Trends in Neuroscience and Education最新文献

Background

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic schools all over the world were closed and thereby students had to be instructed from distance. Consequently, the use of online learning environments for online distance learning increased massively. However, the perseverance of using online learning environments during and after school closures remains to be investigated.

Method

We examined German students’ (n ≈ 300,000 students; ≈ 18 million computed problem sets) engagement in an online learning environment for mathematics by means of survival analysis.

Results

We observed that the total number of students who registered increased considerably during and after school closures compared to the previous three years. Importantly, however, the proportion of students engaged also decreased more rapidly over time.

Conclusion

The application of survival analysis provided valuable insights into students’ engagement in online learning - or conversely students’ increased dropout rates - over time. Its application to educational settings allows to address a broader range of questions on students’ engagement in online learning environments in the future.

Background

Research with adults suggests that executive function (EF) might play a role in the development of divergent thinking, a key component of creativity, by helping children override canonical knowledge.

Procedure

We examined this possibility in two experiments, by manipulating the familiarity of objects used in the Alternate Uses test of divergent thinking both between-participants (Experiment 1: N = 53 4-year-olds and 50 6-year-olds) and within-participants (Experiment 2: N = 74 5-year-olds).

Findings

We found evidence that younger children generated more and/or more original ideas for novel than familiar objects. However, this effect disappeared with age and did not depend on child EF. Further, EF was inversely associated with divergent thinking, controlling for age, intelligence, and income.

Significance

These results call into question a simple executive account of children's divergent thinking and suggest that, among predominantly White, socioeconomically advantaged 4–6-year-olds, divergent idea-generation might be a primarily bottom-up process that can be hindered by top-down thinking.

Objective

People often perceive a quantity of specific objects that appear as part of an overall group of items (a subset). This study investigates this type of perception among a population with mathematical leaning difficulties (MLD).

Method

Sixty-two participants (mean age: 26.82) reported the general and subset quantity of items using a subset quantity detection task or a conjunction visual search task.

Results

MLD had difficulties perceiving both the general quantity presented and the subset quantity of items. They also had difficulties preforming a conjunction visual search task, even when the task did not involve numerical processing.

Conclusions

MLD has spatial difficulties in the form of visual search and subset quantity detection. The current study suggests that MLD might experience greater difficulties in daily tasks, which might be related to those tasks (e.g., detecting the amount of forks among other items of silverware on the table).

Background

Although breaks are essential to restoring cognitive and psychological conditions for learning, short breaks within school lessons are not established and the specificity of effects has not often been investigated. Therefore, the effects of a physical activity (Study 1) and a mindfulness intervention (Study 2) were investigated.

Procedure

By an intervention-control group design, the effects of daily 10-min physical activity (Study 1: N = 162, 4th grade) and mindfulness breaks (Study 2: N = 79, 5th grade) were implemented within regular school lessons over a 2-week time period to research the impact on attention, reading comprehension, and self-esteem.

Results

In the physical activity intervention children's attention improved (attention-processing speed: p < .004, ${\eta }_p^2$ = .05, attention-performance: p < .025, ${\eta }_p^2$ = .03), and in the mindfulness intervention reading comprehension improved (p < .012, ${\eta }_p^2$ = .08) compared to the controls. Results further indicated that self-esteem moderated the relationship between groups and attention improvement in study 1.

Conclusion

Classroom-based short physical and mindfulness breaks could support attention and reading comprehension, which are known to support overall academic success.

Background

The COVID-19 pandemic induced many governments to close schools for months. Evidence so far suggests that learning has suffered as a result. Here, it is investigated whether forms of computer-assisted learning mitigated the decrements in learning observed during the lockdown.

Method

Performance of 53,656 primary school students who used adaptive practicing software for mathematics was compared to performance of similar students in the preceding year.

Results

During the lockdown progress was faster than it had been the year before, contradicting results reported so far. These enhanced gains were correlated with increased use, and remained after the lockdown ended. This was the case for all grades but more so for lower grades and for weak students, but less so for students in schools with disadvantaged populations.

Conclusions

These results suggest that adaptive practicing software may mitigate, or even reverse, the negative effects of school closures on mathematics learning.

Background

There is evidence indicating beneficial effects of mental simulation on athletic and musical performance. We evaluated whether such beneficial effects of mental simulation generalize to the cognitive domain in terms of embodied (finger-based) numerical representations.

Methods

We assessed 70 preschoolers (36 girls, mean age 5;9) on tasks assessing different basic numerical skills (e.g., counting, cardinality understanding, number composition, etc.) as well as different aspects of finger-based numerical representations. A subgroub completed a mental simulation phase prior to testing finger-based representations.

Results

Children who completed the mental simulation phase, performed better on the tasks assessing finger-based representations compared to, children who did not complete the simulation phase. This held even when controlling for performance in basic numerical skills.

Conclusion

This study provides evidence that beneficial effects of mental simulation generalize to embodied (finger-based) numerical representations. Mental simulation may be useful to integrate in the instruction of basic numerical skills.

We examined the relation between different kinds of play behavior (video games, exergames, board games) in kindergarten (T1) and components of executive function (EF; inhibition, switching, verbal and visuospatial updating) in kindergarten and second grade (T1 and T2). Ninety-seven children participated in this longitudinal study. Parents were asked to complete a questionnaire regarding children's play behavior, reporting frequency, duration, and game type. The results indicate that play behavior is associated with EF development in children; however, only exergames, electronic puzzle games, and board games predicted EF at T2. Additionally, the time spent on electronic games was negatively related to visuospatial updating at T1 but did not predict EF at T2. The results support further investigation of a potential link between board game and exergame play behavior and EF development.

Background

Policy makers have long considered how to best educate children for success. Thus, this research explored whether imaginative play serves as a positive context for developing executive functions (EF) and prosocial behaviors necessary for academic success. Specifically, we hypothesized that EF would explain links between imaginative play and prosocial behaviors.

Method

284 preschool children and their teachers completed measures of imaginative play, EF, and prosocial behaviors. Structural Equation Modeling examined mediational links between these constructs.

Results

Imaginative play predicted both hot and cool EF, as well as prosocial behavior, even after controlling for age and vocabulary; furthermore, the relationship between imaginative play and prosocial behavior was fully mediated by hot EF.

Conclusion

Results suggest that imaginative play may serve as a positive context for developing EF and prosocial behaviors. Curricula and teachers should consider encouraging imaginative play to facilitate the development of EF and prosocial behaviors.

Background

Standing desks have been brought into the education environment to reduce sedentary behavior among students. The current study explored the effects of standing in tutorial group meetings on learning among undergraduate students.

Methods

Ninety-six participants were randomly allocated to a Sit or Stand group, with 2 h tutorial group meetings scheduled, once or twice per week, for nine weeks. Learning was analyzed using exam grades, concept maps, and tutorial interactions.

Results

Overall, the Sit and Stand groups did not differ from each other in terms of learning, measured through their exam, concept map, and the use of learning-oriented interactions.

Conclusion

Standing in tutorial group meetings neither enhanced nor compromised learning. Considering the health risks associated with prolonged sedentary behavior, offering standing tutorial group meetings to undergraduate students is a recommended solution to break up prolonged sedentary behavior and encourage more physical activity, while maintaining the learning performance of students.

Advances in neuroscience studies have brought new insights into the development of Executive Functions (EFs) of the brain and its influence on understanding science concepts. This study was conducted to examine the relationships between three main components of EF: working memory, inhibition, set-shifting and understanding of Force concepts among adolescents. This study also investigated how gender mediates the relationships between the components of EF and understanding. Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery was used to assess students' level of working memory, inhibition, and set-shifting. The Force Concept Test measured students understanding. Smart-PLS analysis was employed to examine the relationships between the three components of EF and understanding; and how gender mediates the relationships. The result reveals that working memory significantly relates to students’ understanding of Force concepts in a positive direction. On the contrary, both set-shifting and inhibition exhibit non-significant relationships. The findings also demonstrate that gender does not significantly mediate the relationships. The findings are useful for Physics teachers to guide them through designing the curriculum and opting for an appropriate pedagogical strategy considering the role of the components of EF for teaching the lessons on Force.