Discriminative stimuli that follow the absence of reinforcement are preferred by pigeons over those that follow reinforcement

Clement, Feltus, Kaiser, and Zentall (2000) found that when pigeons have to work to obtain a discriminative stimulus that is followed by reinforcement, they prefer a discriminative stimulus that requires greater effort over one that requires less effort. The authors suggested that such a preference results from the greater change in hedonic value that occurs between the more aversive event and the onset of the stimulus that signals reinforcement, a contrast effect. It was hypothesized that any stimulus that follows a relatively more aversive event would be preferred over a stimulus that follows a relatively less aversive event. In the present experiment, the authors tested the counterintuitive prediction of that theory, that pigeons should prefer a discriminative stimulus that follows the absence of reinforcement over a discriminative stimulus that follows reinforcement. Results supported the theory.     

Aims of Education: How to Resist the Temptation of Technocratic Models

A technocratic model of curriculum design that has been highly influential since the middle of last century assumes that the aims of education can be, and should be: 1. Causally brought about by administering educational experiences; 2. Specified as objectives that can be attained, reached or completed; 3. Changes in students that are described in advance. Richard S. Peters argued against the first of these three tenets by making a distinction between aims that are causally brought about by the means and aims that are constituted by the means. I argue that further distinctions between ways in which ends and means can be related throw doubt on the remaining two tenets. My argument against the second one rests on a distinction between open aims that cannot be completed and closed aims that can be reached. I use a third distinction, between aims as principles of design and aims as principles of reform, to show that the third tenet of the technocratic model is also suspect. I conclude that a realistic view of educational aims must take into account that they are more multifarious than envisaged by the technocratic model of curriculum design.     

Detectability of correctness: A measure of knowing that one knows

It is important to know that one knows, to be able to discriminate what one knows from what one does not, since that is a basis for making decisions about using and augmenting one's knowledge. A measure of knowing that one knows has been proposed, the detectability of correctness, the ability to discriminate those answers that one gives that are correct from those that are incorrect. This paper presents the background of the problem of knowing that one knows, points out how previous efforts at measurement have been faulty and presents empirical results that indicate that detectability of correctness is a valid and stable measure.     

教育实践美的审视

本文通过对教育实践美的理性分析,认为教师独特风格是教育实践美的形式,流畅体验是教育实践美的主体感受,自由创造是教育实践美的智慧,实践伦理是教育实践美的理性升华,教育生态是教育实践美的生命关照,教师合宜的行为是教育实践美的形象,身处同一心境是教育实践美的最高境界。     

Culture and the Common School

This essay addresses the question: given the flattening out of the cultural hierarchy that was the vestige of colonialism and nation‐building, is there anything that might be uniquely common about the common school in this postmodern age? By ‘uniquely common’ I do not mean those subjects that all schools might teach, such as reading or arithmetic. Nor do I mean just subjects that might serve a larger public purpose, but that might be taught in either publicly supported or privately supported schools. Rather I mean subjects that speak to the shaping of a child's identity as a member of a common community in the way that the common school was intended to create when its commission was to develop and maintain a single national or colonial identity and loyalty. I argue that there is a kind of connectivity that common schools should foster even as the nation‐building and colonial past is rejected, and that this connectivity is what is common about the common schools. I argue that any concept of culture that merely flattens out the normative dimension of educating is deficient as an educational theory, and propose a conception of culture that is educationally productive.     

An Objectivist Critique of Relativism in Mathematics Education

Many constructivists tag as `absolutist' references to mathematics as an abstract body of knowledge, and stake-out the moral high-ground with the argument that mathematics is not only utilised oppressively but that mathematics is, in-itself, oppressive. With much reference to Ernest's (1991) Philosophy of Mathematics Education this tag has been justified on the grounds that if mathematics is a social-cultural creation that is mutable and fallible then it must be social acceptance that confers the objectivity of mathematics. This paper argues that mathematics, albeit a social-cultural creation that is mutable and fallible, is a body of knowledge the objectivity of which is independent of origin or social acceptance. Recently, Ernest (1998) has attempted to express social constructivism as a philosophy of mathematics and has included the category of logical necessity in his elaboration of the objectivity of mathematics. We argue that this inclusion of logical necessity not only represents a U-turn, but that the way in which Ernest has included this category is an attempt to maintain his earlier position that it is social acceptance that confers the objectivity of mathematics.     

当前幼儿园美术教育的新变化、面临的问题及其对策

当前幼儿园美术教育的新变化主要表现在：其教育目标由单一的技能训练转变为全面的素质培养：其作品内容由具有显著共性转变为注重个性；其画具材料由少而简单转变为丰富多样；教学方法的变化则表现在综合概念的产生和多样性上；其活动评价方法由重视活动结果转变为重视活动过程。问题有：师资队伍整体水平较低；家长对幼儿美术教育认识不正确，等等。     

教育实践美的审视

本文通过对教育实践美的理性分析,认为教师独特风格是教育实践关的形式,流畅体验是教育实践美的主体感受,自由创造是教育实践美的智慧,实践伦理是教育实践美的理性升华．教育生态是教育实践美的生命关照,教师合宜的行为是教育实践关的形象．身处“同一心境”是教育实践美的最高境界。     

《易》为群经之首溯源

文章列举了关于"六经"的三种主要排列次序,以探讨<易>居"六经"之首排列次序的形成过程,并追溯其形成的原因.认为<七略>以<易>居"六经"之首与当时汉代的整个学术背景及刘歆本人的治学特点有关,这也是后人以<易>居群经之首的根源所在.     

外部不经济性环境行为的法律责任调整

从环境行为外部不经济性理论的产生、政府对外部不经济性环境行为进行干预的经济学基础两方面分析，环境法律责任的经济学基础是环境行为对环境产生的外部不经济性。基于此，政府必须利用法律责任对外部不经济性环境行为进行干预，甚至通过环境民事、行政和刑事法律责任对其进行调整。     

Realities and Feelings in the Work of Primary Heads

This article examines the affective nature of day‐to‐day primary school headship. The author points to differences in the kinds of tasks that heads do each day and suggests that these determine their prevailing feelings. A distinction is made between work that merely keeps the school operating and work that helps the head to shape the school. It is argued that the former provides few satisfactions for heads, while satisfactions gained from the latter are often transient. Spending time with children is an aspect of ‘personal work’ that provides heads with their most deeply felt satisfactions. One effect of the government's reforms is to intensify those features of heads’ work that offer little emotional sustenance, while eroding those that do     

现代远程教育自主性学习的生态环境初探

自主性学习是现代远程开放教育中倡导的一种学习理念。开展现代远程开放教育的教育机构应该构建一个利于自主性学习开展的环境和氛围。可以从情感心理环境、科技人文环境、咨询指导环境、媒体资源环境、网络通讯环境、交互协作环境、课程教学环境和评价激励环境等八个方面构建自主性学习的生态环境。     

西部民族地区"普九"后义务教育存在的问题与成因

考察表明,我国“普九”后的西部民族地区存在着学校负债严重、教师收入偏低、班额和校均学生人数太多、教师队伍整体素质不高、教学效益低下等问题。主要是“普九”是作为一项政治任务来完成的,国家“普九”经费数额远远不够,许多学校是迫于压力而借债“普九”等。     

略论邓小平政治体制改革理论的主要特点

邓小平政治体制改革理论的主要特点是 :发展了传统的马克思主义国家学说和政治制度理论 ;从上层建筑与经济基础二者关系的基本理论出发 ,提出并强调改革的必要性、紧迫性 ;强调政治体制改革不能脱离中国的国情 ;提出中国的政治体制改革 ,仍然有从思想政治上继续肃清封建主义残余影响的任务 ;高度突出制度建设在政治体制改革中的地位     

Contextual influences: building brand community in large and small colleges

This research extends recent efforts that have introduced and empirically tested a conceptual model of brand community in the context of higher education. This emerging literature has indicated that brand community provides a framework that can inform and guide marketing investments in ways that lead to affinity and stronger loyalty to the brand and institution. This paper presents the results of a national survey that examines the potential impact that institutional size may have on the relationships of an alumni brand community. This paper also explores the implications of the size of the educational institution on relevant and desired marketing outcomes that include the willingness to recommend the university to friends and family and a desire to purchase licensed apparel.     

Critical Thinking Beyond Skill

The aim of this article is to investigate possibilities for conceptions of critical thinking beyond the established educational framework that emphasizes skills. Distancing ourselves from the older rationalist framework, we explain that what we think wrong with the skills perspective is, amongst other things, its absolutization of performativity and outcomes. In reviewing the relevant discourse, we accept that it is possible for the skills paradigm to be change‐friendly and context‐sensitive but we argue that it is oblivious to other, non‐purposive kinds of rationality that are indispensable to critical thought. Our suggestion is that there is an aporetic element in critical thought that is missing from contemporary educational positions. We consider some other efforts to redeem the surplus of criticality that performativity fails to take into account and conclude that the aporetic element that we highlight accommodates better than other theories do the significance of thematizing the taken‐for‐granted instead of focusing on problem solving.     

Knowledge of the alphabet and explicit awareness of phonemes in pre-readers: The nature of the relationship

This study was carried out to examine the extent to which preschool children are aware of the phonemic structure of the spoken word and to investigate how they acquire that knowledge. The four year old non-readers carried out a battery of takss designed to assess product name reading ability, knowledge of the alphabet, rhyme skills and explicit phonemic awareness ability. There was evidence that they generally acquired knowledge of the alphabet before they showed explicit phonemic awareness ability. Fixed order regression analyses showed that ability to read and write the alphabet generally accounted for unique variance in phoneme awareness and product name reading ability over and above that accounted for by rhyme skills but that rhyme ability accounted for no unique variance beyond that accounted for by alphabet knowledge. Further analyses showed that alphabet knowledge also contributed unique variance to product name reading ability over and above that accounted for by phonemic awareness ability but that the reverse was not the case. It was hypothesised that many preschool non-readers may start to gain an insight into the phonemic structure of the spoken word by becoming aware of the connection between the sounds of letters in environmental print and the sounds of the spoken word.     

Taking the Scientist’s Perspective

The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS Lead States 2013) mandates that schools provide students an understanding of the skills and knowledge that scientists use to engage in scientific practices. In this article, I argue that one of the best ways to accomplish this goal is to have students take the perspective of the scientist by reading nonfiction narratives written by scientists and science writers. I explore the anthropological and neurological evidence that suggests that perspective-taking is an essential component in the learning process. It has been shown that by around age 4, the human child begins to be able to take the perspective of others—a process that neuroscientists have shown engages episodic memory, a memory type that some neurocognitive scientists believe is central in organizing human cognition. Neuroscientists have shown that the brain regions in which episodic memory resides undergo pronounced anatomical changes during adolescence, suggesting that perspective-taking assumes an even greater role in cognition during adolescence and young adulthood. Moreover, I argue that the practice of science itself is narrative in nature. With each new observation and experiment, the scientist is acting to reveal an emerging story. It is the story-like nature of science that motivates the scientist to push onward with new experiments and new observations. It is also the story-like nature of the practice of science that can potentially engage the student. The classroom studies that I review here confirm the power of the narrative in increasing students’ understanding of science.     

Necessary and sufficient conditions for communication of diet preferences by Norway rats

Rats that (1) either ate a small sample of one or two foods (Diet A or Diet B) or interacted with a demonstrator that had eaten either Diet A or Diet B, (2) ate both Diets A and B in succession, and (3) were made ill preferred whichever of the two foods they or their respective demonstrators had eaten. Although eating a food and interacting with a demonstrator that had eaten that food were each sufficient to enhance preference for the food, eating particles of food clinging to the fur of a demonstrator was not necessary for enhancement of preference for the food that a demonstrator ate. Subjects exposed to demonstrators they could not physically contact still exhibited enhanced preference for the food that their demonstrator had eaten. The data were discussed as indicating that although smelling a diet, eating a diet, and interacting with a demonstrator that had eaten a diet can each enhance preference for that diet, it cannot be inferred that eating a food, smelling a food, and interacting with a demonstrator that has eaten a food each affect diet preference via the same process.     

论远程教育促进生成的教学内容设计策略

远程教育平台支持下的网络授课的教学内容设计应强调促进生成,同时,在平台支持下,促进生成的教学内容设计具备可能性。促进生成的教学内容设计可以关注六个元素,将它们有机地融入教学内容设计中:"引发猜想的元素"、"触发联想的元素"、"在场感的制造"、"接受障碍的设置"、"融入不确定性知识"、"教学留白"。