Using the theory of successful intelligence as a basis for augmenting AP exams in Psychology and Statistics

Sternberg’s theory of successful intelligence was used to create augmented exams in Advanced Placement Psychology and Statistics. Participants included 1895 high school students from 19 states and 56 schools throughout the U.S. The psychometric results support the validity of creating examinations that assess memory, analytical, creative, and practical skills in the context of content-specific knowledge. In addition, Q-factor analyses revealed a set of empirically distinguishable profiles of achievement, supporting the assertion that individuals exhibit different patterns of strengths and weaknesses in cognitive processing skills. Finally, an examination of ethnic group differences in achievement shows that measuring a broad range of cognitive skills tends to reduce ethnic differences in achievement. Future studies aimed at replicating these findings are warranted.     

Using common formative assessments as a source of professional development in an urban American elementary school

By implementing a system of common formative assessments, the teachers at an American urban elementary school improved student achievement and facilitated their own professional development. By aligning content standards with assessments and purposeful instruction, the teachers at this school developed a depth of knowledge about their content standards, improved their ability to design assessments, learned to better link assessments with instruction, and planned for intervention for students who continued to struggle with reading and writing.     

Subjective evaluations of intelligence and academic self-concept predict academic achievement: Evidence from a selective student population

The study examined the relationship between implicit theories, goal orientations, subjective and test estimates of intelligence, academic self-concept, and achievement in a selective student population (N = 300). There was no direct impact of implicit theories of intelligence and goal orientations on achievement. However, subjective evaluations of intelligence and academic self-concept had incremental predictive value over conventional intelligence when predicting achievement accounting for more than 50% of its variance. The obtained pattern of results is presented via structural equation models and interpreted within a dynamic regulative systems framework suggesting the importance of further studying complex sets of achievement predictors that include ability, personality and mediating constructs.     

Academic tracking is related to gains in students' intelligence over four years: Evidence from a propensity score matching study

Ability grouping or tracking during secondary schooling is widespread. Previous research shows academic track schools are more successful than non-academic track schools in teaching mathematics, reading and foreign languages. Reasons include a more favorable student composition and higher instructional quality. However, there is less evidence that between track differences are even large enough to differentially affect the students' cognitive development. We used data from a large Hamburg panel study to test this hypothesis (N = 8628). By employing several propensity score matching algorithms we formed parallelized samples of academic track and either non-academic track students or comprehensive school students. After four years of tracking, academic track students showed considerably higher intelligence scores than their counterparts at the non-academic tracks and slightly higher scores than students at the comprehensive schools. Our results underline the importance of a cognitively stimulating learning environment in school to support students' cognitive development.     

Junior high school physics: Using a qualitative strategy for successful problem solving

Students at the junior high school (JHS) level often cannot use their knowledge of physics for explaining and predicting phenomena. We claim that this difficulty stems from the fact that explanations are multi‐step reasoning tasks, and students often lack the qualitative problem‐solving strategies needed to guide them. This article describes a new instructional approach for teaching mechanics at the JHS level that explicitly teaches such a strategy. The strategy involves easy to use visual representations and leads from characterizing the system in terms of interactions to the design of free‐body force diagrams. These diagrams are used for explaining and predicting phenomena based on Newton's laws. The findings show that 9th grade students who studied by the approach advanced significantly from pretests to post‐tests on items of the Force Concept Inventory—FCI and on other items examining specific basic and complex understanding performances. These items focused on the major learning goals of the program. In the post‐tests the JHS students performed on the FCI items better than advanced high‐school and college students. In addition, interviews conducted before, during, and after instruction indicated that the students had an improved ability to explain and predict phenomena using physics ideas and that they showed retention after 6 months. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 47: 1094–1115, 2010     

Enhancing Equity in Gifted Education: a framework for examining assessments drawing on the theory of multiple intelligences

In the United States, poor and minority students are disproportionately excluded from programs for the gifted. Current identification practices for gifted education programs are a primary barrier for these youngsters. This study investigated three alternative assessments for identifying students. Each was said to draw on the theory of multiple intelligences (Gardner, 1983) and to increase the identification of traditionally under‐served youngsters. This investigation asked: (1) Is it reasonable to associate increases in the identification of under‐served youngsters with these assessments? (2) Is it reasonable to associate each assessment with the theory of multiple intelligences? To answer these questions, qualitative data were analyzed against a framework of eight criteria. This revealed that no assessment met all eight criteria; each met a different subset of the eight.     

The PLE as a framework for developing agency in lifelong learning

Educational technology research and development - In this paper, we lay the foundations of the personal learning environment or PLE, its conception, cognitive and theoretical underpinnings, and...     

Signal detection theory as a tool for successful student selection

Prediction accuracy of academic achievement for admission purposes requires adequate sensitivity and specificity of admission tools, yet the available information on the validity and predictive power of admission tools is largely based on studies using correlational and regression statistics. The goal of this study was to explore signal detection theory as a tool to extend the available information; signal detection theory allows for comparisons of selection outcomes on both group and individual levels and the development of tailor-made criteria for specific programmes and admission goals. We investigated who would or would not have been admitted applying specific criteria for each of three common admission tools, how many admitted students would fail and how many applicants who would have been successful would be rejected. Both comparisons at an individual level and the receiver operating characteristic curves at a group level revealed that scores obtained in a programme-specific matching programme and non-cognitive factors appear more valuable than regression statistics suggest when it comes to admitting applicants who will become successful students. Signal detection theory allows not only for admission-goal-specific and programme-specific fine-tuning of the content of admission tools, it also informs about the effects of criteria and thus allows the setting of criteria.     

Using natural language processing to support peer-feedback in the age of artificial intelligence: A cross-disciplinary framework and a research agenda

Advancements in artificial intelligence are rapidly increasing. The new-generation large language models, such as ChatGPT and GPT-4, bear the potential to transform educational approaches, such as peer-feedback. To investigate peer-feedback at the intersection of natural language processing (NLP) and educational research, this paper suggests a cross-disciplinary framework that aims to facilitate the development of NLP-based adaptive measures for supporting peer-feedback processes in digital learning environments. To conceptualize this process, we introduce a peer-feedback process model, which describes learners' activities and textual products. Further, we introduce a terminological and procedural scheme that facilitates systematically deriving measures to foster the peer-feedback process and how NLP may enhance the adaptivity of such learning support. Building on prior research on education and NLP, we apply this scheme to all learner activities of the peer-feedback process model to exemplify a range of NLP-based adaptive support measures. We also discuss the current challenges and suggest directions for future cross-disciplinary research on the effectiveness and other dimensions of NLP-based adaptive support for peer-feedback. Building on our suggested framework, future research and collaborations at the intersection of education and NLP can innovate peer-feedback in digital learning environments.

Practitioner notes

What is already known about this topic

• There is considerable research in educational science on peer-feedback processes.
• Natural language processing facilitates the analysis of students' textual data.
• There is a lack of systematic orientation regarding which NLP techniques can be applied to which data to effectively support the peer-feedback process.

What this paper adds

• A comprehensive overview model that describes the relevant activities and products in the peer-feedback process.
• A terminological and procedural scheme for designing NLP-based adaptive support measures.
• An application of this scheme to the peer-feedback process results in exemplifying the use cases of how NLP may be employed to support each learner activity during peer-feedback.

Implications for practice and/or policy

• To boost the effectiveness of their peer-feedback scenarios, instructors and instructional designers should identify relevant leverage points, corresponding support measures, adaptation targets and automation goals based on theory and empirical findings.
• Management and IT departments of higher education institutions should strive to provide digital tools based on modern NLP models and integrate them into the respective learning management systems; those tools should help in translating the automation goals requested by their instructors into prediction targets, take relevant data as input and allow for evaluating the predictions.

     

论高职物理课程创新性教学

高职物理是高等职业教育一门重要的基础理论课程,是培养学生物理思维的重要途径。学好高职物理,对于广大高职学生来说不仅能够满足其对科学知识的学习,更能够养成良好的物理思维方式,而这种物理思维方式将在他们今后的生活和事业中起到非常重要的作用。目前的高职物理教学还存在一些问题,创新迫在眉睫。本文中,对高职物理创新性教学提出了自己的一些思考和建议。     

Using learning principles as a theoretical framework for instructional consultations

Learning theory provides a powerful framework for analyzing instructional consultations and increasing their effectiveness. In this paper, the authors review the main tenets of learning theory, apply them to consultation scenarios, and present a complex case study to show how they can guide analysis and problem solving around challenging consultations.     

Can we be intelligent about intelligence?: Why education needs the concept of plastic general ability

The notion of general cognitive ability (or ‘intelligence’) is explored and why the time might now be ripe for educators to re-consider the power offered by a general intellectual capacity which is itself amenable to educational influence. We review existing knowledge concerning general intelligence, including the cohabitation of general and special abilities, cognitive modules, development, and evidence for plasticity of the general processor. We examine why this knowledge is generally absent from educational practice and present a number of models that attempt to synthesise the main aspects of current psychological theories. We explore how the models might be used in educational applications and look at examples of effective cognitive stimulation considering both practicalities and theoretical notions of what in our cognitive models is affected by stimulation. We discuss finally the possible political, cultural and social barriers to the inclusion of general ability as central to educational aims.     

Storylines in the physics teaching content of an upper secondary school classroom

ABSTRACT

Background: Physics is often seen as a discipline with difficult content, and one that is difficult to identify with. Socialisation processes at the upper secondary school level are of particular interest as these may be linked to the subsequent low and uneven participation in university physics. Focusing on how norms are construed in physics classrooms in upper secondary school is therefore relevant.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify discursive patterns in teacher–student interactions in physics classrooms.

Design and methods: Three different physics lessons with one class of students taught by three different teachers in upper secondary school were video-recorded. Positioning theory was used to analyse classroom interaction with a specific focus on how physics was positioned.

Results: We identified seven different storylines. Four of them (‘reaching a solution to textbook problems’, ‘discussing physics concepts in order to gain better understanding’, ‘doing empirical enquiry’ and ‘preparing for the upcoming exam’) represent what teaching physics in an upper secondary school classroom can be. The last three storylines (‘mastering physics’, ‘appreciating physics’ and ‘having a feeling for physics’) all concern how students are supposed to relate to physics and, thus, become ‘insiders’ in the discipline.

Conclusions: The identification and analysis of storylines raises awareness of the choices teachers make in physics education and their potential consequences for students. For example, in the storyline of mastering physics a good physics student is associated with ‘smartness’, which might make the classroom a less secure place in general. Variation and diversity in the storylines construed in teaching can potentially contribute to a more inclusive physics education.     

以多元智能理论为基础建立高职英语教学新模式

分析了高职英语教学现状,结合高职教育和英语教学的特点,提出以多元智能理论为基础,构建多维互动的英语教学模式,配合多元评价体系,以实现提高高职英语教学效果的最终目的。     

Understanding critical race theory as a framework in higher educational research

This paper reviews the existing literature to discuss how critical race theory has been applied as a theoretical framework to higher educational research in the United States and what its contributions are. To provide necessary context, I will discuss race and racism in the United States, the background of US higher education in relation to race, the emergence of critical race theory and its application in US higher education.     

Enhancing the work placement experience of international students: towards a support framework

This article reports the findings from an institutional case study into the work placement experience of undergraduate international students studying at a UK-based university. Given the centrality and importance of the employability and internationalisation agendas in higher education, little published literature considers both and how they impact upon the work placement experience of international students. With past increases in international student recruitment numbers and the drive for students, regardless of their nationality, to gain work experience, there is a need for institutions to better understand work placement from the international students’ perspective. Findings revealed that challenges exist in finding and securing work placement, with critical themes emerging to include placement information, visa rules, culture differences, prior work experience, academic preparation for placement and academic writing ability. A support framework is proposed to assist institutions to consider how they could align their practices to meet international students’ work placement and employability needs.     

Examining the influences of epistemic beliefs and knowledge representations on cognitive processing and conceptual change when learning physics

The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of epistemic beliefs and knowledge representations in cognitive and metacognitive processing when learning about physics concepts through text. Specifically, we manipulated the representation of physics concepts in texts about Newtonian mechanics and explored how these texts interacted with individuals’ epistemic beliefs to facilitate or constrain learning. Results revealed that when individuals’ epistemic beliefs were consistent with the knowledge representations in their assigned texts, they performed better on various measures of learning (use of processing strategies, text recall, and changes in misconceptions) than when their epistemic beliefs were inconsistent with the knowledge representations. These results have implications for how researchers conceptualize epistemic beliefs and support contemporary views regarding the context sensitivity of individuals’ epistemic beliefs.     

Spatial cognition in engineering education: developing a spatial ability framework to support the translation of theory into practice

ABSTRACT

A substantial degree of empirical evidence has illustrated the correlation between spatial skills and performance in engineering education. This evidence has been foundational in the construction of educational interventions which have resulted in both increased levels of spatial ability and increased educational performance and retention. However, the cognitive faculty of spatial cognition is widely recognised as multifactorial and a number of factors exist within this domain which have not been examined as potential influences on educational success. A number of factors have been identified within the pertinent literature which do not appear in any formal framework of spatial cognition. This paper presents a review and synthesis of this work with the amalgam presented as a model to support the further integration of spatial ability into engineering educational practices.     

Understanding the development of interest and self-efficacy in active-learning undergraduate physics courses

Modeling Instruction (MI), an active-learning introductory physics curriculum, has been shown to improve student academic success. Peer-to-peer interactions play a salient role in the MI classroom. Their impact on student interest and self-efficacy – preeminent constructs of various career theories – has not been thoroughly explored. Our examination of three undergraduate MI courses (N?=?221) revealed a decrease in students’ physics self-efficacy, physics interest, and general science interest. We found a positive link from physics interest to self-efficacy, and a negative relationship between science interest and self-efficacy. We tested structural equation models confirming that student interactions make positive contributions to self-efficacy. This study frames students’ classroom interactions within broader career theory frameworks and suggests nuanced considerations regarding interest and self-efficacy constructs in the context of undergraduate active-learning science courses.