An ecological explanation of factors associated with the demise of independent liberal arts II colleges

Recent demographic trends and growth in the public sector of higher education have created severe strains for many private liberal arts colleges. The population ecology model, which explains the survival or demise of organizations in terms of their ability to negotiate for resources in their environment, provides a framework for assessing predictors of continued success among colleges. A three-way discriminant analysis based on the population ecology framework and other empirical research led to the successful classification of almost 72% of a sample of colleges in terms of their experiences during the 1970s. Number of departments, median state income, library holdings per enrollee, sectarian affiliation, annual tuition, Roman Catholic affiliation, and SAT composite score were found to be major predictors.     

Second-order conditioning of the rabbit’s nictitating membrane response as a function of the CS2-CS1 and CS1-US intervals

Three experiments investigated conditioning of the rabbit’s nictitating membrane response (NMR) in a second-order conditioning procedure which intermixed first-order trials (CS1-US) and second-order trials (CS2-CS1) from the outset of training. Experiment 1 provided a controlled demonstration that substantial levels of second-order conditioning can be obtained with the NMR preparation. Experiment 2 showed that the level of CR acquisition to CS2 was an inverse function of the CS2-CS1 interval over the values of 400, 800, and 2,400 msec. Experiment 3 found that CR acquisition to CS2 and CS1 in second-order conditioning varied in a parallel fashion across CS1-US intervals. Similarly, Experiment 3A found that the level of CR acquisition to the two components of a serial compound (CSA-CSB-US) varied in a parallel fashion as a function of the CSB-US interval. The results of the CS2-CS1 and CS1-US interval manipulations were all predictable from the known CS-US interval effects in NMR conditioning with a single CS. The present results are discussed with regard to their implications for accounts of serial compound conditioning and second-order conditioning.     

Plus/minus grading and motivation: an empirical study of student choice and performance

This paper considers whether student motivation might be impacted by the replacement of a straight (A, B, C, D, F) grading system with a plus/minus system (A, A?, B+ … D?, F). The data that are examined are from several undergraduate economics classes at a mid‐sized midwestern university in the United States. The data includes student characteristics, student performance and students’ choices of either a plus/minus or a straight grading system. In this admittedly small‐scale study students, who chose plus/minus grading, were not significantly more motivated than students who opted for straight grading.     

The Effects of Political Violence on Palestinian Children's Behavior Problems: A Risk Accumulation Model

Interviews with 150 Palestinian mothers and their children living amidst the Intifada in the West Bank were conducted to assess exposure to political violence and family negativity as risk factors associated with behavioral problems as measured by the Child Behavior Checklist. The number of risks present in the child's life was significantly correlated with the number of behavioral problems the child exhibited ( R = .53, p < .001). The analysis further examined the role of gender, age, and community context in moderating the impact of high levels of accumulated risk on children's behavioral problems. Under conditions of high accumulated risk, boys evidenced more problems than girls, and younger children exhibited more problems than older children. Community context (as indicated by a high or low level of political violence) was a significant factor for girls but not for boys.     

The inheritance of behavioral wildness in house mice (Mus musculus L.)

Fourteen behavioral measures were ranked according to their ability to differentiate performances of a wild population of mice from three domestic inbred strains. These “wildness” rankings were then analyzed for their ability to predict genetic and Genotype by Environment interactions. Genetic parameters were derived from analysis of three inbred domestic strains and their three hybrid crosses via the diallel technique of genetic analysis. Genotype by Environment interactions were assessed both as mean differences in stock performances resulting from rearing in a laboratory vs naturalistic environment and as differences in environmental variability within stock genotypes. Behavioral characters ranking high on “wildness” failed to demonstrate any unitary pattern of Genotype by Environment interactions. The diallel genetic analysis revealed many examples of additive variation but relatively few examples of dominant variation. An extremely wide range of interactions occurred between genotype and rearing environments, with “wildness” and “developmental homeostasis” concepts both failing to account for all the observed interactions.     

Validating a computerized scoring system for assessing writing and placing students in composition courses

How do scores from writing samples generated by computerized essay scorers compare to those generated by “untrained” human scorers and what combination of scores, if any, is more accurate at placing students in composition courses? This study endeavored to answer this two-part question by evaluating the correspondence between writing sample scores generated by the IntelliMetric™ automated scoring system and scores generated by University Preparation English faculty, as well as examining the predictive validity of both the automated and human scores. The results revealed significant correlations between the faculty scores and the IntelliMetric™ scores of the ACCUPLACER™ OnLine WritePlacer Plus test. Moreover, logistic regression models that utilized the IntelliMetric™ scores and average faculty scores were more accurate at placing students (77% overall correct placement rate) than were models incorporating only the average faculty score or the IntelliMetric™ scores.     

Power,prestige and pedagogic identity: a tale of two programs recontextualizing teacher standards

Worldwide there has been a range of initiatives in the area of standards for teachers as part of a discourse of professionalism. In Australia there are a plethora of standards: state and territory frameworks, generic and subject‐specific, systemic and cross‐systemic, for pre‐service, beginning and experienced teachers. Little has been written as to how teacher education programs are responding to the standards agenda. This paper positions standards as integral to the recontextualizing field (Bernstein, 2000 Bernstein B 2000 Pedagogy, symbolic control and identity: theory, research, critique (Lanham, Rowman & Littlefield)  [Google Scholar]) for teacher educators and their programs. Using Bernsteinian concepts of fields, identities and framing, we compare the responses of two physical education teacher education programs to their state's standards imperatives. The authors conclude that the academic orientation of the university, together with the framing of the standards, affect the degree of programmatic change it will undertake in response to the changes in teacher certification standards.     

SITUATIONS D'INITIATION AU RAISONNEMENT DÉDUCTIF

We examine classroom situations which allow the learning of rules of mathematical reasoning. Drawing on an epistemological analysis and G. Brousseau's theory of situations, we define a priori theoretical characteristics which such situations must possess. We then use this analysis, and hypotheses about the cognitive functioning of pupils of this age, to establish learning situations for the rule of the excluded middle, and for the use of the figure in geometry. We report the results of experimentation with two of thses situations and show that, through the study of a mathematical problem, debate about these rules can be generated amongst students aged twelve to thirteen. We explain why, in our opinion, for epistemological reasons linked to the two particular rules concerned, it is necessary for the teacher to conclude the debate, and we examine our cognitive hypotheses against the actual results of experimentation.