Public Education about Memory and Aging: Objective Findings and Subjective Insights

Public education about memory was evaluated with a controlled intervention trial. Participants in group 1 (n = 273) attended a symposium covering memory-related topics and received a magazine with identical information. Group 2 (n = 141) only received the magazine. Participants were nonprofessionals and professionals aged between 29 and 88. Outcome measures were knowledge about memory and subjective experience. For nonprofessionals, knowledge increment was higher in group 1 than in group 2, indicating that an objective increment in knowledge is present in nonprofessionals after attending the symposium. No knowledge change occurred in professionals. Furthermore, participants were very satisfied after both interventions, even when knowledge transfer was limited.     

Constructing Altitude Training Standards for the 1968 Mexico Olympics: The Impact of Ideals of Equality and Uncertainty

Today training at altitude is associated with better performances at lower altitudes by the majority of distance runners aspiring to world-class performance. The purpose of this article is to give an account of how certain altitudes and time-spans became a procedural standard of this type of training in spite of scientific controversies. In connection with the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City altitude was a particular pressing physiological problem to be solved. Altitude acclimatization for athletes competing in Mexico City and standards for altitude training, I argue, was a result of the interplay between a ‘procedural standard’ and important ‘design standards’ in athletics where ideals of uncertainty and equality were important. Without the new standards competitions in endurance athletics in the Olympics of 1968 would have been perceived as highly unfair.     

NewLink with Computers

The above authors, all from the Department of Adult Education, Nottingham University, have developed computerbased education and training for disabled adults in six centres in the East Midlands. In its service to the students – if not in its resourcing – it is a model for others to follow.     

Rhythmic movement as a tacit enactment goal mobilizes the emergence of mathematical structures

This article concerns the purpose, function, and mechanisms of students’ rhythmic behaviors as they solve embodied-interaction problems, specifically problems that require assimilating quantitative information structures embedded into the environment. Analyzing multimodal data of one student tackling a bimanual interaction design for proportion, we observed the (1) evolution of coordinated movements with stable temporal–spatial qualities; (2) breakdown of this proto-rhythmic form when it failed to generalize across the problem space; (3) utilization of available resources to obtain greater specificity by way of measuring spatial spans of movements; (4) determination of an arithmetic pattern governing the sequence of spatial spans; and (5) creation of a meta-rhythmic form that reconciles continuous movement with the arithmetic pattern. The latter reconciliation selectively retired, modified, and recombined features of her previous form. Rhythmic enactment, even where it is not functionally imperative, appears to constitute a tacit adaptation goal. Its breakdown reveals latent phenomenal properties of the environment, creating opportunities for quantitative reasoning, ultimately supporting the learning of curricular content.     

Comparative effects of ability and presentation mode in computer-assisted instruction and programed instruction

Summary The duration of the current experiment was admittedly quite short—30 minutes to an hour of learning time. A longer program may have produced more pronounced differences. Sixty-four students including 32 high and low ability males and females were randomly assigned to programed instruction and computer-assisted instruction programs on the topic of Significant Figures. The results indicated that the students using programed instruction performed significantly better than those using CAI. This difference was attributed primarily to the very poor performance by the low ability students in the CAI group. There was also a significant ability effect. The posttest and retention test results, as well as number of errors in the actual learning sequence, indicated there was a trait by treatment interaction which was interpreted primarily as a very poor performance by low ability students on CAI, with almost equal performance by high and low ability students utilizing programed instruction. The data would not support such explanations as the use of recognition responses or the inability to achieve any particular concepts in the program for the performance of low ability students on the CRT-oriented CAI. Further research is suggested. The work reported herein was sponsored by the Florida State University Computer-Assisted Instruction Center and the Office of Naval Research under Grant No. N00014-68-A-0494.     

Reflections on developing an offshore,action research/learning-based Ph.D. program

In this paper, the authors describe their experience of establishing an action research/learning-based doctoral program in Singapore by an Australian university, which was designed to help managers get academic accreditation while solving workplace problems. The program was designed by four managers working in Singapore and their supervisors. These managers had completed a Ph.D. program using action learning/action research in their workplace under the supervision of Australian academics. The paper describes the various challenges faced by the candidates, supervisors and administrators in developing and implementing the new program.     

Knowledge of Traumatic Brain Injury among Educators

The purpose of this study is to determine knowledge of traumatic brain injury among educators. Few studies have examined knowledge of traumatic brain injury in this population and fewer still have included a substantial proportion of general education teachers. Examining knowledge of traumatic brain injury in educators is important as the vast majority of children with traumatic brain injury will return to school and many are likely to require support in the short term and some will require special education services in the long term. The Common Misconceptions of Traumatic Brain Injury questionnaire was completed by 94 educators. Participants demonstrated accurate knowledge on a number of questionnaire items associated with the identification of individuals with traumatic brain injury, common socio-emotional effects, and recovery from traumatic brain injury; however, a considerable degree of uncertainly was indicated on several items relevant to the school setting. In addition, substantial misconception rates were noted on only four items including one pertaining to recovery and another concerning the likelihood of additional brain injuries. Knowing someone with traumatic brain injury, participating in training and having taught a student with traumatic brain injury resulted in greater knowledge. Implications of these findings for educators are discussed.     

Evaluating instructional software

This article describes a new model for evaluating instructional software. Also described is a study in which the new model was field tested. Unlike most such models, which focus on the instructional and technical characteristics of software, the model focuses on the extent to which students learn the skills a software package is intended to teach. It is argued that by using this approach, educators will be better able to reliably identify software that is instructionally effective.