Single-sex computer classes: An effective alternative

Conclusion Considering the technology gender gap that exists today, there can be no doubt that our current educational system is not engaging female students in technology or awakening them to possibilities of the technology industry as a career. Females are not afraid of computers or lack the ability to master computer skills, but they find the computer environment objectionable (http : / / www.aauw.org/2000/ techsavvybd.html). Several factors within the educational system heighten these objections and impede female progression through technology classes. It is these factors that our educational system must address. Single-sex computer classes offer female students the educational advantages of learning in a comfortable, non-threatening classroom environment where they are encouraged to enthusiastically participate in classroom discussions and activities (Kumagi, 1995). In these classes, curriculum may be adjusted to reflect the need females to see computers as productivity tools (Caplice, 1994). As a result of positive experiences gained while attending single-sex computer classes, females are more likely to pursue higher level computer classes. Although it is possible to argue that single-sex computer classes do not mirror the real world females must contend with once outside the classroom, they are, however, effective interim interventions to enable females to lessen the current technology gap (Kumagi, 1995).     

Impact of brief or extended extinction of a taste aversion on inhibitory associations: Evidence from summation,retardation, and preference tests

In five conditioned taste aversion experiments with rats, summation, retardation, and preference tests were used to assess the effects of extinguishing a conditioned saccharin aversion for three or nine trials. In Experiment 1, a summation test showed that saccharin aversion extinguished over nine trials reduced the aversion to a merely conditioned flavor (vinegar), whereas three saccharin extinction trials did not subsequently influence the vinegar aversion. Experiment 2 clarified that result, with unpaired controls equated on flavor exposure prior to testing; the results with those controls suggested that the flavor extinguished for nine trials produced generalization decrement during testing. In Experiment 3, the saccharin aversion reconditioned slowly after nine extinction trials, but not after three. Those results suggested the development of latent inhibition after more than three extinction trials. Preference tests comparing saccharin consumption with a concurrently available fluid (water in Experiment 4, saline in Experiment 5) showed that the preference for saccharin was greater after nine extinction trials than after three. However, saccharin preference after nine extinction trials was not greater, as compared with that for either latent inhibition controls (Experiments 4 and 5) or a control given equated exposures to saccharin and trained to drink saline at a high rate prior to testing (Experiment 5). Concerns about whether conditioned inhibition has been demonstrated in any flavor aversion procedure are discussed. Our findings help explain both successes and failures in demonstrating postextinction conditioned response recovery effects reported in the conditioned taste aversion literature, and they can be explained using a memory interference account.     

Help‐Seeking and Non‐Help‐Seeking Students' Perceptions of Own and Peers' Mental Health Functioning

Help‐seeking (HS) students and non‐help‐seeking (NHS) students were compared on their perceptions of (a) their own level of mental health functioning and (b) the average level of mental health functioning of their (NHS or HS) peers. Results showed that NHS students' perceptions of HS students' self‐ratings were similar to HS students' self‐ratings of functioning but that HS students underestimated the level of functioning of their NHS peers. Implications of the findings for campus outreach and future research are discussed.     

Potential for knowledge in action? An analysis of Korean green energy related K3–12 curriculum and texts

While understanding green energy development and what drives it are important, there is increasing consensus that sustainability transitions concerning usage need to be viewed in terms of the place specific contexts, including education, that critically mold them. In order to support sustainability transitions, information and knowledge building are not enough; knowledge must be turned into action. This research examines the potential efficacy of Korea’s efforts in this regard via an analysis of K3–K12 geography education curriculum and texts vis-à-vis green energy content. There is scant disconnect between the curriculum and the texts analyzed, and, aside from the small shortcomings unearthed, analyses suggest that Korea is cogent of the ability of geography education and education for sustainable development to turn knowledge into action, thereby empowering civil society to drive its green energy transitions going forward.     

Samples of stimuli,responses, and reinforcers: Effect of incongruent sample type,serial position,and mode of presentation

In two matching-to-sample experiments, pigeons’ performance with samples of stimuli (red and green), number of responses (1 and 20), and reinforcers (food and no food) was assessed. Samples of red, 20 responses, and food were associated with the red comparison stimulus, and samples of green, 1 response, and no food were associated with the green comparison stimulus. On interference trials, three sample types were presented on each trial, and two of the samples (congruent) were associated with the correct comparison and the third sample (incongruent), with the incorrect comparison. Performance on interference trials was compared with that on control trials in which either two (Experiment 1) or three (Experiment 2) congruent samples were presented. It was found that presentation of an incongruent sample reduced matching accuracy markedly, and about equally, whether samples were presented successively or in compound. Although the type of sample that was incongruent was without effect, matching accuracy declined strongly as the recency of the incongruent sample increased. Serial position of the incongruent sample also influenced the shape of the retention function on interference trials. Presentation of the incongruent sample either first or second resulted in accuracy decreasing across the retention interval, whereas presentation of the incongruent sample last in the input sequence resulted in increasing accuracy across the retention interval. The theoretical implications of the findings are considered.     

Teacher Evaluation, Leadership and Learning Organizations

This article presents the argument that meaningful teacher evaluation in schools can be an important catalyst for organizational learning and school improvement when it is linked to broader conceptions of leadership in schools. A state-of-the-art teacher evaluation, assessment and professional growth system is described and the manner in which this system is linked to leadership density, organizational learning, and school improvement is detailed. Findings from two contrasting case studies of schools implementing this new system are presented and implications of the findings for linking teacher evaluation systems, newer conceptions of school leadership, and school improvement are described.     

Informed learning design: teaching and learning through engagement with information

ABSTRACT

While higher education teachers are able to use information in sophisticated ways to learn and communicate within their disciplines, they may not be accustomed to teaching their students to use information creatively and reflectively to support their work in a course. This article introduces informed learning design, a curriculum design model by which teachers specifically enable students to learn course content through intentional engagement with information. Drawing from informed learning pedagogy and the variation theory of learning, the design model outlines an instructional pattern for enabling student awareness of critical aspects and features of the object being studied related to both information use and course content.