Into the wild? How a film can change adolescents' values

In adolescence, behavior and attitudes are constantly rethought and value priorities are established. Still, there is hardly any research addressing how values are shaped throughout this sensitive period. We employed an experimental design, testing whether adolescents’ values can be influenced by exposure to a film. In our study, 154 German adolescents (80 females, ages 13-15) were randomly assigned to an experimental group that watched excerpts from the film “Into the wild” or to a control group. Value change was assessed in a pre-post-test design with a one-week interval. As hypothesized, values changed in the direction of those displayed by the film’s protagonist: Universalism values increased significantly and conformity values decreased significantly as compared to the control group. Our findings suggest that single exposure to a film may initiate value change, indicating that not only major live events, but also everyday experiences significantly affect adolescents’ values

Factors influencing the effectiveness of serious gaming in the field of vocational orientation

This study investigates the effectiveness of the serious game like2be, which has been developed to support the individual career orientation process of adolescents by broadening their occupational horizon. In this paper, we present results from an intervention study with n = 809 adolescents in Swiss schools at the lower secondary education level. To analyze the extent to which cognitive, affective, and motivational factors are stimulated and what influence they have on expanding knowledge about occupations (measured learning outcome), we applied confirmatory factor analysis, multiple linear regression, and a structural equation model. The results indicate that the stimulation of cognitive processes through serious gaming has a statistically significant impact on learning outcome, although such factors as enjoyment, flow experience, or self-perceived benefits in playing like2be did not significantly impact gain in knowledge about occupations

The potential of Serious Games to foster learning among children and adolescents with disabilities: A systematic review

Serious Games for children and adolescents with disabilities can enhance their learning and respond to their needs in an inclusive educational setting. The aim of this systematic review is to analyze the potential of Serious Games for children and young people with disabilities, thereby providing an overview of effective Serious Games for schools and practitioners in the field of inclusive education. For this purpose, a systematic review of empirical literature found in the database Education Resources Information Centre (ERIC) was conducted, applying a qualitative content analysis. Findings from the 21 reviewed quantitative and qualitative studies indicate that Serious Games provide effective support for achieving learning objectives in certain school subjects and facilitate optimal conditions for learning. We found that Serious Games have strong potential and can make an important contribution to the inclusion of children and adolescents with disabilities in school

Engagement in a virtual learning environment predicts academic achievement in research methods modules: A longitudinal study combining behavioral and self-reported data

The use of virtual learning environments (VLE) has grown exponentially in the past years. Research indicates that students’ online learning behavior predicts their academic performance and that students’ academic emotions can play a key role in this process. However, few studies have attempted to investigate the effectiveness of VLE activities in learning achievement within psychology education. In this longitudinal study, we analyzed the relationship between students’ activity in a VLE, their attendance, academic emotions, and module grades at a face-to-face-based university in the United Kingdom. Data were collected over 1 year across two research methods modules, each of which is compulsory for a psychology degree. VLE and attendance data from 210 students were gathered for the first-year module, with 152 students continuing to the second year. The data were cross-referenced with students’ module grades, alongside self-reported emotion data for a subset of students. The results showed that overall VLE activity and the use of specific online tools such as optional online tests and lecture recording were important predictors of academic achievement. While some significant relationships between emotions and student’s learning behavior and achievement were found, these correlations were relatively small and not consistent throughout the year. These findings have potential implications for curriculum design, particularly by making psychology educators aware of the usefulness of VLE activities and tools from the onset of students’ research methods learning journey

Examining the consistency and coherence of values in young children using a new animated values instrument

The existence and formation of values across the lifespan has been of particular interest to psychology researchers for decades. In this study we examine the consistency and coherence of values in early childhood using a new animated instrument - the AVI (Animated Values Instrument). Based on Schwartz's circular values structure the AVI is a multi-sensory instrument designed to enhance young children's understanding of each value. We present evidence from a sample of 329 five to twelve year-olds that shows children, as young as five, make consistent choices about their own values. Results show that consistency of choice is high for the majority of children across all age groups and complete consistency of choice in almost all older children. We also demonstrate coherence in the circular structure of values in young children at the sample and individual level for the first time. The discussion outlines new directions for future research on the development of values in young children

School adjustment of ethnic minority youth: A qualitative and quantitative research synthesis of family-related risk and resource factors

In today’s multicultural societies, the question of how school adjustment (adapting to the role of being a student) can be promoted for students from ethnic minority backgrounds is of high importance. The ecological approach to acculturation research proposes minority students’ school adjustment is shaped by the surrounding context, and it suggests that the microsystem family plays an important role. Specifically, parents’ acculturation, practices, attitudes, and background have been identified as key factors. While there exist systematic reviews of the impact of parental factors more broadly, some of which researched ethnic minorities, a comprehensive literature review of family-related factors that affect ethnic minority youth’s school adjustment is missing. The present study provides a synthesis of qualitative and quantitative empirical research of interest, including 60 qualitative and 46 quantitative studies. Its content analysis portrays in what ways parental acculturation, practices, attitudes and background can support or hamper school adjustment among ethnic minority youth. A subsequent meta-analysis quantifies the strength of the impact of these parental variables on the school adjustment of their children. Our findings show that parental practices have the most crucial impact on the psychological well-being, academic self-esteem and aspirations, behaviour and achievement outcomes of minority youth

A Latent Class Analysis of University Lecturers’ Switch to Online Teaching during the First COVID-19 Lockdown: The Role of Educational Technology, Self-Efficacy, and Institutional Support

The switch to emergency remote teaching (ERT) due to the first COVID-19 lockdown demanded a lot from university lecturers yet did not pose the same challenge to all of them. This study sought to explain differences among lecturers (n = 796) from universities in France, Germany, Switzerland, and the UK in their use of educational technology for teaching, institutional support, and personal factors. Guided by the Social Cognitive Theory (SCT), lecturers’ behavior (educational technology use), environment (institutional support), and personal factors (ERT self-efficacy, continuance intentions, and demographics) were examined. Latent class analysis was employed to identify different types of lecturers in view of educational technology use, while multinomial regression and Wald chi-square test were used to distinguish classes. The largest latent class were Presenters (45.6%), who focused on content delivery, followed by Strivers (22.1%), who strived for social interaction, Routineers (19.6%), who were ready for online teaching, and Evaders (12.7%), who evaded using technology for educational purposes. Both personal factors and perceived institutional support explained class membership significantly. Accordingly, Evaders were older, less experienced, and rarely perceived institutional support as useful. Routineers, the Evaders’ counterparts, felt most self-efficient in ERT and held the highest continuance intentions for educational technology use. This research suggests that universities engage lecturers in evidence-based professional development that seeks shared visions of digital transformation, networks and communities, and design-based researc

Moderate deviations via cumulants

The purpose of the present paper is to establish moderate deviation principles for a rather general class of random variables fulfilling certain bounds of the cumulants. We apply a celebrated lemma of the theory of large deviations probabilities due to Rudzkis, Saulis and Statulevicius. The examples of random objects we treat include dependency graphs, subgraph-counting statistics in Erd\H{o}s-R\'enyi random graphs and $U$-statistics. Moreover, we prove moderate deviation principles for certain statistics appearing in random matrix theory, namely characteristic polynomials of random unitary matrices as well as the number of particles in a growing box of random determinantal point processes like the number of eigenvalues in the GUE or the number of points in Airy, Bessel, and $\sin$ random point fields.Comment: 24 page

Towards a high precision calculation for the pion-nucleus scattering lengths

We calculate the leading isospin conserving few-nucleon contributions to pion scattering on $^2$H, $^3$He, and $^4$He. We demonstrate that the strong contributions to the pion-nucleus scattering lengths can be controlled theoretically to an accuracy of a few percent for isoscalar nuclei and of 10% for isovector nuclei. In particular, we find the $\pi$-$^3$He scattering length to be $(62 \pm 4\pm 7)\times 10^{-3} m_{\pi}^{-1}$ where the uncertainties are due to ambiguities in the $\pi$-N scattering lengths and few-nucleon effects, respectively. To establish this accuracy we need to identify a suitable power counting for pion-nucleus scattering. For this purpose we study the dependence of the two-nucleon contributions to the scattering length on the binding energy of $^2$H. Furthermore, we investigate the relative size of the leading two-, three-, and four-nucleon contributions. For the numerical evaluation of the pertinent integrals, aMonte Carlo method suitable for momentum space is devised. Our results show that in general the power counting suggested by Weinberg is capable to properly predict the relative importance of $N$-nucleon operators, however, it fails to capture the relative strength of $N$- and $(N+1)$-nucleon operators, where we find a suppression by a factor of 5 compared to the predicted factor of 50. The relevance for the extraction of the isoscalar $\pi$-N scattering length from pionic $^2$H and $^4$He is discussed. As a side result, we show that beyond the calculation of the $\pi$-$^2$H scattering length is already beyond the range of applicability of heavy pion effective field theory.Comment: 24 pages, 14 figures, 10 table

Novel Loci for Adiponectin Levels and Their Influence on Type 2 Diabetes and Metabolic Traits : A Multi-Ethnic Meta-Analysis of 45,891 Individuals

J. Kaprio, S. Ripatti ja M.-L. Lokki työryhmien jäseniä.Peer reviewe