Pretraining and discrimination reversal learning by rhesus monkeys

Groups of five to seven macaques were trained on repeated reversals of a visual (or spatial) discrimination habit after no pretraining, extended discrimination training, or repeated reversal training on spatial (or visual) cues. Neither sort of pretraining had a significant effect on reversal learning on the second cue. These results indicate that monkeys’ capacity to develop generalized “win-stay, lose-shift” hypotheses may have been exaggerated in previous experiments.     

The local impact of global climate change: reporting on landscape transformation and threatened identity in the English regional newspaper press

This paper contributes to extant understandings of media representations of climate change by examining the role of the English regional newspaper press in the transformation and dissemination of climate change discourse. Unlike previous accounts, this paper contends that such newspapers shape public understandings of climate change in ways that have yet to be adequately charted. With this in mind, this paper examines the ways in which global climate change is translated into a locally relevant phenomenon. That is, it focuses on its "domestication." Although we acknowledge that there are a number of ways in which this process occurs, specific attention is drawn to stories that highlight the destruction of local landscape features, the transformation of important habitats, and the arrival of "alien" species. The broader significance of such stories is considered in relation to long-standing debates concerning the importance of landscape to notions of national and regional identity.     

Teachers’ intentions to use national literacy and numeracy assessment data: a pilot study

In recent years the educational policy environment has emphasised data-driven change. This has increased the expectation for school personnel to use statistical information to inform their programs and to improve teaching practices. Such data include system reports of student achievement tests and socio-economic profiles provided to schools by various state education departments’ data services. This paper reports on a pilot study that explored factors affecting Mathematics and English teachers’ intentions to engage with the statistical data their schools receive and to consider these data when making decisions about their teaching practices. It was found that most teachers perceived that such data identify weak students and some teachers (mostly mathematics teachers) thought that they can help to identify curriculum topics that need attention. Most teachers felt that the reports were not easy to understand. Confidence in dealing with statistical data was a problem for many teachers, but especially for English teachers.     

On fractions and non-standard representations: Pre-service teachers' concepts

The present study examined the reasoning strategies and arguments given by pre-service school teachers as they solved two problems regarding fractions in different symbolic representations. In the first problem, the pre-service school teachers were asked to compare between two different fractions having the same numerical representation, and in the second problem, they were asked to compare between different notational representations of the same fraction. Numeration systems in bases other than ten were used to generate various representations of fractions. All students were asked to provide justifications to their responses. Strategies and arguments relative to pre-service teachers' concepts of fractions and place value were identified and analyzed based on results of 38 individual clinical interviews, and written responses of 124 students. It was found that the majority of students believe that fractions change their numerical value under different symbolic representations.     

Play to learn: a case-study of parent/carer and child engagement with a physical activity website resource

In 2007, Sport Wales produced guidance for practitioners delivering the new Foundation Phase curriculum for children aged three to seven years. A focus was on physical development and in 2009 a resource entitled Play to Learn was developed supported by a website launched in 2011. The present study addresses (non-)engagement with the website. Based on a qualitative study (interviews and focus groups) with a small cohort of parents from a primary school in South Wales, the findings revealed some of the reasons for only low levels of engagement from parents/carers. ‘Hard copy’ resource materials were considered more useful than electronic media.     

Putting Students First: How Colleges Develop Students Purposefully

What environmental conditions have a significant effect on community college student‐transfer activity? What are the interrelationships between the external and institutional conditions affecting community college student‐transfer activity? These questions were examined using a sample of 78 public community colleges across the country that participated in the 1990 Transfer Assembly (Center for the Study of Community Colleges). Analyses involved semi‐stepwise regressions and two‐tailed t‐ tests. The dependent variables based on first‐time freshmen of the Fall 1985 cohort were credits accumulated and transfer rates of students completing 12 or more credits. Findings suggest that institutions with larger percentages of students completing 12 or more credits have greater proportions of full‐time and younger students and are located in areas with high unemployment. Institutions with larger percentages of students transferring with 12 or more credits have are located in high income areas in states with formalized articulation and transfer agreements.     

Role of comprehension on performance at higher levels of Bloom's taxonomy: Findings from assessments of healthcare professional students

The first four levels of Bloom's taxonomy were used to create quiz questions designed to assess student learning of the gross anatomy, histology, and physiology of the gastrointestinal (GI) system. Information on GI histology and physiology was presented to separate samples of medical, dental, and podiatry students in computer based tutorials where the information from the two disciplines was presented either separately or in an integrated fashion. All students were taught GI gross anatomy prior to this study by course faculty as part of the required curriculum of their respective program. Student responses to the quiz questions were analyzed to assess both the validity of Bloom's cumulative hierarchy and the effectiveness of an integrated curriculum. No statistically significant differences were found between quiz scores from students who received the integrated tutorial and from those who received the separate tutorials. Multiple regression analyses provided partial support for a cumulative hierarchy where scores on the lower levels of Bloom's taxonomy predicted scores on higher levels. Notably, in the majority of regression analyses, the comprehension score was the key foundational predictor for application and analysis scores. This study supports the suggestion that educators increase the number of comprehension level questions, even at the expense of knowledge level questions, in course assessments both to evaluate lower order cognitive skills and also as a predictor of success on questions requiring application and analysis levels of the higher order cognitive skills of Bloom's taxonomy. Anat Sci Educ 11: 433–444. © 2018 American Association of Anatomists.     

Family income, parent education, and perceived constraints as predictors of observed program quality and parent rated program quality

Observed child care quality and parent perceptions of child care quality received by children in poor (below Federal Poverty Line, FPL), low-income (between FPL and 200% of FPL), and non-low-income families were examined. Observations were completed in 359 center- and home-based child care programs in four Midwestern states and surveys were received from 1313 parents whose children were enrolled in these programs. Multilevel structural equation modeling revealed that programs with higher proportions of low-income families tend to have lower observed quality than programs with a higher proportion of non-low-income families. Programs with more educated parents tended to have better observed quality, however, more educated parents tended to have lower perceptions of quality.     

Inquiring minds: theorizing children’s interests

Children’s interests are a common foundation for early childhood curricula. Yet, little research is available about the fundamental nature of children’s interests and analytical ways to recognize and engage with these. Early work on children’s interests adopted a psychological perspective and associated interests with activity choices. Recent work has taken a sociocultural perspective, arguing that more analytical interpretations of children’s interests can occur through a deeper understanding of children’s funds of knowledge from their lives in their families and communities, and their inquiries that result. This paper draws on a qualitative, interpretivist study in two early childhood centres in Aotearoa New Zealand to extend this work and argue that children’s ‘real questions’ are the fundamental source of their interests. The interpretations presented of children’s questions also challenge earlier psychological research that suggested children cannot imagine their future selves until late in the early childhood period. A revised continuum of children’s interests and examples of interpretations of children’s real questions are proffered for further consideration in other early childhood contexts. Further, the paper argues that interests-based curriculum is justifiable in the early years through likely leading to a range of long-term outcomes valued by societies.     

Mother-child bookreading in low-income families: correlates and outcomes during the first three years of life

About half of 2,581 low-income mothers reported reading daily to their children. At 14 months, the odds of reading daily increased by the child being firstborn or female. At 24 and 36 months, these odds increased by maternal verbal ability or education and by the child being firstborn or of Early Head Start status. White mothers read more than did Hispanic or African American mothers. For English-speaking children, concurrent reading was associated with vocabulary and comprehension at 14 months, and with vocabulary and cognitive development at 24 months. A pattern of daily reading over the 3 data points for English-speaking children and daily reading at any 1 data point for Spanish-speaking children predicted children's language and cognition at 36 months. Path analyses suggest reciprocal and snowballing relations between maternal bookreading and children's vocabulary.