An attempt to demonstrate magnetic compass orientation in two species of mammals

An attempt was made to train two species of small mammals (the bush opossum,Monodelphis domesticus, and the Djungarian hamster,Phodopus sungorus) to search for food in the direction indicated by an earth-strength magnetic field. Five opossums and 4 hamsters were tested in a cross-shaped arena whose four arms faced geographic north, south, east, and west. A set of coils generated a magnetic field whose north pole could be randomly pointed toward any arm. A subject was given a food reward if it entered the arm indicated by the north direction of the field. In 12 series of 73 to 1,127 trials each, the subjects were unable to select the appropriate arm with a frequency greater than random. This result contrasts strongly with a variety of published studies on mammals, birds, and other vertebrates that have indicated good ability to determine direction from the earth’s magnetic field.     

School-based assessment of practical competence in science: Some issues from English experience

Teacher-conducted assessments of practical skills are a compulsory component of GCSE examinations in science in England and Wales. The paper presents some of the findings of a research project that investigated this aspect of a science teacher's work. The project was concerned principally with the ways in which science teachers interpreted and operationalised the policy decision of central government and examination boards that teachers assume responsibility for the internal assessment of the practical competence of pupils aged 14–16 preparing for GCSE examinations in science. Specializations: the social history and politics of school science education     

Indigenous knowledge in environmental education processes: Perspectives on a growing research arena

What, then, is the problem? Indigenous knowledge has not, or not entirely disappeared from the collective memory. It has not lost any parcel of its age old efficiency either. Besides, it should not be considered a problem that it coexists today with so called modern science (i.e. an imported, supposedly rational system of knowledge and know-how). The real problem is elsewhere: about the very form of this coexistence. (Hountondji, 2002, p. 24, emphasis original)     

Preference for fixed over variable access to food

Three pigeons pecked for food in a concurrent chain schedule. Pecks in one link of the concurrent chain resulted in a fixed duration of access to food, while pecks in the other link resulted in either no access to food or 8 sec of access to food. All three pigeons pecked more often in the initial link which resulted in the fixed duration of access to food, indicating preference for fixed over variable access to food. This result does not seem consistent with previous results showing preference for variable- over fixed-interval schedules. However, the results are consistent if preference is determined by differential weighting of reward values, and preference is independent of whether a reward is fixed or variable. This analysis suggests that previous results of fixed- vs. variable-reward studies cannot be used to argue that animals do not prefer information over uncertainty.     

Developmental Relations Among Behavioral Inhibition,Anxiety, and Attention Biases to Threat and Positive Information

This study examined relations between behavioral inhibition (BI) assessed in toddlerhood (n = 268) and attention biases (AB) to threat and positive faces and maternal‐reported anxiety assessed when children were 5‐ and 7‐year‐old. Results revealed that BI predicted anxiety at age 7 in children with AB toward threat, away from positive, or with no bias, at age 7; BI did not predict anxiety for children displaying AB away from threat or toward positive. Five‐year AB did not moderate the link between BI and 7‐year anxiety. No direct association between AB and BI or anxiety was detected; moreover, children did not show stable AB across development. These findings extend our understanding of the developmental links among BI, AB, and anxiety.     

Opportunities for Neurodevelopmental Plasticity From Infancy Through Early Adulthood

Multiple and rapid changes in brain development occur in infancy and early childhood that undergird behavioral development in core domains. The period of adolescence also carries a second influx of growth and change in the brain to support the unique developmental tasks of adolescence. This special section documents two core conclusions from multiple studies. First, evidence for change in brain‐based metrics that underlie cognitive and behavioral functions are not limited to narrow windows in development, but are evident from infancy into early adulthood. Second, the specific evident changes are unique to challenges and goals that are salient for a respective developmental period. These brain‐based changes interface with environmental inputs, whether from the child's broader ecology or at an individual level.