Early childhood science and engineering education offer a prime context to foster approaches-to-learning (ATL) and executive functioning (EF) by eliciting children’s natural curiosity about the world, providing a unique opportunity to engage children in hands-on learning experiences that promote critical thinking, problem solving, collaboration, persistence, and other adaptive domain-general learning skills. Indeed, in any science experiment or engineering problem, children make observations, engage in collaborative conversations with teachers and peers, and think flexibly to come up with predictions or potential solutions to their problem. Inherent to science and engineering is the idea that one learns from initial failures within an iterative trial-and-error process where children practice risk-taking, persistence, tolerance for frustration, and sustaining focus. Unfortunately, science and engineering instruction is typically absent from early childhood classrooms, and particularly so in programs that serve children from low-income families. However, our early science and engineering intervention research shows teachers how to build science and engineering instruction into activities that are already happening in their classrooms, which boosts their confidence and removes some of the stigma around science and engineering. In this paper, we discuss the promise of research that uses early childhood science and engineering experiences as engaging, hands-on, interactive platforms to instill ATL and EF in young children living below the poverty line. We propose that early childhood science and engineering offer a central theme that captures children’s attention and allows for integrated instruction across domain-general (ATL, EF, and social–emotional) and domain-specific (e.g., language, literacy, mathematics, and science) content, allowing for contextualized experiences that make learning more meaningful and captivating for children.

Background: It has long been suspected that music instruction has benefits for children’s neural and cognitive development, including auditory abilities. Although the effect of music on attention has been investigated it has predominantly focused on visual attention, selected auditory attention, or divided auditory attention. Consequently, the impact of music on sustained auditory attention is not well defined and therefore demands investigation and clarity. In order to contextualise the topic this study provides a comprehensive review of literature regarding auditory development and attention, in addition to the systematic review of ten eligible studies. Objectives: The study aims to critically appraise peer-reviewed articles from the past decade pertaining to the correlation between music instruction and sustained auditory attention in typically developing five- to ten-year-old children. Method: A systematic search of literature was conducted with five electronic databases, using primary and secondary search phrases. The PRISMA-P guidelines were followed to identify ten studies for inclusion in the review. These studies were assessed in terms of quality, using the HTA quality checklists, and in terms of bias, using the Cochrane Collaborations tool for risk of bias for quantitative studies and the CASP checklist for qualitative studies. Results: Music instruction has a predominantly positive correlation with sustained auditory attention in children yet is limited by associated variables, such as complex sound environments and age of commencement of music instruction. Several causes are suggested for SAA enhancements, such as alterations in neural structure and function, transfer of musical skills to other domains, and the use of specific musical characteristics. Although the evidence favours the study’s hypothesis (i.e. music instruction does lead to enhanced sustained auditory attention), limitations are present. Furthermore, the studies included in the systematic review did not always examine sustained auditory attention directly, rather focusing on highly interlinked functions (e.g. attentional control). Conclusion: Recent research evidence suggests that music instruction contributes to enhanced sustained auditory attention in young children yet is limited by a number of variables. Therefore, should educators wish to improve children’s sustained auditory attention in the classroom and during learning, they should be cognisant of these factors and make efforts to enforce them. / Dissertation (MMus)--University of Pretoria, 2019. / Music / MMus / Unrestricted

abstract: Social skill impairments and executive dysfunctions caused by epilepsy adversely affect the social, psychological, and cognitive wellbeing of children and their families. Studies show that children with epilepsy are exposed to social, emotional, academic, personality, and behavioral problems when compared to healthy peers. This study focused on identifying the gaps between social skills and executive functioning among children with PCDH-19. The researcher relied on the responses from the sampled population to create reliable findings, discussions, conclusions, and recommendations for this project. The study used quantitative design and self-report approach whereby the participants completed survey that was comprised of various rating scales. The study sample consisted of 25 participants. Results demonstrated a close correlation between social skills and executive functions among the children with PCDH-19 epilepsy. SSIS assessment indicated that children exhibited problems in social skills, academic competence, and behaviors. BRIEF-2 rating showed planning, attention, problem-solving, cognitive and emotional problems. The findings exhibited that the significant challenges encountered by girls with PCDH-19 include low levels of social competence which affect decision making in friendships, communicating, and interaction. Keywords: social skills, executive functioning, PCDH-19, epilepsy, seizures, social assessment, cognitive measurement / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Educational Psychology 2019

This study examined the relationship between performance on measures of attention and executive functioning in a clinically referred pediatric sample. The purpose of this research was to determine if performance on tests of attention are significantly related to performance on measures of inhibition and cognitive shifting above and beyond that of age, education, and intelligence. The factor structure of attention and executive functioning was also evaluated. Attention was measured by the CPT-II Errors of Omission and Variability scores. Inhibition was measured by the CPT-II Errors of Commission score, and cognitive shifting was measured by the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) Perseverative Errors score. These variables were examined in a factor analysis, and also included the Category Errors score, and WISC-IV Digit Span, and Letter-Number Sequencing subtests. Three hierarchical multiple regressions were conducted, with age, education, and IQ entered in the first block as covariates. Two exploratory factor analyses were performed. Results revealed that performance on measures of attention significantly predicted scores on a measure of inhibition above and beyond age, education, and IQ. Performance on measures of attention did not significantly predict scores on a measure of shifting ability. Results were not significantly different when IQ was not included as a covariate. Factor analysis initially revealed a two factor model, with measures of sustained attention loading on one factor, and measures of executive functioning loading on a separate factor. The three factor model was less precisely defined, and the factors were called sustained attention, working memory, and set shifting.

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Researchers have found executive functioning (EF) to be important for reading and math performance but have paid less attention to their role in writing. Van Dijk and Kintsch (1983) identified three levels of writing: microstructure, macrostructure, and superstructure. The existing work on EF and writing has several limitations: researchers have primarily focused on microstructural writing in children, studied a limited range of EF, not included measures of self-reported EF to compare to laboratory-/lab-based-based measures of EF and not examined the differential contributions of multiple EF to the different levels of writing. Hence, the purpose of this study was to better understand the differential involvement of various laboratory and self-reported EF across various levels of micro- and macrostructural writing measures in emerging adult writing. Results indicated that inhibition was a significant predictor of microstructural writing, such that working carefully increases the accuracy of spelling and mechanics skills. Working memory was related to microstructural grammar and mechanics sentence formulation, potentially through processing the sentences, mentally manipulating the sentence structure, and recording the response while maintaining the sentence information in mind. Verbal fluency was related to microstructural spelling and grammar and mechanics accuracy, as well as macrostructural essay organization, possibly through the ability to efficiently retrieve knowledge critical to perform these tasks. The main analyses did not yield significant results for macrostructural theme development, likely due to methodological issues, but an exploratory analysis demonstrated that organization and problem solving skills predicted theme development, potentially through the ability to think critically about, and organize, the arguments made. Finally, lab-based EF measures were better predictors of the writing measures than the self-reported EF measure, suggesting that these two methods captured different aspects of EF, and that the lab-based predictors were more appropriate to use with lab-based outcome variables, likely due to their narrower and less environmentally-influenced constructs. The results of this study help inform the factors that contribute to writing skills, and this knowledge can be used to improve the detection of writing difficulties and to target writing interventions.

EEG activation studies suggest cerebral lateralization of emotions with greater left than right prefrontal activation during positive mood states and greater right than left prefrontal activation during negative mood states (Davidson et al., 1990). Cerebral lateralization is also observed in cognitive tasks, with verbal fluency associated with left frontal activation and design fluency associated with right frontal activation (Baldo et al., 2001). Further, there are lateralized associations between emotion and cognition; that is, verbal fluency is positively associated with induced positive mood, whereas design fluency is positively associated with induced negative mood (Bartolic et al., 1999). The current study expected naturally occurring mood states to be differentially associated with performance on executive function fluency tasks, and based on previous findings (Cabeza, 2002), that age would moderate the association between emotion and fluency. Results suggest a trend for a positive association between positive affect (PA) and verbal fluency. Age did not moderate associations between emotion and cognitive tasks, although greater interdependence between cognitive and emotion variables in older relative to middle-aged adults suggests decreased lateralization in older adults; however differences in interdependence between older and younger adults were negligible. These results suggest that PA may positively influence some areas of cognition, although age may not moderate these results. Sample and measurement limitations may have contributed to this finding.

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