Angle between choice alleys as a critical factor in spontaneous alternation

Rats were tested for spontaneous alternation in a variety of mazes differing in the angle between choice alleys. Uniformly high alternation rates were found at all angles from 330 down to 90 deg. At 45 or 0 deg, the rates approximated a chance 50%, and at angles between 45 and 90 deg the alternation rates were also intermediate. The hypothesis that the spatial distance between goal regions is the critical factor was rejected, and it was concluded that the angle between alleys is the principal factor determining alternation under these conditions. The results support the idea that alternation in the rat is basically a vestibular phenomenon.     

The micropolitics of budgeting in universities: Lessons for library administrators

The investigative perspective of micropolitics is used in this qualitative, multi-site study to explore the budgeting process within large universities. Implications for library administrators include the identification of specific budget strategies and a better understanding of the role of power and influence in academic life.     

Book Review of Developing and Managing Your School Guidance Program

Developing and Managing Your School Guidance Program (3rd ed.) by Norman C. Gysbers & Patricia Henderson (2000).     

The climate visualizer: Sense-making through scientific visualization

Journal of Science Education and Technology - This paper describes the design of a learning environment, called the Climate Visualizer, intended to facilitate scientific sense-making in high school...     

The challenge of self-renewal in the innovative college

Any successful innovation creates a body of practice, policy, lore and belief that becomes harder to change the longer it survives. Indeed, it could not endure without a record of what worked and why. Thus the history of an innovation tends to define its future; what once was new tends over time to be defined by its tradition, hence to become rigid. The consequences of this paradox can be calamitous. Using case studies to illustrate, the essay outlines a conceptual model for institutional self-assessment of its innovative health and recommends strategies for keeping the innovative spirit alive.Dr. Douglas B. Johnstone, Ph.D., has been Dean of Empire State College's North Central Regional Center since 1979; he has also been responsible for the College's Center for Distance Learning since 1981, and in 1988 he served as Acting Vice President for Policy and Planning. His scholarly interests include both nontraditional education and literature, especially the novel.