A Pilot Math Anxiety Storybook Approach to Normalize Math Talk in Children and to Support Emotion Regulation

Research and education stakeholders in the United Kingdom (UK) acknowledge math anxiety as a detriment to learning math and associated with performance deficits, avoidance, and limiting career opportunities. Support approaches and strategies have typically focused on instruction and emotion regulation, but not necessarily in younger children using a more sustainable resource, such as a targeted storybook approach. Therefore, in this qualitative study, children age 6–7 years (N = 15) across two UK primary schools took part in 1:1 discussion surrounding engagement with a math anxiety storybook approach. Following reflexive thematic analysis, three global themes were identified: [A] Math Application: (1) counting and (2) mathematical language; [B] Strategies: (1) social learning and (2) resilience and self-regulation; and [C] Emotive Responses: (1) perceptions of self and math and (2) success and happiness. Overall, our findings suggest that children successfully engaged with a storybook approach – with integrated math problems – that normalized math talk in a non-judgment-based environment and led to more positive perspectives of math and more resilient approaches and solutions. We discuss these findings in relation to developing emotion regulation using a sustainable and flexible resource

Parental perspectives on the management of online learning and school readjustment for children with SEN during the COVID-19 pandemic: lessons and applications for possible school closures

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in worldwide school closures and disrupted education – which was extended in the Republic of Ireland – and some children with SEN may be more adversely impacted by prolonged school closures than others. Despite this, and possible future pandemics, experiences of Irish children with SEN have not been explored to date. The current research utilised semi-structured interviews to explore parental perspectives (n = 10) of online learning and the subsequent return to education for children with SEN. Reflexive Thematic Analysis resulted in the identification of three global themes: [1] Balancing Act, pertaining to a lack of support and educational provision, [2] Prioritising Wellbeing over Education, whereby parents made the decision to stop engaging in online learning to promote familial wellbeing, and [3] The Return to School and its Challenges, highlighting academic, behavioural, and mental health concerns on return to education. Inclusion of parental feedback was noted as important for the success of home-schooling during future school closures and is a clear application of this work. Finally, suggestions are made for research to examine the links between support for parents and children’s academic attainment and wellbeing, as well as child insight directing provision for school closures

Developing badge eco-systems to support engagement in class-based and online learning

Abstract Background Badges enable academic and non-academic learners to collect and display their achievements and to enhance their training and qualification repertoire. To support engagement in class-based and online modules we have introduced badge ecosystems backed up by University quality assurance procedures. This paper presents two case studies which exemplify the application of badges at the University of Derby and the possibilities for future developments of badge ecosystems. Class-based: Forensic anthropology/Osteology A sequence of badges in the Forensic Anthropology module was implemented to support students as they develop their understanding of osteology and anatomy. In this context, the implementation of badges relies on the use of learning outcomes that support learning and the assessment of practical knowledge as well as student’s ability to observe key features in the subject. Online MOOCs The University of Derby (UoD) have incorporated badges in a series of MOOCs that include: “Bridging the Dementia Divide: Supporting People Living with Dementia (2015); Digital.Me: Managing your Digital Self (2015); Operations Management (2016); a re-run of Supporting People Living with Dementia (2016) and Autism, Asperger’s and ADHD (2016). Throughout these, badges were used to reward degrees of completion and have an association with a favourable average completion rate across four of the MOOCs. The use of badges at the University has been led by academics staff and the Innovation Hub as part of a Badges Working Group. The innovative approaches to badges and badge ecosystems have been supported by the development of a University infrastructure for badge development including: • Schema to back-up micro-credentialing • Quality assurance processes and • University badge server The UoD Working Badges Group and Quality Assurance The use of digital badges supported by the University’s quality framework means that we are rewarding meaningful learning, have increased badge credibility with our own badge server for issuing badges. In this way we have assured the integrity of the badges not just being University of Derby by branding but through the University as the issuing organization. Conclusion The UoD has incorporated badges to provide recognition for the learning, achievements and contributions of our class-based and MOOC learners, and the credibility of our badges will increase further as we move towards further implementation by academics and departments through the use of the badge framework. This could allow our digital credentials to be used by partners and other educational institutions and will act as an incentive for the UoD to continue its focus on badge development, quality and credibility.Abstract Background Badges enable academic and non-academic learners to collect and display their achievements and to enhance their training and qualification repertoire. To support engagement in class-based and online modules we have introduced badge ecosystems backed up by University quality assurance procedures. This paper presents two case studies which exemplify the application of badges at the University of Derby and the possibilities for future developments of badge ecosystems. Class-based: Forensic anthropology/Osteology A sequence of badges in the Forensic Anthropology module was implemented to support students as they develop their understanding of osteology and anatomy. In this context, the implementation of badges relies on the use of learning outcomes that support learning and the assessment of practical knowledge as well as student’s ability to observe key features in the subject. Online MOOCs The University of Derby (UoD) have incorporated badges in a series of MOOCs that include: “Bridging the Dementia Divide: Supporting People Living with Dementia (2015); Digital.Me: Managing your Digital Self (2015); Operations Management (2016); a re-run of Supporting People Living with Dementia (2016) and Autism, Asperger’s and ADHD (2016). Throughout these, badges were used to reward degrees of completion and have an association with a favourable average completion rate across four of the MOOCs. The use of badges at the University has been led by academics staff and the Innovation Hub as part of a Badges Working Group. The innovative approaches to badges and badge ecosystems have been supported by the development of a University infrastructure for badge development including: • Schema to back-up micro-credentialing • Quality assurance processes and • University badge server The UoD Working Badges Group and Quality Assurance The use of digital badges supported by the University’s quality framework means that we are rewarding meaningful learning, have increased badge credibility with our own badge server for issuing badges. In this way we have assured the integrity of the badges not just being University of Derby by branding but through the University as the issuing organization. Conclusion The UoD has incorporated badges to provide recognition for the learning, achievements and contributions of our class-based and MOOC learners, and the credibility of our badges will increase further as we move towards further implementation by academics and departments through the use of the badge framework. This could allow our digital credentials to be used by partners and other educational institutions and will act as an incentive for the UoD to continue its focus on badge development, quality and credibility

The Impact of Children’s Connection to Nature. A Report for the Royal Society of the Protection of Birds (RSPB)

Connecting with nature should be part of every child’s life as it has the potential to aid nature’s revival while benefiting the child. To embed nature connection within our social norms, there is a need to be able to understand the benefits and set targets for levels of nature connection. This report presents findings on the impact of connection to nature from a survey of 775 children, using the child as the unit of analysis, rather than aggregated data. The results demonstrated that children who were more connected to nature had significantly higher English attainment, although this wasn’t repeated for Mathematics. Further, the 1.5 Connection to Nature Index (CNI) level was found to be a significant threshold across other measures, with those children with a CNI of 1.5 or above having significantly higher health, life satisfaction, pro-environmental behaviours and pro-nature behaviours. The analysis found strong correlations between CNI and pro-nature behaviours and pro-environmental behavior. A positive correlation was also evident between CNI and days spent outdoors and days spent in nature over the past week, suggesting that the more time spent in nature is associated with child’s connection to nature. Finally, weak correlations were found between connection to nature, health and life satisfaction. When more refined attainment results for English were explored, (n = 512) further weak correlations were found between English attainment and attendance, English and life satisfaction, and between English attainment and connection to nature. There are a multitude of factors associated with a child’s English attainment, so, although the correlations are weak, it is noteworthy that connection to nature is as important to children’s achievement in English as life satisfaction and attendance at school

Further development of the Children’s Mathematics Anxiety Scale UK (CMAS-UK) for ages 4–7 years

There are currently many mathematics anxiety rating scales designed typically for adult and older children populations, yet there remains a lack of assessment tools for younger children ( 0.45) and high internal consistency (α = 0.88). A single factor model of Online Mathematics Anxiety was related to the experience of an entire mathematics lesson, from first entering the classroom to completing a task. A significant negative correlation was observed between the CMAS-UK and mathematics performance scores, suggesting that children who score high for mathematics anxiety tend to score to perform less well on a mathematics task. Subsequent confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to test a range of module structures; the shortened 19-item CMAS-UK was found to have similar model indices as the 26-item model, resulting in the maintenance of the revised scale. To conclude, the 19-item CMAS-UK provides a reliable assessment of children’s mathematics anxiety and has been shown to predict mathematics performance. This research points towards the origins of mathematics anxiety occurring when number is first encountered and supports the utility of the CMAS-UK. Subsequent research in the area should consider and appropriately define an affective component that may underlie mathematics anxiety at older ages. Mathematics anxiety relates to more complex procedures that elude the experiences of younger children and may instead be the result of number-based experiences in the early years of education.N/

Recognising and measuring mathematics anxiety and resilience.

A variety of measures are available to show the presence of maths anxiety because of its multidimensional nature and the need to address a specific target population. Measuring maths anxiety helps our understanding of this form of anxiety and its similarities to and differences from other constructs such as maths self-efficacy or other forms of anxiety, e.g., general or test anxiety. This chapter will help readers get to grips with some of the most commonly used measures and scales available, taking into account empirical findings that suggest other ways to recognise mathematics anxiety

Examining the connection between nature connectedness and dark personality

The psychological construct of nature connectedness - the depth of an individual's relationship with the natural world - has not only been associated with benefits for mental well-being but has also shown relationships with personality traits relevant to the dark personality literature. These include agreeableness, cognitive and affective empathy, and callous and uncaring traits. Across two independently-sampled studies we delineate relationships between explicit and implicit indices of nature connectedness and dark personality. In Study 1 (N = 304), psychopathy (and Machiavellianism) was associated with self-reported, but not implicitly-measured, nature connectedness. Moreover, individuals scoring high on dark personality exhibited a preference for inner-city, relative to suburban or rural living. In Study 2 (N = 209), we replicated the findings of Study 1 in relation to explicit measures of nature connectedness but did not find further relationships between dark personality and the population densities of where participants had previously lived. Limitations of implicit and pseudo indices of nature connectedness are outlined, and the results are discussed in relation to future research and the potential role of nature connectedness interventions in forensic populations. Data, syntax, and the manuscript pre-print are available here: [https://osf.io/3mg5d/?view_only=b5c7749d4a7945c5a161f0915a2d0259].lead author's institutio