The Impact of Science Fiction Film on Student Understanding of Science

Researchers who have investigated the public understanding of science have argued that fictional cinema and television has proven to be particularly effective at blurring the distinction between fact and fiction. The rationale for this study lies in the notion that to teach science effectively, educators need to understand how popular culture influences their students’ perception and understanding of science. Using naturalistic research methods in a diverse middle school we found that students who watched a popular science fiction film, The Core, had a number of misunderstandings of earth science concepts when compared to students who did not watch the movie. We found that a single viewing of a science fiction film can negatively impact student ideas regarding scientific phenomena. Specifically, we found that the film leveraged the scientific authority of the main character, coupled with scientifically correct explanations of some basic earth science, to create a series of plausible, albeit unscientific, ideas that made sense to students.     

Where have they gone? Issues in transition and progression for special school leavers

This paper reports on semi-structured interviews with 76 former special school students now aged between 16 and 25. These young people were 'disadvantaged' rather than 'disabled' and many were experiencing 'fractured' transitions from school. Although they were more positive about their schools than similarly disadvantaged peers who had attended mainstream provision, they nonetheless raised concerns about the quality and usefulness of their experiences. On leaving school they had, in many cases, moved from one unsatisfactory activity to another, without any obvious signs of progression. They displayed a high level of purposefulness but lacked personal and social resources to support their progression within somewhat unsupportive structures. The paper argues that an exclusive focus on transition from school is inadequate and that young people may need support well after this point, possibly from the Connexions service. It also suggests that the notion of 'resilience' may have more to offer than traditional special education discourses.     

The use of think-aloud protocols to compare inferencing abilities in average and below-average readers

In this study, we examined whether think-aloud procedures would uncover differences in the kinds of inferences generated by average and below-average readers. Participants were 40 third-grade children who were divided into groups of average and below-average readers. All participants completed measures of nonverbal IQ, reading, language, and working memory, and a story comprehension task that consisted of two conditions: listen through and think aloud. The major findings in this study were that (a) average readers generated significantly more explanatory inferences than below-average readers, and (b) comprehension performance as measured by story recall was significantly better for both groups in the think-aloud condition than in the listen-through condition. The discussion addresses the implications of these findings.     

Discrimination and generalization of leaf damage by blue jays (Cyanocitta cristata)

Blue jays (Cyanocitta cristata) responded to projected black-and-white silhouettes of cherry leaves that were either undamaged or were damaged by either cryptic caterpillars that disguise leaf damage due to their feeding or by noncryptic caterpillars that do not disguise leaf damage due to their feeding. Pecks to the key on which the images were projected were reinforced only if interresponse times fell within specified temporal boundaries. These boundaries were different in the presence of the two types of leaf damage. Following training with one exemplar of each damage type, the jays correctly categorized novel instances of both types. They categorized novel undamaged leaves as if they were examples of leaves showing damage by cryptic caterpillars. Results suggest that the jays can readily discriminate and generalize to new members of a polymorphous stimulus class. The results suggest that techniques for the study of concept formation in animals can be applied to an animal’s ability to categorize stimuli that are involved in a potential prey-predator relationship.     

Competition in individualized CAI

Designers of computer-based practice systems give primary attention to aspects of cognitive learning. However, observations of students practicing arithmetic, with two CAI systems widely used in Israel, revealed factors in the computer learning environment that substantially affected students' social behavior, particularly with respect to competition and cooperation in the course of learning. A questionnaire was designed on the basis of the observations to examine the effects of these factors in CAI work. It was administered to 457 fourth graders in 16 classes (two CAI systems x two SES categories x two schools x two classes). While neither CAI system was intended to foster competition, the observations and questionnaire data suggested that one encourages social comparison and competition whereas the other discourages these features and encourages cooperation and peer help. Boys appear to be significantly more competitive than girls. One system, compared with the other, significantly increases competitive behavior of high achievers (but not of low achievers); results in teachers' greater encouragement of social comparison and competition among students; and, as used in the schools we studied, causes disadvantaged students rather than advantaged students to develop negative feelings because of low CAI performance. The other system discourages competitive behavior and encourages cooperation. All these findings bear important implications for the instructional design of computer-based learning environments.     

Predictive text entry with PAL and children with learning difficulties

Nine case studies were conducted to evaluate the usefulness of a predictive text entry program within a classroom environment. The program, PAL, was found to be very successful in eight of the cases. For children with poor motor control, the key-saving aspects speeded up text creation. Of even greater significance was the extent to which children with severe spelling problems were helped. They were able to produce much higher quality written work with a substantial reduction in the number of spelling errors. This provided great motivation for the children, and teaching staff commented on their improved confidence and attention span, as well as stimulation of language and vocabulary development. One of the children was on the verge of being classified as a non-reader and, although progress was slow, a significant improvement in the child's work was observed.