Influence of conspecific and predatory Stressors and their associated odors on defensive burying and freezing responses

In Experiment 1, male rats were exposed to either aggressive (i.e., alpha) or nonaggressive conspecific colonies and tested 24 h later, with or without alpha odors, for freezing behavior and burying of a wall prod that had been the source of a brief electric shock. The results indicated that prior defeat experience and the presence of alpha odors alone during testing had no significant effects, but the combination of prior defeat and alpha-odor testing significantly decreased burying and increased freezing behavior. In Experiment 2, we examined the effects of noncontact exposure to a cat, as a predatory Stressor, during subsequent prod-shock tests involving the presence or absence of cat odors. Exposure to a cat failed to disrupt later prod burying and did not produce freezing. However, the presence of cat odors during testing significantly reduced the amount of defensive burying,without resulting in an increment in freezing. In Experiment 3, rats were given 1, 5, or 30 inescapable preshocks in the presence of either cat odors or a hedonically neutral citronella odor and were tested 24 h later for prod burying and freezing with or without these odors. Both the cat and the citronella odors resulted in a significant reduction in burying and an increase in freezing for rats given 5 and 30 preshocks and tested in the presence of these respective conditioned odors. For the groups that were given 5 preshocks, preshock and later testing in the presence of cat odors resulted in significantly less prod burying and more freezing than for rats that were preshocked and tested in the presence of citronella. The findings of these three ethoexperimental studies are discussed in terms of the learned-helplessness theory, the stress-coping-fear-defense (SCFD) theory, and the concept of selective CS-US associability.     

A systematic follow‐up approach for mainstreaming students with behavior and emotional disorders

The Behavior Intervention Centres are part of the Houston Independent School District's (HISD) Special Education Department. Their purpose is to provide educational services to elementary and secondary students, aged 3 through 21, who exhibit either severely aggressive or severely withdrawn behaviours. This article describes a formalized follow‐up service considered by the authors to be a critical component of the BIC program.     

A Vote for Consensus: Democracy and difference in Japan

How evident is democracy within education in Japan, and is current practice different from elsewhere? This paper assesses the perception that Japanese political and educational practices are not fully 'democratic'. The first part examines the Japanese perspective on democracy, and then considers democracy and education in Japan. From a school-based study, the second part discusses examples of class practice concerning decision-making. The paper concludes that democracy is deeply rooted in Japanese history, but not in a form that is readily recognisable to Western observers. Consensus has been more significant than voting. The view that the US administration had a strong influence probably reflects policy rhetoric, not the reality in schools. But this rhetoric may have led to a belief that 'democracy' is not an appropriate term within contemporary Japanese education. However, what happens in Japanese classrooms equates with 'democratic' practice elsewhere.     

Beginning reading strategies in children experiencing contrasting teaching methods

Two groups of 4.5–5.5 year old children in their first year at school were examined; one taught by a whole word teaching method and one taught by a mixed whole word and phonological teaching method. The children were given a test to investigate their reading of normal words. The results of this test were subjected to a detailed error analysis and the two groups were examined in order to see if there were differences in the reading strategies they used. No evidence was found counter to the assumption that reading begins with a logographic stage. However, it was found that teaching method was having a significant impact on the reading strategies which the children adopted. In addition it was found that a number of children from the whole school appeared to exhibit letter by letter reading. This suggests that letter by letter dyslexia might in part be an extreme form of a strategy used by normal readers.     

Tampering with a Stable Process

This article presents a variation of the funnel experiment made famous by W. Edwards Deming. Ideally suited for classroom use, this exercise illustrates the disastrous consequences resulting from tampering with a stable process.     

Environmental identity formation in nonformal environmental education programs

This paper explores experiences that remained salient in the memories of former participants in three nature-based programs in Colorado, five to forty years after childhood involvement. Interviews with program founders and staff, archival research, and observations of current activities provided an understanding of each program’s history, mission and educational approach. In this context, 18 former participants were interviewed about program experiences that they remembered and program impacts on their environmental identities and academic or career choices. Results were analyzed through the lens of social practice theory, which has significant implications for the design and evaluation of environmental education programs. Results showed that social practice theory is a useful framework for interpreting the development of a social environmental identity, but an ecological identity that forms through direct contact with the natural world is an important complementary concept.     

Distributing and Showing Farmer Learning Videos in Bangladesh

Purpose: To describe the results of showing farmer learning videos through different types of volunteers.

Design/Methodology/Approach: Semi-structured interviews with volunteers from different occupational groups in Bangladesh, and a phone survey with 227 respondents.

Findings: Each occupational group acted differently. Shop keepers, tillage service providers, agricultural input and machine dealers reached fairly small audiences. Tea stall owners had large, male audiences. Non-governmental organisations and community-based organisations, reached more women. The cable TV (dish-line) operators showed the videos on local TV, but some were reluctant to do so again. The Union Information Service Centres showed the videos and reached women viewers. Half of the official government extension agents surveyed also showed the videos publically.

Practical Implication: This video featured maize, wheat and rice seeding machinery. Because the machinery is complex and requires hands-on training, this first video aimed to expose tillage and sowing service providers and farmers to the machinery, without trying to teach them how to use it. But some farmers were so interested that they watched the video many times to learn more about the equipment. Before farmers and service providers decide to buy machinery for direct seeding, they still want to see and learn from demonstration plantings, to examine first-hand how the crop behaves when planted with the new equipment.

Originality/Value: Video can be an effective way of sharing high-quality information with a large audience, if properly distributed.     

One-to-One Computing and Student Achievement in Ohio High Schools

This study explores the impact of one-to-one computing on student achievement in Ohio high schools as measured by performance on the Ohio Graduation Test (OGT). The sample included 24 treatment schools that were individually paired with a similar control school. An interrupted time series methodology was deployed to examine OGT data over a period of 5 to 8 years. Overall student performance and content-specific achievement in math, reading, science, social studies, and writing were not significantly affected by the introduction of 1:1 computing. Treatment schools using a netbook device produced the greatest overall change in scores.     

Zinc: what is its role in biology?

Zinc is as common as iron in biology. It is usually thought to be a trace element required only for catalysis. Here it is shown that the role of zinc is much more fundamental not only in catalysis but in inhibitory control. There may well be several such control elements—calcium, iron, manganese, magnesium, and zinc.