The role of inhibitory associations in perceptual learning

Preexposure to two compound flavors (AX and BX) typically enhances their discriminability: An aversion conditioned to AX will generalize less to BX, especially if the preexposure regime has involved alternated presentations of AX and BX rather than presenting all AX trials before BX trials (or vice versa). One possible explanation of this finding is that alternating preexposure establishes inhibitory associations between the two unique features A and B, thus counteracting the generalization produced by excitatory associations between X and A and between X and B, which might result in either the retrieval of B on a conditioning trial to AX, or the retrieval of A on a test trial to BX. Three experiments on flavor aversion conditioning in rats tested these predictions. Experiment 1 suggested that the more important of these excitatory associations was that which allowed X to retrieve A on the test trial to BX. Experiment 2 suggested that the more important inhibitory association was that which allowed B to inhibit the representation of A on this test trial. Experiment 3 provided direct evidence of the role of this inhibitory B⊣A association.     

Factors that influence teachers learning to do interviews to understand students' mathematical understandings

Understanding students' understanding of mathematical ideas can inform mathematics teaching, and task-based interviews are one way in which teachers can learn more about their students' understandings. The CIME project was designed to empower mathematics teachers to use interviews to understand their students' mathematical understandings as well as to prepare teachers to use technology-intensive curricula. This study examined the influences on three high school mathematics teachers as they learned to use task-based interviews to understand students' mathematical understandings. The areas of teacher knowledge and conceptions that influenced the teachers we studied were: teachers' mathematical understandings and knowledge of technology and the perceived importance of curriculum topics; teachers' views of knowing mathematics; teachers' perceptions of students' characteristics and needs; and teachers' perceptions of interviewing and the role of questioning in interviews. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Pupils with Severe Learning Difficulties as Personal Target Setters

Richard Rose, Senior Lecturer at University College, Northampton, and Will Fletcher and Gaynor Goodwin, Watling View School, St Albans, argue that although many schools have attempted to enable pupils with special educational needs to play an active part in their own planning procedures and assessment, few have identified and analysed the skills required by both pupils and teachers. Theydescribe a one-year small-scale action-research project, in a school for children with severe learning difficulties, which resulted in the development of procedures for the assessment of 'pupil readiness' for full involvement in the target-setting process.     

Attentional changes in blocking are not a consequence of lateral inhibition

In three human causal learning experiments, we examined attentional modulation in the blocking task, in which participants typically learn little about a novel cue B when it is paired with a previously trained, predictive cue A. Evidence indicates that this blocking training led to a decrement in attention to the blocked cue B. The present experiments addressed whether this decrease in attention to the blocked cue could be better explained as being due to lateral inhibition from the pretrained cue A to the blocked cue B, or as a cue-specific property that is not conditional on the presence or absence of other stimuli. Strong effects of learned predictiveness were observed on participants’ causal judgments (Experiment 1) and choice behavior (Experiments 2 and 3). However, no evidence for lateral inhibitory processes emerged in any of the experiments, despite explicit attempts to maximize experimental sensitivity to this effect. The results are discussed in the context of formal models of the operation of attentional processes in human and animal learning.     

Policy ‘partnerships’? Power dynamics in curriculum reform

In curriculum policy, discourses of ‘policy partnerships’ and ‘communities of practice’ have become increasingly prevalent and were reflected in Western Australian curriculum policy processes from the mid‐1990s to the late 2000s – a period of significant, highly contested change. This paper presents the findings of an empirical study into the impact of curriculum reform on the changing dynamics within and between the government and non‐government education sectors, drawing on critical theory and post‐structuralist approaches to policy analysis within a broader framework of policy network theory. This approach is used to highlight power issues at all levels of the policy trajectory. This research found that despite policy discourses of collaborative and consultative processes to create a ‘shared’ curriculum, the government and non‐government education sectors remain largely distinct due to significant power differentials, as well as structural and cultural differences. The analysis reveals three closely connected emergent themes – limited collaboration, regulated consultation and enhanced state control of curriculum policy agendas. It is argued here that although discourses of ‘policy partnerships’ and ‘community of practice’ are increasingly evidenced in contemporary curriculum policy, they do not take sufficient account of embedded hierarchical power relationships. Further, such discourses can be used as legitimisation strategies to promulgate policy changes which enhance the steerage capacity of the state. Deeply entrenched power differentials operate simultaneously to distort policy partnerships and communities of practice, by both including and excluding particular sets of policy actors.     

Authentic school partnerships for enabling inclusive education in Hong Kong

Education reform towards a whole school approach to catering for diversity within Hong Kong government schools has seen the initiation of several strategies to support mainstream schools in this transition. One of these approaches is the use of a resource school model. Special and mainstream schools in Hong Kong are being invited to establish themselves as resource support hubs for partner mainstream schools. This paper investigates how this model is being implemented by considering one of each type of resource school. Three broad themes have emerged that relate to the type of support being offered and sought: the school ethos and culture of the partner schools; and management issues. The effectiveness of a resource model is evaluated for its use in Hong Kong.     

Schools in the shadow of terrorism: Psychosocial adjustment and interest in interventions following terror attacks

Following terrorist events, teachers and nonteaching school personnel are important in helping children recover, yet little is known about their willingness to assist with this. We surveyed 399 employees from a Washington, D.C.‐area school district following terror attacks (September 11, 2001, attacks; sniper shootings) about their exposure, adjustment, interest, and involvement in psychosocial interventions. Between 10% and 27% experienced one or more symptoms of posttraumatic stress (depending on category of symptom) in the month prior to the survey. Regression analyses revealed that peritraumatic distress, behavior change, and posttraumatic growth predicted interest in information on psychosocial interventions. Feeling prepared, adaptively managing work responsibilities, and perceiving an increase in student problems were related to intervening with students. Implications for school preparedness are discussed. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Wallerstein’s world-systems analysis in comparative education: A case study

Since the 1970s, using his world-systems analysis, Immanuel Wallerstein has developed a wide-ranging framework for the social sciences, with potential applications for comparative educational research. In this paper we outline key aspects of Wallerstein’s theorising, and then analyse the uptake, understandings, and applications of his analysis in the field of comparative and international education, through a case study of the Comparative Education Review (CER) journal from 1980 to 2008. This paper examines how, and how widely, his analysis has been adopted and interpreted. Our analysis highlights significant and—given the broader emphasis in comparative education on questions of education and development—surprising absences in the application of this approach. We conclude by arguing for the use and development of three critical features of his analysis in comparative work, as relevant and timely interventions in the field.