The transition to higher education is a challenging period for many students and requires support. Because students' backgrounds, such as being a first-generation in higher education student, shape experiences in higher education, it is important to consider these factors when organizing support. Using a quasi-experimental pre-test - post-test…

Objective: Mental Health Literacy (MHL) might play an important role in preventing depression. This study assessed the MHL level for depression of university students and its association with intentions toward preventive actions against depression. Participants: University students (n = 315) were surveyed online. Methods: MHL level and group…

During the COVID-19 lockdown of spring 2020, Dutch children were being homeschooled. We examined how parents' (n = 470) perceptions of secondary school students' (M[subscript age] = 14.23 years) need satisfaction, academic motivation and well-being differed before the lockdown (assessed retrospectively) and during the lockdown. Furthermore, we…

Although most second language learning studies involve high-educated participants, addressing low-educated participants seems important as research suggests that education background impacts second language (L2) learning efficiency. A controversial point in the L2 learning literature is the role of corrective feedback (CF). Research on CF in…

This study aimed at gaining further understanding of kindergartners' performance in imaginary perspective-taking (IPT) by examining whether they can imagine "what" is visible from a particular point of view (IPT type 1: visibility) and "how" an object or scene will look from a particular point of view (IPT type 2: appearance).…

Background: Numerous studies have investigated the relationships between various student, home and contextual factors and reading achievement. However, the relationship between such factors and reading attitudes has been investigated far less, despite the fact that theoretical frameworks of large-scale assessments and school effectiveness research…

This article describes a field experiment with a pretest-posttest control group design which investigated the potential of reading picture books to children for supporting their mathematical understanding. The study involved 384 children from 18 kindergarten classes in 18 schools in the Netherlands. During three months, the children in the nine…

In this study, we investigated the school motivation of 7,257 9th grade students in 80 secondary schools across the Netherlands. Using a multiple goal perspective, four motivation dimensions were included: performance, mastery, extrinsic, and social motivation. Our first aim was to identify distinct motivation profiles within our sample, using the…

This study investigates how shared picture book storytelling within a peer-group setting could stimulate causal reasoning in children aged 4½ to 6 years. Twenty-eight children from preschool classes of three schools were allocated to one of six groups (four to five children per group). Each group participated in six storytelling sessions over a…

Simulation games are becoming increasingly popular in education, but more insight in their critical design features is needed. This study investigated the effects of fidelity of open patient cases in adjunct to an instructional e-module on students' cognitive skills and motivation. We set up a three-group randomized post-test-only design: a…

Background: Traditionally, special educational needs (SEN) were often defined in terms of child deficits. Recently, there has been a tendency to define SEN in terms of (additional) support needed in the classroom. However, little is known about how teachers define students with special educational needs. To close this gap, characteristics of…

Boys show a stronger preference for digital entertainment games than girls. For this reason, it may be that game-based learning is more acceptable to boys than to girls. Yet game-based learning might improve the performance of both boys and girls, depending upon the instructional design. In a quasi-experimental study with a secret-trail game,…

A tool used in student-centered education is discussion among students in small learning groups. The Western origin of student-centered education, coupled with cross-cultural differences in communication styles, may detract from its cross-cultural applicability. This study investigates how in student-centered education, students' cultural…

This essay is an updated revision of an essay published by Marca V. C. Wolfensberger in the "Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council" 5.2 (fall/winter 2004): 55-66. A lot has changed in the Dutch honours landscape since the original version of the study was published. Although the body of knowledge is increasing, the insight…

Background: Adolescents with intellectual disability (ID) (ID-adolescents) and adolescents with chronic diseases are both more likely to have emotional and behavioural problems. The aim of this study was to assess the association between chronic diseases in ID-adolescents and emotional and behavioural problems in a large school-based sample.…