Examiner scoring of ambiguous WISC-R responses

Fabricated test protocols were used to study how effectively examiners agree in scoring ambiguous WISC-R responses. Clinical and school psychologists (N = 62) and graduate students (N = 48) scored WISC-R Similarities, Comprehension, and Vocabulary responses obtained in a group administration procedure. From over 15,000 responses obtained, only unusual, atypical, or ambiguous responses were selected; 726 responses were scored, with 11 groups of 10 raters each scoring 66 responses. Considerable scoring disagreement occurred. Unanimous agreement (within each group of 10 raters) was found on only 13% of the responses, while 80% of the raters agreed on 44% of the responses. Rates of scoring agreement were not related to level of rater experience, but were related to specific subtests. Higher rates of agreement were found on the Similarities and Comprehension subtests than on the Vocabulary subtest for both experienced and inexperienced raters. The results suggest that even with the improved WISC-R manual, scoring remains a difficult and challenging task.     

The development of ambiguous figure perception

Ambiguous figures have fascinated researchers for almost 200 years. The physical properties of these figures remain constant, yet two distinct interpretations are possible; these reverse (switch) from one percept to the other. The consensus is that reversal requires complex interaction of perceptual bottom-up and cognitive top-down elements. The specific processes that allow the phenomenal experience of reversal remain mysterious. This monograph has two aims: first, to identify specific processes of the reversal phenomenon by using a developmental approach. Second, to use ambiguous figures as a research tool to shed more light onto children's developing understanding of pictorial representation. Four studies (7 experiments), each involving around sixty 3-, 4-, and 5-year-old children, using multiple tasks, yielded the following conclusions. The concept of ambiguity develops between the ages of 3 and 4 (Study 1). Understanding ambiguity requires pictorial metarepresentation and is associated with understanding mental (false beliefs) and linguistic representation (synonymy, homonymy). This suggests a broader conceptual development of representation around the age of 4. The perception of ambiguity develops between 4 and 5 years (Study 2). Within this age range children also develop inhibitory (Study 3) and image generation abilities (Study 4). These are key processes allowing reversal. Further, when task demands are changed (prompted reversal task; feature identification), children's reversal reaches ceiling by the age of 5 (Studies 2, 3, and 4). The conclusion is a two-stage empirical model of reversal: During Stage 1 (between 3 and 4 years), children develop the conception of pictorial ambiguity (top-down knowledge). During Stage 2 (between 4 and 5 years) children develop the necessary additional processes for reversal to occur (inhibition and image generation). These are the key specific top-down and bottom-up developments underlying the phenomenon of ambiguous figure reversal. They correspond to the distinction of ambiguity and reversibility highlighted in adult research.     

Verbal reasoning test scores and their stability over time

As part of an extended study into school assessment practices the use of verbal reasoning tests and their possible contribution to measuring pupil progress is being investigated. One phase of the study has involved testing the stability of individual verbal reasoning scores over time. The findings of this phase are presented here and located within the broader context of intelligence testing. The discussion concludes with a number of questions relating to the use of pupils’ academic achievements as appropriate measures of school success. The ongoing work considers how pupil success could be measured fairly, taking into account individual pupil differences, including both genetic and socio-economic factors. The work being developed has potential for both formative and summative assessment procedures and also as a tool for reporting the achievements of individual pupils and educational establishments. The full work will be published in due course.     

Turkey Warning

Tell me.Mr.Turkey,Don’t you feel afraidWhen you hear us talkingAbout the plans we’ve made?     

试论新闻报道中应用模糊语言的必要性

文章主要从理论和新闻实践两个方面论述新闻报道中恰当使用模糊语言的必要性,并指出新闻报道中不宜滥用模糊语言。只有恰当地使用模糊语言,遵循新闻写作规律,才能为新闻报道增色。     

告诫与承诺--论开展保持共产党员先进性教育活动的重要意义

新时期开展党员先进性教育活动,一方面为全党指明了努力的方向,同时又为我们提出了告诫和承诺:党员要时刻牢记自已是“有共产主义觉悟的先锋战士”。只有这样我们党才能与时俱进,不辱使命。     

Navigating the ambiguous policy landscape of student participation

ABSTRACT

Student participation at school is receiving heightened attention through international evidence connecting it to a range of benefits including student learning, engagement, citizenship and wellbeing, as well as to overall school improvement. Yet the notion of student participation remains an ambiguous concept, and one that challenges many deeply entrenched norms of traditional schooling.

Informed by understandings of ‘participation’ linked to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, this article takes the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW) as a case study to explore how student participation is currently articulated in educational policy. It reports the findings of an analysis of 142 state and federal government policy-related documents, along with qualitative interview data from nine policy personnel. The findings suggest that students are conceptualised within these policies in contradictory ways, interpretations of participation are diverse yet frequently instrumentalist, and there is little conceptual coherence across the educational policy landscape in NSW in relation to ‘student participation’. The findings are discussed in light of international interest around student participation. The analytical framework used in this analysis is proposed as a possible tool for critically examining the place and purpose of student participation at school, regardless of jurisdiction.

Abbrevations: NSW = the Australian state of New South Wales; UNCRC = United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child; SRC = Student Representative Council     

A Cheating Warning

①Put the lid on the box.盒盖也要盖上。②Put the sign card with“Notaking the cake”.再放上一块“不准偷吃”的牌子。③Great!Daddy bought acake again.太好了!爸爸又买蛋糕了。④What would you say thistime?这次你没话说了吧?A Cheating Warning@麦克~~     

数字的警示

素有“万物之灵”之称的人类，凭借自己的聪明才智和勤劳的双手，利用地球上的资源，为自己创造了一个个高度发达的物质文明。高楼大厦随处可见，如网的交通线在地球上延伸，一个个工业区在不同地方勾勒出人类的文明与进步，超市中的商品琳琅满目……当人类在充分享受物质文明的同时，接踵而来的环境危机也在为人类敲响警钟，让人类痛心疾首。让我们一同走进一组组令人触目惊心的数字。     

英语中it的模糊用法探讨

通过探讨模糊“it”在某些具体语言环境中的运用,指出英语学习者在注意“it”的习惯用法的同时,应当更加注意“it”的模糊用法,以提高自身对英语语言的鉴赏能力。     

Acquisition and transfer of control by an ambiguous cue

In three experiments, the specificity of action of occasion setters was examined, using a discretetrial leverpress procedure. Rats’ acquisition of anXA+, A?, XB?, B+ discrimination, in which a single feature cue (X) signaled the reinforcement of responding in the presence of one target cue (A) and the nonreinforcement of responding during another target (B), was no more difficult than acquisition ofXA+, A?, X?, B+ orX+, A?, XB?, B+ discriminations, in whichX signaled only one target-response-reinforcement contingency. In transfer tests,X did not modulate responding controlled by other cues that were untrained or consistently reinforced, either when the elements of the compounds were presented serially or when they were presented simultaneously in training and testing. However, after serial, but not after simultaneous, compound training ,X facilitated responding controlled by a cue that was trained and then extinguished. Implications for the nature of occasion setting and configurai learning are discussed.     

瘟疫的警示

文章通过解读丹尼尔·笛福的《伦敦大瘟疫亲历记》 ,描述了人类在瘟疫面前的世态百相 ,揭示瘟疫对人类的危害、影响与警示 ,以及人类对瘟疫灾难的反思。     

常见的结构歧义句及其避免歧义的策略

英语语音,词汇和句法三大因素导致的英语中的歧义句是普遍存在的。本文从句法入手,通过实例,对英语中常见的几种结构歧义句作了列举和阐述,并且对如何排除此类歧义提出了行之有效的办法。     

英语从句关联词歧义现象的消解

英语从属句是一种有别于汉语句法的特殊句式,中国语言学界非常重视,在英汉翻译、英汉对照等方面都傲了大量的研究工作。本文用例句总结常用的歧义结构,并利用句法规则对消歧问题进行了深入探讨。