Potentiation of responding on a VR schedule by a stimulus correlated with reinforcement: Effects of diffuse and localized signals

In Experiment 1, rats were trained to leverpress on a variable ratio (VR) 30 schedule with a 500-msec delay between the reinforced response and food delivery. Subjects that experienced a signal during the delay responded faster than did control subjects that received the stimulus un-correlated with reinforcement. Higher response rates were obtained when the stimulus used to signal reinforcement was auditory rather than visual. Experiments 2 and 3 compared the effects of signaling reinforcement with either a localized or a diffuse light on responding maintained by VR schedules of reinforcement. Elevated response rates were observed with the diffuse stimulus, but the localized stimulus failed to produce such potentiation. Experiment 3 also examined the conditioned reinforcing power of localized and diffuse visual stimuli. These results are discussed with reference to (1) theories of selective association and sign tracking and (2) their implications for current theories of signaling reinforcement.     

Individual differences in children's ability to profit from picture adjunct aids

A paired-associate memory task with pictures and words as items was used to categorize fourth graders into four learner types: HH, high picture-high word; HL, high picture-low word; LH, low picture-high word; LL, low picture-low word. Some children in each classification read prose passages with picture adjunct aids; other children read the passages without adjunct aids. Although free recall for the prose passage yielded inconclusive data, a constructed response test for facts in the prose passages revealed significant Aptitude × Treatment interactions, such that poor paired-associate learners (i.e., LLs) profited more than did good paired-associate learners (i.e., HHs) from picture aids on the prose task. The children's standardized reading scores were positively related to memory performance, but good and poor readers did not differ in their ability to profit from picture aids. It was suggested that less-strategic learners, such as those who perform poorly on paired-associate tasks, are more likely to be helped by externally provided mediational aids, while more-strategic learners are more likely to be helped by instructions to generate their own mediational aids.     

The first principles of instruction: an examination of their impact on preservice teachers’ TPACK

Educational technology research and development - The flipped approach has been widely adopted in higher education, yet its theoretical framework and use in teacher preparation courses have been...     

Theoretical Value Belief, Cognitive Ability, and Personality as Predictors of Student Performance in Object-Oriented Programming Environments

The research described in this article reports the results of a study designed to evaluate the relationship among object‐oriented (OO) computer programming task performance and a student's (1) theoretical value belief, (2) cognitive ability, and (3) personality. The results of this study do not support the assertion that cognitive ability is a main determinant of performance. Rather, the findings suggest that characteristics of an individual nature have more effect on a student's performance. This supports our belief advanced herein that theoretical value belief and personality are significant predictors of computer programming performance in OO environments. From the findings of this study, we assert that academicians who must teach OO computer programming consider these factors when developing course materials or student assistance programs.     

Current conceptions of literacy – insights from work with children and older learners with sensory needs

There have been many efforts to conceptualise literacy, both in terms of its essence and component parts, but it has proved difficult to define. This paper considers work that is undertaken with children and older learners with sensory needs in order to promote the early stages of literacy. Recent government initiatives aimed at fostering literacy development have caused teachers of children with sensory needs to re-examine their practice. The paper discusses early literacy as part of children's attempts to communicate and describes children with sensory needs engaging in a range of activities that are termed 'literacy' by those working with them. By taking into account these activities, the authors endeavour to throw light on the broader questions around concepts of literacy.     

A tale of two narratives: student voice—what lies before us?

As the last century closed, and a bright new millennium dawned, the concept of ‘student voice’ within education emerged as something to be ‘identified’ and ‘captured’. In effect, it became reified and driven by a raft of government and institutional policies and strategic initiatives; initially within the compulsory sector, but soon followed by the post-compulsory sector as the 2000s moved on. In an increasingly quasi-consumerist environment, a mechanism had emerged with potential to ‘measure’ student satisfaction. Institutions quickly took up the ‘call to arms’, assigning responsibilities to ensure there was evidence of ‘student voice’ engagement; but there was no conversation with the ‘students’ about how this was experienced by them. This concept had become a ‘portmanteau’ term; a ‘catch all’ competing between two narratives—student voice as democratic and transformational; and student voice as ‘policy’ and strategic initiative. Formal research that could contribute to this discussion has been sparse and this paper takes a critical stance to the literature and policy, exploring the current status of student voice and proposing a research focus that has the potential to involve students in a discussion about how their voice is heard, and for what purpose.     

Literacy-based behavioural interventions delivered by peers: a teaching strategy for students with severe disabilities

Many children with severe disabilities do not perform basic daily living skills needed for typical school and home environments. Previous research on literacy-based behavioural interventions (LBBIs) has shown promise for promoting skill acquisition and maintenance in some learners; however, only one study has examined the effectiveness of this intervention when delivered by peers. In this study, peer classmates were taught to deliver an LBBI story that highlighted hand-washing skills in three students with severe disabilities. Results showed that the accuracy of students’ new skills increased dramatically after their peers delivered the stories with pictures and printed words, and these skills maintained after the LBBI stories were removed. Further, each of the students demonstrated accurate hand-washing in novel environments using different sinks. This study builds on previous LBBI studies by incorporating peers into the story delivery, and using the intervention to teach new self-care skills.     

Ancestral Voices—‘Since Time Everlasting Beyond’: Kipling and the Invention of the Time-Slip Story

In this study of Kipling's Puck books, I attempt to clarify the enduring characteristics of the time-slip story as he and E. Nesbit invented it and also to determine his own distinctive contribution to the genre. Although his formal procedures were not influential, his genius lies in showing us the mere uncounted folk of history, not the big players of E. Nesbit's stories. As a conservative democrat, he shows what treasures are hid on one's own hearth and doorstep, so to speak, so that you do not have to venture far to find magic. For Kipling, that magic resides in the common culture of England, the surviving traditional ways, which catastrophic changes over two thousand years had not greatly altered. The magic is traced to the nature of the land itself, a place deeply enchanted and manifest in the merry supernaturalism that G. K. Chesterton saw in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream.