European Journal of Psychology of Education

In the first part of this article, we define our view of knowledge acquisition by distinguishing it from text comprehension and memorization, and by presenting the principal characteristics of the concept of knowledge as the formalization used to shape the knowledge domains (Baudet & Denhière, 1988). In the second part, the computerized individual’s knowledge acquisition system we present permits a representation of memory knowledge in accordance with the formalization adopted. This also allows a diagnosis of the learner’s initial knowledge and, according to the diagnosis reached, presents texts and illustrations adapted with the learner’s initial knowledge and with the goal of reaching a particular state of knowledge (Poitrenaud, Denhière & Tapiero, 1987). Finally, in the last part, we relate the first experimental results of learning a particular knowledge domain: sea mammals. This experiment tested the system with children of 7 to 11 years of age (Tapiero, 1987).

Prior research has been devoted to understanding how to facilitate the integration of gifted young people (Intelligence Quotient, ≥130) into classroom settings. This study investigated a typology of self-concept in gifted French high school students. Eighty-four participants, between the ages of 13 and 18 (mean age, 15.5; SD, 1.04), enrolled in heterogeneous classes completed the Genèse des Perceptions de Soi (genesis of the self-concept (GPS) technique (L’Ėcuyer 1990), the Self-Description Questionnaire II (Marsh 1992), and the self-evaluation questionnaire concerning the perception of self and of giftedness (Guskin et al., Gifted Child Quarterly, 30(2):61–65, 1986). Using Descending Hierarchical Classification analysis (Alceste software), this study revealed five main types of self-concept for gifted young people. This study demonstrates the importance of considering the personal points of view of gifted adolescents in order to better comprehend the heterogeneous nature of their self-concept and emphasizes the need to use the specific profiles of these youth to adapt the way in which we respond to them.

Student participation and cognitive and emotional engagement in learning activities play a key role in student academic achievement and are driven by student motivational characteristics such as academic self-concept. These relations have been well established with variable-centered analyses, but in this study, a person-centered analysis was applied to describe how the different aspects of student engagement are combined within individual students. Specifically, we investigated how the number of hand-raisings interacts with student cognitive and emotional engagement in various engagement patterns. Additionally, it was analyzed how these engagement patterns relate to academic self-concept as an antecedent and achievement as an outcome. In an empirical study, high school students (N = 397) from 20 eighth-grade classrooms were surveyed and videotaped during one mathematics school lesson. The design included a pre- and post-test, with the videotaping occurring in between. Five within-student engagement patterns were identified by latent profile analysis: disengaged, compliant, silent, engaged, and busy. Students with higher academic self-concept were more likely to show a pattern of moderate to high engagement. Compared with students with low engagement, students with higher engagement patterns gained systematically in end-of-year achievement. These findings illustrate the power of person-centered analyses to illuminate the complexity of student engagement. They imply the need for differentiation beyond disengaged and engaged students and bring along the recognition that being engaged can take on various forms, from compliant to busy.

The act of revising is an important aspect of academic writing. Although revision is crucial for eliminating writing errors and producing high-quality texts, research on writing expertise shows that novices rarely engage in revision activities. Providing information on writing errors by means of peer feedback has become a popular method in writing instruction. However, despite its popularity, students have difficulties in leveraging the potential of peer feedback: feedback uptake is low and students engage in little revision. Instructional support might help learners to make sense of peer feedback and to reflect on the provided information more deeply. The present study investigated the effect of sense-making support on feedback uptake as well as on revision skills, in particular problem detection and problem correction. In an experimental study, 73 university students were randomly assigned to conditions with or without sense-making support. The results indicate that feedback uptake improved concerning two out of three variables: students in the condition with sense-making support made fewer new errors and rejected more incorrect feedback comments. Students’ revision skills only improved with regard to problem detection. Overall, we were able to show that peer feedback alone might not be sufficient to make successful changes in the text and improve revision skills. Sense-making support proved to be effective to some extent and partially helped to maximize the benefits of peer feedback.

Empirical studies on effects of formative assessment (FA) on motivational outcomes and underlying mechanisms are scarce. The core elements of FA, feedback and adaptive teaching behavior, might be helpful in promoting the experience of competence, which in turn is a prerequisite for promoting intrinsic motivation. However, instructional impact also depends on the students’ perception of teacher behavior. Therefore, this study (N = 27 teachers and 613 students) aimed to test whether FA has a positive effect on intrinsic motivation mediated by students’ perceived competence support (PCS). In a three-group design, two versions of FA were compared with a control group. In both versions of FA, teachers used a tool for learning progress assessment (LPA), while in one version, teachers received a combination of LPA and additional support consisting of materials for feedback and adaptive instruction (LPA+). A path model for half-longitudinal designs was estimated. Results support the motivational effect of FA. LPA and LPA+ both positively influence students’ PCS which is in turn associated with higher intrinsic motivation. A small indirect effect on intrinsic motivation mediated by PCS was shown for both intervention groups, which was only significant for LPA. For LPA+, higher-performing students particularly benefitted from the intervention. Teachers’ use of FA practices can foster students’ PCS which seems to be a promising way in motivation-enhancing teaching.

This study was the first to investigate the prospective effects of failure mindsets on implicit theories of intelligence (ITI), whose profound effects on learning, motivation, and academic achievement have found increasing support. Participants were 240 Chinese university students (180 females, Mage = 19.13) who completed a baseline and a 1-year follow-up survey. The cross-lagged panel model supported the study’s hypothesis that students’ perception of their parents’ view of failure as debilitating at baseline predicted their own failure-is-debilitating mindset and entity theory of intelligence at follow-up. However, students’ failure-is-debilitating mindset at baseline did not predict their entity theory of intelligence at follow-up. A reciprocal relationship was found between students’ perception of their parents’ failure-is-debilitating mindset and their entity theory of intelligence. We recommend programs be implemented to educate parents of the value of failure and how their conveying positive views of failure can be constructive to students’ trajectory of learning and intellectual growth.

The aim of this paper is to examine how project-based learning in distance education can be seen to make a distinctive contribution to “improving student learning”. How has this approach to course design and assessment been put into practice in an Open University (OU) course and what assumptions about teaching and learning are involved in this course development process. The paper also looks briefly at how this project component has been evaluated by describing students’ and tutors’ experiences of learning and teaching in the form of “action research” so to reflect critically on practice and so initiate change.

This follow-up study to van Kraayenoord and Schneider (1999) examined the performance in reading, metacognition and motivation related to reading of students in Grades 7 and 8. Results showed significant correlations between all of the variables. A multivariate analysis of variance showed that “good” and “poor” readers differed in reading self-concept and metacognitive measures related to reading and memory. A stepwise regression analysis suggested that the metacognitive variables were the best predictors of reading. Furthermore, a comparison of the results of the previous study with those of the current investigation revealed that the findings were stable over time. Since the period between the two studies is the time during which students make important decisions related to enrolment in one of three distinct school-types in Germany, we examined the results of various groups of students: those in “Gymnasium” (high educational track), “Realschule” (middle educational track), and “Hauptschule” (low educational track). Students in the Gymnasium scored significantly better than students in the other two groups on almost all variables related to reading. A re-analysis of the data from our first investigation found that the results of the Gymnasium students in the second study could be predicted from their results obtained during elementary school.