Learning about qualitatively different outcomes during a blocking procedure

In four experiments, rat subjects were used in appetitive Pavlovian magazine-approach and instrumental conditioning procedures. Experiments 1 and 2 found successful blocking of the Pavlovian conditioning of X when it was reinforced in an AX compound after prior conditioning of A. This occurred whether the outcome following AX was the same as or qualitatively different from what followed A. Experiment 3 repeated those findings but also used a transfer procedure to identify the individual associations between X and outcomes. Stimulus X developed an association with the outcome following AX when that outcome differed from that following A alone but not when it was the same as that following A alone. Experiment 4 repeated that pattern of observations for the case of an X that was an instrumental discriminative stimulus. These results suggest that different associative structures may result from a qualitatively changed and unchanged outcome in a blocking experiment. The results are related to comparable findings for the case of overexpectation.     

体验学习影响小学生创造性人格发展的实验研究

在工具理性主义的教育模式与考试制度的夹击之下,我国小学生的创造性人格产生了严重的畸变现象。本研究引进当代世界最杰出的体验学习专家大卫·库伯的体验学习理论并进行本土化重构,通过情境的合理创设降低活动的冒险性,精心设计趣味盎然的游戏、活动和问题解决的情境,利用班会或课余时间开展系列主题活动。实验结果表明,小学生的创造性人格无论是整体水平,还是想象力、挑战性、冒险性、好奇性四个维度都得到显著提升,这也为我国创新人才的早期培养开启出一条新的路径。     

Prospective teachers' initial conceptions about pupils' understanding of science and mathematics

Earlier reports have shown that prospective teachers' conceptions about teaching science to a high degree are resistant and do not change substantially during the teacher‐training programme. In our investigation we elucidate the prospective teachers' initial conceptions about pupils' understanding of science and mathematics. We applied ‘The Lesson Preparation Method' and used a phenomenographic approach in order to reveal the range of conceptions that the prospective teachers hold. A third of the prospective teachers did not consider pupils' conceptions when planning lessons. The rest of the 32 participants expressed awareness; some of the prospective teachers even referred to subject‐specific teaching experience. Also regarding the prospective teachers' conceptions about pupils' knowledge and beliefs, as well as about pupils' difficulties, there was a significant diversity. By raising these issues about pedagogical content knowledge the prospective teachers' conceptions can be extended and developed during the education.     

Using analogy to overcome misconceptions about conservation of matter

A new approach to change misconceptions of students is to build on ideas which match their students' existing intuitive knowledge. This can be done by analogy. The use of an analogical relation between the known and the unknown can help students learn new information and discard or modify misconceptions. Previous studies have confirmed this result in such areas as mathematics. The present study examined the use of analogical instruction to overcome misconceptions about conservation of matter. Students who understood the concept of conservation of matter when iodine was evaporated were able to transfer their understanding to the evaporation of acetone. This indicates that teaching by analogy can be an effective tool in science. The author is now studying the relative effectiveness of conflict training and learning by analogy.     

Eliminating common misconceptions about behavioral psychology: One step toward increased academic productivity

The present article emphasizes the compatibility of behavioral psychology and behavioral interventions in the classroom with today's demands for educational excellence and accountability by classroom teachers. Teacher resistance to the implementation of behavioral interventions is discussed with respect to various misconceptions involving perceived practical obstacles. Misconceptions are corrected and practical suggestions for implementing behavioral interventions are provided. The use of behavioral interventions to achieve accountability and improved student performance is emphasized.     

Conceptions and misconceptions about neuroscience in preschool teachers: a study from Argentina

Background: Teachers’ conceptions and misconceptions about neuroscience are crucial in establishing a proper dialogue between neuroscience and education. In recent years, studies in different countries have examined primary and secondary school teachers’ conceptions. However, although preschool education has proved its importance to later academic outcomes, there is limited investigation of neuroscience conceptions focused exclusively on preschool teachers.

Purpose: The present study sought to explore preschool teachers’ conceptions and misconceptions about neuroscience in an Argentine setting.

Sample, design and methods: We used quantitative and qualitative approaches to explore concepts about neuroscience, including specific neuromyths. Data were collected using a 24-statement questionnaire and 5 in-depth interviews. The survey was administered to 204 teachers of children between the ages of 0–5-years in Argentina.

Results and conclusions: Results from this exploratory study suggested a relatively high level of general knowledge of neuroscience amongst the preschool teachers in the study. However, three particular issues seemed unclear for teachers: memory, plasticity and the myth that ‘we only use 10% of the brain’. Specifically, ‘memory’ was understood as ‘learning by heart’; neural underpinnings of memory and plasticity processes were unknown; and the myth that we only use 10% of the brain was used to explain individual differences in intelligence in a straightforward way. In addition, anecdotal evidence was used by teachers to justify their conceptions about neuroscience. Finally, the wider implications of these results for bridging neuroscience and education are discussed.     

漫谈做学问的学问——在首届全国博士生学术论坛上的特邀报告

关于影响做学问的因素,我想从两方面来谈,一方面是科学家、科技工作者本身的一些职业特质;另一方面是一般的正常人、非科学家特性的素质。 在科学家特质方面,首先,做科学研究的第一要点是要牢牢地抓住科学问题不放。一旦抓住一个关键的科学问题,就要在研究过程中不断地完善自己的实力,做好方方面面的准备,想尽各种各样的办法,拼命去解决相关的一个一个问题。例如在基因组研究中,人和小鼠的基因组约90％都是一样的,那     

Misconceptions in Van den Broeck's representation of misconceptions about learning disability research

The methods and conclusions of Van den Broeck (in this issue) are evaluated from two perspectives: (a) statistical considerations and (b) theoretical models of IQ and achievement, specifically reading achievement. We consider the statistical model proposed by Van den Broeck for the regression-based discrepancy model (RDM) to be either irrelevant or conceptually inconsistent with current models of IQ and achievement. The resulting simulation produced exemplar cases that are not realistic in terms of practice. The theoretical representations of IQ and achievement were, in our understanding, inconsistent with contemporary models of either. We suggest that acceptable models support the use of the RDM as it has been proposed by us and by others as one component of the determination of the presence or absence of a learning disability.     

Booktalk Dilemmas: Teachers' organisation of pupils' reading

The syllabus for mother tongue teaching in Sweden states that an essential goal is that pupils, in conversation with others, should be able to express feelings and thoughts evoked by literature. The present paper addresses how schools try to promote pupils' reading, examining authentic school-run booktalk conversations from a discursive approach. The data consists of video-recorded sessions with small groups of pupils in Grades 4-7. A series of booktalk dilemmas were identified. The so-called book clubs studied were aimed at promoting reading for pleasure. Yet, literary practices were, at times, transformed into calculating tasks, vocabulary lessons or reading aloud exercises. Another complication concerned the synchronising of the pupils' reading, which led to extensive negotiations on the part of teacher and pupils.     

Perceived seriousness of pupils' undesirable behaviours: the student teachers' perspective

The effective management of pupils' undesirable behaviours in the classroom represents a major challenge for teachers. In order to better comprehend the difficulties facing them it is important to examine how they perceive pupil behaviours at different stages of their professional development. The present study examined the effects of teaching experience and pupil and teacher gender on student teachers' perceptions of the seriousness of various forms of undesirable behaviours. A structured questionnaire was completed by 243 student teachers, regarding the perceived seriousness of 25 behaviours in boys and girls. Results indicated that both teaching experience and pupil gender were important moderators of their perceptions. For instance, novice student teachers rated overtly antisocial behaviours as serious, whereas their experienced counterparts gave higher ratings of seriousness to internalising forms of behaviour. A degree of gender stereotyping was also apparent in the perceptions of mainly novice teachers. The accumulation of teaching experience may help direct teacher attention to more subtle aspects of pupil behaviour difficulties and may reduce gender stereotyping.     

小学生性格发展的测验研究

从发展的角度研究小学生的性格和智力发展的关系。     

Assessment matters: Learning about learning communities: Consider the variables

Learning communities come in many forms. Indiana University's Gary Pike shares four research‐based lessons to guide the assessment of all of them.     

The double curse of misconceptions: misconceptions impair not only text comprehension but also metacomprehension in the domain of statistics

Research shows that misconceptions are usually detrimental to text comprehension. However, whether misconceptions also impair metacomprehension accuracy, that is, the accuracy with which one self-assesses one’s text comprehension, has received far less attention. We conducted a study in which we examined students’ (N = 47) comprehension and metacomprehension accuracy (prediction accuracy and postdiction accuracy) of a statistics text as a function of their statistical misconceptions. Text comprehension and metacomprehension accuracy referred to both conceptual and procedural aspects of statistics. The results showed that students who had more misconceptions achieved poorer conceptual text comprehension and, at the same time, provided more overconfident predictions of their conceptual and procedural text comprehension than students who had fewer misconceptions. In contrast, postdiction accuracy of conceptual and procedural text comprehension was not affected by misconceptions.     

Learning about earthquakes: getting serious about authenticity in computer-supported learning

The discovery or re-construction of scientific explanations and understanding based on experience is a complex process, for which school learning often uses shortcuts. On the basis of the example of analyzing real seismic measurements, we propose a computer-facilitated collaborative learning scenario which meets many of the requirements for authentic learning, knowledge construction, and collaboration. The implementation of the learning environment called SeisModes is based on a general platform for supporting collaborative modeling activities. SeisModes provides a tool to allow students collaboratively learn about earthquakes and thus reduce the fears they might have concerning them. First formal evaluations showed the approach motivates students.     

浅谈英语口语的学习方法

随着我国改革开放的深入,对外贸易往来的增多,以及外资机构和企业在华增多,英语这一国际语言的使用日益频繁,尤其是英语口语作为交流的必备工具,它的使用更加重要,但目前我国大学生的口语水平还存在着一定的差距。口语训练作为英语教学的内容之一,是教学的重点亦是教学的难点,但只要掌握了科学的训练方式,还是可以收到事半功倍的效果的。     

Educational dialogues and the fostering of pupils' independence: the practices of two teachers

If the purpose of an educational system is to guide pupils towards achieving independence, then certain conditions about the design and conduct of that system must be met. In this paper, those conditions are formulated from a socio‐cultural perspective on learning and development. This paper examines the extent to which those conditions were fulfilled by teachers judged ‘good’ by their pupils and by school management in a case‐study in two Montessori secondary schools. Because discourse is assumed to play a central role when pupils work on assignments with the teacher assisting them, dialogues occurring in various teaching‐learning situations were analysed. The types of language genre used by the teachers and pupils were found to be important characteristics of the ongoing dialogues. The main results were that ‘good’ teachers excel in the adoption of a personal approach to pupils, but they work much more intuitively than systematically or deliberately to stimulate pupils' development of higher mental functions.     

微观分析与宏观把握——高校教学过程中降低学习成本初探

学习成本是为达成一定的学习目的而在物质上、精神上付出的全部。在高校教学过程,降低学生的学习成本可以有效地提高教学效果。同时,某门课程的学习成本与课程难度有着正相关性。那么降低课程的学习成本的问题可以归结为降低课程的难度问题。而通对整个课程的教学过程进行精益化分析,可以找到教学过程各阶段可能存在的降低课程难度的方法和策略,从而实现由对教学过程的微观分析到实现了整体教学效果提高的宏观把握。     

Describing the cognitive landscape in learning and teaching about forces

This study focuses on student and in-service primary teachers learning about balanced and unbalanced forces in a range of contexts and identifies significant features of the learning process from the learners' perspectives. It describes how students are able to apply key ideas about forces from their own learning about floating and sinking to a range of contexts including structures and aspects of motion. In exploring how understanding is constructed important implications are raised with respect to the pedagogic knowledge required of teachers in the Initial Teacher Training National Curriculum in the UK.