Factors affecting rats’ location during conditioned suppression training

If freezing underlies barpress conditioned suppression, then it seems odd that auditory cues paired with shock evoke more freezing than do visual cues, yet evoke similar suppression. Bevins and Ayres (1992) found that auditory and visual cues also evoked similar withdrawal from the bar and dipper areas and suggested that such withdrawal could explain the similar suppression. Seeking to understand that withdrawal, we found evidence in the present study that it was due either to adventitious punishment or to place-aversion learning. The cue for shock seemed to set the occasion for such learning. For example, we found that, as training progressed, rats’ tendency to leave the bar area during the cue first increased, then decreased, then increased again, reflecting, presumably, shock occurrence first inside, then outside, then inside the bar area again. Despite these changes in the rats’ location, barpress suppression remained stable, implying that leaving the bar area, though sufficient for barpress suppression, is unnecessary.     

PPBS in higher education planning and management: Part I,an overview

Higher education in the United States and elsewhere is beset by crises: crises of public confidence, questions of continuing relevance, doubts about continuing the emphasis on doctoral instruction, and a very real financial crisis. In response, governing boards and governmental agencies are devoting increasing attention to the management of higher education. Part of this response has been a heightened interest in formal planning-programming-budgeting-systems (PPBS); in fact, several states have legislated the adoption of PPBS for higher educational planning and decision making. Similar interest has been evidenced in other countries. Therefore, it is an appropriate time to reconsider the nature and role of PPBS and its potential impact on higher education. This paper describes the salient characteristics of PPBS and traces the development of PPBS and related analytical techniques in governmental agencies and institutions of higher education. A second paper will illustrate both the concepts and the implementation of PPBS by a detailed exposition of the University of California's experience with PPBS. Finally, in a third paper we suggest an alternative view of policy analysis for educational planning which is a departure from traditional PPBS. We conclude with general observations and specific recommendations to educational managers seeking to improve their resource allocation procedures.     

The inadequacy of individual educational program (IEP) goals for high school students with word-level reading difficulties

This investigation analyzed goals from the Individual Educational Programs (IEPs) of 54 high school students with diagnosed reading disabilities in basic skills (decoding and/or word identification). Results showed that for 73% of the students, the IEPs written when they were in high school failed to specify any objectives regarding their acute difficulties with basic skills. IEPs from earlier points in the students’ educations were also reviewed, as available. For 23 of the students, IEPs were present in the students’ files for three time points: elementary school (ES), middle school (MS), and high school (HS). Another 20 students from the sample of 54 had IEPs available for two time points (HS and either MS or ES). Comparisons with the IEPs from younger years showed a pattern of decline from ES to MS to HS in the percentage of IEPs that commented on or set goals pertaining to weaknesses in decoding. These findings suggest that basic skills deficits that persist into the upper grade levels are not being sufficiently targeted for remediation, and help explain why older students frequently fail to resolve their reading problems.     

African Oral Traditions: Riddles Among The Haya of Northwestern Tanzania

This study argues for the integration of African oral traditions and other elements of traditional learning into the modern school curriculum. It thus contributes to supporting the increased relevance of education to local communities. In particular, using the example of riddles collected from one of the main ethnic groups in Northwestern Tanzania, the Haya people, the present study challenges the views of those social and cultural anthropologists who hold that African riddles have no substantially meaningful educational value. Instead, it is maintained that riddles make an important contribution to children’s full participation in the social, cultural, political, and economic life of African communities, especially by fostering critical thinking and transmitting indigenous knowledge.

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Zusammenfassung MÜNDLICHE TRADITIONEN IN AFRIKA: DER ERZIEHERISCHE WERT VON RÄTSELN BEI DEN HAYA IM NORDWESTLICHEN TANSANIA – Diese Studie argumentiert für die Einbeziehung afrikanischer mündlicher Traditionen und anderer Elemente traditionellen Lernens in den modernen schulischen Lehrplan. Sie fördert somit die gestiegene Bedeutung der Bildung für die örtlichen Gemeinschaften. Insbesondere begegnet die vorliegende Studie, indem sie das Beispiel von Rätseln gebraucht, die bei einer der Hauptvolksgruppen im nordwestlichen Tansania, dem Volk der Haya, gesammelt wurden, den Ansichten derjenigen Sozial- und Kulturanthropologen, die behaupten, dass afrikanische Rätsel keinen wesentlich bedeutungsvollen erzieherischen Wert haben. Stattdessen wird die These aufgestellt, dass Rätsel einen wichtigen Beitrag zur vollständigen Teilnahme von Kindern am gesellschaftlichen, kulturellen, politischen sowie wirtschaftlichen Leben afrikanischer Gemeinschaften leisten, besonders durch die Förderung von kritischem Denken und die Weitergabe des Wissens der Eingeborenen.

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Resumen TRADICIONES ORALES AFRICANAS: EL VALOR EDUCATIVO DE LAS ADIVINANZAS PARA EL PUEBLO DE LOS HAYA EN EL NOROESTE DE TANZANÍA – Con este trabajo, el autor aboga por una integración de tradiciones orales africanas y de otros elementos de aprendizaje tradicional en los actuales planes de estudios de las escuelas. Al mismo tiempo, hace énfasis en la creciente relevancia que la educación tiene para las comunidades locales. Con este estudio, el autor desafía la posición de aquellos antropólogos sociales y culturales que sostienen que las adivinanzas africanas no tienen ningún valor educativo digno de mención, ante todo presentando el ejemplo de adivinanzas que ha recopilado entre los miembros del pueblo de los haya, uno de los principales grupos étnicos del noroeste de Tanzanía. Por lo contrario, el autor afirma que las adivinanzas promueven en gran medida la participación plena de los niños en la vida social, cultural, política y económica de las comunidades africanas, ante todo porque incentivan el pensamiento crítico y transmiten conocimientos indígenas.

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Résumé TRADITIONS ORALES AFRICAINES : LA VALEUR ÉDUCATIVE DES ÉNIGMES CHEZ LES HAYAS DE LA TANZANIE DU NORD-OUEST – Cette étude argumente en faveur de l’intégration des traditions orales africaines et autres éléments de l’apprentissage traditionnel dans le programme d’étude de l’école moderne. Elle contribue ainsi à soutenir la pertinance accrue de l’éducation au sein des communautés locales. En particulier, utilisant l’exemple des énigmes recueillies chez l’un des principaux groupes ethniques de la Tanzanie du Nord-Ouest, le peuple Haya, l’étude présente conteste les vues de ces anthropologues sociaux et culturels qui soutiennent que les énigmes africaines n’ont pas de valeur éducative substantiellement significative. Au lieu de cela, on maintient que les énigmes apportent une contribution importante à la pleine participation des enfants à la vie sociale, culturelle, politique et économique des communautés africaines, spécialement en ce qu’elles favorisent la pensée critique et transmettent les connaissances indigènes.

     

Using Statistical Control Charts to Analyze Data from Student Evaluations of Teaching

In this paper, a method for analyzing data from student evaluations of teaching is presented. The first step of the process requires development of a regression model for teacher's summary rating as a function of student's expected grade. Then, two‐sigma control charts for individual evaluation scores (section averages) and residuals from the regression model are used to identify both excellent and poor outcomes. The performance of an individual whose scores are out of control on both charts cannot be explained by expected grade and therefore is worthy of note.     

Comparison of retention and extinction of a visual discrimination as an index of forgetting in mice

The retention and extinction of a visual discrimination was examined in BALB/c mice. The mice were trained to perform a go/no-go discrimination task in parallel runways. Initial training resulted in an intermediate level of performance. Testing consisted of an additional session using either retention (Experiment 1) or extinction (Experiment 2) at one of five time intervals between 1 and 30 days. It was found in Experiment 1 that forgetting progressively increased over intervals of between 14 and 30 days. In Experiment 2, extinction testing induced more impairment of performance, so that forgetting occurred earlier relative to retention testing in Experiment 1. However, in both experiments, the measure of performance by a discrimination ratio revealed the same amount of forgetting when the training-test interval was 30 days. These results define the forgetting curve for such a discrimination by mice. They are discussed in terms of possible factors involved in forgetting.     

Adjunctive drinking during variable and random-interval food reinforcement schedules

Rats were trained to leverpress for food and subsequently exposed to either arithmetic series or random variable-interval reinforcement schedules. Adjunctive drinking developed in all subjects exposed to arithmetic variable-interval reinforcement, but did not develop in six of the eight animals trained on the random schedule. The results suggest that adjunctive drinking is the result of an interaction between the tendency of rats to drink after eating and the ability of locally low probabilities of reinforcement within schedules to induce conditioned behavioral states.     

Practicum Placement in a Counseling-Employment Agency for Disadvantaged Youth

In order to emphasize the development of skills in helping the culturally disadvantaged, graduate students were given practicum placement in a Department of Labor-financed agency which gave counseling and employment training to disadvantaged youth. Students attended staff meetings, interviewed staff members concerning the work they performed, and discussed client contacts with caseworkers, in addition to interviewing agency clients. Increased awareness of problems, broadened conceptualizations, and expansion of interpersonal skills were seen as advantages of the practicum. Limitations included some lack of goal clarity and inefficiency of time use in dealing with this clientele.