Discourse processing in attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)

ADHD is a psychiatric disorder characterised by persistent and developmentally inappropriate levels of inattention, impulsivity and hyperactivity. It is known that children with ADHD tend to produce incoherent discourses, e.g. by narrating events out of sequence. Here the aetiology of ADHD becomes of interest. One prominent theory is that ADHD is an executive function disorder, showing deficiencies of planning. Given the close link between planning, verb tense and discourse coherence postulated in van Lambalgen and Hamm (The proper treatment of events, 2004), we predicted specific deviations in the verb tenses produced by children with ADHD. Here we report on an experiment corroborating these predictions

Invloed van CA-bewaring op bestrijding van aardbeimijt in plantmateriaal

Om de aardbeimijt (Phytonemus pallidus) te bestrijden, wordt tot nu toe beworteld stek (EE-plantmateriaal) dat bestemd is voor vermeerdering in het vroege voorjaar na bewaring begast met methylbromide. Hiervoor wordt een (biologisch) alternatief gezocht. Gebruik van een lager zuurstof- en/of hoger koolstofdioxide-gehalte in de luchtsamenstelling (CA-bewaring) leidt tot een mogelijk effect op bestrijding aardbeimijt; onderzoek, resultaten en de praktij

Productive Classroom Dialogue as an Activity of Shared Thinking and Communicating: A Commentary on Marsal

In Eva Marsal’s article, a model is presented that teaches children to philosophize by acquiring a set of skills in step-by-step exercises. In the classroom examples that Marsal provides, however, it remains unclear how teachers support the kinds of thinking and philosophizing that her Five Finger Model aims to promote. This is why, in response to Eva Marsal’s article, we argue that productive classroom dialogue can be seen as a complementary approach that supports teachers in bringing dialogue into their classrooms. As its aim is to promote children’s “meaningful learning and cultural development in an emancipatory way” (van Oers, 2012a, p. 59), it enables them to do more than appropriate or reconstruct conventional cultural meanings. Through productive classroom dialogue, children learn how to collaboratively progress in communicating, thinking, and understanding. As such, we believe it to be a suitable context for philosophizing with children that goes beyond step-by-step exercises. In this commentary, we subsequently elaborate the notion of productive classroom dialogue and discuss how it interanimates with Marsal’s Five Finger Model

MODEL2TALK. Dialogische gesprekken in de kleuterklas

MODEL2TALK is een onderzoek van de Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam naar het verbeteren van de gesprekskwaliteit met kleuters. In dit artikel beschrijven de onderzoekers hoe leerkrachten eenvoudige gesprekstools kunnen inzetten die kinderen uitdagen om te praten, echt te luisteren, te redeneren en samen te denken. Dit levert een gesprekscultuur op waarin kinderen steeds beter leren communiceren en samen denken