Dependence on state funding,local educational opportunities,and access to high school credentials in israel

A major shortcoming of macro-spatial research undertaken to date in Israel pertains to the neglect of state investment-related measures and the extent to which they mediate unequal opportunities to learn (OTL) and educational opportunities between localities. In the present study, OTL refer to class size and high-school tracking patterns. Educational opportunities refer to two measures: the school system's holding power and access to educational credentials. Two specific questions were raised in this respect: first, we looked into the extent to which the size and ethnic stratification of Israeli localities, and their differential dependence on state financial schemes, affect available OTL and educational opportunities. Second, we examined how a locality's OTL affect educational opportunities. The data on which the present study is based are aggregated at locality level and refer to 89 localities, of which 21 were Arab and 78 were Jewish. Bentler's EQS Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) program was applied to test the research questions. The findings suggest that locality characteristics and dependence on state finance directly affect both OTL and educational opportunities. However, the school system's holding power and access to educational credentials is affected by differential mechanisms. On the one hand, locality-level variables and average class size significantly affect the school system's holding power. On the other hand, access to educational credentials is affected primarily by a locality's ethnic affiliation and its dependence on state funding. The implications of these findings for educational policy and reform are then discussed.     

Socially transmitted food preferences can be used to study long-term memory in rats

Immediately after a recently fed rodentdemonstrator interacts with a conspecificobserver, the observer shows a substantially enhanced preference for whatever food its demonstrator ate. Here we show that (1) influence of a single, 30-min interaction with a demonstrator on an observer’s food preference lasts for at least 1 month, and (2) observers interacting on 2 successive days with a demonstrator fed a different diet on each day show significantly enhanced preferences for both diets a month later. Such enduring effects of single, brief interactions between a demonstrator rat and its observer provide an efficient means for studying physiological and behavioral substrates of long-term memory in rodents. Together with the results of previous studies of social influences on food choices of rats, the present results also suggest that rats may use information acquired from conspecifics to identify both toxic and safe foods for many weeks after they have acquired this information.     

A Counselling Framework for Caribbean Children and Families Who Have Experienced Migratory Separation and Reunion

This paper presents research findings on childrens’ responses to migratory separation and later reunion in Caribbean families and the needs of these families when parents migrate and leave their children behind. Implications of this type of separation on children, parents and surrogate caregivers are discussed. The challenges that counsellors in both the ‘sending’ and host countries face working with this population are also examined and suggestions made for psychosocial intervention and guidelines for counselling in both societies. The need for culturally competent counsellors to work with the growing population of immigrants in North America and Europe is indicated.     

Use of Anthropomorphic Brand Mascots for Student Motivation and Engagement: A Promotional Case Study With Pablo the Penguin at the University of Portsmouth Library

ABSTRACT

A case study demonstrating how an online narrative featuring the adventures of a cuddly toy penguin, Pablo Penguin (@uoppenguin on Twitter) has been introduced at the University of Portsmouth Library to build trust and engagement between university students and library services and facilities. Evidence for the benefits of anthropomorphic brand mascots and best practice for their design and use to enhance the library brand, emotionally engage, build trust, lower barriers to service engagement, and mentor students from the perspective of a perpetual student are drawn from the marketing and psychological literature then illustrated in the case study.     

SCAN: A method of community collaboration

Recent research has highlighted the complexity of the battered child syndrome. Clinical experience suggests that treatment of troubled families is a long-term process, draining financial resources of agencies and emotional resources of professionals. The need to provide support and case consultation to professionals working in the area of child abuse and neglect evolved in the establishment, in 1968, of the Suspected Child Abuse and Neglect (SCAN) Program at Children's Hospital, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. This program provides an effective method of intervention through identification, consultation, referral and follow-up of at-risk families. Weekly meetings offer multi-disciplinary case coordination, treatment recommendations, and a channel of communication for representatives of community agencies. This paper traces the history and present status of the SCAN Program, as well as the role of SCAN as a force for change of community attitudes.     

Practical independent research projects in science: a synthesis and evaluation of the evidence of impact on high school students

Practical independent research projects (IRPs) are a feature of school science in a number of countries. To assess the impact of IRPs on students, a systematic review of the literature was undertaken. Thirty-nine papers met the review inclusion criteria, reporting on work from twelve countries. The review indicates that IRPs are often associated with wider initiatives such as authentic science, problem-based learning, and project-based learning. There is considerable variability in the nature of IRP work in relation to focus, models of provision, assessment, the involvement of external partners such as universities and employers, and funding, and this diversity affects judgements on the quality of the evidence base on impact. The majority of the research reviewed explored areas such as conceptual understanding, motivation to study science once it is no longer compulsory and attitudes to science, and the development of practical skills. Benefits were identified in relation to the learning of science ideas, affective responses to science, views of pursuing careers involving science, and development of a range of skills. Studies focusing on traditionally under-represented groups indicated that such students felt more positive about science as a result of undertaking IRPs. The review findings indicate that further work is needed to enhance the quality of the available evidence, to consider the ways in which IRPs can be validly assessed, to explore more fully the potential benefits for traditionally under-represented groups, and to explore more fully the potential longer-term benefits of participation in IRPs at high school level.     

Marketing undergraduates' attitudes towards query-based instructional machines as a possible learning medium

Six hundred and seventy-one undergraduates completed a questionnaire concerning their reactions to the idea that parts of their degree programmes might be delivered via Query Based Instructional Machines. The latter are commonplace in museums and other cultural attractions. They are menu-driven and operate on the touch-screen principle, thus allowing the user to browse through whichever aspects of a subject the person finds most interesting. Cognitive, affective and conative responses were measured and related to students' personal characteristics, degree programme, year of study, level of academic attainment, psychological involvement with a course, and innate tendencies vis-à-vis need for cognition, curiosity, and change leadership. The sample comprised students on three categories of degree programme: marketing, computing, or humanities. An analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was completed using aggregated responses as dependent variables, degree type as the fixed factor (grouping variable), and personal characteristics and inclinations as covariates. There were a number of significant differences between the responses of the marketing students and students in the other groups.     

Biological constraints on instrumental and classical conditioning: Retrospect and prospect

The adequacy of traditional approaches to the study of animal learning to account fully for learning phenomena has been seriously questioned during the past decade. Critics of traditional analyses advocated a biological orientation to the interpretation of associative processes and introduced a variety of concepts intended to provide a new framework for the study of animal learning. This promise of a reorientation of the field has not been realized. The concepts of biological constraints, adaptive specializations, and situation specificity of learning have had a less profound influence on the general process approach to instrumental and classical conditioning than anticipated. The present paper makes explicit the conceptual bases of the original biological approaches to learning, identifies reasons why they failed to change fundamentally the study of instrumental and classical conditioning, and proposes an alternative approach to the use of ecological and evolutionary principles in studies of conditioning. We suggest a renewed comparative approach to the study of learning phenomena that avoids many of the difficulties inherent in earlier formulations by providing (1) a strategy for the discovery of adaptive specializations in learning, (2) an ecological framework for the discussion of these adaptive specializations, and (3) a renewed emphasis on the study of species differences in learning.     

Different teacher-level effectiveness estimates,different results: inter-model concordance across six generalized value-added models (VAMs)

In this study, researchers compared the concordance of teacher-level effectiveness ratings derived via six common generalized value-added model (VAM) approaches including a (1) student growth percentile (SGP) model, (2) value-added linear regression model (VALRM), (3) value-added hierarchical linear model (VAHLM), (4) simple difference (gain) score model, (5) rubric-based performance level (growth) model, and (6) simple criterion (percent passing) model. The study sample included fourth to sixth grade teachers employed in a large, suburban school district who taught the same sets of students, at the same time, and for whom a consistent set of achievement measures and background variables were available. Findings indicate that ratings significantly and substantively differed depending upon the methodological approach used. Findings, accordingly, bring into question the validity of the inferences based on such estimates, especially when high-stakes decisions are made about teachers as based on estimates measured via different, albeit popular methods across different school districts and states.