The form of timing distributions in pigeons under penalties for responding early

The peak procedure was used in two experiments. Pigeons in the penalty group in Experiment 1 were rewarded with food in the first phase for the first peck after 12.5 sec had elapsed since the onset of a keylight. In the second phase, reward was withheld if the pigeons pecked within 6.25 sec after keylight onset. Responses in time were tabulated on occasional unrewarded tests in which the keylight was left on for 37.5 sec. Under the penalty contingencies, the response distribution in time remained nearly symmetric about the peak, while the spread of the distribution narrowed, and the time of peak responding came slightly earlier. The yoke group underwent a schedule of rewards similar to that for the penalty group, but without the penalty contingencies. Their response distributions remained similar throughout. The results of Experiment 1 were replicated in Experiment 2, which showed further that the changes due to the penalty contingencies did not generalize to the use of another key on which the penalty contingencies were not in effect. The narrower spread under the penalty contingencies is explained in terms of a change in threshold for when to start responding, and more weight being given to timing versus responding in the presence of the signal per se. No explanation was found for the change in the time of peak responding.     

The free food (contrafreeloading) phenomenon: A review and analysis

Animals will perform an operant response to obtain food when abundant free food is available. These data have implications for current learning theories, especially in terms of the motivational variables associated with such behavior. The present paper reviews the literature and provides an analysis that suggests that responding for food in the presence of free food is importantly controlled by stimulus change attendant upon response-dependent food presentation. This apparent stimulus-reinforcer effect on behavior is compared to that observed in other areas of animal learning research that include preference between schedules of response-dependent and response-independent reinforcement, preference between schedules of signaled and unsignaled reinforcement, autoshaping and automaintenance, and self-reinforcement in animals.     

What “ideas‐about‐science” should be taught in school science? A Delphi study of the expert community

Recent arguments in science education have proposed that school science should pay more attention to teaching the nature of science and its social practices. However, unlike the content of science, for which there is well‐established consensus, there would appear to be much less unanimity within the academic community about which “ideas‐about‐science” are essential elements that should be included in the contemporary school science curriculum. Hence, this study sought to determine empirically the extent of any consensus using a three stage Delphi questionnaire with 23 participants drawn from the communities of leading and acknowledged international experts of science educators; scientists; historians, philosophers, and sociologists of science; experts engaged in work to improve the public understanding of science; and expert science teachers. The outcome of the research was a set of nine themes encapsulating key ideas about the nature of science for which there was consensus and which were considered to be an essential component of school science curriculum. Together with extensive comments provided by the participants, these data give some measure of the existing level of agreement in the community engaged in science education and science communication about the salient features of a vulgarized account of the nature of science. Although some of the themes are already a feature of existing school science curricula, many others are not. The findings of this research, therefore, challenge (a) whether the picture of science represented in the school science curriculum is sufficiently comprehensive, and (b) whether there balance in the curriculum between teaching about the content of science and the nature of science is appropriate. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 40: 692–720, 2003     

The social value of anonymity on campus: a study of the decline of Yik Yak

ABSTRACT

This paper considers the social value of anonymity in online university student communities, through the presentation of research which tracked the final year of life of the social media application Yik Yak. Yik Yak was an anonymous, geosocial mobile application launched in 2013 which, at its peak in 2014, was used by around two million students in the US and UK. The research we report here is significant as a mixed method study tracing the final year of the life of this app in a large UK university between 2016 and 2017. The paper uses computational and ethnographic methods to understand what might be at stake in the loss of anonymity within university student communities in a datafied society. Countering the most common argument made against online anonymity – its association with hate speech and victimisation – the paper draws on recent conceptual work on the social value of anonymity to argue that anonymity online in this context had significant value for the communities that use it. This study of a now-lost social network constitutes a valuable portrait by which we might better understand our current predicament in relation to anonymity, its perceived value and its growing impossibility.     

Students as epistemological agents: claiming life experience as real knowledge in health professional education

Higher Education - University teachers’ practices of resistance against dominant epistemological norms have been described in recent critical higher education literature, but comparatively...     

Using genetic markers in unpedigreed populations to detect a heritable trait

Before a breeder invests selection pressure on a trait of interest, it needs to be established whether that trait is actually heritable. Some traits may not have been measured widely in pedigreed populations, for example, a disease or deformity may become more prevalent than previously, but is still relatively rare. One approach to detect inheritance would be to screen a commercial population to obtain a sample of "affecteds" (the test group) and to also obtain a random control group. These indi- viduals are then genotyped with a set of genetic markers and the relationships between individuals within each group estimated. If the relatedness is higher in the test group than in the control group, this provides initial evidence for the trait being heritable. A power simulation shows that this approach is feasible with moderate resources.     

Use of stochastic simulations to investigate the power and design of a whole genome association study using single nucleotide polymorphism arrays in farm animals

This paper presents a quick, easy to implement and versatile way of using stochastic simulations to investigate the power and design of using single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) arrays for genome-wide association studies in farm animals. It illustrates the methodology by discussing a small example where 6 experimental designs are considered to analyse the same resource consisting of 6006 animals with pedigree and phenotypic records: (1) genotyping the 30 most widely used sires in the population and all of their progeny (515 animals in total), (2) genotyping the 100 most widely used sires in the population and all of their progeny (1102 animals in total), genotyping respectively (3) 515 and (4) 1102 animals selected randomly or genotyping respectively (5) 515 and (6) 1102 animals from the tails of the phenotypic distribution. Given the resource at hand, designs where the extreme animals are genotyped perform the best, followed by designs selecting animals at random. Designs where sires and their progeny are genotyped perform the worst, as even genotyping the 100 most widely used sires and their progeny is not as powerful of genotyping 515 extreme animals.     

Identification with Academics and Motivation to Achieve in School: How the Structure of the Self Influences Academic Outcomes

Authors since William James (1892/1968) have implied that the structure of the self-concept can influence motivation and outcomes in particular domains. The value or importance an individual places on a domain influences how motivated that individual is to expend effort in that domain, ultimately influencing the positivity or negativity of the outcomes in that domain (the outcomes then likewise influence the valuing of that domain). Taking the example of identification with academics (selectively valuing an academic domain as central to the self-concept), we review the importance of psychological centrality and present a theoretical model directly linking the structure of the self to motivation and outcomes, something not explicitly discussed in the literature to date. Finally, strategies are suggested for how to increase a student’s identification with academics, which this theoretical framework suggests should lead to improved motivation to achieve in academics and improved outcomes for students.     

科学教育与ICT角色文献综述:使命、问题与未来的方向

通过追溯英国科学教育的发展,对英国中学科学教育所发生的变革进行描述和境脉介绍,提出了英国科学教育的目标及目前教学存在的问题,重点讨论了ICT应用对科学教学的价值、影响和目前的局限。     

Avoidance differences between rats and gerbils

Gerbils and rats learned equally well to discriminate the lighted, safe arm from the unsafe arm during Y-maze avoidance trials. Gerbils, however, were inferior to rats in initiating this response in time to avoid shock. Two subsequent experiments on passive avoidance did not support the interpretation of these data based on a greater incidence of shock-induced activity suppression in gerbils. In both experiments, gerbils required more shocks than rats to learn a staying response, indicating a pronounced locomotor response bias in gerbils that is not compatible with the required passive avoidance response. A fourth experiment, using a shuttlebox, found that the relative active avoidance performance by these species depends upon whether intertriai responses are permitted and punished. When they are, gerbils are inferior to rats, since their high level of locomotor responding is not compatible with the behavior required, i.e., staying during the intertrial interval and running during the CS-US interval. On the other hand, gerbils are not inferior when intertrial responses are prohibited, since their locomotor bias is not punished and is compatible with the required avoidance response.