The influence of breed and environmental factors on social and solitary play in dogs (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Canis lupus familiaris</Emphasis>)

The domestic dog is an ideal model species in which to study the genetic and environmental factors that influence play behavior. Dogs exist in a wide variety of breeds and frequently engage in multiple forms of play. In the present study, we investigated whether the levels of solitary and social play differed between dogs of three breed types with distinct predatory motor pattern sequences (herding dogs, retrievers, and livestock guarding dogs [LGDs]). Furthermore, we investigated how environmental factors (social and nonsocial contexts) influenced play in dogs of these breed types. Groups of breed-matched dyads with working experience and of equivalent age, sex, and neuter status ratios were exposed to four experimental test conditions and two control conditions in randomized orders. With respect to solitary play, environmental context did have a significant effect, with toys reliably producing the highest levels of solitary play across all breed types. Retrievers engaged in significantly higher levels of solitary play overall than LGDs, and there was a trend in comparison to herding dogs. In contrast, neither environmental context nor breed had a significant effect on social play levels; however, neuter status of the dyads did have a significant effect on social play, with mixed-status dyads engaging in significantly higher levels of social play than same-status dyads. Our findings provide experimental evidence for identifying proximate, environmental stimuli that reliably facilitate social and solitary play and discuss possible genetic (i.e., breed type) and lifetime influences on the form of play in domestic dogs.     

The historiography of British imperial education policy,Part I: India

Colonial education has been controversial and widely divergent interpretations have been offered from contrasting ideological perspectives. British imperial education policy was highly contended during the colonial era and remains a contentious issue amongst many contemporary historians and a critical review of the historiography of the subject is long overdue. British colonial education policy starts in India in 1813, the intention being to promote both Oriental culture and Western science. But a former Director of Public Instruction, writing in the 1920s, claimed that education had done far less for Indian culture than for the material and political progress of India. More recent academic writing about the history of education in British India has been both intermittent and of mixed quality. To date, much of the criticism of British policy appears to have been motivated more by emotion rather than by detailed scholarly analysis and this account argues that more ‘plodding’ in archives is urgently needed at the present time to substantiate, refine or refute the claims of India’s educational historians. This is the first part of a two‐part article, the second of which will deal with Africa and the rest of the colonial Empire.     

Misconceptions of Astronomical Distances

Previous empirical studies using multiple‐choice procedures have suggested that there are misconceptions about the scale of astronomical distances. The present study provides a quantitative estimate of the nature of this misconception among US university students by asking them, in an open‐ended response format, to make estimates of the distances from the Earth to the Moon, to the Sun, to the nearest star, and to the nearest galaxy. The 83 participants were asked to give their estimates on a scale with the Earth the size of a baseball, using a familiar local landmark for its position, and asked to indicate the appropriate location of the other astronomical objects on this scale. These psychological estimates were then compared to the actual physical distances. The data showed that while there is great variation, a general pattern emerged that US undergraduate participants overestimated the distance from the Earth to the Moon, moderately underestimated the distance from the Earth to the Sun, and dramatically underestimated the distances to the nearest star and to the nearest galaxy. The results suggest that these distance misconceptions should receive direct instructional attention in science courses.     

Staff Training for Small Businesses — Approaches to Training Needs Analysis and Information Access

Abstract

This paper is designed to encourage discussion on two particular approaches to solving two problems concerning the training of staff in small businesses. It describes ‘The Business Analyst’, a ‘do‐it‐yourself training needs analysis tool intended to be used by managers of small businesses. It has also proved to be a powerful negotiating tool between training providers and managers, and a management aid for training institutions. Secondly, the paper describes the present state of development of a hi‐tech approach to the provision of information about training opportunities.     

The action research process as a means of helping student teachers understand and fulfil the complex role of the teacher

The Mid-Town elementary preservice cohort programme at OISE/UT has, for several years, had action research by student teachers as a major component. In this article, the authors outline the view of action research held by the faculty team and explain why they turned to action research as a strategy in teacher education. They detail how the action research requirement is implemented in the programme, and describe the effects of the action research process on the understandings, skills and behaviour of the preservice teachers. The findings suggest this is potentially a very valuable approach to teacher education, provided certain other conditions are fulfilled.