Schedule control of eating by fixed-time schedules of water presentation

Eating was measured in water-deprived rats when water was presented at regular intervals ranging from 30 to 240 sec. The temporal patterning of eating resembled that of schedule-induced behavior in that the probability of eating was high early in the interval and declined in the end of the interval. Additionally, (a) the number of pellets consumed was controlled by relative time in the interwater interval, (b) the pellets consumed per water presentation was inversely related to water rate, and (c) food-ingestion rate was directly related to water rate. These relationships parallel those found with behavior regarded as schedule induced.     

Using asynchronous discussion to support preservice teachers’ practicum experiences

Conclusion This multi-genre writing, multimedia, co-inquiry project produced successful end products. The middle school students gained experience in writing in a variety of genres, communicating through multiple media, and using education technology to do so. Likewise, the pre-service teachers developed their skills in these same areas. More importantly for our preservice teachers they gained teaching experience and had a chance to interact with students in the role of the teacher. This success would not have been achieved without the collaboration and cooperation of many individuals as well as access to the required technologies. The asynchronous discussion board was an important part of that success. This mode of telecommunications facilitated increased social and substantive interactions between the middle school students and the preservice teachers from the beginning to the end of the project. With careful consideration of the points and questions we present here, we hope that you will be able to adopt or adapt this mode of telecommunications to add value to your pre-service teachers’ teaching experiences and interactions with K-12 students.     

Accuracy in direct behavior rating is minimally impacted by completion latency

Direct behavior ratings (DBRs) have been proposed as an efficient method to assess student behavior in the classroom due to their relative ease of administration compared to alternative methods like systematic direct observation. DBRs are considered low‐inference assessments of behavior because they are designed to be completed immediately following a specified observation period of student behavior; however, in practice it is common for teachers and other respondents to delay completion of a DBR until they are reminded to do so. It is unclear what effect, if any, this latency between observation and DBR completion has on rater accuracy. Thus, the purpose of this study was to examine the effect of completion latency on accuracy in an analogue setting. Two‐hundred forty‐one undergraduate students (83.8% female) with a mean age of 21 participated across eight groups and were asked to complete an electronic DBR immediately after watching a video of student behavior or after a predetermined delay of 5 minutes, 15 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour, 2 hours, 4 hours, or 6 hours. A one‐way analysis of variance revealed that there was no statistically significant relationship between completion latency and DBR accuracy, F(7, 233) = .959, p = .46, η² = .028.     

Can reading disabilities be diagnosed without using intelligence tests?

Unlike conventional procedures, which use IQ in making diagnostic and eligibility decisions regarding learning disabilities, this demonstration study used listening comprehension and other reading-related tasks to make a differential diagnosis of reading disabilities. Tests of listening and reading comprehension were administered to 180 children from Grades 3 through 8. A regression equation was then derived to predict reading comprehension from listening comprehension. The regression equation was applied to the listening comprehension scores of seven children from Grades 3 to 8 who had reading difficulties, and their reading comprehension was predicted. Based on the discrepancy between their actual reading comprehension and the predicted reading comprehension, their reading difficulty was attributed to one of the following three factors: (a) poor decoding, (b) poor comprehension, or (c) a combination of poor decoding and poor comprehension. The validity of these diagnostic decisions was assessed by testing independently these children's word-decoding skill and reading speed. The results suggest that this diagnostic procedure has potential utility.     

Teachers’ Perceptions of School Inspection: a stressful experience

Research into inspection is increasing, although in the past much of it tended to focus on either the perspective of the school management or the inspectors themselves. As part of a 3 year study into inspection, Brimblecombe, Ormston and Shaw have completed a national questionnaire survey and in‐depth interviews focusing on the classroom teacher's experiences of inspection. Whilst the analysis is still in the preliminary stages, several interesting issues have emerged. This paper focuses on one of them‐‐the stress on teachers generated by inspection‐‐and examines what causes it, how it is managed, what forms it takes and what impact it has on the inspection process, the inspection outcomes and the teachers themselves     

Working against globalisation: the role of the media and national education in Singapore

This article discusses how the media and schools are used as disciplinary apparatuses to resist and work against globalisation in Singapore. Aihwa Ong calls the deployment of state ideological apparatuses, such as the media and schools, acts of ‘reassemblage’, when technocrats resort to assemble institutions, diverse Government practice and political values to engage in citizenship production. The National Education curriculum package introduced to Singapore schools is one example of ‘reassemblage’, which aims to reinvent subject‐citizens who are perceived as lacking cultural mooring and a national identity. I argue that in the context of globalisation, this cultural experimentation of constructing a national identity and creating a sense of belonging is fraught with ruptures, as ‘youthscapes’ and new communication technologies are potentially the liminal spaces where other sources of identities are up for grabs. These liminal spaces further allow youths to perform ‘elective belonging’ rather than a sense of belonging bound by the ‘national’ and ‘local’.     

Specific spelling disability: Factual or artifactual?

The research reported in this paper attempted to find whether the so called poor spellers who are good readers are indeed good readers or if this impression is misleading. Three college students who appeared to be poor spellers but good readers were tested using a variety of techniques. It was found that the three subjects were indeed inefficient readers who committed numerous errors in reading function words, low frequency and unfamiliar words, and pronounceable nonwords. Not being proficient in the phonological conversion of print, these subjects depend excessively on an orthographic sight reading strategy which hinders accurate reading. There appears to be a trade off between speed and comprehension in reading and by slowing down considerably, the poor spellers but good readers attain an acceptable level of comprehension. It was concluded that reading aloud and spelling involve phonological mediation and, therefore, are not completely dissociable.     

"It just goes against the grain." Public understandings of genetically modified (GM) food in the UK

This paper reports on one aspect of qualitative research on public understandings of food risks, focusing on lay understandings of genetically modified (GM) food in the UK context. A range of theoretical, conceptual, and empirical literature on food, risk, and the public understanding of science are reviewed. The fieldwork methods are outlined and empirical data from a range of lay groups are presented. Major themes include: varying "technical" knowledge of science, the relationship between knowledge and acceptance of genetic modification, the uncertainty of scientific knowledge, genetic modification as inappropriate scientific intervention in "nature", the acceptability of animal and human applications of genetic modification, the appropriate boundaries of scientific innovation, the necessity for GM foods, the uncertainty of risks in GM food, fatalism about avoiding risks, and trust in "experts" to manage potential risks in GM food. Key discussion points relating to a sociological understanding of public attitudes to GM food are raised and some policy implications are highlighted.