How Much Mightier Is the Pen than the Keyboard for Note-Taking? A Replication and Extension of Mueller and Oppenheimer (2014) Abstract Many students use laptops to take notes in classes, but does using them impact later test performance? In a high-profile investigation comparing note-taking writing on paper versus typing on a laptop keyboard, Mueller and Oppenheimer (Psychological Science, 25, 1159–1168, 2014) concluded that taking notes by longhand is superior. We conducted a direct replication of Mueller and Oppenheimer (2014) and extended their work by including groups who took notes using eWriters and who did not take notes. Some trends suggested longhand superiority; however, performance did not consistently differ between any groups (experiments 1 and 2), including a group who did not take notes (experiment 2). Group differences were further decreased after students studied their notes (experiment 2). A meta-analysis (combining direct replications) of test performance revealed small (nonsignificant) effects favoring longhand. Based on the present outcomes and other available evidence, concluding which method is superior for improving the functions of note-taking seems premature.

Antecedents and Consequences of Teachers’ Emotional Labor: a Systematic Review and Meta-analytic Investigation Abstract Emotional labor represents a long-standing area of research that since its initial development by Hochschild (1983) has been increasingly explored to understand why and how teachers manage and express their emotions in class. However, previous studies investigating teachers’ emotional labor have utilized varying conceptual frameworks and have often shown inconsistent effects, particularly concerning deep acting (i.e., the internalization of desired emotions such that expressed emotions are more consistent with experienced emotions). The current systematic review aimed to outline and summarize existing research findings on teachers’ emotional labor and is supplemented by a meta-analytic investigation on the connection between teachers’ emotional labor and psychological well-being. Practical implications, limitations, and directions for future research are discussed.

The Relationship between Visuospatial Working Memory and Mathematical Performance in School-Aged Children: a Systematic Review Abstract The body of research surrounding the relationship between visuospatial working memory (VSWM) and mathematics performance remains in its infancy. However, it is an area generating increasing interest as the performance of school leavers comes under constant scrutiny. In order to develop a coherent understanding of the literature to date, all available literature reporting on the relationship between VSWM and mathematics performance was included in a systematic, thematic analysis of effect sizes. Results show a significant influence of the use of a standardised mathematics measure, however, no influence of the type of VSWM or mathematics being assessed, on the effect sizes generated. Crucially, the overall effect size is positive, demonstrating a positive association between VSWM and mathematics performance. The greatest implications of the review are on researchers investigating the relationship between VSWM and mathematics performance. The review also highlights as yet under-researched areas with scope for future research.

A Critical Literature Review of Perceptions of Tablets for Learning in Primary and Secondary Schools Abstract There is growing interest in the use of tablets in classrooms, and educational policies from different countries promote their integration. Previous literature reviews were conducted on the effects of the use of tablets in learning. There is, however, a strong need to understand how students perceive the use of tablets for learning as these perceptions determine the adoption, use and, thereby, the value of tablets for learning. Thus, the purpose of this article is to systematically review the existing literature on students’ perceptions toward the use of tablets in primary and secondary schools. The literature search selected 41 relevant qualitative and quantitative studies meeting our inclusion criteria. Their results and methodological aspects were analyzed and discussed. Overall, the results showed that students have rather good perceptions of the use of tablets, though some limitations were highlighted, particularly in the qualitative studies. Moreover, this review highlighted the complementarity of quantitative and qualitative methods. Finally, educational implications and recommendations for further research were discussed.

Incidental Second-Level Dependence in Educational Survey Data with a Nested Data Structure Abstract Many national and international educational data collection programs offer researchers opportunities to investigate contextual effects related to student performance. In those programs, schools are often used in the first-stage sampling process and students are randomly drawn from selected schools. However, the incidental dependence of students within classrooms, which are not part of the sampling design, may violate assumptions of statistical models, but this nesting also offers the opportunity for educational researchers to evaluate contextual effects. In this manuscript, we utilize the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten dataset to demonstrate impacts of incidental dependence using a two-level model and a three-level model. We then illustrate, through a simulation, that both models can yield unbiased parameter estimates. However, two-level models tend to provide underestimated standard errors for fixed effects at the incidental level, and variance components of the random effect at the incidental level are divided into the flanking levels when it is ignored. In addition, another method of modeling nested data, using generalized estimating equations, was also compared with the model-based methods.

Embodied Learning Environments for Graphing Motion: a Systematic Literature Review Abstract Embodied learning environments have a substantial share in teaching interventions and research for enhancing learning in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. In these learning environments, students’ bodily experiences are an essential part of the learning activities and hence, of the learning. In this systematic review, we focused on embodied learning environments supporting students’ understanding of graphing change in the context of modeling motion. Our goal was to deepen the theoretical understanding of what aspects of these embodied learning environments are important for teaching and learning. We specified four embodied configurations by juxtaposing embodied learning environments on the degree of bodily involvement(own and others/objects’ motion) and immediacy (immediate and non-immediate) resulting in four classes of embodied learning environments. Our review included 44 articles (comprising 62 learning environments) and uncovered eight mediating factors, as described by the authors of the reviewed articles: real-world context, multimodality, linking motion to graph, multiple representations, semiotics, student control, attention capturing, and cognitive conflict. Different combinations of mediating factors were identified in each class of embodied learning environments. Additionally, we found that learning environments making use of students’ own motion immediately linked to its representation were most effective in terms of learning outcomes. Implications of this review for future research and the design of embodied learning environments are discussed.

Why Do Children Become Rejected by Their Peers? A Review of Studies into the Relationship Between Oral Communicative Competence and Sociometric Status in Childhood Abstract Being rejected by peers has devastating consequences for a child’s future social-cognitive development. It is therefore important to investigate factors that contribute to childhood peer rejection. In doing so, the present review specifically focused on sociometric status, a concept that refers to a child’s position within the peer group (e.g., liked or disliked). Although previous studies indicated that children’s ability to communicate effectively might partly determine their sociometric status, much was still unclear about this relation. Therefore, in the present review, a total of 25 studies into the relation between children’s (aged 1 to 12 years) level of oral communicative competence and their sociometric status was systematically reviewed. Results generally pointed to a significant relation between the two variables. Specifically, rejected children communicate less responsive compared with popular children. However, several gaps in previous research were identified, resulting in five recommendations for future studies. First, the complexity of the construct of oral communicative competence asks for an approach in which multiple methods are combined (i.e., mixed methods). Second, future studies should be conducted in non-western countries as well to study possible cross-cultural differences. Third, as the majority of researches were small-scale exploratory studies, future research should include larger samples in order to generalize the findings outside the sample. Fourth, future studies should adopt longitudinal and experimental designs to investigate the direction of the relation of interest. And finally, as previous research showed that the interactional context, gender, and age might influence the relation between oral communicative competence and sociometric status, future studies could take these factors into account.

Yoga and Willful Embodiment: a New Direction for Improving Education Abstract Self-regulation—the capacity to modulate attention and emotion—is a robust predictor of important outcomes across the life span. Contemplative practices, such as yoga and mindfulness, have been implemented in schools and shown to improve self-regulation. For the most part, studies incorporating contemplative practices have used quantitative methodologies aimed at generating measurable results on self-regulation. There is limited literature on children’s perceptions of how a contemplative practice helps them self-regulate, as well as the benefits that children report from participating in these practices. Furthermore, there is a shortage of work discussing how teachers may guide children towards learning about their bodily sensations, emotions, in addition to others’ emotions, during a yoga practice. To address these gaps in the literature, this article draws from theories in learning and development to explain why when children are given the space to experiment with yoga practices, they may better relate to their emotional experiences. Implications are discussed including guidelines to inform the future design and implementation of yoga programs in education.

Writing in Science: Why, How, and for Whom? A Systematic Literature Review of 20 Years of Intervention Research (1996–2016) Abstract The role writing plays in learning science has evolved over time, as have the settings and contexts in which writing in science research has taken place. This systematic review examines 20 years (1996–2016) of writing in science intervention studies in K-12 settings with a specific focus on comparing contexts that do and do not include English language learners (ELLs), who are at risk academically. Findings include an overall validation of writing-to-learn theories in science learning contexts. Findings also include notable differences between articles containing studies that include ELLs and those that do not such as a general lack of depth in terms of description, analysis, and rigor on writing with ELLs in the science classroom. In addition, trends over the last two decades are noted. Implications for research and practice based on the findings are discussed.

A Mind with a Mind of Its Own: How Complexity Theory Can Inform Early Science Pedagogy Abstract In the current paper, we develop an approach to early science pedagogy that is based on insights about how complex adaptive systems function. Complexity approaches have an important advantage over traditional information-processing approaches: They anticipate the proverbial ‘mind with a mind of its own’ without having to postulate exclusively mental constructs. They also offer insights about key determinants of learning and effective pedagogy, again without postulating exclusively mental constructs. For complex adaptive systems, learning depends on the presence of sufficiently salient novelty (i.e., variability), and it depends on the presence of sufficiently salient repetitions or ordered patterns (i.e., stability). Science learning, therefore, requires science-relevant novelty and science-relevant patterns of order. Equipped with these insights, we address two challenges of early science pedagogy: (1) how to combine children’s self-guided explorations with teachers’ strategic interventions, and (2) how to minimize the chances of generating misconceptions about science. The answer lies in creating a learning context that maximizes science-relevant variability and science-relevant stability. If both aspects are abundantly available, a child’s self-guided explorations are effective. Conversely, if either aspect is missing, efforts must be made to add them strategically to a child’s experience. Adding science-relevant stability is particularly challenging, yet crucial to avoid science misconceptions.