Metacognition and mathematics strategy use

The role of children's metacognitive knowledge in their mathematics strategy use was studied by a longitudinal examination of second graders' effort attributions, metacognition for mathematics, and strategy use while solving mathematics problems. Children's correct use of retrieval, internal and external strategies, and the prevalence of strategy use were assessed in September and the following January. Effort attributions for success and failure were also assessed at both points in time. In January, metacognitive knowledge about mathematics strategies was measured. Second graders possess metacognitive knowledge about mathematics strategies, and this knowledge is correlated most strongly with the tendency to use internal strategies in September and correct internal strategy use in September. Effort attributions measured at both timepoints were significantly related to metacognition. Effort attributions in January also correlated with the tendency to use internal strategies in January. In general, the results are consistent with self-system theories, which posit that metacognition, motivation, and strategy use work together to promote learning.     

Very long-term memories of a salient preschool event

Children who attended either a younger (mean age = 3frac12;years) or an older (mean age = 4frac12; years)preschool classroom were interviewed twice about an emergency school evacuation in response to a fire alarm. All children were able to answer some memory questions 2 weeks after the evacuation occurred, but the memory narratives produced by older preschool children showed a more refined knowledge of the temporal and causal sequence of events. Seven years later, memory of the fire alarm was reassessed. Only those preadolescents who had been in the older preschool group at the time of the alarm showed convincing evidence of long-term memory. The offset of childhood amnesia appears to be influenced by developmental changes in cognitive processing.     

At-entry differences in part-time and full-time employees

Research consistently shows part- and full-time workers to be different on a variety of characteristics such as job satisfaction, organizational commitment and intentions to leave the organization. This study challenges the commonly accepted argument that these differences are due to the different structural conditions of work that are faced by part- and full-time workers. The possibility that these differences are the consequence of at-entry differences in dispositions and orientations to work is tested on a sample of part- and full-time registered nurses who had just begun employment. With one exception the part-and full-time employees were found to be the same on fourteen at-entry characteristics. These results strongly suggest that it is the structural conditions of work that produce the often observed differences found between part- and full-time workers.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 1991 Midwest Sociological Society Meetings, Des Moines, Iowa, April 11–14. Support for the original data collection came from the Division of Nursing of the Health Resources and Services Administration (R01 NU01050-01A1). Joanne McCloskey is to be thanked for allowing us to use this data set.     

A study of the classification capabilities of neural networks using unsupervised learning: A comparison withK-means clustering

Several neural networks have been proposed in the general literature for pattern recognition and clustering, but little empirical comparison with traditional methods has been done. The results reported here compare neural networks using Kohonen learning with a traditional clustering method (K-means) in an experimental design using simulated data with known cluster solutions. Two types of neural networks were examined, both of which used unsupervised learning to perform the clustering. One used Kohonen learning with a conscience and the other used Kohonen learning without a conscience mechanism. The performance of these nets was examined with respect to changes in the number of attributes, the number of clusters, and the amount of error in the data. Generally, theK-means procedure had fewer points misclassified while the classification accuracy of neural networks worsened as the number of clusters in the data increased from two to five.Acknowledgements: Sara Dickson, Vidya Nair, and Beth Means assisted with the neural network analyses.     

The effect of spatial orientation on the perception of moving tactile stimuli

Previous studies have shown that the perception of spatial patterns, such as letters, presented to the hand is affected by the spatial orientation of the hand. The present study investigated how the perception of direction of motion across the fingerpads changes with the position of the hand in space. The moving stimuli were generated on two displays. In one condition, the displays were placed horizontally in front of the subject, with the subject’s thumb (target site) and index finger (nontarget site) placed flat on the displays. In a second condition, the displays were vertically oriented and gripped between the thumb and index finger. Using a selective-attention paradigm in which subjects are instructed to respond only to the direction of motion at the target site, performance was still affected by the direction of motion at the nontarget site. Changing the orientation of the displays changed the effectiveness of the nontarget in interfering with the identification of the target movement. Nontarget stimuli that produced no interference in the horizontal orientation did so in the vertical, and vice versa. It appears that subjects are not using the local direction of movement across the fingerpads to judge the relative direction of movement at the two sites; rather, they are using the external direction of movement.     

Gender Differences in Biobehavioral Aftereffects of Stress on Eating,Frustration, and Cardiovascular Responses1

Eating, persistence, and cardiovascular responses were evaluated after exposure to a 25‐min noise stressor with or without perceived control. Participants were healthy men (n = 29) and women (n = 34), aged 21 to 45 years. There were no group differences in cognitive task performance or blood pressure during the stressor. However, perceived control resulted in lower mean blood pressure and heart rate after cessation of the stressor for men and women. Women without perceived control displayed greater frustration levels following the stressor, and frustrated women ate more bland food than did nonfrustrated women. Perceived control and frustration did not affect food consumption among men following the stressor. These findings indicate that there are health‐relevant gender differences in biobehavioral responses that occur in the aftermath of stressor exposure. In addition, perceived control was especially important for women to attenuate the behavioral and biological effects of stressor exposure.     

Looking back and looking in: Rethinking adaptation strategies of Ghanaian immigrant women in Canada

Based on research that the author conducted in 1998 this paper re-examines theories of immigrant adaptation by relating Philomena Essed's three-point framework of immigrant adaptation to the settlement of Ghanaian immigrant women in Canada. Essed identifies three phases of the adaptation process that she categorizes as “when are we going back”, “are we going back”, and “here to stay.” This paper examines what it meant for Ghanaian women to “look back” and how “looking back” dictated their adaptation strategies. The paper moves beyond notions of adaptation that stress measurable and quantifiable outcomes to one that stresses the agency of immigrant women. The author argues that Ghanaian immigrant women's seemingly low status in the economy was not a reflection of poor adaptation but rather a measure to help them connect with people in the homeland.