Developing procedural flexibility: Are novices prepared to learn from comparing procedures?

Background. A key learning outcome in problem‐solving domains is the development of procedural flexibility, where learners know multiple procedures and use them appropriately to solve a range of problems (e.g., Verschaffel, Luwel, Torbeyns, & Van Dooren, 2009 ). However, students often fail to become flexible problem solvers in mathematics. To support flexibility, teaching standards in many countries recommend that students be exposed to multiple procedures early in instruction and be encouraged to compare them. Aims. We experimentally evaluated this recommended instructional practice for supporting procedural flexibility during a classroom lesson, relative to two alternative conditions. The alternatives reflected the common instructional practice of delayed exposure to multiple procedures, either with or without comparison of procedures. Sample. Grade 8 students from two public schools (N= 198) were randomly assigned to condition. Students had not received prior instruction on multi‐step equation solving, which was the topic of our lessons. Method. Students learned about multi‐step equation solving under one of three conditions in math class for about 3 hr. They also completed a pre‐test, post‐test, and 1‐month‐retention test on their procedural knowledge, procedural flexibility, and conceptual knowledge of equation solving. Results. Novices who compared procedures immediately were more flexible problem solvers than those who did not, even on a 1‐month retention test. Although condition had limited direct impact on conceptual and procedural knowledge, greater flexibility was associated with greater knowledge of both types. Conclusions. Comparing procedures can support flexibility in novices and early introduction to multiple procedures may be one important reason.     

Accuracy in parameter estimation for ANCOVA and ANOVA contrasts: sample size planning via narrow confidence intervals

Contrasts of means are often of interest because they describe the effect size among multiple treatments. High-quality inference of population effect sizes can be achieved through narrow confidence intervals (CIs). Given the close relation between CI width and sample size, we propose two methods to plan the sample size for an ANCOVA or ANOVA study, so that a sufficiently narrow CI for the population (standardized or unstandardized) contrast of interest will be obtained. The standard method plans the sample size so that the expected CI width is sufficiently small. Since CI width is a random variable, the expected width being sufficiently small does not guarantee that the width obtained in a particular study will be sufficiently small. An extended procedure ensures with some specified, high degree of assurance (e.g., 90% of the time) that the CI observed in a particular study will be sufficiently narrow. We also discuss the rationale and usefulness of two different ways to standardize an ANCOVA contrast, and compare three types of standardized contrast in the ANCOVA/ANOVA context. All of the methods we propose have been implemented in the freely available MBESS package in R so that they can be easily applied by researchers.     

The effects of age and divided attention on spontaneous recognition

Studies of recognition typically involve tests in which the participant’s memory for a stimulus is directly questioned. There are occasions however, in which memory occurs more spontaneously (e.g., an acquaintance seeming familiar out of context). Spontaneous recognition was investigated in a novel paradigm involving study of pictures and words followed by recognition judgments on stimuli with an old or new word superimposed over an old or new picture. Participants were instructed to make their recognition decision on either the picture or word and to ignore the distracting stimulus. Spontaneous recognition was measured as the influence of old vs. new distracters on target recognition. Across two experiments, older adults and younger adults placed under divided-attention showed a greater tendency to spontaneously recognize old distracters as compared to full-attention younger adults. The occurrence of spontaneous recognition is discussed in relation to ability to constrain retrieval to goal-relevant information.     

Experience with proactive interference diminishes its effects: mechanisms of change

In three experiments, we examined the mechanisms by which prior experience with proactive interference (PI) diminished its effects. Cued recall tasks conforming to an A–B, A–D paradigm were used to induce PI effects. Experiment 1 showed that reduced PI was not due to a reduction in attention to the source of PI. Experiment 2 revealed that participants’ awareness of PI effects on memory performance increased with experience, resulting in a shift in encoding processes. Experiment 3 demonstrated that changes in encoding provided additional support for recollection that further enhanced participants’ ability to constrain their retrieval processing to the appropriate source of information at the time of test. These results can be interpreted as showing that experience with PI enhances awareness of its effects and allows individuals to adjust their learning and retrieval strategies to compensate for such effects.     

Political Dimensions of Pastoral Care in Community Disaster Responses

All caregiving takes place in multiple political contexts and assumes or actually furthers various political agendas, whether acknowledged or not. When strategically incorporated into pastoral and spiritual care, politically responsive actions may enhance the practice of care. When disaster strikes a community, ritual engagement of the larger public context provides a significant opportunity for pastoral caregivers to function as public pastoral theologians and to influence the corporate response to communal challenges. In these circumstances of community vulnerability, pastoral caregivers and communities of faith are positioned to provide spiritual care that combines solace and safety for the victims with guidance and shaping influence on the ritual practices and rhetorical interpretations called upon to assist the community to endure, respond, and heal. This article examines some central political aspects of the pastoral caregiver’s repertoire that might further a stricken community’s ritual and rhetorical resources necessary to sustain life, share loss, reclaim goodness, and rebuild for a strong future. Drawing upon a view of lamentation as a tri-partite process of sharing anguish, interrogating causes, and reinvesting in hope, I suggest how the spiritual and pastoral caregiver may collaboratively participate in a “disaster-response matrix” that organizes corporate responses to catastrophic disaster. This article pays particular attention to macro-, meso-, and micro-level political negotiations necessary to ensure respect for diversity and shared responsibility in creating rituals, memorials, and public narratives at the onset of disaster and in its aftermath over the generations. Illustrations from the experience of religious caregivers at Columbine, Hurricane Katrina, 9/11, Aurora, Newtown, and Boston are presented to guide pastoral engagement of civil society in disruptive times.     

Barriers to Addressing Substance Abuse in Domestic Violence Court

Substance abuse commonly co-occurs with intimate partner violence among both perpetrators and survivors. Specialized courts that focus on intimate partner violence provide a unique opportunity to address both problems simultaneously, but research has yet to identify whether this happens. In this qualitative study of a domestic violence court in a large midwestern metropolitan area, key informants were interviewed to understand how the Court treats substance abuse. Results indicate that substance abuse typically is not identified among perpetrators or survivors going through the Court unless it is mentioned in a police report. Barriers to such identification are the organization of the Court, bounded definition of actors’ roles in the Court, limited resources, and negative attitudes towards survivors. These results suggest that specialized courts that attend to only one problem may overlook the possibility of addressing issues that commonly co-occur.     

Explanation,Contrast, and the Primacy of Practice

Abstract: The common practice of giving (comparing, rejecting and inferring) explanations of phenomena is at the root of articulate learning, including the enterprises we collect under the noun ‘science’. The way that practice privileges a single item from the myriad relevant to any phenomenon tells us something about articulateness itself.     

Virtual Reality and Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Driving Anxiety and Aggression in Veterans: A Pilot Study

Within the U.S. military, motor vehicle accidents (MVAs) are the leading cause of preventable morbidity and mortality. Prior combat exposure and anxiety symptoms are associated with risky and aggressive driving, which is responsible for over half of MVA fatalities. Therefore, interventions are needed to reduce driving anxiety and aggression in veterans in order to mitigate the public health impact of MVAs. Virtual reality exposure therapy (VRET) offers safe, controlled exposure to distressing stimuli. The current study piloted a novel virtual reality and cognitive behavioral intervention (VRET + CBT) for veterans that integrated both anxiety and anger management components. Virtual reality driving scenarios were delivered in a driving simulator and tailored for the military population. Six previously deployed veterans completed eight intervention sessions, as well as pre/post, one month follow-up and six to nine month follow-up assessments. Repeated measures ANOVAs demonstrated significant decline and large effect sizes for PTSD symptoms, driving phobia, hyperarousal in driving situations, anxiety/anger-related thoughts and behaviors, and risky driving. Hyperarousal in driving situations declined by 69%, aggressive driving declined by 29%, and risky driving declined by 21%. Treatment gains were maintained at follow-up. Recruitment, retention, immersion, simulator sickness scores, and qualitative feedback demonstrated feasibility of the intervention. Implications for future research and adaptation are discussed.     

Learning to listen to trans and gender diverse children: A Response to Zucker (2018) and Steensma and Cohen-Kettenis (2018)

ABSTRACT

The authors answer recent responses by Steensma & Cohen-Kettenis (2018 Steensma, T. D., & Cohen-Kettenis, P. T. (2018). A critical commentary on “A critical commentary on follow-up studies and “desistence” theories about transgender and gender non-conforming children”. International Journal of Transgenderism. Advance online publication. doi:10.1080/15532739.2018.1468292[Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) and Zucker (2018 Zucker, K. (2018). The myth of persistence: Response to AA critical commentary on follow-up studies and “Desistance” theories about transgender and gender non-conforming children. International Journal of Transgenderism. Advance online publication. doi:10.1080/15532739.2018.1468293[Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) to our critical commentary on “desistance” stereotypes and their underlying research on trans and gender diverse children (Temple Newhook et al., 2018 Temple Newhook, J., Pyne, J., Winters, K., Feder, S., Holmes, C., Tosh, J., … Pickett, S. (2018). A critical commentary on follow-up studies and “desistance” theories about transgender and gender-nonconforming children. International Journal of Transgenderism. Advance online publication. doi:10.1080/15532739.2018.1456390[Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). We provide clarification in the following areas: (1) the scope of our paper; (2) our support of longitudinal studies; (3) consequences of harm to trans and gender diverse children; (4) clinical practice implications; (5) concerns about validity of research methodology; and (6) the importance of learning to listen to trans and gender diverse children.     

On Psychodynamic Meanings of Psychiatric Treatment: Discussion of “From Dyad to Triad”

Dr. Bar-Haim has covered vast territory in her contribution “From Dyad to Triad: On Psychodynamic Meanings of Psychiatric Treatment,” (this issue) and I welcome the opportunity to offer my thoughts on her contribution and this important topic more generally. The issues touched upon include the various meanings of psychiatric treatment for patient and therapist; factors that impact compliance; resistances to suggesting medication consultation on the part of the therapist; challenges of the prescribing therapist; the role of a “disease” model in mental suffering; the overdetermined meaning of “symptom”; and, most important, recommendations for establishing effective treatment when a treatment triangle exists. I address some of these issues and comment on two clinical vignettes to illustrate my way of thinking.