A case study report on integrating statistics, problem-based learning, and computerized data analysis

This paper addresses the pedagogical advantages of teaching statistics not as a stand-alone subject in itself, but rather as a topic integrated into teaching hands-on, problem-based computer-assisted data analysis. For over 10 years, such a two-term course has been taught at Drexel University in lieu of the usual statistics courses formerly taken by undergraduate majors in psychology and sociology. One virtue of the courses as currently implemented is that students seem to learn not just how to perform statistical procedures but how to apply them on their own.     

Teaching practices to save America's schools: The legacy of B. F. Skinner

The research and practices found in behavior analysis and the behavioral models of instruction suggest a common set of effective teaching practices. Implementation of these practices could save our schools. They have implications for the students, parents, teachers, and supervisors in our schools. They are presented herein as standards for effective pedagogy and schooling from the viewpoints of students, parents, teachers, and supervisors. Indeed, they may be the necessary ingredients for adequate schooling. All of these practices are feasible now, and all of the parties involved in schooling stand to benefit from their implementation!     

PEER-MEDIATED PROCEDURES TO INDUCE SWALLOWING AND FOOD ACCEPTANCE IN YOUNG CHILDREN

Two studies demonstrated a functional relationship between a peer modeling procedure and the treatment of feeding disorders with 2 young children. In the first experiment, the use of a peer model treatment package was shown to induce swallowing in a child with dysphagia who had never swallowed food or liquid. In the second experiment, a child who consistently declined food was induced to increase food acceptance as a function of the same peer modeling package. In the latter experiment, a peer-mediated procedure, consisting of rotated opportunities to consume food with a peer, was found to increase consumption more than did modeling alone. The first experiment used a multiple baseline design across solids and liquids, and the second used a multiple treatment design. The results of both experiments are discussed as new and nonaversive treatments for feeding disorders of young children who are imitative.     

Pressures from work,self, and home in the life stages of married women

Following Lopata's (1966) model of the life cycle of the married woman's role, it was predicted and found that a woman's life stage would be related to her role pressures (work, home, self, and time), conflict, and satisfaction. Age and number of roles were not as strongly related to these variables as was life stage. Work activities and pressures declined through the peak child-rearing stage and then increased for women with older children, while pressures from home generally rose throughout the life cycle. The differential impact of various sources of conflict in different life stages was reported, and forms of organizational career support oriented toward particular life stages were suggested.     

Cross-category structure in semantic memory

In Experiment I, subjects made similarity judgments about all 56 category terms listed in the Battig and Montague (1969) norms. These judgments were then subjected to a hierarchical clustering analysis. Experiment II demonstrated that the relations among the category labels are very similar to the relations among the high dominance exemplars of these categories. Experiment III showed that the distances between the category terms in the hierarchical clustering analysis could predict RTs in a same-different paradigm.     

Simultaneous independent threshold estimates: Multiple PEST

An adaptive threshold estimation procedure, PEST, has been extended to track sensitivity to many independent signals simultaneously within a single experimental run. This paradigm has been implemented on a PDP-8/S computer, and enables investigation of a number of otherwise experimentally intractible substantive problems. The logic of the new experimental paradigm is described, and some examples are given of its use in auditory research. Results of some computer simulations show the relative efficiency of the procedure and evaluate alternative ways to summarize data.     

Short-term memory in the pigeon with presentation time precisely controlled

Delayed matching-to-sample was studied in the pigeon using a procedure which precisely controlled the presentation time of the sample stimulus. Experiments 1 and 2 revealed that (a) accuracy of matching increased as a negatively accelerated function of presentation time, (b) accuracy declined when an interstimulus interval was introduced between successive presentations of the sample stimulus, and (c) the rate at which accurate matching was restored after an interstimulus interval was greatest when the initial presentation of the sample was short and the interval was long. It was concluded that a theory of STM based on the growth and decay of trace strength could account adequately for all of these findings. Experiment 3 studied trace interaction by presenting two sample stimuli first in succession and then simultaneously for choice. Predictions from trace competition theory about the specific lengths of presentation of these stimuli at which choice of the second stimulus should be 50% or deviate systematically below 50% were not supported. It appears that a recency mechanism in addition to competition is necessary to explain trace interaction effects.     

Association and categorisation effects on free recall

Lists of 18 words which varied in mean associative strength, the category membership of the associations and in word frequency were presented to subjects 3 times with recall required after each presentation. Recall efficiency increased with association level and with similarly categorised associates. In lists of High mean associative strength which consisted of similarly categorised words, the recall of high frequency word lists was facilitated but at low levels of associative strength, with similarly categorised words, recall was facilitated at both levels of word frequency used. Clustering and errors which were associatively related to the items being learned were greater in lists which contained sets of similarly categorised associates.