Carol Mcguinness

• PhD
• Professor Emeritus at Queen's University Belfast

Introduction The main aim of this pilot study was to compare the efficacy of using different spaced learning models during school examination revision on pupil attainment. Spaced learning is using intervals between periods of learning rather than learning content all at one time. Methods Three spaced learning models with different inter-study inte...

Play has been widely investigated from a practice-based perspective; playfulness as an effective pedagogical tool has received less attention. Over an 8-year evaluation of a play-based curriculum, we ascertained that some practitioners found it difficult to captivate and maintain children's interests through the provision of a play-based experience...

Against a backdrop of 'play' as the established notion of best practice in early childhood education, this paper sets out to trouble the discourse by exposing for critique the place of teaching within a play-based curriculum. The paper reports on lessons gleaned from a longitudinal play-based intervention in the context of Northern Ireland in over...

This paper addresses the incompletely resolved tension between play-based and direct teaching approaches to early years pedagogy and practitioners’ resultant difficulties in understanding and delivering high-quality practice. Previously, we argued for the importance of infusing playfulness into all classroom interactions and activities in order to...

This paper addresses the incompletely resolved tension between play-based and direct teaching approaches to early years pedagogy and practitioners' resultant difficulties in understanding and delivering high quality practice. In a previous paper (Walsh et al., 2011), we argued for the importance of infusing playfulness into all classroom interactio...

Table of Contents 1 Purpose, scope and structure of the report 3 2 The shift towards broader learning goals 5 3 Making sense of the terminology-skills, dispositions, attitudes, values, competencies or what? 8 4 A proposed research-informed classification for key competencies 13 5 Key competencies and effective learning 17 6 Comparing key competency...

This chapter explores the nature of “learning” in games-based learning and the cognitive and motivational processes that might underpin that learning by drawing on psychological theories and perspectives. Firstly, changing conceptions of learning over the last few decades are reviewed. This is described in relation to the changes in formal learning...

This report describes the development and pilot evaluation of SMART Spaces. This programme aims to boost GCSE science outcomes by applying the principle that information is more easily learnt when it is repeated multiple times, with time passing between the repetitions. This approach is known as ‘spaced learning’ and is contrasted with a ‘massed le...

Against a backdrop of the enhanced status of play at policy level and an evidence-base of play as problematic in practice, this book provides a creative take on how play as learning can become a reality in our early years classrooms for children aged 3- 8 years, shifting the thinking away from the established notions of play and learning as opposin...

This study focuses on how the International Baccalaureate (IB) Primary Years Programme (PYP) transdisciplinary framework can advance deep thinking and learning for PYP students aged 3–12. The study extends prior research by the authors to examine the relationship between thinking and learning, as well as how progression in thinking might best be ar...

A short 10 item generalised measure that assesses children and young people’s level of engagement in decision-making. It helps gather children and young people's experiences of involvement in decision making, the extent of involvement; and the effectiveness of, and outcomes associated with, that engagement in decision-making fora. It is underpinned...

Background: There is a growing impetus across the research, policy and practice communities for children and young people to participate in decisions that affect their lives. Furthermore, there is a dearth of general instruments that measure children and young people's views on their participation in decision-making. This paper presents the reliab...

This study explored the validity of using critical thinking tests to predict final psychology degree marks over and above that already predicted by traditional admission exams (A-levels). Participants were a longitudinal sample of 109 psychology students from a university in the United Kingdom. The outcome measures were: total degree marks; and end...

In 2000–2002 an innovative early years curriculum, the Enriched Curriculum (EC), was introduced into 120 volunteer schools across Northern Ireland, replacing a traditional curriculum similar to others across the UK at that time. It was intended by the designers to be developmentally appropriate and play-based with the primary goal of preventing the...

A CORAL Initiative: Aiming to better understand how programmes delivered by Early Years are improving long-term outcomes for children, families and communities.

This report analyses the results of the parent survey over the seven years of primary school.

This report analyses literacy and numeracy attainment compared with that of controls over the seven years of primary school. At Key Stage 2, narrative story writing and learning dispositions are compared with controls. The findings indicate a complex picture that changes over time. In the final section, the outcomes are discussed in the context of...

This chapter explores the nature of "learning" in games-based learning and the cognitive and motivational processes that might underpin that learning by drawing on psychological theories and perspectives. Firstly, changing conceptions of learning over the last few decades are reviewed. This is described in relation to the changes in formal learning...

The paper explores the factorial relationship between measures of critical thinking skills, non-verbal intelligence, and academic performance (A-levels and undergraduate degree marks). One hundred and twenty-nine undergraduate psychology students (94 first years and 35 third years) participated by completing two subscales of the California Critical...

The paper identifies recent trends in instructional research which point to changing viewpoints on how to develop children's thinking skills. Three current projects at Queen's University Belfast, consistent with these viewpoints, are described. The ACTS project (Activating Children's Thinking) is a wide ranging initiative to promote the development...

This paper considers the importance, purpose and scope of environmental education and reviews the research on children’s environmental knowledge. The origin and influence of children’s attitudes to the environment are also considered. The research points to difficulties of integration of environmental phenomena and suggests that children either fai...

This paper reviews current trends in teaching thinking and identifies core concepts associated with these developments - direct instruction at the level of thinking processes, higher order thinking, using generative tasks, making thought processes explicit, knowledge as socially mediated, and dispositions for thinking. Examples of curriculum materi...

One of the proposed theoretical advantages of the computational approach compared to the traditional experimental method is that the question of mental representation must be explicitly addressed. In particular, a representational format must be decided upon if knowledge is to be modelled in a computer program. This paper traces the development of...

Playful structure is a new pedagogic image representing a more balanced and integrated perspective on early years pedagogy, aiming to blend apparent dichotomies and contradictions and to sustain and evolve play-based practice beyond Year 1. Playful structure invites teachers and children to initiate and maintain a degree of playfulness in the child...

This review of European research in cognition and instruction aims to categorise current trends in the teaching of thinking and problem solving. A diversity of theoretical orientations sustains research and practice in this field: Vygotskian, neo-Piagetian, phenomenographic, information-processing. Research-driven intervention studies and across-th...

Two computer simulations were developed and used to investigate systems thinking and environmental problem solving in children. Ninety-two primary school children (aged 8 years and 11 years) interacted with computer simulation of either a deforestation problem or a water depletion problem. The children's task was to manipulate the simulation thereb...

In the United Kingdom tensions have existed for many years between the pedagogical traditions of pre‐school, which tend to adopt developmentally oriented practices, and the more formal or subject‐oriented curriculum framework of primary school. These tensions have been particularly acute in the context of Northern Ireland, which has the earliest sc...

3D games as learning environments are widely believed to have potential benefits for the classroom, such as increased motivation and engagement, and to improve learning outcomes. But what do pupils and teachers in Northern Ireland think about this technology? The aim of the study was to address this research question, and to observe the level of co...

This paper reports on an investigation into the quality of the learning experiences for 4–5‐year‐old children in Northern Ireland schools in the context of the debate about play‐based and formal approaches to learning and teaching. Detailed observations were carried out in 70 Year 1 classes: 38 in traditional Year 1 classes where the Northern Irela...

Developing higher-order thinking has surfaced as a national priority for learning in many countries. What this signifies in terms of theories of cognition and cognitive development is analysed; in particular, the paedagogical implications are examined. Examples of approaches to teaching thinking are reviewed. These include enrichment approaches suc...

Using Sfard's distinction between acquisition and participation metaphors as an organizing principle, the twelve school-based projects within the TLRP programme were overwhelmingly judged by the Learning Outcomes Thematic Group as belonging to the acquisition metaphor. In essence, this article advances the initial analyses in two directions: (1) it...

Interest in the interactive effects of prior knowledge and text structure on learning from text is increasing but experimental manipulations of knowledge and structure variables often produce findings that do not help teachers to select expository texts for students. We aimed to extend the ecological validity of previous findings by asking students...

The question of graduate skills and attributes is increasingly central in higher education. In addition, the specification of both subject-specific and generic skills for each discipline was part of Quality Assurance Agency's (QAA) benchmarking exercise. This paper reports what skills and attributes are well developed in a psychology degree, throug...

The purpose of the paper is to demonstrate how a research diary methodology, designed to analyse A-level and GNVQ classrooms, can be a powerful tool for examining pedagogy and quality of learning at the level of case study. Two subject areas, science and business studies, are presented as cases. Twelve teachers and thirty-four students were studied...

The purpose of the paper is to demonstrate how a research diary methodology, designed to analyse A-level and GNVQ classrooms, can be a powerful tool for examining pedagogy and quality of learning at the level of case study. Two subject areas, science and business studies, are presented as cases. Twelve teachers and thirty-four students were studied...

A methodology for probing systems thinking was developed and used to investigate the way children think about the natural environment. Thirty five primary school children (aged 8 and 11 years) participated in semi‐structured interviews about air pollution. The analytical framework consisted of cycles (of inputs, processes and outputs), intervention...

As the world of higher education has become increasingly sensitive to employers’ needs so attention has focused on the development of skills and competences which will equip graduates to function effectively in the labour market. High on the list of graduates’ desired qualities are first, the ability to work in a team and second, the capacity for i...

The design of a methodology to measure the level of conceptual knowledge among student nurses is described. The paper examines how the data- gathering technique of word association used in cognitive psychology to study the organisation of conceptual knowledge can be applied in a manner that will elicit concepts inherent within the subject of nursin...

From the viewpoint of a cognitive psychologist, this paper analyses models of learning and teaching which are evident in current staff development handbooks. Several consistent views emerge with regard to student learning, e.g., an emphasis on active learning, a distinction between deep and surface approaches to learning, learning by doing and beco...

The key issue addressed in this paper is: Can specific subtypes of drinkers be identified on the basis of their neuropsychological performance? A multivariate model of neuropsychological deficits related to alcohol abuse was proposed and cluster analysis was used to see if subtypes could be identified which matched those indicated in the multivaria...

In this overview of research and practice associated with teaching thinking, three conceptions of thinking are identified. Thinking as information‐processing, which has its roots in the dominant paradigm in cognitive psychology; thinking as making judgements, which is associated with critical thinking; and thinking as sense‐making, which is embedde...

Discusses the nature of spatial models in the mind that are generated from memory rather than from perception. The results of studies of the nature of visual images and of cognitive representation of large-scale environments are considered. It is maintained that empirical studies indicate the existence of a family of spatial models in the mind, whi...

Two studies examined how characteristics of spatial arrays contribute to efficient problem representation. Thirty-two adults were presented with information about family relationships in one of two arrays: a hierarchy or a matrix. Their answers to two different sets of questions were timed. The matrix format was superior to the hierarchy for one se...

A longitudinal evaluation of the effects of a metacognitively-rich pedagogy on children's thinking skills in primary classrooms in Northern Ireland is reported (ACTS – Activating Children's Thinking Skills). Participating in ACTS produced positive changes in children's self-evaluations of their learning and thinking strategies. However, the changes...