A bottlenose dolphin discriminates visual stimuli differing in numerosity

A bottlenose dolphin was trained to discriminate two simultaneously presented stimuli differing in numerosity (defined by the number of constituent elements). After responding correctly to stimuli consisting of three-dimensional objects, the dolphin transferred to two-dimensional stimuli. Initially, a variety of stimulus parameters covaried with the numerosity feature. By systematically controlling for these stimulus parameters, it was demonstrated that some of these attributes, such as element configuration and overall brightness, affected the animal’s discrimination performance. However, after all the confounding parameters were under control, the dolphin was able to discriminate the stimuli exclusively on the basis of the numerosity feature. The animal then achieved a successful transfer to novel numerosities, both intervening numerosities and numerosities outside the former range. These findings provide substantial evidence that the dolphin could base his behavior on the numerosity of a set independently of its other attributes and that he represented ordinal relations among numerosities.     

Findings From a Multiyear Scale-Up Effectiveness Trial of Open Court Reading

This multiyear scale-up effectiveness study of Open Court Reading (OCR) involved approximately 4,500 students and more than 1,000 teachers per year in Grades K–5 from 49 elementary schools in seven districts across the country. Using a school-level cluster randomized trial design, we assessed the implementation and effectiveness of Open Court Reading over two years. Implementation study results demonstrated adequate to high levels of fidelity across the treatment schools. Intent-to-treat analyses revealed no statistically significant main effects on students’ reading performance in Year 1 and a small negative effect (d = – .09) in Year 2. There were positive impacts for particular subgroups, including kindergarten (d = .12) and Hispanic (d = .10) students in the first year. However, there were negative impacts for first grade (d = –.13), females (d = –.11), students who were not eligible for free or reduced-price lunch (d = –.19), and non-English language learners (d = –.10) in the second year of the study. Thus, relative to the “business-as-usual” reading curricula, no positive overall impacts of OCR and mixed impacts for student subgroups were found.     

大学生的学习观

大学生的学习观是学生个体对知识、学习现象和经验的直观认识。其发展经历了从客观主义到建构主义倾向的顺序 ,但学习观的各个维度的变化并不是同步的 ,这是由于受大学生自身学习经验、所学专业、课堂教学以及学校和社会文化等因素的影响而造成的。学生的学习观反过来对学习成绩、认知过程及策略、自我调节以及学习动机具有重要的影响 ,因此学生学习观的转变也应当成为大学教学改革的一个重要目标。     

Dynamic testing in indigenous and ethnic minority children

Our study aim was to examine whether ethnic-minority children would show different change patterns to indigenous children when presented with a seriation task within a dynamic testing context based on graduated prompt-techniques. We hypothesized that both Dutch-indigenous and ethnic-minority children would employ more sophisticated strategies after graduated prompt-training compared with untrained control-group children, and that trained ethnicity groups would show different progression paths from pre- to posttest. We also hypothesized that ethnic-minority and Dutch-indigenous children would progress differently in types of strategies over the course of their training, and that they would differ in number and type of instructions needed; i.e., whether various learning patterns could be detected. We further examined which variables predicted strategy-level best. Dynamically tested children changed their strategy behavior into the direction of a more advanced strategy; this change was the largest for the initial weaker scoring ethnic-minority children. These children also initially needed more but progressively needed less cognitive hints than Dutch-indigenous children during training. The graduated prompts approach we made use of clearly unfolds possibilities to detect and describe strong and weaker points in each child's solving processes before, during and after training. With a short intervention it appeared possible to describe how many prompts when and what type of prompts a child needed during training, i.e. to describe “the learning while tested” process.     

The subjective well-being of first-year tertiary students during an induction programme

This article describes the perceptions of first-year students’ subjective appraisal of ttheir wellbeing before, during and after participation in an induction programme at a higher education institution (HEI). Twenty-two first-year students participated in focus group discussions (FGDs) and semi-structured individual interviews. Thematic and interpretative analyses suggested shifts in the students’ levels of well-being: high before, low during, and increased after the induction programme. Low levels of well-being were linked to experiences of fear, feeling disrespected, and disillusionment with university life, leaders, and a perceived loss of autonomy, independency and social-relatedness. An increase in well-being was associated with social integration, support, the ability for self-reflection and perspective taking. Wellbeing is a relational and collective matter which is embedded in broader contexts. Therefore, historical legacies of oppression and inequality should be challenged through constructive debate, involving previously neglected voices intentionally; and creating opportunities for the expression of students’ needs and growth potential     

Comparing university performance by legal status: a Malmquist-type index approach for the case of the Spanish higher education system

New public management and increasing levels of competition driven by global rankings are bringing the managerial practices of public and private higher education institutions closer together. However, these two types of institutions still maintain different objectives and traditions and enjoy different degrees of autonomy that are reflected in their internal organisational structures. We study the relative efficiency and productivity performance of private and public universities in Spain through two adaptations of the Malmquist Index. Results show that, in 2009/2010, the greater flexibility of private universities meant a better adjustment between inputs and outputs in the private sector. However, in 2013/2014, public universities had caught up with private universities. Because of the economic crisis, the inputs of public universities have decreased, but this decrease had not fully impacted their results in 2013/2014.     

Students’ use of a rubric for research theses

A rubric for research theses was developed, based on the manual of the American Psychological Association, to be used as an assessment tool for teachers and students. The aim was to make students aware of what is expected, get familiar with criteria, and interpret teacher and peer feedback. In two studies, it was examined whether students use and value these functions. In the first study, a rubric was provided to 105 Educational Sciences students working on their bachelor’s thesis. Questionnaire data indicated that students did value the rubric for the intended functions, although rubric use was not related to ability. In a panel interview, teachers stated that the number of proficiency levels should be increased to be able to distinguish between good and excellent students adequately, and that a criterion concerning student’s role during supervision should be added. Therefore, in the second study, 11 teachers were interviewed about their motives to give high grades and about the supervision process. This lead to an extra criterion concerning student’s role during supervision and an additional proficiency level to assess excellent performance. It is argued that an adequate course organisation is conditional for the rubric’s effectiveness.     

Femininity,science, and the denigration of the girly girl

Hyper-femininity and the construction of the ‘girly girl’ label have been documented widely, but there has been less attention to their content (or any distinctions between these constructs). Indeed, it can be argued that the content of femininity remains a controversial and somewhat under-researched topic in feminist scholarship. This is also the case in relation to science, which has been widely characterised as a masculine terrain, but there has been less attention to why femininity is excluded from/by science. This article attempts to unpick some of these issues, with a particular focus on the construct of the ‘girly girl’, in relation to access to science. Drawing on qualitative data from the Economic and Social Research Council-funded ASPIRES 2 project, we analyse the discourses used by young people and parents in discussion of ‘girly girls’ and physics. We show the misogynist and excluding discourses projected onto the ‘girly girl’, and indeed that are used to interpolate femininity more broadly. We found that in discussions of science and (hyper-)femininity, even potentially positive feminine attributes were denigrated. Hyper-femininity was produced as ‘more than lack’: vacuous, but also a risible presence. In reflecting on our findings we consider whether femininity may be more derided in some discursive contexts (e.g. science discourse) than others, and whether femininity can or should be conceived as more than lack.     

Preparing for the inclusive classroom: changing teachers’ attitudes and knowledge

India’s educational policy on inclusive education for students with disabilities is in sync with general global developments. Especially in the last couple of years there have been significant legislative achievements towards this endeavour. However, the implementation of inclusive education remains elusive. Besides this, teachers’ preparedness for inclusion has received little attention. This survey study had two aims. Firstly, we aimed at finding or constructing a reliable instrument to measure three aspects: the attitudes, knowledge about disability and inclusive teaching methods of regular schoolteachers. Secondly, we aimed to describe the outcomes of the three aspects. For attitudes and teaching methods we found a reliable instrument, which was selected for the usage in this study. We constructed and assessed the reliability of a scale in measuring knowledge about four disabilities: attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, dyslexia, intellectual disability and autistic spectrum disorder in pilot and main studies. The results revealed that teachers hold neutral attitudes towards inclusive education. Their knowledge about disabilities, however, was low, but knowledge about inclusive teaching methods was acceptable, which was a significant finding. The practical implications for preparing teachers to work towards inclusion are also discussed.     

Understanding channel choice in users' reporting behavior: Evidence from a smart mobility case

Public service producers are heavily investing in the development and implementation of more efficient new digital channels to engage users in citizen sourcing efforts, such as the reporting of public service-related issues. Nevertheless, user-reporters have continued to favor earlier implemented channels including traditional (e.g., phone, office) and e-government channels (e.g., web, email) over new digital channels such as m-government channels (e.g., mobile applications). Drawing on channel choice literature and theories, this study aims at explaining users' reporting behavior by examining the role of users' personal factors, including digital divide determinants, users' service experience, and channel satisfaction. We use a combination of survey and log data on actual reporting behavior among smart bike-sharing users to explain users' channel choice. Using a multinomial logistic regression, we found that the digital divide predicts user-reporters' channel choice. Moreover, user-reporters with a longer service membership favor traditional and e-government channels, over the newly implemented m-government channels. Finally, user-reporters' satisfaction with the mobile application is negatively associated with the user-reporters' choice of traditional and e-government channels. Our results expand and update the empirical evidence on channel choice at the user level, and provide insights for public service producers who aim at enhancing public service delivery through digital users' engagement.