Conjunctive differentiation of gape during food-reinforced keypecking in the pigeon

The pigeon’s keypecking response includes both a head-transport (peck) and a jaw-movement (gape) component. Because the two components are mediated by different effector systems, they may potentially be viewed as orthogonal responses. A response differentiation procedure was used to bring gape amplitude under operant control. The procedure employed a conjunctive response requirement in which reinforcement was contingent upon both gaping and key contact. The key-contact requirement was held constant, while the gape contingency was systematically varied to reinforce either decreases or increases in gape amplitude with respect to baseline. The procedure was effective in shifting the gape distributions in both the upward and downward directions and in inducing new gape values that deviated from the baseline in the reinforced direction. These observations indicate that gape may be brought under operant control. However, subjects showed a bias in the differentiation of the gape response, such that larger gapes were more readily differentiated than smaller gapes. The results are discussed in relation to the methodological utility of the paradigm, the problem of biological constraints on learning, and the heuristic utility of a response components analysis.     

Object permanence in cats and dogs

Object permanence was assessed for cats and dogs, using tasks analogous to those typically employed for human infants. Neither species solved all of the problems correctly when rewarded only by the discovery of a hidden toy. However, both species showed that they had fully developed concepts of object permanence when the problems were changed so that the animals had to search for hidden food in an odor-control procedure. These results indicate that sensorimotor intelligence is completely developed in these nonprimates.     

A Prospective Study of Life Stress, Social Support, and Adaptation in Early Adolescence

This study employed a 2-year longitudinal design to examine the relation of stressful life events and social supports to psychological distress and school performance among 166 early adolescents (mean age = 13.5 years). A prospective approach was utilized to control for initial levels of adjustment when examining the relation of Time 1 stress and support variables to Time 2 psychological distress and school performance. Both stress and support variables made significant contributions to the prediction of subsequent psychological distress. Stresses, but not supports, made a significant contribution to the prediction of subsequent school performance. Evidence for reciprocal and interactive linkages was also found, including effects of psychological distress and school performance on subsequent stresses and supports, and greater adaptive impact of school-based supportive resources under conditions of heightened risk outside of school. Implications for ecological and transactional models of development relating to the targeting and efficacy of preventive efforts are discussed.     

Meaningful interaction: toward a new theoretical approach to online instruction

ABSTRACT

Taking full advantage of the educative benefits of interaction in digital learning environments will require the development of new theoretical frameworks that can contribute to a richer understanding of interaction. Literary theory provides an excellent place to develop such a framework and advanced understanding. Literary theory enables us to reconceptualise online courses as ‘texts’, thereby equipping us with more sophisticated modes of analysis for the teaching and learning process. By rethinking online courses as texts, and better yet as what Roland Barthes has described as ‘writerly’ texts, we can improve interaction in the online classroom. More importantly, we can move toward a more meaningful form of interaction, where learners interact with course content at the level of meaning and meaning making, where interaction becomes a full participation in the production of a lesson’s meaning. Indeed, this aim of co-producing meaning should be the primary objective of all learning.     

Teaching Text Design

A growing body of literature defines a rhetoric of visible text based on page layout, typography, and the various design features afforded by page composition tools buitt into word processors and page design programs. Little has been written, however, about what a wriier needs to know about design and in what order. This article describes and demonstrates a scope and sequence of learning that encourages writers to develop their skills as text designers. It introduces relevant liierature that is helpful for such learning and it does so in an evolving format that displays visually what the essay discusses verbally.     

Bridging western and First Nations thought: Balanced education in Whitehead's philosophy of organism and the sacred circle

The sacred circle offers a perspective for interpreting and theorizing about human development valuable in shaping the education of First Nations and non-First Nations students. For those of us in a western materialist culture who are interested in coming to understand what the sacred circle might offer, it is necessary to address assumptions in our own culture. This paper proceeds in four parts to facilitate such an understanding. Part One formulates the importance of a culturally self-critical approach to understanding education based in the sacred circle. Part Two presents the sacred circle as a pattern used to interpret meaning in First Nations education. Part Three examinesinterconnectedness through (a) whitehead's criticism of western scientific epistemology and his idea of education for balanced development, and (b) through the creator, mother earth and the Four Directions reflected in the sacred circle. Part Four interprets aholistic apprehension approach to education based in (a) Whitehead's notion's of intuition and imagination for balanced development from the sacred circle perspective, and (b) through the sacred circle in the vision quest ceremony.     

Measuring Graph Comprehension,Critique, and Construction in Science

Interpreting and creating graphs plays a critical role in scientific practice. The K-12 Next Generation Science Standards call for students to use graphs for scientific modeling, reasoning, and communication. To measure progress on this dimension, we need valid and reliable measures of graph understanding in science. In this research, we designed items to measure graph comprehension, critique, and construction and developed scoring rubrics based on the knowledge integration (KI) framework. We administered the items to over 460 middle school students. We found that the items formed a coherent scale and had good reliability using both item response theory and classical test theory. The KI scoring rubric showed that most students had difficulty linking graphs features to science concepts, especially when asked to critique or construct graphs. In addition, students with limited access to computers as well as those who speak a language other than English at home have less integrated understanding than others. These findings point to the need to increase the integration of graphing into science instruction. The results suggest directions for further research leading to comprehensive assessments of graph understanding.