Context sensitivity of conditioned suppression following preexposure to the conditioned stimulus

Conditioned suppression in rats is often unaffected when the context (or set of background stimuli) is changed following conditioning. This suggests that responding to the conditioned stimulus (CS) can be relatively insensitive to the context in which the CS is presented. In two experiments, we examined whether sensitivity to contextual stimuli is affected by preexposure to the CS. In Experiment 1, when the CS was novel at the outset of conditioning, conditioned suppression was not affected when the context was changed following conditioning. However, when the CS had been preexposed, responding was weaker when extinction occurred outside of the conditioning context. In Experiment 2, responding was again sensitive to the test context, regardless of whether preexposure occurred in the conditioning context or in an alternate context. These results suggest that the extent to which responding is sensitive to context can depend on the conditioning history of the CS.     

The ‘Hungarian sappho’: some comments and comparisons

A brief and constructive criticism is offered of the recent study (see preceding paper) which successfully adopted and adapted the Sussex SAPPHO ‘pair comparison’ technique to the investigation of twelve success-failure pairs in the Hungarian electronics industry. Despite some differences in methodology and differences in the industrial and political environments in which the two studies were made, the results of the Hungarian SAPPHO and the Sussex SAPPHO are remarkably similar.     

Assessing Model Similarity in Structural Equation Modeling

Two models can be nonequivalent, but fit very similarly across a wide range of data sets. These near-equivalent models, like equivalent models, should be considered rival explanations for results of a study if they represent plausible explanations for the phenomenon of interest. Prior to conducting a study, researchers should evaluate plausible models that are alternatives to those hypothesized to evaluate whether they are near-equivalent or equivalent and, in so doing, address the adequacy of the study’s methodology. To assess the extent to which alternative models for a study are empirically distinguishable, we propose 5 indexes that quantify the degree of similarity in fit between 2 models across a specified universe of data sets. These indexes compare either the maximum likelihood fit function values or the residual covariance matrices of models. Illustrations are provided to support interpretations of these similarity indexes.     

Early Mathematical Growth: How to Support Young Children’s Mathematical Development

The purpose of this critical analysis was to investigate the young children’s sense of numerical magnitudes and the important attributes of classrooms where children in kindergarten and first grade are exposed to mathematics. This study aimed to offer guidelines that will assist teachers as they teach mathematics to children between the ages of five and seven.     

Teacher Evaluation in an Era of Educational Change

Teachers can help minority children close the academic achievement gap in intermediate and middle school by combining literacy instruction and content-area material. This connection improves reading achievement and increases curriculum knowledge, even if students have previously experienced difficulty with primary school reading. Fortunately, upper-elementary and middle-level learners are still naturally curious, are developing cognitively, and have acquired some basic reading skills. Teachers can therefore extend students' previous learning by using a spiral curriculum, in which curricular concepts are introduced at an appropriate level and then revisited at more challenging levels. Teachers can also increase the academic complexity for students by using strategies that include picture books, word recognition skills, intensive subject matter, vocabulary in a meaningful context, Readers Theater, and after-school activities.     

Preschool children's math-related behaviors mediate curriculum effects on math achievement gains

This study used a mediational model to examine the effect of curriculum condition on student behaviors and how those behaviors related to math achievement gains. The student behaviors examined were children's participation in learning-related activities, talking during learning activities, and level of engagement with the materials. Conducted as part of a larger project involving the implementation and evaluation of a preschool mathematics curriculum, this study involved twenty urban prekindergarten sites with 57 classrooms randomly assigned to the new curriculum or a practice-as-usual condition. The final analytic sample included 675 children, predominately from low-income homes. Results showed that the greater gains made by children in curriculum classrooms were mediated by the number of times children were observed focused on mathematics and the number of times they were observed talking during mathematics. Findings from this study demonstrate the importance of focusing on children's actual responses to a new curriculum in determining its effects.     

The golden age of BTEC: the business education curriculum in 1980s further education

This article provides an account of ‘three generations’ of the Business Education Council (BEC)/Business and Technician (later Technology) Education Council (BTEC) curriculum as implemented in further education colleges between 1979 and 1992. There is discussion of aspects of the underlying philosophy of BEC/BTEC, the structure and content of the programmes, skills, assessment, work experience, learning strategies, and aspects of monitoring and quality control. It is argued that BEC/BTEC, through a form of vocational progressivism, successfully transformed pedagogic practices in FE during the 1980s. The advent of the National Council for Vocational Qualifications, however, and the subsequent introduction of General Advanced Vocational Qualifications in 1993 effectively marked the end of the ‘BEC/BTEC’ era and the establishment of a more directly instrumentalist approach to vocational education.     

Using micros for test development

Conclusion Which is the better choice: general item bank software or a word processor program? Your answer is dependent upon your computer skills, the amount of test development work you do, and the nature of investment your school is willing to make for software. Both have their relative strengths and weaknesses. The trade-offs between the two approaches are real, important, and in time will probably favor the item bank software. At the moment, however, we recommend a good word processing program for most teachers. What can you expect the future to bring? At a minimum, test preparation options will continue to expand and improve. We suggested earlier that the technology is changing rapidly. For example even now you can place a printed copy of test items into an optical character recognition (OCR) scanner (similar to a photocopy machine) and read the items into a digital form which either a word processor or a test generator can use. Instead of having to type your collection of test items before selecting, editing, and printing them, the computer will read them from the paper. This new scanning technology, unfortunately, requires expensive software, powerful microcomputers, and the scanner itself costs over $1000. In addition, the accuracy of the character recognition is not perfect—especially with less than the ideal printed copy from which to work. It will be years before most of us have ready access to this technology. Even better options will be available, however, don’t wait for the next major breakthrough. There will always be another breakthrough on the horizon. You can start improving your test development process now