Using equivalence-based instruction to teach piano skills to children

The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the effects of equivalence-based instruction (EBI) on learning to play individual notes and simple songs on the piano. Participants were 4 typically developing children and 4 children with a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). They were exposed to a series of auditory–visual matching-to-sample procedures using musical stimuli. Following training, participants were tested on the emergence of novel untrained relations and generalization in the form of playing two songs on a keyboard. Results suggest that the EBI was effective in teaching piano playing skills with both typically developing children and children with ASD. The success of this procedure is indicative of the wide-ranging applications of EBI to novel and creative domains.     

A comparison of interteaching and lecture in the college classroom

Interteaching is a new method of classroom instruction that is based on behavioral principles but offers more flexibility than other behaviorally based methods. We examined the effectiveness of interteaching relative to a traditional form of classroom instruction-the lecture. In Study 1, participants in a graduate course in special education took short quizzes after alternating conditions of interteaching and lecture. Quiz scores following interteaching were higher than quiz scores following lecture, although both methods improved performance relative to pretest measures. In Study 2, we also alternated interteaching and lecture but counterbalanced the conditions across two sections of an undergraduate research methods class. After each unit of information, participants from both sections took the same test. Again, test scores following interteaching were higher than test scores following lecture. In addition, students correctly answered more interteaching-based questions than lecture-based questions on a cumulative final test. In both studies, the majority of students reported a preference for interteaching relative to traditional lecture. In sum, the results suggest that interteaching may be an effective alternative to traditional lecture-based methods of instruction.     

Emergent literacy skills and training time uniquely predict variability in responses to phonemic awareness training in disadvantaged kindergartners

The factors that predicted variability in responses to phonemic awareness training were investigated in kindergartners who live in poverty. Treatment children (n=42) received both analytic and synthetic phonemic awareness computer-assisted instruction, while controls (n=34) received no special training. Mean age of participants was approximately 5 years 7 months. Pretests included initial phonemic awareness, letter knowledge, word-level reading, invented spelling, vocabulary knowledge, and print concepts. Spelling skills emerged as the best consistent predictor of variability in phonemic awareness in response to instruction. We propose that relations between phonemic awareness and spelling skills are bidirectional: Spelling influenced growth in phonemic awareness and phonemic awareness contributed to growth in spelling skills. The amount of exposure that children had to the treatment intervention contributed uniquely to individual differences in posttest levels of phonemic awareness and spelling.     

Feedback and its effectiveness in a computer-aided personalized system of instruction course

In a computer-managed version of Keller's personalized system of instruction, students received frequent feedback from more advanced students within the course. Overall accuracy of student-provided feedback was 87%, and students complied with 61% of the feedback.     

构建病人自主择医的现代医学伦理观

“病人选择医生”这一重大改革举措可以得到病人自主择医权和改革实践的有力辩护与支持,同时,为使其形成有序合理格局,并进入可持续发展的正常轨道,也亟需以解决现实重大问题为基础,着力的构建病人自主择医权的现代医学伦理观。这个医学伦理观应由现代的伦理理念框架1管理伦理框架、程序伦理框架构筑成主体框架。     

The Effect of Response Cards on Participation and Weekly Quiz Scores of University Students Enrolled in Introductory Psychology Courses

Increasing student participation in college classrooms is an overlooked yet socially valid endeavor. The present study attempted to increase student participation, accuracy of responding, and weekly quiz scores, by incorporating student response-cards. Measures of social validity were also addressed. One hundred twenty university students in two sections of an introductory course served as participants. An augmented incomplete ABA reversal design was used to compare the effects of review questions with and without response-cards. Results suggest that response cards can increase participation as well as measures of learning, in this case quiz scores. Also, students rated the intervention positively on a consumer satisfaction rating scale. In addition to improving rates of student participation and quiz scores, response-cards positively impacted both students and the instructor's subjective experience in the classroom.     

计算机辅助教学对英语阅读能力的影响

通过回顾与总结CAI英语阅读教学程序由普适化向具体阅读技能转化的发展历程,总结了英语阅读中最重要的能力、技能和主要应解决的问题,阐述了CAI程序对于阅读教学的有效性研究成果:发现相关的CAI程序有五大范畴。最后就教学语言、课程设计、教师对CAI程序的运用等问题进行了探讨与展望。     

Evaluating preschool children's preferences for motivational systems during instruction

Preschool teachers rely on several strategies for motivating children to participate in learning activities. In the current study, we evaluated the effectiveness of and preference for three teaching contexts in which embedded, sequential, or no programmed reinforcement was arranged. The embedded context included highly preferred teaching materials, the sequential context included highly preferred edible items for correct responding, and a control context included neither. In addition, an exclusively play-oriented activity was included as a fourth option to determine if one of the direct teaching contexts could compete with a relatively unstructured and exclusively child-led activity. All participants preferred the sequential context (use of high-quality consequences) over the embedded context (use of high-quality teaching materials), 2 of the 4 participants preferred some motivational system to none at all, and the play area was selected over all variants of the instructional contexts during the majority of trials. We found either no or small differences in correct responding in the different instructional contexts; however, rates of undesirable behavior were highest in the least preferred interaction area for 3 of the 4 participants. Implications for the design of effective and preferred teaching environments for young children are discussed.     

Contrasting two models of academic self‐efficacy – domain‐specific versus cross‐domain – in children receiving and not receiving special instruction in mathematics

In social cognitive theory, self‐efficacy is domain‐specific. An alternative model, the cross‐domain influence model, would predict that self‐efficacy beliefs in one domain might influence performance in other domains. Research has also found that children who receive special instruction are not good at estimating their performance. The aim was to test two models of how self‐efficacy beliefs influence achievement, and to contrast children receiving special instruction in mathematics with normally‐achieving children. The participants were 73 fifth‐grade children who receive special instruction and 70 children who do not receive any special instruction. In year four and five, the children's skills in mathematics and reading were assessed by national curriculum tests, and in their fifth year, self‐efficacy in mathematics and reading were measured. Structural equation modeling showed that in domains where children do not receive special instruction in mathematics, self‐efficacy is a mediating variable between earlier and later achievement in the same domain. Achievement in mathematics was not mediated by self‐efficacy in mathematics for children who receive special instruction. For normal achieving children, earlier achievement in the language domain had an influence on later self‐efficacy in the mathematics domain, and self‐efficacy beliefs in different domains were correlated. Self‐efficacy is mostly domain specific, but may play a different role in academic performance depending on whether children receive special instruction. The results of the present study provided some support of the Cross‐Domain Influence Model for normal achieving children.