Does calling it “Morgan's way” reduce student learning? Evaluating the effect of person-presentation during comparison and discussion of worked examples in mathematics classrooms

Mathematics textbooks sometimes present worked examples as being generated by particular fictitious students (i.e., person-presentation). However, there are indicators that person-presentation of worked examples may harm generalization of the presented strategies to new problems. In the context of comparing and discussing worked examples during extended classroom instruction, the current study compared the impact of person-presentation to strategy labels on students' posttest accuracy and ratings of strategy generalizability. Five algebra teachers and their 168 students used worked examples either presented using fictitious students or with a strategy label during a multiweek unit on equation solving, with teachers randomly assigned to condition. All students compared and discussed the worked examples. In this context, we found no effect of condition on student accuracy at posttest, nor on their ratings of the generalizability of the presented strategies. We discuss why previously found negative effects of person-presentation may not have extended to this context.     

Reading First kindergarten classroom instruction and students' growth in phonological awareness and letter naming–decoding fluency

This study investigated the role of the amount, content, and implementation of reading instruction provided by 17 kindergarten teachers in eight Reading First elementary schools as it related to students' progress (n = 286 students) on early reading assessments of phonological awareness and letter naming–decoding fluency. Children's phonological awareness and letter naming–decoding fluency grew significantly from fall to spring. On average, across the three 60 min observations, teachers provided over 30 min a day of phonological awareness and phonics instruction and 15 min a day of vocabulary and comprehension instruction. Global ratings of instructional quality revealed two implementation factors: explicit and individualized implementation and meaningful interactions around text. Hierarchical linear modeling revealed that the amounts of specific instructional content, as well as how this instruction was implemented, was related to students' letter knowledge and phonological awareness skill growth.     

Multimodal communication and spatial binding in pied currawongs (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Strepera graculina</Emphasis>)

To make accurate assessments about their environment, animals must integrate a variety of sensory cues into a single unified percept. The effects of redundant multimodal signaling may be equivalent to the responses elicited by each individual cue, or enhanced when cues are combined. Binding of two seemingly coupled cues can persist despite small spatial and temporal discrepancies in signal presentation, a phenomenon termed the ventriloquist effect. Our study had two aims: first, to test the cognitive ability of a territorial, forest-dwelling bird to bind two spatially disparate cues; and second, to define the processing of the acoustic and visual cues as having either equivalent or enhanced effects when presented together. We broadcasted pied currawong (Strepera graculina) vocalizations alone or in the presence of a model currawong situated either adjacent to, or far away from a speaker, to free-living currawongs. The number of locomotive events and the average standard deviation in the distance from the speaker maintained by the focal currawong were greater in response to "far" than "close" treatments. Additionally, the average standard deviation of the distance to speaker for the uni-modal, speaker only treatment was similar to "far" responses. These findings support our hypothesis that currawongs cognitively bind two stimuli in close spatial proximity. In nature, this would result in an enhanced level of response toward territorial intruders. Our study was novel in its attempt to assess cognitive processes involved in the integration of spatially disparate bimodal signaling events in free-living birds.     

认知策略选择的元认知因素

元认知指个体对自我认知过程的认知。元认知与策略选择的研究自上世纪80年代兴起, 并在随后的30年里取得了丰硕成果, 近年来, 涌现出了不少新的相关研究。基于近10年的国内外研究, 从学习与记忆、问题解决、策略干预三个方面就当今元认知与策略选择的研究新进展进行了分析。基于梳理, 认为元认知在高水平调节、基本记忆策略与策略干预、深层次运作机制及创新研究技术手段方面尚需突破。     

情感教学心理学研究

为纪念中国心理学会诞辰90周年,应中国心理学会教育心理学分会邀请,特撰文反映卢家楣及其团队在情感教学心理学方面的研究概况。内容分以情感教学应用为导向的基础性研究和以情感教学理念为导向的应用性研究两部分。前者包括教学中的情感现象、教学中的情感作用、教学中的情绪调控、教学中的学习苦乐属性、教学中的情知基本矛盾等方面的相应研究;后者包括情感教学理念、情感教学现状、情感教学原则、情感教学策略、情感教学模式、情感教学目标和评价以及为基础教育服务等方面的相应研究。     

A Comparison of Constant Time Delay and Simultaneous Prompting Within Embedded Instruction in General Education Classes with Students with Moderate to Severe Disabilities

An adapted alternating treatment design was used to measure the effectiveness of constant time delay and simultaneous prompting procedures within an embedded instruction format on the acquisition of academic skills. Four middle school students with moderate to severe disabilities and the paraprofessionals who supported these students in their general education classes participated in the study. The results of the study indicated that both procedures were effective in promoting the acquisition of the target skills. However, the constant time delay procedure was more effective for two of the students and the simultaneous prompting procedure was more effective for the remaining students. Results are discussed in terms of future research and implications for supporting the inclusion of students with moderate and severe disabilities in general education classes.     

Principles for Effective Asynchronous Online Instruction in Religious Studies

Asynchronous online instruction has become increasingly popular in the field of religious studies. However, despite voluminous research on online learning in general and numerous articles on online theological instruction, there has been little discussion of how to effectively design and deliver online undergraduate courses in religious studies. Drawing on recent research, experiences teaching and learning online, and interviews with colleagues, this paper discusses key principles of effective online instruction. It recommends instructors focus on humanizing their course website, “chunking” their course content, making their approach to the study of religion clear, structuring and monitoring online discussions, prioritizing prompt and constructive feedback, and making course material relevant to learners.     

Eliciting false memories on implicit and explicit memory tests after incidental learning

Abstract: In a false memory experiment, lists of semantic associates (e.g., newspaper, letter, book, etc.) were presented to three groups of participants to induce false memories for critical nonpresented (CN) words (e.g., read) in an incidental learning task. The control group simply estimated the frequency rate in everyday Japanese discourse of each word on a list. The imagery instruction group received an additional instruction to imagine a thematically related converging word from the target words on a list. Participants in the imagery plus writing group received the same instructions as those in the imagery instruction group, but were also required to write down the word they imagined for each list. The results from the implicit and explicit memory tests given after the incidental learning episode showed that the level of priming for CN words was equivalent to that for actually presented target words for all three groups on the implicit test, whereas explicit memory results showed that participants explicitly recognized more target words than CN words. The implications for implicit associative response and fuzzy‐trace theories of false memory, as well as implicit priming, are discussed.     

情境学习理论研究综述

本论文从三方面展开分析,首先阐述了情境学习理论的基本观点。再从教学设计与教学实践两方面分析了情境学习理论在教学中的应用,最后讨论了情境学习理论面临的一些问题。     

Visual and acoustic information supporting a happily expressed speech-in-noise advantage

There was an advantage found for recognizing happily expressed audio and audio-visual speech-in-noise relative to speech spoken with neutral or sad expressions. The advantage of happily expressed speech was explored in a set of visual and acoustic manipulations designed to isolate the potential contributions from each signal. For this research, a replication of previous research with the happily expressed speech advantage was completed with a novel inclusion of a learning paradigm. Additional experiments directly investigated the role of the fundamental frequency of the voice for affect, and the affective facial components with the eyes and mouth. We found that the happily expressed speech advantage persisted despite constraints to the amount of frequency modulation and with distortions to the talker's face. These findings seem largely attributable to the influences of affect on low-level acoustical and articulatory information, with only a very subtle role of approach/withdrawal motivation.