An Analysis of Peer Feedback Exchanged in Group Supervision

The authors examined the peer feedback exchanged in 2 supervision groups of counselors‐in‐training (CITs). CITs generated 169 statements grouped into 10 clusters representing 5 regions of peer feedback: counselor focus and engagement, insight‐oriented skills, exploratory skills, therapeutic alliance, and intervention activities. Both positive and corrective peer feedback was exchanged on topics ranging from counselor performance skills to case conceptualization.     

Open-field behavior of wild and domestic Norway rats

The open-field behavior of wild and domestic Norway rats was compared in 15-min tests administered over 5 successive days. Wild rats exhibited more ambulation, jumping, grooming, and time inactive than domestic rats and spent more time along the arena wall. Within- and between-trial changes in behavior were generally greater for wild rats. Factor analyses revealed major loadings on factors identified as “locomotor behavior” and “grooming.” Support was obtained for the hypothesis that domestication has raised the threshold for avoidance-escape behavior in response to a novel environment.     

Social working memory: Memory for another rat's spatial choices can increase or decrease choice tendencies

In two experiments using a radial-arm maze, pairs of rats made choices among eight maze locations, each containing a large quantity of one of two food types. The choices made by 1 rat affected the choices made by the other rat. Under most conditions, visits by 1 rat increased the tendency of the other rat to subsequently choose that maze location. However, the effect depended on the quality of the food available in a particular location. When it was possible for the rats to observe each other on the maze arms and a rat had experienced that a location contained the less preferred food type, a previous visit to that location by the foraging partner decreased the tendency to visit that location. These effects are attributed to working memory for the spatial choices of another rat, and they indicate that memory produced by a rat’s own visit to a maze location is integrated with memory for the behavior of another rat to determine spatial choice     

Performance of Montessori and traditionally schooled nursery children on tasks of seriation, classification, and conservation

It was hypothesized that the Montessori curriculum accelerates the acquisition of a number of concrete operational skills. To test this, eighty 4-year-old children were given three Piagetian problems—seriation, classification, and conservation. Half of the subjects were from Montessori schools, and the other half were from more traditional nursery settings. Within each type of school, half of the children were first year and the other half were second year enrollees. Results showed that significantly more Montessori than traditional children seriated and classified objects like concrete thinkers but that there were no differences on the conservation problem. Year of enrollment did not influence performance on any of the tasks. It was concluded that the hypothesis was confirmed and that the failure to find acceleration of conservation performance was due to its advanced nature relative to the other problems and/or the tangential manner in which Montessori exercises deal with the critical concepts that underly it.     

Royalties, evolving patent rights, and the value of innovation

The value of an innovation to the innovator can change over time, especially in response to changes in the legal protection (such as patent rights) afforded the innovator. A proven-valid-and-infringed patent is a more valuable economic commodity than is an untested patent. The increase in value can be estimated using the success rate of patent lawsuits. Using a database of the outcomes of U.S. patent litigation, we find that plaintiffs win patent litigation some 45% of the time at the trial court level. This has implications both for patent damages awards and for the incentives to innovate.     

Behavior of Infants with Iron-Deficiency Anemia

This study tested the hypothesis that infants with iron-deficiency anemia show behaviors, such as increased proximity to caregivers, increased wariness or hesitance, and decreased activity, that could contribute to “functional isolation.” The behavior of 52 Costa Rican 12- to 23-month-old infants with iron-deficiency anemia was contrasted with that of 139 comparison group infants with better iron status during free play and mental and motor testing and in the home. Infants with iron-deficiency anemia maintained closer contact with caregivers; showed less pleasure and delight; were more wary, hesitant, and easily tired; made fewer attempts at test items; were less attentive to instructions and demonstrations; and were less playful. Adult behavior also differed. The results indicate that iron-deficiency anemia in infancy is associated with alterations in affect and activity, suggesting that functional isolation is a useful framework for understanding poorer developmental outcome in iron-deficiency anemia, the world's most common single nutrient deficiency.     

Note on Sources of Sampling Variability in Science Performance Assessments

In 1993, we reported in Journal of Educational Measurement that task-sampling variability was the Achilles' heel of science performance assessment. To reduce measurement error, tasks needed to be stratified before sampling, sampled in large number, or possibly both. However, Cronbach, Linn, Brennan, & Haertel (1997) pointed out that a task-sampling interpretation of a large person x task variance component might be incorrect. Task and occasion sampling are confounded because tasks are typically given on only a single occasion. The person x task source of measurement error is then confounded with the pt x occasion source. If pto variability accounts for a substantial part of the commonly observed pt interaction, stratifying tasks into homogenous subsets—a cost-effective way of addressing task sampling variability—might not increase accuracy. Stratification would not address the pro source of error. Another conclusion reported in JEM was that only direct observation (DO) and notebook (NB) methods of collecting performance assessment data were exchangeable; computer simulation, short-answer, and multiple-choice methods were not. However, if Cronbach et al. were right, our exchangeability conclusion might be incorrect. After re-examining and re-analyzing data, we found support for Conbach et al. We concluded that large task-sampling variability was due to both the person x task interaction and person x task x occasion interaction. Moreover, we found that direct observation, notebook and computer simulation methods were equally exchangeable, but their exchangeability was limited by the volatility of student performances across tasks and occasions.