ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
Getting to the Source: A Questionnaire on the Learning and Use of Arithmetical Operations
Author: Colome, Angels
Date: 2011-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Semitic Languages,Questionnaires,Arithmetic,Toys,Investigations,Universities,Multiplication,Addition,Subtraction,Problem Solving,Numbers,Undergraduate Students,Bilingualism,Experimental Psychology

Some current models of mathematical cognition (Dehaene, 1992; Campbell &amp; Clark, 1992) make strong claims about the code in which arithmetical operations are solved, basing themselves on how these operations were originally acquired or are most frequently employed. However, data on acquisition and use are often derived from anecdotic reports and no systematic figures have ever been collected. In this study a questionnaire was devised to investigate how participants learned multiplication tables, as well as the code in which one-digit and multi-digit operations are usually solved. The questionnaire was administered to two groups of university students, one Spanish (Study 1) and the other Belgian (Study 2). The results show that multiplication tables are mainly learnt by oral rehearsal, but adults solve multiplications more frequently by visualizing Arabic digits. This is also their preferred code for calculating additions, subtractions, and divisions. The preference for the Arabic code increases when subjects have to solve multidigit operations. (Contains 1 figure, 5 tables and 7 footnotes.)
The Role of Mental Load in Inattentional Blindness
Author: Perez-Moreno, Elisa
Date: 2011-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Cognitive Processes,Difficulty Level,Attention,Visual Stimuli,Visual Perception,Eye Movements,Arithmetic

The purpose of this investigation is to determine whether the mental load of a cognitive task prevents the processing of visual stimuli, that is, whether the mental load produces inattentional blindness, and at what point in the cognitive-task processing more interference is produced. An arithmetic task with two levels of mental load was used in a dual-task situation with a visual search and detection task. An experiment was performed with 35 participants. An eye tracker system (ASL model 5000) was used to verify which targets were looked at. The results show impairment in the detection task when carrying out the two tasks simultaneously; it was higher when the arithmetic task had a higher mental load. The impairment cannot be explained by alteration in the ocular pattern. The moment at which the process or sub-process of the arithmetic task produces the greatest interference in visual detection corresponds to the purely cognitive moment of calculus, versus sub-processes with perceptive or motor components, such as listening to the stimuli or emitting responses. (Contains 2 figures and 5 tables.)
Landmark Learning in a Navigation Task Is Not Affected by the Female Rats' Estrus Cycle
Author: Rodriguez, Clara A.
Date: 2011-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Animals,Females,Physiology,Brain,Learning,Spatial Ability,Navigation,Gender Differences,Performance

In two experiments rats were required to escape from a circular pool by swimming to an invisible platform that was located in the same place relative to one configuration of two landmarks (X and Y). The two landmarks were placed relatively far and equidistant from the hidden platform. Training could be either on consecutive days (Experiment 1) or every fourth day (Experiment 2). Subsequent test trials, without the platform, revealed a preference for searching in the correct quadrant of the pool. In Experiment 1 such a test performance was identical in two groups of females, one tested with high hormonal levels (i.e., in the proestrus phase) and the second one tested with low hormonal levels (i.e., either in the estrus, metaestrus or diestrus phase); in addition, these two groups differed from a third group of male rats (i.e., males had a better performance than females). Experiment 2 replicated the females' previous results with a better procedure. The experiment compared the performance of two groups of female rats which were both trained and tested always in the same estrus phase, one group in the proestrus phase, and the second group in the estrus phase. The implication of these results is that the estrus cycle has little impact on the performance of female rats when landmark learning in a navigation task. (Contains 6 figures and 1 footnote.)
Foveal vs. Parafoveal Processing in Anxiety: Broadened Spatial Attention for Threat Words
Author: Gutierrez, Aida
Date: 2011-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Priming,Individual Differences,Anxiety,Cognitive Processes,Emotional Response,Spatial Ability,Visual Stimuli,Attention Span,Undergraduate Students,Reaction Time,Experimental Psychology

We investigated the processing of threat-related, positive, and neutral words in parafoveal and in foveal vision as a function of individual differences in trait anxiety. In a lexical-decision task, word primes were presented for 150 ms either parafoveally (2.2[degrees] away from fixation; Experiment 1) or foveally (at fixation; Experiment 3) followed by a probe word; or a foveal probe word was presented alone (with no prime; Experiment 2). Results showed that parafoveal prime threat words facilitated responses to probe threat words for high-anxiety individuals, in comparison with neutral and positive words, and relative to low-anxiety individuals. In contrast, when the words were presented foveally, there were no differences in resting activation level (i.e., accessibility to single word meanings) or firing thresholds (i.e., foveal priming) as a function of emotional content and anxiety. This reveals a covert attention bias towards threat stimuli in anxiety. (Contains 2 figures, 3 tables and 2 footnotes.)
Intermittent Voluntary Ethanol Drinking during Periadolescence Impairs Adult Spatial Learning after a Long Abstinence Period in Rats
Author: Diaz, Ana
Date: 2011-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Control Groups,Animals,Spatial Ability,Task Analysis,Adolescents,Developmental Stages,Substance Abuse,Drinking,Gender Differences,Cues,Brain Hemisphere Functions

Although previous findings point to the long-term impact of ethanol exposure during periadolescence on hippocampal-dependent learning tasks, comparisons considering different onset and exposure periods during this developmental range of ages are still needed. The aim of this experiment was to determine whether intermittent voluntary chronic ethanol consumption onset at different ages, beginning either in pre-adolescence or adolescence, differentially produces impairment in the hidden-platform-water-maze-task performance persisting in adult rats after a 27-day-long period of abstinence. The performance of two groups of adult Wistar rats of both sexes, whose ethanol drinking onset was at postnatal day 19 (preadolescent) or 28 (adolescent), was compared with that of an adult control non-ethanol exposed group. The results indicated that voluntary intermittent ethanol drinking during the periadolescent period caused dramatic long-term detrimental effects in female rats which were unable to learn. Male rats were also impaired during the initial training blocks, the impact being greater in the group exposed during adolescence, but they exhibited no differences with the non-ethanol exposed control group by the end of training (block 6) and in a probe trial. These data support a greater vulnerability in females during periadolescence and point to adolescence as an especially sensitive period during male development to the long-term detrimental effects of ethanol in learning. (Contains 3 figures and 2 tables.)
Context-Outcome Associations Underlie Context-Switch Effects after Partial Reinforcement in Human Predictive Learning
Author: Moreno-Fernandez, Maria M.
Date: 2011-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Reinforcement,Cues,Context Effect,Learning,College Students,Foreign Countries

Predictive value for continuously reinforced cues is affected by context changes when they are trained within a context in which a different cue undergoes partial reinforcement. An experiment was conducted with the goal of exploring the mechanisms underlying this context-switch effect. Human participants were trained in a predictive learning situation in which a cue received partial reinforcement while a target cue received continuous reinforcement in context A (C1) and another target cue was presented unreinforced in context B (U2). Participants in group Partial-One did not receive partial reinforcement in context B, while participants in group Partial-Both received the same training they received in context A, but with different cues. When target cues were tested in group Partial-One, greater responding in context A than in context B was found. Differences were smaller in cue U2 than in cue C1. No differences across contexts were found in group Partial-Both. These results are in agreement with the hypothesis that context-switch effects after partial reinforcement are mainly due to the formation of direct context-outcome associations, though the difference on the effect size on the reinforced and unreinforced cues suggests that a modulator mechanism may be also responsible for these context-switch effects. (Contains 1 figure and 1 table.)
A Simulation Study of Rater Agreement Measures with 2x2 Contingency Tables
Author: Ato, Manuel
Date: 2011-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Interrater Reliability,Measurement,Comparative Analysis,Statistical Analysis,Multiple Choice Tests,Simulation,Statistical Bias

A comparison between six rater agreement measures obtained using three different approaches was achieved by means of a simulation study. Rater coefficients suggested by Bennet's [sigma] (1954), Scott's [pi] (1955), Cohen's [kappa] (1960) and Gwet's [gamma] (2008) were selected to represent the classical, descriptive approach, [alpha] agreement parameter from Aickin (1990) to represent loglinear and mixture model approaches and [Delta] measure from Martin and Femia (2004) to represent multiple-choice test. Main results confirm that [pi] and [kappa] descriptive measures present high levels of mean bias in presence of extreme values of prevalence and rater bias but small to null levels with moderate values. The best behavior was observed with Bennet and Martin and Femia agreement measures for all levels of prevalence. (Contains 5 figures and 2 tables.)
Assessing Measurement Equivalence in Ordered-Categorical Data
Author: Elosua, Paula
Date: 2011-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Measurement,Models,Data,Factor Analysis,Test Bias,Statistical Analysis,Error of Measurement,Simulation

Assessing measurement equivalence in the framework of the common factor linear models (CFL) is known as factorial invariance. This methodology is used to evaluate the equivalence among the parameters of a measurement model among different groups. However, when dichotomous, Likert, or ordered responses are used, one of the assumptions of the CFL is violated: the continuous nature of the observed variables. The common factor analysis of ordered-categorical data (CFO) has been described in several works, but none evaluate its power and Type I error rate in the evaluation of measurement equivalence (ME). In this simulation study, we evaluated ME under four different conditions: size of group (300, 500 and 1000), type of DIF (thresholds, loadings), amount of DIF (0.25, 0.40), and equality/impact of the distributions. The parameters used for the data generation came from one scale with nine items with three ordered categories. The results were evaluated according to three decision rules: a) the significance of the difference in chi-square values obtained in two nested models, b) the significance of the difference in chi-square values between two nested models with Bonferroni corrections, and c) the difference between the values of the Comparative Fix Index (CFI) obtained in two nested models. The results showed good power as well as good control of the false positives for both the chi-square Bonferroni correction and CFI difference index. (Contains 5 tables and 1 footnote.)
Putting Partnership at the Centre of Teachers' Professional Learning in Rural and Regional Contexts: Evidence from Case Study Projects in Tasmania
Author: Stack, Sue
Date: 2011-12-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Rural Education,Rural Schools,Rural Areas,Professional Continuing Education,Faculty Development,Evidence,Case Studies,Teacher Collaboration,Partnerships in Education

This paper presents a professional learning (PL) model that emerged from the authors' involvement with PL processes in several rural and remote schools in the state of Tasmania. As is the case for rural areas generally, young people in rural areas of Tasmania have lower retention rates to Year 12 and lower participation rates in higher education than their urban peers. Schools in these regions typically have less experienced staff, higher staff turnover and reduced access to professional networks compared with urban schools. Four case studies are presented to illustrate the experiences that lead to the partnership model of PL and the authors' insights into the nature of collaborative partnerships in rural contexts are discussed The study makes a contribution to understanding of the development of effective PL partnerships in rural schools as well as contributing to broader debates about the nature of partnership between teachers and facilitators of PL. (Contains 2 figures and 1 footnote.)
The Context for Change: Reconceptualising the 3Rs in Education for Indigenous Students
Author: Jackson-Barrett, Elizabeth
Date: 2011-12-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Indigenous Populations,Access to Education,Academic Persistence,School Holding Power,Outcome Based Education,Time Perspective,Multiple Intelligences,Intelligence Differences,Responsibility,Interpersonal Relationship,Human Dignity,Social Change,Social Attitudes,Indigenous Knowledge,Politics of Education,Disadvantaged,Racial Discrimination

In 2011, three years on from the Apology given by Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd to the Stolen Generations and coupled with the Federal Governments agenda to &quot;close the gap&quot; in education for Aboriginal students, perhaps it is time to retrospectively look at the issues and challenges that have moulded the terrain of Aboriginal education in Western Australia. It is clear that over the last 200 years there has been progress in improving the access of schooling for many Aboriginal students. However the retention and successful completion of compulsory schooling still remain at unacceptable levels. Given that historically many Indigenous students have underachieved in most aspects of their &quot;western&quot; education then it stands to reason that the basic 3R concept of Reading, [W]riting and [A]rithmetic are inaccessible for many Indigenous students in their present form. Perhaps the most appropriate strategy today, in outcome-based education, and to assist with &quot;closing the gap&quot;, would be to reconceptualise the 3R concept into a more tangible form. (Contains 2 footnotes.)
Putting &quot;Maori&quot; in the Mainstream: Student Teachers' Reflections of a Culturally Relevant Pedagogy
Author: Sexton, Steven S.
Date: 2011-12-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Student Teachers,Culturally Relevant Education,Foreign Countries,Student Needs,Epistemology,Teaching Methods,Pacific Islanders,Indigenous Populations,Qualitative Research,Teaching Experience,Cultural Awareness,Student Teacher Attitudes,Teacher Education

This paper reports on student teachers' experiences of an education program that was explicitly designed to be grounded in both Kaupapa Maori and mainstream pedagogy. This program started from the Kaupapa Maori view to be Maori as Maori. This was then supported by mainstream epistemology of New Zealand focused good teaching practice. A Kaupapa Maori approach was taken in this qualitative study that used participant driven spiral discourse. The paper suggests that this combined Kaupapa Maori and mainstream approach allowed these student teachers to find their place in education. Conclusions suggest that a culturally relevant pedagogy modeled as good teaching practice was needed for these student teachers to develop an understanding of not only how learning occurs but also how their teaching relates to learning. (Contains 1 figure and 2 footnotes.)
Pre-Service Student-Teacher Self-Efficacy Beliefs: An Insight into the Making of Teachers
Author: Pendergast, Donna
Date: 2011-12-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Preservice Teacher Education,Teacher Education Programs,Early Childhood Education,Self Efficacy,Measures (Individuals),Beginning Teachers,Student Teacher Attitudes,Role of Education,Longitudinal Studies,Teaching (Occupation),Graduate Study,Elementary School Teachers,Secondary School Teachers,Foreign Countries

Pre-service teacher education programs play an important role in the development of beginning teacher' self-efficacy and identity. Research suggests that this development is influenced by the &quot;apprenticeship of learning&quot;. However, there remains limited research about the self-efficacy beliefs and identity construction of beginning pre-service teachers entering teacher training, and the impact of the education programs on the development of these attributes. This paper reports on the first phase of a longitudinal study that investigates beginning pre-service teachers' views of what it is to be a teacher. In 2010, the Teacher Sense of Efficacy Scale (Tschannen-Moran &amp; Woolfolk Hoy, 2001) was administered twice (start and end of the year) to beginning pre-service teachers enrolled in three programs: the Graduate Diploma of Early Childhood Education; the Graduate Diploma of Education--Primary; and the Graduate Diploma of Education--Secondary. Identity data in the form of text and visual representations of the teachers were also collected. This paper focuses on the results from the self-efficacy scale, highlighting the similarities and more notable contrasts in individual perceived ratings of teacher self-efficacy. Implications for further research are shared. (Contains 4 tables.)
Supporting Quality Teachers with Recognition
Author: Andrews, Hans A.
Date: 2011-12-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Student Teachers,Merit Pay,Awards,Elementary Secondary Education,Foreign Countries,Teacher Educators,Recognition (Achievement),Teacher Competencies,Teaching Skills,Educational Research,College School Cooperation,Motivation,Theories

Value has been found in providing recognition and awards programs for excellent teachers. Research has also found a major lack of these programs in both the USA and in Australia. Teachers receiving recognition and awards for their teaching have praised recognition programs as providing motivation for them to continue high-level instruction. Motivational theories provide a solid foundation for these programs. Teacher educators should find &quot;recognition&quot; as an important part of their curriculum in terms of teaching the research behind motivational theories. They can also encourage K-12 schools to provide recognition to the excellent teachers working with university teacher educators assisting student teachers. The concept of merit pay is being touted in both the USA and Australia but the research has found merit pay to be a non-motivator and it has not provided significant improvements in student learning outcomes in most programs that have provided it. (Contains 1 table.)
Teacher Professional Standards, Accountability and Ideology: Alternative Discourses
Author: Tuinamuana, Katarina
Date: 2011-12-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Preservice Teacher Education,Ideology,Accountability,Standards,Political Attitudes,Educational Policy,Teacher Effectiveness,Educational Strategies,Foreign Countries

Teacher professional standards and accountability are today writ large on the landscape of both schooling and teacher education practice around the world. This paper explores some of the related debates through a discussion of four discourses on teacher professional standards: namely, discourses of commonsense, professionalism and quality, managerialism/performativity, and strategic manoeuvring. It is argued that each of these discourses legitimises particular understandings of standards and quality, illustrating the competing set of lenses through which they are viewed, as well as the broader ideologies from which they emerge, including neoliberalism and technical rationality. These discourses also represent the interpretive practice that characterise a context in which teacher professional standards are being entrenched and institutionalised through policy design and accountability processes. In analysing these discourses, a number of questions emerge, primary amongst which is the issue of the unintended consequences of a focus on standards, some of which may act to inadvertently mask other &quot;quality&quot; matters.
Preparing the Australian Early Childhood Workforce for Rural and Remote Settings: A Review of the Literature
Author: Green, Nicole C.
Date: 2011-12-00
Type: Information Analyses
Subjects: Preservice Teacher Education,Preschool Teachers,Young Children,Comparative Analysis,Early Childhood Education,Foreign Countries,Rural Areas,Teaching Experience

This article presents the findings of a literature review of research on teacher preparation for rural settings. In the past there has been little or no preparation of teachers for rural teaching, with the emphasis placed on supporting beginning teachers once they commenced (Baills, Bell, Greensill &amp; Wilcox, 2002; Howe, 2006); now there is a strong movement to prepare preservice teachers adequately before their first teaching appointment. However, what has become clear is that the focus of research has been predominantly on primary and secondary education. In our search we have not been able to identify a substantial body of literature about the preparation of early childhood educators for rural practice. The discussion considers the relevance of the findings for the early childhood sector, exploring possibilities for future research both in early childhood settings and in teacher education in general in light of government agendas and policy initiatives.
Understanding L2 Speaking Problems: Implications for ESL Curriculum Development in a Teacher Training Institution in Hong Kong
Author: Gan, Zhengdong
Date: 2012-01-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Curriculum Development,Foreign Countries,Oral English,English (Second Language),Semi Structured Interviews,Second Language Instruction,Schools of Education,Preservice Teacher Education,Preservice Teachers,Pronunciation,Intonation

This paper reports the result of a study that aimed to identify the problems with oral English skills of ESL (English as a second language) students at a tertiary teacher training institution in Hong Kong. The study, by way of semi-structured interview, addresses the gap in our understanding of the difficulties ESL students encountered in their oral English development in the context of a Bachelor of Education (English Language) programme. Insufficient opportunities to speak English in lectures and tutorials, lack of a focus on language improvement in the curriculum, and the input-poor environment for spoken communication in English outside class apparently contributed to a range of problems that closely related to the sociocultural, institutional and interpersonal contexts in which individual ESL students found themselves. The results of the study lead us to question the effectiveness of the knowledge- and pedagogy-based ESL teacher training curriculum. They also point to a need to incorporate a sufficiently intensive language improvement component in the current teacher preparation program.