Attenuated and enhanced neophobia in the taste-aversion “delay of reinforcement” effect

Learning & Behavior - Rats were made ill immediately or 6 h after drinking either familiar tap water or a novel .1% saccharin solution. Control animals were given sham treatments immediately...     

Equitable representation of deaf people in mainstream academia: Why not?

Approximately 5% of people in most countries have deafness or significant hearing loss. This significant minority is underrepresented in mainstream universities across the world. Background information about deafness, relevant technology and its drawbacks, and the use of interpreters are discussed. The barriers to equitable representation of qualified Deaf academics in university settings are reviewed. The experiences of three Deaf academics who teach in mainstream universities are discussed, and suggestions for resolution are offered. Examples are cited for teaching, research and service, the threefold duties of the successful academic. Continuing access difficulties mean that only a few deaf graduates now consider doctoral study; cost and the perception of cost, as well as negative attitudes and lack of knowledge may mean that the few successful graduates have difficulties gaining employment; successful tenure and promotion prospects may also be hindered for the same reasons. We also provide recommendations how barriers for successful Deaf academics can be removed or mitigated.     

A Garden of Ethics

Annemarie Roeper and Leta Hollingworth are the ethical bedrock of the field of gifted education. Though they never met, their legacies are intertwined. They gave us a child-centered perspective, in which ethical development plays a pivotal role. This article traces the similarities of their philosophies, exploring the life experiences that may have led them to see gifted children through the same lens. They both loved their gardens. The seeds of integrity and compassion that they planted inspire us to move beyond our expectations in order to see and nurture the beauty of each child.     

On‐line professional staff development: An evaluation study

This paper reports the design, implementation, and evaluation of a teleseminar on instructional design (ID) and computer‐mediated communication (CMC) for the purposes of staff development at The University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, Australia. Participation was open to any staff with an involvement or interest in distance education. This study was motivated by the following research questions: Is CMC a viable medium for the professional development of staff in distance education? Does the nature of moderation of CMC‐based discussions influence the nature of contributions from subscribers? Do participants use different strategies (interactive, cognitive, and metacognitive) in CMC‐based discussions? To address these questions a teleseminar was instituted with a focus on the issues of ID and CMC. CMC‐based moderation techniques were used to manage the discussion. Both qualitative and quantitative evaluation tools were used to measure the outcomes of the teleseminar. Results of these evaluation data show that CMC proved to be a viable medium for the professional development of staff, that the moderation strategies influenced the nature of contributions from the subscribers, and that participants used a range of strategies to manage the discussion and their participation in it.     

The CTY Talent Search: International Applicability and Practice in Ireland

The Talent Search model of above level standardized testing is a core practice of the Center for Talented Youth (CTY) at The Johns Hopkins University in the USA, where it was introduced in 1971. The Hopkins Model was adapted for use at the Irish Centre for Talented Youth (CTYI) at Dublin City University in 1993, and this adaptation marks the first major international replication, incorporating both the mathematics and verbal portions of the SAT. The SAT proved to be a valuable assessment instrument for these students, whose scores resembled those of American students.     

Focusing on what counts: using exploratory focus groups to enhance the development of an electronic survey in a mixed-methods research design

This paper illustrates the use of exploratory focus groups to inform the development of a survey instrument in a sequential phase mixed-methods study investigating differences in secondary students’ career choice capability. Five focus groups were conducted with 23 Year 10 students in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Analysis of the focus group data helped inform the design of the instrument for the second phase of the research project: a large-scale cross-sectional survey. In this paper, we discuss the benefits of using focus groups as an initial exploratory phase in a sequential phase mixed-method design and demonstrate how the findings from this initial exploratory phase informed the development of the survey questionnaire to be used in the main phase of the research. The paper will be of interest to researchers considering the use of exploratory qualitative methods to enhance the quantitative phase in a mixed-methods study.     

Ancestral Voices—‘Since Time Everlasting Beyond’: Kipling and the Invention of the Time-Slip Story

In this study of Kipling's Puck books, I attempt to clarify the enduring characteristics of the time-slip story as he and E. Nesbit invented it and also to determine his own distinctive contribution to the genre. Although his formal procedures were not influential, his genius lies in showing us the mere uncounted folk of history, not the big players of E. Nesbit's stories. As a conservative democrat, he shows what treasures are hid on one's own hearth and doorstep, so to speak, so that you do not have to venture far to find magic. For Kipling, that magic resides in the common culture of England, the surviving traditional ways, which catastrophic changes over two thousand years had not greatly altered. The magic is traced to the nature of the land itself, a place deeply enchanted and manifest in the merry supernaturalism that G. K. Chesterton saw in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream.     

TALKING GEOGRAPHY: an investigation into young children's understanding of geographical terms PART 2

This research investigates the understanding by children of seven years of age of certain geographical terms and compares data collected in 1991, reported in an earlier paper, with that collected in 1993, after two years’ implementation of the English National Curriculum for Geography. The findings do not indicate any significant difference in the quality and range of response by the children. Most children, from both samples, appeared to show restricted or inconsistent understanding of most of the terms. It is clear from the research that children construct their own meanings for particular words, based on intuition and experience together with some formal teaching, but that even vernacular terms can present difficulties for them. Children have particular problems in conceptualising space. Further investigation of children's constructions, related to specific geographical concepts, is therefore urgently needed if geography teaching programmes are to be designed with adequate reference to the cognitive demands of particular aspects of the subject. We need to know more about children's views of geography.