Effects of number of CS-US pairings on the strength of conditioned frustration in rats

Following 45 placements to a wet-mash reward, groups of rats received 0, 10, 20, or 40 frustration-conditioning trials during which primary frustration was paired with the apparatus cues plus a distinctive CS. Other groups received 0, 10, or 20 pairings of primary frustration and apparatus cues alone. In the CS condition, learning of a hurdle-jumping response which terminated the CS was nonmonotonically related to the number of frustration-conditioning trials on the first of 2 test days. Performance increased with the number of conditioning trials up to 20, then decreased following 40 such trials. Among groups which did not receive the CS during conditioning or testing, only subjects in the zero-pairing condition showed evidence of learning. The results were interpreted as supporting the conclusion that conditioned frustration had acquired aversive motivational properties since its effectiveness was found to vary systematically with the number of conditioning trials. It was further concluded that the superiority of hurdle-jumping performance by CS groups relative to NCS groups was the result of both a higher level of frustrative motivation and greater frustration reduction following the response for the former groups.     

Teacher adaptation to flexible learning environments

Learning Environments Research - Teaching practices respond to the prompts, resources and inherent potential of a school’s physical, social and cultural landscape. This study involved how...     

Learning analytics: challenges and limitations

Learning analytic implementations are increasingly being included in learning management systems in higher education. We lay out some concerns with the way learning analytics – both data and algorithms – are often presented within an unproblematized Big Data discourse. We describe some potential problems with the often implicit assumptions about learning and learners – and indeed the tendency not to theorize learning explicitly – that underpin such implementations. Finally, we describe an attempt to devise our own analytics, grounded in a sociomaterial conception of learning. We use the data obtained to suggest that the relationships between learning and the digital traces left by participants in online learning are far from trivial, and that any analytics that relies on these as proxies for learning tends towards a behaviorist evaluation of learning processes.     

Does the use of Journals as a Form of Assessment put into Practice Principles of Feminist Pedagogy?

The writing of journals has become a popular form of assessment in women's studies courses, yet little work has addressed its authenticity as a form of feminist assessment. In this article, the learning journals of a class of tertiary teachers involved in a Postgraduate Diploma in Tertiary Teaching are analysed to determine the type of pedagogical practice that they reflect. The journals, and the pedagogical processes surrounding the use of the journals, were found to embrace many of the principles of critical and feminist pedagogy and to provide a valuable vehicle for the development of reflective professional practice. However, a focus on issues reflecting a wider context of social justice, for example, sexism and racism, was mostly only salient in the journals of the lecturers whose courses overtly involved these issues. These findings highlight a tension between respecting the rights of learners to construct their own knowledge and pursue areas of personal interest, and demanding attention to issues of equity and the role of education in social change.     

Teacher Attitudes Regarding Barriers to Meaningfully Implementing iPads in a Primary School Setting

The purpose of this study was to examine the barriers to implementing iPads in a primary school setting. The participants in this study included four subject specialist teachers and an ICT coordinator. To gather their views on the use of iPads as instructional tools in the classroom, semi-structured interviews were conducted and teachers' diaries were analyzed. The themes that emerged from the analysis of the teachers' diaries included the positive impact of iPad use in education, the potential disadvantages of iPad use in education, and technical issues. An issue that strongly emerged from the diaries was the need for more training on the features of an iPad and apps along with how to use them appropriately in lessons. It was also revealed that what was initially seen as major barriers to iPad use in lessons could be easily resolved with the presence of the correct knowledge and support.     

Using the first principles of instruction and multimedia learning principles to design and develop in-game learning support videos

Educational technology research and development - Over three years, our research team has designed various learning supports for promoting content knowledge and solving game levels. In this case...     

Another Nail in the Coffin for Learning Styles? Disparities among Undergraduate Anatomy Students’ Study Strategies,Class Performance,and Reported VARK Learning Styles

The concept and existence of learning styles has been fraught with controversy, and recent studies have thrown their existence into doubt. Yet, many students still hold to the conventional wisdom that learning styles are legitimate, and may adapt their outside of class study strategies to match these learning styles. Thus, this study aims to assess if undergraduate anatomy students are more likely to utilize study strategies that align with their hypothetical learning styles (using the VARK analysis from Fleming and Mills, 1992 , Improve Acad. 11:137–155) and, if so, does this alignment correlate with their outcome in an anatomy course. Relatedly, this study examines whether students’ VARK learning styles are correlated with course outcomes regardless of the students’ study strategies, and whether any study strategies are correlated with course outcomes, regardless of student-specific VARK results. A total of 426 anatomy students from the 2015 and 2016 Fall semesters completed a study strategies survey and an online VARK questionnaire. Results demonstrated that most students did not report study strategies that correlated with their VARK assessment, and that student performance in anatomy was not correlated with their score in any VARK categories. Rather, some specific study strategies (irrespective of VARK results), such as use of the virtual microscope, were found to be positively correlated with final class grade. However, the alignment of these study strategies with VARK results had no correlation with anatomy course outcomes. Thus, this research provides further evidence that the conventional wisdom about learning styles should be rejected by educators and students alike. Anat Sci Educ. © 2018 American Association of Anatomists.     

Television and Movie Viewing Predict Adults’ Romantic Ideals and Relationship Satisfaction

The current study examined the associations between television and movie use, romantic ideals (belief in love conquers all and soul mates), and relationship satisfaction among adults who were currently in romantic relationships. Participants were 306 individuals aged 18–64. They were asked about their media use, their romantic beliefs, and their current relationship. In addition to overall time spent watching television and movies, seven specific genres were measured. Results indicated that viewing each genre of television and movie analyzed (including relationship reality TV, TV drama, TV comedy, soap opera, and romantic movie) was positively associated with romantic ideals. The results for television were not in the hypothesized direction or consistent with prior studies. Television drama and romantic movie viewing were the strongest predictors of belief in love conquers all and relationship satisfaction, whereas soap opera viewing was the strongest predictor of belief in soul mates. None of these associations were moderated by age or relationship length. Mediation analyses also showed that specific genres of viewing were positively associated with relationship satisfaction via romantic ideals. The implications of viewing television and movies for adults’ romantic relationships are discussed.     

Dialogic argumentation as a bridge to argumentative thinking and writing / La argumentación dialógica como puente para el pensamiento y la escritura argumentativa

Abstract

Argumentation has been claimed to be ‘the more general human process of which more specific forms of reasoning are a part’. The educational context in which argument is most often practised and assessed is individual expository writing — a skill that teachers routinely report as their most challenging to teach and one in which students typically perform poorly. It becomes increasingly important with advancing grade and by the post-secondary level is crucial to academic success. We describe the dialogic method we have developed to foster young adolescents’ argument skills. Its essence is to engage students in rich and extended dialogues with one another on significant topics. We review evidence that the method, implemented in extended form over two or more years, produces positive outcomes in argumentative discourse, in individual writing and in meta-level understandings of argumentative discourse and evaluations of argument. In this study, we elaborate on these results and on the promise and challenges the method poses.     

Improving Campus Climate to Support Faculty Diversity and Retention: A Pilot Program for New Faculty

We report on a series of pilot programs that we developed and carried out to support the success and satisfaction of new faculty, particularly faculty of color. We hope that others committed to retaining and supporting underrepresented faculty can apply our learning from this pilot project, as a whole or in part.Fred P. Piercy, Ph.D. (University of Florida), M.Ed. (University of South Carolina), B.A. (Wake Forest University) is the Department Head of the Department of Human Development at Virginia Tech. His professional interests include family therapy education, HIV social science research and prevention, and family intervention for adolescent drug abusers. Valerie Giddings, Ph.D., M.S. (Virginia Tech), B.S. (Bennett College) is the Associate Vice Chancellor for Lifelong Learning at Winston-Salem State University. Her professional interests include anthropometry and apparel fit, cultural aesthetics for apparel, and diversity issues in higher education. Katherine R. Allen, Ph.D., M.A. (Syracuse University), B.S. (University of Connecticut) is a Professor in Human Development at Virginia Tech. Her interests include family diversity over the life course, adult sibling ties in transition, and persistence of women and minorities in IT majors. Benjamin Dixon, Ed.D. (University of Massachusetts), M.A.T. (Harvard University), B.Mus.Ed. (Howard University) is the Vice President for Multicultural Affairs at Virginia Tech. His interests include diversity, multicultural education, ethical pluralism, and equity and inclusion issues related to organizational management and development. Peggy S. Meszaros, Ph.D. (University of Maryland), M.S. (University of Kentucky), B.S. (Austin Peay State University) is the William E. Lavery Professor of Human Development and the Director of the Center for Information Technology Impacts on Children, Youth, and Families at Virginia Tech. Her interests include positive youth development, leadership issues, female career transitions, and mother/daughter communication. Karen Joest, Ph.D. (Virginia Tech), M.S. (Chaminade University), B.S. (Indiana State University) is an Assistant Professor of Child and Family Studies at the State University of New York, College at Oneonta. Her interests include adolescents exposed to domestic violence, use of qualitative research, and use of technology and feminist pedagogy