Using Augmented Reality and Virtual Environments in Historic Places to Scaffold Historical Empathy

The authors explore how 3D visualizations of historical sites can be used as pedagogical tools to support historical empathy. They provide three visualizations created by a team at Virginia Tech as examples. They discuss virtual environments and how the digital restoration process is applied. They also define historical empathy, explain why it is important, and discuss how it is taught.     

Independent inquiry and the undergraduate dissertation: perceptions and experiences of final‐year social science students

This article reports on findings from a research project that investigated the experiences and perceptions of final‐year social science undergraduates enrolled on a dissertation module in a post‐1992 UK university. The dissertation was designed to provide students with the opportunity to function autonomously and determine the content and focus of a major part of their study and assessment. Using data from interviews and questionnaires, the article explores the students’ lived experience of the dissertation as a form of independent learning and assessment, the challenges they encountered, and their perceptions of peer and tutor support. While students valued the autonomy, authenticity, and ownership they felt in relation to their dissertation, they also experienced considerable ­challenges, particularly in relation to ‘time’.     

Proposing an Operational Definition of Science Teacher Beliefs

Much research has shown that a science teacher’s beliefs are related to their teaching practice. This line of research has often defined “belief” epistemologically. That is, beliefs are often defined relative to other mental constructs, such as knowledge, dispositions, or attitudes. Left unspecified is the role beliefs play in cognition and how they come to influence science teachers’ classroom practice. As such, researchers and science teacher educators have relied on an (at times, implicit) assumption that there is a direct causal relationship between teachers’ beliefs and classroom practice. In this paper, we propose an operational, as opposed to epistemological, definition of belief. That is, we are explicit about the role a belief plays in science teachers’ cognition and how that leads to classroom practice. We define a belief as a mental representation that influences the practice of a teacher if and only if the belief is active in cognition. We then turn our attention to two limitations in the literature on that have arisen via previous definitions and assumptions regarding science teacher beliefs, showing how defining beliefs operationally helps think about these issues in new ways. The two limitations surround: (1) the difficulty in precisely delineating belief from knowledge; and (2) the interconnectedness of beliefs such that they draw meaning from one another. We then show how our definition of beliefs is congruent with other models of teacher cognition reported in the literature. Finally, we provide implications arising from this definition of belief for both science teacher educators and those who conduct research on the beliefs of both preservice and in-service science teachers.     

Should Faculty Rank Be Included as a Predictor Variable in Studies of Gender Equity in University Faculty Salaries?

Many different approaches, almost all of which use some form of regression, have been used to study the issue of gender equity in university faculty salaries. One major point of contention in ail of these approaches is whether faculty rank, which is university conferred, should be included as a predictor variable. Two illustrations are presented to demonstrate how omitting faculty rank as a predictor variable from gender equity studies of university faculty salaries can lead to incorrect conclusions concerning gender discrimination. The first illustration uses hypothetical data constructed so that there is no difference in salary due to gender. However, when faculty rank is not included as a predictor variable in the regression model, there is a significant difference in salary due to gender. The second illustration uses actual data from a study of gender equity in pay at Bowling Green State University. This data set is used to construct a new data set that is totally free of gender bias. When a regression model omitting faculty rank is fit to this gender bias-free data, again a significant difference in salary due to gender is present. Therefore, it is recommended that faculty rank be included as a predictor variable in any model used to study gender equity relating to salary.     

Selected schedules of reinforcement in the black-tailed prairie dog (Cynomys ludovicianus)

Wild black-tailed prairie dogs were run on FR, FI, VR, and VI schedules for Noyes pellet reinforcement. Cumulative barpress responses, postreinforcement pause lengths, and responses per second were recorded. The highest response rates occurred in the VR schedules, with the lowest response rates coming in the FI schedules. Fixed-ratio schedules had the longest postreinforcement pauses, VI schedules had the shortest. At the upper levels of the fixed-ratio schedules (FR 90–100), the animals ceased to respond consistently. Generally, data from prairie dogs were consistent with data reported in studies from other mammalian species.     

Taste-potentiated color aversions in pigeons: Examination of CS preexposure and subsequent effects on postconditioning extinction of the taste aversion

In the present study, we investigated the mechanisms of potentiation using pigeons as subjects. Half the groups were given unreinforced preexposures to the CS on 2 consecutive days before aversion training. After training, the taste aversion was extinguished in some of the groups conditioned with a colored, tasty compound. Postconditioning extinction of the taste aversion was found to attenuate potentiated color aversions. This was the case for the subjects that both were and were not preexposed to the CS. These results lend support to the summation theory of potentiation (Durlach & Rescorla, 1980) and weaken the claim that CS preexposures are necessary for obtaining such support. Alternative accounts of the data are discussed.     

Menus for toddlers in day care: Part IV

This is the last part of a four-part series of articles that provide a total of four weeks' worth of menus for toddlers. In the first installment (Fall 1978) will be found the basic recipes for preparing Milk Plus, TVP, and Fruit Juice, as well as a general introduction to the format of these menus. Todd R. Risley is Professor of Human Development and Director of the Living Environments Group at the University of Kansas. Emily Herbert-Jackson managed the nutrition research project described here in her capacity as Research Associate in the Bureau of Child Research at the University of Kansas. She is now associated with Children's Behavioral Services, Reno, Nevada. Marion O'Brien is a writer for the Living Environments Group and has served as consultant to the toddler center in which the research was conducted. The authors wish especially to thank Kathy Erwin for her contribution to the development of these menus, as well as all the staff and children at the toddler center. The research described here was supported in large part by grant MC-R-200347 from the Office of Maternal and Child Health to the Bureau of Child Research and the Department of Human Development at the University of Kansas. The toddler day care program is fully described in the bookThe Toddler Center: A Practical Guide to Day Care for One- and Two-Year-Olds, by Marion O'Brien, Jan Porterfield, Emily Herbert-Jackson, and Todd R. Risley (Baltimore: University Park Press, 1978).     

Assisting secondary support teachers to work in the recommended service delivery model: introducing the concept of a subculture of learning support

The original concept of a subculture of learning support in secondary schools developed from a study of ‘Support Teachers, Learning Difficulties’ in New South Wales, Australia. The study examined the influence of school culture on the service delivery model used by these support teachers in three case studies, one of which is reported in this article. Both research and policy recommend consultation and co‐teaching with a minimum of withdrawal of students with learning difficulties for intensive instruction. To employ the recommended service delivery model it was found that support teachers need to be immersed in a subculture of learning support within the school, which involves interacting with others who share similar values and beliefs about the education of students with learning difficulties. If such a subculture does not exist the support teacher must play a major role in its development. The use of the recommended service delivery model will enhance the education provided for students with learning difficulties.