Age-related differences in rats’ spontaneous alternation

Fifteen-day-old rats made random choices in a T-maze, while adult levels of alternation (approximately 70%) were noted among 30-day-olds. Also, younger pups were insensitive to a lengthening of the intertrial interval, unlike older animals whose rate of alternation decreased when a 1-h delay was interposed between arm entries. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that hippocampal development is a factor in the ontogeny of postweaning locomotion. The unsystematic pattern of goal-arm selections among 15-day-olds suggests that ontongenetic variation in the utilization of stimuli may underlie developmental shifts in spontaneous alternation.     

A follow-up assessment of a second-grade problem-centered mathematics project

Five second-grade classes in two schools participated in a project that was generally compatible with a constructivist theory of knowing. At the end of the school year, the students in these classes and their peers in six non-project classes in the same schools were assigned to ten textbook-based third-grade classes on the basis of reading scores. The two groups of students were compared at the end of the third-grade year on a standardized achievement test and on instruments designed to assess their conceptual development in arithmetic, their personal goals in mathematics, and their beliefs about reasons for success in mathematics. The levels of computation performance on familiar textbook tasks were comparable, but former project students had attained more advanced levels of conceptual understanding. In addition, they held stronger beliefs about the importance of working hard and being interested in mathematics, and about understanding and collaborating. Further, they attributed less importance to conforming to the solution methods of others.     

The Keys to STEM: Australian Year 7 Students’ Attitudes and Intentions Towards Science,Mathematics and Technology Courses

Research in Science Education - Educational researchers have long noted the apparent link between positive student attitudes and a student’s desire to continue their study of particular...     

Repeated failures in reducing rat’s spontaneous alternation through the intertrial disruption of spatial orientation

Three experiments examined the contention that an extramaze cue representing relative spatial direction controls rats’ spontaneous alternation. Attempts to eliminate this short-term directional memory by horizontally rotating the Ss were without effect. These data, along with other recent findings, cast doubt upon the completeness of Douglas’s model of spontaneous alternation.     

Reactions of Mongolian gerbils in the presence of urine stimuli

Forty sexually mature Mongolian gerbils served as subjects in a study designed to examine responsiveness to samples of urine. In a two-choice comparison situation in the home cage, each isolated gerbil was tested for amount of time spent with each urine sample during a 3-min period. Male gerbils spent significantly more time with estrus female urine than nonestrus female gerbil urine, and with nonestrus female gerbil urine than with either male gerbil urine or water. Female gerbils did not respond differentially to any of the stimuli. Neither sex discriminated between gerbil and hamster urine of either sex. Results suggest that female gerbil urine communicates sexual identity and, especially, sexual readiness to the male gerbil.     

A Longitudinal Approach to Assessing Attrition Behavior Among First-Generation Students: Time-Varying Effects of Pre-College Characteristics

Although going to college may be viewed as a rite of passage for many students, some groups of students often face unique challenges in their pursuit of a college degree. One group of students that we are trying to gain a better understanding of is first-generation students, those whose parents did not graduate from college. This article presents the results of a study that investigated longitudinal effects of being a first-generation student on attrition. Results indicated that first-generation students were more likely to depart than their counterparts over time. After controlling for factors such as race, gender, high school grade point average (GPA), and family income, the risk of attrition in the first year among first-generation students was 71% higher than that of students with two college-educated parents.     

虚拟学习社区中提高教学性存在的实践指导原则

自上个世纪90年代以来,国际上逐渐形成了一种重要的远程教育理论——基于计算机辅助传播（CMC）环境下的三种存在理沧（即教学性存在、认知性存在和社会性存在）,该理论由加拿大的兰迪·加里森和特里·安德森共同创建,在北美拥有重要的学术和实践基础。本文主要阐述如何提高其中的教学性存在,纵向从三类教学活动,即设计和组织教学、协调会话和直接教学,横向从两个维度,即社会忭存在和认知性存在,立体交叉地呈现了教师在虚拟社区中提高教学性存在应遵守的一些原则。