Mirror-image stimulation and short separations in stumptail monkeys

Two experiments examined the responses of infant stumptail macaques (Macaco arctoides) to mirror-image stimulation (MIS) during short social separations. Overall, infants living in pairs showed agitation when separated from their partners, but were calmer when the partner, an unfamiliar peer, or their own mirror image was visible. MIS elicited more facial expressions than the familiar peer, and more affiliative contact than an unfamiliar peer. In contrast, infants reared in a group were not calmed during separations either by an unfamiliar peer or by MIS, and they exhibited some negative reactions to the mirror. Social responsiveness to MIS varies with the social background of the subjects.     

Principal Recruitment: An Empirical Evaluation of a School District’s Internal Pool of Principal Certified Personnel

Applicant pools for principal vacancies are shrinking nationwide. This shortage of job applicants requires school districts to evaluate their internal pools of principal certified personnel. In this study, 194 certified individuals from a large school district responded to a survey measuring attraction to the job of principal, current job satisfaction versus expected satisfaction in the job of principal, barriers to pursuing the job, and recommended changes in the job. Few participants intended to apply for principal vacancies due to age (median=51), lack of self-reported capability to do the job, and satisfaction with the current job. Participants perceived their job satisfaction would decrease on assuming the job of principal relative to factors such as time with family and job security, and increase relative to factors such as salary and opportunity to experience varied activities. Implications for principal recruitment and recommendations for restructuring the job are discussed.     

What future teachers believe about democracy and why it is important

This paper analyses pre-service education student perceptions and perspectives related to education for democracy in Australia. Using a critical pedagogical framework datum from an online survey, it presents both quantitative and qualitative responses of contrasting understandings of democracy. It begins by outlining the concepts of thick and thin democracy and why this is important in relation to contemporary debates about the state of civics and citizenship education, and then explains the conceptual framework of critical pedagogy and methodology. The datum analysed is discussed in relation to neoliberalism and indicates that the pre-service teachers in this study view democracy in a narrow or thin way that may impact on their classroom practice where they would be teaching about but not for democracy. A more critical and thicker understanding of democracy is suggested as essential if we desire our students to become active and transformative citizens.     

Recovery from the overexpectation effect: Contrasting performance-focused and acquisition-focused models of retrospective revaluation

In four Pavlovian conditioned lick-suppression experiments, rats had two conditioned stimuli (CSs X and A) independently paired with footshock, followed by pairings of a compound of A and X with the footshock. On subsequent tests with CS X, less conditioned suppression was observed than in control subjects that lacked the compound AX→footshock trials. Thisoverexpectation effect was reversed through posttraining extinction of CS A, a result consistent with both performance- and acquisition-focused models of retrospective revaluation. However, only performance-focused models could account for how posttraining increases or decreases in the A-footshock temporal interval attenuate the overexpectation effect.     

The strategic impact model: An integrative approach to performance improvement and instructional systems design

Conclusion The Strategic Impact Model is distinctive in its portrayal of the integration of instructional and non-instructional interventions and its suggestion that all performance interventions undergo an analysis-design-development-production cycle, just as instruction does. It also differs from other similar models in its use of evaluative activities at each stage to assure alignment with strategic needs as well as quality control, and its suggestions for improving the chances of successful implementation by carrying out change management activities at each phase of the development process. He has special interests in distance education, historical and philosophical foundations of instructional technology and instructional development processes. He has special interests in planning and evaluating performance improvement initiatives, including training. An erratum to this article is available at .     

Developing a smart classroom infrastructure to support real-time student collaboration and inquiry: a 4-year design study

Instructional Science - K-12 classroom settings are not yet incorporating emerging technologies such as ubiquitous computing, augmented reality, nor even touch surfaces, despite the significant...     

Issues in Adopting a Laserdisk-Based Science Curriculum

We examined the implementation of a laser-disk based science curriculum in an elementary school. The goal was to develop a richer understanding of the principles for designing a curriculum that will adequately support teachers in adopting a learner-centered framework. Issues included: who has ownership of the classroom discussion; what types of activities are engaged in terms of the constraints imposed; and what is the teacher's response to the specific tools provided (the teacher's guide, the Circle of Learning, and concept maps). In addition to looking at the implementation pattern, we also examined the impact of the implementation on student attitudes and anxiety toward science. Results indicated little adoption of the curriculum, and teachers continued to maintain a high degree of control in the classroom. However, results also indicated significant effects of the curriculum on science attitude and anxiety. Suggestions for future research are included.     

From the bottom-up: New York City teacher evaluation and the narration of mediated institutional assault

Following the trend of consequential accountability in US public education, New York City introduced a teacher evaluation program during the 2013–2014 school year that linked teachers’ individual performance ratings with their students’ exam scores. As this program systemically alters the nature of teacher–student relationships by transforming students into the means to an end (teachers’ professional viability), this study investigated the implementation of this accountability program from the point of view of the teachers – those who were the subject of this new policy. This study of 15 teachers’ narratives from 3 distinct schools illuminates a social-organizational process that I refer to as mediated institutional assault – a perceived attack on the teachers’ sense of personhood and moral agency perpetrated by mediating figures whose actions were facilitated by bureaucratic policies and institutionally coordinated tools of control. Thus, this study reveals that the consequence of this new mode of accountability is not merely the threat of losing one’s job, but also an insidious form of psychological assault, which in its masked delivery violates teachers’ sense of relational morality and challenges deeply engrained beliefs about their role as educators.