Rats’ memory for serially presented flavors: Effects of interstimulus interval and generalization decrement

In four experiments, the effect of sequential exposure to a series of five novel flavors on the subsequent neophobic response of water-deprived rats to those flavors when they were presented simultaneously was examined. After a list-test interval of 30 min and a list-interstimulus interval of 10 sec, the rats generally consumed more of the first and last flavors presented in the initial sequence. This finding was taken to reflect the existence of primacy and recency effects. Experiment 1 provided evidence that successive contamination can occur between flavors in the initial list, making subsequent recognition of later flavors in the list more difficult. However, this effect was overcome by presentation of water between each flavor during the list exposure. Experiments 2 and 4 showed that primacy was not a necessary result of successive contamination in this procedure, by demonstrating that increasing the interstimulus interval between list items decreased the size of the primacy effect. This result suggests that rats’ memory for serially presented items may be controlled by mechanisms different from those typically implicated in the human verbal memory literature. In Experiment 3, the question of whether the testing procedure adopted here could have introduced sources of artifactually produced serialposition effects was explored, but no such influence was found.     

Stokingham Sixth Form College: Institutional culture and dispositions to learning

Learning is high on the political agenda for post-compulsory education and training in England. Official discourses about learning assume a predominantly individualist stance, despite the development of theoretical models that stress the contextual and situated nature of learning. In a study following 50 young people through further education over 4 years, it became apparent that the institutional culture of the colleges had a significant impact upon students' dispositions towards their learning. In this paper, we explore the nature and significance of this impact in a case-study sixth form college: an under-researched sector of educational provision. This is followed by a brief discussion of the implications of our analysis for issues of access, widening participation and inequality in relation to current proposals to reform age 16-19 educational provision in England. We conclude by identifying some of the questions about the fine-grained nature of that college culture that our data does not permit us to address directly.     

A Survey into Mainstream Teachers' Attitudes Towards the Inclusion of Children with Special Educational Needs in the Ordinary School in one Local Education Authority

Attitudes of mainstream teachers towards the inclusion of children with special needs in the ordinary school were surveyed soon after the release of the Green Paper. The survey was carried out in one Local Education Authority in the south-west of England and the sample comprised of 81 primary and secondary teachers. The analysis revealed that teachers who have been implementing inclusive programmes, and therefore have active experience of inclusion, possess more positive attitudes. Moreover, the data showed the importance of professional development in the formation of positive attitudes towards inclusion. In particular, teachers with university-based professional development appeared both to hold more positive attitudes and to be more confident in meeting the IEP requirements of students with SEN. The role that training at both pre-service and post-service levels has in the development of teachers' support for inclusion is discussed.     

Online peer review: perceptions in the biological sciences

An experiment in online peer review was carried out by the Royal Society, on the journal Proceedings: Biological Sciences. Authors were asked to provide Acrobat PDF files and uploaded them using a web interface. Referees were provided with a URL that gave access to the paper and entered their report into an online form. Almost 50% of the authors contacted used the online method and referees greeted the method with enthusiasm. Editorial staff found the online system easier than expected and were keen to continue its use.     

Development of a Questionnaire to Measure the Level of Reflective Thinking

Many courses aim to promote reflective thinking or reflection upon practice, but there is a scarcity of readily usable instruments to determine whether students engage in reflective thinking and, if so, to what extent. This paper reports the development and testing of such an instrument. To ensure validity, the constructs measured were derived from the extensive literature on reflective thinking, particularly the writing of Mezirow. A combination of the literature review and initial testing led to the development of a four-scale instrument measuring four constructs; habitual action, understanding, reflection and critical reflection. The final version of the instrument was tested with a sample of 303 students from eight classes of a health science faculty. The reliability of the scales was established by acceptable Cronbach alpha values. Confirmatory factor analysis showed a good fit to the proposed four-factor structure. Comparison of mean scores between the eight classes showed predicted significant differences on each of the four scales between undergraduate and postgraduate students.     

Social-perspective coordination and gifted adolescents’ friendship quality

This research examined links among academic ability, social-perspective coordination, and friendship quality, within the context of gifted adolescents’ friendships. The sample consisted of 120 early adolescents (59 girls, 61 boys), 81 of whom were identified as gifted. Academic ability, sex, and grade significantly predicted social-perspective coordination (an indicator of psychosocial maturity) in multiple regression analyses. Social-perspective coordination, perceptions (self-concept) of ability to make and keep friends, academic ability, sex, and grade predicted perceptions of the overall quality of friendships. Being a female, seventh grader, or adolescent not identified as gifted, significantly predicted higher friendship quality. Social-perspective coordination and self-concept based on having a close friend predicted higher levels of friendship quality for the gifted participants.     

Meaning-led learning for pupils with severe and profound and multiple learning difficulties

This paper proposes that learning and teaching for pupils with severe and profound and multiple learning difficulties could be enhanced by a closer focus on emotional factors and on the careful identification of what is meaningful for them. Phil Goss, senior lecturer in counselling and psychotherapy at the University of Central Lancashire draws on understandings about emotional development gleaned from child psychiatry and psychotherapy to inform our awareness of the deep-seated factors that may influence the complex needs of these pupils. He describes a research study in which he analysed findings from interviews with parents and carers about their perceptions of what is meaningful for their children. These outcomes are elaborated using findings from a pilot study on one pupil in which perceptions about what is meaningful for him were used to inform the ongoing planning of his learning. Phil Goss then uses the implications of this study to argue for fuller and more systematic involvement by parents and carers in planning for pupils with severe, and profound and multiple learning difficulties. Finally he suggests ways in which access to learning could be rendered more fruitful by adopting a meaning-led approach.