Socioemotional aspects and learning strategies

In a study funded by the Israeli National Insurance Institute, Dr. Orly Lipka and her students are exploring social, academic, and emotional adjustment among at-risk students in post-secondary education. Adjustment to the higher education environment is an important factor in predicting success in higher education, especially for students who are at risk due to (1) emotional problems, (2) physiological disabilities, (3) hearing and vision difficulties, or (4) ADHD and LD. The study aims to explore whether there are differences in emotional variables (such as anxiety), learning strategies, and adjustment to higher education between students who are at risk and students who are not. The goal was to identify variables that predict successful adjustment to higher education among at-risk students compared to those who not at risk. In addition, the study qualitatively documented the success stories of at-risk students during their journeys in post-secondary education. So far, 2 manuscripts were submitted for publication.

A comprehensive report was submitted to the Israeli National Insurance Institute in December 2019. This report was published in December 2020.

Kama Galili, a PhD student supervised by Prof. Shany and Prof. Katzir, investigated reciprocal changes in teacher-child relationships during a structured reading intervention program. Results in her longitudinal study indicate that in comparison to children in a control group, children in the intervention group indicated higher improvements in reading performance and in reading self-efficacy, alongside less feelings of conflict and higher closeness to their teachers. In comparison to teachers in the control group, after the program teachers in the intervention group felt higher teaching efficacy and rated higher perceptions of their students in reading. Similar to their students they felt more positive and less negative feelings towards their students. This research expands our understanding of the role of the teacher-child relationship in the development of academic performance.

Dr. Noga Cohen is interested in understanding the mechanisms that subserve emotional processing and emotion regulation. She is especially interested in the reciprocal links between cognitive control and emotion and how these links can be strengthened via training. Her research aims are twofold: 1) to understand the psychological and neural mechanisms that subserve emotion regulation success, and 2) to use this understanding to form novel interventions to improve emotion regulation abilities among healthy and clinical populations.