Young Elementary School Children Research Articles

Cognitive and physiological effects of an acute physical activity intervention in elementary school children.

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of an acute physical activity intervention that included cognitive engagement on executive functions and on cortisol level in young elementary school children. Half of the 104 participating children (6–8 years old) attended a 20-min sport sequence, which included cognitively engaging and playful forms of physical activity. The other half was assigned to a resting control condition. Individual differences in children's updating, inhibition, and shifting performance as well as salivary cortisol were assessed before (pre-test), immediately after (post-test), and 40 min after (follow-up) the intervention or control condition, respectively. Results revealed a significantly stronger improvement in inhibition in the experimental group compared to the control group, while it appeared that acute physical activity had no specific effect on updating and shifting. The intervention effect on inhibition leveled out 40 min after physical activity. Salivary cortisol increased significantly more in the experimental compared to the control group between post-test and follow-up and results support partly the assumed inverted U-shaped relationship between cortisol level and cognitive performance. In conclusion, results indicate that acute physical activity that includes cognitive engagement may have immediate positive effects on inhibition, but not necessarily on updating and shifting in elementary school children. This positive effect may partly be explained through cortisol elevation after acute physical activity.

Group typicality, group loyalty and cognitive development.

Over the course of childhood, children's thinking about social groups changes in a variety of ways. Developmental Subjective Group Dynamics (DSGD) theory emphasizes children's understanding of the importance of conforming to group norms. Abrams et al.'s study, which uses DSGD theory as a framework, demonstrates the social cognitive skills underlying young elementary school children's thinking about group norms. Future research on children's thinking about groups and group norms should explore additional elements of this topic, including aspects of typicality beyond loyalty.

Green schoolyards as havens from stress and resources for resilience in childhood and adolescence

This paper investigates how green schoolyards can reduce stress and promote protective factors for resilience in students. It documents student responses to green schoolyards in Maryland and Colorado in the United States under three conditions: young elementary school children׳s play in wooded areas during recess; older elementary school children׳s use of a naturalized habitat for science and writing lessons; and high school students׳ involvement in gardening. Drawing on ethnographic observations and interviews, it describes how the natural areas enabled students to escape stress, focus, build competence, and form supportive social groups. These findings have implications for theories of resilience and restoration and school interventions for stress management.

Personality factors in elementary school children: Contributions to academic performance over and above executive functions?

Unique contributions of Big Five personality factors to academic performance in young elementary school children were explored. Extraversion and Openness (labeled “Culture” in our study) uniquely contributed to academic performance, over and above the contribution of executive functions in first and second grade children (N=446). Well established associations between Conscientiousness and academic performance, however, could only be replicated with regard to zero-order correlations. Executive functions (inhibition, updating, and shifting), for their part, proved to be powerful predictors of academic performance. Results were to some extent dependent on the criterion with which academic performance was measured: Both personality factors had stronger effects on grades than on standardized achievement tests, whereas the opposite was true for executive functions. Finally, analyses on gender differences revealed that Extraversion and Openness/Culture played a more dominant role in girls than in boys, but only regarding grades.

Effects of Modality Presentation on Working Memory in School-age Children: Evidence for the Pictorial Superiority Hypothesis

This study investigated the effects of stimulus presentation modality on working memory performance in elementary school-age children ages 7–13. The experimental paradigm implemented a multitrial learning task incorporating three presentation modalities: Auditory, Visual, and simultaneous Auditory plus Visual. The first experiment compared the learning and memory performance of older and younger elementary school children. The second experiment compared verbal learning and memory performance in elementary school children with major depressive disorder (MDD) to the performance of nondepressed children. All participants benefited from the pictorial presentation of information during learning and recall of information as compared to the auditory presentation alone. Both age and socioeconomic status affected working memory performance in typically developing children. Children with depression demonstrated a more passive learning style during the auditory list acquisition. The present study supports the pictorial superiority hypothesis in verbal learning tasks and the theory that working memory matures during elementary school years. Furthermore, current results indicate that complex working memory measures are not entirely independent of previous experience.

Intrinsic, identified, and controlled types of motivation for school subjects in young elementary school children

There are two approaches to the differential examination of school motivation. The first is to examine motivation towards specific school subjects (between school subject differentiation). The second is to examine school motivation as a multidimensional concept that varies in terms of not only intensity but also quality (within school subject differentiation). These two differential approaches have led to important discoveries and provided a better understanding of student motivational dynamics. However, little research has combined these two approaches. This study examines young elementary students' motivations across school subjects (writing, reading, and maths) from the stance of self-determination theory. First, we tested whether children self-report different levels of intrinsic, identified, and controlled motivation towards specific school subjects. Second, we verified whether children self-report differentiated types of motivation across school subjects. Participants were 425 French-Canadian children (225 girls, 200 boys) from three elementary schools. Children were in Grades 1 (N=121), 2 (N=126), and 3 (N=178). Results show that, for a given school subject, young elementary students self-report different levels of intrinsic, identified, and controlled motivation. Results also indicate that children self-report different levels of motivation types across school subjects. Our findings also show that most differentiation effects increase across grades. Some gender effects were also observed. These results highlight the importance of distinguishing among types of school motivation towards specific school subjects in the early elementary years.

Are the Competent the Morally Good? Perspective Taking and Moral Motivation of Children Involved in Bullying

AbstractThe present study tested the hypothesis of the cognitively competent but morally insensitive bully. On the basis of teacher and peer ratings, 212 young elementary school children were selected and categorized as bullies, bully–victims, victims, and prosocial children. Children's perspective‐taking skills were assessed using theory‐of‐mind tasks, and moral motivation was assessed with a task about moral emotion attributions after moral rule transgressions. Analyses at the group level revealed that only bully–victims, but not bullies, were characterized by a deficit in perspective taking, while both aggressive groups showed a deficit in moral motivation. Analyses at the individual level, however, revealed that bullies were a more heterogeneous group, including children with an asymmetry between perspective taking and moral motivation, as well as children scoring consistently low or high on both measures. The findings highlight the importance of distinguishing between (1) strategic social–cognitive and moral competencies and (2) different subgroups of bullies.

Classroom Seismographs and the Challenge of Encouraging a Culture of Scientific Inquiry in K-12 Schools

Curiosity about how the world works, and systematic reasoning to investigate what we are curious about—these lie at the heart of what it means to be a scientist. In our experience with operating seismographs in K–12 schools, we are finding that what it means to be a student (and a teacher) is often very different. While curiosity does seem to be alive and well in the minds of young elementary school children, it is sadly less and less apparent as students progress through the later years of elementary school and beyond ( e.g., National Research Council 2000). Furthermore, we are finding that few K–12 science teachers tend to dwell within a culture of curiosity and scientific investigation. We are thus experiencing a noticeable culture gap when we collaborate with teachers and students on educational seismology projects. Theoretically, seismographs-in-schools projects provide an opportunity for us to encourage curiosity and a culture of inquiry and scientific investigation in K–12 schools and to give young students a full appreciation of the nature of scientific inquiry. But then we hit this culture gap: Often the students do not show evidence of curiosity, nor do the teachers appear able or willing to model and reinforce such curiosity. How then might we promote the development of curiosity and scientific reasoning in K–12 schools? To foster new generations of scientists and scientifically literate citizens will require teachers who are themselves comfortable with inquiry and the open-ended nature of research. And so we face a conundrum, as the teachers with whom we seek to collaborate are themselves products of an educational system that is sorely lacking a culture of curiosity and inquiry. This presents a formidable challenge. In this article, we describe our efforts to encourage a culture of inquiry and scientific investigation in K–12 schools as part of …

Psychosocial Factors Associated with Young Elementary School Children's Intentions to Consume Legumes: A Test of the Theory of Reasoned Action

The purpose of this study was to test the utility of the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) in explaining young elementary school children's intention to consume legumes. A survey was conducted with children in an urban, multicultural community in Massachusetts. A total of 336 children participated. Logistic regression analysis was used to assess the strength of the relationship between attitude and subjective norm and intention. Although attitude was significantly associated with intention, the pseudo-R2 for the regression model that included only the TRA constructs was extremely low (.01). Adding demographic factors and preference improved the model's predictive ability, but attitude was no longer significant. The results of this study do not provide support for the predictive utility of the TRA with young elementary school children for this behavior, when demographic factors are accounted for. Hedonic factors, rather than reasoned judgments, may help drive children's intentions.

Psychosocial Factors Associated With Young Elementary School Children's Intentions to Consume Legumes: A Test of the Theory of Reasoned Action

Psychosocial Factors Associated With Young Elementary School Children's Intentions to Consume Legumes: A Test of the Theory of Reasoned Action

The Remote, the Mouse, and the No. 2 Pencil

Media can influence aspects of a child's physical, social, and cognitive development; however, the associations between a child's household media environment, media use, and academic achievement have yet to be determined. To examine relationships among a child's household media environment, media use, and academic achievement. During a single academic year, data were collected through classroom surveys and telephone interviews from an ethnically diverse sample of third grade students and their parents from 6 northern California public elementary schools. The majority of our analyses derive from spring 2000 data, including academic achievement assessed through the mathematics, reading, and language arts sections of the Stanford Achievement Test. We fit linear regression models to determine the associations between variations in household media and performance on the standardized tests, adjusting for demographic and media use variables. The household media environment is significantly associated with students' performance on the standardized tests. It was found that having a bedroom television set was significantly and negatively associated with students' test scores, while home computer access and use were positively associated with the scores. Regression models significantly predicted up to 24% of the variation in the scores. Absence of a bedroom television combined with access to a home computer was consistently associated with the highest standardized test scores. This study adds to the growing literature reporting that having a bedroom television set may be detrimental to young elementary school children. It also suggests that having and using a home computer may be associated with better academic achievement.

Classes of disruptive behaviour in a sample of young elementary school children.

The objectives were to (1) classify young children to groups differing in disruptive behaviour, (2) determine whether the patterns of disruptive behaviour in these groups are in accordance with the conceptualisation of disruptive disorders as described in DSM-IV, and (3) optimise the classification of children in groups. Disruptive behaviour of 636 seven-year-old elementary schoolchildren was assessed with the CBCL/4-18. Using CBCL items rated as very consistent with DSM-IV categories Conduct Disorder, Oppositional Defiant Disorder and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, latent class analyses were applied to identify classes of children differing in patterns of disruptive behaviour. Three classes were identified: (1) high levels of oppositional defiant problems (ODD problems) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity problems (ADH problems) and intermediate levels of Conduct problems; (2) intermediate ODD problems and ADH problems and low levels of Conduct problems; (3) low levels on all disruptive behaviours. No classes were identified in which children had symptoms of only Conduct problems, only ODD problems or only ADH problems. Covariates (socio-economic status, gender, parenting stress) improved the classification of children. The findings are discussed in terms of implications for classification, identification of children at risk, prevention and treatment of disruptive behaviour in young children.

“…a few of our favorite things”

Rewarding as pediatric audiology is, we think most of us will agree that it is also a great challenge. Working with children and their caregivers puts your knowledge, patience, and fortitude to the test. We would like to share with you some very basic, non-technical strategies that aid us in working with the child and family. (1) Schedule time with the parents After identifying a child with hearing loss, we invite the parents to come to the office for a meeting, to share information and discuss their child. We try to involve both parents and, in single-parent households, aunts, uncles, or grandparents are encouraged to join us. When all primary caregivers are actively involved in the management process, it benefits the child. To this end, we often flex our office hours to provide early morning or evening appointments, to accommodate a parent who has difficulty leaving work to attend. By the time we hold our first parent meeting, some time has elapsed since the family initially learned of the hearing loss, and they have a number of questions and concerns. We try to give them the time and space to express themselves, and provide as much information as they want or need. We discuss options for amplification and, when appropriate, identify community and educational resources. We provide as much of this information in writing as possible. To help them grasp the meaning of the audiogram, we sometimes find it helpful to play a recording that simulates their child's hearing loss. A second parent meeting is scheduled the day before the hearing aid fitting. We have the hearing aids pre-programmed for the child, and use this opportunity to discuss and demonstrate hearing aid care and use, troubleshooting, and strategies that encourage acceptance. This gets the parents comfortable with handling and listening to the hearing aids. (2) Connect the parents While we make ourselves as available as possible to answer questions, we have also begun to give our computer-savvy parents a few reputable web site addresses. We encourage involvement in organizations like AG Bell, and have the names and telephone numbers of other parents who have volunteered to offer a good ear, encouragement and assistance. (3) Provide the right tools Each family receives a kit that includes a hearing aid stethoscope for listening checks, cleaning tools, a battery tester, an earmold blower, a drying jar, and a lubricant such as Otoease. As needed, we may add Otoclips, Huggies, Superseals, or other supplies. Our pre-school and young elementary school children receive a copy of Patrick Gets a Hearing Aid, and we encourage the parents to read it aloud. We also find it helpful to customize lists of listening and compensatory strategies appropriate for the home and school. (4) Toys, toys, toys We have found that having a good selection of playthings makes the fitting day much easier when dealing with toddlers or pre-schoolers. If the child tries to remove or play with the aids, we immediately pull out a fascinating toy and demonstrate to the parents the fine art of distraction. (5) Make hearing aids fun Hot pink, red, or royal blue hearing aids, earmolds with a blast of color and some glitter added. These are kid-friendly, and they like them. Taking ear impressions becomes a breeze when the child is excited about choosing a new earmold color. (6) Provide role models One of the questions many parents seem to harbor but rarely ask is, “Will my child lead a normal life?” To provide encouragement and open up discussion, we have collected numerous photos of “our kids” in football, baseball, and hockey uniforms, dressed for the prom, posing in their college dorm rooms, horsing around with their friends, and living life to the fullest.Figure. SheaFigure. CaldwellAs the song goes, “These are a few of our favorite things”—little things that make a big difference. And, at the end of a long day, the greatest reward is seeing the smile on that child's face as the door to the world of sound is opened and the journey has begun.

Indicators of Discontinuous Change in the Development of Analogical Reasoning

In a longitudinal study, five indicators of a transition in the development of analogical reasoning were examined in young elementary school children, (a) bimodality and (b) inaccessibility in the frequency distributions of test performance, and in the responses of the transitional subjects, respectively, (c) sudden jumps, (d) anomalous variance, and (e) critical slowing down. An open-ended geometric-analogies test was administered eight times during a period of six months to eighty children in Grades 1 and 2 (six- to eight-year-olds). Strong evidence for bimodality was found in the distribution of the test scores and weaker evidence for inaccessibility. In the performance curves of the transitional subjects sudden jumps were demonstrated. Furthermore, the transitional subjects displayed a temporary increase of inconsistent solution behavior and solution time near the sudden jump. The characteristic changes in the analogy performance of the transitional subjects were interpreted as a strategy shift.

Angles and Distances: Children's and Adults' Reconstruction and Scaling of Spatial Configurations

Young children have performed poorly in spatial tasks that require the scaling and reconstruction of a configuration. The present research investigated whether or not children's reconstructions nevertheless preserved the relative positions of objects within the configuration. In Experiment 1, preschoolers (ages 4 and 5), young elementary school children (ages 6 and 7), and adults were asked to reconstruct symmetric configurations of six objects that were depicted on simple maps of an empty room. Most subjects preserved the overall configuration of objects, but preschoolers placed the objects far from the correct locations. Many of the preschoolers' reconstructions contained systematic transformations; many reconstructions were off-center and too small or too large. In Experiment 2, the configurations were asymmetric, and preschoolers performed substantially worse than in Experiment 1. Experiment 3 demonstrated that preschoolers could reconstruct the asymmetric configurations when scaling was not required. Taken together, the results reveal that even young children can represent and transform an entire configuration of objects. At the same time, the results reveal important developmental differences.

The influence of nonverbal cues associated with looking behavior on young children's mentalistic attributions

The ability of children to use looking behavior as a cue to guide their mentalistic attributions was assessed. In Experiment 1 video displays were presented in which a protagonist faced one of two potential goals, half of the time standing equidistant from both targets and in the remaining trials standing closer to the target not being faced. Preschoolers consistently based their inferences of another's attention and goal on the direction in which the protagonist was facing. However, in Experiments 2 and 3 preschoolers experienced difficulty in correctly inferring an actor's desired goal when the protagonist's body was oriented in a direction opposite of where she was looking. Under these conditions, only young elementary school children consistently inferred that the protagonist's goal was the target being looked at (Experiment 2). The results from these three studies suggest that an important development occurring in childhood is the ability to consistently distinguish gaze from body orientation when inferring the goals of another. The implications of this development for children's understanding of the mind are discussed.

Young Children's Differentiation of Hypothetical Beliefs from Evidence

The claim that preadolescent children fail to differentiate between hypothetical beliefs and evidence is investigated in 2 studies. First-and second-grade children were presented with 2 conflicting hypotheses and asked to choose an empirical test to decide between them. In Study 1, the majority of first graders and almost all second graders correctly chose a conclusive test. They elaborated the logic of such a test and distinguished it from an inconclusive test. There was no evidence that children of this age misinterpret the task of hypothesis testing as one of generating a desirable effect. Study 2 replicated and extended these findings; in a task that posed a genuine scientific problem, first and second graders spontaneously generated empirical procedures for gathering indirect evidence to decide between alternative hypotheses. Our results indicate that young elementary school children distinguish between the notions of “hypothetical belief” and “evidence.” These findings are discussed in light of their failure on other scientific thinking tasks.

Academic intrinsic motivation in young elementary school children.

Academic intrinsic motivation in young elementary school children.

Academic intrinsic motivation in young elementary school children.

Two studies, 1 longitudinal and 1 cross-sectional, demonstrate that for young elementary school children, academic intrinsic motivation is a reliable, valid, and significant construct. Findings are discussed with regard to developmental theories of intrinsic motivation and the significance of academic intrinsic motivation for children's education

Teacher ratings of children's problem and competence behaviors: normative and parametric characteristics.

Teacher-rated adjustment differences among young elementary school children from (a) a recent sample and a 1974 cohort, and (b) urban/suburban, male/female, and grade-level subgroups were examined. A problem behavior checklist (Classroom Adjustment Rating Scale) and a school competence measure (Health Resources Inventory) for 974 children from 5 urban and 5 suburban schools were completed by 101 first- to fourth-grade teachers. Children from the more current cohort were rated as significantly more maladjusted than those from the earlier sample on 8 of 10 adjustment variables. In the recent sample, girls and suburban children evidenced a greater number of school competencies and fewer problem behaviors than boys and urban children, respectively. The implications of these findings for the future use of the teacher rating scales are discussed.