Addressing the struggle to link form and understanding in fractions instruction

Background. Although making explicit links between procedures and concepts during instruction in mathematics is important, it is still unclear the precise moments during instruction when such links are best made. Aims. The objective was to test the effectiveness of a 3‐week classroom intervention on the fractions knowledge of grade 5/6 students. The instruction was based on a theory that specifies three sites during the learning process where concepts and symbols can be connected ( Hiebert, 1984 ): symbol interpretation, procedural execution, and solution evaluation. Sample. Seventy students from one grade 5/6 split and two grade 6 classrooms in two public elementary schools participated. Method. The students were randomly assigned to treatment and control. The treatment (Sites group) received instruction that incorporated specific connections between fractions concepts and procedures at each of the three sites specified by the Sites theory. Before and after the intervention, the students’ knowledge of concepts and procedures was assessed, and a random subsample of 30 students from both conditions were individually interviewed to measure their ability to make specific connections between concepts and symbols at each of the three sites. Results. While all students gained procedural skill (p < .001), the students in the Sites condition acquired significantly more knowledge of concepts than the control group (p < .01) and were also better able to connect fractions symbols to conceptual referents (p < .025). Conclusions. The current study contributes to the literature because it describes when it might be important to link concepts and procedures during fractions instruction.     

Continuity in Representation Between Children and Adults: Arithmetic Knowledge Hinders Undergraduates' Algebraic Problem Solving

This study examined if solving arithmetic problems hinders undergraduates' accuracy on algebra problems. The hypothesis was that solving arithmetic problems would hinder accuracy because it activates an operational view of equations, even in educated adults who have years of experience with algebra. In three experiments, undergraduates (N = 184) solved addition facts or participated in one of several control conditions. Those who solved addition facts were less likely to solve prealgebra equations (e.g., 6 + 8 +4 = 7 + __) correctly under speeded conditions. In a fourth experiment, the negative effects of solving arithmetic problems extended to undergraduates (N = 74) solving algebra problems with no time pressure. Taken together, results suggest that arithmetic activates knowledge that hinders performance on algebra problems. Thus, an operational view of equations, which is prevalent in children, does not seem to be revised or abandoned, even after years of experience with algebra.     

Updating misconceptions: Effects of age and confidence

Young adults are more likely to correct an initial higher confidence error than a lower confidence error (Butterfield & Metcalfe, 2001). This hypercorrection effect has never been investigated among older adults, although features of the standard paradigm (free recall, metacognitive judgments) and prior evidence of age-related error resolution deficits (see Clare & Jones, 2008) suggest that they may not show this effect. In Study 1, we used free recall and a 7-point confidence scale; in Study 2, we used multiple-choice questions, and participants indicated how many alternatives they had narrowed their options down to prior to answering. In both studies, younger and older adults showed a hypercorrection effect, and this effect was equivalent between groups in Study 2 when free recall and explicit confidence ratings were not required. These results are consistent with our previous work (Cyr & Anderson, 2012) showing that older adults can successfully resolve learning errors when the learning context provides sufficient support.     

Parts function as perceptual organizational entities in infancy

Both objects and parts function as organizational entities in adult perception. Prior research has indicated that objects affect organization early in life: Infants grouped elements located within object boundaries and segregated them from those located on different objects. Here, we examined whether parts also induce grouping in infancy. Five- and 6.5-month-olds were habituated to two-part objects containing element pairs. In a subsequent test, infants treated groupings of elements that crossed part boundaries as novel, in comparison with groupings that had shared a common part during habituation. In contrast, the same arrangement of elements failed to elicit evidence of grouping in control conditions in which the elements were not surrounded by closed part boundaries. Thus, infants grouped and segregated elements on the basis of part structure. Part-based processing is a key aspect of many theories of perception. The present research adds to this literature by indicating that parts function as organizational entities early in life.     

Do You See What I See? The Influence of Gender Stereotypes on Student and Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Perceptions of Violent Same-Sex and Opposite-Sex Relationships

ABSTRACT

Forty-one men and 67 women undergraduate students, as well as 35 men and 27 women Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officers, rated the abusiveness of intimate partner violence (IPV) vignettes portraying each possible gender combination of victim and perpetrator (Harris &; Cook, 1994 Harris, R. J. and Cook, C. A. 1994. Attributions about spouse abuse: It matters who the batterers and victims are. Sex Roles, 30: 553–565. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). Rating differences according to victim and perpetrator gender, occupation (student or RCMP officer), and participant gender were anticipated. Analyses found that student and RCMP ratings of abuse severity were both highest for the male-female scenario. However, the RCMP considered the female-male, male-male, and female-female scenarios to be more abusive than did the students. Our findings suggest that, while the RCMP appeared to be more sensitive to male and same-sex victims than students, both groups remain somewhat biased.     

The Role of PTSD and Length of Shelter Stay in Battered Women's Severity of Reabuse after Leaving Shelter

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is associated with significant morbidity, including high rates of reabuse even after women have taken steps to achieve safety. This study evaluated the roles of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptom severity and length of shelter stay in the severity of reabuse in 103 IPV victims over a six-month period after leaving a battered women's shelter. Results suggest that the length of shelter stay is inversely related to reabuse severity after leaving shelter. Additionally, more severe PTSD symptoms on shelter exit were associated with greater reabuse severity after leaving shelter. Furthermore, additional study findings support prior research suggesting that the emotional numbing symptoms of PTSD are a significant risk factor for reabuse among IPV victims after leaving shelter.     

Childhood Maltreatment and PTSD: Spiritual Well-Being and Intimate Partner Violence as Mediators

Childhood maltreatment places individuals, including African American women who are undereducated and economically disadvantaged, at risk for developing posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. Participants were 192 African American women with a history in the prior year of both a suicide attempt and intimate partner violence (IPV) exposure. They were recruited from a public hospital that provides medical and mental health treatment to mostly low-income patients. A simple mediator model was used to examine if (a) existential well-being (sense of purpose) or religious well-being (relationship with God) mediated the link between childhood maltreatment and adult PTSD symptoms. Sequential multiple mediator models determined if physical and nonphysical IPV enhanced our understanding of the mediational association among the aforementioned variables. Findings suggest that existential well-being mediated the association between childhood maltreatment and adult PTSD symptoms in a simple mediator model, and existential well-being and recent nonphysical IPV served as sequential multiple mediators of this link. However, religious well-being and physical IPV were not significant mediators. Findings underscore the importance of enhancing existential well-being in the treatment of suicidal African American women with a history of childhood maltreatment and IPV.     

Assessing research on workplace violence, 2000–2012

Since the highly publicized U.S. Postal violence cases in the 1980s, workplace aggression and workplace violence have been the source of much public discussion and concern. Yet, the topic has only recently received sustained empirical attention—most of which has come from the organizational management and business fields. This article provides a review of the empirical research literature on workplace violence in several databases from 2000 to 2012. Our review uncovers that different occupational domains have different experiences with workplace violence, while some occupations are subject to distinct types of violence by unique aggressors. Directions for future theoretical and empirical research are highlighted.     

Haunted by somatic tendencies: Spirit infestation as psychogenic illness

It has been suggested that haunting and poltergeist episodes are akin to outbreaks of contagious psychogenic illness. Therefore, it might be expected that hypochondriacal and somatic tendencies would significantly predict self-reported experiences of 'spirit infestation' and other paranormal ideations. This prediction was tested on a sample of 314 undergraduate students who completed the Anomalous Experiences Inventory, the Transliminality Scale and three standard questionnaires about hypochondriasis, somatic complaints, and cognitions about body and health. Results from correlational and regression analyses supported predictions, although we found that the type of bodily cognition varied with the specificity of the paranormal experience. For example, indices of spirit infestation coincided with autonomic sensations, perceived paranormal ability was related to catastrophizing cognitions, and general paranormal experiences correlated with somatization traits. Transliminality and paranormal belief contributed positively to nearly all of these associations. These findings are consistent with the idea that some paranormal experiences are partly misattributions of internal experience to external (paranormal) sources - a process that could initiate an episode of contagious (mass) psychogenic illness by encouraging the collective perception of similar 'symptoms' in a group of people due to suggestion and demand characteristics.