Persuasive Speaking: It's Just a Game!

Objective: To enable students to understand the methodology and components involved in effective persuasive message creation and delivery

Courses: Public speaking and persuasion     

An attempt to demonstrate magnetic compass orientation in two species of mammals

An attempt was made to train two species of small mammals (the bush opossum,Monodelphis domesticus, and the Djungarian hamster,Phodopus sungorus) to search for food in the direction indicated by an earth-strength magnetic field. Five opossums and 4 hamsters were tested in a cross-shaped arena whose four arms faced geographic north, south, east, and west. A set of coils generated a magnetic field whose north pole could be randomly pointed toward any arm. A subject was given a food reward if it entered the arm indicated by the north direction of the field. In 12 series of 73 to 1,127 trials each, the subjects were unable to select the appropriate arm with a frequency greater than random. This result contrasts strongly with a variety of published studies on mammals, birds, and other vertebrates that have indicated good ability to determine direction from the earth’s magnetic field.     

Preference for fixed over variable access to food

Three pigeons pecked for food in a concurrent chain schedule. Pecks in one link of the concurrent chain resulted in a fixed duration of access to food, while pecks in the other link resulted in either no access to food or 8 sec of access to food. All three pigeons pecked more often in the initial link which resulted in the fixed duration of access to food, indicating preference for fixed over variable access to food. This result does not seem consistent with previous results showing preference for variable- over fixed-interval schedules. However, the results are consistent if preference is determined by differential weighting of reward values, and preference is independent of whether a reward is fixed or variable. This analysis suggests that previous results of fixed- vs. variable-reward studies cannot be used to argue that animals do not prefer information over uncertainty.     

Software for calculating blood lactate endurance markers

Abstract

Blood lactate markers are used as summary measures of the underlying model of an athlete's blood lactate response to increasing work rate. Exercise physiologists use these endurance markers, typically corresponding to a work rate in the region of high curvature in the lactate curve, to predict and compare endurance ability. A short theoretical background of the commonly used markers is given and algorithms provided for their calculation. To date, no free software exists that allows the sports scientist to calculate these markers. In this paper, software is introduced for precisely this purpose that will calculate a variety of lactate markers for an individual athlete, an athlete at different instants (e.g. across a season), and simultaneously for a squad.     

Roots & Wings: Effects of Whole-School Reform on Student Achievement

Roots & Wings is a comprehensive reform model for elementary schools. It incorporates all elements of Success for All (Slavin et al., 1996), which includes programs for early childhood, Grades 1-6 reading, writing, and language arts, one-to-one tutoring for primary-grades children struggling in reading, and family support programs. To these it adds MathWings, an approach based on standards of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, and WorldLab, a program for social studies and science emphasizing simulations and group investigations.

Research on Roots & Wings in its pilot sites, 4 schools in rural Maryland, found strong impacts on state performance measures in all subjects in Grades 3 and 5 as long as the program was being implemented. When funding cuts and a change of superintendents ended the intervention, test score gains leveled out, although scores were still ahead of baseline. A study in a Texas school found substantial gains on Texas state assessments in reading, writing, and math.     

Students' response to traditional and computer-assisted formative feedback: A comparative case study

The national movement towards progress files, incorporating personal development planning and reflective learning, is supported by lecturers providing effective feedback to their students. Recent technological advances mean that higher education tutors are no longer obliged to return comments in the ‘traditional’ manner, by annotating students' work with red pen. This paper considers some of the options currently available for returning computer‐assisted feedback, including the Electronic Feedback freeware. This MS Office application enables tutors to readily synthesise and email feedback reports to students. To further ascertain the value of this software, 169 1st‐year Pharmaceutical Science and Pharmacy students completed a questionnaire to gauge their reaction to formative feedback on an extended laboratory report. This included 110 responses from students graded by three tutors who marked work using either handwritten annotations or the Electronic Feedback program. Principle component analysis (PCA) of the Likert scale responses indicates that the identity of the marker did not significantly affect the response of students. However, the type of feedback was a factor that influenced the students' responses, with electronic feedback being rated superior. A Mann‐Whitney analysis of the satisfaction ratings (generated by PCA) indicates that four features of the assignment and feedback were considered significantly improved when the software was used to create feedback, namely; markscheme clarity, feedback legibility, information on deficient aspects, and identification of those parts of the work where the student did well. Modern academics face a number of challenges if they wish to return meaningful and timely feedback to students, among them large class sizes and infrequent face‐to‐face contact. It is pleasing to note, therefore, that assessors reported taking less time to mark when using the software. It is concluded that electronic formative feedback can be returned more quickly and may be used to synthesise relevant feedback that is both fair and balanced.     

Social Class Dialogues and the Fostering of Class Consciousness

How do critical pedagogies promote undergraduate students’ awareness of social class, social class identity, and social class inequalities in education? How do undergraduate students experience class consciousness-raising in the intergroup dialogue classroom? This qualitative study explores undergraduate students’ class consciousness-raising in an intergroup dialogue on social class at a large, private Northeastern university. Analyses of weekly student journals are offered to expand upon our knowledge of undergraduate students’ social class experiences in higher education contexts, as well as illuminate positive impacts that intergroup dialogue pedagogy has on students’ class consciousness-raising in the intergroup dialogue classroom.