This issue of Nordic Psychology has a number of interesting and important articles to be read during the beautiful Nordic fall. The articles cover important and interesting themes like working memory, social support, the Modified Cognitive Reserve Scale, the normative dimensions of educational psychological practice and a critique of Hattie’s theory of Visible Learning.
In the first article of this issue “Face-to-face working memory training does not enhance children’s reading comprehension - a pilot study with Danish children” Hanne Knudsen and Kristine Jensen de López test a non-computerized Working Memory training method to improve children’s reading comprehension in a longitudinal design. 38 Danish children in 3rd and 4th grade divided into a training group and a control group. The results showed that Verbal Working Memory and reading comprehension were not improved following training. Visuo-spatial Working Memory improved at post-training, but the effect did not last into the one-year follow up. The role of Working Memory in reading comprehension and the pedagogical implications for teaching are discussed in the article. In the second article of this issue “Why does Perceived Social Support Protect against Somatic Symptoms: Investigating the Roles of Emotional Self-Efficacy and Depressive Symptoms” Ingrida Grigaityte and Patrik Söderberg investigate the roles of emotional self-efficacy and depressive symptoms as mediators of the effect of social support on physical health, based on a regionally representative sample in Finland. The study found that (a) perceived social support was associated with less somatic symptoms, (b) the relationship between perceived social support was partially and significantly mediated by both emotional self-efficacy and depressive symptoms, and (c) there was sign of a moderated mediation: the association between perceived social support and somatic symptoms was stronger for girls than for boys, and this association was primarily accounted for by the mediating role of depressive symptoms. In third article of this issue “Active lifestyle as a reflection of cognitive reserve – the Modified Cognitive Reserve Scale” Kristiina Relander, Kaisa Mäki, Soinne Lauri, Juan García-García and Marja Hietanen examine the usefulness, validity and reliability of a modified Finnish translation of the Cognitive Reserve Scale, the Modified Cognitive Reserve Scale. The Modified Cognitive Reserve Scale consists of 20 questions concerning studying and information seeking, hobbies and social relationships during three age phases. A group of 69 neurologically healthy adults aged 26–78 filled the Modified Cognitive Reserve Scale and completed a neuropsychological test battery. The result showed that the Modified Cognitive Reserve Scale was significantly associated with occupation and education but not with age or gender. There were significant associations between the Modified Cognitive Reserve Scale and verbal reasoning, visual reasoning, learning, and inhibition. The study suggests that the Modified Cognitive Reserve Scale is a reliable and valid method to assess lifelong leisure activity. In the fourth article of this issue “The Normativity of Educational Psychology Practice” Thomas Szulevicz argues that normative reflections tend to be overseen in educational psychology practice. The article further claims that when taking a closer look at educational psychology practice, focus has mainly been on how educational psychologists most effectively can support schools in their everyday work by providing therapeutic interventions or by supporting different educational aims. However, less emphasis has been put on the why of educational psychology practice. Based on empirical evidence, it is shown how educational psychologists often are faced with normative dilemmas. The article concludes by introducing a distinction between an affirmative and a non-affirmative approach to educational psychology practice. In the fifth and final article of this journal issue “Blind Spots in Visible Learning: A Critique of John Hattie as an Educational Theorist” Klaus Nielsen and Jacob Klitmøller outline some of the significant methodological problems embedded in Hattie’s work and relate them to his theoretical stance. It is argued that Hattie’s focus on single causal factors causes him to disregard important dimensions in educational practice. Furthermore, by analyzing parts of the primary research and the meta-analysis upon which Hattie grounds his conclusions, Klaus Nielsen and Jacob Klitmøller find both serious methodological challenges and validity problems and the article relates these problems to the technological rationality that informs Hattie’s work and implicitly constitutes his theoretical approach. Furthermore, Klaus Nielsen and Jacob Klitmøller outline, among other things, how questions of human agency and intentionality for attending school become marginalized as the broader consequences of using Hattie’s approach to institutionally organize teaching processes. Another consequence of Hattie’s work is that educational research begins with questions of methods rather than research into schools’ everyday teaching practices.
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