Detrimental effects of immediate explanation feedback

Adjunct questions are a common means to foster learning from instructional explanations. As the benefit of adjunct questions is mitigated if learner performance on them is low, it is also common to provide feedback as an add-on if learners fail to correctly respond to them. However, if adjunct questions are highly demanding, feedback might not only beneficially affect learning because it helps learners revise their comprehension difficulties; at the same time, it could also detrimentally affect learning by causing learners to invest less time in responding to subsequent adjunct questions, which lowers learner performance on these questions. This, in turn, could reduce learning outcomes. To address these potential detrimental effects of feedback, we experimentally varied whether N?=?59 students received immediate feedback after they responded to highly demanding adjunct questions. We found that the feedback did indeed have detrimental effects: At least for the learners who perceived the task of responding to the adjunct questions as highly demanding, the feedback decreased both the time the learners invested in responding to the adjunct questions and their performance on them. This detrimental effect on the performance on the adjunct questions, in turn, entailed a detrimental effect on learning outcomes. We conclude that immediate feedback is not necessarily a beneficial add-on to adjunct questions in all situations.     

Blocking of conditioned suppression with 1 or 10 compound trials

It is generally agreed that the Kamin blocking effect provides a differential test of the model of classical conditioning proposed by Rescorla and Wagner (1972), on the one hand, and the models proposed by Mackintosh (1975) and Pearce and Hall (1980), on the other. Specifically, if the blocking effect occurs with 1 compound trial, Rescorla and Wagner are supported. Experiment 1 showed that prior training with one element of a simultaneous compound stimulus prevented the added element from becoming conditioned with 10 compound trials when compared with a nonpretrained (Kamin) control. A pseudoconditioning control, which received no compound training, showed substantial suppression only on the first trial. A contextual conditioning control, which received unsignaled shock prior to compound training, was suppressed, suggesting a failure of conditioning to contextual cues. Experiment 2 demonstrated 1-compound-trial blocking using a simultaneous presentation of the compound elements. The importance of this support for the Rescorla-Wagner model is discussed in the light of other supportive studies and those which support alternative models of classical conditioning.     

Notes on Classroom Practice and the Ownership and Use of Personal Computers Amongst Egyptian Science and Mathematics Teachers

This paper reports a study of the acquisition and use of personal computers by Egyptian science and mathematics teachers. Self-report data was collected from the same teachers on how they had changed their classroom activities and professional practice since their return to Egypt following a twelve-week in-service course in the United Kingdom. The data from this sample of teachers is compared with that from a second sample, who also attended the same in-service programme, but did not report the purchase of a personal computer. Analysis indicates that the Egyptian teachers with personal computers have tended to concentrate on improving the quality of current practice, through better preparation and student testing, rather than introducing major, paradigmatic, changes to their teaching.     

Adolescents at risk for violence

Interpersonal violence among youth is a growing problem in many communities and schools across the nation. The causes of violence are multiple and complex. This paper examines the extent and nature of interpersonal violence among youth as well as the individual and societal factors which contribute to youth violence. Adolescents are disproportionately represented as both victims and perpetrators of fatal and nonfatal assaultive violence. Homicide rates among young men in the United States are vastly greater than those of other Western industrialized nations. Persons age 12–24 years face the highest risk of nonfatal violent victimization of any segment of our society. Arrest rates for homicide, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault peak among adolescents and young adults. Further, arrest rates for murder and other violent crimes have increased substantially among this age group since the mid-1980s. Effective prevention programs will require combinations of interventions aimed at multiple factors and delivered through many channels.     

The Real-Time Case Method: Description and Analysis of the First Implementation

This article describes the first implementation of the Real-time Case Method (RTCM)—a new instructional practice that makes use of various technologies to create a new type of case study. Data obtained from five instructors at four business schools in the U.S. and Canada were analyzed using analytic induction. Analysis suggests RTCM was successfully implemented at both the graduate and undergraduate levels, in traditional face-to-face as well as online learning environments, with students of varying levels of experience and backgrounds, and by instructors with differing professional backgrounds and teaching styles. The instructors were highly satisfied with the method. They observed that students were engaged by RTCM, that it motivated them to work harder and longer on assignments, and that it allowed them to have experiences that were qualitatively different from those available from textbooks and traditional cases.     

A guide to establishing hybrid learning courses: Employing information technology to create a new learning experience, and a case study

Hybrid learning, or blended learning, has become an interesting learning delivery method in recent years. Many universities have sought to develop their own hybrid learning courses as another option for students and instructors who prefer to replace some portion of traditional face-to-face meeting time with online instruction. This paper provides some pragmatic guidance for establishing hybrid learning courses in universities. The authors focus on the use of information technology, as well as the development and the design of the course content. The paper also illustrates a case study of hybrid learning courses at NJIT. The research results showed no significant difference between the performance of the students who took a course in hybrid mode versus the performance of those who took the identical course in distance learning mode. Some positive feedback in terms of perceived benefit from the hybrid course instruction and course materials was obtained from the students. The student learning styles were also investigated. The results demonstrated that the majority of students who participated in the hybrid learning course are active/sensing/sequential/visual learners. Most of them preferred visual presentations to verbal explanations. The research results also revealed the difference between learning styles of students with high performance, and those with low performance.     

Mind the Gap: Why do people act environmentally and what are the barriers to pro-environmental behavior?

Numerous theoretical frameworks have been developed to explain the gap between the possession of environmental knowledge and environmental awareness, and displaying pro-environmental behavior. Although many hundreds of studies have been undertaken, no definitive explanation has yet been found. Our article describes a few of the most influential and commonly used analytical frameworks: early US linear progression models; altruism, empathy and prosocial behavior models; and finally, sociological models. All of the models we discuss (and many of the ones we do not such as economic models, psychological models that look at behavior in general, social marketing models and that have become known as deliberative and inclusionary processes or procedures (DIPS)) have some validity in certain circumstances. This indicates that the question of what shapes pro-environmental behavior is such a complex one that it cannot be visualized through one single framework or diagram. We then analyze the factors that have been found to have some influence, positive or negative, on pro-environmental behavior such as demographic factors, external factors (e.g. institutional, economic, social and cultural) and internal factors (e.g. motivation, pro-environmental knowledge, awareness, values, attitudes, emotion, locus of control, responsibilities and priorities). Although we point out that developing a model that tries to incorporate all factors might neither be feasible nor useful, we feel that it can help illuminate this complex field. Accordingly, we propose our own model based on the work of Fliegenschnee and Schelakovsky (1998) who were influenced by Fietkau and Kessel (1981).