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J. Intell., Volume 13, Issue 5 (May 2025) – 6 articles

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13 pages, 953 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Academic Performance and Resilience in Secondary Education Students

by Ana María Carroza-Pacheco, Benito León-del-Barco and Carolina Bringas Molleda

J. Intell. 2025, 13(5), 56; https://doi.org/10.3390/jintelligence13050056 - 16 May 2025

Viewed by 114

Abstract

Academic performance is a factor of concern and interest in the educational context for the improvement of the educational and economic system of any country. Determining the factors influencing it has been the subject of multiple investigations. This study focused on analysing which dimensions of school resilience could act as determinants of academic performance in a sample of 609 Spanish secondary education students, aged between 11 and 17 years. The School Resilience Scale (SRS) was used as a data collection instrument. The data were analysed using analysis of variance and discriminant analysis based on a canonical function model, which suggested the existence of a direct and significant relationship between academic performance and all dimensions of resilience, with somewhat larger effect sizes for the Internal Resources and Identity–Self-Esteem dimensions, which allowed us to classify students with particularly high levels of performance. The results also show that the school year was significantly associated with academic performance, with the highest percentages of students at the highest level observed in the 2nd and 3rd years. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Cognitive, Emotional, and Social Skills in Students)

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15 pages, 1666 KiB

Open AccessBrief Report

When ChatGPT Writes Your Research Proposal: Scientific Creativity in the Age of Generative AI

by Vera Eymann, Thomas Lachmann and Daniela Czernochowski

J. Intell. 2025, 13(5), 55; https://doi.org/10.3390/jintelligence13050055 - 16 May 2025

Viewed by 60

Abstract

Within the last years, generative artificial intelligence (AI) has not only entered the field of creativity; it might even be marking a turning point for some creative domains. This raises the question of whether AI also poses a turning point for scientific creativity, which comprises the ability to develop new ideas or methodological approaches in science. In this study, we use a new scientific creativity task to investigate the extent to which AI—in this case, ChatGPT-4—can generate creative ideas in a scientific context. Specifically, we compare AI-generated responses with those of graduate students in terms of their ability to generate scientific hypotheses, design experiments, and justify their ideas for a fictitious research scenario in the field of experimental psychology. We asked students to write and prompted ChatGPT to generate a brief version of a research proposal containing four separate assignments (i.e., formulating a hypothesis, designing an experiment, listing the required equipment, and justifying the chosen method). Using a structured (blinded) rating, two experts from the field evaluated students’ research proposals and proposals generated by ChatGPT in terms of their scientific creativity. Our results indicate that ChatGPT received significantly higher overall scores, but even more crucially exceeded students in sub-scores measuring originality or meaningfulness of the ideas. In addition to a statistical evaluation, we qualitatively assess our data providing a more detailed report in regards to subtle differences between students’ and AI-generated responses. Lastly, we discuss challenges and provide potential future directions for the field. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Generative AI: Reflections on Intelligence and Creativity)

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13 pages, 822 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Do Intellectually Gifted Children Have Better Planning Skills?

by Li Cheng, Xiaohe Xie, Shiting Yang, Linjie Xiao, Xiaoyu Chen, Yun Nan, Dong Qi, Jagannath P. Das and George K. Georgiou

J. Intell. 2025, 13(5), 54; https://doi.org/10.3390/jintelligence13050054 - 13 May 2025

Viewed by 157

Abstract

The present study aimed to examine whether intellectually gifted children had better planning skills than their chronological-age controls and what processing skills may explain these differences. A total of 35 intellectually gifted Chinese children (25 boys and 10 girls; M_age = 12.77 years) and 39 chronological-age controls (27 boys and 12 girls; M_age = 12.89 years) participated in this study. They were assessed on three measures of operational planning (Planned Codes, Planned Connections, and Planned Search), on a measure of action planning (Crack the Code), and on measures of processing speed, working memory, and attention. Results of analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed first that the two groups differed in Crack the Code (accuracy and first move time) and in Planned Connections. Whereas processing speed explained the group differences in Planned Connections, none of the processing skills were able to eliminate the group differences in Crack the Code. Taken together, these findings suggest that gifted children have better action planning, which allows them to perform better than controls in tasks that require complex problem solving and evaluation of different scenarios and solutions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Section Contributions to the Measurement of Intelligence)

23 pages, 2444 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Effects of Peer and Teacher Support on Students’ Creative Thinking: Emotional Intelligence as a Mediator and Emotion Regulation Strategy as a Moderator

by Yafei Shi, Qi Cheng, Yantao Wei, Yunzhen Liang and Ke Zhu

J. Intell. 2025, 13(5), 53; https://doi.org/10.3390/jintelligence13050053 - 25 Apr 2025

Viewed by 548

Abstract

This study aimed to explore the relationships among peer and teacher support, emotional intelligence, and creative thinking. A total of 335 middle school students in grade seven were surveyed in China, including boys 187 (55.8%) and girls 148 (44.2%), aged from 11 to 14 years (M = 12.5; SD = 0.5). Results of the partial least square structural equation modeling showed that emotional intelligence was a positive mediator in the processes from peer and teacher support to middle school students’ creative thinking, and emotion regulation strategies moderated these processes from emotional intelligence to creative thinking. Specifically, both peer and teacher support had an indirect effect on creative thinking through emotional intelligence. Moreover, the four dimensions of emotional intelligence bore different mediating powers. Among them, emotion regulation exhibited the greatest mediating power, and self-emotion appraisal is the least. In addition, both reappraisal and suppression positively moderated the impact of emotional intelligence on creative thinking. Moreover, reappraisal had stronger moderating power than that of suppression. Interestingly, the direct effects of both peer and teacher support on creative thinking were not observed. This study offers knowledge about the mechanisms of peer and teacher support and students’ creative thinking, and implications for practitioners were also discussed in this study. Full article

(This article belongs to the Section Social and Emotional Intelligence)

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48 pages, 1149 KiB

Open AccessSystematic Review

The Relationship Between Children’s Indoor Loose Parts Play and Cognitive Development: A Systematic Review

by Ozlem Cankaya, Mackenzie Martin and Dana Haugen

J. Intell. 2025, 13(5), 52; https://doi.org/10.3390/jintelligence13050052 - 23 Apr 2025

Viewed by 464

Abstract

Children’s engagement with toys and play materials can contribute to the foundational cognitive processes that drive learning. Loose parts are interactive, open-ended materials originally not designed as toys but can be incorporated into children’s play (e.g., acorns, cardboard, and fabric). Practitioners and researchers widely endorse loose parts for fostering creativity, divergent thinking, and problem-solving skills. Despite these recommendations, research on their specific role in young children’s cognitive development remains limited. This systematic review examines how indoor loose parts play has been studied in relation to young children’s (0–6 years) cognitive development. Following PRISMA guidelines, searches in bibliographic databases and forward and backward citation tracking identified 5721 studies published until December 2024. We identified 25 studies and evaluated the quality and risk of bias. Studies focused on children’s general cognitive outcomes, language development, and specific cognitive subdomains, with many reporting positive associations between children’s play materials and cognitive development. However, five studies found no such associations, and another seven did not address the relationship between play materials and outcomes. Despite methodological variation across studies, our systematic review identified a relationship between play materials similar to loose parts and children’s problem-solving, creativity, academic skills (reading and math), and both convergent and divergent thinking. Notably, only one study explicitly used the term “loose parts.”Our review identified empirical and methodological gaps regarding the relationship between play materials and cognitive development, which can inform future research. Full article

(This article belongs to the Section Studies on Cognitive Processes)

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18 pages, 1419 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Importance of Individual and Expert Knowledge Grows as Clan Identity Diminishes: The Bedouin of Southern Israel Adapt to Anthropocene Ecology

by Michael Weinstock, Turky Abu Aleon and Patricia M. Greenfield

J. Intell. 2025, 13(5), 51; https://doi.org/10.3390/jintelligence13050051 - 23 Apr 2025

Viewed by 257

Abstract

Before the Anthropocene, Bedouin communities in Southern Israel were based on a clan structure—a kin-based social network; clans were culturally and socially homogenous communities with a strong authority structure. Work consisted of subsistence activities necessary for physical survival. Group-based authority and cooperative problem solving were adaptive in this ecology. Throughout the Anthropocene, the Bedouin of Southern Israel have had to adapt to diverse urban environments, expanded educational opportunity, and exposure to media emanating from different cultures. Our study explored the implications of these ecological shifts for epistemic thinking by comparing three generations of 60 Bedouin families: adolescent girls, their mothers, and their grandmothers (N = 180). Families were evenly divided among three residence types differing in degree of urbanization and degree of population homogeneity: unrecognized Bedouin villages consisting of single clans; recognized Bedouin villages, towns, or cities, consisting of multiple clans; and ethnically diverse cities. Results: Across the generations, media exposure and formally educated parents have weakened the epistemic authority of family elders, in turn weakening clan identity. Ethnically diverse cities have weakened extended family identity. At the same time, personal knowledge and professional expertise have gained new cultural importance. These changes in epistemology and identity are adaptive in the ecological environments that have multiplied in the Anthropocene era. Local identity was strongest both in diverse cities, with their many attractions, and in unrecognized villages, where the population continues to occupy ancestral lands. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Understanding Higher-Order Cognitive Abilities and Their Development in the Anthropocene)

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