Analyzing false memories in children with associative lists specific for their age

Two experiments attempted to resolve previous contradictory findings concerning developmental trends in false memories within the Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) paradigm by using an improved methodology--constructing age-appropriate associative lists. The research also extended the DRM paradigm to preschoolers. Experiment 1 (N=320) included children in three age groups (preschoolers of 3-4 years, second-graders of 7-8 years, and preadolescents of 11-12 years) and adults, and Experiment 2 (N=64) examined preschoolers and preadolescents. Age-appropriate lists increased false recall. Although preschoolers had fewer false memories than the other age groups, they showed considerable levels of false recall when tested with age-appropriate materials. Results were discussed in terms of fuzzy-trace, source-monitoring, and activation frameworks.     

Assessing students’ perceptions of their learning environment in science classes in the United Arab Emirates

Learning Environments Research - As part of major education reform efforts underway in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), teachers have been introducing cooperative teaching methods in their science...     

Cognitive load theory,the transient information effect and e-learning

When using modern educational technology, some forms of instruction are inherently transient in that previous information usually disappears to be replaced by current information. Instructional animations and spoken text provide examples. The effects of transience due to the use of animation-based instructions (Experiment 1) and spoken information under audio-visual conditions (Experiment 2) were explored in a cognitive load theory framework. It was hypothesized that for transient information presented in short sections, animations would be superior to static graphics, due to our innate ability to learn by observing. For transient information in long sections, animations should lose their superiority over static graphics, due to working memory overload associated with large amounts of transient information. Similarly, the modality effect under which audio-visual information is superior to visual only information should be obtainable using short segments but disappear or reverse using longer segments due to the working memory consequences of long, transient, auditory information. Results supported the hypotheses. The use of educational technology that results in the transformation of permanent into transitory information needs to be carefully assessed.     

Learner Autonomy and ICT: A Web-based Course of English for Psychology

The purpose of this paper is to show how the use of the World Wide Web (WWW) as a tool may change not only the contents, but also the teaching procedures and the scope of the material covered, as well as its relevance for the students of a discipline which is no exclusively focused on English. In class we use the WWW as a source of authentic material for the study of English in the field of psychology. The students have access to current on-line material, and they can work with such diverse web sites as departments of psychology web sites, on-line atlases of the brain, resource web sites, career orientation and professional information web sites, etc. By so doing, the students become proficient in English and become also acquainted with vocabulary related to their main discipline, i.e. psychology. The result is a more dynamic approach to teaching English, so that the students gain autonomy, with the instructor acting only as co-ordinator, supervisor and tutor.

L'autonomie de l'enseigné et les ICT: un cours Web en Anglais sur la psychologie

Le but de cet article est de montrer comment l'utilisation du Web comme outil peut changer non seulement les contenus, mais aussi les procédures d'enseignement et l'importance des documents convus aussi bien que son adaptation pour les étudiants d'une discipline qui n'est pas centrée exclusivement sur l'Anglais. En classe, nous utilisons le Web comme source des documents authentiques pour l'étude de l'Anglais dans le domaine de a psychologie. Les étudiants ont accès aux documents en ligne et ils peuvent travailler avec des sites web divers comme ceux des départements de psychologie des atlas en ligne du cerveaux, des sites de ressources, des sites d'orientation des carrières et d'information professionnelle, etc. Ce faisant, les étudiants deviennent compétant en Anglais et s'habitent au vocabulaire de leur discipline principale, la psychologie. Le résultat est une approche plus dynamique de l'enseignement de l'Anglais de sorte que les étudiants acquièrent une autonomie, l'instructeur agissant seulement comme coordinateur, superviseur et tuteur.

Lerner-Autonomie und IKT: Ein webbasierter Englischkurs für Psychologie

Dieses Papier soll zeigen, wie durch die Nutzung des World Wide Web als Tool u.U. nicht nur der Inhalt sondern auch Unterrichtsschritte und das benutzte Lernmaterial sich ändern kann, wie auch seine Bedeutung für Studenten einer Disziplin, die keineswegs auf Englisch ausgerichtet ist. Im Unterricht benutzen wir das WWW als Quelle für authentisches Material für das Studium von Englisch im Bereich der Psychologie. Die Studenten haben Zugang zu aktuellem Online-Material und können mit diversen Websites von Psychologie Departments, Online-Atlanten des Gehirns, Quellen- und Hilfsmittel-Websites, Berufswahl- und Berufsinformations-Websites usw. Dadurch werden die Studenten erfahrener im Gebrauch des Englischen und erhalten dabei gleichzeitig Vertrautheit mit den Fachbegriffen ihres Studienfachs, z.B. Psychologie. Als Resultat profitiert auch der Englisch- Unterricht , so daß die Studenten selbständiger werden und der Unterrichtende mehr als Koordinator, Superviser und Tutor tätig werden kann.     

Popularizing the ancestry of man: Robert Ardrey and the killer instinct

This essay examines Robert Ardrey (1908-1980)-American playwright, screenwriter, and prolific author-as a case study in the popularization of science. Bringing together evidence from both paleoanthropology and ethology, Ardrey became in the 1960s a vocal proponent of the theory that human beings are innately violent. The essay shows that Ardrey used his popular scientific books not only to consolidate a new science of human nature but also to question the popularizer's standard role, to reverse conventional hierarchies of scientific expertise, and to test the boundaries of professional scientific authority. Understanding how he did this can help us reassess the meanings and uses of popular science as critique in Cold War America. The essay also shows that E. O. Wilson's sociobiology was in part a reaction to the subversive political message of Ardrey's science.     

A conceptual approach to secure electronic elections based on patterns

Electoral processes are complex and need to be secure, reliable, and auditable. It is then important to define ways to evaluate their functional completeness and correction as well as their security and reliability. Many solutions to specific aspects of voting have been proposed but we do not know of any holistic view of this process. We present a unified approach to elections based on a conceptual model built using software patterns. A set of analysis patterns describe the structure and management of an election. The patterns describe voter registration, ballot structure, election day management, voting process, and the complete election. A conceptual model is built from the analysis patterns and defines precisely the functional properties of such a system together with its security requirements. The conceptual model is defined using UML diagrams that can be extended or complemented with formal methods to make the system verifiable. We show how to continue to the design phase for this system. While the model will not apply exactly to all elections it can be used as a reference architecture for voting applications and to show explicitly the security considerations for these kind of events. It can also be used for existing elections to verify that they have the required security provisions. The model can also be used as a reference for researchers to integrate their solutions in the complete process.