Bianca Vaterrodt

Bio: Bianca Vaterrodt is an academic researcher from Humboldt University of Berlin. The author has contributed to research in topics: Procedural knowledge. The author has an hindex of 4, co-authored 6 publications receiving 70 citations.

Spontaneous usage of different shortcuts based on the commutativity principle.

Abstract: Based on research on expertise a person can be said to possess integrated conceptual knowledge when she/he is able to spontaneously identify task relevant information in order to solve a problem efficiently. Despite the lack of instruction or explicit cueing, the person should be able to recognize which shortcut strategy can be applied – even when the task context differs from the one in which procedural knowledge about the shortcut was originally acquired. For mental arithmetic, first signs of such adaptive flexibility should develop already in primary school. The current study introduces a paper-and-pencil-based as well as an eyetracking-based approach to unobtrusively measure how students spot and apply (known) shortcut options in mental arithmetic. We investigated the development and the relation of the spontaneous use of two strategies derived from the mathematical concept of commutativity. Children from grade 2 to grade 7 and university students solved three-addends addition problems, which are rarely used in class. Some problems allowed the use of either of two commutativity-based shortcut strategies. Results suggest that from grade three onwards both of the shortcuts were used spontaneously and application of one shortcut correlated positively with application of the other. Rate of spontaneous usage was substantial but smaller than in an instructed variant. Eyetracking data suggested similar fixation patterns for spontaneous an instructed shortcut application. The data are consistent with the development of an integrated concept of the mathematical principle so that it can be spontaneously applied in different contexts and strategies.

Empfehlungen zur Qualitätssicherung in Studium und Lehre

Abstract: Die DGPs-Kommission „Studium und Lehre“ hat die Aufgabe übernommen, Überlegungen zur Weiterentwicklung des Psychologie-Studiums anzustellen, und diesbezüglich Empfehlungen zu formulieren. Über die bereits veröffentlichten, primär curricularen Empfehlungen für Bachelorund Master-Studiengänge hinaus (Abele-Brehm et al., 2014, 2015), nimmt das vorliegende Papier allgemeine Aspekte der Qualität der Lehre in den Blick. Auch diese Empfehlungen sollen einer zeitgemäßen Weiterentwicklung von Studium und Lehre dienen und das disziplinäre Selbstverständnis stärken. Die vorliegenden Empfehlungen richten sich an Lehrende aller Hochschulen, die Psychologie unterrichten, sowie Instanzen, die die Rahmenbedingungen für diese Lehre mitbestimmen (z. B. Institutsleitungen, Fakultätsräte, Habilitationskonferenzen, Berufungskommissionen, Qualitätssicherungsgremien). Obwohl auch andere Personengruppen Mitverantwortung für die Qualität der Lehre tragen (z. B. Studierende, Hochschulleitungen, Ministerien), werden diese hier nicht primär als Adressatengruppen angesprochen.

Bericht der Kommission "Studium und Lehre" der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Psychologie: Teil II: Masterstudium psychologie

Abstract: 1. Inwieweit sind die Empfehlungen der DGPs von 2005 zu Bachelorstudiengängen umgesetzt worden? Wie stellt sich die Situation auf dem gegenwärtigen Erkenntnisstand dar? Welche weiteren bzw. neuen Empfehlungen lassen sich ableiten? 2. Welche Erfahrungen werden beim Übertritt vom Bachelorzum Masterstudium gemacht? Welche Empfehlungen kann die DGPs hier aussprechen? 3. Inwieweit sind die Empfehlungen der DGPs von 2005 zu Masterstudiengängen umgesetzt? Wie stellt sich die Situation auf dem gegenwärtigen Erkenntnisstand dar? Welche weiteren bzw. neuen Empfehlungen lassen sich ableiten? 4. Welche Herausforderungen ergeben sich angesichts der Überlegungen zur Einführung eines „Direktstudiums“ Klinische Psychologie und Psychotherapie für das Masterstudium? Wie stellen sich diese Herausforderungen aus der Perspektive der einzelnen Fachgruppen der DGPs dar? 5. Wie kann im Rahmen von Bachelorund Masterstudiengängen ein Auslandsstudium realisiert werden? 6. Welche Anforderungen gibt es bundesweit an publikationsbasierte Dissertationen? Welche Empfehlungen lassen sich ableiten?

How we use what we learn in Math: An integrative account of the development of commutativity.

Abstract: One crucial issue in mathematics development is how children come to spontaneously apply arithmetical principles (e.g. commutativity). According to expertise research, well-integrated conceptual and procedural knowledge is required. Here, we report a method composed of two independent tasks that assessed in an unobtrusive manner the spontaneous use of procedural and conceptual knowledge about commutativity. This allowed us to ask (1) in which grade students spontaneously apply this principle in different task formats and (2) in which grade they start to possess an integrated concept of the commutativity. Procedural and conceptual knowledge of 8 to 9 year olds (163 second and 180 third graders) as well as 46 adult students was assessed independently and without any hint concerning commutativity. Results indicated procedural as well as conceptual knowledge about commutativity for second graders. However, their procedural and conceptual knowledge was unrelated. An integrated relation between the two measures first emerged with some of the third graders and was further strengthened for adult students.

Teaching for quality learning at university

Abstract: by J. Biggs and C. Tang, Maidenhead, England, Open University Press, 2007, 360 pp., £29.99, ISBN-13: 978-0-335-22126-4

An Embedded and Embodied Cognition Review of Instructional Manipulatives

Abstract: Recent literature on learning with instructional manipulatives seems to call for a moderate view on the effects of perceptual and interactive richness of instructional manipulatives on learning. This “moderate view” holds that manipulatives’ perceptual and interactive richness may compromise learning in two ways: (1) by imposing a very high cognitive load on the learner, and (2) by hindering drawing of symbolic inferences that are supposed to play a key role in transfer (i.e., application of knowledge to new situations in the absence of instructional manipulatives). This paper presents a contrasting view. Drawing on recent insights from Embedded Embodied perspectives on cognition, it is argued that (1) perceptual and interactive richness may provide opportunities for alleviating cognitive load (Embedded Cognition), and (2) transfer of learning is not reliant on decontextualized knowledge but may draw on previous sensorimotor experiences of the kind afforded by perceptual and interactive richness of manipulatives (Embodied Cognition). By negotiating the Embedded Embodied Cognition view with the moderate view, implications for research are derived.

Scientometric trend analyses of publications on the history of psychology: Is psychology becoming an unhistorical science?

Abstract: Examines scientometrically the trends in and the recent situation of research on and the teaching of the history of psychology in the German-speaking countries and compares the findings with the situation in other countries (mainly the United States) by means of the psychology databases PSYNDEX and PsycINFO. Declines of publications on the history of psychology are described scientometrically for both research communities since the 1990s. Some impulses are suggested for the future of research on and the teaching of the history of psychology. These include (1) the necessity and significance of an intensified use of quantitative, unobtrusive scientometric methods in historiography in times of digital "big data", (2) the necessity and possibilities to integrate qualitative and quantitative methodologies in historical research and teaching, (3) the reasonableness of interdisciplinary cooperation of specialist historians, scientometricians, and psychologists, (4) the meaningfulness and necessity to explore, investigate, and teach more intensively the past and the problem history of psychology as well as the understanding of the subject matter of psychology in its historical development in cultural contexts. The outlook on the future of such a more up-to-date research on and teaching of the history of psychology is--with some caution--positive.