Defensive burying in rats and hamsters

Hooded rats and golden hamsters were shocked by one of two prods in a chamber with a sawdust-covered floor. Rats buried the prod through which they had been shocked, but hamsters displayed no burying behavior. Hamsters may not have buried the prod because they could not perform the required motor pattern. However, hamsters can carry and pile food pellets. Therefore, in a second experiment, rats and hamsters were shocked in a chamber with wooden blocks on the floor. Rats piled blocks around the prod through which they had been shocked, but hamsters did not. The third experiment established that, like rats, hamsters can associate a prod with shock in one trial, since they showed differential avoidance of a prod through which they had been shocked. Since hamsters are nonsocial and rats are social, these results are consistent with suggestions that burying sources of aversive stimulation evolved as an altruistic behavior.     

Peer feedback mediates the impact of self-regulation procedures on strategy use and reading comprehension in reciprocal teaching groups

The goal of this research was to highlight the role social regulatory processes play in making students’ teamwork in reciprocal teaching (RT) groups (a classroom activity in which students take the teacher’s role in small group reading sessions) effective. In addition to teamwork quality, we expected peer feedback to be a key factor in enhancing students’ reading comprehension achievements. Because previous research (Schünemann et al. in Contemp Educ Psychol 38:289–305, 2013) has shown that procedures of self-regulated learning (SRL) augment the effects of RT methods, we further assumed that such procedures would promote the quality of students’ collaborative efforts. In a cluster-randomized trial, students in 12 fifth-grade classes practiced a strategic approach to reading either in a RT condition or in a RT + SRL condition. In one of the 14 sessions, students’ interactive behavior was videotaped. Strategy use and reading comprehension were assessed at pretest, posttest, and maintenance. Performance differences between conditions were reliable only at maintenance. A multilevel mediation analysis showed that relative to RT students, RT + SRL students were better able to provide their teammates with informative feedback and organize their group work in a task-focused manner. Only feedback quality mediated the sustainability of treatment effects on strategy use and reading comprehension. In essence, this research suggests that effective reading comprehension trainings should integrate explicit instruction and practice in reading strategies, SRL, and focus on supportive peer processes in small groups with extensive instruction and practice in peer feedback.     

Cognitive style and educational performance. The case of public schools in Bogotá, Colombia

This study analyses the relationships among educational performance, field dependence-independence cognitive style and factors traditionally associated with performance and style, to build a comprehensive model of factors associated with the levels of education performance of students in Bogotá. A total of 3003 students, of grades 8 and 10, from 62 public schools of the city of Bogotá, Colombia participated in the study. An analysis of multiple correspondences and a path analysis were carried out. A relationship between cognitive style and educational performance was found: field-independent students are more likely to obtain high-performance levels both in standardised tests and in teachers’ evaluations. The path analysis shows that there are two directions in the association: a direct path leads to a positive association: higher levels of field independence produce better performances; an indirect path leads to a negative association: higher levels of field independence produce indiscipline and, consequently, lower performances.     

Pre-service teachers’ perceptions of social media data privacy policies

Matters of data privacy related to social media are increasingly relevant for educators as happenings such as the 2018 Cambridge Analytica scandal have attracted public attention. Many educators use social media for professional purposes, including with their students and should, therefore, be knowledgeable regarding data privacy issues that impact education. This research explores this issue from an interpretive paradigm based on a mixed-methods approach derived from survey data from an international sample of 148 pre-service teachers who were studying education courses at three universities. Data suggest that pre-service teachers see both educational and distracting potential in social media, but lack knowledge regarding relevant policies and regulations, which reflects trends in the broader population. Attitudes toward educational social media use were not correlated with awareness of data privacy policies. However, comfort with companies’ use of personal and student data and faith in governments’ capacity to regulate social media companies were correlated. We discuss our findings in relation to the use of social media and related data privacy considerations and the need for data literacy training in teacher education programs. We include recommendations in light of the findings.     

Impact of Adding Internet Technology on Student Performance and Perception of Autonomy in Fundamentals of Electronics Course

The coupling of the traditional classroom instruction and a virtual learning environment (VLE) in an engineering course is critical to stimulating the learning process and to encouraging students to develop competencies outside of the classroom. This can be achieved through planned activities and the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs), resources designed to complement students’ autonomous learning needs. A quantitative analysis of students’ academic performance using final course grades was performed for a fundamentals of electronics course and we examine students’ perception of their autonomy using surveys. The students’ progress and attitudes were monitored over four consecutive semesters. The first began with the design of the intervention and the following three consisted in the implementation. The strategy was focused on the development of course competencies through autonomous learning with ICT tools presented in the VLE. Findings indicate that the students who did the activities in the VLE showed an increase in performance scores in comparison with students who did not do them. The strategy used in this study, which enhanced perceived autonomy, was associated with a positive effect on their learning process. This research shows that a technology-enhanced course supported by ICT activities can both improve academic performance and foster autonomy in students.     

When induction meets memory: evidence for gradual transition from similarity-based to category-based induction

The ability to perform induction appears early; however, underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Some argue that early induction is category based, whereas others suggest that early induction is similarity based. Category- and similarity-based induction should result in different memory traces and thus in different memory accuracy. Performing induction resulted in low memory accuracy in adults and 11-year-olds, whereas 5-, and 7-year-olds were highly accurate (Experiment 1). After training to perform category-based induction, 5- and 7-year-olds exhibited patterns of accuracy similar to those of adults (Experiment 2). Furthermore, 7-year-olds, but not 5-year-olds, retained this training over time (Experiment 3). With novel categories, even adults performed similarity-based induction, exhibiting high memory accuracy (Experiment 4). These results suggest a gradual transition from similarity- to category-based induction with familiar categories.     

Inhibitory associations between neutral stimuli: A comparative approach

In Experiments 1A, 1B, and 1C, nonhuman subjects, rats, received long alternated exposures to two compound flavors, AX and BX, that shared one flavor in common, X. Following this, conditioning of an aversion to A was sufficient to establish B as a conditioned inhibitor of the aversive unconditioned stimulus, passing both summation and retardation tests. Two additional experiments (Experiments 2 and 3) expanded the generality of these results to humans, using similar designs but an auditory discrimination learning task. A set of notes sequentially presented served as cues and fictitious composers served as outcomes. Both summation and retardation effects were found (Experiments 2 and 3, respectively). Experiment 4 then sought to clarify the mechanism underlying these effects. The results are discussed within several theoretical frameworks, most centrally the McLaren, Kaye, and Mackintosh (1989) theory of perceptual learning.     

Critical thinking,executive functions and their potential relationship

The central issue of this paper is to review the possible relationships between the constructs of critical thinking and executive functions. To do this, we first analyse the essential components of critical thinking from a psychological and neurological point of view. Second, we examine the scope of the cognitive and neurological nature of executive functions. Third, we propose a model for comparing or mapping between the most important processes of both constructs. Fourth, we offer some conclusions on the relational path between the two concepts based on the studies reviewed and suggest possible lines of investigation that will undoubtedly facilitate the understanding of shared features and key differences between critical thinking and executive functions.     

Effective practices for creating transformative informal science education programs grounded in Native ways of knowing

There are a growing number of informal science education (ISE) programs in Native communities that engage youth in science education and that are grounded in Native ways of knowing. There is also a growing body of research focusing on the relationship between culture, traditional knowledge, and science education. However, there is little research documenting how these programs are being developed and the ways in which culture and Western science are incorporated into the activities. This study outlines effective practices for using Native ways of knowing to strengthen ISE programs. These effective practices may also be used to promote change in formal education. The authors combine an overview of current research in informal science education with personal interviews with educators engaged in ISE programs offered to youth both on and off tribal reservations as well as experts in Indigenous education. Participating individuals and programs included Native communities across the United States, including Alaska and Hawai??i. Keeping in mind that each community is unique, ISE programs that are grounded in Native ways of knowing will benefit by utilizing the effective practices outlined here as a guide for starting or strengthening existing ISE programs relevant to the needs of their communities.