Graduate degrees by external studies: the Nova University programmes in Florida

This article examines the graduate degrees by external study programmes offered by Nova University, Florida. These programmes have generated much criticism from traditional institutions in the United States of America, but the success of the programmes rests on the quality of academic staff recruited, programme evaluation techniques and student demand for the awards.     

Promoting self-control of learning

The process of learning with understanding was investigated by case study of three male students learning genetics at a tertiary college. Five conclusions regarding the process arise from the study. These conclusions are: (1) Learning outcome is determined by decisions made by the learner. These decisions are influenced by learner perceptions and interpretations. (2) Inadequate learning is due to ineffective decision-making. This ineffective decision-making is associated with specific, recurring learning deficiencies. The main types of deficiency, deficient processing tendencies and misconceptions, cause inadequate performance and preclude learning with understanding. A total of seven tendencies was observed. Each learner applied tendencies idiosyncratically. Tendencies also generated particular misconceptions which further inhibited learning. (3) It takes energy to learn with understanding, or to unlearn a misconception. (4) Learners often are unaware of their deficiencies. This lack of awareness generates inappropriate attitudes. (5) Increased learner awareness of the nature and process of learning changes attitudes and procedures. The major implication of this study relates to promoting self-control of learning. It is proposed that improved learning will result from increasing learner awareness of the nature and process of learning, and by training learners in procedures for enhancing self-evaluation and decision-making.     

Scaffolding Voluntary Summer Reading for Children in Grades 3 to 5: An Experimental Study

The effects of a voluntary summer reading intervention with teacher and parent scaffolding were investigated in an experimental study. A total of 24 teachers and 400 children in Grades 3, 4, and 5 were randomly assigned to one of four experimental conditions: control, books only, books with oral reading scaffolding, and books with oral reading and comprehension scaffolding. Books were matched to children's reading levels and interests. Children were pre- and posttested on measures of oral reading fluency (DIBELS) and silent reading ability (Iowa Test of Basic Skills [ITBS]). Results showed that children in the books with oral reading and comprehension scaffolding condition scored significantly higher on the ITBS posttest than children in the control condition. In addition, children in the two scaffolding conditions combined scored higher on the ITBS posttest than children in the control and books only conditions combined. Practical implications for summer voluntary reading interventions are discussed.     

An SEM Approach for the Evaluation of Intervention Effects Using Pre-Post-Post Designs

A directly applicable latent variable modeling procedure for classical item analysis is outlined. The method allows one to point and interval estimate item difficulty, item correlations, and item-total correlations for composites consisting of categorical items. The approach is readily employed in empirical research and as a by-product permits examining the latent structure of tentative versions of multiple-component measuring instruments. The discussed procedure is straightforwardly utilized with the increasingly popular latent variable modeling software Mplus, and is illustrated on a numerical example.     

Food of paradise: Tahitian breadfruit and the autocritique of European consumption

In many ways, Tahiti was central to European colonialism, for it was there that European visitors forged a model of primitive nature that served as a comparison to, and sometimes critique of, European civilization. Tahiti was also the place from which a unique plant, the breadfruit, was brought to European colonies and to England and France during the late 18th century, at the behest of naturalists. With the breadfruit travelled contrasting perceptions of the Tahitian way of life. The autocritique of European lifestyles and the naturalization of the breadfruit are closely intertwined. The breadfruit indeed became a radical food of the end of the 18th century.     

Executive function effects and numerical development in children: Behavioural and ERP evidence from a numerical Stroop paradigm

Most research on numerical development in children is behavioural, focusing on accuracy and response time in different problem formats. However, Temple and Posner (1998) used ERPs and the numerical distance task with 5-year-olds to show that the development of numerical representations is difficult to disentangle from the development of the executive components of response organization and execution. Here we use the numerical Stroop paradigm (NSP) and ERPs to study possible executive interference in numerical processing tasks in 6–8-year-old children. In the NSP, the numerical magnitude of the digits is task-relevant and the physical size of the digits is task-irrelevant. We show that younger children are highly susceptible to interference from irrelevant physical information such as digit size, but that access to the numerical representation is almost as fast in young children as in adults. We argue that the developmental trajectories for executive function and numerical processing may act together to determine numerical development in young children.