Independent effects of stimulus and cycle duration in conditioning: The role of timing processes

Rats received delay conditioning procedures with a white-noise conditioned stimulus (CS), a food unconditioned stimulus (US), and head entries into the food cup as the conditioned response. The stimulus duration (S) and the interval between food deliveries (C) were varied between groups:S=15, 30, 60, and 120 sec;C=90, 180, and 360 sec. The stimulus/cycle duration ratio was negatively related to the asymptotic level of conditioning but had no effect on the rate of acquisition. Conditioning and timing of responses emerged together in training. Timing occurred during the CS-US interval (ISI) and the US-US interval (ITI), as evidenced by increasing response rate gradients that were steeper for shorter intervals. The effects of the stimulus/cycle ratio on conditioning were attributed to independent timing of theS andC durations. Serial-, parallel-, and single-process accounts of conditioning and timing are compared.     

Contextual cues and memory retrieval in rats: Alleviation of forgetting by a pretest exposure to background stimuli

With a relatively complex maze, reliable forgetting is clearly seen when the training-test interval is 25 days. This forgetting is evidenced by the longer time taken to run the maze and in an increase in the number of errors from the last training trial to the first test trial. In this case, forgetting is a lapse, not a loss, since performance attains the last training trial level at a subsequent test. Furthermore, a reminder which does not in itself contain sufficient information to facilitate performance of a naive animal, significantly improves maze performance of animals which have “forgotten,” even on the first retention test. With the use of additional control groups, it is shown that there must be a memory lapse before contextual cues can be demonstrated to be effective in facilitating memory retrieval.     

The role of stimulus salience in young children's ability to discriminate two-dimensional rotations: Reflections on a paradigm

Children's ability to discriminate reflections and rotations of visual stimuli was examined within the confines of a mental rotation task. It was hypothesized that success would be affected by both characteristics of the stimulus and by the subtlety of the discrimination required. Forty 3- to 4-year-old children were directed to mentally rotate a stimulus a given number of degrees and to discriminate the appearance of the rotated stimulus from among a set of alternatives. Four stimuli differing in the number of visual orientation cues were utilized across 24 trials. A significant effect was found for number of orientation cues, and data indicated the difficulty children experienced detecting reflections, a task which bears close resemblance to the yes/no option in prototypic rotation studies. Children were only successful with a limited range of stimuli when discrimination of a reflected foil was not required. Results are discussed in light of discrepant findings about children's kinetic imagery ability and the advisability of using this particular paradigm with young Children.     

Creating learning environments conducive to change: The role of fear/safety in the adult learning process

This paper addresses the adult educator's responsibility to establish an emotionally safe learning environment. Such a climate enables students to address constructively the fears they bring to the learning event. This empowers the learner to risk change-the goal of adult education. The research of Maslow, Rogers, Knowles, and Freire supports an atmosphere of mutual respect as the key to adult learning. Trainers/Teachers of adults were interviewed to identify the kinds of fears that adults bring to the learning event. This paper explores the attitudes and techniques used by the facilitator to create an atmosphere of respect.     

'Moonlight and Magnetism': A theatrical performance of electromagnetism,poetry and dance as a stimulus for ideas to use in the lecture theatre

'Moonlight and Magnetism' was designed as a performance involving science, poetry and modern dance to communicate the concepts of electromagnetism. The intention is to demonstrate that electricity, electromagnetism and waves can be viewed and expressed in many different ways. The principles of induction can be explained by equations, words and in the performance by a series of dance movements. Whilst the performance itself is not for an undergraduate course, there may be useful ideas to stimulate colleagues into looking at lecturing on science and engineering topics in new ways. Engineers look at their subject from a technical perspective. Should we, as teachers, stimulate our students and broaden their viewpoint by introducing, at some point in lecture courses, entirely different viewpoints?     

The effect of nonreinforced stimulus exposure on the strength of a conditioned taste aversion as a function of retention interval: Do latent inhibition and extinction involve a shared process?

Two experiments examined the effects of nonreinforced flavor exposure on the strength of a conditioned taste aversion. Rats were conditioned by pairing maple flavor with LiC1. Prior to or subsequent to this pairing, some animals received nonreinforced exposure to either maple or saccharin. In separate subjects, preference for maple was tested 1 or 21 days after the last training episode. In the first experiment, the nonreinforced stimulus exposure occurred before conditioning (latent inhibition, or LI, procedure); in the second experiment, the nonreinforced exposure occurred after conditioning (extinction, or EXT, training). In both experiments, nonreinforced exposure to maple or saccharin reduced the magnitude of a conditioned maple aversion when testing occurred soon after conditioning. When testing was delayed, however, the attenuation due to nonreinforced saccharin exposure dissipated, both with the LI procedure and with EXT. In contrast, the nonreinforced exposure to maple was found to attenuate conditioned reactions at both short and long retention intervals. The release from generalized LI and spontaneous recovery following generalized EXT training are discussed in terms of retrieval processing. The possibility that the same mechanism may underlie LI and EXT is considered.     

Approach–avoidance motivation and metacognitive self-regulation: The role of need for achievement and fear of failure

Previous research has indicated that approach–avoidance motivation at the achievement goal level influences the quality of self-regulated learning. Additionally, research indicates that approach–avoidance motivation at the dispositional level is associated with cognitive self-regulated learning strategy use. The present investigation sought to extend this research by examining the relationship between approach–avoidance motivation at the dispositional level and metacognitive self-regulation, as well as the mediational potential of approach–avoidance achievement goals among a sample of undergraduate students (N = 145). Results indicated that need for achievement was significantly related to metacognitive self-regulation and mastery-approach goals partially mediated this relationship. Fear of failure was negatively associated with metacognitive self-regulation; however, performance-avoidance goals did not mediate this relationship. The significance of such individual differences in metacognitive self-regulation is discussed.     

Using virtual microscopy to scaffold learning of pathology: a naturalistic experiment on the role of visual and conceptual cues

New representational technologies, such as virtual microscopy, create new affordances for medical education. In the article, a study on the following two issues is reported: (a) How does collaborative use of virtual microscopy shape students’ engagement with and learning from virtual slides of tissue specimen? (b) How do visual and conceptual cues scaffold students’ reasoning? Fifteen pairs of medical students participated in two sessions in which the students used a virtual microscope as a diagnostic tool in the context of learning pathology. The slides provided the students with varying levels of visual and conceptual cueing. The sessions were videotaped, and the students’ reasoning while using the microscope was analysed. The students’ written answers were analysed in terms of the findings they made and the diagnoses suggested. At a general level, the results show that students engage actively in this kind of virtually-mediated environment. The visual and/or conceptual cues improve students’ performance, and guide the students’ perception and reasoning in a manner that is productive from the point of view of learning to make clinically relevant observations. Scaffolding students’ reasoning process through cues furthermore assists the students in avoiding the most obvious pitfalls such as overlooking critical areas of a specimen. Overall, visual and conceptual cues improve students’ reasoning in perceptual and cognitive terms, while still allowing space for the making of “relevant mistakes” that may further the students’ diagnostic skills.     

Memory for a stimulus versus anticipation of a response: Contrasting effects of proactive interference in two delayed comparison tasks

Pigeons were trained to perform two delayed comparison tasks that differed only in the temporal placement of the retention interval relative to the sample and comparison stimuli. In one task (conditional delayed response—CDR), the subject could determine the correct response prior to the retention interval. In the second task (delayed conditional response—DCR), the subject was required to compare stimuli presented before and after the retention interval. Although overt mediational responding was not observed in the CDR condition, retention was, nevertheless, greater than in the DCR condition. Furthermore, this difference was amplified at short intertrial intervals. Finally, retention in the DCR, but not the CDR, condition was disrupted by proactive interference (PI) from previous sample stimuli. The results suggest that memory is less closely tied to the sample stimulus when the stimuli necessary to determine the correct response are presented prior to the retention interval (CDR and other delayed response tasks) than when the subject must compare stimuli across the retention interval (DCR, or delayed matching-to-sample, tasks). This difference may lead directly, or indirectly through an interaction with PI, to task differences in retention.     

Meaningful Learning through Art: Nature Photography,Haiku Writing,Mobile Technologies and Social Media as a Path to Oneself

The article describes a workshop that combines nature photography and haiku poems writing with the use of smartphones in an outdoor educational setting. The workshop's purpose is to enhance the experience of being close to nature by observation and introspection. The participants use photography and haiku‐writing as means of visual and textual self‐expression. While wandering in nature, they take pictures and then write haiku poems inspired by them. Later they upload their photos to a WhatsApp forum created for the workshop. At this stage, they can write new haikus, inspired by the pictures taken by other participants, and upload them too. By the end of the day, the participants have a joint artistic product that contains all photos and haikus created at the workshop. The photographs that were chosen as samples for this article are analysed with interpretive tools based on semantic theory and Barthes’ methodology, and take into consideration the Photovoice method's principles. The poems were analysed considering their content and artistic measures and in comparison, with haiku writing's principles, and then compared to the photographs’ visual content. The analysis shows that observing nature through the camera's eye and writing poems while close to nature can generate self‐expression and introspection. The use of mobile technology in the workshop does not intrude on the experience of being in nature; on the contrary, it is used to get the participants closer to it and to each other. The workshop described here contributes to the experience of meaningful learning through art.     

The Pendulum as a Vehicle for Transitioning from Classical to Quantum Physics: History,Quantum Concepts,and Educational Challenges

In this article we use the pendulum as the vehicle for discussing thetransition from classical to quantum physics. Since student knowledgeof the classical pendulum can be generalized to all harmonic oscillators,we propose that a quantum analysis of the pendulum can leadstudents into the unanticipated consequences of quantum phenomenaat the atomic level. We intend to illustrate how classical deterministicphysical ideas are replaced by a point of view that contains bothdeterministic and probabilistic aspects. For example, the wave functioncontains probabilistic information but it evolves in time according toa fixed law, the Schrodinger equation. Discussion of the transition fromclassical to quantum thinking is historically grounded in the work oftwentieth-century physicists who developed quantum ideas. We seeapplication to current science in areas such as semiconductors, optics,GPS systems, and superconductivity. Our notion is that ascientifically-literatepublic should have a sense of the broad, conceptual schemes in modernphysics, as well as those associated with classical physics. We discusseducational challenges and strategies connected to including quantum theoryin a general education physics course. Our work would have otherapplications in college and secondary school settings.     

The role of education in Jewish continuity: a response to Jonathan Sacks

Contrasting explanations of Jewish survival form the backdrop to this article. For Jonathan Sacks (1994 Sacks, J. 1994. Will We Have Jewish Grandchildren?, Ilford: Vallentine Mitchell.  [Google Scholar]) the crucial factor has been the role played by Jewish education; indeed, he claims that the demographic threat currently facing Anglo‐Jewry is largely the result of the community having neglected the Jewish education of its children over the past 200 years. He advocates reinstating this communal responsibility as the sovereign Jewish value in order to deal with the threat. In my view, the influence that Sacks attributes to education and particularly to Jewish schools is overstated. It stems from a misreading of modern Anglo‐Jewish history and from a failure to take fully into account the ways in which Jewish schools impact on their pupils’ ethnic and religious identity. These considerations apart, I contend that prioritising education will not necessarily strengthen the commitment to Jewish continuity that is the sine qua non of survival.     

The role of hardiness in securities practitioners' web-based continuing learning: Internet self-efficacy as a mediator

Educational technology research and development - Due to the rapid changes in global economic environments, enterprises have to continually enhance their business competitiveness. To improve...     

The metaphorical department head: using metaphors as analytic tools to investigate the role of department head

This paper reports the results of a study that examined the ways a group of department heads in Ontario, Canada, describe their role. Despite their ubiquity and importance, department heads have been seldom investigated in the educational leadership literature. The study uses the metaphor as an analytic tool to examine the ways participants talked about their role. It was found that while department heads seem essential to the policy implementation, their role is rarely acknowledged. In the analysis, we use the term ‘Fifth Business’, originally coined by Robertson Davies, to refer to the actors in a play who were never assigned the role of heroes or villains, but whose work was to incarnate a role that was nonetheless essential to the play. The study concludes that by building on the complex ways department heads understand their role, school leaders and policy-makers could clarify their role and develop strategies to support them.     

The residual deprivation effect in instrumental conditioning as a function of deprivation level at the time of exposure to the reinforcer

The effect of food deprivation level at the time of initial exposure to a subsequent food reinforcer was investigated in two experiments. In Experiment 1, deprivation at the time of initial exposure influenced the subsequent acquisition and extinction of an instrumental response. In Experiment 2, the residual deprivation effect associated with a reduction in deprivation level occurred only when rats initially experienced the reinforcer at a high, as compared with a low, deprivation level. Results were discussed in terms of the assumption that the limits of incentive generated by a reinforcer are influenced by the deprivation state at the time of first exposure to that reinforcer.     

Amount of training effects in representationmediated food aversion learning: No evidence of a role for associability changes

Rats acquired aversions to food pellets when a previously trained signal for that food was paired with a toxin, but only after minimal signal—food training. After extensive signal—food training, signal—toxin pairings had no effect on food consumption even after manipulations that enhanced the associability of the signal. By contrast, conditioned responding to the signal retained its sensitivity to devaluation of the food reinforcer by food—toxin pairings after extensive training. These results suggest that the nature of associatively activated event representations changes over the course of training.     

The effects of a time-limited welfare program on children: the moderating role of parents' risk of welfare dependency

This study examined the effect of a time-limited welfare program on school-age children using data on almost 3,000 children (ages 5-17 at the four year follow up-point) from the random assignment evaluation of Florida's Family Transition Program (FTP). FTP was one of the first welfare reform initiatives to impose a time limit on the receipt of cash assistance, and it combined the time limit with a rich array of mandatory services. The effects of FTP on children were moderated by families' risk of long-term welfare dependency. Contrary to predictions laid out at the outset, there were few effects of FTP on middle childhood and adolescent children for children of parents most likely to be long-term welfare dependent (those most likely to hit the time limit). However, consistent negative effects on this same age group of children were found for children of parents least likely to be long-term welfare dependent--parents who had the largest employment gains--and effects of FTP were most strongly negative for the oldest adolescent children. The findings suggest a different theoretical model for movements into employment than the one suggested in the previous literature for job loss. The findings are discussed in terms of their contribution to research and policy.