No abstract

This paper, based on ethnographically obtained data, discusses German language acquisition at an early age: the discovery of the interconnection between language and corporeality is the key component of the analysis based on videostudies. The body—conceived as an intermediary and content element of education, becomes an essential base for foreign language acquisition. This will be documented by tangible data and subsequent theoretical analysis with respect to relevant terminology of cultural anthropology (Körper and Leib). The principle of corporeality is further used as a means of perceiving German language education in the sense of the so called language propaedeutic concept and as a means of the legitimisation of particular qualification and the role of foreign language teachers in preschool institutions.

The implementation of tools and techniques of the management of ethics in the academic environment has its own peculiarities arising from the nature of the expert, scientific, pedagogical, but also administrative work of university staff, requiring a considerable degree of autonomy and freedom. The aim of this case study is to present the views of university teachers and PhD students from a selected faculty of a public university in Slovakia on the implementation of tools and techniques for the management of ethics and to identify specific risks associated with the nature of the code of ethics and its introduction into practice. Qualitative research was conducted using focus groups during the implementation of the code of ethics, while quantitative research was subsequently conducted by an anonymous electronic questionnaire shortly after the introduction of the code into practice.

The current study investigated whether a domain-specific intervention of ExeFun-Mat targeting math and executive functions in primary school children with a Roma background would be effective in improving their scholastic performance and executive functioning. ExeFun-Mat is based on the principles of the reciprocal teaching approach, scaffolding and self-questioning. The domain-specific content was divided into modules. Each module consisted of a set of graded tasks. The criteria for the grading and hierarchical organization of the tasks were based on the level of cognitive difficulty and the type of representation. In total, 122 students attending grade four of elementary school took part in the project. The study concerned a pretest-intervention-posttest experimental design with three conditions: the experimental condition, an active, and a passive control group. To assess the children’s level of EF, the Delis–Kaplan executive function system test battery was used; to assess children’s mathematical achievement, the cognitive abilities test (the numeracy battery), and ZAREKI—a neuropsychological test battery for numerical processing and calculation—were used. The results suggested that both math performance and executive functions improved over time, with no significant differences between the three conditions. An additional correlational analysis indicated that pretest performance was not related to posttest performance for the children in the experimental and active control group.

It is well established that analogical reasoning can be explained by the efficiency of working memory (WM) but it remains unclear what processes are involved when the child learns to reason analogically. The present study examined the relationship of executive functions (EF) and fluid intelligence (gF) and the ability to learn analogies in a sample of 210 10-year-old children. First, with regard to the structure of EF, a four-factor model fitted the data well, however, shifting and fluency were indistinguishable from attentional control. At the same time, attentional control fully accounted for the interrelationships between other EF. Second, only WM proved to have a direct effect on the ability to learn and on gF, while mediating the effect of attentional control. Third, despite a decent explanatory power of WM, it did not explain the relationship between the ability to learn and gF, indicating the presence of another factor distinct from WM.