Transfer of visual and haptic maze learning in rats

Cross-modal transfer of learning between black/white and rough/smooth discrimination tasks was studied in a two-choice maze procedure in which the stimuli for both discriminations were located on the floor of the maze. Rats were trained initially with cues of one modality and then given transfer training with cues of the second modality. The amount of transfer produced by two criteria of learning, 9 correct responses in 10 trials and 18 correct responses in 20 trials, was also studied. Bidirectional cross-modal transfer of learning was demonstrated more clearly with the more stringent learning criteria. These positive transfer effects appeared primarily to be the result of general transfer processes.     

Approaches to Studying: age,gender and academic performance

A total of 245 business studies students (115 females and 130 males) responded to the Revised Approaches to Studying Inventory (RASI). Consistent with earlier studies, the purposes of the present study were (i) to examine some of the psychometric properties of the RASI; (ii) to investigate whether the RASI was predictive of academic success; and (iii) to investigate the effects of gender, age and programme of study on approaches to studying. The data were analysed using principal components factor analysis. The resulting fit of the RASI subscales to the hypothesised structure was good, thus providing support for the notions of deep, surface and strategic approaches and the lack of direction and academic self‐confidence orientations. The reliability of the ‘lack of direction’ subscale was low. The RASI's ability to predict academic performance investigated using a range of learning performance measures. These data were further analysed in terms of degree programme. Subjects’ mean scores on each of the scales were analysed in terms of age and gender. This revealed a number of significant effects. These findings, and the use of the RASI, are discussed in terms of their implications for the requirements for increased learner autonomy in further and higher education.     

Effects of grading practices and time of rating on student ratings of faculty performance and student learning

The effects of grading practices (strict, lenient) and time of rating (after a lecture, after taking an examination, after receiving feedback on performance on the examination) on student ratings of faculty performance and student learning (i.e., performance on an examination) were assessed in two experimental studies. Results indicated that (1) student ratings were directly affected by grading practices and this effect was a function of the time at which ratings were cornpleted, and (2) student learning and students' ratings of faculty were positively correlated, and grading practices had no effect on student learning. Implications of these findings for the administrative use of student ratings are considered.     

Type of Instructional Material,Cognitive Style and Learning Performance

The positions of 129 14 to 19‐year‐old students on two fundamental cognitive styles dimensions (Wholist‐Analytic and Verbal‐Imagery) were assessed. They then received, by random allocation, one of three versions of a computer‐presented instruction package on home hot water systems. The versions differed in terms of their structure (large versus small step), advance organiser (absent or present), verbal emphasis (high versus low), and diagram type (abstract versus pictorial). Version 1 had large step, no organiser, high verbal content, and abstract diagram. Version 2 had small step, no organiser, low verbal content, and pictorial diagram. Version 3 was identical to Version 2, except that an organiser in the form of an elaborated introduction was given in which all five topics were introduced and each section began with an overview and ended with a summary. There was a significant interaction between version and cognitive style in their effect on recall. The results were discussed in terms of their implications for instruction.     

Overview of the Scaling Methodology Used in the National Assessment

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) uses item response theory (IRT)–based scaling methods to summarize the information in complex data sets. Scale scores are presented as tools for illuminating patterns in the data and for exploiting regularities across patterns of responses to tasks requiring similar skills. In this way, the dominant features of the data are captured. Discussed are the necessity of global scores or more detailed subscores, the creation of developmental scales spanning different age levels, and the use of scale anchoring as a way of interpreting the scales.     

Impact of a Brief Literacy Intervention on Urban Preschoolers

A pre-post study was conducted at an urban child-care center to study the hypothesis that a brief literacy intervention would result in improved receptive vocabulary for preschoolers. Parents attended a series of 4 workshops about reading to children. The children had a significant 7-point increase in their Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test scores at 7-month follow-up. Children of college-educated parents had a higher increase in scores than did children whose parents were not college educated.     

Strategies for accommodating individuals' styles and preferences in flexible learning programmes

There has been a considerable growth in the use of flexible methods of delivery for workplace learning and development. However, in designing programmes of flexible learning there is often the assumption that learners will exhibit uniformity in the ways in which they process and organise information (cognitive style), in their predispositions towards particular learning formats and media (instructional preferences) and the conscious actions they employ to deal with the demands of specific learning situations (learning strategies). In adopting such a stance one runs the risk of ignoring important aspects of individual differences in styles, preferences and strategies. Our purpose in this paper will be to: (i) consider some aspects of individual difference that are pertinent to the delivery of flexible learning in the workplace; (ii) identify some of the challenges that extant differences in styles and preferences between individuals may raise for instructional designers and learning facilitators; (iii) suggest ways in which models of flexible learning design and delivery may acknowledge and accommodate individual differences in styles and preferences through the use of an appropriate range of instructional design, learning and support strategies.     

Preschoolers' Reasoning about Density: Will It Float?

Density is a complex concept found to appear late in development. However, density has a readily apparent empirical consequence—buoyancy. Early scientific understanding of density arose through Archimedes' discovery of water displacement as a function of density, and young children have experience playing with objects in water. Therefore, a buoyancy prediction task was developed in order to access preschoolers' early understanding of density. 3–5-yearold children from 2 preschool classes, as well as adults, made buoyancy predictions for a set of objects that varied systematically in density, weight, and volume. 4–5-year-olds (from the older class) and adults were shown to demonstrate similar patterns in their judgments. Objects much more or much less dense than water were more accurately judged than objects with densities closer to the density of water. Weight and volume were found to "interfere" in these judgments in systematic ways for the older class of children and the adults. Children in the younger class (3-year-olds) showed a mean proportion correct performance of .53; they all passed a pretest, however, and no child refused to make judgments.