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Statistics courses are challenging for many psychology students. We designed a 'Painting and Puzzles Exercise Book for Statistics' for first year psychology undergraduates, to repeat and deepen the course content and get prepared for the exam. We describe the development and characteristics of the book and report a longitudinal evaluation study. Users (N=72) rated the book positively and judged it as helpful, easy to use, and enjoyable. Students with initially higher skills, younger students and, those who graduated from school recently were more likely to use it. We matched users to non-users from the preceding and the evaluation cohort, respectively, on characteristics at study entry and found positive effects on achievement (exam grade and perceived management of course content) for users. We reason that the book is a valuable support that can be embedded in an ongoing course easily.

This study examines how the proportion of students with special educational needs (SEN) in class and their individual victimisation experiences may affect student-student and student-teacher relationships, social inclusion, and emotional well-being in school. The interaction of students' SEN status and their victimisation experiences is also investigated. The convenience sample consists of 248 students (114 female, 134 male students) from the ages of 9 to 16 years (M = 11.53, SD = 1.43) enrolled in seven secondary schools in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Results of hierarchical regression analyses revealed that a higher proportion of SEN in class was associated with lower ratings for student-teacher relationships, and that victimisation experiences were a significant predictor for student-student relationships and for social inclusion. Individual SEN status was related to lower ratings of social inclusion. Probing the interaction of SEN status and victimisation experiences on emotional well-being revealed non-significant simple slopes irrespective of SEN status. The corresponding statistical models yielded low to moderate variance explanations, indicating that the proportion of SEN in class, victimisation experiences, and individual SEN status may play a role in mental health related psychosocial outcome variables.

Understanding characteristics that contribute to psychology students' academic success is important to better support them during their studies. Referring to person-environment fit theory, we examined effects of study-relevant characteristics (self-efficacy beliefs, self-assessed level of information about the study program) on subjective criteria of success (persistence with the choice of study subject, later study satisfaction) and controlled for effects of grade point average (GPA) and mathematical skills. We present a longitudinal survey study including five cohorts of first-year students (total N = 854). Mediation models (N = 254) revealed that self-efficacy and level of information at study entry predicted students' persistence at the end of the first semester, which predicted satisfaction at the end of the second semester. In the presumed overall model we found total effects of self-efficacy and level of information, with direct and indirect effects (via persistence) on satisfaction, and no total or direct effects of GPA and mathematical skills, but an indirect effect of GPA on satisfaction. Thus, psychology students' satisfaction substantially depends on study-relevant characteristics and less on skills. An enhancement of students' self-efficacy beliefs and comprehensive information for those who are interested in the subject might help to increase satisfaction and thus success.

The Etherpad is an open source online editor providing the possibility for collaborative writing and discussions in real-time via a shared link. Previous research has shown that the use of technology in higher education can be effective and that online editors can facilitate collaborative learning. This article outlines the use of the Etherpad in a psychology Master's students' statistics class. During the lecture, students asked and answered questions in the Etherpad, followed the discussion of others, and/or gave general comments on the lecture and its topics. A tutor and the lecturer acted as moderators of the Etherpad. For evaluative purposes, students' participation in the Etherpad and their feedback in a mixed-methods survey were investigated. In all, 50 out of 90 students attending the course sessions participated in the evaluation. Students' commitment and feedback were very positive. We conclude by discussing implications of the Etherpad use for lecturers teaching statistics.

We outline the use and evaluation of a video presentation about variance and covariance developed to motivate students to process the topics and to enhance their skills. We outline the structure and the content of the video presentation and present data of an evaluation study. Students in different subjects who must pass statistics courses (N = 114) participated in an online survey with randomized controlled design and repeated measurement. Results indicate that students who watched the video presentation significantly improved on their skills, compared to a control group reading a textbook section about the same topics. The video presentation was judged as more satisfying and useful for learning than the text. We discuss application scenarios and further teaching implications. Ideally a longitudinal study should investigate effects of continuous learning with video presentations, changes in motivation, anxiety, and attitudes as well as effects for students of different subjects.

We describe how students can be encouraged to actively review course contents on inferential statistics by creating application-oriented exercises and sample solutions on the basis of concrete and realistic research articles and their data. For evaluation purposes, we use students' reactions to the activity and investigate its effects on the final statistics exam. Students' ratings of the quality of the exercises, necessary knowledge, and the evaluation of the activity were very positive, and participating students achieved better grades in the final exam than nonparticipants, whereas the groups did not differ regarding their initial skills or motivational characteristics. We conclude by discussing implications for lecturers teaching statistics.

Objective: The Progressive Supranuclear Palsy quality of life scale (PSP‐QoL) has been shown to be a useful tool for capturing health‐related quality of life of patients in "everyday life" and in progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) research. However, at 45 items in length, the questionnaire can take a long time, exhausting PSP patients, in particular if cognitive impaired, which can have a negative impact on the assessment. The aim of this study was to establish a condensed version of the PSP‐QoL for research and routine clinical care. Methods: In this retrospective study, data originating from a German cohort of PSP patients was analyzed. Data from 245 PSP patients were included in this study. The short PSP‐QoL questionnaire was created using a two‐factor solution and item‐total and inter‐item correlations for mental and physical aspects of daily living of the PSP‐QoL followed by confirmatory factor analysis. Results: The final scale included 12 items representing mental (five items) and physical symptoms (seven items). The specified two‐factor model displayed an excellent fit in the confirmatory factor analysis. The short Progressive Supranuclear Palsy Quality of Life scale (PSP‐ShoQoL) correlated moderately with the PSP Rating Scale (r [243] = 0.514, P < 0.001) and Geriatric depression scale (r [231] = 0.548, P < 0.001). Sensitivity to change confirmed a significant decrease in QoL after 12 months. Discussion: In this study, we created a 12‐item PSP‐ShoQoL designed to "facilitate" daily clinical work that correlated strongly with the PSP‐QoL and was sensitive to change. © 2024 The Author(s). Movement Disorders published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article outlines the execution of a workshop in which students were encouraged to actively review the course contents on descriptive statistics by creating exercises for their fellow students. In a first-year statistics course in psychology, 39 out of 155 students participated in the workshop. In a subsequent evaluation, the workshop was assessed as useful and appropriate to encourage students to practice statistics and to become prepared for the exam.

Lecturers teaching statistics are faced with several challenges supporting students' learning in appropriate ways. A variety of methods and tools exist to facilitate students' learning on statistics courses. The online questionnaires presented in this report are a new, slightly different computer-based tool: the central aim was to support students to master the course content and to provide the lecturer with continuous feedback about the students' difficulties and deficits. The aims of online questionnaires supporting teaching and learning of statistics are compared to aims of other computer-based and non-computerized methods and tools. Additionally, data from a first evaluation of the questionnaires is presented. In a first year psychology student's statistics course (bachelor program), students were offered the possibility of filling in an online questionnaire every time a specific theme had been taught. Out of the 126 first year students there were 28 who answered the online questionnaires regularly and 12 answered them sometimes. Those who answered the online questionnaires assessed them as helpful for their understanding of the course's content. The lecturer judged the online questionnaires as particularly helpful for improving teaching and assessing performance deficits.

Stress is a key challenge for university students. Using a person-oriented approach, this study examines effects of stress- and coping profile membership on stress symptoms and life satisfaction. Based on data from 912 students, three stress profiles and four coping profiles were found. The stress profiles differed in the stress level (slightly below average, slightly above average, high), whereas the coping profiles differed regarding the focusing or neglecting of strategies (declining support-, focusing faith-, focusing substance use-, average-copers). Correlation analyses showed that severely stressed individuals use maladaptive coping strategies more often, and that stress and coping profile membership were related to stress symptoms and life satisfaction. No interaction effects of stress and coping profile membership were found. Finally, practical implications for the identification of students with a high risk for stress and the stress management in higher education are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]