Working Memory, Motivation, and Teacher-Initiated Learning

Working memory is where we “think” as we learn. A notion that emerges as a synthesis from several threads in the research literatures of cognition, motivation, and connectionism is that motivation in learning is the process whereby working memory resource allocation is instigated and sustained. This paper reviews much literature on motivation and working memory, and concludes that the apparent novelty of the proposal offered to describe motivation in terms of working memory results from the apparent lack of cross-channel exchange among these research traditions. The relation between working memory and motivation is explored in the context of the interactive compensatory model of learning (ICML) in which learning is considered to result from the interaction of ability, motivation, and prior learning. The ICML is recast in light of the revised definition of motivation offered here. This paper goes on to suggest ways in which a range of teaching and learning issues and activities may be reconceptualized in the context of a model emphasizing a learner's working memory that makes use of chunks of previously acquired knowledge.     

Book reviews

David Evanier is a novelist and critic. He has written for The New York Times Book Review, Commentary, theParis Review, The American Spectator, National Review, and other journals.     

Research mentor: a tool to aid in the training of scientific investigators

We describe an intelligent mentor for teaching the ability to think scientifically. The student is given an arbitrary starting place in the matrix of knowledge surrounding an area of biomedical research. He/she then proposes hypotheses and supporting experiments which are checked against the knowledge base for agreement, consistency or contradiction. Agreement or consistency results in the report of successful experiments, thus advancing the student's "state-of-the-art." Contradiction results in failure of the experiment to support the hypothesis. In either case, a new hypothesis can then be proposed and tested, each step being potentially contingent on results of the last.
The knowledge base upon which the system operates is a frame-based implementation of the Biomatrix, augmented with pointers to literature citations. Each object (hypotheses, experiments, cells, animals, etc.) is described in terms of its properties and its relations to other objects. Thus, the matrix is represented as a semantic network. Other objects create the relations among the hypotheses, subhypotheses, experiments and other parts of the knowledge base.
This system provides experiential learning at a rate determined by the student, while saving costly resources.     

The Appraisal of Educational Psychologists: A very private affair

This paper presents the results of a survey into the use of appraisal in educational psychology services within Local Education Authorities in England and Wales. Based on the findings of the study, the current range of appraisal schemes in use within the educational psychology service are described. The way in which such schemes link with appraisal in the wider local authority context is considered, and an attempt is made to identify whether appraisal schemes used with educational psychologists have distinctive features and, if so, what those features are.     

Gender-inclusive technology materials for the primary school: A case study in curriculum development

This paper describes how an idea for technology education materials developed into a process for producing unique curriculum modules for teaching technology in a gender-inclusive way to primary children. Using a case-study format, the paper describes the interaction between participants, the sequential evolution of the materials themselves and the degree to which success was achieved in terms of the original goals. The study demonstrates how an awareness of gender bias needs to be a feature from the earliest stages of curriculum development, through to the trialling and modification stages. The curriculum materials were a product of effective cooperation between teachers, science educators and community representatives. They utilise a “process” approach to the teaching of technology and in this presentation, we demonstrate how this same approach is a useful framework for describing this particular curriculum development. Specializations: primary science and technology education, gender issues. Specializations: diagnosis of student learning and teaching for conceptual change, technology education, curriculum evaluation. Specializations: affective aspects of science and technology education, gender issues.     

Encouraging versatile thinking in algebra using the computer

In this article we formulate and analyse some of the obstacles to understanding the notion of a variable, and the use and meaning of algebraic notation, and report empirical evidence to support the hypothesis that an approach using the computer will be more successful in overcoming these obstacles. The computer approach is formulated within a wider framework ofversatile thinking in which global, holistic processing complements local, sequential processing. This is done through a combination of programming in BASIC, physical activities which simulate computer storage and manipulation of variables, and specific software which evaluates expressions in standard mathematical notation. The software is designed to enable the user to explore examples and non-examples of a concept, in this case equivalent and non-equivalent expressions. We call such a piece of software ageneric organizer because if offers examples and non-examples which may be seen not just in specific terms, but as typical, or generic, examples of the algebraic processes, assisting the pupil in the difficult task of abstracting the more general concept which they represent. Empirical evidence from several related studies shows that such an approach significantly improves the understanding of higher order concepts in algebra, and that any initial loss in manipulative facility through lack of practice is more than made up at a later stage.