Memories as Useful Outcomes of Residential Outdoor Environmental Education

Residential outdoor environmental education (ROEE) programs for youth have been shown to yield lasting autobiographical episodic memories. This article explores how past program participants have used such memories, and draws on the memory psychology literature to offer a new perspective on the long-term impacts of environmental education. Qualitative interviews with 54 teens at two research sites 5 years after a ROEE experience revealed a variety of directive and social uses for their memories, including participating in outdoor recreation activities, being more knowledgeable about and appreciative of the local ecology, engaging in environmentally responsible behaviors, and reminiscing with friends about the experience.     

When labels hurt but novelty helps: children's perseveration and flexibility in a card-sorting task

Children often perseverate, repeating prior behaviors when inappropriate. This work tested the roles of verbal labels and stimulus novelty in such perseveration. Three-year-old children sorted cards by one rule and were then instructed to switch to a second rule. In a basic condition, cards had familiar shapes and colors and both rules were stated explicitly. In an uninformative-label condition, cards had familiar shapes and colors, but the first rule was not stated explicitly. In a novel-stimuli condition, both rules were stated explicitly but stimuli were novel on the first sorting dimension. More children switched to the second rule in the uninformative-label and novel-stimuli conditions than in the basic condition. Implications for theories of cognitive flexibility are discussed.     

Confusions between memories for performed and imagined actions: a developmental comparison

Children are often assumed to be more confused than adults are about the origin of self-generated memories (e.g., what they did or thought). The present experiments showed evidence in support of this assumption but only under some circumstances. In Experiment 1, 6- and 9-year-olds were as good as adults in distinguishing what they did from what they saw someone else do. However, children had particular trouble distinguishing what they did from what they imagined doing. Confusion between performed and imagined actions was evident across a range of actions. Clustering data also showed that information about origin is part of the memory for an event; all subjects recalled actions according to who performed what action (Experiment 1). Further, the presence of person categories as a basis for organization reduced clustering based on action class more for children than for adults (Experiment 1 vs. 2). Collectively, these findings indicate that children become sensitive to some distinctions in memories sooner than they do to others.     

Views of South African Chemistry Students in University Bridging Programs on the Reliability of Experimental Data

This paper reports an investigation of the status of procedural knowledge in chemistry amongst students entering into bridging programs at two South African universities. The students answered a questionnaire which investigated their perceived reasons for repeating readings and their ideas about handling data. Students also answered a question on laboratory apparatus which was used to assess their laboratory experience. The overall responses were analysed, as well as their relationship to laboratory experience and home language. The findings show that students overall tend to repeat in order to get a recurring reading. Very few students were able to use a line of best fit for a set of graphical data. There is some relationship between their responses and previous laboratory experiences, but little fundamental difference between the responses of the two main language groups. Some implications for tertiary education in chemistry are discussed.     

How memories of school inform preservice teachers' feared and desired selves as teachers

Elementary preservice teachers (N = 69) were asked to write about their memories of elementary school and reflect on the meaning of those memories in combination with course material. Based on the theory-driven thematic analysis, students reported memories that worked to create their desired and/or feared teacher self. Some students recognized a conflict between their memories and the effective teaching practices learned in the course, and only a few were able to negotiate their past memories with current practices and describe a plan of action. Findings elucidate the power of memories as preservice teachers prepare for the classroom.     

Klassenwiederholen in PISA-I-Plus: Was lernen Sitzenbleiber in Mathematik dazu?

This study analyses the effects which repeating a class has on ninth grade students’ development of mathematical competency. The following research questions were addressed: How many students repeat grades in the different types of schools? How do students who repeat a grade differ from those who do not in their performance and background characteristics? How much extra mathematics do students repeating a grade learn in one school year? What are the differences between various types of school? Can students with poor mathematics grades in particular profit from repeating a grade? The sample is a sub-sample of the PISA-I-Plus study and comprises N = 360 ninth grade students. The total sample of PISA-I-Plus is representative for all ninth/tenth grade students from the different school types in Germany. The data survey was carried out in the ninth grade and then repeated after the students had repeated a year. The results document differences in the amount of grade repeat quotas between types of school. Furthermore, compared to students not repeating, those repeating a grade had lower mathematics (d = 1.02) and german (d = 1.14) grades, a lower level of mathematical literacy (d = 0.51), and lower test results with regard to basic cognitive abilities (d = 0.32). In terms of the development of mathematical literacy, the students repeating a grade could improve by an average of 23 points (d = 0.27) on the PISA mathematics scale. However, the results identify 38 percent of students repeating a grade who do not make any significant improvement in mathematics or even get worse. A differentiation according to school types shows that students repeating a grade in integrated comprehensive secondary schools and in schools with several educational levels in particular do not, on average, show any noteworthy improvement in their mathematical literacy. The analysis of the school grades received in mathematics shows that students whose mathematics grades are unsatisfactory do not benefit more from repeating a grade than students whose mathematics performance has been rated as being “satisfactory” or better. The article concludes with a discussion of the possible consequences of changing the way in which repetitions of grades are dealt with.     

Measuring Variability in Proctor Decision Making on High-Stakes Assessments: Improving Test Security in the Digital Age

Remote proctoring, or monitoring test takers through internet-based, video-recording software, has become critical for maintaining test security on high-stakes assessments. The main role of remote proctors is to make judgments about test takers' behaviors and decide whether these behaviors constitute rule violations. Variability in proctor decision making, or the degree to which humans/proctors make different decisions about the same test-taking behaviors, can be problematic for both test takers and test users (e.g., universities). In this paper, we measure variability in proctor decision making over time on a high-stakes English language proficiency test. Our results show that (1) proctors systematically differ in their decision making and (2) these differences are trait-like (i.e., ranging from lenient to strict), but (3) systematic variability in decisions can be reduced. Based on these findings, we recommend that test security providers conduct regular measurements of proctors’ judgments and take actions to reduce variability in proctor decision making.     

Family of origin history, psychological distress, quality of childhood memory, and content of first and recovered childhood memories

Objective: Individual differences in quality of childhood memory and recovered memories from childhood remain poorly understood. Therefore, this study tested several hypotheses which may help account for the large amount of variation that individuals report in the general quality of their childhood memory and the valence of the memories that many individuals report recovering from their childhoods. It was hypothesized that family of origin dysfunction would be associated with poorer childhood memory, that current depressed mood would be associated with impaired childhood recall and the recall of negative memories, and that the content of recovered childhood memories would be disproportionately negative because they include a significant number of memories which had been repressed or dissociated.Method: Questionnaires were administered to 553 college students, 27% of whom reported a history of child abuse.Results: The participants reported substantial variation in the general quality of their childhood memories and also a wide variety of different types of experiences for both their first childhood memories and the recovered memories that most of them had from their childhoods. Weak associations were found between family of origin dysfunction and poorer general quality of childhood memory, but the study as a whole resulted in few significant findings.Conclusions: Only weak support was found for some of the factors that have been hypothesized to distort autobiographical memory. The substantial individual variation in childhood memory that has been reported by college student samples remains poorly understood.     

The role of sensory preconditioning in memory retrieval by preverbal infants

Infants’ memories are highly specific to their training stimuli; they rarely transfer learned responding. In two experiments, we asked whether sensory preconditioning facilitates the transfer of deferred imitation. In Experiments 1A and 1B, 6-month-olds were simultaneously preexposed to Puppets A and B and then saw target actions modeled on Puppet A. The infants associated the paired puppets and imitated the actions on Puppet B. In Experiment 2, the preexposure procedure was repeated, but the actions were modeled on Puppet A with a toy train in view. The infants also associated Puppet A and the train: Either object effectively reactivated both forgotten memories; thereafter, the infants again imitated the actions on Puppet B. These findings reveal that infants form specific and enduring associations between stimuli they have merely seen together. These associations facilitate the transfer of deferred imitation, both directly and indirectly, through connections to other associations.     

Spatial memory in rats: Resistance to retroactive interference

Treatments that interfere with animals’ short-term retention (e.g., in delayed matching-to-sample) were studied using a spatial memory task. Rats performed in an eight-arm radial maze in which choosing each arm without repetition was the optimal behavior. Performances were interrupted between fourth and fifth choices for a delay of 15 sec to 2 min. A variety of events occurring during the delay interval did not disrupt memories for prior choices (as assessed by the accuracy of postdelay choices). The ineffective treatments included variations in visual and auditory environments, removal from the maze, food consumed during the delay, a distinctive odor added to the maze, or combinations of these manipulations. Additionally, performance on another spatial task (a four-arm maze) during the delay between Choices 4 and 5 did not interfere with performance in the eight-arm maze. These findings suggest that rats’ memories for spatial locations are immune to retroactive interference, at least within the range of conditions reported, and that the rat can successfully segregate memories for spatial locations established in different contexts.     

Does repeating a year improve performance? The case of teaching English

This paper examines whether having school students repeat a year improves their performance, focusing on learning English as a foreign language. It takes students’ English examination results from five years from a Chinese‐medium school, together with data on their learning styles and learning strategies. Drawing on local cultural and pedagogic factors, the study finds that repeating a year, far from improving scores, homogenizes the results of males and females, and, while finding a small but statistically insignificant rise in the scores of females, is detrimental to the performance of males. Repeating a year either makes no difference or a negative difference to results. It is suggested that repeating a year reproduces, sharpens and potentiates gender differences in learning and performing in English as a foreign language, and that repeating a year is the medium and outcome of gender inequality. Implications are drawn for practice.     

Behavior of young children with Down syndrome before the mirror: exploration

Exploratory behaviors of Down Syndrome (DS) and Nondelayed (ND) young children between the mental ages of 16 and 32 months were examined in 4 situations involving finding things seen in a large standing mirror: free play, marked face, finding the reflected mother, and finding a reflected toy. Behaviors coded from videotape included observing the self making faces, kissing the mirror, patting the mirror, comparing a person or object with the mirror image, looking behind the mirror, touching own body, and staring at another's image. Both ND and DS children used these behaviors and were able to adapt their choice of behaviors to demands of particular tasks. However, DS and ND children differed in number, type, and frequency of exploratory behaviors. DS children used a greater variety of behaviors and used them more frequently than ND children. DS children used a less focused selection of behaviors, and behaviors involving switching attention were performed only by ND children. For most behavior examined, mental and chronological age were not related to amount of exploration. Results are interpreted in terms of the role of different behaviors in exploration of the mirror.     

Repeat Testing Effects on Credentialing Exams: Are Repeaters Misinformed or Uninformed?

To mitigate security concerns and unfair score gains, credentialing programs routinely administer new test material to examinees retesting after an initial failing attempt. Counterintuitively, a small but growing body of recent research suggests that repeating the identical form does not create an unfair advantage. This study builds upon and extends this research by investigating changes in responses to specific items encountered on both the first and repeat attempts. Results indicate that scores gains for repeat examinees who were assigned an identical form were not different from repeat examinees who received a different, but parallel, form. Analyses of responses to individual items answered incorrectly on the initial attempt found that examinees 68% of the time selected the same incorrect option on their second attempt, suggesting repeaters are misinformed rather than uninformed. Implications for feedback, remediation, and retesting policies are discussed.     

铸造高校网络考试的公平之盾——综合防舞弊网络考试系统设计与实现

文章在分析考试舞弊原因、网络考试实施过程四要素的基础上,对ISO安全服务模型进行扩展,提出包括身份认证、试题访问控制、加密试题信息、数据防篡改、保护考试通道、防作弊组卷和限制考生端行为等7项防范措施的综合防舞弊技术机制,并阐述远程命令技术、数据库端加密技术等关键问题。实践表明,综合防舞弊网络考试系统具有良好的防舞弊性能。     

Fire play: ICCARUS—Intelligent command and control,acquisition and review using simulation*

Is it possible to educate a fire officer to deal intelligently with the command and control of a major fire event he will never have experienced? The authors of this paper believe there is, and present here just one solution to this training challenge. It involves the development of an intelligent simulation based upon computer managed interactive media. The expertise and content underpinning this educational development was provided by the West Midlands Fire Service. Their brief for this training programme was unambiguous and to the point:

• 1 Do not present the trainee with a model answer, because there are no generic fires. Each incident is novel, complex, and often ‘wicked’ in that it changes obstructively as it progresses. Thus firefighting demands that Commanders impose their individual intelligence on each problem to solve it.
• 2 A suitable Educational Simulator should stand alone; operate in real time; emulate as nearly as possible the ‘feel’ of the fireground; present realistic fire progress; incorporate the vast majority of those resources normally present at a real incident; bombard the trainee with information from those sources; provide as few system‐prompts as possible.
• 3 There should also be an interrogable visual debrief which can be used after the exercise to give the trainees a firm understanding of the effects of their actions. This allows them to draw their own conclusions of their command effectiveness. Additionally, such a record of command and control will be an ideal initiator of tutorial discussion.
• 4 The simulation should be realisable on a hardware/software platform of £10 000.
• 5 The overriding importance is that the simulation should ‘emulate as nearly as possible the feelings and stresses of the command role’.

     

吐蕃时期敦煌道教及相关信仰习俗探析

本文通过对9世纪前期的几份敦煌具注历日、《康再荣建宅文》、P.2729v《太史杂占历》等文书的考察分析,认为吐蕃统治敦煌时期,汉民族依然能够在一定程度上保持和延续本民族的生产生活方式和信仰习俗。从信仰角度来看,传统的建宅发愿行为乃至传统的占卜术数及相关的信仰习俗依然存在,遭受吐蕃压制的道教也融含于这样的信仰习俗之中。《太史杂占历》出自熟知或亲历西北唐蕃战事的道教术士之手,而这种涉及两国交战、带有反抗吐蕃侵略和统治色彩的道教占卜及法术活动,则以隐蔽形式流传着。     

The Chemedian Brings Laughter to the Chemistry Classroom

“The Chemedian and the Crazy Football Match” is a comic strip developed by the authors to bring humour to aspects of the UK primary science curriculum. The comic strip was tested in six English primary school classes (years 3–5; ages 7–10); over 150 children participated in the project, together with six teachers. Children found the comic strip fun to read and engaged with the character. In addition, children were able to provide explanations for the ‘science’ performed by the Chemedian based on their own experience. However, it was notable that children found it hard to project actions the Chemedian would take in other similar situations that were based on the same scientific premises used in the comic strip. Instead, children seemed to draw on either their own preferences for actions or on actions they expected other more generalised comic characters might undertake. From the teacher assessments of class behaviour, it was clear that the comic strip format had engaged children, particularly boys, in what was essentially a reading and discussion based activity. This approach might open up new avenues for cross curricular links between science and literacy.     

新型冠状病毒肺炎疫情下特殊儿童正负性情绪及居家干预调查

新型冠状病毒肺炎疫情期间,了解特殊儿童的情绪和行为,以及监护人的应对措施与效果很有意义。本研究调查了1777位特殊儿童监护人,发现:(1)特殊儿童的情绪以正性情绪为主,负性情绪较少,不同的年龄、年级、障碍类别之间存在显著差异;(2)特殊儿童的行为表现整体较好,但仍有43.61%出现了异常行为,行为和正负性情绪之间存在显著正相关;(3)监护人能够快速有效对特殊儿童的情绪和异常行为进行干预,不同的措施取得的效果有所差异。     

Improving Design Understandings and Skills through Enhanced Metacognition: Reflective Design Journals

The main aim of this study was to investigate and discover whether going through the process of reflection by keeping reflective design journals (RDJ) enhances architecture students’ metacognition and whether this enhanced metacognition improves their design understandings and skills. The study was a mixed‐methods design and utilised content analysis method to identify the metacognitive actions of the participants. The study also investigated participants’ attitudes towards RDJs and their views regarding the effect of enhanced metacognition on their design understandings and skills. Twenty college students registered to an undergraduate course offered by the department of Architecture participated in the research. The findings of the study revealed that by writing in their RDJs, participants were able to progressively enhance their metacognitive skills and performed several metacognitive actions by using the four main metacognitive strategies: awareness, organisation and planning, monitoring, and evaluation. The results also disclosed that participants found RDJ keeping exceptionally effective and stated that their enhanced metacognition improved their design understanding and abilities.     

Experiential aspects of exploratory behavior in rats

Twenty-four male rats were reared under three feeding conditions. These conditions manipulated the number and variety of exploratory behaviors required to obtain diets of powdered food and water in feeding boxes. One group performed minimal exploratory responses to obtain their diets. Another group shuttled between two feeding stations, thereby executing several exploratory components, primarily locomotor. The third group performed a considerable number and variety of exploratory components in search of their diets, located unsystematically throughout the feeding box. Adult testing occurred without food and water in an apparatus resembling the feeding boxes. The results showed that exploratory behavior was affected by feeding conditions, enhanced with increased dietary deprivation, and reduced across both trials and within-trial intervals. These results indicate that the particular exploratory behavior measured must be selected by reference to the subjects’ prior experience.