Rats’ location during conditioned suppression training

Freezing is often cited as the interfering behavior responsible for barpress conditioned suppression. However, auditory cues that precede shock can evoke more freezing than can visual cues despite producing similar suppression. In two experiments, we sought to resolve this paradox by measuring rats’ location in the box in addition to recording freezing during conditioned-suppression training to tones and lights. Tone evoked more freezing than light but similar suppression. During both cues, rats left the bar and dipper areas and moved to the lower middle and rear of the box. When the bar was then removed and the dipper entry sealed, the preference for the middle and rear of the box disappeared. Apparently, frightened rats do not simply prefer the middle and rear of our box. The fact that rats leave the bar and dipper areas equally during both auditory and visual cues explains how the two cues can foster similar suppression despite evoking different levels of freezing. But the fact that rats leave the bar and dipper areas at all remains to be explained.     

Decision-making and control: perceived autonomy of teachers in Germany and Sweden

Teacher autonomy has become an increasingly popular research topic over the past decade, reflecting wider national and global education trends. In this light, this article investigates and compares the perceptions of German and Swedish teachers concerning their professional autonomy. We analyse teachers’ perceptions using a grid, and view teacher autonomy as a multidimensional phenomenon taking place in different domains (educational, social, developmental and administrative) and at different levels (classroom, school, profession). The findings show that the teachers interviewed in Germany and Sweden value autonomy in various domains and dimensions differently, even if there also are many similarities. In instruction, that is, the educational autonomy domain, they perceive themselves to be very autonomous, in particular in relation to choices of content and method. Autonomous work in the classroom arena is also seen as the very core of the teaching profession. Overall, German teachers perceive themselves to be significantly involved in more areas of their work, and they refer much more to decisions which are to be made, whereas their Swedish colleagues are more concerned about control. Finally, we discuss the findings in relation to different nation-specific forms of extended or restricted autonomy teacher autonomy.     

Professionalism in early care and education

Summary Professionalism refers to the utilization of specialized knowledge that its members need to accomplish specific outcomes. It involves a shared set of skills that are used to improve the quality of caregiving practices and interactions between professional caregivers and the children and families that they work with in their respective programs. Professionalism is not an end in itself—a state of being—but an ongoing effort—a process of becoming. New knowledge of children's development needs to be incorporated into professional caregivers' existing repertoire. Their words and actions do matter greatly. As Neil Postman wrote in his book,The Disappearance of Childhood, “Children are the living messages we send to a time we will not see”.     

Influencing superiors' perceptions: The fudge factor in teacher and principal evaluation

Studies of leadership in schools traditionally view the nature of power relationships as being top down in direction. This study looks at practices of evaluating teachers and principals to show that avenues for fudging various evaluation processes shape evaluators' decisions, providing a means for lower level participants in school organizations to exercise considerable influence over superiors.     

Instructional strategies for long-term success

Through a qualitative research study we developed a model of employment success based on the experiences of successful adults with learning disabilities. This model may be particularly useful to students with learning disabilities in helping them experience success both in school and beyond. We suggest that the components of the model—internal decisions comprising desire, goal orientation, and reframing, and external manifestations or behaviors of persistence, goodness of fit, learned creativity, and favorable social ecologies—can be systematically taught and then used. By focusing on what has worked for adults with learning disabilities, we propose that the model taps into inherent strengths that can compensate for significant limitations associated with learning disabilities. The model does not guarantee success, but it does equip students with learning disabilities with a readiness to capitalize on opportunities that they might otherwise miss.     

Peer-Related Personal Experiences of Children with Attention-Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder With and Without Comorbid Learning Disabilities

This research investigates the peer-related social functioning of 291 children (185 males, 106 females), aged from 8 years to 17 years and 8 months diagnosed with varying Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) subtypes (i.e., Predominantly Inattentive m I, Combined m C) with and without comorbid learning disabilities (LD). All were administered the Interpersonal Relationships Questionnaire which is comprised of six reliable and valid measures: Social Desirability, Interpersonal Difficulties, Social Self-Concept, Social Self-Confidence, Preference for Solitude, and Social Interaction Anxiety. Results revealed that neither Gender, Age, nor Social Desirability were significantly associated with children's self-reports. Pearson correlations demonstrated that the strength and magnitude of associations between self-reports of interpersonal relationships varied according to group status. With the exception of Preference for Solitude, analyses of variance revealed significant differences in self-reports by group, as related to the presence or absence of LD, particularly for the ADHD-C+LD compared to the ADHD-I+LD group. Psychoeducational and clinical implications for understanding the functional and discriminant significance of social impairment among children with varying ADHD subtypes with comorbid LD are discussed in light of these research findings.     

Students' perceptions of clinical attachments across rural and metropolitan settings

For many years, medical students at the University of Sydney undertook their clinical clerkships in traditional metropolitan teaching hospitals, which were regarded as the ‘gold standard’ for clinical training. In 2001 the university established a rural clinical school at which increasing numbers of students now complete a significant proportion of their medical education. The aim of the study reported here is to examine students’ perceptions of what facilitates their learning in clinical settings and to compare their perceptions across rural and metropolitan settings. Focus groups were conducted to collect students’ views on their experiences of learning in clinical settings. The findings were used to generate a questionnaire with items designed directly from focus‐group data ensuring content validity. The questionnaire was sent to all students in the 2004 cohort. Exploratory factor analysis was used to provide evidence of construct validity. The internal consistency reliability of the questionnaire was assessed using Cronbach’s alpha. Factor scores were computed to compare students’ perceptions across the two settings. Four factors were extracted: (1) clinical teachers’ orientation to teaching; (2) opportunities to develop clinical skills; (3) supportiveness of the clinical setting; and (4) student confidence and sense of self‐efficacy. Students rated the rural experience more highly and positively than the metropolitan hospital experience with regard to all four factors. This study highlights the positive role that rural attachments can play in providing an educationally sound learning experience. The findings are important in the context of both the drive, among medical programs worldwide, to seek out additional and alternative settings for clinical education and the national agenda to foster student interest in rural careers through positive rural training experiences.     

Pigeon and human performance in a multi-armed bandit task in response to changes in variable interval schedules

The tension between exploitation of the best options and exploration of alternatives is a ubiquitous problem that all organisms face. To examine this trade-off across species, pigeons and people were trained on an eight-armed bandit task in which the options were rewarded on a variable interval (VI) schedule. At regular intervals, each option’s VI changed, thus encouraging dynamic increases in exploration in response to these anticipated changes. Both species showed sensitivity to the payoffs that was often well modeled by Luce’s (1963) decision rule. For pigeons, exploration of alternative options was driven by experienced changes in the payoff schedules, not the beginning of a new session, even though each session signaled a new schedule. In contrast, people quickly learned to explore in response to signaled changes in the payoffs.     

Fostering Teacher Development to a Tetrahedral Orientation in the Teaching of Chemistry

This paper reports on the initial outcomes from the end of the fourth year of a 5 year research and professional development project to improve chemistry teaching among three cohorts of chemistry teachers in Manitoba, Canada. The project responds to a new curriculum introduction advocating a tetrahedral orientation (Mahaffy, Journal of Chemical Education 83(1), 49–55, 2006) to the teaching of chemistry. The project in its entirety is based upon several theoretical models in fostering chemistry teacher development (in particular Bronfenbrenner’s bio-ecological model). These models are described, as is the progress made by teachers based upon the use of a Chemistry Teacher Inventory and associated teacher responses. Overall, statistical analysis of perceptions of their own teaching and comments made by teachers suggests they are showing limited development towards a tetrahedral orientation, albeit in a manner consistent with the curriculum. Ongoing research-based activities in this project are also described.