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.     

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。     

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.     

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。     

生命在阅读中成长——论生本教育的阅读理念

生本教育主张学习的主体是儿童生命自身,承认儿童具有学习的天性和无限的潜能,坚持把学习的主动权还给学生,提出学习是生命的自我提升和自我完善的活动。在这样的理论基础之上,生本教育认为阅读是儿童生命体和知识生命体的对话,这种对话是悟感展开与感悟生成的过程,而正是通过感悟,儿童生发了原智、原德和原美,儿童的生命得以自我成长与提升。     

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。     

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"。     

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.     

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.     

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.     

延安非公有制经济发展的对策思考

延安非公有制经济在延安经济发展中发挥着重要的作用，呈现出了发展领域不断拓展、经营规模逐步扩大、发展速度逐年加快、质量效益不断提高的特点。但就目前的发展状况看，仍存在如思想观念滞后、资金投入不足、管理水平落后、人员素质偏低和发展环境欠佳等问题。解决的对策应当主要是切实更新思想观念、做好引导服务工作、加大政策资金扶持、建立现代企业制度和建设一支高素质的企业家与职工队伍等。     

A Theology of Inferiority: Is Christianity the Source of Kinesiology's Second-Class Status in the Academy?

What influence has Christianity had on kinesiology and physical education's status in the Academy? Conventional wisdom within kinesiology often seems to argue that the influence has been quite negative. These critics allege that Christianity is a fundamentally dualistic religion. They allege that, at its best, Christianity is suspicious of the body and that, at its worst, Christianity openly proclaims that the body is evil. Despite the popularity of such assertions, there is abundant evidence in both historical and contemporary theology to show that Christianity is a religion in which corporeality plays a central, defining, and positive role. From Saint Paul to Saint Augustine, from Saint Aquinas to the present day, it has been a central doctrine of Christianity that the human body is good and, furthermore, that corporeality plays a vital role in salvation. Consequently, any blanket assertion that Christianity is the source of physical education and kinesiology's ills is fundamentally misleading and mistaken.     

对贫困地区中小学校长存在问题的分析与思考

通过对贵州省贫困地区中小学校长基本信息、个人素质、教育思想的调查与分析，发现部分校长存在一些不容忽视的问题，主要是基本条件不达标，选拔方式单一、敬业精神不够、学校管理流于一般、知识功底较薄弱，教育技术运用较困难、缺乏现代教育观。     

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.     

A microgenetic/cross-sectional study of matrix completion: comparing short-term and long-term change

A design that included both microgenetic and cross-sectional components was used to examine 135 Slovenian children's acquisition of matrix completion proficiency and compare microgenetic and age-related changes on the task. The microgenetic analyses indicated that children's errors became increasingly variable shortly before they discovered the correct strategy, that the correct strategy became dominant quite quickly following its initial use, that improvements in matrix completion performance generalized to conservation, and that amount of learning correlated positively with IQ. The microgenetic/cross-sectional comparison, which involved contrasting the changes that occurred over seven experimental sessions with the changes that occurred between ages 6 and 7 years, indicated that the two patterns of change were highly similar.     

从第七届中国国际机床展览会谈我国机床工业的挑战与对策

伴随着和熙的春风，由中国机床工具工业协会主办的第七届中国国际机床展览会于２００１年４月１９日－２５日在北京市中国国际展览中心隆重举行。 这次展览会是在人类刚刚步入２１世纪，是在我国作出西部大开发的战略决策，是在中国即将加入ＷＴＯ的时代背景下举行的，因而倍受党中央，国家经贸委并引起世界各国的瞩目。 这次展览会共设展馆九个，中外参展厂商达１０００多家，其中国内展商６００多家，国外展商４００多家，其参展商家之多，展品之丰富，为历届展览会之最。中国的北京第一机床厂，北京机床研究所，济南第一机床厂，沈阳第一…     

Gender Equality in Preschool STEM Programs as a Factor Determining Russia’s Successful Technological Development

The article discusses the importance of introducing training programs for preschool children that allow them to master basic knowledge in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM subjects) as an academic basis for the technological transition that is currently taking place in the modern world. It is shown that when preschool students study STEM subjects, it gives them a great advantage later in elementary, middle, and high school. As a result of our investigation of STEM subjects for preschoolers and the gender considerations that should be incorporated into successful teaching strategies, we have concluded that together with the preparation and institutionalization of such training programs it is necessary to teach the designers of educational programs as well as educators about the specific features that characterize how boys and girls learn. A curriculum that takes gender differences into account is one that does not allow the development of a gender dichotomy in education. Rather, it should ensure that both boys and girls have equal motivation and a positive attitude about STEM subjects.     

Implementing the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD): achievements, open questions and strategies for the way forward

This paper looks at the implementation of the DESD from a global perspective. It takes the position that quality education is fundamental for learning how to live sustainably, and that the DESD needs to be better positioned in the education landscape and conceived as a global social movement that must be fostered and nurtured for the well-being of humankind. It suggests that, while there has been progress, much remains to be achieved. Several key challenges are identified. With regard to overcoming these obstacles, it focuses on macro-level strategies that would allow the development of environments in which actions can take root and grow so that the work of the DESD endures beyond the decade itself. Finally, it suggests that there are some opportunities that can be seized to make the task ahead easier to accomplish.     

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。