Some data on the predictive validity of the speech evaluation instrument

This study was designed to investigate the predictive validity of a measure of speech evaluation, the Speech Evaluation Instrument (SEI) (Zahn & Hopper, 1985). More specifically, while the predictive validity of two dimensions of the measure, attractiveness and dynamism has been demonstrated, no studies to date have addressed the validity of the superiority dimension. In the present study, a variation on the known‐groups method was used in which respondents evaluated speakers likely to elicit differing reactions on this dimension, standard speaking adults and nonstandard speaking children. As hypothesized, the standard speaking adults were rated much higher on superiority than the nonstandard speaking children. The speech groups accounted for 36% of the variance in superiority evaluations. Speech groups also accounted for a significant proportion of the variance in attractiveness ratings. Implications of these results for the validity of the SEI are discussed.     

Predictors of Hispanic School Teachers' Self-efficacy in the Pedagogical Uses of Technology

A study to predict teachers' self-efficacy in using technology for pedagogical purposes was conducted in a predominantly Hispanic school district in south Texas; 438 elementary teachers completed a 32-item survey aligned to the National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers. Findings suggested that the instrument is highly reliable in measuring Hispanic school teachers' self-efficacy when they are asked to rate their confidence in their ability to perform technology tasks for educational purposes. An exploratory factor analysis (orthogonal and nonorthogonal) allowed the derivation of composite measures. Three subscales regarding issues of pedagogy composed the dependent variable. Regression analyses (OLS and 2SLS) revealed that two derived composite measures and two contrast variables listed in the general information of the survey strongly predicted the response variable.     

Influencia de la clase social en la adquisición infantil de hábitos y valores

RESUMEN

Numerosas investigaciones han estudiado, desde diferentes enfoques, la importancia de los aspectos sociales en el desarrollo del individuo. Una revisión de estos estudios muestra que existe una relación entre las experiencias tempranas y la personalidad adulta, pero esta relación no es simple y depende de multitud de factores. Asimismo, se plantea la cuestión de cómo surgen las diferencias individuales dentro de las mismas pautas culturales y sociales. En el presente estudio se realiza una encuesta a madres de clase media y clase trabajadora con el fin de estudiar las características psicológicas de los miembros de una clase. Los resultados indican que el sistema educativo de la clase media posee mayor rigidez que el de la clase baja. No obstante, esta presión queda compensada por unas relaciones familiares más estables y mayor aceptación del grupo.     

Neuroscience and education: developmental study of a hemispherectomy case / Neurociencia y educación: estudio evolutivo de un caso de hemisferectomía

Abstract

Neuroscience, psychology, and education are disciplines with different philosophies and methods. Although an interdisciplinary approach is an opportunity to explore the educational implications of neuropsychological research, a good model for this dialogue does not exist yet. To promote the integration of these disciplines, which investigate human learning, the present work analyzes a hemispherectomy case study of a high-functioning young boy. Our goal is to present a neuropsychological vision about learning, the mind, and the influence of the context. This case is extremely rare, as not many individuals have been treated with this technique, and must be interpreted with caution. Nevertheless, the presented case study, and other similar cases that we will mention, afford a unique angle from which we can explore neuroscientific principles such as: the brain is highly plastic, the brain is changed by experience and learning, and human brains are as unique as faces. The goal is to promote the integration of neuroscience, psychology and education with a note of attention to misconceptions and myths in a science not completely known yet.     

Intelligence assessment: Gardner multiple intelligence theory as an alternative

In the multiple intelligence framework, newer and more contextualized cognitive tasks are suggested as alternative to more traditional psychometric tests. The purpose of this article is to examine whether or not these two types of instruments converge into a general factor of cognitive performance. Thus, the Battery of General and Differential Aptitudes (BADyG: reasoning, memory, verbal aptitude, numerical aptitude and spatial aptitude) and a set of Gardner's multiple intelligence assessment tasks (linguistic, logical, visual/spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, naturalistic and musical intelligences) were administered to 294 children aged 5 to 7. The confirmatory factor analysis points out the absence of a common general factor considering both batteries, indicating instead the existence of two general factors, which gather the tests that encompass them. Also, these two general factors correspond to traditional and multiple intelligence assessments and show a statistically moderate correlation between them. These results challenge Gardner's original position on refusing a general factor of intelligence, especially when considering the cognitive dimensions measured which do not coincide with the more traditional tests of intelligence.     

Standards-based performance assessment for the evaluation of student teachers: a consequential validity study

The instrument Samples of Teaching Performance (STP) was developed to assess student teachers' capacity to plan, deliver and evaluate a unit of instruction. The current study reports consequential validity data collected from supervisors (n?=?20) and student teachers (n?=?62) from three elementary and five secondary teacher preparation programs in Chile that participated in the field-testing of the STP. Student teachers described how this assessment had honed their sense of professionalism and promoted learning of the skills assessed. Supervisors reported enlarging the topics discussed with student teachers and making some changes to the supervisory process. These findings are complemented by an analysis of the STP scores obtained by 24 student teachers, which showed better development of instructional skills when compared to pedagogical reasoning and reflection. These results raise questions about the structure of student teaching to support the implementation of standards-based assessments that entail tasks at different levels of cognitive complexity.     

Effects of individualized word retrieval in kindergarten vocabulary intervention

We examined the effects of adaptive word retrieval intervention on a classroom vocabulary program on children’s vocabulary acquisition in kindergarten. In the experimental condition, word retrieval was provided in a classroom vocabulary program, combining implicit and explicit vocabulary instructions. Children performed extra word retrieval activities and received semantic feedback for words they did not learn during the classroom vocabulary program. Eighty-seven children were in the experimental condition, and 115 children were in the classroom vocabulary control condition. Results showed the adaptive word retrieval intervention to stimulate higher learning gains than the classroom vocabulary program on the learning of the target words. Children in the experimental condition also showed transfer effects; they described more words on a standardized expressive vocabulary test than children in the control condition. The research findings suggest additional value of word retrieval with feedback for classroom vocabulary learning.     

An easy-to-hard effect after nonreinforced preexposure in a sweetness discrimination

Experiments 1A and 1B used a taste-aversion procedure with rats to demonstrate that exposure to easily discriminated flavors along a dimension (1 % and 10 % sucrose) can facilitate learning a subsequent hard discrimination (4 % and 7 % sucrose) when one of those flavors is paired with illness. Experiment 1A compared the effects of preexposure to the easily discriminated flavors against exposure to the same stimuli used in the discrimination training or no exposure at all. Experiment 1B replicated the conditions in Experiment 1A, with 2 additional days of training and unrestricted access to the flavors on CS+/CS– trials in discrimination training. Contrary to findings with multidimensional stimuli (Scahill & Mackintosh, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 30, 96–103, 2004; Suret & McLaren, The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 56B, 30–42, 2003), we found that preexposure to the easily discriminable stimuli varying along a single dimension of sweetness facilitated subsequent discrimination training over the other conditions in each experiment. We discuss the results in terms of the ideas presented by Gibson (1969) and Mackintosh (Psychological Review, 82, 276–298, 1975) and in terms of hedonic variables not considered by theories of perceptual learning.