Acceleration of cognitive development of kindergartners

A curriculum modification was designed to increase the general reasoning ability of kindergarten children who were lagging in cognitive development. The new instructional program was tested with 22 kindergarters who scored in the lowest 9% on the EAS measure of general learning and reasoning ability taken from SRA's Survey of Basic Skills. The experimental children were given “learning set” instruction on unidimensional classification, unidimensional seriation, and number conservation for four months. They received the instruction in groups of six for 15 minutes two or three times per week during the time usually reserved for mathematics. Control children received the normal mathematics instruction, also in groups of six, for matched sessions. The experimental children made twice the gains of the control children on the EAS measure, and matched their gains on reading and mathematics achievement. It appears that integrated “learning set” training on these three Piagetian concepts may be a potent tool for aiding kindergartners who are falling behind their peers in cognitive development.     

Acceptance of self,acceptance of others,and preferred teaching approach

One hundred and eighty-one teacher training students sat three attitude measuring instruments to investigate the relationships between attitudes to self, attitudes to others and attitudes to educational practices. Clinical studies within the ambit of Rogerian psychotherapy suggest that a relationship between self and other attitudes should be positive. Substantial and statistically significant positive correlations, in the order of p<0.01, emerged consistently in this study between attitudes to self and attitudes to a range of others and to progressive child centred educational practices. Self acceptance level would seem to be an index of attitudes to a wide range of others. This relationship provides a principle of utmost importance for human relationships since the application of psychological processes to enhance the self concept should facilitate as a corollary a decrease in interpersonal tensions and inter group conflict. This relationship is of particular consequence in the teaching context since teaching is a sharing of self with others. The results of the study suggest that those with low self acceptance prefer (p<0.01) to avoid close encounters with pupils and prefer a more traditional formal teaching style.     

The role of signaled periods of nonreinforcement in responding on a random schedule in autoshaping

Little responding develops to a conditioned stimulus (CS) that is placed in a random relation to an unconditioned stimulus (US). However, if the USs not preceded by that CS are themselves signaled by another stimulus, then the CS does come to elicit responding. This result has been attributed (e.g., by Durlach, 1983) to the signal’s blocking of conditioning to background cues that otherwise would prevent conditioning of the CS. However, Goddard and Jenkins (1987) have suggested the alternative that signaling the USs promotes responding due to the adventitious creation of periods of signaled nonreinforcement. Two experiments were conducted to assess this alternative, involving an autoshaping preparation in pigeons. In Experiment 1, little responding to a keylight CS presented in a random relation to a food US occurred, despite the explicit presentation of a discrete noise signaling periods of no food in the intertrial interval (ITI). Experiment 2 was designed to replicate the procedure of Goddard and Jenkins, in which an auditory stimulus extended throughout the ITI of a random schedule, terminating only prior to extra USs and during the CS. Contrary to their findings, little responding developed to the target CS. However, responding did develop when the sound-free period occurred only prior to the extra USs. These results offer little support for the hypothesis that signaled periods of nonreinforcement promote responding on random schedules. However, they are consistent with the view that signaling of ITI USs acts by preventing conditioning of potentially competitive background cues.     

Elementary school quality,the mathematics curriculum and the role of local knowledge

This article uses data from several elementary school classrooms in Chicago on how students learn to calculate, and reviews similar data from a number of developing countries to examine the strengths and limitations of using the mathematical knowledge which students develop on their own outside of formal schooling to increase the amount, range and power of mathematical knowledge which is acquired through formal schooling. In so doing it attempts to reconcile the views of those who believe that the key to improving elementary school quality lies in improving the technology of instruction and those who believe that it lies in a deeper understanding of the mental life of children. It concludes by arguing that the quality of elementary schooling can be improved through skilled management of the environmentally acquired knowledge which students bring to instruction, if this knowledge is transformed through pedagogic and curricular interventions into a set of portable intellectual skills.

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Zusammenfassung In diesem Artikel werden Daten von einigen Chicagoer Grundschulklassen zu den von Schülern zum Rechnenlernen benutzten Methoden verwertet. Anhand ähnlicher Daten aus einigen Entwicklungsländern wird überprüft, ob es von Vorteil oder Nachteil ist, das außerhalb des Schulunterrichts entwickelte mathematische Wissen zu verwenden, um den Umfang, die Reichweite und die Fähigkeit des durch die formale Bildung gewonnenen Wissens zu erweitern. Dadurch wird versucht, die oft vertretene Meinung, der Schlüssel zur Qualitätsverbesserung in den Grundschulen läge in der Verbesserung der Instruktionstechnologien mit dem Standpunkt derjenigen in Einklang zu bringen, die glauben, es läge am tieferen Verständnis der Denkweise von Kindern. Der Artikel schließt mit dem Argument, daß die Qualität des Grundschulunterrichts durch geschicktes Handhaben des durch die Umwelt erworbenen Wissens, das die Schüler zum Lernen anregt, verbessert werden kann, wenn dieses Wissen durch pädagogische und curriculare Mitsprache in eine Reihe tragbarer intellektueller Fähigkeiten verwandelt wird.

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Résumé Le présent article se sert des données fournies par plusieurs classes élémentaires de Chicago sur la manière dont les élèves apprennent à calculer, et examine les données similaires de plusieurs pays en développement pour analyser les points forts et les points faibles de l'exploitation des connaissances en mathématiques que les élèves acquièrent seuls en dehors de l'école formelle pour renforcer la quantité, la portée et l'intensité du savoir mathématique qui est acquis à l'école formelle. Pour ce faire, on tente de rapprocher les vues de ceux qui croient que la clé de l'amélioration de la qualité de l'école élémentaire réside dans l'amélioration de la technologie et de ceux qui pensent qu'elle réside plutôt dans une plus grande compréhension de la vie mentale des enfants. L'auteur de cet article conclut en montrant que la qualité de l'enseignement fondamental peut être améliorée grâce à une gestion experte du savoir acquis localement que les élèves apportent dans leur éducation, à condition que ce savoir puisse être transformé par des interventions pédagogiques et curriculaires en une série de compétences intellectuelles valables.

     

Concept learning by pigeons: Matching-to-sample with trial-unique video picture stimuli

Pigeons were trained to match-to-sample with several new methodologies: a large number of stimuli, computer-drawn color picture stimuli, responses monitored by a computer touch screen, stimuli presented horizontally from the floor, and grain reinforcement delivered onto the picture stimuli. Following acquisition, matching-to-sample concept learning was assessed by transfer to novel stimuli on the first exposure to pairs of novel stimuli. One group (trial-unique), trained with 152 different pictures presented once daily, showed excellent transfer (80% correct). Transfer and baseline performances were equivalent, indicating that the matching-to-sample concept had been learned. A second group (2-stimulus), trained with only two different pictures, showed no evidence of transfer. These results are discussed in terms of the effect of numbers of exemplars on previous failures to find concept learning in pigeons, and the implications of the positive finding from this experiment on abstract concept learning and evolutionary cognitive development.     

Incidence and situational factors surrounding sexual assault against delinquent youths

This study reports the results of extensive interviews with an intact sample of moderately delinquent adolescents concerning their sexual assault histories. Findings indicate a surprisingly high incidence of victimization among the females interviewed which, the authors suggest, may characterize the larger population of delinquent females. The behavioral-situational contexts of reported victimization experiences are examined for salient commonalities and the following composite rape scenerio can be cast from the data: An unsupervised, 14-year-old female, who has been consuming alcohol or marijuana, is sexually assaulted, following threat and/or force, to the point of penile-vaginal penetration, by an older male friend or acquaintance (who has also consumed alcohol or marijuana) in his home or vehicle or other place where she is inherently unprotected. Some comments are offered concerning the requirements of an effective technology of child rape prevention.     

Persuasive communication: A theoretical model for changing the attitude of preservice elementary teachers toward metric conversion

This study was based on Hovland's four-part statement, “Who says what to whom with what effect,” the rationale for persuasive communication, a theoretical model for modifying attitudes. Part I was a survey of 139 perservice elementary teachers from which were generated the more credible characteristics of metric instructors, a central element in the “who” component of Hovland's model. They were: (1) background in mathematics and science, (2) fluency in metrics, (3) capability of thinking metrically, (4) a record of excellent teaching, (5) previous teaching of metric measurement to children, (6) responsibility for teaching metric content in methods courses and (7) an open enthusiasm for metric conversion. Part II was a survey of 45 mathematics educators where belief statements were synthesized for the “what” component of Hovland's model. It found that math educators support metric measurement because: (1) it is consistent with our monetary system; (2) the conversion of units is easier into metric than English; (3) it is easier to teach and easier to learn than English measurement; there is less need for common fractions; (4) most nations use metric measurement; scientists have used it for decades; (5) American industry has begun to use it; (6) metric measurement will facilitate world trade and communication; and (7) American children will need it as adults; educational agencies are mandating it. With the “who” and “what” of Hovland's four-part statement defined, educational researchers now have baseline data to use in testing experimentally the effect of persuasive communication on the attitude of preservice teachers toward metrication.     

CS modality,context conditioning,and conditioned freezing

Two studies used a one-trial-a-day aversive conditioning procedure with rats as subjects to investigate the effects of a noise versus a light CS on conditioned freezing. Experiment 1 demonstrated that less conditioned freezing was elicited by the light, although the two CSs led to similar levels of freezing to the contextual cues of the conditioning chamber. Experiment 2 replicated these outcomes and showed that the manipulation of CS intensity produced results similar to those of modality, with the more intense CSs eliciting less freezing. The second experiment also determined that freezing to contextual cues resulted from context conditioning. According to the Rescorla-Wagner model, CSs that condition poorly should generate little competition with context conditioning. Since neither the modality nor intensity factor reliably influenced context conditioning, as measured by context-evoked freezing, the studies provide no support for the view that the effects on CS-evoked freezing represent differences in the strength of conditioning to the various stimuli. This finding raises the possibility that all of the CSs conditioned well but varied in their abilities to elicit freezing because they differed in terms of the form of defensive behavior under their control.