Effects of context exposure during conditioning on conditioned taste aversions

Rats were used in a conditioned taste aversion procedure in order to examine the effects of context exposure duration during the conditioning sessions on conditioned responding. One flavor was paired with lithium chloride during a long session in one context, whereas another flavor was conditioned during a short session in another context. Testing occurred in the home cage. The results showed that conditioning during short sessions produced strong conditioned taste aversions. Conditioning during long sessions produced strong conditioned taste aversions when the conditioned-stimulus-unconditionedstimulus (CS-US) pairing occurred at the end of the lengthy session. Other results showed that context-US associations were formed during the short duration sessions and that these associations supported conditioned responding to the CS trained in that context. The results are discussed with respect to the different influences that contextual cues can exert on conditioned responding.     

Probabilities and Predictions: Modeling the Development of Scientific Problem-Solving Skills

The IMMEX (Interactive Multi-Media Exercises) Web-based problem set platform enables the online delivery of complex, multimedia simulations, the rapid collection of student performance data, and has already been used in several genetic simulations. The next step is the use of these data to understand and improve student learning in a formative manner. This article describes the development of probabilistic models of undergraduate student problem solving in molecular genetics that detailed the spectrum of strategies students used when problem solving, and how the strategic approaches evolved with experience. The actions of 776 university sophomore biology majors from three molecular biology lecture courses were recorded and analyzed. Each of six simulations were first grouped by artificial neural network clustering to provide individual performance measures, and then sequences of these performances were probabilistically modeled by hidden Markov modeling to provide measures of progress. The models showed that students with different initial problem-solving abilities choose different strategies. Initial and final strategies varied across different sections of the same course and were not strongly correlated with other achievement measures. In contrast to previous studies, we observed no significant gender differences. We suggest that instructor interventions based on early student performances with these simulations may assist students to recognize effective and efficient problem-solving strategies and enhance learning.     

Text Writing within Simple Sentences: A Writing Fluency Intervention for Students with High‐Incidence Disabilities

Good sentence construction, the act of writing multiple words into sentence types that make semantic and syntactic sense, is needed for clear and meaningful written expression. The present study investigated the effects of a multi‐component writing intervention, sentence instruction and frequency building to a performance criterion, on the simple sentence construction of intermediate‐grade level students with high‐incidence disabilities. Four special education teachers delivered intervention to small groups of two students, a total of eight students, and assessed for retention. Overall results were positive but inconsistent across the small groups. Three of the four small groups improved their text writing within simple sentences during and following intervention, and moderate to large Tau‐U values for correct word sequences and for incorrect word sequences, respectively, were found. Results suggest that postinstruction writing fluency practice can be an effective part of writing intervention for intermediate‐grade level students with high‐incidence disabilities.     

The validity of endurance running performance on the Curve 3TM non-motorised treadmill

This study aimed to test the validity of a non-motorised treadmill (NMT) for the measurement of self-paced overground endurance running performance. Ten male runners performed randomised 5-km running time trials on a NMT and an outdoor athletics track. A range of physiological and perceptual responses was measured, and foot strike was classified subjectively. Performance time was strongly correlated (r = 0.82, ICC = 0.86) between running modes, despite running time being significantly longer on the NMT (1264 ± 124 s vs. 1536 ± 130 s for overground and NMT, respectively; P < 0.001). End blood lactate concentration and rating of perceived exertion were significantly higher on the NMT compared to overground. Integrated electromyography was significantly lower on the NMT for three muscles (P < 0.05), and mean stride rate was also significantly lower on the NMT (P = 0.04). Cardiorespiratory responses of heart rate, oxygen uptake and expired air volume demonstrated strong correlations (r = 0.68–0.96, ICC = 0.75–0.97) and no statistical differences (P > 0.05). Runners were consistently slower on the NMT, and as such it should not be used to measure performance over a specific distance. However, the strong correlations suggest that superior overground performance was reflected in relative terms on the NMT, and therefore, it is a valid tool for the assessment of endurance running performance in the laboratory.     

Locating the Radio Archive: New Histories,New Challenges

This article considers the Radio Preservation Task Force’s (RPTF) recruitment efforts and current list of member archives, assessing its success in fulfilling its mandate from the Library of Congress’s National Recording Preservation Board to adequately inventory archival collections throughout the country and facilitate preservation of and educational access to materials within these collections. The RPTF’s membership, it argues, represents significant progress in overcoming initial favoritism toward collections of network broadcasting materials, enabling the creation of alternative forms of cultural memory and production of new histories that can speak to issues and constituencies neglected in traditional histories of radio broadcasting. At the same time, it proposes further attention to nonconventional archives that may not take radio or media as their focus, warns against privileging sound recordings at the expense of contextualizing paper documentation, and stresses the need to consider forms of radio content beyond broadcast programming and to actively preserve born-digital materials within the present as well as recordings from the past. While the RPTF has helped expand existing conceptions of the radio archive, significant challenges and opportunities remain for identifying and preserving the full range of American radio heritage for both current and future generations.     

Cross-Institutional Collaboration: (Co)Constructing Knowledge About Teaching and Learning in the Middle-Level Classroom

Utilizing technology to connect three geographically separate institutions within the same state and drawing on Bhabba, and Zeichner’s notions of third space, four teacher educators developed an opportunity for the middle-level teacher candidates from each university to simultaneously observe a live classroom teaching event virtually while participating in a backchannel conversation about the lesson. Upon completion of the live teaching event, candidates engaged in a debriefing session with the classroom teacher. This promising practice allowed candidates to discuss a lesson from multiple perspectives, broadening their views of teaching and learning at the middle level and enabling middle-level teacher educators an opportunity to scaffold (co)construction of knowledge about young adolescents and effective classroom practices.     

The use of evaluative feedback for instructional improvement: A longitudinal perspective

Both the available experimental evidence and recent reviews are unclear regarding the effectiveness of student ratings feedback for instructional improvement. Provision of feedback has not consistently produced improvement. Feedback accompanied by consultation has resulted in more consistent instructor improvement. However, the literature on interventions for instructional improvements has failed to address the longitudinal nature of improvement and development. The present study examined follow-up data over a ten-year period on instructors who had participated in a quasi-experimental study of the effectiveness of consultation and feedback conducted in 1971 and 1972. The results obtained indicate that instructors who had originally received feedback with consultation maintained higher student ratings and used instructional resources more during follow-up than instructors who originally received feedback only. This result must be tempered by several interpretative considerations regarding sample size, power, and experimental control. A number of concerns were also expressed regarding the adequacy of the current literature for describing a developmental event, instructional improvement, through the use of short-term studies. Recommendations are made for increased durations of study and alternative tactics of experimental design and control.