Hearing “Quack” and Remembering A Duck: Evidence for Fluency Attribution in Young Children

Previous research has suggested that fluency does not influence memory decisions until ages 7–8. In two experiments (n = 96 and n = 64, respectively), children, aged 4, 6, and 8 years (Experiments 1 and 2), and adults (Experiment 2) studied a list of pictures. Participants completed a recognition test during which each study item was preceded by a sound providing either a highly predictive or mildly predictive context in order to make some test items more conceptually fluent. Overall, highly predictive items were recognized at a higher rate than mildly predictive items demonstrating an earlier development of the fluency heuristic than previously observed. The study provides insight into how children develop metacognitive expectations and when they start to use them to guide their memory responses.     

Ideas to Enhance Higher Education's Impact on Graduates' Lives; Alumni Recommendations

Based on a recently completed alumnistudy of 522 graduates at a private college inthe northeastern Unites States, this paperpresents a model for designing alumni researchto assess higher education's effectiveness inpreparing graduates for work and life. Resultsrevealed substantial variation in alumnievaluation of their education. While alumnireported a high level of satisfaction with theacademic programme and career preparation,their feedback suggests they seek more fromtheir college experience. Results reveal thatstudents who feel a sense of community are moresatisfied with their overall college experienceand those who are satisfied with their sociallife are more likely to recommend the collegeto prospective students.     

The professional developmental needs of higher education-based teacher educators: an international comparative needs analysis

A universal lack of attention to the professional learning needs of teacher educators is the driver for this study, which considers the most effective ways to support the professional learning of higher education-based teacher educators. At a time when many industrialised countries are engaged in systemic educational reform, this study provides an international and comparative needs analysis through a survey of 1158 higher education-based teacher educators in the countries participating in the International Forum for Teacher Educator Development: Belgium, Ireland, Israel, the Netherlands, Norway and the UK. Our results suggest that while teacher educators are only moderately satisfied with their professional development experiences, a strong desire exists for further professional learning. This desire, influenced by their professional context, relates to their current beliefs concerning ‘best practice’ in teacher education, the academic skills required to further their professional careers and knowledge of the curriculum associated with their fields of expertise.     

Attendance, schooling quality, and the demand for education of Mexican Americans, African Americans, and non-Hispanic whites

This study examines the influence of the opportunity costs of school attendance, educational quality attributes, and household socioeconomic status on the educational demand of Mexican Americans, African Americans, and non-Hispanic whites using the 1988–1990 surveys of the National Education Longitudinal Study. Implementing a utility-maximizing framework, educational demand assumes the form of schools' average daily attendance rates and student dropout decisions between the 8th and 10th grades. The basic results suggest that a school's attendance rate is sensitive to educational quality and student characteristics. Moreover, the demand for education measured by student attrition inversely relates to unexplained school attendance, and is positively affected by household socioeconomic status. Some policy recommendations based on the results are discussed.     

网络时代的课程，学与教

网上的学与教是全球关注的一个教育热点，这种关注大致体现在：（1）课程本身的问题，即我们将要教什么？（2）学习自身的性质。（2）学习以及他们所需要的学习环境，（4）对教育提供的影响。（5）不同的国家为规范远程学习和网上学习所采取的的不同方式。（6）我们一旦选择这种方式所存在的大量的合作机会，其中也存在同样多的健康或不健康的竞争，（7）与那些在网络时代所提供机遇面前落伍的人们有关的。     

The Effect of Relationship on Children's Distributive Justice Reasoning

Kindergarten, third-grade, and sixth-grade children were told 2 stories about a group of children who made artwork that was subsequently sold at a craft fair. The characters in one story were described as friends, while the characters in the other story were described as strangers (relationship condition). 1 character in each story was presented as the oldest in the group, 1 as the most productive, and 1 as the poorest. Children were asked to allocate 9 dollars to the 3 characters under each relationship condition, provide rationales for those allocations, and rate the fairness of 4 different patterns of allocation. Older children allocated more money to needy friends than to needy strangers and more to productive strangers than to productive friends. Kindergartners' allocations and fairness ratings did not vary with relationship. Rationales for allocation judgements suggested that equality was the most salient principle for decisions at all ages, but the older children provided rationales based on benevolence more often than younger children when characters were presented as friends.