Social working memory: Memory for another rat's spatial choices can increase or decrease choice tendencies

In two experiments using a radial-arm maze, pairs of rats made choices among eight maze locations, each containing a large quantity of one of two food types. The choices made by 1 rat affected the choices made by the other rat. Under most conditions, visits by 1 rat increased the tendency of the other rat to subsequently choose that maze location. However, the effect depended on the quality of the food available in a particular location. When it was possible for the rats to observe each other on the maze arms and a rat had experienced that a location contained the less preferred food type, a previous visit to that location by the foraging partner decreased the tendency to visit that location. These effects are attributed to working memory for the spatial choices of another rat, and they indicate that memory produced by a rat’s own visit to a maze location is integrated with memory for the behavior of another rat to determine spatial choice     

Storylines in public news media about mathematics education and minoritized students

Educational Studies in Mathematics - Public media both reflects and shapes societal perceptions and attitudes. Teachers and others around students in mathematics classrooms have expectations for...     

Psychosocial Dynamics of College Students' Use of Mental Health Services

The authors present and empirically test a multivariate model of the use of mental health counseling services. Use of such services by 1st‐year college students is directly a result of need for these services and willingness to use them. Beliefs about mental health services and demographic characteristics are not directly related to use, but indirectly affect use by influencing willingness to use. Implications for college counseling programs are discussed.     

Weak Ties in Networked Communities

Communities with high levels of social capital are likely to have a higher quality of life than communities with low social capital. This is due to the greater ability of such communities to organize and mobilize effectively for collective action because they have high levels of social trust, dense social networks, and well-established norms of mutuality (the major features of social capital). Communities with “bridging” social capital (weak ties across groups) as well as “bonding” social capital (strong ties within groups) are the most effective in organizing for collective action. People who belong to multiple groups act as bridging ties. When people with bridging ties use communication media, such as the Internet, they enhance their capability to educate community members and to organize, as needed, for collective action. This article summarizes evidence from stratified household survey data in Blacksburg, VA, showing that people with weak (bridging) ties across groups have higher levels of community involvement, civic interest, and collective efficacy than people without bridging ties among groups. Moreover, heavy Internet users with bridging ties have higher social engagement, use the Internet for social purposes, and have been attending more local meetings and events since going online than heavy Internet users with no bridging ties. These findings may suggest that the Internet—in the hands of bridging individuals-is a tool for enhancing social relations and information exchange, and for increasing face-to-face interaction, all of which help to build both bonding and bridging social capital in communities.     

“The Coat Traps All Your Body Heat”: Heterogeneity as Fundamental to Learning

This article explores heterogeneity as fundamental to learning. Inspired by Bakhtin's notion of heteroglossia, a design team consisting of an experienced classroom teacher and 2 researchers investigated how a class of 3rd and 4th graders came to understand disciplinary points of view on heat, heat transfer, and the particulate nature of matter. Through a series of planned and unplanned encounters, official versions of the Second Law of Thermodynamics and the particulate view of matter were juxtaposed with varied domains of experience of heat transfer and phase change in water. We analyze the children's discourse to examine how they populated these phenomena with meaning and what they learned in the process. We conclude by describing key principles and a conundrum that emerged from this research.     

Topicalization and the Processing of Expository Prose by Children: mediating effects of cognitive styles and content familiarity

This study assessed the effects of text topicalization conditions (initial position, final position, or no topic sentence) on the comprehension of main ideas and specific passage information for middle school readers. Also of interest were interactions of topic familiarity and readers’ cognitive styles (degree of field independence) with text topicalization. One hundred and seven subjects were randomly assigned to one of the three topicalization conditions and read three familiar and three less‐familiar multipleparagraph expository texts. Main idea comprehension was assessed with both a sentencesummary (generation) and best‐title (recognition) task. Comprehension of specific passage information was evaluated with multiple‐choice items. Text topicalization effects were observed for main idea comprehension (with initial position best, followed by final position), while topic familiarity resulted in higher comprehension scores for specific passage information. Moreover, a cognitive style‐text topicalization interaction was found on the best‐title task; in this case, relatively field dependent readers were assisted by a final topic sentence placement. Implications are drawn for future research concerning the complex interplay of texts, tasks and readers in prose‐processing.     

Priorities for publishing research: A multidisciplinary agenda

Publishing research, to be effective and useful, requires the participation of scholars and practitioners in many disciplines: literature, history, sociology, psychology, technology, economics, and education. Examples are drawn from trade and scholarly publishing. The results of such research can benefit all segments of the industry. Beth Luey is director, Scholarly Publishing Program at Arizona State University and have been editor of Publishing Research Quarterly since 1988. She is the author of several books, includingHandbook for Academic Authors.     

Are fame and fortune the kiss of death?

Trade and scholarly publishers often urge academic authors to reach out to an audience beyond their peers. One obstacle to expanding the audience for new scholarship is the widespread belief that it requires "pandering to the lowest common denominator," or "dumbing down," and that the scholar turned "popularizer" will be shunned by the academy. Where did this academic myth come from? Is there any truth behind it? What can an editor say to the academic author who fears that publishing success will spell the end of academic respectability?     

From organelle to protein gel: a 6-wk laboratory project on flagellar proteins

Research suggests that undergraduate students learn more from lab experiences that involve longer-term projects. We have developed a one-semester laboratory sequence aimed at sophomore-level undergraduates. In designing this curriculum, we focused on several educational objectives: 1) giving students a feel for the scientific research process, 2) introducing them to commonly used lab techniques, and 3) building skills in both data analysis and scientific writing. Over the course of the semester, students carry out two project-based lab experiences and write two substantial lab reports modeled on primary literature. Student assessment data indicate that this lab curriculum achieved these objectives. This article describes the first of these projects, which uses the biflagellate alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii to introduce students to the study of flagellar motility, protein synthesis, microtubule polymerization, organelle assembly, and protein isolation and characterization.     

A longitudinal examination of African American adolescents' attributions about achievement outcomes

Developmental, gender, and academic domain differences in causal attributions and the influence of attributions on classroom engagement were explored longitudinally in 115 African American adolescents. In Grades 8 and 11, adolescents reported attributions for success and failure in math, English and writing, and science. In Grade 11, English and mathematics teachers rated students' classroom engagement. Boys were more likely than girls to attribute math successes to high ability and to attribute English failures to low ability. Both genders' ability attributions for math became more negative from eighth to eleventh grades. Grade 8 attributions of math failure to lack of ability were negatively related to Grade 11 math classroom engagement. Results illustrate the gendered nature of motivational beliefs among Black youth.