Well-being has become widely regarded as a matter of concern for governments and public policy and, in recent years, schools have been increasingly seen as sites for promoting well-being. This has given rise to a substantial growth in research on school-based interventions related to student well-being. In this regard, the role of teachers has received particular attention, given the well-established association between the quality of student-teacher relationships, student engagement and well-being, and their social and emotional development However, research on the role of teachers has identified a need for conceptual clarification with what fostering well-being might entail.
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Well-being Should Be an Integral Part of Everyday Teaching and Learning
Previous research has indicated that teachers favored the term “well-being” and were more reluctant to use the term “mental health”. While teachers emphasize the importance of mental health, there is a gap in understanding how to implement practices. This has led to researchers suggesting that there needs to be more ways to increase mental health literacy among teachers.
Researchers have pointed out that much of the discourse around well-being is centered on how it can relate to better academic outcomes rather than well-being simply being a product of education. It was additionally noted that if well-being is viewed as integral to the educational process then supporting it should be anchored in everyday teaching and learning rather than in addition to it.
The Pressure of Producing High Academic Results Prevents Teachers From Addressing the Well-being Concerns in Schools
A qualitative study was done where researchers conducted focus groups. The study was carried out in the context of a continuing professional development program for teachers fostering student well-being across 10 municipalities with approximately 30 schools in Norway. 23 teachers participated (17 female and 6 male) with teaching experience ranging from 2-41 years. The teachers in this study gave high importance to their role in fostering student well-being, seeing it as related to students’ personal development and growth. Teachers in the study had a long-term perspective on their student’s growth and development and emphasized their role in facilitating conditions in which the students could thrive, explore, learn, and develop a sense of self-worth and social competence.
Teachers noted their concern about the high expectations on student performance in their school life including social pressure, academic pressure, and extracurricular demands. They said this has led to students feeling more overwhelmed and prone to mental health difficulties than they had in the past. While teachers would like to focus more on well-being and address these demands on students, they face their own unique set of demands, such as better test scores, leaving them with little time to foster overall student well-being.
The Role of Educators Concerning Student Well-being Needs To Be Clarified
The authors emphasized the tension and issue facing educators: wanting to find time to emphasize and address student well-being, but feeling ill-prepared and being short on time to do so. This in turn threatens the well-being of teachers and leaves them with a sense of uncertainty about their role in student well-being. One suggestion made was to offer more continuing professional development in this area and have more meaningful conversations about the educator’s role concerning student wellbeing.
Notable Quotes:
“[…]the dominant discourse has focused on how students’ wellbeing can lead to better academic outcomes, rather than wellbeing being an outcome of education[…]”
“At an overarching level, the teachers in this study considered fostering student wellbeing to be integrated into their professional role.”
“This situation left teachers struggling to balance their various responsibilities; on one hand they felt that they should put pressure on the students to make them work harder and get better test scores, and on the other hand they felt that this might come at the expense of their focus on fostering students’ overall wellbeing”
Personal Takeaway:
It was an interesting read. I resonated with valuing student well-being but being unsure of how to actually make this happen in practice. I also appreciated the way the tension teachers face with student well-being and academic achievement was articulated.—Matt Browne
Samnøy, S., Thurston, M., Wold, B., Jenssen, E. S., & Tjomsland, H. E. (2022). Schooling as a contribution or threat to wellbeing? A study of Norwegian teachers’ perceptions of their role in fostering student wellbeing. Pastoral Care in Education, 40(1), 60-79.
Psychology, Pedagogy, Mental Health
The research delves into the realm of phobic disorders in children, exploring how these phobias unfold in response to the influence of various social factors on young minds.
The Impact of Family on the Prevalence of Anxiety-Phobic Disorders
The study reveals that anxiety-phobic disorders are observed in 2% of children, making them a relatively common independent pathology in childhood. Additionally, these conditions often coexist with other disorders in children with various types of dysontogenesis.
The research emphasizes the significant role of family factors in the emergence and development of anxiety states in children. Dysfunctional family relationships, including hyper-protection, emotional rejection, and abuse, are identified as contributors to the development of neurotic disorders in children.
Structural deformation of the family, such as the absence of one parent, is identified as a strong factor affecting the negative development of a child’s personality. The type of family structure is found to be associated with the strength of anxiety-phobic experiences in children, with different types of education influencing fear levels and anxiety symptoms.
Influential Factors Contributing to the Negative Development of a Child’s Personality
The study employed a clinical-psychopathological method and examined 28 children aged 7-10 with anxiety-phobic disorders. The research focused on analyzing family factors and psychological characteristics of parents and children to understand the interdependence between family structure and anxiety-phobic experiences in children. While the study did not explicitly mention a survey, it utilized clinical observations and analysis of family dynamics among the identified participants.
The results revealed a significant impact of family dynamics on children with anxiety-phobic disorders. Specifically, the absence of one parent and the use of non-harmonious, pathological upbringing were identified as influential factors contributing to the negative development of the child’s personality. Children experiencing phobic disorders exhibited characteristics such as frustration, heightened emotional arousal, interpersonal difficulties, and the use of low-adaptive coping strategies. Parents, depending on the family type, demonstrated impaired self-awareness and dissatisfaction, with fathers expressing discontent in marital relationships and distorted perceptions of their children.
These findings suggest a complex interplay between family structure, parenting styles, and the manifestation of anxiety-phobic experiences in children. The results provided insights into the nuanced relationship between family factors and the psychological well-being of children with anxiety-phobic disorders, contributing valuable information to the understanding of this prevalent issue in childhood and adolescence.
A Need Has Been Identified for Targeted Interventions
The discussion section underscores the crucial role of family dynamics in shaping anxiety-phobic experiences in children, emphasizing the need for targeted interventions to address dysfunctional parenting styles. The results suggest that understanding and addressing family factors, such as the absence of a parent and non-harmonious upbringing, are vital in mitigating the negative impact on a child’s psychological well-being. The study prompts a call for practical strategies in parenting education and family support programs to enhance the overall mental health of children with anxiety-phobic disorders. Furthermore, the findings highlight the complexity of the relationship between family structure and the manifestation of anxiety-phobic symptoms, paving the way for future research to explore nuanced aspects of family dynamics and their specific contributions to childhood neurotic disorders.
Notable Quotes:
“Neurotic conditions occupy one of the leading positions in children’s neuropsychic disorders, and disorders in the form of symptoms of anxiety occur in 10-15%. At the same time, most often – 2% of the total number of children – they act as an independent pathology.”
“The most sensitive periods for the emergence of such affective states are periods of change or complication of the ‘man-to-man’ system of relationships. Simultaneously with the growth of the child, his system of relations changes, that is, not only objective relations with the people around him but also his subjective attitude towards others.”
“Depending on the structure of the family, the contribution of the pathologized type of education to strengthening the anxiety-phobic experiences of children will be different. The pathological type of education contributes to increased fear and increased anxiety symptoms. The incoherent type of education is interconnected with the child’s relationship system, affecting both his self-esteem and the perception of family members.”
Personal Takeaway:
What caught my attention as an educator was how this study stressed the role of family in shaping anxiety in kids. The idea that families can impact a child’s personality in both good and not-so-good ways resonates with what I’ve seen in my teaching experience. The thought that a child’s personality groundwork happens in the family, and by primary school age, they’re pretty set in their ways, reinforces how vital early support is. It matches with the idea that creating a caring family environment can have a lasting impact on a child’s mental well-being. Even though the study dives deep into the psychology of parents and kids, its message for educators is clear. It reminds us that working together with parents is key to creating an environment where kids can emotionally grow —Kalyan Kumar V
Temirpulotovich, T. B. (2023). Effects of social factors in children with anxiety-phobic disorders. Journal of healthcare and life-science research, 2(10), 35-41.
Interventions
This study examines the effectiveness of Readable English, a reading fluency and comprehension program, on underperforming rural middle school students over one school year. The goal is to address the increasing number of middle school students entering without proficient reading skills.
Multifaceted Strategies Are Needed for Reading Interventions
Edmonds et al. (2009) discovered that comprehension strategy instruction significantly improved reading comprehension but had no significant impact on word recognition, fluency, or word reading. Word study interventions had small to moderate effects on comprehension, and fluency instruction alone did not affect comprehension. Lovett et al. (2000) found that instruction in syllabic segmentation and decoding strategies not only improved decoding skills but also enhanced passage reading comprehension without direct comprehension instruction. The best interventions for low readers were those with instruction in linguistics skills and spelling, followed by fluency and reading comprehension strategy instruction.
The complexity of reading necessitates multifaceted strategies and the research underscores the importance of a combined approach that addresses both linguistic skills and comprehension strategies.
The Readable English Intervention Helped Students in All Reading Areas
This action research study involved 17 teachers from four schools in rural Indiana and was conducted over two years with American English-speaking students. Three districts participated, with one implementing Readable English for all middle school students. The study included 167 student participants in grades six through eight in the intervention condition and 177 in the typical practice condition.
Results showed that students in the intervention group outperformed those in the typical practice group in reading accuracy, rate, comprehension, and oral reading fluency. The study found that 10% of the improvement in reading comprehension in the intervention group can be attributed to Readable English instruction.
An Intervention That Combines Both Linguistic and Comprehension Skills
The Readable English program is an effective and sustainable reading intervention program for adolescent students. It incorporates linguistic skills components and comprehension strategies, along with a conversion tool that makes English phonetic, to provide targeted support to students with various reading deficits. The program also supports cross-curricular integration and allows students to control their own learning. Implementation with fidelity is crucial, but the program has the potential to help students develop the necessary reading skills to become proficient readers and lifelong learners.
During a classroom visit, the author spoke with teachers and students who reported that Readable English had helped students who hated reading to read and learn new things, with enough support for below-average readers to explore topics and content in school. The students also made connections between their books and the content they were learning. The program’s conversion tool, now available as a Chrome browser extension, could be used across content areas for multiple years and benefit homeschool and online students.
Notable Quotes:
“Reading programs should be educationally sustainable across multiple platforms used in schools and be able to support students with differing needs across grade levels.”
“Teachers must have access to intensive, targeted reading interventions that support students at their current reading ability level and help them develop the requisite skills to become proficient, skillful readers.”
“Explicit instruction of linguistics skills components with comprehension strategy instruction that has shown promise with other interventions probably accounts for most of the improvement in students’ reading skills.”
Personal Takeaway:
The topic of addressing adolescent readers interested me because a large part of my job is working with students who have not yet mastered reading to learn. As the article mentions and as I have observed, students with reading struggles fall further behind their peers in knowledge. I am glad to know that reading programs continue to be developed that leverage technology and effective instruction for improved outcomes. My takeaway is to remember that reading is complex, requiring explicit instruction in the linguistic aspect and comprehension strategies.—Dana Wells
Coggins, J. (2023). Righting Reading in Middle School: Readable English Helps Underperforming Adolescent Readers. Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk (JESPAR), 1-30.
Cognitive Science
The first objective was to examine the effects of a “next-generation” fraction intervention on fourth- and fifth-grade students. This intervention, which featured six enhancements compared to a previously validated fraction intervention, aimed to address career- and college-readiness standards. The second goal was to assess the long-term impact of the next-generation fraction intervention one year after its completion. The third objective was to isolate the effects of one specific enhancement: interleaved fraction calculation instruction.
Single Topic Instruction vs Interleaved Practice in Teaching Math Skills
While robust research supports the efficacy of fourth-grade fraction interventions, the existing studies were conducted during the early implementation of career and college readiness standards (CCRS), limiting their applicability to present-day students. Research indicates that the prevalent approach in mathematics textbooks, school instruction, and interventions is blocked instruction. This approach involves the teacher focusing on a single operation or problem type, with practice involving solving problems of the same type. Interleaved instruction, a less common approach, addresses more than one operation or problem type simultaneously and provides practice on different problem types, even before all types have been taught.
Interleaved Instruction Is an Important Component of Math Interventions on Fractions
This study involved fourth- and fifth-grade students scoring at or below the 20th percentile in math on the Wide Range Achievement Test (WRAT-4). One hundred and fifty-eight students with intellectual abilities falling broadly within the average range were selected. There were three groups: Groups 1 and 2 received the enhanced next-generation fraction intervention, focusing on magnitude understanding and calculation. Group 1 received interleaved instruction, while Group 2 received blocked instruction. Group 3 served as a business-as-usual control group. Students in Groups 1 and 2 who received the next-generation fraction intervention showed stronger fraction outcomes than the control group. Although the advantages were smaller and less significant one year after the intervention than immediately following it, there was still an indication that the next-generation fraction intervention had more robust results than the control group. This study replicates a recurring finding in the cognitive science literature regarding the long-term advantages of interleaved instruction, applying it to a different population—students with intensive intervention needs—and within the context of a structured comprehensive instructional design. The conclusion is that interleaved instruction is a crucial component of fraction calculation intervention for this population.
Future Research Should Focus More on Interleaved Interventions
This study suggests that the next-generation intervention produces stronger post-test results than the control group. Interleaved instruction emerges as a vital design feature in interventions for fraction calculation. Future research should specifically isolate the effects of interleaved calculation interventions related to whole numbers and algebra for this study’s population and the broader spectrum of students experiencing mathematics difficulties.
Notable Quotes:
“First, when contrasted against a control group representing CCRS national reform’s enriched classroom fraction instruction and students stronger fraction learning, next-generation intervention produces a strong posttest conceptual and calculation advantage for students with intensive intervention needs at grades 4 and 5.”
“We note the possibility that persistence may be stronger for the present study’s fraction intervention and other mathematics interventions if review of intervention strategies were to be provided during the subsequent school year.”
“Cognitive science demonstrates that although confusion and errors likely occur early into interleaved instruction, long-term outcomes favor interleaved over blocked instruction”
Personal Takeaway:
It’s definitely worth looking into the SSNIT (super solvers intervention) that was the basis of instruction for the next-generation fraction intervention. I would like to see if it’s something I can use for my own practice when providing interventions. This article also highlighted the importance of maintenance following an intervention which I think is often overlooked.—Matt Browne
Fuchs, L. S., Malone, A. S., Preacher, K. J., Cho, E., Fuchs, D., & Changas, P. (2023). Next-Generation Fraction Intervention and the Long-Term Advantage of Interleaved Instruction. Exceptional Children, 89(3), 332-352.
With the winter holidays drawing near and January just on the horizon, it is a great time to recognize the tremendous value of professional development (PD) in reigniting our passion for teaching and fostering fresh beginnings. PD plays a crucial role in enhancing educators’ knowledge and skills, ultimately leading to improved student outcomes. It revitalizes our attitudes and beliefs, and has the potential to seismically shift how we approach our work. Therefore, as we set our sights on the new year ahead, let’s prioritize PD to ensure that we are equipped with the best tools and strategies to support our students’ success.
This month, our team was excited to launch five new self-study courses designed to provide participants with professional learning that is purposeful and transferable, all while keeping in mind the busy schedule of an educational professional. Registration is now open for the following courses:
Understanding & Supporting Social and Emotional Learning
Understanding & Supporting Executive Functions
Measuring Your Impact
Each asynchronous, self-study course addresses a single conceptual strand, exploring key educational practices and enhancing the participant’s understanding of how to incorporate the MARIO for Me software and The MARIO Approach intervention within their unique context. These courses require, on-average, 10 hours to complete, and each module includes robust content, comprehension checkpoints, and reflection prompts that allow each participant to connect the content of the module with their personal experience. In addition to the primary content, each course includes resource packages which enhance the participants’ readiness to transfer their learning into action. These resource packages include tools that can be used immediately, case studies that put the content into a context, and research summaries that facilitate the implementation of the science of learning and wellbeing as it relates to the highlighted strand. Enrollment operates on a rolling-basis and participants are given one year to complete the course. Click here to start your learning journey today!
Additional self-study courses will continue to be added as we expand our course offerings. Reserve your spot for the following self-study courses launching in 2024:
Communicating Effectively with Parents
Implementing Highly Effective Learning Strategies
Developing Self-Directed Learners
Innovating & Iterating Your Classroom with Design Thinking
Improving Academic Outcomes
We wish you all a joyful year of learning and hope you take the opportunity to refresh your practice and reignite your love of teaching with MARIO Education.
All the best,
Taryn and Erin
Self-Efficacy
This article aims to take a step towards a better understanding of which aspects of the social learning environment pre-service teachers and their students take into account when positioning themselves on behavior management efficacy.
Primary School Behavior Strategies Lose Their Effectiveness in Higher Grades
While many researchers have been interested in teachers’ difficulties relating to behavior
management, little work in this field concerns secondary school classes specifically (e.g., Schwab et al., 2019). This is surprising since behavior management can be particularly challenging when it comes to adolescents with whom several strategies, although well suited for primary school students, lose their effectiveness (Malmgren et al., 2005), probably contributing to the fact that secondary school teachers seem to have to face bigger challenges leading to higher levels of emotional exhaustion (Lazarides et al., 2020).
Let’s note, however, that although teachers’ sense of self-efficacy is considered to be a reliable student and teacher behavior predictor (Brown et al., 2015), it is difficult, if not impossible, to know which comes first: positive behavior or the feeling of self-efficacy, given that they influence each other (Pajares, 1996).
Positive Relationships Are Necessary for Behavior Management
Data was collected in a teacher training institution as well as in secondary schools in Fribourg, Switzerland. 686 middle school students from 35 classes took part in this study; no demographic information concerning students is available.
These classes were chosen through 35 pre-service teachers, 23 women and 12 men for an average age of 26 years, in their last year of training.
Students had paper questionnaires split into 2 parts, an adapted version of the scale of teacher self-efficacy questions and the student version of the Classroom Learning Environment Scale
(Author, 2012) which covers class cohesion, teacher proximity, rules and organization, innovation, student difficulty, and task orientation and implication. Students were asked to rate the learning environment of the classroom using a 6-point Likert (from 0 to 5).
Teachers completed an online questionnaire split into three parts. The first part is comprised of demographic questions (age and sex). The second part is an adapted version of the scale of teacher self-efficacy regarding behavior management in the classroom for middle school teachers (Author, 2018). The third part is the Classroom Learning Environment (for teachers) Scale (Author, 2012). The number of items and dimensions is the same as in the version submitted to students so that a comparison can be made. Results showed that the social learning environment’s dimensions are associated with the perception of teacher efficacy by students.
It also highlighted that effective behavior management within the classroom requires a positive relationship between teachers and their students and the way rules and organization are taken into account by students demonstrates the need for a proactive approach in which teachers’ expectations are clear.
Comparing Teaching and Parenting Styles
The report mentions that “students rely on their perception of the social learning environment to determine whether their teacher is implementing effective classroom behavior management or not.” This would be interesting to unpack further, what creates a positive perception for a middle school student vs. what an adult feels creates a positive perception. Especially when they refer to “Baumrind’s studies of parenting styles show that the most adaptive parenting style for children combines both parental demandingness (rules, discipline) and responsiveness (warmth and acceptance)” (Baumrind, 1991; Maccoby & Martin, 1983).
The sample consists of pre-service teachers working in fairly advantaged schools so it would be interesting to see how the results would compare across different socioeconomic status schools where resources, funding etc. will be different.
Notable Quotes:
“While many researchers have been interested in teachers’ difficulties relating to behavior
management, little work in this field concerns secondary school classes specifically (e.g., Schwab et al., 2019).”
“The classroom’s social learning environment is the subjective and multidimensional perception of the environment and of the functioning of personal and academic relationships between students and the teacher of a class by these same individuals (Author, 2004).”
“It can be anticipated that students will expect an efficient teacher…to be able to create a healthy relationship with appropriate rules and class organization. “
Personal Takeaway:
I would love to know more about why similar research in the past has not spent as much time focusing on secondary school students. Having taught students up to the ages of 16, there are many layers of complexity when it comes to understanding teens and young adults and it would be so interesting to see how students from diverse backgrounds respond to behavioral management and the social learning environment in the classroom.
It would also be interesting to know how much representation matters. As there is no demographic data on the students and no race/ethnicity data for the teachers we don’t know the diversity of backgrounds and cultures within this study so it would be interesting to see if/how behavioral management develops within diverse classrooms and/or if the teaching staff do not represent a diverse student body.—Lilly
Bapst, Malika S., Philippe Ambroise Genoud, and Marine Hascoët. “Taking a step towards understanding interactions between teacher efficacy in behavior management and the social learning environment: a two-level multilevel analysis.” European Journal of Psychology of Education (2022): 1-16.
Cognitive Science, Interventions, Psychology
Anxiety is becoming more and more prevalent with the CDC citing more than 25.5% of American adults exhibiting symptoms of anxiety disorder in a 2020 study. Barriers such as cost and compliance with best practices can limit access to effective treatment for anxiety. Social robots can provide a solution for some of these barriers as they can provide consistent treatment and have the potential to be cost-effective.
Comparing Social Robots That Have Been Created To Treat Anxiety
The authors based their work on research involving other social robots. This included CAKNA, a robot that verbally guides users through psychological techniques such as deep breathing and was shown to be more effective in reducing anxiety levels than a computer. Jibo, another social robot, provided measurable improvements in well-being.
Positive Results Shown After a Session With the Robot
Ommie, the social robot in this study, was designed to be calming and engaging, provide instruction on deep breathing, and include a haptic experience (designed for users to feel comfortable with touching the robot and feeling its breathing). The study included two cohorts: the first was a wellness cohort made up of 21 participants ages 18-38. The second cohort was focused on anxiety and made up of 22 people ages 18-29 who were actively treating anxiety-related disorders with medical professionals. Each breathing session lasted 15-20 minutes. The results indicated a measurable drop in anxiety in the anxiety cohort. Both cohorts noted positive regard for the robot. All participants saw improvement in at least one aspect of their anxiety levels after a session with the robot.
A Companion That Can Reduce Anxiety
The authors noted that the haptic interaction was powerful for the participants as they could use their sense of touch to help guide their breathing. The participants also viewed the robot as a companion which the authors believe to be potentially beneficial. It was also noted that the participants held the robot in a variety of ways including on the robot’s “shoulders” and “stomach”. Overall the authors concluded that Ommie could potentially be a good way to guide people through deep breathing techniques to reduce anxiety.
Notable Quotes:
“Social robots have the capacity to help solve some of these challenges by providing distributed and consistent coaching, monitoring, compliance support, and companionship.”
“Multiple participants also preferred the robot’s non-verbal guidance, inclusive of both the haptic movements and audio chimes, to verbal meditation.”
“When asked about their overall experience with the robot, many users commented on how “natural”, “easy”, and “intuitive” it felt.
Personal Takeaway:
While the use of a robot for social-emotional learning and counseling practices isn’t something I have encountered or expect to encounter in my work as a school-based educator, it was interesting to see the barriers that the robot eliminated. The robot provided consistent, replicable, customizable, and best-practice guidance for the users. As educators, we often encounter the barrier of time and adjusting our instruction for the needs of each individual we work with. It is interesting to see how technology can assist with this.—Matt Browne
Matheus, K., Vázquez, M., & Scassellati, B. (2022, August). A social robot for´ anxiety reduction via deep breathing. In 2022 31st IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN) (pp. 89-94). IEEE.
*This article was summarized in the April edition of MARIO Connect, but this is an updated version of that summary.
Metacognition
The ability to use numbers and solve mathematical problems is an important life skill for everyday tasks like managing a budget, understanding travel timetables, and following a recipe. Poor numerical ability in childhood is associated with lower employability prospects, lower salary potential in adulthood, and increased criminality in youths. The authors wanted to understand the connection between achievement in math and metacognitive ability because of its impact across an individual’s life span.
Does Metacognition Impact Math Ability?
Metacognition refers to an individual’s self-regulation of their own learning, for example, knowing their strengths, challenge areas, and strategies that work best for them. Metacognition measures are categorized as offline measures (use of questionnaires that aim to capture an individual’s self-reported perception of their own metacognitive ability based on their previous learning experiences) and online measures (metacognitive ability is captured by ongoing behavior and performance as they complete a task such as a think-aloud protocol). Some research has reported poor correspondence between offline and online metacognitive measures, which suggests they may each be measuring different components of metacognition.
Mathematical ability has been proposed to be made up of both numerical ability i.e. basic number representation, simple arithmetic, and operations, and mathematical problem-solving. Several studies have reported an association between metacognition and math achievement in children and adolescents, however, some research has also demonstrated non-significant associations between metacognition and math achievement. This could be due to varying ways metacognition was measured in the research (offline vs. online).
Most Studies Report a Positive Association Between Metacognition and Math Performance
31 studies met the inclusion criteria for the review and 29 for the meta-analysis. Studies were excluded if they did not include primary data, the only measure of math performance was self-reported, or participants had complex neurodevelopmental disorders. Studies were included if the research reported the strength of the association between metacognition and math performance. Nineteen of the 31 papers reported a statistically significant positive association between metacognition and math performance. Eight studies reported positive associations that were not statistically significant.
The Relationship Between Academic Performance and Metacognition Still Needs To Be Understood
The 29 studies in the meta-analysis included effect sizes (74 of them total) that indicated a significantly positive, medium-sized correlation between metacognition and achievement in math. To better understand the relationship between academic performance and metacognition, it is critical to understand the specifics of how each is being measured as there is quite a bit of variability.
Notable Quotes:
“The results of the current review and meta-analysis have gone someway to highlight that measurements of MC, math tasks, and their combination are important in understanding associations between these variables.”
“Several systematic reviews and meta-analyses have explored associations between MC and academic achievement across different subjects in adult populations, highlighting small but significant associations between offline MC measures and student achievement.”
“Previous research has found that while MC thinking is evident in young children, its use in learning contexts to efficiently plan and control effort and attention to focus on what needs to be learned increases across childhood.”
Personal Takeaway:
This article seemed to have more impactful conclusions for researchers than for K-12 educators. It was interesting to know that there are different measures of metacognition, and that there can be a high degree of variability in concluding someone’s metacognitive ability based on the measure.—Matt Browne
Muncer, G., Higham, P. A., Gosling, C. J., Cortese, S., Wood-Downie, H., & Hadwin, J. A. (2022). A meta-analysis investigating the association between metacognition and math performance in adolescence. Educational Psychology Review, 34(1), 301-334.
The study seeks to answer two research questions. What learning gains are associated with the use of three SEGs (Serious Educational Games) in secondary biology classrooms? What affordances do qualified science teachers identify related to SEG integration in classrooms?
The Main Roles of Teachers in Creating a Successful Gaming Environment
The researchers explained that this study refers to not just any games but what they term serious educational games. SEGs differ from other games due to the use of learning theories and learning objectives that guide game design and the subsequent use of embedded assessment items to measure learning during gameplay (Loh, Sheng, & Ifenthaler, 2015).
The researchers claim that “SEGs can provide visualizations that support students’ conceptual development of phenomena by zooming in to the microscopic, invisible nature of molecular movement, then zooming back out to the macroscopic, which is more familiar to the students’ lived experience.” The study thus focuses on science content in high school which has high-level phenomena ready to be visualized in an engaging way.
The authors noted that teachers play a vital role in creating a successful gaming environment. They mentioned Kangas, Koskinen, and Krokforset al. (2017) who conducted a literature review of educational games in classrooms to explore the roles that teachers play in a gaming environment. They analyzed 15 years of research and identified five key roles for teachers: planning, playing, orienting, assessing, and reflecting. It was acknowledged that these roles are known and are important however the interaction between the two has not been researched.
Significant Learning Gains Are Associated With SEGs
The study was conducted over a period of three years. Three serious educational games were used in the study. The games were “designed as a stand-alone, 45-min learning experiences, during which students roleplay a specific scientist, who has been tasked with solving a problem.”
During Year 1 six biology teachers delivered a two-week lesson to 407 students that did not include a serious educational game. In Year 2 the same six teachers delivered the same two-week lesson to 393 students but replaced some content with the SEG. Year 3 included the SEG and included 478 students. Large amounts of data were collected throughout the 3 years and included, pre-test, post-tests, assessments within the SEG, interviews, and classroom observation and recording of the class lessons.
Significant learning gains were associated with each year the SEGs were included in the lesson. This is based on the pre and post-tests of a total of 1, 278 students. Secondly, the recordings of the lesson showed that the interaction of the teacher had an impact on the students’ outcomes. Those teachers who chose to off-load the instruction to the SEG and were seen working on other teaching tasks had lower learning gains than teachers who provided feedback, scaffolds, and individual discussion. “These data suggest that teachers who provide elaborated feedback to students during gameplay add value to the students’ learning experience.” The third finding showed that students showed improvement within the game assessments from Year 2 to 3. This was attributed to the new dashboard in the SEG that allowed for real-time feedback to students on their answers. Finally, the fourth finding focused on the benefits identified by teachers such as exposing students to visuals of real-life phenomena allowing for more student engagement and needing access to real-time data to monitor student effort on assessments.
SEGs Do Not Improve Student Outcomes Alone, the Teacher Has an Important Role To Play
Throughout the study, the researchers note that SEGs alone do not improve student outcomes. Teachers have a vital role to play. The role of the teacher is to assist in “connecting the learning goals of the class to the technology-enhanced learning experience, facilitating strategies to encourage reflection on the experience, and connecting the experience to the lives of students beyond the classroom.”
The researchers surmised that SEGs, when aligned with science outcomes and linked to real-world problems, free up the teacher to focus on individual students’ needs and provide differentiated support. In order for serious educational games to result in improved learning outcomes the games require the participation of the teacher to develop an environment of learning and a dashboard that allows teachers to provide real-time feedback.
Notable Quotes:
“Serious educational games (SEGs) have emerged as a promising tool that may equip secondary science teachers to implement active learning environments in which players engage with real-world science phenomena, using scientific practices, such as collecting and analyzing data, simulating the work that scientists do (Ching & Hagood, 2019).”
“Teachers also highlighted the value of the embedded assessments as they explained that this provided students feedback in the moment instead of days or weeks later, after grading.”
“As stakeholders in education move forward in exploring how to integrate novel technologies into instruction, it is important that we learn from the past, as novel technologies, such as SEGs become available to more students and teachers. Thus, we assert that, while valuable, we must explore how teachers actually use tools such as these in classroom settings with students to determine if the technologies enrich learning experiences.”
Personal Takeaway:
I appreciated that the researchers acknowledged that the value of serious educational games alone does not improve learning outcomes. The role of the teacher is important. When teachers provide real-time feedback students learn better. In light of this realization, the SEG was improved to allow for teachers to see the results of assessments within the game in real-time. Thus teachers were able to provide instruction which led to better results. The study also highlighted that less expert teachers would offload the instruction to the game and attend to other teaching duties while students interacted with the game. This highlights the need for teachers to not rely on tools to get students to learn. I found these findings a good reminder that high-leverage teaching practices are fundamental and critical to helping students learn and cannot be replaced by technology.—Dana R Wells
Hodges, G.W., Oliver, J.S., Jang, Y. et al. Pedagogy, Partnership, and Collaboration: A Longitudinal, Empirical Study of Serious Educational Gameplay in Secondary Biology Classrooms. J Sci Educ Technol 30, 331–346 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10956-020-09868-y
Psychology, Social & Emotional Learning
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the acute and long-term well-being of the general population because of the challenges it presented including social isolation, financial insecurity, and interruption related to daily routines. There has been little research on the longer-term mental health outcomes of lockdowns as research has primarily focused on the immediate consequences of the first lockdown on mental health outcomes. This study wanted to investigate associations between perceived COVID-19 related stress in 2020 and 2021, and coping strategies and mental health among adolescents during the first lockdown. Given that adolescents are already a particularly vulnerable population due to all the significant changes they are already facing.
Active vs Maladaptive Coping Mechanisms To Deal With Increased Stress
Studies exploring the psychological impact of the first COVID-19 pandemic lockdown on children and adolescents have identified, higher rates of depression, anxiety, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) symptoms along with a higher prevalence of perceived psychological stress. During the first lockdown studies suggested maladaptive strategies—such as using alcohol to reduce stress, avoiding activities to manage difficulties, and disengagement coping—were related to poor mental health outcomes, whereas active coping (e.g., trying to view things in a positive light), problem-focused coping, and engagement coping (acceptance, positive thinking) were associated with fewer mental health problems and greater psychological adjustment. The stress experienced by prolonged exposure to social disruptions and their related consequences may build over time and make it increasingly difficult to practice adaptive strategies over the course of the entire pandemic.
Cognitive Restructuring Can Decrease Levels of Stress
The present longitudinal study was conducted among a large national sample of adolescents 12–18 years old from all three language regions (German, French, and Italian speaking) in Switzerland. The baseline survey was conducted from July to October 2020 to assess the impact of mental illness in adolescents during the first COVID-19 lockdown. The follow-up survey was conducted one year later, from July to September 2021, employing the same measures to assess changes in mental health symptoms, perceived stress, and coping strategies over time.
Overall, participants reported less COVID-19 related stress one year after the lockdown. Perceived stress and pre-existing psychiatric problems were significantly linked to all mental health outcomes at both time points. Parents’ poor relationships with partners during the lockdown were associated with increased anxiety symptoms in their children. Using cognitive restructuring to cope with stress was associated with less, while negative coping was associated with more anxiety, depression, and ADHD symptoms one-year post lockdown.
Females appear to have been more affected by the pandemic than males, with youths with pre-existing psychiatric problems especially vulnerable to its detrimental effects.
Cognitive Restructuring Used as an Intervention Might Give Adolescents the Necessary Strategies To Better Handle Challenging Circumstances
COVID-19 related stress during the lockdown period in 2020 predicted subsequent symptoms of anxiety, depression, ADHD, and ODD in the summer of 2021, suggesting that the stress experienced at the beginning of the pandemic affected adolescent mental health in 2021. This could be due, for example, to social isolation and loneliness during lockdowns or to the accumulation of further stress during the ongoing pandemic. Coping via cognitive restructuring, for example, “looking at the positive side of things” during the lockdown period in 2020 was associated with less severe anxiety symptoms, and in 2021 with less severe depression symptoms. Applying a large-scale intervention to train individuals in this coping behavior might give adolescents the necessary strategies to better handle challenging circumstances and mental health problems that developed during the pandemic. Implementing a cycle of screening and early intervention when necessary might offer lasting protection against continuing pandemic stress.
Notable Quotes:
“Engaging in negative coping (self-criticism, blaming others) and avoidant coping was associated with more severe symptoms of anxiety, depression, and ADHD.”
“Healthcare and school professionals should support to identify vulnerable groups and adolescents showing resignation and using negative and avoidant coping strategies and train youths to use more active as well as positive coping strategies.”
“In 2021, boys continued to use cognitive restructuring, while girls reduced their cognitive
restructuring and were more likely to cope by means of emotional regulation through the expression of feelings.”
Personal Takeaway:
As we are now in the post COVID-19 pandemic era, schools need to consider how to respond to the challenges and in some cases trauma it presented. Each country was uniquely affected by different measures and controls. It may be worth it for schools to employ a screening tool to find out what students are at risk for mental health challenges, particularly in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic. Finding a way to teach positive coping strategies as a Tier 1 practice would be beneficial for all students.—Matt Browne
Foster, S., Estévez-Lamorte, N., Walitza, S., Dzemaili, S., & Mohler-Kuo, M. (2023). Perceived stress, coping strategies, and mental health status among adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic in Switzerland: a longitudinal study. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 32(6), 937-949.
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