Studying mathematics learning in collective activity

This paper describes a study of the interplay between social and developmental processes in children's mathematics learning. The focus is on children's play of an educational game, Treasure Hunt, and the way children's interactions in play frame developmental processes involving arithmetic with base-10 blocks. Sixty-four third and fourth graders were grouped in same- and mixed-grade dyads. Analyses of interactions revealed that players were frequently involved with jointly structuring arithmetical problems involving base-10 blocks. However, the arithmetical goals that members of dyads created often differed as labor became divided in their activity. Two findings were of particular interest: (1) differences in divisions of labor as a function of players' grades and grades of their opponents led to construction of different arithmetical goals, and (2) differences in goals led to different sequences in children's strategic developments, sequences that differed from the developmental trajectory in our matched controls.     

Perceptual learning in human and nonhuman animals: A search for common ground

Perceptual learning has been extensively studied in both human and nonhuman animals, but the two lines of research have, for the most part, developed independently, addressing seemingly rather different issues by rather different methods. It has been argued, however, that analysis of the disparate phenomena studied in experiments on perceptual learning reveals that in all the studies, the essential feature is that appropriate training allows behavior to come to be controlled by the unique features, rather than by the common features, of similar stimuli. It has further been argued that experiments with nonhuman animals have established the existence of a range of learning processes that allow this to occur, and that these processes have general relevance, applying to humans as well as to animals.     

Student Veterans’ Outcomes by Higher Education Sector: Evidence from Three Cohorts of the Baccalaureate and Beyond

We use nationally representative survey data from three cohorts of bachelor’s degree recipients to examine military veterans’ student loan debt at graduation and their employment and earnings 1, 4, and 10 years after graduation, relative to observably similar graduates. We also examine whether the effects of veteran status depend on college sector. Using propensity score weights with covariate adjustment, we find employment and earnings premiums for veterans 1 and 4 years after graduation, and an employment penalty but earnings premium (conditional on employment) 10 years after graduation. We find no clear evidence of a for-profit employment or earnings penalty among bachelor’s degree recipients, including veterans. We do find that veterans are as likely as similar non-veterans to graduate with debt, and that graduating from a for-profit institution yields markedly higher debt amounts, especially for veterans, despite the availability of Montgomery GI Bill benefits for these cohorts.     

Response strategies after overtraining in the jumping stand

Rats were trained to criterion (CT) and overtrained (OT) on a horizontal against vertical stripes discrimination in the jumping stand. A change in response strategy, from inspecting both stimuli to inspecting just the S?, was observed during overtraining. Replacing the S? with a novel stimulus disrupted performance in the OT Ss, but replacing the S+ did not. Performance in the CT Ss was disrupted, but not very severely, both when the S+ was replaced and when the S? was replaced. These results suggest that OT Ss in the jumping stand come to rely especially upon the S?. The overtraining effects found here are compared with those found in other types of apparatus.     

Learning Through Literature: Historical Fiction, Autobiography, and the Holocaust

Holocaust education in England and Wales received a major boost in 1990 when, as part of the National Curriculum, it became a mandatory subject of study for all secondary aged students in the maintained sector. Many schools in the United States have also been teaching the Holocaust for some time (usually to students in grades 8 to 10), but in contrast to the United Kingdom the way the subject is taught has aroused considerable opposition. Among the more censorious of the critics was the historian, Lucy Dawidowicz, who examined a range of Holocaust curricula in 24 states and in New York City. Reporting her findings in Commentary in 1990 she castigated the majority of the curricula for their inadequate coverage of the history of anti-Semitism prior to Hitler (particularly its integral link with Christianity), role-play exercises likely to produce trauma, and the drawing of inappropriate parallels with other genocides. She said nothing, however, about the value of literature as a vehicle for learning about the Holocaust—a surprising omission in view of the prominent coverage it receives in the best known of the curricula Facing History and Ourselves. Due to the paucity of research in this area, the editors would welcome letters from teachers who have used Holocaust literature in the classroom.     

Using developmental evaluation as a design thinking tool for curriculum innovation in professional higher education

This paper argues for the use of ‘developmental’ evaluation as a design-based research tool for sustainable curriculum innovation in professional higher education. Professional education is multi-faceted and complex with diverse views from researchers, professional practitioners, employers and the world of politics leaving little consensus about the nature of educational ‘problems’, let alone educational ‘solutions’. Developmental evaluation is an emerging approach to evaluating innovations and/or organisations that are in a continuous state of change; it asks the evaluators to not simply appraise a final design, but to work with designers through processes of rapid reconnaissance, mapping the territory and emergent modelling. This paper provides an account of how the adoption of the dispositions and approaches of developmental evaluation increased the trustworthiness of decision-making in the design of a new post-graduate teacher education degree in Australia. The principles of developmental evaluation as a design thinking approach have application in other complex curriculum settings.     

The role of habituation of the response to LiCl in the US-preexposure effect

In two experiments, rats received preexposure consisting of six intraperitoneal injections of lithium chloride (LiCl). This treatment reduced the magnitude of the unconditioned response (UR; suppressed consumption of a novel flavor) evoked by an additional injection (Experiment 1) or by oral consumption (Experiment 2) of LiCl. In both experiments, preexposure also attenuated the acquisition of a conditioned aversion with an LiCl injection as the unconditioned stimulus (US) but had no effect on the aversion produced when the US was oral consumption of LiCl (Experiment 2). These results are consistent with the view that the reduced ability of the preexposed US to serve as a reinforcer depends on blocking by injection-related cues and is independent of habituation of the UR recorded in the present study. Possible interpretations of this dissociation are discussed.     

Break the rules,save the records: human rights archives and the search for justice in East Timor

How do distinctive historical experiences and political regimes shape human rights archives? How do those archives and those experiences in turn influence the way painful pasts are remembered or forgotten? And what can historical accounts tell us about the wisdom of prevailing norms and practices regarding the management and control of human rights records? This paper explores these questions through a close analysis of the history and politics of the principal archive documenting human rights abuse in East Timor. It underscores the work of archival studies scholars who argue that human rights archives are always in some degree shaped by the historical and political context in which they emerge and that conflicts over matters of content, mandate, and rules of access are virtually inevitable. Noting that such conflicts typically pit political authorities against victims and their advocates, it argues that successful human rights archival programs hinge critically on sensitive historical and political analysis and that, under certain conditions, human rights archivists should play a more active role in facilitating the pursuit of justice for victims of human rights abuse. It also makes the case for a move away from large, state-controlled archives toward multiple, smaller archives with varied mandates. Finally, it proposes the adoption of a new hierarchy of interest in the management of archives; away from the long-accepted principles of national sovereignty and inalienability, and in the direction of access to the survivors of human rights violations and their advocates.