Imprinting in older ducklings: Some tests of a reinforcement model

Ducklings (Anas Platyrhynchos domesticus) older than the so-called critical period (Days 1 and 2 posthatch) were exposed to an imprinting stimulus after various experimental histories. The first study found that in previously isolated 10-day-old subjects the stimulus exhibited the same capacity to reinforce an operant response and to generate a burst-like pattern of responding as in ducklings imprinted to it on Day 1. In Experiment 2, an imprinting stimulas exhibited reinforcing capacities in 5 to 10-day-old ducklings that had previously been imprinted to a different stimulus. Most of these ducklings came to prefer the second imprinting stimulus over the first. Experiment 3 revealed that in 5-day-old ducklings with a prior history of imprinting to a different stimulus, the otherwise neutral features of a new imprinting stimulus acquired the same kind of persistent control over distress vocalization that they acquire in younger, naive subjects. In all these studies, the only difference between imprinting in older vs. younger subjects was that in older subjects a novel imprinting stimulus initially evoked fear reactions rather than filial behavior. These findings contradict the traditional view of imprinting as an irreversible process that occurs only during a brief critical period, but are entirely consistent with a reinforcement model of imprinting.     

Differentiation and its Problems: the views of primary teachers and curriculum support staff in Northern Ireland

This paper identifies a range of problems associated with putting differentiation into practice. The opinions of head teachers, subject co‐ordinators, and teachers were sought, as well as those of the curriculum support staff in the Education and Library Boards on the extent to which these problems affected primary schools in Northern Ireland, and case‐studies illuminated these views. The results showed that the curriculum support staff regarded most problems in differentiation in a more serious light than the schools themselves did, but there was agreement on the acute lack of time to deliver a differentiated curriculum, on the shortage of human resources and on the difficulties with new assessment methods.     

Representing Serials Metadata in Institutional Repositories

This study focused on how serials information for journal articles is presented based on a sampling of institutional repository platforms at a variety of institutions. Since metadata on journal articles in institutional repositories can often be incomplete and haphazard, not only due to the difficulty of entering the metadata in the first place, but due to the difficulty of adapting existing metadata schemes to represent a journal article accurately, how can libraries increase the discoverability of these individual articles from a wide variety of journals? By examining existing metadata schemes and how they are used to represent articles currently in institutional repositories, libraries can look for a way forward to better represent articles though adapting schemas, exploring possibilities for standardization of metadata for articles, and promoting good practices.     

‘Reflective co-education’ or male-oriented physical education? Teachers' views about activities in co-educational PE classes at German secondary schools

As much as the principle of co-education may appear to make sense in physical education (PE) lessons, trends in its development have emerged over the past years, especially in secondary schools, which were certainly not intended by the pedagogical programme of ‘reflective co-education’, which stands for respect for equality and difference in co-educational PE classes. Although this programme has been anchored in the curricula of various federal states in Germany for around 15 years, the prevailing practice even today, and documented in many empirical studies, is that so-called ‘male-oriented’ activities (e.g. games) predominate in PE classes while ‘female-oriented’ activities (e.g. dance, aerobics, gymnastics or health-related exercises) are scarcely ever taught. The purpose of this contribution is to examine (1) the extent to which male (as well as female) PE teachers actually make such a one-sided selection of activities; (2) the reasons they give for this practice and the way they perceive and judge it; and (3) how they communicate this selection to each other and to their pupils. Seventy-one PE teachers (of both sexes) were asked about these questions in problem-centred interviews. The main result of the study is that both male and female PE teachers almost exclusively do ‘male-oriented’ activities (like games and other competitive activities) in mixed-gender classes, although they give different reasons for doing so. By contrast, so-called ‘female activities’ are avoided. The observable implications are that PE lessons have increasingly become dominated by male patterns of physical activity and that a hierarchy is constructed between so-called ‘male activities’ and ‘female activities’ in PE. As a result, a key objective of ‘reflective co-education’ has not been achieved. Female PE teachers suffer considerably under these conditions. It can be observed that many of them are either planning to reduce their hours in, or even give up, teaching PE (or have already done so).     

Effects of mother-son incest and positive perceptions of sexual abuse experiences on the psychosocial adjustment of clinic-referred men

OBJECTIVE: The primary objective was to examine the long-term impact of mother-son incest and positive initial perceptions of sexual abuse experiences on adult male psychosocial functioning. METHOD: Sixty-seven clinic-referred men with a history of sexual abuse participated. The participants completed self-report measures regarding their current psychosocial functioning and described the nature of their sexual and physical abuse experiences during childhood. RESULTS: Seventeen men reported mother-son incest, and these men endorsed more trauma symptoms than did other sexually abused men, even after controlling for a history of multiple perpetrators and physical abuse. Mother-son incest was likely to be subtle, involving behaviors that may be difficult to distinguish from normal caregiving (e.g., genital touching), despite the potentially serious long-term consequences. Twenty-seven men recalled positive or mixed initial perceptions of the abuse, including about half of the men who had been abused by their mothers. These men reported more adjustment problems than did men who recalled purely negative initial perceptions. CONCLUSIONS: Mother-son incest and positive initial perceptions of sexual abuse experiences both appear to be risk factors for more severe psychosocial adjustment problems among clinic-referred men.     

Haciendo que hacer - cultivating a Mestiza worldview and academic achievement: Braiding cultural knowledge into educational research,policy, practice

In this article Francisca E Gonzalez shifts the focus from a deficit view of cultural knowledge to an imaginary of the formation of identities and integrity braided with the law, policy, and social formations. In this way, cultural practices cultivate a unique worldview with implications for K-12 educational excellence and academic achievement. Gonzalez situates her research within the national discourse on educational reform so as to direct educational researchers', policy makers', and educators' thinking of young Mexicanas as pensadoras who interrogate the social order, and who give meaning to learning, knowing, and power. She describes a study intended to explore the development of womanhood among young Mexicanas beginning with an explanation of a theoretical lens, a looking prism of critical race feminisms and Latina critical theory interpretive frameworks. Then she explains the study's multimethodological approach of trenzas y mestizaje, the braiding of theory, qualitative research strategies, and a sociopolitical consciousness. The article then details young Mexicana meanings of gendered cultural socialization, educacion, and success as cultural epistemologies and pedagogies, what the young Mexicanas called haciendo que hacer. Gonzalez explains this as the teaching and learning of sociocultural foundations and the cultivation of academic achievement. In closing, Francisca elaborates on how a braiding of different ways of knowing, teaching, and learning brings cultural knowledge to the fore of discourses on human rights, social justice, and educational equity including the formulation of holistic educational policies and practices.     

Against indifference

The idea that university teachers have a public responsibility appears to have been consigned by many to a lumber room of memory. Ideas of objectivity or expertise correspond more closely to a market-orientated higher education system which takes some pride in serving corporate, rather than social interests. Yet the obligation of the teacher to produce critically aware and engaged students demands that the classroom be a place of exchange—of knowledge, experience, passions and aspirations. As public intellectuals, if that is what we choose to be, the onus is on us to maintain a dream, affirm the creative and imaginative possibilities of those with whom we learn. Argument, debate, doubt are the stuff of human liberation; they are also the only known antidote to indifference.