Sex differences in perceptions of familial and occupational roles

Women's lower achievement level in the professions is explained by the Multiple Role Negotiation perspective as resulting from the difficulty in balancing the “active” or demanding roles of wife/mother and a high level professional role. The Value Difference perspective, on the other hand, explains this differential achievement as resulting from differences in degree to which women value professional roles and their familial role, with perceptions of “demand” serving only as “excuses” to mask values. To explore the assumptions of each position three research questions are posed and 33 first-year students in a professional program are surveyed. The findings reveal that neither males nor females perceive the female familial role as the “more active” one; females, however do anticipate less career advancement, value the higher level role less, and also perceive it as a more demanding role than the lower level role.     

A computer-oriented task analysis method for mathematics instruction

Components of a computer solution for fraction problems in arithmetic have an analog in a new approach to educational task analysis. The components may be called goal-setting or planning elements, in contrast to the goal-satisfying or behavioral steps emphasized in much contemporary task analysis. A hypothetical tutorial dialogue in which a student is asked to tell a tutor what step to perform next is presented as an example of the emphasis of the planning side of computation. Explicit identification of goal-setting elements of a task is illustrated by analysis of the task of converting a pair of fractions to a new pair with a common denominator. The decomposition thus produces is simulated with two computer programs: (1) a LISP program using a set of production rules consisting of conditions to be met and subsequent actions to be taken and (2) a PROLOG program stating goals and solving goals explicitly.     

Patterns of regional cerebral blood flow during attempted reading aloud by stutterers both on and off haloperidol medication: Evidence for inadequate left frontal activation during stuttering

Two stutterers, both recent college graduates, were subjected to regional cerebral blood flow measurements while attempting to read aloud. Each one received two measurements, one of which was under the influence of haloperidol, 3 mg daily. Both subjects showed improvement on medication, allowing a stuttering versus essentially no stuttering comparisons for each subject. Both subjects showed higher Broca's area flow in the right compared to the left hemisphere, during stuttering. Both showed higher Wernicke's area flow in the left compared to the right hemisphere, however, during stuttering. During reading aloud without stuttering, however, the Brocas's area flows were reversed, now showing a left hemisphere advantage. The results were interpreted as consistent with H. M. Sussman and P. F. MacNeilage's (1975, Neuropsychologia, 13, 19–26) proposal that stutterers exhibit conventional left cerebral dominance for speech reception, but inadequate left cerebral dominance for speech production.     

Theory of learning mathematics with computer-assisted instruction: Hierarchical and nonhierarchical options

The learning of arithmetic problems is assumed to be a Markov process involving conditioning of a set of k subskills, each consisting of one or more productions. An axiom set is provided, with the choice between two options for one axiom controlling which of two models results. Model 1, which assumes that every subskill is attempted on every occurrence of a given problem, is a nonhierarchical model. Model 2, which assumes that every subskill in the temporal sequence for a problem is attempted until one is failed, is a somewhat unconventional hierarchical model: It is hierarchical in the sense that conditioningor chance success at one level is prerequisite to performance of the next subskill (next level) in the problem. As the value of the guessing parameter, g, declines, Model 2 leads to less efficient learning than Model 1.     

Specificity and savings of behavioural habituation over a series of intra- and inter-modal stimuli

A series of four tone stimuli, differing either in tonal frequency or in melody, was presented at the rate of one presentation per day to a group of rats. Habituation was specific to the frequency of simple auditory stimuli and to the melody of patterned stimuli, as shown both by the distraction to stimulus change, and by the trials to habituate to the new stimulus. Savings in habituation occurred when a series of tone stimuli was presented, but was not found for a series of inter-modal stimuli.     

The Ethics of Teaching Rhetorical Intertextuality

Journal of Academic Ethics - Three approaches to intertextual writing are available to college instructors: mechanical, ethical, and rhetorical. The mechanical approach, a staple of writing...