Academic personality and the commodification of academic texts

This paper explores the nature of, and justification for, copyright in academic texts in the light of recent developments in information technology, in particular the growth of electronic publication on the internet. Copyright, like other forms of property, is best thought of as a cluster of rights. A distinction is drawn within this cluster between first order `control rights' and higher order `commodity rights'. It is argued that copyright in academic texts is founded on its role as a means to allow academics to fulfil their role responsibilities. While the possession and exercise by academics of commodity rights can be thus justified in the case of mechanical print-based publication, since this helps make possible the reproduction and dissemination of academic texts, they cannot be so justified in the case of electronic publication. There are nevertheless good reasons to retain various control rights.     

Behavior patterns in pigeons during autoshaping with an incremental conditioned stimulus

Pigeons were trained on a variant of the autoshaping procedure in which a keylight stimulus of increasing brightness was used to signal the passing of a 30-sec interfood interval (IFI). Key-pecking developed in all subjects within the first session (65 trials). Within trials, pecking began midway through the IFI, increased throughout the remainder, and decreased just before food delivery. Other behavioral stereotypies were also recorded: Low light levels were associated with a retreat to the rear of the test chamber, and medium light levels (during the midportion of the IFI) were associated with high rates of pacing toward and away from the food source. Probe trials revealed that pecking, pacing, and retreat were all under strong stimulus control; that is, when the light was held constant at its lowest or highest brightness, or when the brightness ramp was presented in reverse order, the behavior pattern almost invariably remained tied to stimulus brightness. Results are discussed in terms of associative and nonassociative sources of the form and sequential characteristics of the behavior.     

Software to Promote Young Children’s Growth in Literacy: A Comparison of Online and Offline Formats

The primary goal of this research was to extend our understanding of the strengths and weaknesses inherent in online and offline early literacy software programs designed for young learners. A taxonomy of reading skills was used to contrast online software with offline closed system (compact disc) based programs with respect to number of skills taught, quality of instruction and scaffolding during instruction. Overall, online programs were more comprehensive and provided instruction for more skills than offline software at either the Kindergarten or Grade 1 level. However, offline programs demonstrated some developmentally appropriate selectivity in skills trained. Quality of instruction was variable within and across all programs. Scaffolding of instruction was also variable and surprisingly few programs, either online or offline, provided automatic movement across levels of difficulty. These outcomes have important implications for the selection of instructional materials by parents and educators involved in early literacy instruction and also for future software design.     

UK university part-time higher education: a corpus-assisted discourse analysis of undergraduate prospectuses

ABSTRACT

In the UK, higher education (HE) policy discourse over the past 60 years has advocated flexible part-time HE for social mobility, personal development, economic advantage and leisure. However, part-time undergraduate HE in the UK is in steep decline. Against this backdrop, we were interested in how universities promote, or fail to promote, part-time study options today. We built a corpus of 90 UK undergraduate prospectuses for 2018 entry (5,673,799 words). Using a corpus-assisted discourse analysis approach, we found significant mismatch between policy discourse and marketing discourse regarding part-time study. In particular, we found that UK university marketing discourse positions full-time study as the dominant mode of study and writes of part-time study as ‘second-best’. This discourse mismatch is particularly marked when it comes to the elite Russell Group of universities. Viewing the absence of strong promotional discourse relating to part-time study alongside other factors such as increased tuition fees and the rise of global online education platforms adds a new perspective to the decline of flexible part-time undergraduate HE at campus-based universities in the UK.     

Addressing issues of peer rejection in child-centered classrooms

In many early childhood classrooms, teachers are providing more opportunities for children to interact with peers as they learn. For most children, these interactions are successful. However, for a few children, their attempts to interact with peers are ignored or rebuffed. If interactions are an essential component of the instructional program, then being denied access to them is tantamount to being denied access to learning events. Therefore, the children experience the psychological impact of rejection as well as the impact of being denied access to learning opportunities. This article explores this issue by: (a) describing the sociometric dimension (i.e., interpersonal relationships) within groups, (b) providing illustrations of how the sociometric dynamics in one classroom affected three children, and (c) presenting suggestions for maximizing the learning experiences for all children.     

The roles of cognitive and language abilities in predicting decoding and reading comprehension: comparisons of dyslexia and specific language impairment

This study aimed to (a) explore the roles of cognitive and language variables in predicting reading abilities of two groups of individuals with reading disabilities (i.e., dyslexia and specific language impairment) and (b) examine which variable(s) is the most predictive in differentiating two groups. Inclusion/exclusion criteria applied to categorize the two groups yielded a total of 63 participants (n = 44 for the dyslexia; n = 19 for the specific language impairment). A stepwise multiple regression approach was conducted to examine which cognitive and/or language variables made the largest contribution to reading abilities (i.e., Phonetic Decoding Efficiency, Word Attack, Sight Word Efficiency, and Passage Comprehension). Results revealed that there were significant differences in which measures of cognitive and language ability predicted individuals with dyslexia and speech and language impairments reading ability, showing that the cognitive and language variables underlying their difficulty with reading abilities were not the same across the two groups. A discriminant function analysis showed that a measure of Verbal Comprehension, Phonological Awareness, and Phonetic Decoding Efficiency can be used to differentiate the two groups. These findings support the tenet that dyslexia and specific language impairment are two subgroups of reading disabilities and that thorough diagnostic evaluations are needed to differentiate between these two subgroups. Distinctions of this nature are central to determining the type and intensity of language-based interventions.     

Mario Bunge: Physicist and Philosopher

Mario Bunge was born in Argentina in the final year of the First World War.He learnt atomic physics and quantum mechanics from an Austrian refugeewho had been a student of Heisenberg. Additionally he taught himself modernphilosophy in an environment that was a philosophical backwater. He was thefirst South American philosopher of science to be trained in science. Hispublications in physics, philosophy, psychology, sociology and the foundationsof biology, are staggering in number, and include a massive 8-volume Treatiseon Philosophy. The unifying thread of his scholarship is the constant and vigorousadvancement of the Enlightenment Project, and criticism of cultural and academicmovements that deny or devalue the core planks of the project: namely its naturalism,the search for truth, the universality of science, rationality, and respect for individuals.At a time when specialisation is widely decried, and its deleterious effects on science,philosophy of science, educational research and science teaching are recognised – it is salutary to see the fruits of one person's pursuit of the Big' scientific and philosophical picture.     

Problems with Piagetian Constructivism

Evidence that demonstrates the inadequacy of Piagetian constructivist theory to explain the complexities of children's early learning is discussed. An alternative, nativist theory of cognition is outlined and implications for science education briefly considered.