Page 38 - Balancing between the present and the past

Chapter 2
Table 1. Participants by age, educational level, and gender (N = 1,270)
Age
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
Total
Elementary male
Elementary female
Senior general secondary male Senior general secondary female Pre-university male Pre-university female
Total
20 43 34 50 * 1 * 2 * 1 * 2
54 99
14 * * 17 * * 34 16 39 45 13 42 28 9 39 37 17 53
175 55 173
* * * 77 * * * 101 60 58 59 267 63 61 62 288 61 37 59 234 76 44 74 303
260 200 254 1,270
Note. *No students of this age occur in the educational level.
The mean student age was 14.2 years (SD = 2.2). In terms of gender, the distribution in the research sample was 45% boys and 55% girls; in the Netherlands, overall, the distribution between male and female students is 48% and 52%, respectively (Statistics Netherlands, 2012). The participating schools generally matched the total population in terms of the number of students and graduation rates (Statistics Netherlands, 2012).
The data collection took place during March and April 2012. Participating schools and teachers received hard copies of the instruments. Students were instructed at the beginning of a lesson to complete the instruments individually, in silence and without asking the teacher or other students for help. No time limit was given, but they all completed each instrument within 15 minutes. To assess students’ prior knowledge about a topic, we included four multiple-choice items for each instrument. The multiple-choice items focused on historical content knowledge. For example, we asked for the year in which Hitler came to power in Germany and in which year the great worldwide economic depression was. Related to the slavery instrument, we asked them to define the triangular trade and in which part of America slavery was most prominent in the 19th century.
Furthermore, we asked for the students’ ages, history grades, genders, and scores on a Dutch standardized final test (Citotoets) that is administered to upper elementary students. This optional test, commissioned by the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture, and Science and developed by the Dutch National Institute for Educational Measurement, aims to measure pupils’ attainment of certain standards in elementary education. The test contains 290 multiple-choice items in the fields of language (100 items), mathematics (60 items), learning skills (40 items), and world orientation (90
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