Instrumental escape learning in the rat at 24-hour intertriai interval: Effects of magnitude and schedule of reinforcement

Three experiments investigated the effects of magnitude and schedule of reinforcement and level of training in instrumental escape learning at a 24-h intertriai interval. In Experiment I, two magnitudes of reinforcement were factorially combined with two schedules of reinforcement (CRF and PRF). Under PRF, large reward produced greater resistance to extinction than did small reward, while the reverse was true under CRF. In Experiment II, two levels of acquisition training were factorially combined with three schedules of reinforcement (CRF, single-alternation, and nonalternated PRF). Patterned running was observed late in acquisition in the single-alternation extended-training condition. Resistance to extinction was greater for the nonalternated PRF condition than for the single-alternation condition following extended acquisition, and the reverse was true following limited acquisition. Experiment III confirmed the extinction findings of Experiment II. The results of all three experiments supported an analysis of escape learning at spaced trials in terms of Capaldi’s (1967) sequential theory.     

Biting Behaviors Among Preschoolers: A Review of the Literature and Survey of Practitioners

Biting behavior occurs frequently among young children in child care settings. Research indicates several possible reasons for biting behavior including developmental as well as emotional issues. This study examines procedures that have been established to handle childhood biting by early childhood education child care facilities in a southeastern state of the United States. We were interested in whether these child care providers considered biting a normal developmental behavior or an abnormal, dysfunctional behavior. Additionally, how did their philosophy about childhood biting relate to their handling of biting incidents in their facilities?     

Positive mood and math performance

Two studies are reported that assessed the impact of positive moods on students' feelings of self-efficacy and math performance. In the first study, 32 black and Hispanic girls and boys in the third to fifth grades, who had been identified by teachers as at risk for school failure, and a control sample of normally achieving classmates served as subjects. In the second study, 15 males and 3 females in junior high and high school attending a private school for students with learning disabilities served as subjects. In both studies, students were randomly assigned to a positive-mood induction condition or a no-treatment control condition. Following this, they completed a measure of self-efficacy for math and were then given 5 minutes to do 50 math problems. In both studies, analyses of covariance using standardized math scores as the adjustor variable found that children in the positive-mood condition completed significantly more problems accurately than children in the no-treatment control condition. In addition, in the junior high and high school sample, students in the positive-mood induction condition expressed greater self-efficacy for math than students in the control condition. The results of these two studies raise many questions about the role of affect, positive and negative, in the learning and performance of students with learning disabilities that researchers and teachers might explore.     

The gap between guidelines, practice, and knowledge in interpreting services for deaf students

In this article, we examine the literature on educational interpreting for information related to optimal interpreting in school settings. this literature review is coupled with an examination of 15 guidelines for educational interpreters in school districts and programs for the deaf and hard of hearing across the United States. With this information, we then explore discrepancies between what guidelines recommend, what actually occurs in classrooms, and what research on the process of interpreting has found on the basis of three major areas of concern: the production of the message by the interpreter, the reception of the message by the student, and additional responsibilities required of interpreters working in school programs.     

The relationship of child protection worker attitudes to attrition from the field

Child protection workers in 33 states and the District of Columbia participated in a survey conducted by the C. Henry Kempe National Center for the Prevention and Treatment of Child Abuse and Neglect to determine the attitudes and attributes of workers who terminate their careers in child protection. A year after the survey, telephone follow-up was done to identify respondents to the survey who had left the child protection field. Attributes and attitudes were then linked directly to whether workers had terminated or continued child protective service. Just 8.0% (15 of 187) of the workers had left the field. There were few differences between workers that departed and those whose services were retained. Both were generally dissatisfied with their profession at the time of the survey. The shrinking social service labor market and worker investment in the field are discussed as factors impeding turnover among child protection workers.     

Digitalisation in higher education: mapping institutional approaches for teaching and learning

This paper explores the digitalisation of teaching and learning understood as external processes, influenced by government and international trends and as internal processes within the institutions, in Denmark and Norway. These are countries with similarities regarding digitalisation and educational systems. In the internal processes, there was some use of digital technology in teaching and learning when initiated from administration including IT-staff, in collaboration with academic leaders. There was little or only limited reported use of technology for teaching and learning, when the processes were initiated by administration together with enthusiasts among faculty staff, who did not have leadership roles or influence on change. There was more reported use of technology in teaching and learning in Denmark than Norway. The paper discusses possible explanations for these findings and thus illuminates how processes of digitalisation are influenced by broader governance arrangements, institutional maturity and academic and administration staffs.     

Personality as a Predictor of First‐Semester Adjustment to College: The Mediational Role of Perceived Social Support

Personality was hypothesized to predict college adjustment because of the role of perceived social support. A sample of 111 freshmen completed measures of personality, perceived social support, and college adjustment twice in their 1st semester. Perceived social support mediated the relationships between 3 personality factors (Emotional Stability, Social Boldness, and Abstractedness) and college adjustment, highlighting perceived social support as a point of intervention to improve 1st‐semester students' college adjustment.     

Teacher perceptions of the regular education initiative

A survey of 381 special and regular educators assessed perceptions and opinions surrounding the regular education initiative. Confirmatory factor analysis supported an a priori hypothesized structure of teachers' responses. Items factored into 14 categories. These factors describe issues related to preferred placement of students with mild disabilities, teachers' responsibility and ownership, teacher preparedness for meeting the needs of these students, achievement outcomes for all children, and the changes that would result from adopting the proposed consultant model rather than a pullout program. Results favored current special education practices (pullout programs) in elementary schools.     

The development of children at familial risk for dyslexia: Birth to early school age

Children at risk for familial dyslexia (n = 107) and their controls (n = 93) have been followed from birth to school entry in the Jyvaskyla Longitudinal study of Dyslexia (JLD) on developmental factors linked to reading and dyslexia. At the point of school entry, the majority of the at-risk children displayed decoding ability that fell at least 1 SD below the mean of the control group. Measures of speech processing were the earliest indices to show both group differences in infancy and also significant predictive associations with reading acquisition. A number of measures of language, including phonological and morphological skill collected repeatedly from age three, revealed group differences and predictive correlations. Both the group differences and the predictive associations to later language and reading ability strengthened as a function of increasing age. The predictions, however, tend to be stronger and the spectrum of significant correlations wider in the at-risk group. These results are crucial to early identification and intervention of dyslexia in at-risk children.     

Student Learning in Higher Education

There has been relatively little systematic experimental investigation of individual differences in student learning. The findings of mainstream laboratory‐based research are of limited value, though they are generally consistent with the results of surveys of student performance. Nevertheless, it has been possible to demonstrate qualitative and commensurable variation among individual students in both the outcome of learning and the process of learning, and in both formal experimental tasks and in normal academic studies. There has been limited success in attempts to manipulate cognitive processing by varying the anticipated form of assessment or by inducing variations in motivational factors. However, there are radical effects of matching the instructional procedures to the subjects’ cognitive approaches. More recent research has demonstrated considerable variation within individual subjects across different learning situations. Current discussion concerns the consistency, variability, and flexibility of individual learners, the identification of causal relationships, the validity of introspective reports and the adequacy of traditional research methodology.