Complementarity of Information and Quality of Relationship in Cooperative Learning

The effects of resource in(ter)dependence and quality of relationship with the partner on performance were studied during three sessions of cooperative dyadic work in order to examine the conditions under which cooperative learning can be more beneficial. This study was designed to test a hypothesis favouring the superiority of independence of resources (discussing identical information) against a hypothesis favouring the superiority of interdependence of resources (sharing complementary information). In each session, 64 students worked in dyads on two texts. Two roles were defined: summarizer and listener. Results showed that, though direct performance was higher when students discussed identical information, the quality and generality of information recalled a few months later did not differ between the two conditions. In the interdependence condition, listeners displayed poorer levels for direct performance. Participants were then dichotomized on the basis of their perceived quality of their relationship with the partner. With respect to direct performance, a more positive relationship allowed listeners in the interdependence condition to perform as well as summarizers, while a less positive relationship was detrimental for listeners. Conversely, as for recall, listeners in the interdependence condition who perceived a more positive relationship performed more poorly than summarizers, while listeners who perceived a less positive relationship performed as well as summarizers. When students shared identical information, neither roles nor quality of relationship affected recall. Results are discussed in terms of degree of partners' dependence and potential effects of socio-cognitive conflict (Doise & Mugny, 1984). This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

What Students’ Arguments Can Tell Us: Using Argumentation Schemes in Science Education

The relationship between teaching and argumentation is becoming a crucial issue in the field of education and, in particular, science education. Teaching has been analyzed as a dialogue aimed at persuading the interlocutors, introducing a conceptual change that needs to be grounded on the audience’s background knowledge. This paper addresses this issue from a perspective of argumentation studies. Our claim is that argumentation schemes, namely abstract patterns of argument, can be an instrument for reconstructing the tacit premises in students’ argumentative reasoning and retrieving the background beliefs that are the basis of their arguments. On this perspective, the process of premise reconstruction is followed by a heuristic reasoning process aimed at discovering the students’ previous intuitions that can explain the premises and concepts that are left unexpressed in their arguments. The theoretical insights advanced in this paper are illustrated through selected examples taken from activities concerning predictive claims on scientific issues.     

Lattice dynamics of ordered and disordered Cu3 Au with a tight-binding potential model

Abstract

The phonon dispersion curves for both ordered and configurationally disordered cubic phases of Cu₃Au are calculated using force constants derived from a many-body tight-binding potential. The derived phonon frequency spectra are used to estimate the vibrational contribution to the entropy difference between the two phases. A brief discussion concerning the relative values of interatomic force constants is included.     

Residual reading capability in a patient with alexia without agraphia

A case of pure alexia due to an ischemic lesion of the occipital temporal region is described. Written words could be matched but not read. Immediate memory span for graphemes was defective. The reading defect probably depends on the inability to modify the written word “globally”; the phonological process was intact, but the memory disturbance impeded reading. The dissociation is explained by the preservation of word forms, which are linked to the semantic stage. Nonwritten stimuli trigger a “meaning” which evokes the word form and so the written word is recognized even though it cannot be read.     

Majority and minority influence in inductive reasoning: A preliminary study

Ninety-three students were exposed to majority and minority influence in an inductive reasoning task. The former induced convergent thinking processes, though its effects were not reducible to mere compliance. The latter activated more divergent constructive processes, supporting the predictions of Conversion Theory.     

The Fallaciousness of Threats: Character and <Emphasis Type="Italic">Ad Baculum</Emphasis>

Robert Kimball, in “What’s Wrong with Argumentum Ad Baculum?” (Argumentation, 2006) argues that dialogue-based models of rational argumentation do not satisfactorily account for what is objectionable about more malicious uses of threats encountered in some ad baculum arguments. We review the dialogue-based approach to argumentum ad baculum, and show how it can offer more than Kimball thinks for analyzing such threat arguments and ad baculum fallacies.     

Technological aids to promote basic developmental achievements by children with multiple disabilities: evaluation of two cases

Technological aids such as microswitches may be critical to foster learning and development in children with multiple disabilities. In study I, a child with minimal motor behavior was provided with a microswitch for chin movements to assess whether he could learn to use these movements to activate environmental stimuli. In study II, a child with dystonic (difficult-to-control) behavior was provided with microswitches for two motor responses and two vocal utterances. We wanted to assess whether he could use both types of responses effectively (varying within each pair, consistent with choice performance). The results were highly encouraging with both children. In study I, there was a significant increase in the childs responding, suggesting learning and contingency awareness. In study II, there was a significant increase in responding as well as response variation that suggested choice behavior. The importance of microswitch devices in promoting new learning/developmental objectives and improving quality of life is discussed.     

Exploration and learning in capuchin monkeys (Sapajus spp.): the role of action–outcome contingencies

Animals have a strong propensity to explore the environment. Spontaneous exploration has a great biological significance since it allows animals to discover and learn the relation between specific behaviours and their consequences. The role of the contingency between action and outcome for learning has been mainly investigated in instrumental learning settings and much less in free exploration contexts. We tested 16 capuchin monkeys (Sapajus spp.) with a mechatronic platform that allowed complex modules to be manipulated and to produce different outcomes. Experimental subjects could manipulate the modules and discover the contingencies between their own specific actions and the outcomes produced (i.e., the opening and lighting of a box). By contrast, Control subjects could operate on the modules, but the outcomes experienced were those performed by their paired Experimental subjects (“yoked-control” paradigm). In the exploration phase, in which no food reward was present, Experimental subjects spent more time on the board and manipulated the modules more than Yoked subjects. Experimental subjects outperformed Yoked subjects in the following test phase, where success required recalling the effective action so to open the box, now baited with food. These findings demonstrate that the opportunity to experience action–outcome contingencies in the absence of extrinsic rewards promotes capuchins’ exploration and facilitates learning processes. Thus, this intrinsically motivated learning represents a powerful mechanism allowing the acquisition of skills and cognitive competence that the individual can later exploit for adaptive purposes.