Didactics and the culture of school disciplines: The case of French language arts as taught in France

This article first examines didactics from an epistemological perspective.

Didactic analysis grasps knowledge as something circulated and/or transmitted. It is distinguished from sociological and psychological approaches to the learning act that legitimize the sociology of education, and from cognitive approaches.

Modifying the learner's individual knowledge so that it conforms to institutional knowledge is a scholastic goal that, in our view, defines the field of didactic research.

The second part of the article proposes answers to these questions: What is the status of the notions taught by the discipline? How are these notions constituted? What is the role of values and knowledge in school exercises and school goals? And what is to be understood by literary culture?

     

Compound-component differentiation as a function of CS-US interval and CS duration in the rabbit’s conditioned nictitating membrane response

The acquisition of the rabbit’s nictitating membrane response to a tone + light compound and its components was examined as a function of the CS-US interval (Experiment 1) and CS duration (Experiment 2). In Experiment 1, responding to the compound attained high levels in all groups, but responding on component test trials declined to low levels as the CS-US interval increased across values of 300, 800, and 1,300 msec. Further disparities between the compound and components appeared when the animals were shifted to a positive patterning schedule. In Experiment 2, disparities between the compound and components increased as the duration of the CS was increased across values of 50, 200, and 800 msec within a fixed CS-US interval of 800 msec. The results are discussed with respect to distributive processes, configuration, and speed-accuracy tradeoffs.     

Comparison of retention and extinction of a visual discrimination as an index of forgetting in mice

The retention and extinction of a visual discrimination was examined in BALB/c mice. The mice were trained to perform a go/no-go discrimination task in parallel runways. Initial training resulted in an intermediate level of performance. Testing consisted of an additional session using either retention (Experiment 1) or extinction (Experiment 2) at one of five time intervals between 1 and 30 days. It was found in Experiment 1 that forgetting progressively increased over intervals of between 14 and 30 days. In Experiment 2, extinction testing induced more impairment of performance, so that forgetting occurred earlier relative to retention testing in Experiment 1. However, in both experiments, the measure of performance by a discrimination ratio revealed the same amount of forgetting when the training-test interval was 30 days. These results define the forgetting curve for such a discrimination by mice. They are discussed in terms of possible factors involved in forgetting.     

How much effort is needed to keep up with the literature relevant for primary care?

OBJECTIVES: Medicine must keep current with the research literature, and keeping current requires continuously updating the clinical knowledge base (i.e., references that provide answers to clinical questions). The authors estimated the volume of medical literature potentially relevant to primary care published in a month and the time required for physicians trained in medical epidemiology to evaluate it for updating a clinical knowledge base. METHODS: We included journals listed in five primary care journal review services (ACP Journal Club, DynaMed, Evidence-Based Practice, Journal Watch, and QuickScan Reviews). Finding little overlap, we added the 2001 "Brandon/Hill Selected List of Print Books and Journals for the Small Medical Library." We counted articles (including letters, editorials, and other commentaries) published in March 2002, using bibliographic software where possible and hand counting when necessary. For journals not published in March 2002, we reviewed the nearest issue. Five primary care physicians independently evaluated fifty randomly selected articles and timed the process. RESULTS: The combined list contained 341 currently active journals with 8,265 articles. Adjusting for publication frequency, we estimate 7,287 articles are published monthly in this set of journals. Physicians trained in epidemiology would take an estimated 627.5 hours per month to evaluate these articles. CONCLUSIONS: To provide practicing clinicians with the best current evidence, more comprehensive and systematic literature surveillance efforts are needed.     

Media

Steven H. Chaffee and Michael J. Petrick's Using the Mass Media: Communication Problems in American Society (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1975—$6.95, paper)

Bibliography: Some Canadian Writings on the Mass Media (Ottawa: Canadian Radio-Television Commission , 1974—apparently free on request, paper)

Communications: Some Federal Proposals (Ottawa: Information Canada, 1975—price not known, paper)

Bernard C. Hennessy's Public Opinion (Belmont, Calif.: Duxbury Press/ Wadsworth, 1975—price not known, paper)

John G. Cawelti's The Six-Gun Mystique (Bowling Green, Ohio: Bowling Green University Popular Press, 1972—price not known, paper)

First Annual Report (Cambridge: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, December 1974—free on request, paper)     

Foster Mother–Infant Bonding: Associations Between Foster Mothers' Oxytocin Production,Electrophysiological Brain Activity,Feelings of Commitment,and Caregiving Quality

This study examined the biological processes associated with foster mother–infant bonding. In an examination of foster mother–infant dyads (N = 41, mean infant age = 8.5 months), foster mothers' oxytocin production was associated with their expressions of behavioral delight toward their foster infant and their average P3 response to images of all infant faces in the first 2 months of the relationship. Three months later, foster mothers' oxytocin production was still associated with delight toward their foster infant and was also specifically associated with their P3 response to an image of their foster infant. Similar to biologically related mothers and infants, oxytocin appears to be associated with foster mothers' brain activity and caregiving behavior, with patterns suggestive of bond formation.     

Educating the Young Mathematician: The Twentieth Century and Beyond

Educational programs for young children emerged reasonably early in the history of the United States of America. The movements of Child-Centered Education, the Nursery School, the Project Method, Curriculum Reform, and contemporary research have all influenced mathematics in early childhood education. The Froebelian kindergarten and the Montessori Casa die Bambini (Children’s House) included approaches to teaching mathematics. This article reviews the history of mathematics education in relation to the history of early childhood education from the turn of the twentieth century. It also discusses how research in mathematics education attempted to gain its own identity. Throughout history, researchers have identified mathematics issues and addressed them, defining the field, and generating a cadre of mathematics researchers.