Cognitive and Educational Sciences (CES) Lab, Faculty of Education, Free University of Bolzano-Bozen, Bressanone-Brixen, Italy.
Universidad Catolica del Maule, Talca, Chile.
Br J Educ Psychol. 2023 Mar;93(1):17-32. doi: 10.1111/bjep.12537. Epub 2022 Aug 7.
According to Munsat (1965, The concept of memory. University of Michigan), a person who makes frequent prospective memory (PM) errors is considered as having a flawed character rather than a bad memory. Given that PM completes its development only in young adulthood, this bias might occur not only within social relationships but also in school. However, little is known about the impact of this bias on academic performance.
This study aimed to evaluate the impact of children's PM on teacher's evaluations of their academic performance (i.e., grades) and social skills.
A total of 158 eight- and twelve-year-old children (48% females) participated in this study.
A working memory (WM) updating task was used as ongoing task (OT), in which the PM task was embedded and required participants to respond whenever certain pictures appeared. Children's social skills were measured through teacher ratings, whereas grades were collected as indicators of teachers' assessment of academic performance. Children's WM span and inhibitory control were also assessed.
Results showed that 8- and 12-year-old children's academic performance was predicted by both PM performance and teachers' evaluations of social skills. However, social skills evaluations were not predicted by PM performance. WM span was related to grades in 8 year olds, while inhibitory control was related to PM performance in 12 year olds.
These outcomes highlight that children's grades are not explained only by academic performance itself but also by other personal skills. Awareness of the biases which can occur when evaluating children's academic performance can help teachers to be more objective in their assessment.
根据 Munsat（1965，记忆的概念。密歇根大学）的观点，一个经常出现前瞻性记忆（PM）错误的人被认为是性格有缺陷，而不是记性不好。由于 PM 仅在成年早期完成其发展，这种偏见不仅可能出现在社交关系中，也可能出现在学校中。然而，人们对这种偏见对学业成绩的影响知之甚少。
本研究旨在评估儿童 PM 对教师对其学业成绩（即成绩）和社交技能评价的影响。
共有 158 名 8 岁和 12 岁的儿童（48%为女性）参与了这项研究。
一项工作记忆（WM）更新任务被用作持续任务（OT），其中嵌入了 PM 任务，要求参与者在某些图片出现时做出反应。儿童的社交技能通过教师评定来衡量，而成绩则作为教师对学业成绩评估的指标收集。还评估了儿童的 WM 跨度和抑制控制。
结果表明，8 岁和 12 岁儿童的学业成绩既受 PM 表现又受教师对社交技能评价的预测。然而，社交技能评估不受 PM 表现的预测。WM 跨度与 8 岁儿童的成绩相关，而抑制控制与 12 岁儿童的 PM 表现相关。
这些结果表明，儿童的成绩不仅可以通过学业表现本身来解释，还可以通过其他个人技能来解释。当评估儿童的学业成绩时，意识到可能存在的偏见可以帮助教师在评估中更加客观。
