Contextual cues and memory retrieval in rats: Alleviation of forgetting by a pretest exposure to background stimuli

With a relatively complex maze, reliable forgetting is clearly seen when the training-test interval is 25 days. This forgetting is evidenced by the longer time taken to run the maze and in an increase in the number of errors from the last training trial to the first test trial. In this case, forgetting is a lapse, not a loss, since performance attains the last training trial level at a subsequent test. Furthermore, a reminder which does not in itself contain sufficient information to facilitate performance of a naive animal, significantly improves maze performance of animals which have “forgotten,” even on the first retention test. With the use of additional control groups, it is shown that there must be a memory lapse before contextual cues can be demonstrated to be effective in facilitating memory retrieval.     

Supervision and evaluation: The Wyoming perspective

The intent of this study was to assess the perceptions and actions of Wyoming principals concerning their role in supervising and evaluating teachers. A survey was sent to all 286 principals in the state of Wyoming, of which, 143 returned surveys, a response rate of 50%. Findings suggested that principals utilized supervisory behaviors more often than evaluative behaviors. Elementary principals perceived their evaluative practices as significantly more prevalent than secondary principals. Furthermore, principals indicated that their greatest frustrations in supervising teachers were time, the evaluation instrument, and teachers’ unwillingness to change. Additionally, findings suggested that Wyoming principals utilized classroom walkthroughs because they provided a snapshot of teaching and provided a medium for providing feedback. In regards to developmental supervision, principals indicated that novice teachers received much more supervision than veteran teachers. However, their reported use of differentiated supervision only applied to teacher autonomy concerning professional development goals. Principals reported that teachers had little input concerning the methods by which they were supervised. Finally, a majority of the Wyoming principals felt that improvement plans were effective at changing mediocre teaching behaviors, but 40% were speculative that such plans truly remediated poor teachers.     

Classifying the Context Clues in Children's Text

This study aimed to determine which types of context clues exist in children's texts and whether it is possible for experts to identify reliably those clues. Three experienced coders used Ames’ clue set as a foundation for a system to classify context clues in children's text. Findings showed that the adjustments to Ames’ system resulted in 15 clues that can be used to capture the majority of clues found in children narrative and expository text. This study adds to the limited empirically validated systems available for classifying different context clues. A usable classification of context clues has application to reading research that considers or controls for text factors as well as teaching reading strategies in K–12 classrooms.     

Father involvement in young children’s care and education: exploring boundaries and starting conversations

This paper analyses the impact of a UK local authority initiative – Fathers’ Friday – aiming to involve fathers in their children’s education, which took place in 20 early years’ and primary school settings. Whilst the study involved a range of methods, in this paper interview data associated with practitioners’ perspectives of the initiative are used. Theoretically, Bernstein’s concept of boundary and related notions of classification and framing provide a framework for exploring fathers’ positioning, and Bernstein’s concept of ‘voice’ helps to explain how relations are repositioned, as fathers engage with settings through their participation in the initiative. The authors’ contention is that whilst an existing structure of social relations positions how settings and individuals can relate to one another, experiencing the Fathers’ Friday initiative under changed conditions produces a weakened boundary space for fathers, from which ‘conversations can start’. Children themselves form part of this process of redrawing weakened boundaries.     

Early childhood arts curriculum: a cross-cultural study

Many countries, including Australia, China, the United States, the United Kingdom and New Zealand, have included art subjects in their core curriculum. Using the theory of governmentality as a critical lens to investigate the intricate power–knowledge system in relation to curriculum, arts and pedagogy, this paper makes a comparative document analysis of two contemporary arts curricula for children aged 5–6 years—the Beijing Kindergarten Happiness and Development Curriculum in the arts learning area (upper class in kindergarten), and the Australian Curriculum: The Arts (Foundation level). Curriculum is best understood as a multi-faceted phenomenon and this paper draws from research which categorized curriculum into three phases: the intended (or planned) curriculum, the enacted (or implemented) curriculum and the experienced (the learner experience) curriculum. By focusing on the first phase: the intended curriculum, this paper compares the documents that comprise the planned curriculum from two very different contexts, and thus makes a contribution to cross-cultural understanding of early childhood arts curriculum in ways that may lead to social change.     

The Index of Forecasting Efficiency,for the Case of a “True” Criterion

A variety of personal characteristics have been shown to be influential in teacher-student relationships. The sex of the child as well as the appropriateness of his behavior were the factors evaluated in this study. An analysis of the results indicated that sex-inappropriate behavior was viewed less favorably than sex-appropriate behavior. A discussion of the results was presented with regard to support for previous studies and implications for future research.     

Research Literature Review on Social Work Education Instructional Methods: 1998–2008

This article presents a review of research studies examining instructional methods reported in the social work education literature published between 1998 and 2008. From a sample of 91 studies, 31 were identified as having used either a single group pre/post test design or a comparison of two or more groups and inclusion of a learning outcome measure. Most of the studies were deficient in either the employment of comparison groups, pre/post designs, utilization of multiple learning outcome measures, or a clear delineation of the connection between teaching methods and learning outcomes. Very few studies were based on previous work. A challenge is made to the field to conduct better designed studies and several suggestions for doing so are offered.