Can children effectively reuse the same mnemonic pegwords?

Seventy-three fifth-grade students were taught nine North American minerals and their corresponding hardness levels under either mnemonic (pegword/keyword) or free-study conditions. In the zero-repetition (standard) condition, each mineral was paired with a unique hardness level (1–9); in the one-repetition condition, three hardness levels were each represented by two different minerals (and three hardness levels by one mineral); and in the two-repetition condition, three hardness levels were each represented by three different minerals (and three hardness levels by one mineral); and in the two-repetition condition, three hardness levels were each represented by three different minerals. In all repetition conditions, mnemonic subjects significantly and substantially outperformed students who were given free study. Possibilities for adapting mnemonic techniques to overcome stimulus-produced interference are discussed.     

How much of a problem is resident mistreatment in child welfare institutions?

The purpose of this article is to provide information developed since 1980 by the Institutional Child Protection Project about the size and significance of the problem of mistreatment in child welfare residential institutions. In the 1.700 facilities surveyed, there are about 69.000 children and youths. Rates of utilization vary among Health and Human Services (H.H.S.) regions from 8 per 10.000 to 19 per 10.000 children and youths in the population. The average rate is 12 per 10.000. In 1961 this rate was estimated at 10 per 10,000. About 2,700 complaints were reported by facilities to the survey for 1979. Complaint rates range by H.H.S. region from 25 per 1.000 to 55 per 1.000 children and youth in care. The average complaint rate per 1.000 residents in care was 39. Observations of site visitors suggest that only one out of five complainable situations may be reported to child protection agencies. A list of complainable occurrences that came to the attention of site visitors is included to document the problem. An additional effort to assess the significance of this issue is made by comparing intrafamilial complaint rates with rates reported by child welfare facilities. The authors believe residential complaint rates may be twice as large as intrafamilial complaint rates.     

American children's fiction of the eighties: Continuity and innovation

Joel D. Chaston teaches children's and young adult literature at Southwest Missouri State University. He has co-authoredGrowing Into Whole Language: An Odyssey in Theme Exploration (forthcoming from Scholastic of Canada/Heinemann) and has recently published articles on contemporary children's writers such as Katherine Paterson and Lois Lowry.     

A 30 Year Perspective On Best Practices for Consultation Training

This article uses the author's 30 years of teaching consultation as a basis for developing suggestions for those providing training in this field. The article addresses questions about what the content of training should be, how consultation training can link theory to practice and how to respond to persistent challenges to training (e.g., freedom versus constraint, multicultural consultation, and when consultation training should be offered within a preservice curriculum for developing school-based consultants). The training suggestions derive from a model of consultation and consultation training that is based in constructivism and seeks to enhance feelings of empowerment and long term implementation of consultation on the part of the trainee. The article proposes a practitioner-researcher model in which practicing consultants view themselves as researchers who collect data and share information about their practice with other school-based consultants. These shared practices are used to inform the knowledge base and are used as a basis for contributing to the scholarly literature. Finally, this article proposes directions for researching the process and outcome of consultation training that cut across all of the issues raised in this article.     

Faculty Development,Learner Support and Evaluation in Web-Based Programs

Student growth patterns in Web-enhanced and on-line courses lead the University of Central Florida (UCF) to expect large populations for both categories. The authors describe the UCF process for implementing and evaluating Web-based instruction. The office of Course Development and Web Services supports faculty in preparing and delivering their on-line courses. Additionally, faculties are given support for the transition through a semester-long course in Web-based teaching. The Center for Distributed Learning provides administrative and registration services in addition to coordinating and marketing interactive television, video, and Web-based courses. The Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning provides additional support for faculty as they work with the new technologies. Finally, UCF is conducting a comprehensive impact evaluation of distributed learning including differential success, demographic trends, impact on teaching, and impact on students with differing learni ng styles. The model used at UCF is compared with the Twente TeleTOP method (De Boer, 1999) and the generalizability of this model to other institutions is discussed.     

法国汉语评估及教学划时代的飞跃——论2013法国外语高考改革对国际汉语教学的巨大推动

2013年,法国外语高考制度实行了重大改革。旧高考模式已不能适应对学生文化及言语能力的考查,而改革推出的新高考方案通过四个不同的文化概念考查学生的五项言语能力,并在全国统一使用评估标准表,改革更好地契合了《欧洲语言共同参考框架》的评估标准。汉语作为法国外语教学的一门语言学科,也是本次高考改革的对象之一。改革恰好顺应了汉语教学理念的需求,为汉语教学体制从教学到高考评估的日臻完善提供了契机,对汉语评估及教、学都将起到巨大的推动作用。     

THE BEST POSSIBLE FUTURE FOR THE CENTRAL AGENCY

For a couple of years now, because of a lot of stories shared over a lot of late night cups of coffee and bottles of wine, I have believed strongly that the future of central agencies is in jeopardy. This forthcoming crisis has been forthcoming for a while. It does not stem from any new situation, rather it was embedded in self-definition of the original, primordial central agency — the one founded by Benderly and then diffused by his disciples. In the long run, a system that began by seeing synagogues as competitors, parents as enemies, funding sources in general (and philanthropists in particular) as necessary evils, and the system of American public education as the epitome of educational excellence — that system and that process was due to wear out its welcome. Three to five generations of Americanization have eroded much of the top soil and bared the weakness in those foundations. The identity crises, the funding crises, the political instability of today's agency are rooted in its origins.     

Level of deprivation does not affect degree of discounting in pigeons

Two experiments tested the effects of food deprivation on discounting in pigeons. An adjusting-amount procedure was used to estimate the subjective value of food at delays ranging from 1 to 24 s. Experiment 1 compared pigeons’ discounting of delayed food reinforcers at 75 %–80 % and 90 %–95 % of free-feeding weight. Experiment 2 compared discounting under 1- and 23-h food deprivation. In both experiments at both deprivation levels, discounting was well described by the hyperboloid discounting function. No systematic effect of level of deprivation on degree of discounting was observed in either experiment. This finding is consistent with the view that pigeons’ choices are controlled by the relative, rather than the absolute, value of reinforcers.