scholarly journals Game-Based Assessment of School Readiness Domains of 3-8-year-old-children: A Scoping Review

2022 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 146
Author(s):  
Stephen Amukune ◽  
Karen Caplovitz Barrett ◽  
Krisztián Józsa
Keyword(s):  
School Readiness ◽  
Scoping Review ◽  
Age Group ◽  
Readiness Assessment ◽  
New Approach ◽  
Cognitive Domains ◽  
External Assessment ◽  
School Settings ◽  
Teacher Reports ◽  
Precise Assessment

Precise assessment of school readiness is critical because it has practical and theoretical implications for children’s school and life success. However, school readiness assessment mainly relies on teacher reports and a few direct evaluations requiring a trained examiner. Studies indicate that 80% of games and apps target preschool children and education, suggesting that apps are familiar and fun for this age group. Previous reviews have focused on these apps’ training capability but not on their assessment of school readiness. This Scoping review examines 31 studies published from 2011-2019. The Evidence Centred Design (ECD) framework was used to evaluate game-based assessment (GBA) suitability to assess school readiness domains. Results show that it is possible to assess school readiness using GBA. Most studies assessed cognitive domains in school settings and adopted an external assessment of the tasks. However, most studies only evaluated one competency, and few intervention strategies targeted the enhancement of school readiness. Besides, few studies followed the ECD framework strictly. Implications include expanding the assessment to other school readiness domains with a real-time inbuilt assessment that conforms to the ECD framework. GBA provides a new approach to assess school readiness outside or inside the school settings in this online era.

Mandatory Reporting and Adolescent Sexual Assault

2021 ◽  
pp. 152483802110302
Author(s):  
Caroline Bailey ◽  
Jessica Shaw ◽  
Abril Harris
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Assault ◽  
Sexual Violence ◽  
Key Words ◽  
Scoping Review ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Mandatory Reporting ◽  
Age Group ◽  
Long Term Consequences ◽  
The Impact

Adolescents experience alarmingly high rates of sexual violence, higher than any other age-group. This is concerning as sexual violence can have detrimental effects on teens’ personal and relational well-being, causing long-term consequences for the survivor. Still, adolescents are hesitant to report the assault or seek out services and resources. When an adolescent survivor does seek out services, they may interact with a provider who is a mandatory reporter. This scoping review sought to synthesize the current U.S.-based research on the role, challenges, and impact of mandatory reporting (MR) in the context of adolescent sexual assault. Database searches using key words related to MR, sexual assault, and adolescence identified 29 peer-reviewed articles. However, none of these articles reported on empirical investigations of the phenomenon of interest and instead consisted of case studies, commentaries, and position papers. The scoping review was expanded to provide a lay of the land of what we know about the intersection of adolescent sexual assault and MR. Results of the review indicate that though implemented broadly, MR policies vary between individuals, organizations, and states and have historically been challenging to implement due to this variation, conflicts with other laws, tension between these policies and providers’ values, and other factors. Based on the available literature, the impact of MR in the context of adolescent sexual assault is unknown. There is a critical need for research and evaluation on the implementation and impact of MR policies, especially in the context of adolescents and sexual violence.

scholarly journals A Scoping Review of Organizational Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic in Schools: A Complex Systems Perspective

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 115
Author(s):  
Puspa Khanal ◽  
Fabio Bento ◽  
Marco Tagliabue
Keyword(s):  
Scoping Review ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Research Literature ◽  
Organizational Adaptation ◽  
Open Communication ◽  
Organizational Responses ◽  
Additional Element ◽  
Systems Perspective ◽  
School Settings

This study is a scoping review of the literature on organizational adaptation in school settings during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. Dramatic and unexpected environmental changes raise questions about the capacity of schooling organizations to adapt to in response to the pandemic. Different management practices have implications for the selection of organizational behaviors, electively in school settings. The research literature on school responses is analyzed from a selectionist perspective. The aim of this study is to identify and describe three constituting elements of this perspective: variation, interaction, and selection. An additional element is considered in this analysis and comprises the mechanisms of exploration and exploitation in the context of organizational adaptation. Sixteen studies met the selection criteria of describing emergent processes in schools. The findings highlight the emergence of exploration, as teachers actively experimented with a range of strategies and methods in order to maintain educational activities in the complex and uncertain context of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, several questions are raised regarding the effects and maintenance of new practices in the post-pandemic scenario. Management practices that facilitate variation and open communication about learning processes can contribute to the process of organizational adaptation.

scholarly journals The Application of Artificial Neural Networks in Predicting Children’s Giftedness

2016 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-59 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nina Pavlin-Bernardić ◽  
◽  
Silvija Ravić ◽  
Ivan Pavao Matić ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Neural Networks ◽  
Artificial Neural Networks ◽  
School Readiness ◽  
Multilayer Perceptron ◽  
Gifted Students ◽  
Test Sample ◽  
Hyperbolic Tangent ◽  
Readiness Assessment ◽  
Artificial Neural

Artificial neural networks have a wide use in the prediction and classification of different variables, but their application in the area of educational psychology is still relatively rare. The aim of this study was to examine the accuracy of artificial neural networks in predicting students’ general giftedness. The participants were 221 fourth grade students from one Croatian elementary school. The input variables for artificial neural networks were teachers’ and peers’ nominations, school grades, earlier school readiness assessment and parents’ education. The output variable was the result on the Standard Progressive Matrices (Raven, 1994), according to which students were classified as gifted or non-gifted. We tested two artificial neural networks’ algorithms: multilayer perceptron and radial basis function. Within each algorithm, a number of different types of activation functions were tested. 80% of the sample was used for training the network and the remaining 20% to test the network. For a criterion according to which students were classified as gifted if their result on the Standard Progressive Matrices was in the 95th centile or above, the best model was obtained by the hyperbolic tangent multilayer perceptron, which had a high accuracy of 100% of correctly classified non-gifted students and 75% correctly classified gifted students in the test sample. When the criterion was the 90th centile or above, the best model was also obtained by the hyperbolic tangent multilayer perceptron, but the accuracy was lower: 94.7% in the classification of non-gifted students and 66.7% in the classification of gifted students. The study has shown artificial neural networks’ potential in this area, which should be further explored. Keywords: gifted students, identification of gifted students, artificial neural networks

scholarly journals Promotion of Mental Health Literacy in Adolescents: A Scoping Review

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (18) ◽  
pp. 9500
Author(s):  
Joana Nobre ◽  
Ana Paula Oliveira ◽  
Francisco Monteiro ◽  
Carlos Sequeira ◽  
Carme Ferré-Grau
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Health Literacy ◽  
Scoping Review ◽  
Classroom Environment ◽  
Mental Health Literacy ◽  
Mental Health Problems ◽  
Stigma Reduction ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
School Settings ◽  
Good Mental Health

In recent years, there has been an important commitment to the development of programs to promote mental health literacy (MHL) among adolescents, due to the prevalence of mental health problems and the low level of MHL that affects this group. The aim of this study was to map the structure and context of programmes/interventions for promoting MHL among adolescents in school settings. A scoping review was conducted following the guidelines of The Joanna Briggs Institute. We searched for studies on programmes/interventions promoting at least one of the components of MHL of adolescents, written in Portuguese, English or Spanish, published from 2013 to 2020, in MEDLINE, CINAHL Plus with Full Text, SciELO, SCOPUS, OpenGrey, RCAAP and in the article reference lists. This review included 29 articles. The majority of programmes/interventions addressed one or more of the four components of MHL, with the knowledge of mental disorders and stigma reduction components being the most covered; were taught by adolescent’s regular teachers; used face to face interventions; had a height variable duration; used non-validated instruments; were implemented in a classroom environment; and showed statistically significant improvements in adolescent’s MHL levels. More research is needed to implement/construct programmes/interventions promoting adolescents’ MHL concerning knowledge on how to obtain and maintain good mental health.

scholarly journals Recommendations to Improve the Usability of Mobile Learning for Preschool Teachers in Africa: A Systematic Scoping Review

2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (11) ◽  
pp. 461-475
Author(s):  
Monique de Wit ◽  
Nicola Ann Plastow
Keyword(s):  
School Readiness ◽  
Mobile Learning ◽  
Scoping Review ◽  
Preschool Teachers ◽  
Technological Development ◽  
Poor Quality ◽  
Framework Analysis ◽  
Blind Review ◽  
Scoping Reviews ◽  
Full Text Review

Poor quality preschool teacher training is a significant contributor to children not achieving school readiness. With technological development, electronic and mobile learning offer accessible and affordable options for this training, however, there is a lack of design evidence for the African context. This interdisciplinary education- and computer-science study aims to provide evidence-based recommendations for improving the usability of mLearning modules for preschool teachers in Africa. A scoping review guided by Arksey and O’Malley’s framework, the PRISMA reporting guidelines for scoping reviews, and Levac et al. guidelines, was conducted. Databases searched included Africa Wide Information, ERIC, CIHNAL, and Academic Search Premier. Two researchers completed a blind-review process for article inclusion and framework analysis, using 10 usability attributes with inductive grouping of data under each attribute to form sub-categories. Overlapping themes were coded to formulate usability recommendations within WeftQDA. The search yielded 909 articles and, after title and abstract screening, 123 were selected for full text review. Seventeen articles (n=17) met the inclusion criteria and were included in the final review. All studies included an African partner, and largely included part-time learning for degree purposes and professional development using mLearning, eLearning, and videos. Nineteen recommendations were developed to improve the usability of mLearning training applications for preschool teachers in Africa, with contextual relevance emerging as a new usability attribute. Development of mLearning training modules for preschool teachers in Africa should include user centred design, heuristic evaluation and usability assessment, to ensure the sustainability of both mLearning and change in classroom teaching practices.

scholarly journals Food and Non-Food-Related Behavior across Settings in Children with Prader–Willi Syndrome

Genes ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 204 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie G. Gantz ◽  
Sara M. Andrews ◽  
Anne C. Wheeler
Keyword(s):  
Behavior Problem ◽  
Global Assessment ◽  
College Education ◽  
Patient Characteristics ◽  
Daily Activities ◽  
Prader Willi Syndrome ◽  
Compulsive Behavior ◽  
School Settings ◽  
Teacher Reports ◽  
Home And School

This study sought to describe food- and non-food-related behaviors of children aged 3 to 18 years with Prader–Willi syndrome (PWS) in home and school settings, as assessed by 86 parents and 63 teachers using 7 subscales of the Global Assessment of Individual’s Behavior (GAIB). General Behavior Problem, Non-Food-Related Behavior Problem, and Non-Food-Related Obsessive Speech and Compulsive Behavior (OS/CB) scores did not differ significantly between parent and teacher reports. Food-Related Behavior Problem scores were higher in parent versus teacher reports when the mother had less than a college education (difference of 13.6 points, 95% Confidence Interval (CI) 5.1 to 22). Parents assigned higher Food-Related OS/CB scores than teachers (difference of 5.7 points, 95% CI 2.4 to 9.0). Although teachers reported fewer Food-Related OS/CB, they scored overall OS/CB higher for interfering with daily activities compared with parents (difference of 0.9 points, 95% CI 0.4 to 1.4). Understanding how behaviors manifest in home and school settings, and how they vary with socio-demographic and patient characteristics can help inform strategies to reduce behavior problems and improve outcomes.

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