Spatial Contiguity and Spatial Split-Attention Effects in Multimedia Learning Environments: a Meta-Analysis

Spatial split-attention effects have been noted in the research literature, where, under split-attention conditions, integrating text and diagrams has been shown to be effective. From this literature grew the spatial contiguity principle (or spatial contiguity effect), which states that people learn more when related words and pictures are displayed spatially near one another. Research has shown both effects to influence learning; however, little is known about the conditions in which integrated designs are most effective. This meta-analysis examines the influence of integrated designs across numerous moderator variables in order to improve our understanding of under which conditions integrated designs influence learning. A random effects meta-analysis of 58 independent comparisons (n?=?2426) produced an overall effect size of g?=?0.63 (p?<?0.001). Moderator analyses indicated that integrated designs have benefited learning across many intervention-related and context-related moderator variables. Practical and theoretical implications of the findings are provided.     

Yoga at the Public Library: An Exploratory Survey of Canadian and American Librarians

Results of a 2017 survey of 983 public librarians in the U.S. and Canada show that libraries increasingly provide opportunities for both youth and adults to practice yoga at the library. This article examines how these public library yoga programs work and what impacts they have. Most libraries have limited means to assess the impact of these programs. Nonetheless, over 80% of responding librarians said participation in yoga programs had met or exceeded their expectations, and 60% said yoga programs have brought new users into their libraries. These results suggest that yoga programs in public libraries are having significant effects.     

‘A process where we’re all at the table’: community archives challenging dominant modes of archival practice

Community archives have compelled shifts in dominant archival management practices to reflect community agency and values. To analyse these shifts, we ask: In what ways do community archives and their staff challenge traditional archival modes of practice? Do community archives work within or against dominant frameworks for institutional sustainability? Do community archives challenge or replicate dominant custody practices? Based on semi-structured interviews with 17 founders, staff and volunteers at 12 Southern California community archives, this research examines the diverse models of practice utilised by community archives practitioners that diverge from and challenge standard practices in the field. By addressing these questions, our research uncovers a variety of models of practice employed by communities in Southern California to autonomously create and sustain their archives.     

Serial pattern learning by rats: Transfer of a formally defined stimulus relationship and the significance of nonreinforcement

Two experiments with rats tested independent predictions from cognitive theories of serial pattern learning. The animals learned to anticipate, as measured by running times in a straight alley, different quantities of food pellets organized into formally defined, five-element serial patterns. In Experiment 1, for some animals the patterns were all formally structured according to a monotonic “less than” relationship in which any quantity was always less than its predecessor. For others, no consistent formal rule was applied. Results of a transfer test with a new pattern showed positive transfer if the formal structure of the new pattern was identical to that used initially, but negative transfer if the new pattern was formally different. In Experiment 2, two groups learned the monotonic patterns 18-10-6-3-1 or 18-10-6-3-0 food pellets, while two others learned the nonmonotonic patterns 18-3-6-10-1 or 10-3-6-10-0 food pellets. We asked if the difference in value of the terminal element, 1 or 0 food pellets, would affect the facility with which the patterns were learned. The results showed that learning rate and the qualitative response to the elements of the monotonie and nonmonotonic patterns were independent of the value of the terminal element. Both experiments lend additional support to the utility of using cognitive models of human serial-pattern learning for an analysis of the sequential behavior of nonhuman animals.     

The importance of cognitive development in middle childhood for adulthood socioeconomic status, mental health, and problem behavior

This study examined the extent to which continuities and discontinuities in cognitive performance between ages 5 and 10 predicted adult income, educational success, household worklessness, criminality, teen parenthood, smoking, and depression. Assessed were the degree of this change during middle childhood, the influence of socioeconomic status (SES) on this change, and the extent to which this change influenced adult outcomes. The analyses were conducted on 11,200 individuals from the UK Birth Cohort Study who were born in 1970 and who were resurveyed at ages 5, 10, 16, 26, and 30. Substantial discontinuities emerged during middle childhood, with strong SES influences. Changes in middle childhood strongly affected adult outcomes, often outweighing the effects of cognitive development before age 5.     

Learning Physics in Context: A study of student learning about electricity and magnetism

This paper re‐centres the discussion of student learning in physics to focus on context. In order to do so, a theoretically motivated understanding of context is developed. Given a well‐defined notion of context, data from a novel university class in electricity and magnetism are analysed to demonstrate the central and inextricable role of context in student learning. This work sits within a broader effort to create and analyse environments that support student learning in the sciences.     

A Survey of Jewish Day Schools in America

It is Only in recent years that the systematic study of Jewish educational systems, particularly in a global context, has become a subject of serious concern. Since 1945 a succession of education conferences and surveys provides evidence of an awareness that the future of World Jewry—in Israel as well as the Diaspora—is inextricably linked with the future of its educational institutions. The World Conference on Jewish Education in Jerusalem in 1962 and the subsequent formation two years later of the World Council on Jewish Education are but two examples of this awareness. The establishment of a Center for Jewish Education in the Diaspora at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem marks a further practical step toward attaining some form of coordination on the part of world Jewry.