Laptops in the Scottish Primary School: Interim Report

Abstract

The following paper should be seen as an addition to that provided in the Proceedings of the 7th ICTE.’ For reasons of brevity, it does not deal to any large extent with the background to the project, but details the progress of a study into the effects of introducing laptops into primary (elementary) school. The project has provided every pupil in one class with a laptop computer and has tracked the use being made of it as a curriculum tool for writing. The second phase of the project is under way, with a completion date of April 1991.     

Microstructural analysis of negative anticipatory contrast: A reconsideration of the devaluation account

An animal’s appetitive behavior is not a fixed response to current stimulation but can be affected by the anticipation of future events. For example, rats regularly given access to a moderately valued solution followed by a higher value solution (e.g., 4 % sucrose → 32 % sucrose) consume less of the initial solution than in control conditions where the initial solution is not followed by a higher value solution (e.g., 4 % sucrose → 4 % sucrose). Previous analyses have suggested that this negative anticipatory contrast effect does not depend on the “expectation” of a valuable stimulus producing a functional devaluation of a currently available stimulus of lesser value. In a within-subjects anticipatory contrast procedure, this study revealed that both consumption and the mean size of licking clusters were smaller for a 4 % sucrose solution on days when it preceded 32 % sucrose than on days when 4 % preceded 4 %. Since lick cluster size typically bears a positive monotonic relationship with the concentration of palatable solutions, this reduction is indicative of a decrease in the palatability/hedonic value of the solution subject to contrast. As such, we provide direct evidence that negative anticipatory contrast does produce a functional devaluation of the solution, thus challenging prevailing theoretical assumptions.     

Precision of Knowledge of Results: Consideration of the Accuracy Requirements Imposed by the Task

Abstract

To investigate whether spatial assimilation effects are due to premovement control processes or postinitiation feedback processes, surface EMG recordings were made from two agonists and one antagonist during both single and dual movements involving the upper limb(s). In the single condition, subjects (N=7) made 25 Short (20°) and 25 Long (60°) reversal movements using levers in the sagittal plane, in 195 ms to reversal. In the dual condition, both Short and Long movements were performed simultaneously for 75 trials, the last 25 of which were without knowledge of results. Subjects overshot the Short target in the dual condition, showing spatial assimilation effects. Overshooting was associated with increased peak EMG in the initial (premovement) agonist burst, supporting the notion that spatial assimilation effects are modulated via premovement control processes.     

REVIEWS

This article presents a historical approach to the multi-faith Religious Education introduced at the junior secondary level in Botswana in 1996. The article begins by examining the Christian confessional approach introduced during the missionary era and notes that despite various forms of earlier government opposition the Christian syllabus became popular again in the 1970s. In 1993, a movement toward a multi-faith syllabus gained momentum. Some of the background to this is given including the influence of British experience. This new syllabus is then subjected to some critique. An attempt to classify the new syllabus' methodology is also provided. A discussion of the public and religious groups' response to the multi-faith syllabus follows. Finally, through a small survey, views of teachers (n = 48) on the new syllabus are recorded and discussed and the overall outcome appears positive. The conclusion is that the Botswana multi-faith syllabus, with adjustments, is relevant to the educational needs of a homogenous society.     

Reading/Writing Multilingualism: language,literature and creativity in the multilingual classroom

This article examines the relationship between the discipline of ‘English Literature’ and the contemporary multilingual classroom. It argues that, although our field has often been cast as a kind of corrective to the ‘problem’ of language diversity by helping to teach language norms, literature can – and should – be made a preeminent space for students to reflect on their own experiences of language diversity, and to translate this into self‐reflexive critical tools to think about language in literature. As an example of this kind of practice in action, the article discusses the experience and outcomes of a project in the English Literature department at Queen Mary University of London, Reading/Writing Multilingualism, which involved year 10 and 12 students from two local secondary schools who have English as an additional language.     

Coding of Learned Kinesthetic Location Information

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the coding characteristics of kinesthetic location information acquired during learning trials. Forty-eight blindfolded subjects learned to make a linear response with the right hand to a criterion location during 13 trials. Upon completion of the learning trials, subjects performed 10 trials without knowledge of results (KR) under one of four treatment conditions which were defined by the limb used and the dominant source of feedback available. Specifically, the conditions were right-hand control with kinesthetic feedback, left-hand kinesthetic, right-hand visual, and left-hand visual. The results of the ANOVAs for absolute error (AE) and constant error (CE) from the no-KR trials revealed that the visual feedback groups made significantly greater response errors than did the kinesthetic feedback groups. The blocks main effect for CE was also significant. Analysis of variable error (VE) indicated that the visual feedback groups were significantly more consistent in their responses than were the kinesthetic feedback groups. Within a motor learning paradigm, the concept of a spatial-location coordinate system was supported by the similar performances of the right-handed and left-handed groups. A discrepancy in this system was identified when visual feedback was provided for controlling the response to a location previously learned with kinesthetic cues.