Response strategies in the radial arm maze: Running around in circles

The effects of the size of the central arena on the use of response strategies by rats on an eight-arm elevated maze were examined. The size of the central arena had no effect on accuracy, but the use of adjacent arms increased significantly with a larger central arena, regardless of the size of arena to which rats were first exposed. These results are interpreted in terms of foraging efficiency.

     

Preschool children's interests in science

Studies of children's attitudes towards science indicate that a tendency for girls and boys to have different patterns of interest in science is established by upper primary school level. It is not know when these interest patterns develop. This paper presents the results of part of a project designed to investigate preschool children's interests in science. Individual 4–5 year-old children were asked to say what they would prefer to do from each of a series of paired drawings showing either a science and a non-science activity, or activities from two different areas of science. Girls and boys were very similar in their overall patterns of choice for science and non-science items. Within science, the average number of physical science items chosen by boys was significantly greater than the average number chosen by girls (p=.026). Girls tended to choose more biology items than did boys, but this difference was not quite significant at the .05 level (p=.054). The temporal stability of these choices was explored. Specializations: early childhood science education, biological aspects of child development.     

Associative learning and elemental representation: II. Generalization and discrimination

This paper follows on from an earlier companion paper (McLaren & Mackintosh, 2000), in which we further developed the elemental associative theory put forward in McLaren, Kaye, and Mackintosh (1989). Here, we begin by explicating the idea that stimuli can be represented as patterns of activation distributed across a set of units and that different stimuli activate partially overlapping sets (the degree of overlap being proportional to the similarity of the stimuli). A consequence of this view is that the overall level of activity of some of the units representing a stimulus may be dependent on the nature of the other stimuli present at the same time. This allows an elemental analysis in which provision for the representation of configurations of stimuli is made. A selective review of studies of generalization and discrimination learning, including peak shift, transfer along a continuum, configural discrimination, and summation, suggests that the principles embodied in this class of theory deserve careful consideration and will form part of any successful model of associative learning in humans or animals. There are some phenomena that require an elemental/associative explanation.     

Genetic basis of heterosis and inbreeding depression in rice (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Oryza sativa</Emphasis> L.)

The genetic basis of heterosis was studied through mid-parent, standard variety and better parent for 11 quantitative traits in 17 parental lines and their 10 selected hybrids in rice (Oryza sativa L.). The characters were plant height. days to flag leaf initiation, days to first panicle initiation, days to 100% flowering, panicle length, flag leaf length. days to maturity, number of fertile spikelet/panicle, number of effective tillers/hill, grain yield/10-hill, and 1000-grain weight. In general the hybrids performed significantly better than the respective parents. Significant heterosis was observed for most of the studied characters. Among the 10 hybrids, four hybrids viz., 17A×45R, 25A×37R, 27A×39R, 31A×47R, and 35A×47R showed highest heterosis in 10-hill grain yield/10-hill. Inbreeding depression of F₂ progeny was also studied for 11 characters of 10 hybrids. Both positive and negative inbreeding depression were found in many crosses for the studied characters, but none was found significant. Selection of good parents was found to be the most important for developing high yielding hybrid rice varieties. Project supported by the Foundation of Ministry of Science and Information and Communication Technology, People's Republic of Bangladesh     

Perspectives on the transition from preschool to kindergarten for children with disabilities and their families.

This article addresses the transition of young children from preschool programs that provide special education services to kindergarten or alternative elementary school placements. The roles of the child, family, and service providers in transition preparation, planning, implementation, and evaluation are described. Successful transitions include assessments of children's skills in meeting the demands of kindergarten programs, teaching these skills to children, and actively encouraging parent participation in plans and programs. Barriers to successful transitions include lack of time and funding to coordinate both parent activities and between-school arrangements. A critical area for future research is the long-term evaluation of the procedures described as "best practice," as well as the definition of what constitutes a successful transition.     

The Development of Programmes for Young Children in Japan

Japan is one of the countries which have been producing and broadcasting a large number of programmes for children, both educational and entertainment, and both types of programme have been widely watched by children in other countries in recent years. This article introduces the characteristics of Japanese children's television viewing and some examples of studies on the development of new television programmes for young children and then discusses the possibility of the development of international television programmes for children.     

Impact of a pre-college outreach programme on the academic achievements of higher education students: a case study of Chile

ABSTRACT

This research evaluated the impact on students’ academic achievements of a pre-college outreach programme implemented by a Chilean higher education institution. This programme benefits students in their last year of secondary education so they can better adapt to post-secondary education. Specifically, we assessed whether freshmen enrolled in 2017 in the institution that implemented this initiative and who attended this programme during 2016 as secondary school students performed better than students at this same institution but who did not take part in this scheme. A quasi-experimental design was applied using the method propensity score matching. The results showed that students who participated in this outreach programme had better average grades and attendance levels than those who did not take part in this initiative. In addition, it was found that this programme does not have a significant impact on student retention rates.     

Children involved in bullying: psychological disturbance and the persistence of the involvement

OBJECTIVE: This follow-up investigation studied the extent of bullying among children aged 8 (Study 1) and 12 (Study 2), and measured the persistence of this behaviour. The relationship between bullying and psychological disturbance at these two time points was also studied. Furthermore, the relationships between bullying and some background factors were investigated. METHOD: 1268 children were studied at two time points using three different questionnaires. Parents filled out the Rutter A2 Scale, teachers the Rutter B2 Scale and children themselves the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI). RESULTS: Males outnumbered females at both time points among bullies, bully-victims (children who both bully and are victims) and victims. There was a clear difference between the genders among bullies and bully-victims, but the difference was quite minimal among victims. The number of children involved in bullying declined somewhat during the 4-year follow-up period, and a substantial number of children changed status, bullies became bully-victims for example. Nearly half the children involved in bullying in Study 2 had been involved 4 years earlier. Those children who were bully-victims in Study 1 were most commonly found to be still involved in bullying 4 years later. At both time points, children involved in bullying were found to have significantly more psychiatric symptoms than other children, and to be psychologically disturbed. Males and children from low SES families were more prone to continue to be involved in bullying over a 4-year period. CONCLUSIONS: Bullying is common among children, and in many cases lasts for years. Bully-victims are particularly at risk of remaining involved in bullying over longer periods. Also, children involved in bullying often have psychiatric problems and are disturbed.     

Residents' attitudes toward the legal system and court testimony in child abuse

Resident physicians' contacts with the legal system during management of abused children may influence their attitudes, which were evaluated in a pilot survey completed by 42 pediatric and medicine/pediatric residents. Although negative attitudes toward attorneys were common, almost all of the residents considered general and hearing-specific legal training to be a legitimate part of their residency program. They reported lower levels of stress of court testimony than expected by the authors. Most who had testified in court believed their testimony had been needed and helpful, but all who believed their testimony had been a waste of time were senior-level residents. Although most residents believed the laws and courts usually work for protecting children, only 8 of the 20 residents who had previously testified in court responded affirmatively, and none of the 10 senior residents who had previously testified held this belief. The disillusionment of senior-level residents appeared to affect attitudes toward patient care less than expected, in that 90% of those who planned to enter private practice indicated they would perform physical abuse evaluations and 70% planned to perform sexual abuse evaluations. Only one resident who did not expect to perform the evaluations gave as a reason the prospect of having to testify in court.