Training public-speaking behavior: an experimental analysis and social validation

The effect of an instructional package on public-speaking behaviors was analyzed in two experiments. The instructional package was designed to teach public-speaking trainees to look at the audience, make gestures, and perform a number of speaking behaviors. The results of Experiment I, with a university student serving as the trainee, showed that the percentage of each category of public-speaking target behavior increased only after the instructional package was introduced for that category. The results of Experiment 2, with three low-income paraprofessional staff members of a neighborhood service center serving as trainees, showed that the percentage of target behaviors increased after the instructional package was introduced for the respective trainee. Audience ratings of public-speaking performance were correlated with direct observations of target responses. All trainees showed marked improvements in audience ratings from pretraining to posttraining. This study demonstrated an effective procedure for training public-speaking behaviors.     

Effectiveness and persistence of precurrent mediating behavior in delayed matching to sample and oddity matching with children.

Two kinds of mediating behavior were compared with respect to their effectiveness in variable-delay matching-to-sample and oddity-matching tasks. Each of four 5-year-old children was trained to emit either differential or common mediating responses. The differential mediating response consisted of pressing a specific computer key corresponding to either of two possible sample stimuli (a red or a green square). The common mediating response consisted of pressing one of the two response keys regardless of the sample. The differential-response subjects did not show the typical, delay-related decrease in matching-to-sample performance that characterized the behavior of common-response subjects. An oddity-matching task was then introduced, and subjects were instructed to use the mediating keys however they preferred, including not at all. Differential-response subjects continued to respond on the originally trained mediating keys in response to sample presentation and later reversed their choice responding, thus accommodating the oddity-matching requirements. Common-response subjects continued to emit the previously trained mediating response and experienced limited success in oddity matching. Results were interpreted in terms of stimulus control, instructional control, and experimental history.     

TEACHING MENTALLY RETARDED ADULTS TO TIME-MANAGE IN A VOCATIONAL SETTING

Three retarded adults who had minimal ability to tell time were trained to “time-manage.” Each was given a card with clock face representations on which the hands of the clock were drawn, representing each trainee's assigned lunch and break times. Instruction was given before work to perform each of the required behaviors when the “real” clock matched the clock faces. Praise was given following correct responses, and reprimands, instruction, and, in some instances, delay or omission of the scheduled activity followed incorrect responses. Pre-instruction and instructional feedback were then sequentially withdrawn. Results indicated that the package consisting of pre-instruction, instructional feedback, and picture cues was effective in producing independent time management responding. When the first two components were withdrawn, two trainees maintained high levels of correct responding. Correct responding decreased for one trainee when pre-instruction was withdrawn. Reintroduction and subsequent withdrawal of the components resulted in maintenance by this trainee. Little improvement in time-telling ability resulted.     

What Every Teacher of Science and Religion Needs to Know about Pedagogy

This essay provides practical tips for effective teaching in science-and-religion courses. It offers suggestions for dealing with difficult questions and creating a climate of shared learning. Along with pedagogical advice, it covers fundamental principles for teaching broadly integrative religion-and-science courses. Instructors are encouraged to reflect on their purpose(s) in offering their course and to formulate specific objectives using the techniques and resources outlined here.     

A Comparison of Least-to-Most Prompts and Progressive Time Delay on the Disruptive Behavior of Students with Autism

We compared the effects of two instructional strategies on the frequency of errors and episodes of disruptive behavior of 4 students with autism. In Phase I, easy and difficult tasks were presented to determine whether the tasks were associated with differential rates of disruptive behavior. Phase II compared the effects of a least-to-most prompting procedure (LTM) to a progressive time delay procedure (PTD) on errors and disruptive behavior when difficult tasks were presented. Observers sequentially recorded instructor instructions, response prompts, prompts for appropriate sitting, and feedback statements; and student disruptive, correct, error, and no responses during 1:1 sessions. Results showed PTD produced fewer errors than LTM for all 4 students, and lower rates of disruptive behavior for 2 students. When PTD was implemented as the final phase with 2 of the students, rates of disruptive behavior associated with the task previously taught with LTM immediately decreased. Conditional probability statements indicated that disruptive behavior occurred infrequently with all 4 students when effective response prompts were used.     

Marketing measurably effective instructional methods

The failure to gain wider acceptance of measurably effective teaching methods by the educational establishment may be due to resistance to behaviorism, in particular, and to a set of contingencies that resist change, in general. The promotion of effective instructional methods is presented in terms of recommended marketing principles, including identifying and solving perceived consumer needs, using plain English, segmenting the marketplace and developing specific solutions, identifying opportunities for greatest impact, creating tangible educational products, seeking new markets, planning marketing strategy and tactics, and writing for non-technical publications. Precision Teaching is presented as a case study in the promotion of effective instructional methods. Although it is a measurably superior instructional methodology, Precision Teaching has not been widely adopted. By applying basic marketing principles and strategic planning, some of its proponents have initiated an ongoing effort of outreach and promotion.     

Effects on Future Learning of Presenting Non-Target Stimuli in Antecedent and Consequent Conditions

This investigation assessed the effects of presenting non-target stimuli in the antecedent and consequent events on the future learning of responses to those stimuli. A 4-s constant time delay procedure was implemented to teach students with mild to moderate disabilities to read sight words. Future target stimuli (i.e., stimuli that were presented during instructional sessions of initial target stimuli, but were not directly instructed or targeted) were presented in one of two conditions; (a) in the antecedent event, or (b) in the consequent event portion of each instructional trial. Future target stimuli consisted of sight words that were unrelated to the target stimuli. An adapted alternating treatments design was used to assess and compare the two instructional conditions. Also, after students achieved criterion for reading target sight words, constant time delay was implemented to teach the future target stimuli. The number of sessions and the number and percentage of errors through criterion for teaching target and future target stimuli were assessed to measure the efficiency of the two conditions. All students reached criterion on the target stimuli and then acquired the future target stimuli when taught. Students required fewer sessions to achieve criterion on future target stimuli compared to initial target stimuli. There were minimal differences between the two conditions (i.e., antecedent versus consequent).     

教材内容的情感性分析及其处理策略

人们对教材的教学心理学分析研究相对较少,仅有的也多囿于认知维度。奥苏贝尔在其意义学习理论框架下研究了教材的意义性及其学习条件问题,并提出了著名的处理教材内容的先行组织者策略,然其研究仍属认知维度。其实,教材也是构成教学中情感现象的一个重要源点,对其进行情感性分析研究,将有助于从情感维度系统优化教学。故本文对教材内容进行较系统的情感分析,归纳为蕴涵显性、隐性、悟性和中性情感因素的四大类,并在教学实验     

The influence of instructive feedback presentation schedule: A replication with children with autism spectrum disorder

Instructive feedback (IF) is a modification to discrete trial instruction that may increase instructional efficiency for individuals with autism spectrum disorder. Several variations of IF have recently been evaluated in the literature; however, few studies have assessed the effectiveness and efficiency of presenting secondary targets on continuous versus intermittent presentation schedules. The current study evaluated the effectiveness and efficiency of various presentation schedules of secondary targets during discrete trial instruction. Specifically, we replicated and extended Griffen et al. (1998) by comparing a condition in which secondary targets were presented during each trial of a session, a condition in which secondary targets were presented every other trial, and a condition in which secondary targets were presented about every 4 trials. Within-subject replications were included for both participants. One of the intermittent presentation schedules was associated with the most optimal outcomes in all 4 comparisons.