Developing Summarization Skills through the Use of LSA-Based Feedback

This paper describes a series of classroom trials during which we developed Summary Street, an educational software system that uses Latent Semantic Analysis to support writing and revision activities. Summary Street provides various kinds of feedback, primarily about whether a student summary adequately covers important source content and fulfills other requirements, such as length. The feedback allows students to engage in extensive, independent practice in writing and revising without placing excessive demands on teachers for feedback. We first discuss the underlying educational rationale, then present some results of the trials conducted with the system. We describe the collaborative process among researchers and teachers which enabled the development of a viable and supportive educational tool and its integration into classroom instruction.     

Place conditioning with d-amphetamine: The effect of the CS-UCS interval and evidence of a place avoidance

In Experiment 1, a dose-response study of place conditioning with amphetamine was conducted. Male Sprague-Dawley rats receiving 0.0, 0.05, 0.1, 0.5, 2.0, 5.0, 7.5, or 10.0 mg/kg of d-amphetamine underwent 104-day cycles of place conditioning. On alternate days, each rat was injected with its designated dose of amphetamine while confined to its originally nonpreferred end of a three-compartment, straight alley box. On intervening days, each rat was injected with saline while confined to its originally preferred compartment. Following each 4-day cycle, a choice test was administered in which each rat was allowed 20 min of access to the entire alley box. Doses of amphetamine (≥0.5 mg/kg) induced a significant avoidance of the compartment in which amphetamine had been administered. In Experiment 2, animals received 0.0, 0.5, 2.0, or 5.0 mg/kg of amphetamine and underwent place conditioning procedures identical to those for the animals in Experiment 1. Unlike in Experiment 1, the animals were given a single choice test following 104-day place conditioning cycles. All groups that received amphetamine exbibited-a-eonditioned place avoidance. In Experiment 3, the effect of various CS-UCS intervals on place conditioning with 2.0 mg/kg of amphetamine was examined. Animals that received amphetamine immediately following their removal from the chamber exhibited a conditioned place avoidance.     

Power Drawing

Power Drawing is the education programme of the Campaign for Drawing initiated by the Guild of St George. Primarily a research and development programme, it focuses on drawing in schools and other educational settings and investigates how the use of drawing can help children and young people learn in a variety of subjects. The intention is to develop a range of strategies, methods and techniques to support learning through drawing. This paper explains the ideas underpinning the programme, how it is organised and the research methods used. It describes and reflects on the experience of the first year of the action research, and comments on some of the satisfactions and tensions that have emerged. It outlines how these will influence further development.     

How communication context impacts judgments of a potential peer mentor

Disclosure is a critical element of interpersonal relationships and individuals are often evaluated on what they share with others, whether in personal, professional, or learning contexts. Technology now allows for many different outlets for communicating with other people. We used experimental methods to explore the impact of communication medium (i.e. print diary, online diary, blog, or email) on psychosocial perceptions of a potential peer mentor. Female participants gave more positive mentor ratings on likeability, likeliness to disclose to the mentor, and perceived closeness than did males, but not on judgments of the mentor’s privacy. Participants judged the mentor to be more private when they viewed the print diary than in the online conditions and when reading the online diary than the blog (the least private condition). We also found that women were more likely to reciprocate disclosure when they viewed disclosures in the print condition than in the blog.     

Tradition versus Technology: Careers Fairs in the 21st Century

The traditional methods ofgraduate recruitment do not adequately meet theneeds of the changing profile of students andgraduates. As industry becomesinternationalised, the needs of employers arealso changing. Graduate recruitment is inresponse to short term needs and varying levelsof experience are required. A case study methodwas used in Dublin Institute of Technology toevaluate the effectiveness of a virtual careersfair in providing greater access to jobopportunities for students and graduates.Access by employers to potential employees wasalso measured. Findings showed that whileaccess improved, other issues requiringattention emerged.     

Enriching children's recall of picture-dictionary definitions with interrogation and elaborated pictures

Preschool-age children were presented four picture-dictionary definitions to leam. Definitions were accompanied either by pictures detailing all the attributes of the definition referent (elaborated pictures) or simpler, less complete illustrations (nonelaborated pictures). After one presentation, the definition was repeated either as a series of questions to which the child responded, or as simple declarative restatements. Total recall of information stated in the definitions was improved by the elaborated pictures. The presence of elaborated pictures also resulted in greater recall congruent with the defined concept, but not present in the definition as stated (i.e., inferences). Questioning produced a higher percentage of paraphrased recall (i.e., nonverbatim recall of information stated in the definitions). These latter two findings are consistent with the interpretation that both elaborated pictures and questions lead preschoolers to process more extensively information provided in definitions.     

Accessing mainstream: examining the struggle for parents of children who have learning difficulties

In the past decade Ireland has witnessed substantial changes in policy and provision for children with general learning difficulties as government policies and legislation increasingly underpin the move towards more inclusive provision. Despite this series of policy initiatives parents of children who experience Down syndrome and general learning difficulties can encounter serious obstacles in gaining access to mainstream education for their children.
This research project was a study of the experiences of a small sample of parents of children who experience Down syndrome and general learning difficulties in relation to their efforts to access appropriate education and education supports for their child in the mainstream school setting. These parents had to invest extraordinary levels of time, energy, and resources in their struggle to get these children into mainstream school and to support their progress there. At local school level these parents and children had positive experiences, but life has taught them that society offers acceptance as a favour, so they cannot confidently expect acceptance by schools and teachers as a right.