Executive functions and problem-solving-The contribution of inhibition, working memory, and cognitive flexibility to science problem-solving performance in elementary school students.

Previous research has shown that executive functions can contribute to successful problem-solving in preschool and elementary school children. However, most studies did not simultaneously assess the role of different specific aspects of executive functions. Therefore, the aim of our study was to investigate the individual contribution of inhibition, working memory, and cognitive flexibility to science problem-solving performance in elementary school children. A total of 478 children from first and second grades (Mage = 7.44 years) participated in our study. They performed a Go/No-go task (inhibition), a Corsi blocks backward task (working memory), a flexible item selection task (cognitive flexibility), and three science problem-solving tasks, including two gear turning tasks and one stabilization task. Structural equation modeling showed that working memory and cognitive flexibility individually contributed to problem-solving performance, whereas inhibition did not. We conclude that maintaining task requirements and dynamic object relations (working memory) and switching between different problem-solving phases (cognitive flexibility) are essential components of successful science problem-solving in elementary school children. Inhibitory processes may be more relevant in tasks involving a higher degree of interference at the task or response level.

Domain-specific knowledge and domain-general abilities in children's science problem-solving.

BACKGROUND: Problem-solving in early and middle childhood is of high relevance for cognitive developmental research and educational support. Previous research on science problem-solving has focussed on the process and strategies of children handling challenging tasks, but less on providing insights into the cognitive network that enables science problem-solving. AIMS: In this study, we aimed to investigate whether performance in science problem-solving is mainly determined by domain-specific rule knowledge, by domain-general cognitive abilities or both. METHODS: In our study, 215 6- to 8-year-old children completed a set of three domain-specific rule knowledge tasks and three corresponding problem-solving tasks that were content-coherent, as well as a vocabulary task, and a reasoning task. RESULTS: Correlational and regression analyses revealed a negligible impact of domain-specific rule knowledge on corresponding problem-solving tasks. In contrast, the associations between problem-solving performance in different domains and the associations between problem-solving performance and domain-general abilities (vocabulary and reasoning) were comparably strong. CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest that science problem-solving in primary school children primarily relies on domain-general cognitive abilities. Implications of these findings are discussed with regard to cognitive theories and early science education.

Measuring university students' ability to recognize argument structures and fallacies.

Theory: Argumentation is crucial for all academic disciplines. Nevertheless, a lack of argumentation skills among students is evident. Two core aspects of argumentation are the recognition of argument structures (e.g., backing up claims with premises, according to the Toulmin model) and the recognition of fallacies. As both aspects may be related to content knowledge, students studying different subjects might exhibit different argumentation skills depending on whether the content is drawn from their own or from a foreign subject. Therefore, we developed an instrument to measure the recognition of both argument structures and fallacies among the groups of preservice teachers and business economics students in both their respective domains (pedagogy and economics), and a neutral domain (sustainability). For the recognition of fallacies, we distinguished between congruent and incongruent fallacies. In congruent fallacies, the two aspects of argument quality, i.e., deductive validity and inductive strength, provide converging evidence against high argument quality. In incongruent fallacies, these two aspects diverge. Based on dual process theories, we expected to observe differences in the recognition of congruent and incongruent fallacies. Aims: We investigated whether these two abilities are domain-specific and whether the recognition of fallacies depends on the congruence of two aspects of argument quality. Methods: 267 preservice teachers and 56 business economics students participated in the study. For the recognition of argument structures, participants assigned the five statements constituting one argument to the corresponding component according to the Toulmin model. For the recognition of fallacies, we created arguments and incorporated a common fallacy into some of them: formal fallacy, overgeneralization, irrelevance, or circularity. Participants rated whether the argument was cogent or not, which was followed by a brief justification. Results: Domain specificity could not be found for either of both abilities. For the recognition of fallacies, two dimensions were found: a congruent dimension (formal fallacies and overgeneralizations) and an incongruent dimension (irrelevance and circularity). Discussion: The instrument measures the recognition of both argument structures and fallacies in these two groups across domains. The recognition of fallacies differs depending on whether the deductive validity and the inductive strength of the argument are equally indicative of argument quality or not.

Preschool teachers' pedagogical content knowledge predicts willingness to scaffold early science learning.

BACKGROUND: The importance of diagnostic and scaffolding activities for early science learning has been shown consistently. However, preschool teachers scarcely engage in them. We developed an instrument to assess preschool teachers' willingness to engage in diagnostic and scaffolding activities in science learning situations and examined its relation with teachers' knowledge, beliefs and practice. AIMS: We validate an instrument to assess willingness to engage in scaffolding and diagnostic activities and study the interplay between willingness, learning beliefs, content knowledge (CK) and pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) in the context of science learning, particularly block play. SAMPLE(S): A total of N = 151 preschool teachers from 41 kindergartens in Germany participated in our study. METHODS: Preschool teachers completed a questionnaire, which took approximately 1 hour of time. We drew a subsample of N = 73 teachers and observed their practice during a 30 min block play episode. RESULTS: With our instrument, we were able to distinguish between preschool teachers' willingness to diagnose and to scaffold. Preschool teachers' co-constructivist beliefs and PCK predicted willingness to engage in diagnosing, PCK also predicted willingness to engage in scaffolding. Associations between learning beliefs and practice were inconsistent. CONCLUSIONS: Our study highlights aspects of the association between preschool teachers' PCK and their willingness to engage in diagnosing and scaffolding. However, we found inconsistencies between preschool teachers' beliefs and practice, which call for further clarification.

Fostering preservice teachers' expectancies and values towards computational thinking.

Theory: Digital technologies have become an integral part of everyday life that children are exposed to. Therefore, it is important for children to acquire an understanding of these technologies early on by teaching them computational thinking (CT) as a part of STEM. However, primary school teachers are often reluctant to teach CT. Expectancy-value theory suggests that motivational components play an important role in teaching and learning. Thus, one hindrance to teachers' willingness to teach CT might be their low expectancies of success and high emotional costs, e.g., anxiety towards CT. Thus, introducing preservice teachers to CT during their university years might be a promising way to support their expectancies and values, while simultaneously alleviating their emotional costs. Prior CT competences might contribute to these outcomes. Aims: We investigated whether a specifically designed seminar on CT affected preservice teachers' expectancies and values towards programming.Method: A total of 311 German primary school and special education preservice teachers took part in the study. The primary school preservice teachers received a seminar on CT and programming with low-threshold programming tasks, while the special education teachers served as a baseline group. The seminar was specifically designed to enhance expectancies and values and decrease emotional costs, following implications of research on expectancy-value theory. Results: The preservice teachers who visited the seminar gained higher expectancies and values towards CT and programming compared to the baseline group. Moreover, their emotional costs decreased. CT was positively related to change in expectancies and values and negatively related to emotional costs. Discussion: Interventions with low-threshold programming tasks can support primary school preservice teachers in finding trust in their abilities and values towards CT. Moreover, their anxiety towards CT and programming can be alleviated. Thus, first steps in preparing preservice teachers to teach CT in their future classrooms can be taken in university.

[Conceptualizing and Measuring the Quality of Adaptive Learning Support in Kindergarten Using Mathematical Board Games. A Study in Germany and Switzerland]. / Konzeptualisierung und Messung der Qualität der adaptiven Lernunterstützung in Lernsituationen mit mathematischen Regelspielen im Kindergarten. Eine Studie in Deutschland und der Schweiz.

Good adaptive support by educational professionals is crucial for pre-school children's mathematical learning. Thus there is a need for appropriate instruments to evaluate the quality of the planning, implementation, and reflection process for mathematical learning opportunities in kindergarten. Existing instruments tend to focus on micro-adaptive learning support (MI-ALS), which considers the interaction between the professionals and the children. The quality of macro-adaptive learning support (MA-ALS), the teachers' planning of and reflection on learning opportunities, has yet to be comprehensively investigated. MA-ALS is important for the acquisition of subject-related (mathematical) competence, an aspect of kindergarten education that is gaining in importance in the pre-school curricula of many countries.The quality of mathematical learning support in kindergarten is conceptualized by differentiating between the quality of MA-ALS and MI-ALS. MI-ALS is also divided into general support (group management, emotional warmth) and subject-related support (learning stimulation, subject-specific language). A rating tool for analyzing the quality of mathematical learning support is presented and its psychometric quality is assessed. The tool is then used to analyze the teaching quality in two guided play situations (recorded) and two interviews each with 145 education professionals in Germany and Switzerland. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) confirms the validity of the distinction between group management, emotional warmth and subject-related support. The relationship between the level of MI-ALS and MA-ALS, the training of the teachers (academic vs non-academic), and the educational context (Germany vs Switzerland) is examined. The results corroborate the importance of including planning and reflection as a dimension of learning support quality.

Preschoolers' Induction of the Concept of Material Kind to Make Predictions: The Effects of Comparison and Linguistic Labels.

Analogical reasoning by comparison is considered a special case of inductive reasoning, which is fundamental to the scientific method. By reasoning analogically, learners can abstract the underlying commonalities of several entities, thereby ignoring single objects' superficial features. We tested whether different task environments designed to trigger analogical reasoning by comparison would support preschoolers' induction of the concept of material kind to predict and explain objects' floating or sinking as a central aspect of scientific reasoning. Specifically, in two experiments, we investigated whether the number of presented objects (one versus two standards), consisting of a specific material and the labeling of objects with the respective material name, would benefit preschoolers' material-based inferences. For each item set used in both experiments, we asked the children (N = 59 in Experiment 1, N = 99 in Experiment 2) to predict an object's floating or sinking by matching it to the standards and to verbally explain their selections. As expected, we found a significant effect for the number of standards in both experiments on the prediction task, suggesting that children successfully induced the relevance of material kind by comparison. However, labels did not increase the effect of the standards. In Experiment 2, we found that the children could transfer their conceptual knowledge on material kind but that transfer performance did not differ among the task environments. Our findings suggest that tasks inviting analogical reasoning by comparison with two standards are useful for promoting young children's scientific reasoning.

The Impact of a Construction Play on 5- to 6-Year-Old Children's Reasoning About Stability.

THEORY: Young children have an understanding of basic science concepts such as stability, yet their theoretical assumptions are often not concerned with stability. The literature on theory theory and theory-evidence coordination suggests that children construct intuitive theories about their environment which can be adjusted in the face of counterevidence that cannot be assimilated into the prior theory. With increasing age, children acquire a Center theory when balancing objects and try to balance every object at their middle, succeeding with symmetrical objects. Later, they acquire the basic science concept of stability through learning that the weight distribution of an object is of importance. Thus, they acquire a Mass theory and succeed in balancing asymmetrical objects as well. Fluid and crystallized intelligence might contribute to children's acquisition of Mass theory. Moreover, their Mass theory might be supported by implementing a playful intervention including (a) material scaffolds and (b) verbal scaffolds. AIMS: We investigated which theories children have about stability and whether these theories can be adjusted to Mass theory by implementing a playful intervention. METHOD: A total of 183 5- to 6-year-old children took part in the study with a pre-post-follow-up intervention design. Children's Mass theory was assessed with an interview in which children explained constructions' stabilities. The children received a playful intervention with two differing degrees of scaffolding (material scaffolds or material + verbal scaffolds) or no scaffolding. RESULTS: At first few children used a Mass theory to explain their reasoning. However, after being confronted with counterevidence for the asymmetrical constructions, children changed their explanation and applied a Mass theory. More children in the play group with the highest degree of scaffolding, i.e., material + verbal scaffolds, acquired a Mass theory compared to the other groups. Fluid as well as crystallized intelligence contributed to children's acquisition of a Mass theory. DISCUSSION: Counterevidence can support children in their acquisition of a Mass theory. A playful intervention with scaffolding supports children even more.

Measuring preschool children's knowledge of the principle of static equilibrium in the context of building blocks: Validation of a test instrument.

BACKGROUND: Preschoolers' knowledge of the principle of static equilibrium is an important research focus for understanding children's science content knowledge. Hitherto studies have mainly used behavioural observation with small samples. Thus, extending these studies with a validated test instrument is desirable. AIMS: The aim was to validate an instrument (the Centre-of-Mass Test), which is concerned with preschoolers' knowledge of the principle of static equilibrium, using item response theory. In Study 1, the construct structure was tested, and in Study 2, its relationship with stabilities of symmetrical blocks, figural reasoning, figural perception, mental rotation, level of interest, self-concept, motivation, and language capacity was investigated. SAMPLES: A total of 217 five- and six-year-old children participated in Study 1 and 166 five- and six-year-old children in Study 2. METHODS: All tests were administered as paper-pencil picture tests in groups and single interviews. RESULTS: In Study 1, the Centre-of-Mass Test's conformity with a 1PL-testlet model with an overall knowledge of static equilibrium and with two subtests, estimation of stable and unstable constructions, was confirmed. Using a 95% binomial distribution, children were categorized into three knowledge categories: geometrical-centre, centre-of-mass, and undifferentiated knowledge. In Study 2, knowledge of the principle of static equilibrium showed positive correlations with figural perception and reasoning, language capacity, and estimation of the stabilities of symmetrical objects. CONCLUSIONS: The Centre-of-Mass Test measures knowledge of the principle of static equilibrium as a unidimensional construct and mirrors preschoolers' estimations found in previous studies. The acquisition of a more sophisticated static equilibrium knowledge is related to spatial knowledge and language capacity.