to the quality of teaching. Teaching quality is a well-established concept. US-based observational studies (Pianta & Hamre, 2009) and teacher self-reports (Tschannen-Moran & Woolfolk Hoy, 2007) agree with European multi-method approaches (Klieme, Pauli, & Reusser, 2009) in identifying three basic
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dimensions of classroom environments: cognitive activation, supportive climate, and classroom management. In our project, we succeeded in measuring all three dimensions of teaching quality as well as metacognitive strategy use, and volitional control of effort and attention by administering newly developed questionnaires to 957 third graders from 54 classes in German primary school (α = .71 - .85). As teaching quality is a characteristic of the learning environment, showing a substantial amount of variance between classes (ICC = .14 - .20), we used multilevel regression analyses for analysing the predictive power of perceived teaching quality for students’ use of self-regulation.
Within classes, both aspects of self-regulation were significantly predicted by all three dimensions of teaching quality. Between classes, however, metacognitive strategy use was only significantly predicted by cognitive activation while volitional control was only predicted by supportive climate.
Thus, primary school students reported more application of metacognitive learning strategies in cognitively challenging classrooms and, in addition, they reported more volitional control if they were taught by a teacher whose classroom behaviour they experienced as caring. On a theoretical level our results indicate that it is useful to include the concept of teaching quality as an important aspect of the classroom environment when investigating self-regulated learning at school. On an educational level the results may be used as basis for testing the hypothesis that children’s awareness of metacognitive strategies and volitional control might be fostered by raising teaching quality.
Keywords
self-regulated learning, teaching quality, primary school
The Role of Learning Environment in Thinking Styles.
Jieqiong Fan
University of Hong Kong, China
The present study examined the influence of students’ perceived general learning environment on their thinking styles (a specific term for “intellectual styles”). Seven hundred and fifty-two
undergraduate students in Shanghai were asked to respond to the Thinking Style Inventory-Revised II and the Inventory of Students’ Perceived Learning Environment. Results confirmed that students’
perceived learning environment can predict their thinking styles beyond gender, grade, major, and socioeconomic status. Specifically, constructivist-oriented teaching and peer morale in learning contributed to thinking styles that are characterized by cognitive complexity, nonconformity, autonomy, and low degrees of structure, while clear goal and coherence of curriculum mainly predicted thinking styles that are characterized by cognitive simplicity, conformity, authority, and high degrees of structure. Student-student cooperation, the nature of assessments and assignments, and facilities for learning also contributed to thinking styles to varying extents. The findings of the present study provide insights into one of the major controversial issues in the field of style - the issue of style socialization. In addition, practical suggestions on how to cultivate students’ thinking styles can be provided to teachers, university administrators, and other educational practitioners based on the findings.
Keywords
thinking styles, learning environment
Children´s Stress Regulation and Learning: - Demographic Factors, Temperament and the Quality of Preschool Environment as Predictors of Daily Cortisol Changes among Six-Year-Old Finnish Children Minna Törmänen, Nina Sajaniemi, Eira Suhonen, Elina Kontu, Alisa Alijoki, & Mari Nislin
University of Helsinki, Finland
It has been established that the stress-sensitive neurobiological system is immature and open to being shaped by experience in the early childhood. When children enter for the first time either the
23 day-care or preschool the external demands to adjust are very different from the ones experienced at home. In Finland, the last year in day-care, before children go to the comprehensive school, is called preschool. This year is far more academically demanding than earlier day-care years, emphasizing school-like activities along with age-appropriate social and cognitive challenges. The first aim of the present study was to determine if the preschool year (for six-year-olds) has an effect on cortisol reactivity. To examine the changes in stress regulation, cortisol reactivity (five
measurement points per day) was investigated both in the autumn and in the spring. The second aim of the study was to explore whether demographic factors, temperament and the quality of preschool environment have an effect on daily cortisol variation among the participants of the study. Five day- care centres in metropolitan Helsinki, Finland, participated in this study, and 91 six-year-old
preschool children (42 girls, 49 boys) served as participants. Results showed that the children displayed typical cortisol reactivity during the autumn, as expected, whereas cortisol values were significantly higher in the spring. The autumn measurements revealed a significant relation between the cortisol effects and sadness, anger/frustration and perceptual sensitivity temperament
characteristics. These characteristics were not as prominent in spring. Additionally, the results indicated that day-care quality affects changes in cortisol reactivity; especially significant connections were found between preschool practices and cortisol values. To summarize, day-care practices have an effect on children’s stress regulation, which underlines the importance of sensitive pedagogy from the side of the day-care teachers and personnel. Attuned feedback can help children to tolerate the fluctuation in preschool activities.
Keywords
stress regulation, quality of day-care, temperament, preschool
Paper session 5 (Saturday 26, 14:00 – 15:30, room S 130)
Learning and transfer abilities of cognitive education teachers-in-training.
Alex Kozulin
Achva College of Education and Feuerstein Institute
While in curricular areas teachers usually have a built-in advantage over their students in curricular knowledge, this is not so in cognitive education where the tasks are often new to both teachers and students. In this study the question was posed regarding teachers’ mastery of cognitive tasks and their ability to apply the newly learned cognitive strategies to a new material. The subjects were nineteen educators (10 males and 9 females, aged 23 to 50) who participated in the international cognitive education course. After introductory theoretical lectures, subjects were pre-tested on their spontaneous ability to solve perceptual cognitive tasks. Three days later they were post-tested.
Between pre-and post-test subjects received, in addition to other topics, ten hours of training in the cognitive program that included the large number of perceptual tasks similar to those used during the pre- and post-test. During the post-test the subjects were also given a near-transfer task that required generalization and transfer of strategies learned during the training. The results indicate that there is a certain gap between teachers-in-training ability to master specific cognitive tasks and their ability to generalize and transfer cognitive strategies. A considerable number of “fast learners”
turned out to be not so good “transferrers”. At the same time some of the “slow learners”
demonstrated good transfer abilities. These results are discussed in a broader context of the theory of learning potential. The ability to solve an unfamiliar problem, to acquire new problem solving techniques, and to transfer a more general problem solving strategy to a new material may
constitute three distinct abilities. The current methodology of learning potential tests and cognitive education programs tends to narrowly identify learning potential with pre- to post-test gain achieved with similar tasks. On the other hand, cognitive program training is expected to develop teachers capable of instructing their students how to identify and apply cognitive strategies to increasingly
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wider range of tasks. Suggestions are made regarding the need to include the assessment of transfer skills into learning potential tests and into the evaluation of cognitive education programs.
Keywords
cognitive education, teacher training, learning, transfer
The habits of mind among prospective teachers: implications for teacher training.
Mary Grosser
North-West University, South Africa
In addition to subject knowledge and thinking skills that are required for living and working in today’s technology-driven environment characterised by information explosion, individuals aslo require sophisticated Habits of Mind. Habits of Mind are important attitudes or dispositions for effectively completing tasks, coping with challenges and solving problems, and include inter alia attitudes such striving for accuracy, persistence, managing impulsivity, thinking flexibly and communicating with clarity and precision. This paper reports on the findings of an exploratory, non-experimental descriptive survey study aimed at profiling the nature of the growth and development of and the capacity to apply Habits of Mind among a purposively selected multi-cultural group of pre-service teachers studying towards a BEd-degree (first-, second-, third- and fourth-year) (N = 800) at a South African university. The data revealed a discrepancy between the participants’ perceptions regarding the growth and development of their Habits of Mind and the repertoire of strategies they have available for applying the Habits of Mind. In essence, the data pointed out that the pre-service teachers are actually novices in terms of their capacity to apply the Habits of Mind effectively. By presenting a profile of the Habits of Mind among pre-service teachers, this paper intends to create an awareness of new dimensions that should be built into the visions of schools and teacher training institutions regarding teaching, learning and curriculum design. The new dimensions should aim to develop learners and teachers who can creatively face challenges with self-confidence and
independence. The presentation makes suggestions on how to gear teacher training in South Africa to focus on nurturing fragile Habits of Mind in order to produce teachers who themselves have developed the propensity of skillfully and mindully applying cognitive tools when confronted with problems, and who would be able to instill more thoughtful and intelligent working ways among the learners whom they will teach.
Keywords
habits of mind, thinking dispositions and attitudes, intelligent behavior
Impact of Teachers Attitudes towards Active Teaching Methods on Active Learning Practicing in the Classroom Case of Georgia.
Tamar Makhadadze & Anastasia Kitiashvili Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University, Georgia
The given paper analyzing one segment of the comprehensive research project “Classroom Observation of Teaching Methodology “ carried out by the National Curriculum and Assessment Center with support of the World Bank. This is a follow-up study of the researches carried out by the World Bank baseline study in 1999 and an evaluation study of the program of Ilia Chavchavadze in 2007 . The main aim of the study was exploring teaching methodology and classroom practice
throughout the country. In the paper teachers’ attitudes on active learning are analyzed in relation to a manner they are organizing teaching process at the classroom. Two main aspects are emphasized:
active teaching and assessment methods. The main research questions are whether teachers’
attitudes towards active teaching and assessment methods has changed though the many reform efforts and what is the impact of changes of teachers’ attitude on their teaching practices in the classes. The research data was gathered from the capital city of Tbilisi and all 10 regions of Georgia. It
25 covered 929 surveyed teaches and 292 observed classes. The research revealed a significant shift in teachers’ attitudes towards using the active teaching and assessment methodology compared with the above mentioned studies done in 1999 and in 2007. Overall, teachers have positive attitudes towards active learning practices that they have become increasingly familiar with through the reform efforts and teachers’ attitudes are related to teachers openness towards using the new practices and methodology in their classes to some extent. However there still remain a number of factors influencing effectiveness of active learning at the classroom, such as: class size traditional classroom arrangements, and etc, that cause using of active learning approaches sometimes mechanically or inappropriately.
Keywords
active teaching methods,active learning, national curriculum and assessment center, world bank
Learning Skills at University: Improving Note Taking and Time Management Strategies.
Delphine Rinaldi Davinroy1 & Jean-Louis Berger2
1University of Geneva, 2Institut fédéral des hautes études en formation professionnelle
This presentation focuses on the difficulties in learning skills that a great part of university students in Geneva come across during their first year, their assessment and their improvement through the learning program (workshops) named “Réussir ses études”. Specifically, we address the issues of note taking and time management as well as the potential to improve these skills through the workshops.
About 40% of the students fail at the end of the first university year, including students who obtain insufficient grades, reorient themselves intra muros or voluntarily leave University. Besides inten- tional reorientation, many factors explain this failure rate like motivation, study-work balance, prior knowledge, skills, and so on. Among these factors appears the lack of learning strategies also called learning skills deficit. As they start, students have first to adapt to a new environment. They are faced to new responsibilities, new challenges and new academic demands. For example, students have greater freedom (they are free to attend courses or not), attend ex cathedra courses with many other students and receive a huge quantity of information to process and integrate. Therefore, they have to think critically, to recognize what is important to know or to memorize and to manage their time. They rapidly need to understand that skills that led to good grades in high school are often not sufficient to succeed in the first year of University. Adjusting their learning skills to those new challenges can be quite difficult: While students know what they have to learn, they do not know how to learn it. Research has shown that time management and note taking are particularly not mastered when students begin University (Romainville & Noël, 2003; Frenay, Noël, Parmentier, &
Romainville, 1998). In order to help students adjust their learning skills to academic demands, in 2002 the workshop “Réussir ses etudes” was created. Based on a review of the literature and input from Belgian and Canadian support programs, we first identified the main problematic skills: Time management, note taking, memory strategies and exam preparation. We then created four
workshops to work on these themes using a metacognitive approach based on Büchel and Büchel’s approach (2011) in their cognitive education program DELV. First, the students evaluate their strategic strengths and weaknesses. Second, they compare their strategies to the theory during the workshops. Third, they optimize their strengths, some strategies and learn new ones. Finally they transfer the optimized strategies to their own curriculum. We reevaluate all the strengths and weaknesses after the workshops to estimate the improvement. This presentation investigates the reported use of time management and note taking strategies. The first aim is to assess whether the workshops bring an improvement in learning strategies, especially time management and note taking strategies. The second aim is to investigate if there is a correlation between the posttest scores and the number of sessions the experimental group (EG) attended.
Keywords
University students, learning strategies
