Solving Pavlov's puzzle: Attentional, associative, and flexible configural mechanisms in classical conditioning

This article introduces a new "real-time" model of classical conditioning that combines attentional, associative, and "flexible" configural mechanisms. In the model, attention to both conditioned (CS) and configural (CN) stimuli are modulated by the novelty detected in the environment. Novelty increases with the unpredicted presence or absence of any CS, unconditioned stimulus (US), or context. Attention regulates the magnitude of the associations CSs and CNs form with other CSs and the US. We incorporate a flexible configural mechanism in which attention to the CN stimuli increases only after the model has unsuccessfully attempted learn input-output combinations with CS-US associations. That is, CSs become associated with the US and other CSs on fewer trials than they do CNs. Because the CSs activate the CNs through unmodifiable connections, a CS can become directly and indirectly (through the CN) associated with the US or other CSs. In order to simulate timing processes, we simply assume that a CS is formed by a temporal spectrum of short-duration CSs that are activated by the nominal CS trace. The model accurately describes 94?% of the basic properties of classical conditioning, using fixed model parameters and simulation values in all simulations.     

Action learning: how learning transfers from entrepreneurs to small firms

This paper presents research with small- and medium-sized enterprise (SME) owners who have participated in a leadership development programme. The primary focus of this paper is on learning transfer and factors affecting it, arguing that entrepreneurs must engage in ‘action’ in order to ‘learn’ and that under certain conditions they may transfer learning to their firm. This paper draws on data from 19 focus groups undertaken from 2010 to 2012, involving 51 participants in the LEAD Wales programme. It considers the literatures exploring learning transfer and develops a conceptual framework, outlining four areas of focus for entrepreneurial learning. Utilising thematic analysis, it describes and evaluates what (actual facts and information) and how (techniques, styles of learning) participants transfer and what actions they take to improve the business and develop their people. This paper illustrates the complex mechanisms involved in this process and concludes that action learning is a method of facilitating entrepreneurial learning which is able to help address some of the problems of engagement, relevance and value that have been highlighted previously. This paper concludes that the efficacy of an entrepreneurial learning intervention in SMEs may depend on the effectiveness of learning transfer.     

Assessment for equity: learning how to use evidence to scaffold learning and improve teaching

Abstract

This article examines evidence regarding the assessment learning of preservice teachers (PTs) in a new Master of Teaching designed to prepare teachers to address the less than equitable outcomes of certain groups of students in New Zealand. The assessment curriculum was integrated across all of the courses and the in-school experiences as one of six interconnected facets of practice for equity. Evidence about the assessment learning of 27 preservice teachers was collected using a survey, interpretive analysis of three assignments and a focus group interview. The findings demonstrated that preservice teachers combined theory and practice encountered in many contexts to build the assessment understanding and competence needed to address equity issues. We argue that this was facilitated by incorporating the assessment curriculum within each course, intertwining university and school experiences, and the specific focus on addressing equity throughout the programme.     

Motivation and learning activities: how research could proceed

Applying classical concepts of achievement motivation theory to learning at school was only partly successful. The constructs were defined in a rather abstract way. Thus it was hardly possible to make true predictions or give recommendations for individual cases. With the help of the Extended Motivation Model (Heckhausen, 1977), these difficulties could be overcome. However, it only made it possible to determine the strength of motivation to learn and could not answer the question of which specific learning activities a learner would choose. Because of this we suggest a model that closes the gap between motivation and performed learning activities.     

How do we do this: learning how to teach socioscientific issues

Cultural Studies of Science Education - Socioscientific Issues (SSI) provide a strong framework for engaging students and teachers in meaningful and relevant scientific discourse in the development...     

Peer collaboration: the relation of regulatory behaviors to learning with hypermedia

Peer collaboration is a pedagogical method currently used to facilitate learning in classrooms. Similarly, computer-learning environments (CLEs) are often used to promote student learning in science classrooms, in particular. However, students often have difficulty utilizing these environments effectively. Does peer collaboration help students learn with these environments? Little research looking closely at face-to-face peer collaboration with computer learning environments exists. Utilizing a social-cognitive theoretical framework, this study investigated the relation between the conceptual-knowledge learning and the collaborative regulatory behaviors of students working with a peer as they studied about the human circulatory system using a hypermedia CLE. Fifty-four high-school students from the East Coast of the United States were audiotaped to identify the collaborative regulatory behaviors they evidenced as they studied. Results revealed significant correlations among students’ proportion of categories of regulatory behaviors and their learning gains (from pretest to posttest). Moreover, qualitative analyses revealed particular behaviors that larger-gain collaborative pairs engaged in to a greater extent than smaller-gain pairs as they learned with the hypermedia environment.     

Teaching and learning how to write proofs in Concepts of Geometry

This paper concerns my experience teaching Concepts of Geometry, an inquiry-based course that emphasizes discovery learning, analytical thinking, and individual creativity. The author discusses how to guide the students to recognize the connections among different mathematical ideas; to select the types of reasoning and methods of proof that apply to the problem; to organize their mathematical thinking through communication; to make their own mathematical conjectures; and to analyze and evaluate each other＇s mathematical arguments and proofs. In particular, the comments and the feedback from students are included.     

Connecting students to the real world: Developing gifted behaviors through service learning

Learning in today's classrooms can be disconnected from students' real world experiences. Providing students the opportunity to address real‐world problems may provide avenues for students to engage in their communities while developing academic skills and knowledge. Additionally, for students whose interests are piqued by the nature of their community's problems, these activities have the potential to offer students meaningful, motivating work in a supportive environment. This article explores how providing students with interest‐based service‐learning opportunities may help them develop and demonstrate gifted behaviors. In addition, methods for integrating student interests and service‐learning projects are presented. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Fictions of work-related learning: how a hit television show portrays internship,and how medical students relate to those portrayals

This article proceeds from three main premises. First, we assert that popular culture functions pedagogically and helps cultural consumers learn about work, even before they enter educational programs or workplaces. Second, we argue that exploring portrayals of internship is useful in understanding the ‘attributes of formality and informality’ that are present in any learning context. Third, we view internship not as a singular pedagogical strategy, but rather as a complex of pedagogical and learning approaches. We use the American television show Grey's Anatomy, set in a teaching hospital and focused on surgical residents, as a case of cultural representation of the internship process. We identify six approaches that are portrayed in the show: question-and-answer, experiential learning, mentoring, networking, peer learning and learning/teaching. These approaches illustrate how multiple strategies are developed and adopted by learner-workers and teacher-supervisors. We then explore how undergraduate medical students who participated in our study anticipated their own internship experiences and made sense of portrayals of it in the show.     

The adaptation of Chinese international students to online flexible learning: two case studies

The cross‐cultural experiences of Chinese international students in Western countries have been subject to intensive research, but only a very small number of studies have considered how these students adapt to learning in an online flexible delivery environment. Guided by Berry’s acculturation framework (1980 Berry, J.W. 1980. “Acculturation as varieties of adaptation”. In Acculturation, theory, models, and some new findings, Edited by: Padilla, A. 9–25. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.  [Google Scholar], 2005 Berry, J.W. 2005. Acculturation: Living successfully in two cultures. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 29(6): 697–712.  [Google Scholar]), the investigation discussed in this article aimed to address this gap by exploring the adaptation processes of Chinese international students to online learning at an Australian university. This article reports on the challenges perceived by two students from Mainland China, their coping strategies, changes in their opinions of online learning, and their respective patterns of adaptation. By presenting two indicative case studies drawn from a wider study, this article aims to demonstrate the use of Berry’s concepts as a means to frame such studies.     

Arguing to learn and learning to argue: Case studies of how students' argumentation relates to their scientific knowledge

In this study we investigated junior high school students' processes of argumentation and cognitive development in science and socioscientific lessons. Detailed studies of the relationship between argumentation and the development of scientific knowledge are rare. Using video and audio documents of small group and classroom discussions, the quality and frequency of students' argumentation was analyzed using a schema based on the work of Toulmin ( 1958 ). In parallel, students' development and use of scientific knowledge was also investigated, drawing on a schema for determining the content and level of abstraction of students' meaning‐making. These two complementary analyses enabled an exploration of their impact on each other. The microanalysis of student discourse showed that: (a) when engaging in argumentation students draw on their prior experiences and knowledge; (b) such activity enables students to consolidate their existing knowledge and elaborate their science understanding at relatively high levels of abstraction. The results also suggest that students can acquire a higher quality of argumentation that consists of well‐grounded knowledge with a relatively low level of abstraction. The findings further suggest that the main indicator of whether or not a high quality of argument is likely to be attained is students' familiarity and understanding of the content of the task. The major implication of this work for developing argumentation in the classroom is the need to consider the nature and extent of students' content‐specific experiences and knowledge prior to asking them to engage in argumentation. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 45: 101–131, 2008     

Experientially learning how to communicate science effectively: A case study on decoding science

The need for science communication programs is matched with the need for program evaluation. This case study is an evaluation of the “Decoding Science” program (DSP) [Rodgers et al. (2018). Science Communication, 40(1), 3–32], a science communication training program, and examines key experiential-learning themes [Kolb, D. A. (1984). Experiential learning: Experience as the source of learning and development. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall]. Specifically, we discuss the program's emphasis on learning that science communication is a process that (a) is continual, (b) involves conflict resolution, (c) requires adaptation to the world, (d) requires environmental interaction, and leads to (e) knowledge creation. Additionally, we discuss our analysis of student feedback. Results suggest that the DSP successfully utilizes experiential learning to facilitate the learning of science communication techniques and that future evaluations can lead to the development and improvement of science communication training programs.     

Teachers learning how to use data: A synthesis of the issues and what is known

This article provides a synthesis of the articles found in the special issue on data use. The synthetic piece contextualizes how the articles contribute to the knowledge base of how teachers use data. It synthesizes the findings by identifying key common themes. It then describes gaps in the current knowledge base and identifies the requisite steps needed to address those gaps.     

Teachers' self-directed learning and teaching experience: What,how, and why teachers want to learn

This study focused on teachers' self-directed learning; a concept derived from adult learning theories that accommodates for the idea that teachers formulate their own learning needs and consequently direct their learning. Teachers from 11 Dutch secondary schools (N = 309) were asked about their preferred learning domains (‘what’), their preferred learning activities (‘how’), and their reasons to learn about a selection of learning domains (‘why’). In regression analyses we tested for linear and non-linear relationships between teachers' teaching experience with their self-directed learning. Early- and late-career teachers showed higher preferences compared to mid-career teachers to learn about classroom management domains.     

论如何上好高职理工科学生的就业指导课

随着就业形势日益严峻,高校毕业生就业压力不断加大。为了提高广大毕业生的就业能力并能正确对待就业,2009年教育部建议各高校开设就业指导课。目前无论是高职院校还是本科院校都纷纷开设就业指导课课程。如今就业指导课已经普及多年,但是还是存在着大学生就业难、单位找不到满意的人才,这就需要我们深刻地反思一下,学生是否重视就业指导课程、老师是否通过改进教学的方法、方式来提高学生学习就业指导课的积极性,提升学生就业能力,使他们在今后的就业当中能胜出一筹,跨进自己理想的岗位。本文将从高职院校就业指导课程的开展存在的问题出发,重点分析如何提高高职理工科学生就业指导课程的实效性和认识度。