Food sharing with friends and acquaintances:A study in preschool boys and girls

IntroductionThe current study examined whether preschoolers in a (semi-)natural situation shared more food with friends or acquaintances, and whether this was different between boys and girls, older and younger children, and for preferred and non- preferred food. In order to do so, we replicated and extended the classical work of Birch and Billman in a Dutch sample.MethodsParticipants included 91 children aged between 3 to 6 years (52.7% boys, 93.4% Western European) from a middle- to upper-middle-class neighborhood in the Netherlands.ResultsThe results revealed that children shared more non-preferred than preferred food with others. Girls gave more non-preferred food to acquaintances than to friends, whereas boys gave more to friends than to acquaintances. No effect of relationship was found for preferred food. Older children shared more food than younger children. Compared to acquaintances, friends made more active attempts to get food. Moreover, children who were not shared with were just as likely to share food as children who were shared with.DiscussionOverall, only a small degree of agreement with the original study was found: Some significant findings could not be replicated, and some unconfirmed hypotheses of the original study were supported. The results underscore both the need for replications and studying the effect of social-contextual factors in natural settings

A mixed method approach to studying self-regulated learning in MOOCs: combining trace data with interviews

To be successful in online education, learners should be able to self-regulate their learning due to the autonomy offered to them. Accurate measurement of learners’ self-regulated learning (SRL) in online education is necessary to determine which learners are in need of support and how to best offer support. Trace data is gathered automatically and unobtrusively during online education, and is therefore considered a valuable source to measure learners’ SRL. However, measuring SRL with trace data is challenging for two main reasons. First, without information on the how and why of learner behaviour it is difficult to interpret trace data correctly. Second, SRL activities outside of the online learning environment are not captured in trace data. To address these two challenges, we propose a mixed method approach with a sequential design. Such an approach is novel for the measurement of SRL. We present a pilot study in which we combined trace data with interview data to analyse learners’ SRL in online courses. In the interview, cued retrospective reporting was conducted by presenting learners with visualizations of their trace data. In the second part of the interview, learners’ activities outside of the online course environment were discussed. The results show that the mixed-method approach is indeed a promising approach to address the two described challenges. Suggestions for future research are provided, and include methodological considerations such as how to best visualize trace data for cued retrospective recall. &nbsp

A typology of teachers’ self-reported use of student data from computer-based assessment programmes in secondary education

Teachers in secondary education have to deal with a growing diversity in student population, which asks for differentiation of their teaching. Computer-based assessments (CBA’s) are educational software tools that, for a particular school subject, allow students to practice their knowledge or skills, leading to results about students’ performance or ability level at that point in time. Information derived from CBA’s (known as learning analytics) has the potential to support teachers to differentiate by informing them of each student’s current level. In this study, our aim was to provide a typology of how and why teachers in secondary education use analytics, with the subsequent aim of providing recommendations for teacher professional development. Four profiles were found: high users, selective users, early stage users, and non-users. We provide recommendations for each of these profiles.publishedVersio

Does tolerance allow bonobos to outperform chimpanzees on a cooperative task? A conceptual replication of Hare et al., 2007

Across various taxa, social tolerance is thought to facilitate cooperation, and many species are treated as having species-specific patterns of social tolerance. Yet studies that assess wild and captive bonobos and chimpanzees result in contrasting findings. By replicating a cornerstone experimental study on tolerance and cooperation in bonobos and chimpanzees (Hare et al. 2007 Cur. Biol. 17, 619–623 (doi:10.1016/j.cub.2007.02. 040)), we aim to further our understanding of current discrepant findings. We tested bonobos and chimpanzees housed at the same facility in a co-feeding and cooperation task. Food was placed on dishes located on both ends or in the middle of a platform. In the co-feeding task, the tray was simply made available to the ape duos, whereas in the cooperation task the apes had to simultaneously pull at both ends of a rope attached to the platform to retrieve the food. By contrast to the published findings, bonobos and chimpanzees co-fed to a similar degree, indicating a similar level of tolerance. However, bonobos cooperated more than chimpanzees when the food was monopolizable, which replicates the original study. Our findings call into question the interpretation that at the species level bonobos cooperate to a higher degree because they are inherently more tolerant

Does tolerance allow bonobos to outperform chimpanzees on a cooperative task? A conceptual replication of Hare et al., 2007

Across various taxa, social tolerance is thought to facilitate cooperation, and many species are treated as having species-specific patterns of social tolerance. Yet studies that assess wild and captive bonobos and chimpanzees result in contrasting findings. By replicating a cornerstone experimental study on tolerance and cooperation in bonobos and chimpanzees (Hare et al. 2007 Cur. Biol. 17, 619–623 (doi:10.1016/j.cub.2007.02. 040)), we aim to further our understanding of current discrepant findings. We tested bonobos and chimpanzees housed at the same facility in a co-feeding and cooperation task. Food was placed on dishes located on both ends or in the middle of a platform. In the co-feeding task, the tray was simply made available to the ape duos, whereas in the cooperation task the apes had to simultaneously pull at both ends of a rope attached to the platform to retrieve the food. By contrast to the published findings, bonobos and chimpanzees co-fed to a similar degree, indicating a similar level of tolerance. However, bonobos cooperated more than chimpanzees when the food was monopolizable, which replicates the original study. Our findings call into question the interpretation that at the species level bonobos cooperate to a higher degree because they are inherently more tolerant

Long Term Outcomes of a Geriatric Liaison Intervention in Frail Elderly Cancer Patients

Background The aim of this study was to evaluate the long term effects after discharge of a hospital-based geriatric liaison intervention to prevent postoperative delirium in frail elderly cancer patients treated with an elective surgical procedure for a solid tumour. In addition, the effect of a postoperative delirium on long term outcomes was examined. Methods A three month follow-up was performed in participants of the Liaison Intervention in Frail Elderly study, a multicentre, prospective, randomized, controlled trial. Patients were randomized to standard treatment or a geriatric liaison intervention. The intervention consisted of a preoperative geriatric consultation, an individual treatment plan targeted at risk factors for delirium and daily visits by a geriatric nurse during the hospital stay. The long term outcomes included: mortality, rehospitalisation, Activities of Daily Living (ADL) functioning, return to the independent pre-operative living situation, use of supportive care, cognitive functioning and health related quality of life. Results Data of 260 patients (intervention n = 127, Control n = 133) were analysed. There were no differences between the intervention group and usual-care group for any of the outcomes three months after discharge. The presence of postoperative delirium was associated with: an increased risk of decline in ADL functioning (OR: 2.65, 95% CI: 1.02-6.88), an increased use of supportive assistance (OR: 2.45, 95% CI: 1.02-5.87) and a decreased chance to return to the independent preoperative living situation (OR: 0.18, 95% CI: 0.07-0.49). Conclusions A hospital-based geriatric liaison intervention for the prevention of postoperative delirium in frail elderly cancer patients undergoing elective surgery for a solid tumour did not improve outcomes 3 months after discharge from hospital. The negative effect of a postoperative delirium on late outcome was confirmed

Exploring the link between self-regulated learning and learner behaviour in a massive open online course

Background: Learners in Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are presented with great autonomy over their learning process. Learners must engage in self-regulated learning (SRL) to handle this autonomy. It is assumed that learners' SRL, through monitoring and control, influences learners' behaviour within the MOOC environment (e.g., watching videos). The exact relationship between SRL and learner behaviour has however not been investigated. Objectives: We explored whether differences in SRL are related to differences in learner behaviour in a MOOC. As insight in this relationship could improve our understanding of the influence of SRL on behaviour, could help explain the variety in online learner behaviour, and could be useful for the development of successful SRL support for learners. Methods: MOOC learners were grouped based on their self-reported SRL. Next, we used process mining to create process models of learners' activities. These process models were compared between groups of learners. Results and conclusions: Four clusters emerged: average regulators, help seekers, self-regulators, and weak regulators. Learners in all clusters closely followed the designed course structure. However, the process models also showed differences which could be linked to differences in the SRL scores between clusters. Takeaways: The study shows that SRL may explain part of the variability in online learner behaviour. Implications for the design of SRL interventions include the necessity to integrate support for weak regulators in the course structure

A Blueprint for Teacher Design Teams to Create Professional Development Interventions

An effective way to stimulate teachers’ engagement and involvement in educational innovations is by employing teacher design teams (TDTs, Vangrieken et al, 2013). The design activities that TDTs engage in should be chosen carefully, and a facilitator should be available to support the TDTs (Becuwe et al, 2016). So far, little attention has been paid in the literature to the nature and role of such design activities (Vangrieken et al, 2013; Brouwer et al, 2012). Therefore, the goal of this paper is to provide guidelines for the design activities of TDTs aimed at teachers’ professional development. A series of design activities to support TDTs in five secondary schools in the Netherlands was constructed and evaluated through audio recordings of each session, logbooks, and interviews about teachers' perceptions of the design process and activities. In this article, we present and discuss the resulting blueprint for TDT activities aimed at teachers’ professional development