Rollett Wolfram, Leitgeb Thomas, Scharenberg Katja
Professur für Empirische Bildungsforschung mit dem Schwerpunkt Schulentwicklung, Pädagogische Hochschule Freiburg, Freiburg, Deutschland.
Zentrum für Digitale Kompetenz, Private Pädagogische Hochschule Burgenland, Eisenstadt, Österreich.
Z Bild Forsch. 2022;12(2):353-368. doi: 10.1007/s35834-022-00358-2. Epub 2022 Sep 20.
In current empirical educational research, one important question is how the societal measures taken to contain the COVID-19 pandemic affected students' cognitive development. This also raises the question whether disadvantaged student groups suffered particular disadvantages in their cognitive development depending on their individual characteristics or family background. We analyzed a data set of 104 students of three Austrian elementary schools (Grade 3). Students' basic cognitive abilities were assessed by two subscales (inductive reasoning, numerical thinking) of the Cognitive Abilities Test 1-3 (KFT 1-3; Heller and Geisler 1983). We also analyzed effects of students' individual characteristics and indicators of their home learning environment. Basic cognitive abilities were assessed at the beginning and end of the 2020/21 school year and thus before and after societal and school-related measures to contain the second and third pandemic waves in Austria (including contact restrictions, school closures, distance learning and quarantine measures). According to intelligence research (Rindermann 2011), an age-appropriate development in students' mean test performance of about d = 0.40 would have been expected over the nine-months study period. Empirically, however, there were no significant changes in the average and heterogeneity of students' test performances. At the same time, children from homes with a higher parental educational background and those with more digital devices and internet access showed a significantly higher development. The findings thus indicate that, on average, the children did not develop as positively in the school year characterized by pandemic containment measures as would have been expected. Beyond this, our results indicate cognitive losses among disadvantaged student groups.
在当前的实证教育研究中，一个重要问题是为遏制新冠疫情而采取的社会措施如何影响学生的认知发展。这也引发了一个问题，即处境不利的学生群体是否因其个人特征或家庭背景而在认知发展中遭受了特殊的不利影响。我们分析了奥地利三所小学（三年级）104名学生的数据集。学生的基本认知能力通过认知能力测试1 - 3（KFT 1 - 3；Heller和Geisler，1983）的两个子量表（归纳推理、数字思维）进行评估。我们还分析了学生个人特征及其家庭学习环境指标的影响。基本认知能力在2020/21学年开始和结束时进行评估，也就是在奥地利为遏制第二波和第三波疫情而采取社会和学校相关措施（包括接触限制、学校关闭、远程学习和检疫措施）之前和之后。根据智力研究（Rindermann，2011），在九个月的研究期间，学生平均测试成绩的年龄适应性发展预期约为d = 0.40。然而，从实证来看，学生测试成绩的平均值和异质性没有显著变化。与此同时，来自父母教育背景较高家庭的孩子以及拥有更多数字设备和网络接入的孩子表现出显著更高的发展水平。因此，研究结果表明，总体而言，在以疫情防控措施为特征的学年里，孩子们的发展并未如预期那样积极。除此之外，我们的结果表明处境不利的学生群体存在认知损失。
