Conference Agenda

The internet is an essential information resource for adolescents. As it includes both reliable information and misinformation, adolescents need sufficient credibility evaluation skills to rely on trustworthy sources for learning and decision-making. However, research has shown that many students’ ability to evaluate source information is far from optimal, and that these skills vary considerably (e.g., Hämäläinen, 2023). Because of this variation, students need individualized support to develop their evaluation skills.

Source evaluation skills refer to readers’ abilities to use available information about a source (e.g., author, publisher) to make inferences about its expertise and benevolence (Bråten et al., 2025). Expertise refers to a source’s competence and experience on the topic at hand, whereas benevolence refers to the extent to which a source intends to serve the readers’ best interests without pursuing any personal or financial gains (Barzilai & Chinn, 2025). Previous research shows that adolescent readers struggle with recognizing the commercial bias (Kiili et al., 2018) and discerning the trustworthy sources from untrustworthy ones (Marten & Stadtler, 2025).

Feedback – information that is intended to modify learner’s thinking, behavior, or improve learning (Shute, 2008) – plays a crucial role in effective learning (Mertens et al., 2022; Van Der Kleij et al., 2015). Feedback can be provided by a person in a face-to-face setting or delivered through computer-based systems. Computerized feedback enables the implementation of individualized, adaptive feedback (Van Der Kleij et al., 2015), which is particularly beneficial when learners’ knowledge or skills vary substantially, as is often the case with source evaluation skills.

Three common forms of task-related computerized feedback include knowledge of results (i.e., the correctness of the response), knowledge of the correct response, and elaborative feedback (i.e., an explanation of why a given answer is correct or incorrect, often including some advice how to proceed) (Mertens et al., 2022; Van Der Kleij et al., 2015). Among these, elaborative feedback is the most complex form (Shute, 2008) and is often accompanied by the other two other forms of feedback (Van Der Kleij et al., 2015). Two meta-analysis show that elaborative feedback is most efficient, especially in supporting high-order learning outcomes (Mertens et al., 2022; Van Der Kleij et al., 2015).

In addition to performance-based feedback, computerized feedback can be designed by using a growth mindset approach (Ostrow et al., 2014). A growth mindset is the belief that human capacities, such as intellectual abilities, can be developed through practice and the use of new strategies (Yeager & Dweck, 2012). Feedback aligned with this approach reinforces the idea that skills, such as credibility evaluation, can be cultivated over time through practice and learning. Feedback can also be designed to consider students’ self-efficacy beliefs by offering mastery or vicarious experiences (Bandura, 1997), especially for those who have low confidence in their skills. Such feedback aims to strengthen students’ beliefs in their ability to succeed, fostering engagement.

While several intervention studies have been designed to support students’ source evaluation skills (e.g., Marten & Stadtler, 2025), none have focused on providing adaptive feedback that considers both cognitive and motivational factors. Therefore, the purpose of the present study is to develop and test the efficacy of computerized, adaptive feedback to enhance students’ source evaluation skills. Designed adaptive feedback considers students’ evaluation performance and self-efficacy beliefs, while also fostering a growth mindset. To understand the baseline of students’ source evaluation skills, we examine to what extent students are able to discern the expertise and benevolence of expert and non-expert sources before the intervention, and whether students differ in their ability to discern between these aspects of evaluation.

Across Europe and internationally, schools are increasingly introducing smartphone bans in response to concerns about declining student attention, well-being, and social interaction [1][2]. Although such bans are often presented as effective solutions to digital distraction, existing research highlights the importance of contextual, psychological, and organisational factors [3]. This study examines the implementation and impact of a school-wide smartphone ban through an action research approach, focusing on how the policy is experienced by different stakeholders within the school community.

The study addresses the following research question:

How does a school-wide smartphone ban influence students’ engagement, behaviour, emotional well-being, and social interaction, and how is this policy perceived by students, teachers, parents, curators, and school psychologists?

The research was conducted in a secondary school context with students in Grades 7–9 and involved five stakeholder groups: students, subject teachers, parents, school curators (class mentors responsible for collecting smartphones and mediating communication), and school psychologists. Including curators and psychologists enabled deeper insight into the organisational and emotional dimensions of policy implementation.

The objectives of the study were to:

• examine perceived effects of the smartphone ban on engagement, discipline, and social interaction;
• explore emotional and psychological responses to restricted smartphone access;
• identify tensions and misalignments in stakeholder perceptions;
• inform the development of a transparent and supportive school policy.

The study is theoretically informed by socio-cultural perspectives on learning and well-being, with particular attention to self-regulation, student agency, and digital well-being [4]. Smartphones are conceptualised not merely as distractions but as elements embedded in students’ emotional security and everyday practices. Psychological observations draw on the concept of FOMO (fear of missing out) to explain adaptive anxiety and transitional resistance during early stages of policy implementation [5][6].

Positioned within European debates on technology regulation in education, including UNESCO and European Commission perspectives, the study contributes to international discussions on balancing regulation, autonomy, and student well-being in schools [1][2].

Scaffolding Self-Regulated Learning in Elementary Education:
A Design-Based Research Study with Fourth Grade Students

Self-regulated learning (SRL), involving learners’ ability to plan, monitor, and reflect on their learning, is widely recognized as essential for academic success. Although research shows that elementary students are capable of engaging in SRL, classroom practices often provide limited explicit support, leaving students to regulate their learning without clear guidance.

This design-based research study examines how scaffolded supports for self-regulated learning can be designed, implemented, and refined in fourth-grade Turkish reading comprehension lessons. Grounded in sociocultural and constructivist perspectives and cyclical models of SRL, the study employs three iterative design cycles that gradually shift responsibility from teacher-supported scaffolding to student independence.

Conducted over one academic year in two fourth-grade classrooms with 50 students and two teachers, the study integrates scaffolded self-regulated learning tools and routines into regular Turkish reading instruction. Classroom observations, student artifacts, adapted self-report measures, and teacher interviews are used to examine learning processes and inform iterative redesign, with the aim of fostering students’ engagement in self-regulated reading comprehension.

Research Questions

1. How do fourth-grade students engage in planning, monitoring, and reflection processes during learning activities supported by scaffolded SRL interventions?
2. How does the gradual fading of scaffolds appear to shape students’ independent use and articulation of SRL strategies across iterative design cycles?
3. In what ways do students’ SRL behaviors and learning-related engagement appear to change over the course of the intervention?

Design Goals

The study aims to iteratively develop scaffolded supports that foster fourth-grade students’ self-regulated learning by making planning, monitoring, and reflection processes explicit and gradually internalized within authentic classroom contexts.

Theoretical Framework

Every child is born with the capacity to self-regulate and this capacity for self-regulation develops with age. Although biological factors like temperament and predisposed reactivity underpin the development of self-regulation in children (Berk, Mann, & Ogan, 2006; Bodrova & Leong, 2007), early experiences play an important role on this development (Boekaerts, 1997). Research on self-regulated learning emerged more than two decades ago to answer the question of how students become masters of their own learning processes (Zimmerman, 2008). However, over the last decade, various indications have been found for suggesting traces of self-regulated learning earlier than expected. Studies in laboratory settings and studies based on children’s self-report data have been underestimating young children’s abilities (Whitebread et al., 2007). Studies in which children have been observed in their natural settings and/or while performing familiar tasks showed that young children can and do engage in self-regulated learning (Annevirta & Vauras, 2006; Istomina, 1975; Perry, 1998; Perry et al., 2004; Robson, 2010; Sperling, Walls, & Hill, 2000; Whitebread & Coltman, 2010; Whitebread et al., 2007). Prior studies have emphasized that students’ SRL should be supported as early as possible (Perry, 1998; Perry & VandeKamp, 2000), suggesting that a focus on SRL skill development at the elementary school level is needed. During this period, children have not yet fully developed the studying habits and beliefs about their own abilities that might hinder future SRL (Dignath & Büttner, 2008). Moreover, SRL may be easier to learn in elementary education because it allows for more gradual practice in a less complex and demanding context than secondary education (Meneghetti et al., 2007). The advantage of training children how to self-regulate their learning in the beginning of their schooling is that during these first crucial years, students set up learning and self-efficacy attitudes (Whitebread, 2000) which are easier to change than when students have already developed disadvantageous learning styles and learning behaviour (Hattie et al., 1996).

With the deep penetration of internet technology, mobile phone addiction has emerged as a global public health challenge, profoundly impacting college students who are digital natives. In China, the staggering number of 1.105 billion mobile internet users (China Internet Network Information Center, 2025) underscores the urgency of this issue. Compared to other demographics, college students face unique pressures from academic competition, career prospects, and social adaptation. They enjoy considerable autonomy over their time, yet experience diminished external behavioral constraints, making them a high-risk group for mobile phone addiction. Investigating the psychosocial mechanisms underlying this addiction is therefore crucial for fostering their personal development and the nation's future talent pool.

Parenting, a key environmental factor in individual development, continues to exert influence during the transition to young adulthood in college. Research framed by Self-Determination Theory posits that parenting shapes behavior by satisfying or thwarting three basic psychological needs: autonomy, competence, and relatedness (Deci & Ryan, 2012). Specifically, parental autonomy support, which involves encouraging independent choice and self-expression, is widely regarded as a protective factor that fulfills autonomy needs and enhances intrinsic motivation, with studies showing it reduces internet addiction risk (Liu et al., 2021). Conversely, parental psychological control, which intrudes into a child’s psychological world via guilt induction or love withdrawal, and it is consistently linked to higher adolescent mobile phone addiction (Yan et al., 2020; Huang et al., 2025), likely by thwarting autonomy and inducing reactance (Barber, 1996). Parental behavioral control, however, which is typically understood as a process of establishing rules and monitoring behavior, shows a negative association with problematic internet use (Li et al., 2013).

Nevertheless, existing studies often examine single parenting dimensions in isolation, overlooking their synergistic effects and combined patterns in real-world families. Person-centered approaches like Latent Profile Analysis (LPA) offer a novel perspective. For instance, one study focusing on physical education teachers identified profiles such as High Autonomy Support-Low Psychological Control among adolescents (Soenens, Vansteenkiste, & Sierens, 2007). Although scholars have begun exploring the joint effects of autonomy support and psychological control (Costa et al., 2016; Deng et al., 2021), research integrating autonomy support, psychological control, and behavioral control to uncover holistic parenting profiles among university students remains scarce. Critically, the perceived stress experienced by college students may serve as a key boundary condition. High stress may increase the propensity to use mobile phones as an escape from reality. Thus, stress could amplify the association between maladaptive parenting profiles and mobile phone addiction.

In summary, integrating SDT and a stress-coping perspective, this study innovatively employs LPA to:

1) Identify latent parenting profiles based on parental autonomy support, psychological control, and behavioral control among Chinese university students;

2) Compare differences in mobile phone addiction levels across these profiles;

3) Test whether perceived stress moderates the aforementioned relationship.

The findings are expected to move beyond examining isolated variables, offering a holistic perspective and providing crucial evidence for developing targeted prevention and intervention strategies for at-risk students from diverse familial backgrounds.