PROSPECTIVE MEMORY TRAINING IN OLDER ADULTS

This study evaluates the results of a training program for prospective remembering. The goal of the training was to improve prospective memory by associating cues from the retrieval situation with the to be remembered information. The training group consisted of 20 participants, aged between 45 and 81 years. The effects of strategy training were compared with those of an educational training group (N = 23 , age range 45-84) directed at reducing worries about forgetfulness, and a retest control group (N = 22 , age range 46-74). The educational training and retest control groups did not differ in demographic characteristics and test performance and were combined into one control group. Subjective evaluations revealed that subjects were very satisfied with the effects of training. This also was true for subjects in the educational training condition. The objective effects of training were evaluated with a telephone task which had to be performed in the daily life situation, and a prospective categorization task performed in the laboratory. Despite the low reliabilities of the prospective tasks, a significant but small effect of training compared to the combined control group was found on the sum score of prospective tests. The training effect was not related to age or pretraining performance level. At the three months follow-up, however, performance of the control group had increased to the level of the trained group. As expected, training effects did not generalize to other memory measures (assessed with tests for remembering names) or control measures (assessed with visuo-motor reaction time tests).     

基于项目的多课程协同教学理念和实践

大学教育质量的提高有赖于教学方法的改进。本文在引入协同教学理念的基础上,阐述了基于项目的多课程协同教学的含义,提出了基于项目的多课程协同教学的具体实施方法。研究表明,采用基于项目的多课程协同教学,对于提高大学生的学习兴趣以及解决问题的能力有良好的效果。     

Student Success in University Education: A Multi-measurement Study of the Impact of Student and Faculty Factors on Study Progress

This study focuses on the factors that determine study progress and numerical success rate in higher education. Study progress is influenced at three levels, namely the student level, course/institute level and government level. It is expected that various groups of economic, social, psychological and organisational factors will together influence the study progress. This study uses a multi-level and multi-disciplinary framework, in so far as it considers all of these factors at the different levels. The database contains about 9,000 students and 60 courses at the institutional level. The results show the relative importance of student level and institutional factors on study progress.     

Letter knowledge, phonological processing, and print knowledge: skill development in nonreading preschool children

Development of reading skills was examined in 4-year-old children from low-income homes attending a prekindergarten program. Fall to spring gains in letter identification were examined and compared with skills in phonological processing, rhyme detection, and environmental print, and with performance on a screening tool (Get Ready to Read). It was anticipated that participants might show slow skill development. However, the identification of a large group of children (n = 30) who made little or no gains in letter identification compared to their classmates (n = 27), whose gains averaged 7 letters, was not anticipated. Fall to spring gains in letter identification correlated with phonological processing, rhyme detection, environmental print, and Get Ready to Read! scores. Age and general cognitive skills influenced performance on some tasks. More knowledge of the characteristics of children who show the most variations in skill development may lead to insights on using classroom curriculum to focus on skill development.     

Combinations of Epoch Durations and Cut-Points to Estimate Sedentary Time and Physical Activity Among Adolescents

The purpose of the current study was to investigate how combinations of different epoch durations and cut-points affect the estimations of sedentary time and physical activity in adolescents. Accelerometer data from 101 adolescents were derived and 30 combinations were used to estimate sedentary time, light, moderate, vigorous, and combined moderate-to-vigorous physical activity. Data were analyzed with repeated measurement analyses of variance. Large differences of sedentary time and times of different physical activity intensities were observed between 1 s and longer epoch durations using virtually all cut-points. Generally, sedentary time, moderate physical activity, vigorous physical activity, and combined moderate-to-vigorous physical activity progressively decreased, whereas light physical activity increased with longer epoch durations. The extreme differences between cut-points were large and increased with longer epoch durations for sedentary time and for all physical activity intensities except for vigorous physical activity per epoch duration. Caution is required when cross-comparing studies using different epoch durations and cut-points. To accurately register adolescents’ spontaneous intermittent physical activity behavior, short epoch durations are recommended.     

Collaborative Approaches to Resolving Difficult ILL Borrowing Requests: Using a Working Group and a Wiki for Knowledge Sharing

Interlibrary loan borrowing staff at the University of Arizona Main Library, who handle difficult interlibrary loan requests, are taking a collaborative approach to obtaining unique, difficult-to-locate materials. A working group within the document delivery team meets weekly to share examples processed during the preceding week to increase the fill rate of challenging interlibrary loan requests. The group also established a wiki for the purpose of sharing resources that have been used to solve difficult requests. The wiki serves as an advanced interlibrary loan training resource that can be accessed by a greater number of staff, enabling them to gain the skills necessary to process difficult requests.