Discrimination of the number of sequential events by rats

Ten rats were trained to press a right lever following two successive sounds and to press a left lever following four successive sounds. Three sound sequences were used in initial discrimination training, such that reliable classification could not be based on the duration of each sound, the interval between sounds, or the total duration of the sound sequence. Classification of seven novel sound sequences suggested that the animals were either using number or the sum of sound durations in a sequence as the relevant cue. When this total sound duration was put in conflict with number, rats classified by number. The conclusion was that rats can discriminate number, even when temporal cues are controlled.     

Temporal processing and reading disability

The present investigation examined thehypothesis that early auditory temporalprocessing deficits cause later specificreading disability by impairing phonologicalprocessing (Farmer & Klein 1995; Tallal1980, 1984). Temporal processing ability atschool entry was examined using Tallal'sRepetition Test in a large unselected sample ofover 500 children followed over subsequentyears. Although our data confirmed the presenceof certain non-speech auditory processingdeficits in children later classified asspecific reading-disabled, many findings wereclearly at odds with a causal interpretation ofthis relationship. (1) Reading-disabled (RD)children were impaired at school entry on thesubtest with long interstimulus intervals(ISIs) but not the critical short-ISIsubtest. (2) RD children were not inferior toreading-age (RA) controls. (3) A subgroup of RDchildren with evidence of temporal deficitswere no less proficient on later phonologicalor reading measures than RD children with noevidence of early temporal impairment. (4)Although there was a reliable concurrentcorrelation between temporal deficits andphonological awareness at school entry(suggesting a possible common causeexplanation), early temporal deficits did notpredict later phonological impairment,pseudoword processing difficulties, or specificreading disability. On the other hand, earlytemporal deficits did predict later oralreceptive vocabulary and reading comprehensionweaknesses. These findings suggest thatauditory temporal deficits in dyslexics may beassociated with the same dysphasic-typesymptoms observed by Tallal and her colleaguesin specific language-impaired populations, butdo not cause the core phonological deficitsthat characterize dyslexic groups.     

Interactive effects of guilt and moral disengagement on bullying,defending and outsider behavior

We examined the moderating effect of guilt on the associations between moral disengagement and bullying, defending and outsider behaviors in a sample of 404 students (203 boys; M_age = 11.09 years; SD = 1.48). Bullying, defending and outsider behavior were assessed through peer nominations, whereas guilt and moral disengagement were assessed by self-reports. Results showed that moral disengagement was associated with high levels of bullying and low levels of defending. Guilt was negatively associated with bullying and positively with defending. A moderating effect for guilt was also found: increasing levels of moral disengagement contributed to more bullying and outsider behavior, and to less defending, among students with low levels of guilt. The current research broadens the extant literature, showing the combined effects of guilt and moral disengagement on bullying-related behaviors.     

Angry Anglos and aspirational Asians: everyday multiculturalism in the selective school system in Sydney

ABSTRACT

‘Asian whiz kids’ perfect test scores.’ ‘Selective schools and tiger parents.’ These types of headlines highlight the increased visibility of academically successful students from Asian migrant backgrounds, in Australia and other Western countries. They also point to anxiety about the perceived aggressive ‘tiger’ parenting often associated with Asian academic success. This paper focuses on the forms of everyday multiculturalism found in and around high-performing selective schools and classes in Sydney, Australia, almost all of which are dominated by Asian-Australian students. Drawing on interviews with parents and students from Anglo- and Asian-Australian backgrounds, it documents the different positionalities adopted by participants within these culturally diverse settings, including anger, aspiration and cosmopolitanism. This potentially volatile combination of approaches to diversity reveals some of the social consequences of neoliberal migration and education policies.     

Negotiating colonial structures: challenging the views of Pakeha student teachers

This paper describes an attempt to address, through pre‐service teacher education, the complex interaction of the ideologies carried by schooling, the denial of the rights of Maori as promised by the Treaty of Waitangi and the underachievement of Maori children in New Zealand schools. It is set in the context of an action research project that sought to reveal student teachers' responses to this component of their degree programme. The authors describe how, as teacher educators, their teaching evolved in response to the research findings through three distinct phases.     

Organizational culture and effectiveness in two-year colleges

The central purpose of this study is to determine the extent to which the effectiveness of a nationally representative sample of two-year colleges differs in terms of their dominant type of organizational culture. The findings demonstrate wide differences in the effectiveness of two-year colleges that exhibit the traits of clan, adhocracy, hierarchy, and market cultures, and the differences are consistent with their conceptual rationale. The research, policy, and practical implications of the findings in terms of our efforts to understand and improve the management and institutional performance of two-year colleges are discussed.Presented at the Association for Institutional Research Annual Forum, Atlanta, Georgia, May 10–13, 1992.