Implicit Learning of Semantic Preferences of Verbs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Paciorek, Albertyna; Williams, John N.

2015-01-01

Previous studies of semantic implicit learning in language have only examined learning grammatical form-meaning connections in which learning could have been supported by prior linguistic knowledge. In this study we target the domain of verb meaning, specifically semantic preferences regarding novel verbs (e.g., the preference for a novel verb to…

Hierarchical Bayesian Models of Subtask Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Anglim, Jeromy; Wynton, Sarah K. A.

2015-01-01

The current study used Bayesian hierarchical methods to challenge and extend previous work on subtask learning consistency. A general model of individual-level subtask learning was proposed focusing on power and exponential functions with constraints to test for inconsistency. To study subtask learning, we developed a novel computer-based booking…

Implicit Learning Deficits among Adults with Developmental Dyslexia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kahta, Shani; Schiff, Rachel

2016-01-01

The aim of the present study was to investigate implicit learning processes among adults with developmental dyslexia (DD) using a visual linguistic artificial grammar learning (AGL) task. Specifically, it was designed to explore whether the intact learning reported in previous studies would also occur under conditions including minimal training…

Validating a Technology Enhanced Student-Centered Learning Model

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kang, Myunghee; Hahn, Jungsun; Chung, Warren

2015-01-01

The Technology Enhanced Student Centered Learning (TESCL) Model in this study presents the core factors that ensure the quality of learning in a technology-supported environment. Although the model was conceptually constructed using a student-centered learning framework and drawing upon previous studies, it should be validated through real-world…

An Examination of the Impact of Learning Communities on Job

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wilmes, David M.

2012-01-01

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between learning community participation and job/major congruence. Previous research has demonstrated that learning communities are effective vehicles for promoting student and institutional outcomes. However, few studies have examined the impact of learning communities on alumni or career…

The Effect of Key-Words Video Captions on Vocabulary Learning through Mobile-Assisted Language Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mahdi, Hassan Saleh

2017-01-01

Video captioning is a useful tool for vocabulary learning. In the literature, video captioning has been investigated by many studies, and the results indicated that video captioning is useful to foster vocabulary learning. However, most of the previous studies have investigated the effect of full captions on vocabulary learning. In addition, most…

Roles of Parents and Annotation Sharing in Children's Learning Behavior and Achievement Using E-Readers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hwang, Wu-Yuin; Liu, Yi-Fan; Chen, Hon-Ren; Huang, Jian-Wun; Li, Jin-Yi

2015-01-01

Although previous studies have highlighted the advantages of using e-books for learning, most have compared learning achieved with traditional textbooks with that achieved with e-books in a classroom situation. These studies focused on individual learning instead of on interactions among learners, learning behavior using ebooks after school, and…

Personalised Virtual Learning Spaces to Support Undergraduates in Producing Research Reports: Two Case Studies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kallkvist, Marie; Gomez, Stephen; Andersson, Holger; Lush, David

2009-01-01

The purpose of this study was to create and evaluate personalised virtual learning spaces (PVLSs) in a course that was previously delivered face-to-face only. The study addressed three related questions: (1) Can a PVLS successfully be introduced into a course where IT has not previously featured? (2) Can the PVLSs be used to enhance the assessment…

Effects of dopamine on reinforcement learning and consolidation in Parkinson's disease.

PubMed

Grogan, John P; Tsivos, Demitra; Smith, Laura; Knight, Brogan E; Bogacz, Rafal; Whone, Alan; Coulthard, Elizabeth J

2017-07-10

Emerging evidence suggests that dopamine may modulate learning and memory with important implications for understanding the neurobiology of memory and future therapeutic targeting. An influential hypothesis posits that dopamine biases reinforcement learning. More recent data also suggest an influence during both consolidation and retrieval. Eighteen Parkinson's disease patients learned through feedback ON or OFF medication, with memory tested 24 hr later ON or OFF medication (4 conditions, within-subjects design with matched healthy control group). Patients OFF medication during learning decreased in memory accuracy over the following 24 hr. In contrast to previous studies, however, dopaminergic medication during learning and testing did not affect expression of positive or negative reinforcement. Two further experiments were run without the 24 hr delay, but they too failed to reproduce effects of dopaminergic medication on reinforcement learning. While supportive of a dopaminergic role in consolidation, this study failed to replicate previous findings on reinforcement learning.

Reversal learning deficits in criminal offenders: Effects of psychopathy, substance use, and childhood maltreatment history.

PubMed

Dargis, Monika; Wolf, Richard C; Koenigs, Michael

2017-06-01

Deficits in reinforcement learning are presumed to underlie the impulsive and incorrigible behavior exhibited by psychopathic criminals. However, previous studies documenting reversal learning impairments in psychopathic individuals have not investigated this relationship across a continuous range of psychopathy severity, nor have they examined how reversal learning impairments relate to different psychopathic traits, such as the interpersonal-affective and lifestyle-antisocial dimensions. Furthermore, previous studies have not considered the role that childhood maltreatment and substance use may have in this specific cognitive deficit. Using a standard reversal learning task in a sample of N = 114 incarcerated male offenders, we demonstrate a significant relationship between psychopathy severity and reversal learning errors. Furthermore, we show a significant interaction between psychopathy and childhood maltreatment, but not substance use, such that individuals high in psychopathy with an extensive history of maltreatment committed the greatest number of reversal learning errors. These findings extend the current understanding of reversal learning performance among psychopathic individuals, and highlight the importance of considering childhood maltreatment when studying psychopathy.

Re-Evaluating Dissociations between Implicit and Explicit Category Learning: An Event-Related fMRI Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gureckis, Todd M.; James, Thomas W.; Nosofsky, Robert M.

2011-01-01

Recent fMRI studies have found that distinct neural systems may mediate perceptual category learning under implicit and explicit learning conditions. In these previous studies, however, different stimulus-encoding processes may have been associated with implicit versus explicit learning. The present design was aimed at decoupling the influence of…

Re-Exploring Game-Assisted Learning Research: The Perspective of Learning Theoretical Bases

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wu, Wen-Hsiung; Chiou, Wen-Bin; Kao, Hao-Yun; Hu, Chung-Hsing Alex; Huang, Sih-Han

2012-01-01

Previous literature reviews or meta-analysis based studies on game-assisted learning have provided important results, but few studies have considered the importance of learning theory, and coverage of papers after 2007 is scant. This study presents a systematic review of the literature using a meta-analysis approach to provide a more comprehensive…

A Case Study on Learning Difficulties and Corresponding Supports for Learning in cMOOCs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Li, Shuang; Tang, Qi; Zhang, Yanxia

2016-01-01

cMOOCs, which are based on connectivist learning theory, bring challenges for learners as well as opportunities for self-inquiry. Previous studies have shown that learners in cMOOCs may have difficulties learning, but these studies do not provide any in-depth, empirical explorations of student difficulties or support strategies. This paper…

The Professor-Student Learning Relationship in Higher Education: Wisdom from Students with Learning Disabilities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fox, Laurie; McNally, Jennifer Ceven

2018-01-01

This mixed-methods study addressed the professor-student learning relationship in higher education and perception of its helpfulness in learning among college students with diagnosed learning disabilities. The Relationship and Learning Questionnaire drew items from four previously researched instruments. Results identify students' preference for…

Flipping the Classroom: An Empirical Study Examining Student Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sparks, Roland J.

2013-01-01

Flipping the classroom is the latest reported teaching technique to improve student learning at all levels. Prior studies showed significant increases in learning by employing this technique. However, an examination of the previous studies indicates significant flaws in the testing procedure controls. Moreover, most studies were based on anecdotal…

The Effectiveness of the Gesture-Based Learning System (GBLS) and Its Impact on Learning Experience

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shakroum, Moamer; Wong, Kok Wai; Fung, Lance Chun Che

2016-01-01

Several studies and experiments have been conducted in recent years to examine the value and the advantage of using the Gesture-Based Learning System (GBLS).The investigation of the influence of the GBLS mode on the learning outcomes is still scarce. Most previous studies did not address more than one category of learning outcomes (cognitive,…

A Multi-Level Assessment of the Impact of Orientation Programs on Student Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mayhew, Matthew J.; Vanderlinden, Kim; Kim, Eun Kyung

2010-01-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of orientation programs on student academic and social learning. Moving beyond previous studies, we examined how participation in orientation programming affected student learning and how the impact of these programs on learning varied by organizational characteristics (i.e., institutional…

Validation of "Teaching and Learning Guiding Principles Instrument" for Malaysian Higher Learning Institutions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rahman, Nurulhuda Abd; Masuwai, Azwani; Tajudin, Nor'ain Mohd; Tek, Ong Eng; Adnan, Mazlini

2016-01-01

Purpose: This study was aimed at establishing, through the validation of the "Teaching and Learning Guiding Principles Instrument" (TLGPI), the validity and reliability of the underlying factor structure of the Teaching and Learning Guiding Principles (TLGP) generated by a previous study. Method: A survey method was used to collect data…

Gavagai Is as Gavagai Does: Learning Nouns and Verbs from Cross-Situational Statistics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Monaghan, Padraic; Mattock, Karen; Davies, Robert A. I.; Smith, Alastair C.

2015-01-01

Learning to map words onto their referents is difficult, because there are multiple possibilities for forming these mappings. Cross-situational learning studies have shown that word-object mappings can be learned across multiple situations, as can verbs when presented in a syntactic context. However, these previous studies have presented either…

The Role of Cognitive Abilities in Laparoscopic Simulator Training

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Groenier, M.; Schraagen, J. M. C.; Miedema, H. A. T.; Broeders, I. A. J. M.

2014-01-01

Learning minimally invasive surgery (MIS) differs substantially from learning open surgery and trainees differ in their ability to learn MIS. Previous studies mainly focused on the role of visuo-spatial ability (VSA) on the learning curve for MIS. In the current study, the relationship between spatial memory, perceptual speed, and general…

Changes to Students' Learning Processes Following Instruction on the Topic

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Clump, Michael A.

2005-01-01

Previous research indicates that students' learning styles, as assessed by the Inventory of Learning Processes (ILP; Schmeck, Ribich, & Ramanaiah, 1977), change during college. Additionally, prior research indicates that teaching students about their learning styles enables them to change those learning styles. The current study investigated…

Exploring the Engagement Effects of Visual Programming Language for Data Structure Courses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chang, Chih-Kai; Yang, Ya-Fei; Tsai, Yu-Tzu

2017-01-01

Previous research indicates that understanding the state of learning motivation enables researchers to deeply understand students' learning processes. Studies have shown that visual programming languages use graphical code, enabling learners to learn effectively, improve learning effectiveness, increase learning fun, and offering various other…

An Ethnographic Case Study on the Phenomena of Blended Learning Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tiell, Lauren Renae

2017-01-01

This study determined the teacher-perceived experiences within the blended learning environment to fill a void in previous data. The three research questions defined blended learning, explained strengths and challenges, and provided feedback on teaching programs. This qualitative case study used an ethnographic framework through interviews,…

Positivity effect in healthy aging in observational but not active feedback-learning.

PubMed

Bellebaum, Christian; Rustemeier, Martina; Daum, Irene

2012-01-01

The present study investigated the impact of healthy aging on the bias to learn from positive or negative performance feedback in observational and active feedback learning. In active learning, a previous study had already shown a negative learning bias in healthy seniors older than 75 years, while no bias was found for younger seniors. However, healthy aging is accompanied by a 'positivity effect', a tendency to primarily attend to stimuli with positive valence. Based on recent findings of dissociable neural mechanisms in active and observational feedback learning, the positivity effect was hypothesized to influence older participants' observational feedback learning in particular. In two separate experiments, groups of young (mean age 27) and older participants (mean age 60 years) completed an observational or active learning task designed to differentially assess positive and negative learning. Older but not younger observational learners showed a significant bias to learn better from positive than negative feedback. In accordance with previous findings, no bias was found for active learning. This pattern of results is discussed in terms of differences in the neural underpinnings of active and observational learning from performance feedback.

Consider the category: The effect of spacing depends on individual learning histories.

PubMed

Slone, Lauren K; Sandhofer, Catherine M

2017-07-01

The spacing effect refers to increased retention following learning instances that are spaced out in time compared with massed together in time. By one account, the advantages of spaced learning should be independent of task particulars and previous learning experiences given that spacing effects have been demonstrated in a variety of tasks across the lifespan. However, by another account, spaced learning should be affected by previous learning because past learning affects the memory and attention processes that form the crux of the spacing effect. The current study investigated whether individuals' learning histories affect the role of spacing in category learning. We examined the effect of spacing on 24 2- to 3.5-year-old children's learning of categories organized by properties to which children's previous learning experiences have biased them to attend (i.e., shape) and properties to which children are less biased to attend (i.e., texture and color). Spaced presentations led to significantly better learning of shape categories, but not of texture or color categories, compared with massed presentations. In addition, generalized estimating equations analyses revealed positive relations between the size of children's "shape-side" productive vocabularies and their shape category learning and between the size of children's "against-the-system" productive vocabularies and their texture category learning. These results suggest that children's attention to and memory for novel object categories are strongly related to their individual word-learning histories. Moreover, children's learned attentional biases affected the types of categories for which spacing facilitated learning. These findings highlight the importance of considering how learners' previous experiences may influence future learning. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Self-regulated learning processes of medical students during an academic learning task.

PubMed

Gandomkar, Roghayeh; Mirzazadeh, Azim; Jalili, Mohammad; Yazdani, Kamran; Fata, Ladan; Sandars, John

2016-10-01

This study was designed to identify the self-regulated learning (SRL) processes of medical students during a biomedical science learning task and to examine the associations of the SRL processes with previous performance in biomedical science examinations and subsequent performance on a learning task. A sample of 76 Year 1 medical students were recruited based on their performance in biomedical science examinations and stratified into previous high and low performers. Participants were asked to complete a biomedical science learning task. Participants' SRL processes were assessed before (self-efficacy, goal setting and strategic planning), during (metacognitive monitoring) and after (causal attributions and adaptive inferences) their completion of the task using an SRL microanalytic interview. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse the means and frequencies of SRL processes. Univariate and multiple logistic regression analyses were conducted to examine the associations of SRL processes with previous examination performance and the learning task performance. Most participants (from 88.2% to 43.4%) reported task-specific processes for SRL measures. Students who exhibited higher self-efficacy (odds ratio [OR] 1.44, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.09-1.90) and reported task-specific processes for metacognitive monitoring (OR 6.61, 95% CI 1.68-25.93) and causal attributions (OR 6.75, 95% CI 2.05-22.25) measures were more likely to be high previous performers. Multiple analysis revealed that similar SRL measures were associated with previous performance. The use of task-specific processes for causal attributions (OR 23.00, 95% CI 4.57-115.76) and adaptive inferences (OR 27.00, 95% CI 3.39-214.95) measures were associated with being a high learning task performer. In multiple analysis, only the causal attributions measure was associated with high learning task performance. Self-efficacy, metacognitive monitoring and causal attributions measures were associated positively with previous performance. Causal attributions and adaptive inferences measures were associated positively with learning task performance. These findings may inform remediation interventions in the early years of medical school training. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd and The Association for the Study of Medical Education.

Optimal and Adaptive Online Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Luo, Haipeng

2016-01-01

Online learning is one of the most important and well-established machine learning models. Generally speaking, the goal of online learning is to make a sequence of accurate predictions "on the fly," given some information of the correct answers to previous prediction tasks. Online learning has been extensively studied in recent years,…

An Examination of Learning Profiles in Physical Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shen, Bo; Chen, Ang

2007-01-01

Using the model of domain learning as a theoretical framework, the study was designed to examine the extent to which learners' initial learning profiles based on previously acquired knowledge, learning strategy application, and interest-based motivation were distinctive in learning softball. Participants were 177 sixth-graders from three middle…

Evidence for view-invariant face recognition units in unfamiliar face learning.

PubMed

Etchells, David B; Brooks, Joseph L; Johnston, Robert A

2017-05-01

Many models of face recognition incorporate the idea of a face recognition unit (FRU), an abstracted representation formed from each experience of a face which aids recognition under novel viewing conditions. Some previous studies have failed to find evidence of this FRU representation. Here, we report three experiments which investigated this theoretical construct by modifying the face learning procedure from that in previous work. During learning, one or two views of previously unfamiliar faces were shown to participants in a serial matching task. Later, participants attempted to recognize both seen and novel views of the learned faces (recognition phase). Experiment 1 tested participants' recognition of a novel view, a day after learning. Experiment 2 was identical, but tested participants on the same day as learning. Experiment 3 repeated Experiment 1, but tested participants on a novel view that was outside the rotation of those views learned. Results revealed a significant advantage, across all experiments, for recognizing a novel view when two views had been learned compared to single view learning. The observed view invariance supports the notion that an FRU representation is established during multi-view face learning under particular learning conditions.

Statistical Learning of Probabilistic Nonadjacent Dependencies by Multiple-Cue Integration

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

van den Bos, Esther; Christiansen, Morten H.; Misyak, Jennifer B.

2012-01-01

Previous studies have indicated that dependencies between nonadjacent elements can be acquired by statistical learning when each element predicts only one other element (deterministic dependencies). The present study investigates statistical learning of probabilistic nonadjacent dependencies, in which each element predicts several other elements…

A Knowledge Acquisition Approach to Developing Mindtools for Organizing and Sharing Differentiating Knowledge in a Ubiquitous Learning Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hwang, Gwo-Jen; Chu, Hui-Chun; Lin, Yu-Shih; Tsai, Chin-Chung

2011-01-01

Previous studies have reported the importance and benefits of situating students in a real-world learning environment with access to digital-world resources. At the same time, researchers have indicated the need to develop learning guidance mechanisms or tools for assisting students to learn in such a complex learning scenario. In this study, a…

Flexible explicit but rigid implicit learning in a visuomotor adaptation task

PubMed Central

Bond, Krista M.

2015-01-01

There is mounting evidence for the idea that performance in a visuomotor rotation task can be supported by both implicit and explicit forms of learning. The implicit component of learning has been well characterized in previous experiments and is thought to arise from the adaptation of an internal model driven by sensorimotor prediction errors. However, the role of explicit learning is less clear, and previous investigations aimed at characterizing the explicit component have relied on indirect measures such as dual-task manipulations, posttests, and descriptive computational models. To address this problem, we developed a new method for directly assaying explicit learning by having participants verbally report their intended aiming direction on each trial. While our previous research employing this method has demonstrated the possibility of measuring explicit learning over the course of training, it was only tested over a limited scope of manipulations common to visuomotor rotation tasks. In the present study, we sought to better characterize explicit and implicit learning over a wider range of task conditions. We tested how explicit and implicit learning change as a function of the specific visual landmarks used to probe explicit learning, the number of training targets, and the size of the rotation. We found that explicit learning was remarkably flexible, responding appropriately to task demands. In contrast, implicit learning was strikingly rigid, with each task condition producing a similar degree of implicit learning. These results suggest that explicit learning is a fundamental component of motor learning and has been overlooked or conflated in previous visuomotor tasks. PMID:25855690

The Sequence of Study Changes What Information Is Attended to, Encoded, and Remembered during Category Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carvalho, Paulo F.; Goldstone, Robert L.

2017-01-01

The sequence of study influences how we learn. Previous research has identified different sequences as potentially beneficial for learning in different contexts and with different materials. Here we investigate the mechanisms involved in inductive category learning that give rise to these sequencing effects. Across 3 experiments we show evidence…

Effects of dopamine on reinforcement learning and consolidation in Parkinson’s disease

PubMed Central

Grogan, John P; Tsivos, Demitra; Smith, Laura; Knight, Brogan E; Bogacz, Rafal; Whone, Alan; Coulthard, Elizabeth J

2017-01-01

Emerging evidence suggests that dopamine may modulate learning and memory with important implications for understanding the neurobiology of memory and future therapeutic targeting. An influential hypothesis posits that dopamine biases reinforcement learning. More recent data also suggest an influence during both consolidation and retrieval. Eighteen Parkinson’s disease patients learned through feedback ON or OFF medication, with memory tested 24 hr later ON or OFF medication (4 conditions, within-subjects design with matched healthy control group). Patients OFF medication during learning decreased in memory accuracy over the following 24 hr. In contrast to previous studies, however, dopaminergic medication during learning and testing did not affect expression of positive or negative reinforcement. Two further experiments were run without the 24 hr delay, but they too failed to reproduce effects of dopaminergic medication on reinforcement learning. While supportive of a dopaminergic role in consolidation, this study failed to replicate previous findings on reinforcement learning. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.26801.001 PMID:28691905

Learning from Texts: Activation of Information from Previous Texts during Reading

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Beker, Katinka; Jolles, Dietsje; Lorch, Robert F., Jr.; van den Broek, Paul

2016-01-01

Learning often involves integration of information from multiple texts. The aim of the current study was to determine whether relevant information from previously read texts is spontaneously activated during reading, allowing for integration between texts (experiment 1 and 2), and whether this process is related to the representation of the texts…

Transfer of dimensional associability in human contingency learning.

PubMed

Kattner, Florian; Green, C Shawn

2016-01-01

Several studies have demonstrated processing advantages for stimuli that were experienced to be reliable predictors of an outcome relative to other stimuli. The present study tested whether such increases in associability apply at the level of entire stimulus dimensions (as suggested by Sutherland & Mackintosh, 1971). In 4 experiments, participants had to learn associations between Gabor gratings and particular responses. In a first experiment, some gratings were more predictive of the response than other gratings, whereas in 3 subsequent experiments, one stimulus dimension (i.e., either the orientation or spatial frequency of the grating) was more predictive than the other dimension. In contrast to the learned predictiveness of individual gratings (Experiment 1), dimensional predictiveness did not affect the subsequent rate of learning (Experiments 2 and 3), suggesting changes in the associability of specific stimuli, but not of stimulus dimensions. Moreover, greater transfer of predictiveness was found in all experiments when particular stimulus values of the test discrimination did not lie between the previously relevant stimuli. In Experiment 4, an increased learning rate was found for discriminations along the previously predictive dimension compared with a dimension that was indicative of uncertainty, but again the transfer was more pronounced for specific stimuli that were compatible with the previously learned discrimination. Taken together, the results imply that a transfer of associability typically applies to individual stimuli and depends on how the transfer stimuli relate to those stimuli that individuals previously learned to attend. (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Hippocampus NMDA receptors selectively mediate latent extinction of place learning.

PubMed

Goodman, Jarid; Gabriele, Amanda; Packard, Mark G

2016-09-01

Extinction of maze learning may be achieved with or without the animal performing the previously acquired response. In typical "response extinction," animals are given the opportunity to make the previously acquired approach response toward the goal location of the maze without reinforcement. In "latent extinction," animals are not given the opportunity to make the previously acquired response and instead are confined to the previous goal location without reinforcement. Previous evidence indicates that the effectiveness of these protocols may depend on the type of memory being extinguished. Thus, one aim of the present study was to further examine the effectiveness of response and latent extinction protocols across dorsolateral striatum (DLS)-dependent response learning and hippocampus-dependent place learning tasks. In addition, previous neural inactivation experiments indicate a selective role for the hippocampus in latent extinction, but have not investigated the precise neurotransmitter mechanisms involved. Thus, the present study also examined whether latent extinction of place learning might depend on NMDA receptor activity in the hippocampus. In experiment 1, adult male Long-Evans rats were trained in a response learning task in a water plus-maze, in which animals were reinforced to make a consistent body-turn response to reach an invisible escape platform. Results indicated that response extinction, but not latent extinction, was effective at extinguishing memory in the response learning task. In experiment 2, rats were trained in a place learning task, in which animals were reinforced to approach a consistent spatial location containing the hidden escape platform. In experiment 2, animals also received intra-hippocampal infusions of the NMDA receptor antagonist 2-amino-5-phosphopentanoic acid (AP5; 5.0 or 7.5 ug/0.5 µg) or saline vehicle immediately before response or latent extinction training. Results indicated that both extinction protocols were effective at extinguishing memory in the place learning task. In addition, intra-hippocampal AP5 (7.5 µg) impaired latent extinction, but not response extinction, suggesting that hippocampal NMDA receptors are selectively involved in latent extinction. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

A Resource-Oriented Functional Approach to English Language Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Li, Jia

2018-01-01

This article reports on a case study that investigates the learning preferences and strategies of Chinese students learning English as a second language (ESL) in Canadian school settings. It focuses on the interaction between second language (L2) learning methods that the students have adopted from their previous learning experience in China and…

Theorising Teaching and Learning: Pre-Service Teachers' Theoretical Awareness of Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brante, Göran; Holmqvist Olander, Mona; Holmquist, Per-Ola; Palla, Marta

2015-01-01

We examine pre-service teachers' theoretical learning during one five-week training module, and their educators' learning about better lecture design to foster student learning. The study is iterative: interventions (one per group) were implemented sequentially in student groups A-C, the results of the previous intervention serving as the baseline…

Dentists' attitude to provision of care for people with learning disabilities in Udaipur, India.

PubMed

Nagarajappa, Ramesh; Tak, Mridula; Sharda, Archana J; Asawa, Kailash; Jalihal, Sagar; Kakatkar, Gauri

2013-03-01

This study determines and compares the attitudes of dentists to the provision of care for people with learning disabilities according to gender, qualification, previous experience of treating patients with learning disabilities and work experience of dentists. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 247 dentists (166 men and 81 women) using a pretested structured questionnaire. This questionnaire assessed the respondent's attitude towards learning-disabled patients in five categories: beliefs about treating them, their capabilities, discrimination against these patients, their social behaviour and quality of care to be received by these patients. The information on dentist's gender, qualification, work experience and previous experience of treating patients with learning disabilities was also collected through questionnaire. The Student's t-test and anova test were used for statistical analysis. The mean attitude score was found to be 71.13 ± 8.97. A statistically significant difference was found in the mean attitude scores of dentists with work experience (p = 0.000). Study subjects with postgraduate qualification and previous experience of treating patients with learning disabilities had significantly greater mean attitude score than their counterparts (p = 0.000). The overall attitude of dentists towards provision of care for people with learning disabilities was favourable, which increased with higher qualification and past experience. © 2012 The Authors. Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences © 2012 Nordic College of Caring Science.

Blended Learning for College Students with English Reading Difficulties

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yang, Yu-Fen

2012-01-01

Most previous studies in blended learning simply involved on-site and online instruction without considering students' control of their own learning in these two different modalities. The purpose of this study was to investigate how college students with English reading difficulties integrate their conceptions of and approaches to blended learning…

From Preface to Practice: A Narrative Study of Women Learning to Teach Mathematics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stoehr, Kathleen Jablon

2014-01-01

My dissertation research explored the experiences of mathematics anxieties in women elementary preservice teachers while learning mathematics as K-12 students and while learning to teach mathematics. Previous studies conducted in mathematics teacher education have emphasized the importance of preservice teachers' mathematical knowledge for…

Project-Based Learning and Student Knowledge Construction during Asynchronous Online Discussion

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Koh, Joyce Hwee Ling; Herring, Susan C.; Hew, Khe Foon

2010-01-01

Project-based learning engages students in problem solving through artefact design. However, previous studies of online project-based learning have focused primarily on the dynamics of online collaboration; students' knowledge construction throughout this process has not been examined thoroughly. This case study analyzed the relationship between…

The Study Circle--For Learning and Democracy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bjerkaker, Sturla

2006-01-01

The study circle is described as a democratic and emancipatory method for learning that can be summarized in three words: learning by sharing. This method offers opportunities and possibilities for all participants to contribute their previous knowledge and experiences through open and democratic dialogue. As a method for "liberal adult…

Computer-Assisted Second Language Vocabulary Learning in a Paired-Associate Paradigm: A Critical Investigation of Flashcard Software

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nakata, Tatsuya

2011-01-01

The present study aims to conduct a comprehensive investigation of flashcard software for learning vocabulary in a second language. Nine flashcard programs were analysed using 17 criteria derived from previous studies on flashcard learning as well as paired-associate learning. Results suggest that in general, most programs have been developed in a…

Is Mobile-Assisted Language Learning Really Useful? An Examination of Recall Automatization and Learner Autonomy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sato, Takeshi; Murase, Fumiko; Burden, Tyler

2015-01-01

The aim of this study is to examine the advantages of Mobile-Assisted Language Learning (MALL), especially vocabulary learning of English as a foreign or second language (L2) in terms of the two strands: automatization and learner autonomy. Previous studies articulate that technology-enhanced L2 learning could bring about some positive effects.…

[Effect of object consistency in a spatial contextual cueing paradigm].

PubMed

Takeda, Yuji

2008-04-01

Previous studies demonstrated that attention can be quickly guided to a target location in a visual search task when the spatial configurations of search items and/or the object identities were repeated in the previous trials. This phenomenon is termed contextual cueing. Recently, it was reported that spatial configuration learning and object identity learning occurred independently, when novel contours were used as search items. The present study examined whether this learning occurred independently even when the search items were meaningful. The results showed that the contextual cueing effect was observed even if the relationships between the spatial locations and object identities were jumbled (Experiment 1). However, it disappeared when the search items were changed into geometric patterns (Experiment 2). These results suggest that the spatial configuration can be learned independent of the object identities; however, the use of the learned configuration is restricted by the learning situations.

What Did They Learn in School Today? A Method for Exploring Aspects of Learning in Physical Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Quennerstedt, Mikael; Annerstedt, Claes; Barker, Dean; Karlefors, Inger; Larsson, Håkan; Redelius, Karin; Öhman, Marie

2014-01-01

This paper outlines a method for exploring learning in educational practice. The suggested method combines an explicit learning theory with robust methodological steps in order to explore aspects of learning in school physical education. The design of the study is based on sociocultural learning theory, and the approach adds to previous research…

Designing algorithm visualization on mobile platform: The proposed guidelines

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Supli, A. A.; Shiratuddin, N.

2017-09-01

This paper entails an ongoing study about the design guidelines of algorithm visualization (AV) on mobile platform, helping students learning data structures and algorithm (DSA) subject effectively. Our previous review indicated that design guidelines of AV on mobile platform are still few. Mostly, previous guidelines of AV are developed for AV on desktop and website platform. In fact, mobile learning has been proved to enhance engagement in learning circumstances, and thus effect student's performance. In addition, the researchers highly recommend including UI design and Interactivity in designing effective AV system. However, the discussions of these two aspects in previous AV design guidelines are not comprehensive. The UI design in this paper describes the arrangement of AV features in mobile environment, whereas interactivity is about the active learning strategy features based on learning experiences (how to engage learners). Thus, this study main objective is to propose design guidelines of AV on mobile platform (AVOMP) that entails comprehensively UI design and interactivity aspects. These guidelines are developed through content analysis and comparative analysis from various related studies. These guidelines are useful for AV designers to help them constructing AVOMP for various topics on DSA.

Use of Analogy in Learning Physics: The Role of Representations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Podolefsky, Noah S.; Finkelstein, Naoh D.

2006-01-01

Previous studies have demonstrated that analogies can promote student learning in physics and can be productively taught to students to support their learning, under certain conditions. We build on these studies to explore the use of analogy by students in a large introductory college physics course. In the first large-scale study of its kind, we…

Comparing Local and International Chinese Students' English Language Learning Strategies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Anthony, Margreat Aloysious; Ganesen, Sree Nithya

2012-01-01

According to Horwitz (1987) learners' belief about language learning are influenced by previous language learning experiences as well as cultural background. This study examined the English Language Learning Strategies between local and international Chinese students who share the same cultural background but have been exposed to different…

The Ontogeny of Learned Inhibition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Meyer, Heidi C.; Bucci, David J.

2014-01-01

Previous studies have examined the maturation of learning and memory abilities during early stages of development. By comparison, much less is known about the ontogeny of learning and memory during later stages of development, including adolescence. In Experiment 1, we tested the ability of adolescent and adult rats to learn a Pavlovian negative…

Finding the Intersection of the Learning Organization and Learning Transfer: The Significance of Leadership

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kim, Jun Hee; Callahan, Jamie L.

2013-01-01

Purpose: This article aims to develop a conceptual framework delineating the key dimension of the learning organization which significantly influences learning transfer. Design/methodology/approach: The conceptual framework was developed by analyzing previous studies and synthesizing the results associated with the following four relationships:…

Do Language Proficiency Levels Correspond to Language Learning Strategy Adoption?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gharbavi, Abdullah; Mousavi, Seyyed Ahmad

2012-01-01

The primary focus of research on employment of language learning strategies has been on identification of adoption of different learning strategies. However, the relationship between language learning strategies and proficiency levels was ignored in previous research. The present study was undertaken to find out whether there are any relationship…

A Quantitative Study of the Summer Slide in Science of Elementary School Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Donovan, Giovanna Guadagno

2009-01-01

Concerned parents and educators agree children learn best when the rhythm of instruction is continuous with practice and application of skills. Long summer breaks may interrupt the flow of formal school learning leading some students to forget previous instruction. A review of the previous school work is generally required in the fall upon return…

Learning during processing Word learning doesn’t wait for word recognition to finish

PubMed Central

Apfelbaum, Keith S.; McMurray, Bob

2017-01-01

Previous research on associative learning has uncovered detailed aspects of the process, including what types of things are learned, how they are learned, and where in the brain such learning occurs. However, perceptual processes, such as stimulus recognition and identification, take time to unfold. Previous studies of learning have not addressed when, during the course of these dynamic recognition processes, learned representations are formed and updated. If learned representations are formed and updated while recognition is ongoing, the result of learning may incorporate spurious, partial information. For example, during word recognition, words take time to be identified, and competing words are often active in parallel. If learning proceeds before this competition resolves, representations may be influenced by the preliminary activations present at the time of learning. In three experiments using word learning as a model domain, we provide evidence that learning reflects the ongoing dynamics of auditory and visual processing during a learning event. These results show that learning can occur before stimulus recognition processes are complete; learning does not wait for ongoing perceptual processing to complete. PMID:27471082

Using the Contextual Model of Learning to Understand Visitor Learning from a Science Center Exhibition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Falk, John; Storksdieck, Martin

2005-01-01

Falk and Dierking's Contextual Model of Learning was used as a theoretical construct for investigating learning within a free-choice setting. A review of previous research identified key variables fundamental to free-choice science learning. The study sought to answer two questions: (1) How do specific independent variables individually contribute…

Individual Factors and Successful Learning in a Hybrid Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Arispe, Kelly; Blake, Robert J.

2012-01-01

What personality factors make for a successful hybrid L2 learning experience? While previous studies have examined online learning in comparative terms (i.e. Which format is better: in class or hybrid?), this study examines certain personality and cognitive factors that might define the ideal hybrid language learner. All informants studied…

A Mixed Method Case Study on Learner Engagement in e-Learning Professional Training

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zhao, Jane Yanfeng

2014-01-01

Previous research showed that learners' reluctance in participating in e-Learning training is a major obstacle in achieving training objectives. This study focused on learners' e-Learning engagement in professional training in the chapter of the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD). The participants were 21 chapter members.…

Embodied L2 Construction Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eskildsen, Søren W.; Wagner, Johannes

2015-01-01

This study uses conversation analysis (CA) to investigate the coupling of specific linguistic items with specific gestures in second language (L2) learning over time. In particular, we are interested in how gestures accompany learning of new vocabulary. CA-informed studies of gesture have previously shown the importance of embodiment in L2 use and…

From Neurons to Brainpower: Cognitive Neuroscience and Brain-Based Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Phillips, Janet M.

2005-01-01

We have learned more about the brain in the past five years than the previous 100. Neuroimaging, lesion studies, and animal studies have revealed the intricate inner workings of the brain and learning. Synaptogenesis, pruning, sensitive periods, and plasticity have all become accepted concepts of cognitive neuroscience that are now being applied…

Supporting Students' Learning in the Domain of Computer Science

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gasparinatou, Alexandra; Grigoriadou, Maria

2011-01-01

Previous studies have shown that students with low knowledge understand and learn better from more cohesive texts, whereas high-knowledge students have been shown to learn better from texts of lower cohesion. This study examines whether high-knowledge readers in computer science benefit from a text of low cohesion. Undergraduate students (n = 65)…

Electrical Stimulation of Broca's Area Enhances Implicit Learning of an Artificial Grammar

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

de Vries, Meinou H.; Barth, Andre C. R.; Maiworm, Sandra; Knecht, Stefan; Zwitserlood, Pienie; Floel, Agnes

2010-01-01

Artificial grammar learning constitutes a well-established model for the acquisition of grammatical knowledge in a natural setting. Previous neuroimaging studies demonstrated that Broca's area (left BA 44/45) is similarly activated by natural syntactic processing and artificial grammar learning. The current study was conducted to investigate the…

Measuring Self-Regulation in Self-Paced Open and Distance Learning Environments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kocdar, Serpil; Karadeniz, Abdulkadir; Bozkurt, Aras; Buyuk, Koksal

2018-01-01

Previous studies have described many scales for measuring self-regulation; however, no scale has been developed specifically for self-paced open and distance learning environments. Therefore, the aim of this study is to develop a scale for determining the self-regulated learning skills of distance learners in selfpaced open and distance learning…

Contributions of Medial Temporal Lobe and Striatal Memory Systems to Learning and Retrieving Overlapping Spatial Memories

PubMed Central

Brown, Thackery I.; Stern, Chantal E.

2014-01-01

Many life experiences share information with other memories. In order to make decisions based on overlapping memories, we need to distinguish between experiences to determine the appropriate behavior for the current situation. Previous work suggests that the medial temporal lobe (MTL) and medial caudate interact to support the retrieval of overlapping navigational memories in different contexts. The present study used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in humans to test the prediction that the MTL and medial caudate play complementary roles in learning novel mazes that cross paths with, and must be distinguished from, previously learned routes. During fMRI scanning, participants navigated virtual routes that were well learned from prior training while also learning new mazes. Critically, some routes learned during scanning shared hallways with those learned during pre-scan training. Overlap between mazes required participants to use contextual cues to select between alternative behaviors. Results demonstrated parahippocampal cortex activity specific for novel spatial cues that distinguish between overlapping routes. The hippocampus and medial caudate were active for learning overlapping spatial memories, and increased their activity for previously learned routes when they became context dependent. Our findings provide novel evidence that the MTL and medial caudate play complementary roles in the learning, updating, and execution of context-dependent navigational behaviors. PMID:23448868

Analysis of Learning Tools in the study of Developmental of Interactive Multimedia Based Physic Learning Charged in Problem Solving

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Manurung, Sondang; Demonta Pangabean, Deo

2017-05-01

The main purpose of this study is to produce needs analysis, literature review, and learning tools in the study of developmental of interactive multimedia based physic learning charged in problem solving to improve thinking ability of physic prospective student. The first-year result of the study is: result of the draft based on a needs analysis of the facts on the ground, the conditions of existing learning and literature studies. Following the design of devices and instruments performed as well the development of media. Result of the second study is physics learning device -based interactive multimedia charged problem solving in the form of textbooks and scientific publications. Previous learning models tested in a limited sample, then in the evaluation and repair. Besides, the product of research has an economic value on the grounds: (1) a virtual laboratory to offer this research provides a solution purchases physics laboratory equipment is expensive; (2) address the shortage of teachers of physics in remote areas as a learning tool can be accessed offline and online; (3). reducing material or consumables as tutorials can be done online; Targeted research is the first year: i.e story board learning physics that have been scanned in a web form CD (compact disk) and the interactive multimedia of gas Kinetic Theory concept. This draft is based on a needs analysis of the facts on the ground, the existing learning conditions, and literature studies. Previous learning models tested in a limited sample, then in the evaluation and repair.

A mediation analysis of achievement motives, goals, learning strategies, and academic achievement.

PubMed

Diseth, Age; Kobbeltvedt, Therese

2010-12-01

Previous research is inconclusive regarding antecedents and consequences of achievement goals, and there is a need for more research in order to examine the joint effects of different types of motives and learning strategies as predictors of academic achievement. To investigate the relationship between achievement motives, achievement goals, learning strategies (deep, surface, and strategic), and academic achievement in a hierarchical model. Participants were 229 undergraduate students (mean age: 21.2 years) of psychology and economics at the University of Bergen, Norway. Variables were measured by means of items from the Achievement Motives Scale (AMS), the Approaches and Study Skills Inventory for Students, and an achievement goal scale. Correlation analysis showed that academic achievement (examination grade) was positively correlated with performance-approach goal, mastery goal, and strategic learning strategies, and negatively correlated with performance-avoidance goal and surface learning strategy. A path analysis (structural equation model) showed that achievement goals were mediators between achievement motives and learning strategies, and that strategic learning strategies mediated the relationship between achievement goals and academic achievement. This study integrated previous findings from several studies and provided new evidence on the direct and indirect effects of different types of motives and learning strategies as predictors of academic achievement.

User Experience Design of History Game: An Analysis Review and Evaluation Study for Malaysia Context

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wong, Seng Yue; Ghavifekr, Simin

2018-01-01

User experience (UX) and user interface design of an educational game are important in enhancing and sustaining the utilisation of Game Based Learning (GBL) in learning history. Thus, this article provides a detailed literature review on history learning problems, as well as previous studies on user experience in game design. Future studies on…

The Implications of Null Patterns and Output Unit Activation Functions on Simulation Studies of Learning: A Case Study of Patterning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yaremchuk, V.; Willson, L.R.; Spetch, M.L.; Dawson, M.R.W.

2005-01-01

Animal learning researchers have argued that one example of a linearly nonseparable problem is negative patterning, and therefore they have used more complicated multilayer networks to study this kind of discriminant learning. However, it is shown in this paper that previous attempts to define negative patterning problems to artificial neural…

Relationships between learning strategies, stress, and study success among first-year veterinary students during an educational transition phase.

PubMed

Laakkonen, Juha; Nevgi, Anne

2014-01-01

We investigated the relationships between stress, learning strategies, and study success among first-year veterinary students at the very beginning of their veterinary studies. The study was carried out during the first course on macroscopic anatomy (osteology), which students have in the past found to be exceptionally stressful. Students (N=45) completed a questionnaire concerning their self-reported views on stress and learning strategies, which were compared with their self-reported written-test scores. Participants who had previously gained university credits did not have significantly better test scores, but they achieved the learning goals with significantly less stress than other participants. Previous experience of university study helped students not only to adjust to a new type of course content and to achieve the learning goal of the osteology course, but also to cope with the stress experienced from taking concurrently running courses. Of the respondents who specifically named factors relating to self-regulation and modification of their learning strategy, all had gained prior credits. These students were able to use their study time efficiently and adjust their schedules according to the course demands.

The Relationship between Motivation, Learning Approaches, Academic Performance and Time Spent

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Everaert, Patricia; Opdecam, Evelien; Maussen, Sophie

2017-01-01

Previous literature calls for further investigation in terms of precedents and consequences of learning approaches (deep learning and surface learning). Motivation as precedent and time spent and academic performance as consequences are addressed in this paper. The study is administered in a first-year undergraduate course. Results show that the…

Faculty and Student Attitudes about Transfer of Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lightner, Robin; Benander, Ruth; Kramer, Eugene F.

2008-01-01

Transfer of learning is using previous knowledge in novel contexts. While this is a basic assumption of the educational process, students may not always perceive all the options for using what they have learned in different, novel situations. Within the framework of transfer of learning, this study outlines an attitudinal survey concerning faculty…

Psycho-Physical Theatre Practice as Embodied Learning for Young People with Learning Disabilities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Trowsdale, Jo; Hayhow, Richard

2015-01-01

In a dominant Western tradition that reveres cerebral learning, embodied learning approaches have received limited research attention--and less in education than other disciplines. This paper draws on previously reported empirical data from a five-year Creative Partnerships study to argue that psycho-physical theatre practice can promote embodied…

Assessing Learning in a Sociology Department: What Do Students Say That They Learn?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bandini, Julia; Shostak, Sara; Cunningham, David; Cadge, Wendy

2016-01-01

Assessment plays a central role in evaluating and strengthening student learning in higher education, and sociology departments, in particular, have increasingly become interested in engaging in assessment activities to better understand students' learning. This qualitative study builds on previous research on assessment by asking what students in…

Promoting Student-Centered Active Learning in Lectures with a Personal Response System

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gauci, Sally A.; Dantas, Arianne M.; Williams, David A.; Kemm, Robert E.

2009-01-01

We investigated whether an active learning approach, facilitated by a personal response system, would lead to improved student engagement and learning outcomes in large-group physiology lectures for undergraduate science students. We focused on encouraging students' active learning in lectures, whereas previous studies have made more use of…

Unraveling Students' Interaction around a Tangible Interface Using Multimodal Learning Analytics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schneider, Bertrand; Blikstein, Paulo

2015-01-01

In this paper, we describe multimodal learning analytics (MMLA) techniques to analyze data collected around an interactive learning environment. In a previous study (Schneider & Blikstein, submitted), we designed and evaluated a Tangible User Interface (TUI) where dyads of students were asked to learn about the human hearing system by…

Exploring First-Year Undergraduate Medical Students' Self-Directed Learning Readiness to Physiology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Abraham, Reem Rachel; Fisher, Murray; Kamath, Asha; Izzati, T. Aizan; Nabila, Saidatul; Atikah, Nik Nur

2011-01-01

Medical students are expected to possess self-directed learning skills to pursue lifelong learning. Previous studies have reported that the readiness for self-directed learning depends on personal attributes as well as the curriculum followed in institutions. Melaka Manipal Medical College of Manipal University (Karnataka, India) offers a Bachelor…

Poorer Phonetic Perceivers Show Greater Benefit in Phonetic-Phonological Speech Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ingvalson, Erin M.; Barr, Allison M.; Wong, Patrick C. M.

2013-01-01

Purpose: Previous research has demonstrated that native English speakers can learn lexical tones in word context (pitch-to-word learning), to an extent. However, learning success depends on learners' pre-training sensitivity to pitch patterns. The aim of this study was to determine whether lexical pitch-pattern training given before lexical…

Student Teacher Experiences in a Service-Learning Project for Children with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wilkinson, Shawn; Harvey, William J.; Bloom, Gordon A.; Joober, Ridha; Grizenko, Natalie

2013-01-01

Background: Service learning (SL) is a collaborative relationship between university professors, their students, and community partners who combine academic learning and active participation to address community issues. Previous studies in SL and physical education teacher education (PETE) found SL projects increased opportunities for learning and…

Learner Characteristic Based Learning Effort Curve Mode: The Core Mechanism on Developing Personalized Adaptive E-Learning Platform

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hsu, Pi-Shan

2012-01-01

This study aims to develop the core mechanism for realizing the development of personalized adaptive e-learning platform, which is based on the previous learning effort curve research and takes into account the learner characteristics of learning style and self-efficacy. 125 university students from Taiwan are classified into 16 groups according…

Tonic or Phasic Stimulation of Dopaminergic Projections to Prefrontal Cortex Causes Mice to Maintain or Deviate from Previously Learned Behavioral Strategies

PubMed Central

Ellwood, Ian T.; Patel, Tosha; Wadia, Varun; Lee, Anthony T.; Liptak, Alayna T.

2017-01-01

Dopamine neurons in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) encode reward prediction errors and can drive reinforcement learning through their projections to striatum, but much less is known about their projections to prefrontal cortex (PFC). Here, we studied these projections and observed phasic VTA–PFC fiber photometry signals after the delivery of rewards. Next, we studied how optogenetic stimulation of these projections affects behavior using conditioned place preference and a task in which mice learn associations between cues and food rewards and then use those associations to make choices. Neither phasic nor tonic stimulation of dopaminergic VTA–PFC projections elicited place preference. Furthermore, substituting phasic VTA–PFC stimulation for food rewards was not sufficient to reinforce new cue–reward associations nor maintain previously learned ones. However, the same patterns of stimulation that failed to reinforce place preference or cue–reward associations were able to modify behavior in other ways. First, continuous tonic stimulation maintained previously learned cue–reward associations even after they ceased being valid. Second, delivering phasic stimulation either continuously or after choices not previously associated with reward induced mice to make choices that deviated from previously learned associations. In summary, despite the fact that dopaminergic VTA–PFC projections exhibit phasic increases in activity that are time locked to the delivery of rewards, phasic activation of these projections does not necessarily reinforce specific actions. Rather, dopaminergic VTA–PFC activity can control whether mice maintain or deviate from previously learned cue–reward associations. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Dopaminergic inputs from ventral tegmental area (VTA) to striatum encode reward prediction errors and reinforce specific actions; however, it is currently unknown whether dopaminergic inputs to prefrontal cortex (PFC) play similar or distinct roles. Here, we used bulk Ca2+ imaging to show that unexpected rewards or reward-predicting cues elicit phasic increases in the activity of dopaminergic VTA–PFC fibers. However, in multiple behavioral paradigms, we failed to observe reinforcing effects after stimulation of these fibers. In these same experiments, we did find that tonic or phasic patterns of stimulation caused mice to maintain or deviate from previously learned cue–reward associations, respectively. Therefore, although they may exhibit similar patterns of activity, dopaminergic inputs to striatum and PFC can elicit divergent behavioral effects. PMID:28739583

Self-testing produces superior recall of both familiar and unfamiliar muscle information.

PubMed

Dobson, John L; Linderholm, Tracy; Yarbrough, Mary Beth

2015-12-01

Dozens of studies have found learning strategies based on the "testing effect" promote greater recall than those that rely solely on reading; however, the advantages of testing are often only observed after a delay (e.g., 2-7 days later). In contrast, our research, which has focused on kinesiology students learning kinesiology information that is generally familiar to them, has consistently demonstrated that testing-based strategies produce greater recall both immediately and after a delay. In an attempt to understand the discrepancies in the literature, the purpose of the present study was to determine if the time-related advantages of a testing-based learning strategy vary with one's familiarity with the to-be-learned information. Participants used both read-only and testing-based strategies to repeatedly study three different sets of information: 1) previously studied human muscle information (familiar information), 2) a mix of previously studied and previously unstudied human muscle information (mixed information), and 3) previously unstudied muscle information that is unique to sharks (unfamiliar information). Learning was evaluated via free recall assessments administered immediately after studying and again after a 1-wk delay and a 3-wk delay. Across those three assessments, the read-only strategy resulted in mean scores of 29.26 ± 1.43, 15.17 ± 1.29, and 5.33 ± 0.77 for the familiar, mixed, and unfamiliar information, respectively, whereas the testing-based strategy produced scores of 34.57 ± 1.58, 16.90 ± 1.31, and 8.33 ± 0.95, respectively. The results indicate that the testing-based strategy produced greater recall immediately and up through the 3-wk delay regardless of the participants' level of familiarity with the muscle information. Copyright © 2015 The American Physiological Society.

Functional Specialization within the Striatum along Both the Dorsal/Ventral and Anterior/Posterior Axes during Associative Learning via Reward and Punishment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mattfeld, Aaron T.; Gluck, Mark A.; Stark, Craig E. L.

2011-01-01

The goal of the present study was to elucidate the role of the human striatum in learning via reward and punishment during an associative learning task. Previous studies have identified the striatum as a critical component in the neural circuitry of reward-related learning. It remains unclear, however, under what task conditions, and to what…

Effects of Annotations and Homework on Learning Achievement: An Empirical Study of Scratch Programming Pedagogy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Su, Addison Y. S.; Huang, Chester S. J.; Yang, Stephen J. H.; Ding, T. J.; Hsieh, Y. Z.

2015-01-01

In Taiwan elementary schools, Scratch programming has been taught for more than four years. Previous studies have shown that personal annotations is a useful learning method that improve learning performance. An annotation-based Scratch programming (ASP) system provides for the creation, share, and review of annotations and homework solutions in…

The Emergence of a Learning Progression in Middle School Chemistry

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Johnson, Philip; Tymms, Peter

2011-01-01

Previously, a small scale, interview-based, 3-year longitudinal study (ages 11-14) in one school had suggested a learning progression related to the concept of a substance. This article presents the results of a large-scale, cross-sectional study which used Rasch modeling to test the hypothesis of the learning progression. Data were collected from…

Experiences of Elementary Music Teachers in a Subject-Specific Professional Learning Community

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Anderson, Amy K.

2013-01-01

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to identify ways in which teachers' participation in a subject-specific music professional learning community (PLC) impacts instruction and assessment of musical skills. Previous studies have provided evidence of PLCs' impact on teaching and student learning in many subject areas, but little has been…

Transformational Processes and Learner Outcomes for Online Learning: An Activity Theory Case Study of Spanish Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Terantino, Joseph M.

2009-01-01

The purpose of this exploratory study was to examine the actions of online language learners from an activity theoretical perspective. It also attempted to explain how the students' learning outcomes evolved from their online learning experiences. This explanation placed an emphasis on the learners' previous experiences, defining their activity…

A Knowledge Engineering Approach to Developing Educational Computer Games for Improving Students' Differentiating Knowledge

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hwang, Gwo-Jen; Sung, Han-Yu; Hung, Chun-Ming; Yang, Li-Hsueh; Huang, Iwen

2013-01-01

Educational computer games have been recognized as being a promising approach for motivating students to learn. Nevertheless, previous studies have shown that without proper learning strategies or supportive models, the learning achievement of students might not be as good as expected. In this study, a knowledge engineering approach is proposed…

Treatment of Anomia Using Errorless Versus Errorful Learning: Are Frontal Executive Skills and Feedback Important?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fillingham, Joanne; Sage, Karen; Ralph, Matthew Lambon

2005-01-01

Background: Studies from the amnesia literature suggest that errorless learning can produce superior results to errorful learning. However, it was found in a previous investigation by the present authors that errorless and errorful therapy produced equivalent results for patients with aphasic word-finding difficulties. A study in the academic…

Investigating Students' Perceived Satisfaction, Behavioral Intention, and Effectiveness of E-Learning: A Case Study of the Blackboard System

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liaw, S. S.

2008-01-01

Although the benefits of e-learning have been discussed in various previous studies; it is a critical issue of better understanding the reasons why some learners are dissatisfied with the e-learning experience. Therefore, this research investigates learners' satisfaction, behavioral intentions, and the effectiveness of the Blackboard e-learning…

The Predictive Effects of Motivation toward Learning Science on TIMSS Grade 8 Students' Science Achievement: A Comparative Study between Malaysia and Singapore

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lay, Yoon Fah; Chandrasegaran, A. L.

2016-01-01

TIMSS routinely presents very powerful evidence showing that students with more positive motivation toward learning science have substantially higher achievement. The results from TIMSS 2011 are consistent with previous assessments. This study explored the predictive effects of motivation toward learning science on science achievement among…

Diffusion of an e-Portfolio to Assist in the Self-Directed Learning of Physicians: An Exploratory Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Goliath, Cheryl Lynn

2009-01-01

Professional societies in the field of medicine have recommended that the traditional model for lifelong medical learning, which had previously focused on attendance at weeklong didactic continuing medical education (CME) courses, should be replaced by individualized study. Self-directed and practice-linked learning are well accepted in principle,…

Context Fear Learning Specifically Activates Distinct Populations of Neurons in Amygdala and Hypothalamus

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Trogrlic, Lidia; Wilson, Yvette M.; Newman, Andrew G.; Murphy, Mark

2011-01-01

The identity and distribution of neurons that are involved in any learning or memory event is not known. In previous studies, we identified a discrete population of neurons in the lateral amygdala that show learning-specific activation of a c-"fos"-regulated transgene following context fear conditioning. Here, we have extended these studies to…

Service Learning within a Secondary Math and Science Teacher Education Program: Preservice MAT Teachers' Perspectives

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Borgerding, Lisa A.; Caniglia, Joanne

2017-01-01

Previous literature suggests that service learning may offer new opportunities to support the development of preservice science and math teachers, but few studies examine service learning beyond isolated teaching events. In this qualitative study, we attempt to improve upon this literature by following Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) students'…

Learning in First-Year Biology: Approaches of Distance and On-Campus Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Quinn, Frances Catherine

2011-01-01

This paper aims to extend previous research into learning of tertiary biology, by exploring the learning approaches adopted by two groups of students studying the same first-year biology topic in either on-campus or off-campus "distance" modes. The research involved 302 participants, who responded to a topic-specific version of the Study Process…

Hippocampal participation in navigational map learning in young homing pigeons is dependent on training experience.

PubMed

Ioalè, P; Gagliardo, A; Bingman, V P

2000-02-01

The homing pigeon navigational map is perhaps one of the most striking examples of a naturally occurring spatial representation of the environment used to guide navigation. In a previous study, it was found that hippocampal lesions thoroughly disrupt the ability of young homing pigeons held in an outdoor aviary to learn a navigational map. However, since that study an accumulation of anecdotal data has hinted that hippocampal-lesioned young pigeons allowed to fly during their first summer could learn a navigational map. In the present study, young control and hippocampal-lesioned homing pigeons were either held in an outdoor aviary or allowed to fly during the time of navigational map learning. At the end of their first summer, the birds were experimentally released to test for navigational map learning. Independent of training experience, control pigeons oriented homeward during the experimental releases demonstrating that they learned a navigational map. Surprisingly, while the aviary-held hippocampal-lesioned pigeons failed to learn a navigational map as reported previously, hippocampal-lesioned birds allowed flight experience learned a navigational map indistinguishable from the two control groups. A subsequent experiment revealed that the navigational map learned by the three groups was based on atmospheric odours. The results demonstrate that hippocampal participation in navigational map learning depends on the type of experience a young bird pigeon has, and presumably, the type of navigational map learned.

The Rubber Hand Illusion paradigm as a sensory learning process in patients with schizophrenia.

PubMed

Lev-Ari, L; Hirschmann, S; Dyskin, O; Goldman, O; Hirschmann, I

2015-10-01

The Rubber Hand Illusion (RHI) has previously been used to depict the hierarchy between visual, tactile and perceptual stimuli. Studies on schizophrenia inpatients (SZs) have found mixed results in the ability to first learn the illusion, and have yet to explain the learning process involved. This study's aim was two-fold: to examine the learning process of the RHI in SZs and healthy controls over time, and to better understand the relationship between psychotic symptoms and the RHI. Thirty schizophrenia inpatients and 30 healthy controls underwent five different trials of the RHI over a two-week period. As has been found in previous studies, SZs felt the initial illusion faster than healthy controls did, but their learning process throughout the trials was inconsistent. Furthermore, for SZs, no correlations between psychotic symptoms and the learning of the illusion emerged. Healthy individuals show a delayed reaction to first feeling the illusion (due to latent inhibition), but easily learn the illusion over time. For SZs, both strength of the illusion and the ability to learn the illusion over time are inconsistent. The cognitive impairment in SZ impedes the learning process of the RHI, and SZs are unable to utilize the repetition of the process as healthy individuals can. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Chronological age and its impact on associative learning proficiency and brain structure in middle adulthood.

PubMed

Diwadkar, Vaibhav A; Bellani, Marcella; Ahmed, Rizwan; Dusi, Nicola; Rambaldelli, Gianluca; Perlini, Cinzia; Marinelli, Veronica; Ramaseshan, Karthik; Ruggeri, Mirella; Bambilla, Paolo

2016-01-15

The rate of biological change in middle-adulthood is relatively under-studied. Here, we used behavioral testing in conjunction with structural magnetic resonance imaging to examine the effects of chronological age on associative learning proficiency and on brain regions that previous functional MRI studies have closely related to the domain of associative learning. Participants (n=66) completed a previously established associative learning paradigm, and consented to be scanned using structural magnetic resonance imaging. Age-related effects were investigated both across sub-groups in the sample (younger vs. older) and across the entire sample (using regression approaches). Chronological age had substantial effects on learning proficiency (independent of IQ and Education Level), with older adults showing a decrement compared to younger adults. In addition, decreases in estimated gray matter volume were observed in multiple brain regions including the hippocampus and the dorsal prefrontal cortex, both of which are strongly implicated in associative learning. The results suggest that middle adulthood may be a more dynamic period of life-span change than previously believed. The conjunctive application of narrowly focused tasks, with conjointly acquired structural MRI data may allow us to enrich the search for, and the interpretation of, age-related changes in cross-sectional samples. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Explaining variance in self-directed learning readiness of first year students in health professional programs.

PubMed

Slater, Craig E; Cusick, Anne; Louie, Jimmy C Y

2017-11-13

Self-directed learning (SDL) is expected of health science graduates; it is thus a learning outcome in many pre-certification programs. Previous research identified age, gender, discipline and prior education as associated with variations in students' self-directed learning readiness (SDLR). Studies in other fields also propose personality as influential. This study investigated relationships between SDLR and age, gender, discipline, previous education, and personality traits. The Self-Directed Learning Readiness Scale and the 50-item 'big five' personality trait inventory were administered to 584 first-year undergraduate students (n = 312 female) enrolled in a first-session undergraduate interprofessional health sciences subject. Students were from health promotion, health services management, therapeutic recreation, sports and exercise science, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, and podiatry. Four hundred and seven responses (n = 230 females) were complete. SDLR was significantly higher in females and students in occupational therapy and physiotherapy. SDLR increased with age and higher levels of previous education. It was also significantly associated with 'big five' personality trait scores. Regression analysis revealed 52.9% of variance was accounted for by personality factors, discipline and prior experience of tertiary education. Demographic, discipline and personality factors are associated with SDLR in the first year of study. Teachers need to be alert to individual student variation in SDLR.

The role of auditory feedback in music-supported stroke rehabilitation: A single-blinded randomised controlled intervention.

PubMed

van Vugt, F T; Kafczyk, T; Kuhn, W; Rollnik, J D; Tillmann, B; Altenmüller, E

2016-01-01

Learning to play musical instruments such as piano was previously shown to benefit post-stroke motor rehabilitation. Previous work hypothesised that the mechanism of this rehabilitation is that patients use auditory feedback to correct their movements and therefore show motor learning. We tested this hypothesis by manipulating the auditory feedback timing in a way that should disrupt such error-based learning. We contrasted a patient group undergoing music-supported therapy on a piano that emits sounds immediately (as in previous studies) with a group whose sounds are presented after a jittered delay. The delay was not noticeable to patients. Thirty-four patients in early stroke rehabilitation with moderate motor impairment and no previous musical background learned to play the piano using simple finger exercises and familiar children's songs. Rehabilitation outcome was not impaired in the jitter group relative to the normal group. Conversely, some clinical tests suggests the jitter group outperformed the normal group. Auditory feedback-based motor learning is not the beneficial mechanism of music-supported therapy. Immediate auditory feedback therapy may be suboptimal. Jittered delay may increase efficacy of the proposed therapy and allow patients to fully benefit from motivational factors of music training. Our study shows a novel way to test hypotheses concerning music training in a single-blinded way, which is an important improvement over existing unblinded tests of music interventions.

Transfer of absolute and relative predictiveness in human contingency learning.

PubMed

Kattner, Florian

2015-03-01

Previous animal-learning studies have shown that the effect of the predictive history of a cue on its associability depends on whether priority was set to the absolute or relative predictiveness of that cue. The present study tested this assumption in a human contingency-learning task. In both experiments, one group of participants was trained with predictive and nonpredictive cues that were presented according to an absolute-predictiveness principle (either continuously or partially reinforced cue configurations), whereas a second group was trained with co-occurring cues that differed in predictiveness (emphasizing the relative predictive validity of the cues). In both groups, later test discriminations were learned more readily if the discriminative cues had been predictive in the previous learning stage than if they had been nonpredictive. These results imply that both the absolute and relative predictiveness of a cue lead positive transfer with regard to its associability. The data are discussed with respect to attentional models of associative learning.

Guidance Provided by Teacher and Simulation for Inquiry-Based Learning: A Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lehtinen, Antti; Viiri, Jouni

2017-01-01

Current research indicates that inquiry-based learning should be guided in order to achieve optimal learning outcomes. The need for guidance is even greater when simulations are used because of their high information content and the difficulty of extracting information from them. Previous research on guidance for learning with simulations has…

Improving Students' Critical Thinking Skills through Remap NHT in Biology Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mahanal, Susriyati; Zubaidah, Siti; Bahri, Arsad; Syahadatud Dinnurriya, Maratusy

2016-01-01

Previous studies in Malang, Indonesia, showed that there were the failure biology learning caused by not only the low students' prior knowledge, but also biology learning model has not improved the students' critical thinking skills yet, which affected the low of cognitive learning outcomes. The learning model is required to improve students'…

Participation in Informal Science Learning Experiences: The Rich Get Richer?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

DeWitt, Jennifer; Archer, Louise

2017-01-01

Informal science learning (ISL) experiences have been found to provide valuable opportunities to engage with and learn about science and, as such, form a key part of the STEM learning ecosystem. However, concerns remain around issues of equity and access. The Enterprising Science study builds upon previous research in this area and uses the…

Training with Differential Outcomes Enhances Discriminative Learning and Visuospatial Recognition Memory in Children Born Prematurely

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Martinez, Lourdes; Mari-Beffa, Paloma; Roldan-Tapia, Dolores; Ramos-Lizana, Julio; Fuentes, Luis J.; Estevez, Angeles F.

2012-01-01

Previous studies have demonstrated that discriminative learning is facilitated when a particular outcome is associated with each relation to be learned. When this training procedure is applied (the differential outcome procedure; DOP), learning is faster and more accurate than when the more common non-differential outcome procedure is used. This…

Learning by Teaching with Virtual Peers and the Effects of Technological Design Choices on Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Okita, Sandra Y.; Turkay, Selen; Kim, Mihwa; Murai, Yumiko

2013-01-01

Advancements in technology have brought about new forms of learning and online instruction that allow communication through virtual representations without physically meeting in person. This study builds on previous work involving recursive feedback that tests the hypothesis that an important facet of learning-by-teaching is the opportunity to…

Studying the Positive Influence of the Use of Video in Teaching & Learning Environments, Focusing on Registration of the Directions Where It Improves the PBL Effectiveness: A Systematic Literature Review

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Aronis, Alexis

2016-01-01

Previous studies report the involvement of the use of video in the frameworks of problem-based learning (PBL), case-based learning, and project-based learning. This systematic literature review, through two research questions, explores the positive influence of the use of video in those instructional methods, and, while focusing on PBL, identifies…

Agent-based real-time signal coordination in congested networks.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2014-01-01

This study is the continuation of a previous NEXTRANS study on agent-based reinforcement : learning methods for signal coordination in congested networks. In the previous study, the : formulation of a real-time agent-based traffic signal control in o...

Evaluation of Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Douglas, K. A.; Yale, M. S.; Bennett, D. E.; Haugan, M. P.; Bryan, L. A.

2014-01-01

The Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey (CLASS) is a widely used instrument designed to measure student attitudes toward physics and learning physics. Previous research revealed a fairly complex factor structure. In this study, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted on data from an undergraduate introductory…

Game On! Students' Perceptions of Gamified Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Buckley, Patrick; Doyle, Elaine; Doyle, Shane

2017-01-01

Gamification is presented in the literature as a pedagogical innovation that may increase student engagement and enhance learning. This study explores students' perceptions of a gamified learning intervention deployed in a large undergraduate module and a small postgraduate module. Given the dearth of previous empirical work, an exploratory…

Refining a Learning Progression of Energy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yao, Jian-Xin; Guo, Yu-Ying; Neumann, Knut

2017-01-01

This paper presents a revised learning progression for the energy concept and initial findings on diverse progressions among subgroups of sample students. The revised learning progression describes how students progress towards an understanding of the energy concept along two progress variables identified from previous studies--key ideas about…

A Multiple Cross-Cultural Comparison of Approaches to Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bowden, Mark P.; Abhayawansa, Subhash; Manzin, Gregoria

2015-01-01

This study compares learning approaches of local English-speaking students and students from Asian countries studying at an Australian metropolitan university. The sample consists of students across 13 different countries. Unlike previous studies, students from Asian countries are subdivided into two categories: students from Confucian Heritage…

Investigating Word Learning in Fragile X Syndrome: A Fast-Mapping Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McDuffie, Andrea; Kover, Sara T.; Hagerman, Randi; Abbeduto, Leonard

2013-01-01

Fast-mapping paradigms have not been used previously to examine the process of word learning in boys with fragile X syndrome (FXS), who are likely to have intellectual impairment, language delays, and symptoms of autism. In this study, a fast-mapping task was used to investigate associative word learning in 4- to 10-year-old boys with FXS relative…

Third-Party Social Interaction and Word Learning from Video

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

O'Doherty, Katherine; Troseth, Georgene L.; Shimpi, Priya M.; Goldenberg, Elizabeth; Akhtar, Nameera; Saylor, Megan M.

2011-01-01

In previous studies, very young children have learned words while "overhearing" a conversation, yet they have had trouble learning words from a person on video. In Study 1, 64 toddlers (mean age = 29.8 months) viewed an object-labeling demonstration in 1 of 4 conditions. In 2, the speaker (present or on video) directly addressed the child, and in…

No Trade-Off between Learning Speed and Associative Flexibility in Bumblebees: A Reversal Learning Test with Multiple Colonies

PubMed Central

Raine, Nigel E.; Chittka, Lars

2012-01-01

Potential trade-offs between learning speed and memory-related performance could be important factors in the evolution of learning. Here, we test whether rapid learning interferes with the acquisition of new information using a reversal learning paradigm. Bumblebees (Bombus terrestris) were trained to associate yellow with a floral reward. Subsequently the association between colour and reward was reversed, meaning bees then had to learn to visit blue flowers. We demonstrate that individuals that were fast to learn yellow as a predictor of reward were also quick to reverse this association. Furthermore, overnight memory retention tests suggest that faster learning individuals are also better at retaining previously learned information. There is also an effect of relatedness: colonies whose workers were fast to learn the association between yellow and reward also reversed this association rapidly. These results are inconsistent with a trade-off between learning speed and the reversal of a previously made association. On the contrary, they suggest that differences in learning performance and cognitive (behavioural) flexibility could reflect more general differences in colony learning ability. Hence, this study provides additional evidence to support the idea that rapid learning and behavioural flexibility have adaptive value. PMID:23028779

Perceptual learning through optimization of attentional weighting: human versus optimal Bayesian learner

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Eckstein, Miguel P.; Abbey, Craig K.; Pham, Binh T.; Shimozaki, Steven S.

2004-01-01

Human performance in visual detection, discrimination, identification, and search tasks typically improves with practice. Psychophysical studies suggest that perceptual learning is mediated by an enhancement in the coding of the signal, and physiological studies suggest that it might be related to the plasticity in the weighting or selection of sensory units coding task relevant information (learning through attention optimization). We propose an experimental paradigm (optimal perceptual learning paradigm) to systematically study the dynamics of perceptual learning in humans by allowing comparisons to that of an optimal Bayesian algorithm and a number of suboptimal learning models. We measured improvement in human localization (eight-alternative forced-choice with feedback) performance of a target randomly sampled from four elongated Gaussian targets with different orientations and polarities and kept as a target for a block of four trials. The results suggest that the human perceptual learning can occur within a lapse of four trials (<1 min) but that human learning is slower and incomplete with respect to the optimal algorithm (23.3% reduction in human efficiency from the 1st-to-4th learning trials). The greatest improvement in human performance, occurring from the 1st-to-2nd learning trial, was also present in the optimal observer, and, thus reflects a property inherent to the visual task and not a property particular to the human perceptual learning mechanism. One notable source of human inefficiency is that, unlike the ideal observer, human learning relies more heavily on previous decisions than on the provided feedback, resulting in no human learning on trials following a previous incorrect localization decision. Finally, the proposed theory and paradigm provide a flexible framework for future studies to evaluate the optimality of human learning of other visual cues and/or sensory modalities.

Influence of a veterinary curriculum on the approaches and study skills of veterinary medical students.

PubMed

Chigerwe, Munashe; Ilkiw, Jan E; Boudreaux, Karen A

2011-01-01

The objectives of the present study were to evaluate first-, second-, third-, and fourth-year veterinary medical students' approaches to studying and learning as well as the factors within the curriculum that may influence these approaches. A questionnaire consisting of the short version of the Approaches and Study Skills Inventory for Students (ASSIST) was completed by 405 students, and it included questions relating to conceptions about learning, approaches to studying, and preferences for different types of courses and teaching. Descriptive statistics, factor analysis, Cronbach's alpha analysis, and log-linear analysis were performed on the data. Deep, strategic, and surface learning approaches emerged. There were a few differences between our findings and those presented in previous studies in terms of the correlation of the subscale monitoring effectiveness, which showed loading with both the deep and strategic learning approaches. In addition, the subscale alertness to assessment demands showed correlation with the surface learning approach. The perception of high workloads, the use of previous test files as a method for studying, and examinations that are based only on material provided in lecture notes were positively associated with the surface learning approach. Focusing on improving specific teaching and assessment methods that enhance deep learning is anticipated to enhance students' positive learning experience. These teaching methods include instructors who encourage students to be critical thinkers, the integration of course material in other disciplines, courses that encourage thinking and reading about the learning material, and books and articles that challenge students while providing explanations beyond lecture material.

What Kind of Employee Wants to Use Corporate E-Learning: An Empirical Case Study in the Financial Industry

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Luor, Tainyi; Lu, Hsi-Peng; Lin, Judy Chuan-Chuan; Yu, Hueiju

2014-01-01

Despite the plethora of previous studies on the various uses of e-learning, there is a dearth of research on employees' action to use corporate e-learning (ACE). The present study attempts to address this lack in literature by investigating whether individual factors such as self-esteem and need for cognition, and job factors such as job hygiene…

Creating International Community Service Learning Experiences in a Capstone Marketing-Projects Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Metcalf, Lynn E.

2010-01-01

This article outlines the development of a project-based capstone marketing course, specifically designed to provide marketing students with an international community service learning experience. It differs significantly from previous studies, which focus on integrating service learning into existing marketing courses and on helping local…

The Easily Learned, Easily Remembered Heuristic in Children

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Koriat, Asher; Ackerman, Rakefet; Lockl, Kathrin; Schneider, Wolfgang

2009-01-01

A previous study with adults [Koriat, A. (2008a). "Easy comes, easy goes? The link between learning and remembering and its exploitation in metacognition." "Memory & Cognition," 36, 416-428] established a correlation between learning and remembering: items requiring more trials to acquisition (TTA) were less likely to be recalled than those…

Investigating Elementary Students' Learning Approaches, Motivational Goals, and Achievement in Science

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hacieminoglu, Esme; Yilmaz-Tuzun, Ozgul; Ertepinar, Hamide

2009-01-01

This study examined the relationships among students' learning approaches, motivational goals, previous science grades, and their science achievement for the concepts related to atomic theory and explored the effects of gender and sociodemographic variables on students' learning approaches, motivational goals, and their science achievement for the…

Development of a Personalized Educational Computer Game Based on Students' Learning Styles

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hwang, Gwo-Jen; Sung, Han-Yu; Hung, Chun-Ming; Huang, Iwen; Tsai, Chin-Chung

2012-01-01

In recent years, many researchers have been engaged in the development of educational computer games; however, previous studies have indicated that, without supportive models that take individual students' learning needs or difficulties into consideration, students might only show temporary interest during the learning process, and their learning…

Effects of Referent Token Variability on L2 Vocabulary Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sommers, Mitchell S.; Barcroft, Joe

2013-01-01

Previous research has demonstrated substantially improved second language (L2) vocabulary learning when spoken word forms are varied using multiple talkers, speaking styles, or speaking rates. In contrast, the present study varied visual representations of referents for target vocabulary. English speakers learned Spanish words in formats of no…

Personality Traits, Learning and Academic Achievements

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jensen, Mikael

2015-01-01

There has been an increased interest in personality traits (especially the five-factor model) in relation to education and learning over the last decade. Previous studies have shown a relation between personality traits and learning, and between personality traits and academic achievement. The latter is typically described in terms of Grade Point…

How Dispositional Learning Analytics Helps Understanding the Worked-Example Principle

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tempelaar, Dirk

2017-01-01

This empirical study aims to demonstrate how Dispositional Learning Analytics can contribute in the investigation of the effectiveness of didactical scenarios in authentic settings, where previous research has mostly been laboratory based. Using a showcase based on learning processes of 1080 students in a blended introductory quantitative course,…

Research Participation versus Classroom Lecture: A Comparison of Student Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Elliott, Lisa Jo; Rice, Stephen; Trafimow, David; Madson, Laura; Hipshur, Malisa F.

2010-01-01

Previous literature has focused on students' perceptions of participation in experiments, but has not measured the effect of participation on learning. In Study 1, students rated their perceptions of learning about psychology; they compared the classroom experience to experiment participation, reading about psychology, or summarizing a journal…

Understanding Teacher Professional Learning through Cyber Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bates, Meg S.; Phalen, Lena; Moran, Cheryl

2018-01-01

Online professional learning websites provide a unique window into how teachers make self-directed choices about their own professional development. This study extends previous research on how teachers use online resource repositories to examine how teachers make choices about resource use on a professional learning website. The website, the…

Scale of Academic Emotion in Science Education: Development and Validation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chiang, Wen-Wei; Liu, Chia-Ju

2014-01-01

Contemporary research into science education has generally been conducted from the perspective of "conceptual change" in learning. This study sought to extend previous work by recognizing that human rationality can be influenced by the emotions generated by the learning environment and specific actions related to learning. Methods used…

Research Issues in Evaluating Learning Pattern Development in Higher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Richardson, John T. E.

2013-01-01

This article concludes the special issue of "Studies in Educational Evaluation" concerned with "Evaluating learning pattern development in higher education" by discussing research issues that have emerged from the previous contributions. The article considers in turn: stability versus variability in learning patterns; old versus new analytic…

Recreational and Developmental Youth Coach Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rocchi, Meredith; Couture, A. Lauren

2018-01-01

Background: Within the field of coach development, previous research has ascertained that elite coaches learn through a variety of formal, non-formal, and informal sources. Little is known, however, about how coaches from different coaching contexts such as recreational and developmental learn to coach. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to…

Effects of Disfluency and Test Expectancy on Learning with Text

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eitel, Alexander; Kühl, Tim

2016-01-01

Do students learn better with texts that are "slightly harder to read" (i.e., disfluent)? Previous research yielded discrepant findings concerning this question. To clarify these discrepancies, the present study aimed at identifying a boundary condition that determines when disfluent text is, and is not, beneficial to learning. This…

A Continuum of Teachers' e-Learning Practices

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sadeck, Osman; Cronjé, Johannes

2017-01-01

The introduction of technologies into the teaching and learning environment has implied changes to the way education plays out in an e-Environment. Previous research has highlighted the many barriers and challenges in integration technology into teaching and learning. Technology is said to be underutilised. However there are studies that have…

Observational Learning of Academic and Social Behaviors during Small-Group Direct Instruction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ledford, Jennifer R.; Wolery, Mark

2015-01-01

Many studies have shown that small-group direct instruction is effective and efficient for teaching students with and without disabilities, although relatively few studies have been conducted with heterogeneous groups of preschool participants. In addition, previous studies have primarily assessed whether observational learning occurred for…

Learning English with Electronic Textbooks on Tablet PCs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lin, Chih-cheng

2017-01-01

Previous studies on electronic textbooks were all survey studies of college students in the U.S.A. Their main findings revealed that using electronic textbooks and using print textbooks showed no statistical differences in learning achievements. As mobile devices became popular in classrooms, the present study was intended to confirm the…

Targeting Efficient Studying--First-Semester Psychology Students' Experiences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Öhrstedt, Maria; Scheja, Max

2018-01-01

Background: How students go about studying, including the learning activities that students engage in both during and between classes, is not easily understood. Previous research indicates that critical student features, such as approaches to learning and decisions of how to organise studying activities, develop in bidirectional interactions…

Adults' Self-Directed Learning of an Artificial Lexicon: The Dynamics of Neighborhood Reorganization

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bardhan, Neil Prodeep

2010-01-01

Artificial lexicons have previously been used to examine the time course of the learning and recognition of spoken words, the role of segment type in word learning, and the integration of context during spoken word recognition. However, in all of these studies the experimenter determined the frequency and order of the words to be learned. In three…

The Preferences of In-Service ELT Teachers' Language Learning Strategies in Their Own Language Learning Process

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Koç, Hatice Kübra

2017-01-01

As a still popular research area, Language Learning Strategies (LLS) researches need to be enhanced, since it consists of different phenomenon such as age, gender, individual differences and learning environment. At a glance, previous studies in the literature state that most of LLS researches are conducted in just learner-contexts in schools or…

Investigating the Structural Relationships among Organisational Support, Learning Flow, Learners' Satisfaction and Learning Transfer in Corporate E-Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Joo, Young Ju; Lim, Kyu Yon; Park, Su Yeong

2011-01-01

E-learning in corporate training has been growing rapidly because of the pursuit of time and budget efficiency in course development and delivery. However, according to previous studies, efficiency does not always guarantee training effectiveness, which is the major concern of human resource development. It is therefore necessary to identify the…

E-Learning Benchmarking Survey: A Case Study of University Utara Malaysia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sam, Thi Lip

2015-01-01

E-learning has emerged as a new paradigm in today's education. Many e-learning applications have been developed to meet the increasing demand by education institutions. Previous research mainly focused on a variety of factors that influence the uptake of e-learning. However, very little is known about the quality and the extent of usage of these…

Organizing Project-Based Learning in Work Contexts: A Cross-Cultural Cross Analysis of Data from Two Projects

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Poell, Rob F.; Yorks, Lyle; Marsick, Victoria J.

2009-01-01

The authors describe research aimed at developing a more comprehensive framework for project-based learning in work contexts. This grows out of a cross-cultural reanalysis of data from two previous studies using two different frameworks: actor-centered learning network theory and a critical pragmatist lens on action reflection learning. Findings…

The Determinants of Students' Perceived Learning Outcomes and Satisfaction in University Online Education: An Update

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eom, Sean B.; Ashill, Nicholas

2016-01-01

A stream of research over the past decade that identifies predictors of e-learning success suggests that there are several critical success factors (CSFs) that must be managed effectively to fully realize promise for e-learning. Grounded in constructivist learning theories, this study advances previous work on CSFs in university online education.…

Integration of iPad-Based M-Learning into a Creative Engineering Module in a Secondary School in England

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Li, Yulong; Liu, Xiaojing

2017-01-01

Mobile learning (M-learning) has become a popular topic in educational research, in previous research there have been many studies on attitude to M-learning directed towards staff, parents and students; however, limited research has focused on the comparison between teachers and students in the context of creative engineering and their respective…

The Workplace Learning Cycle: A Problem-Based Curriculum Model for the Preparation of Workplace Learning Professionals

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

O'Connor, Bridget N.

2004-01-01

Building on the conceptual foundations suggested in the previous two papers in this issue, this article describes the application of a workplace learning cycle theory to the construction of a curriculum for a graduate-level course of study in workplace education. As a way to prepare chief learning officers and heads of corporate universities, the…

A Reflective Study into Children's Cognition When Making Computer Games

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Allsop, Yasemin

2016-01-01

In this paper, children's mental activities when making digital games are explored. Where previous studies have mainly focused on children's learning, this study aimed to unfold the children's thinking process for learning when making computer games. As part of an ongoing larger scale study, which adopts an ethnographic approach, this research…

Adolescents' Declining Motivation to Learn Science: A Follow-Up Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vedder-Weiss, Dana; Fortus, David

2012-01-01

This is a mix methods follow-up study in which we reconfirm the findings from an earlier study [Vedder-Weiss & Fortus [2011] "Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 48(2)", 199-216]. The findings indicate that adolescents' declining motivation to learn science, which was found in many previous studies [Galton [2009] "Moving to…

Reduced autobiographical memory specificity is associated with impaired discrimination learning in anxiety disorder patients

PubMed Central

Lenaert, Bert; Boddez, Yannick; Vervliet, Bram; Schruers, Koen; Hermans, Dirk

2015-01-01

Associative learning plays an important role in the development of anxiety disorders, but a thorough understanding of the variables that impact such learning is still lacking. We investigated whether individual differences in autobiographical memory specificity are related to discrimination learning and generalization. In an associative learning task, participants learned the association between two pictures of female faces and a non-aversive outcome. Subsequently, six morphed pictures functioning as generalization stimuli (GSs) were introduced. In a sample of healthy participants (Study 1), we did not find evidence for differences in discrimination learning as a function of memory specificity. In a sample of anxiety disorder patients (Study 2), individuals who were characterized by low memory specificity showed deficient discrimination learning relative to high specific individuals. In contrast to previous findings, results revealed no effect of memory specificity on generalization. These results indicate that impaired discrimination learning, previously shown in patients suffering from an anxiety disorder, may be—in part—due to limited memory specificity. Together, these studies emphasize the importance of incorporating cognitive variables in associative learning theories and their implications for the development of anxiety disorders. In addition, re-analyses of the data (Study 3) showed that patients suffering from panic disorder showed higher outcome expectancies in the presence of the stimulus that was never followed by an outcome during discrimination training, relative to patients suffering from other anxiety disorders and healthy participants. Because we used a neutral, non-aversive outcome (i.e., drawing of a lightning bolt), these data suggest that learning abnormalities in panic disorder may not be restricted to fear learning, but rather reflect a more general associative learning deficit that also manifests in fear irrelevant contexts. PMID:26191015

Conceptualizing Learning and Employability "Learning and Employability Framework"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sumanasiri, Erabaddage Gishan Tharanga; Yajid, Mohd Shukri Ab; Khatibi, Ali

2015-01-01

Extensive studies have been done on employability and the factors that lead to employability. Previous studies have focused on career development programs, internships, work experience programs, soft-skill development programs, and even university admission criteria which can be considered external factors to university student learning…

ETHICAL LEADERSHIP AND EMPLOYEE VOICE: EMPLOYEE SELF-EFFICACY AND SELF-IMPACT AS MEDIATORS.

PubMed

Wang, Duanxu; Gan, Chenjing; Wu, Chaoyan; Wang, Danqi

2015-06-01

Previous studies have used social learning theory to explain the influence of ethical leadership. This study continues the previous research by using social learning theory to explain the mediating effect of self-efficacy on the relationship between ethical leadership and employee voice. In addition, this study extends previous studies by introducing expectancy theory to explore whether self-impact also mediates the relationship between ethical leadership and employee voice. Ethical leadership, self-efficacy, self-impact, and employee voice were assessed using paired surveys among 59 supervisors and 295 subordinates employed at nine firms in the People's Republic of China. Using HLM and SEM analyses, the results revealed that ethical leadership was positively related to employee voice and that this relationship was partially mediated by both self-efficacy and self-impact.

Learning styles in otolaryngology fellowships.

PubMed

Varela, David A Diaz Voss; Malik, Mohammad U; Laeeq, Kulsoom; Pandian, Vinciya; Brown, David J; Weatherly, Robert A; Cummings, Charles W; Bhatti, Nasir I

2011-12-01

Previous studies have identified a predominant learning style in trainees from different specialties, more recently in otolaryngology residents. The purpose of our study was to determine a predominant learning style within otolaryngology fellowships and to identify any differences between otolaryngology fellows and residents. We conducted a survey of otolaryngology fellows at 25 otolaryngology fellowship programs accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. We emailed Kolb's Learning Style Index version 3.1 to 16 pediatric otolaryngology (PO) and 24 otology/neurotology (ON) fellows. This index is a widely used 12-item questionnaire. The participants answered each item in the questionnaire as it applied to their preferred learning style: accommodating, converging, diverging, or assimilating. Results were then analyzed and compared between each subspecialty and the previously reported preferred styles of otolaryngology residents. Ten PO and 20 ON fellows completed the survey, with an overall response rate of 75%. PO and ON fellows (60% of each group) preferred a learning style that was "balanced" across all four styles. For ON fellows, 35% preferred converging and 5% preferred accommodating styles. For PO fellows, converging and accommodating styles accounted for 20% each. It was previously reported that 74.4% of otolaryngology residents prefer either converging or accommodating styles. We believe that the fellowship training environment calls for fellows to use more than one learning style to become proficient physicians, hence the trend toward potentially developing a balanced style when at this level. Copyright © 2011 The American Laryngological, Rhinological, and Otological Society, Inc.

Ingredients of a Successful Summer Learning Program: A Case Study of the Building Educated Leaders for Life (BELL) Accelerated Learning Summer Program

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Capizzano, Jeffrey; Bischoff, Kendra; Woodroffe, Nicola; Chaplin, Duncan

2007-01-01

Based on positive results from a previous evaluation of a summer learning intervention, the current report describes the specific elements of the successful program so it can be replicated, and investigates potential barriers to implementation and replication. The study estimated impacts of the program overall; the authors could not identify which…

Trust as a Learning Facilitator that Affects Students' Learning Performance in the Facebook Community: An Investigation in a Business Planning Writing Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chang, Wen-Long; Lee, Chun-Yi

2013-01-01

Several studies have found that participants are willing to share personal information on Facebook, due mainly to trust in fellow group members; however, this trust is often influenced by the discussion environment, methods and participants. A learning facilitator is often employed in entrepreneurial courses but few previous studies have examined…

Inferring interventional predictions from observational learning data.

PubMed

Meder, Bjorn; Hagmayer, York; Waldmann, Michael R

2008-02-01

Previous research has shown that people are capable of deriving correct predictions for previously unseen actions from passive observations of causal systems (Waldmann & Hagmayer, 2005). However, these studies were limited, since learning data were presented as tabulated data only, which may have turned the task more into a reasoning rather than a learning task. In two experiments, we therefore presented learners with trial-by-trial observational learning input referring to a complex causal model consisting of four events. To test the robustness of the capacity to derive correct observational and interventional inferences, we pitted causal order against the temporal order of learning events. The results show that people are, in principle, capable of deriving correct predictions after purely observational trial-by-trial learning, even with relatively complex causal models. However, conflicting temporal information can impair performance, particularly when the inferences require taking alternative causal pathways into account.

Writing for Learning in Science: A Secondary Analysis of Six Studies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gunel, Murat; Hand, Brian; Prain, Vaughan

2007-01-01

This study is a secondary analysis of six previous studies that formed part of an ongoing research program focused on examining the benefits of using writing-to-learn strategies within science classrooms. The study is an attempt to make broader generalizations than those based on individual studies, given limitations related to sample sizes,…

Different Levels of Food Restriction Reveal Genotype-Specific Differences in Learning a Visual Discrimination Task

PubMed Central

Makowiecki, Kalina; Hammond, Geoff; Rodger, Jennifer

2012-01-01

In behavioural experiments, motivation to learn can be achieved using food rewards as positive reinforcement in food-restricted animals. Previous studies reduce animal weights to 80–90% of free-feeding body weight as the criterion for food restriction. However, effects of different degrees of food restriction on task performance have not been assessed. We compared learning task performance in mice food-restricted to 80 or 90% body weight (BW). We used adult wildtype (WT; C57Bl/6j) and knockout (ephrin-A2−/−) mice, previously shown to have a reverse learning deficit. Mice were trained in a two-choice visual discrimination task with food reward as positive reinforcement. When mice reached criterion for one visual stimulus (80% correct in three consecutive 10 trial sets) they began the reverse learning phase, where the rewarded stimulus was switched to the previously incorrect stimulus. For the initial learning and reverse phase of the task, mice at 90%BW took almost twice as many trials to reach criterion as mice at 80%BW. Furthermore, WT 80 and 90%BW groups significantly differed in percentage correct responses and learning strategy in the reverse learning phase, whereas no differences between weight restriction groups were observed in ephrin-A2−/− mice. Most importantly, genotype-specific differences in reverse learning strategy were only detected in the 80%BW groups. Our results indicate that increased food restriction not only results in better performance and a shorter training period, but may also be necessary for revealing behavioural differences between experimental groups. This has important ethical and animal welfare implications when deciding extent of diet restriction in behavioural studies. PMID:23144936

Different levels of food restriction reveal genotype-specific differences in learning a visual discrimination task.

PubMed

Makowiecki, Kalina; Hammond, Geoff; Rodger, Jennifer

2012-01-01

In behavioural experiments, motivation to learn can be achieved using food rewards as positive reinforcement in food-restricted animals. Previous studies reduce animal weights to 80-90% of free-feeding body weight as the criterion for food restriction. However, effects of different degrees of food restriction on task performance have not been assessed. We compared learning task performance in mice food-restricted to 80 or 90% body weight (BW). We used adult wildtype (WT; C57Bl/6j) and knockout (ephrin-A2⁻/⁻) mice, previously shown to have a reverse learning deficit. Mice were trained in a two-choice visual discrimination task with food reward as positive reinforcement. When mice reached criterion for one visual stimulus (80% correct in three consecutive 10 trial sets) they began the reverse learning phase, where the rewarded stimulus was switched to the previously incorrect stimulus. For the initial learning and reverse phase of the task, mice at 90%BW took almost twice as many trials to reach criterion as mice at 80%BW. Furthermore, WT 80 and 90%BW groups significantly differed in percentage correct responses and learning strategy in the reverse learning phase, whereas no differences between weight restriction groups were observed in ephrin-A2⁻/⁻ mice. Most importantly, genotype-specific differences in reverse learning strategy were only detected in the 80%BW groups. Our results indicate that increased food restriction not only results in better performance and a shorter training period, but may also be necessary for revealing behavioural differences between experimental groups. This has important ethical and animal welfare implications when deciding extent of diet restriction in behavioural studies.

Social learning solves the problem of narrow-peaked search landscapes: experimental evidence in humans.

PubMed

Acerbi, Alberto; Tennie, Claudio; Mesoudi, Alex

2016-09-01

The extensive use of social learning is considered a major reason for the ecological success of humans. Theoretical considerations, models and experiments have explored the evolutionary basis of social learning, showing the conditions under which learning from others is more adaptive than individual learning. Here we present an extension of a previous experimental set-up, in which individuals go on simulated 'hunts' and their success depends on the features of a 'virtual arrowhead' they design. Individuals can modify their arrowhead either by individual trial and error or by copying others. We study how, in a multimodal adaptive landscape, the smoothness of the peaks influences learning. We compare narrow peaks, in which solutions close to optima do not provide useful feedback to individuals, to wide peaks, where smooth landscapes allow an effective hill-climbing individual learning strategy. We show that individual learning is more difficult in narrow-peaked landscapes, but that social learners perform almost equally well in both narrow- and wide-peaked search spaces. There was a weak trend for more copying in the narrow than wide condition, although as in previous experiments social information was generally underutilized. Our results highlight the importance of tasks' design space when studying the adaptiveness of high-fidelity social learning.

A Theoretical Perspective of Learning in the Pacific Context: A Sociocultural Perspective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Phan, Huy P.

2010-01-01

This theoretical article discusses the importance of learning approaches in sociocultural contexts. Our discussion synthesizes previous empirical research studies, taking into consideration the importance of individuals' cultural background and environmental settings. Research studies by Marton and Saljo (1976) and others (Biggs, 1987; Watkins…

Foundational Aspects of Classroom Relations: Associations between Teachers' Immediacy Behaviours, Classroom Democracy, Class Identification and Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kwitonda, Jean Claude

2017-01-01

This study focused on foundational aspects of classroom relations. Specifically, relationships between teachers' immediacy (interpersonal) behaviours, classroom democracy, identification and learning were considered. Previous work suggests that these variables can be used as a foundation to shape classroom climate, culture and learning outcomes…

Enterprise Placements: Factors Which Support Learning and Prolonged Attainment in Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gazdula, Joe; Atkin, Chris

2017-01-01

This article investigates the learning and academic attainment of undergraduate education students on enterprise placement projects in a longitudinal mixed-methods study. By observing the placement learning and analysing previous and subsequent attainment of a second- and third-year group it adds to the ontology of purpose for enterprise in…

Two Instructional Aids to Optimise Processing and Learning from Instructional Explanations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Roelle, Julian; Berthold, Kirsten; Renkl, Alexander

2014-01-01

Although instructional explanations are commonly used to introduce learners to new learning content, previous studies have often shown that their effects on learning outcomes are minimal. This failure might partly be due to mental passivity of the learners while processing introductory explanations and to a lack of opportunity to revise potential…

Classroom Community Scale in the Blended Learning Environment: A Psychometric Review

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barnard-Brak, Lucy; Shiu, William

2010-01-01

The Classroom Community Scale (CCS) has been utilized in previous research to measure sense of community of learners including those learners in blended learning environments. In the current study, the CCS was examined with respect to its psychometric properties in the blended learning environment. Reliability analyses indicate an acceptable level…

Students' Characteristics, Self-Regulated Learning, Technology Self-Efficacy, and Course Outcomes in Web-Based Courses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wang, Chih-hsuan

2010-01-01

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship among students' characteristics, self-regulated learning, technology self-efficacy, and course outcomes in online learning settings. Previous research provided conflicting evidence regarding the relationship among these variables. Further, there is no prior research that has examined these…

Cognitive Mechanisms of Word Learning in Bilingual and Monolingual Adults: The Role of Phonological Memory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kaushanskaya, Margarita

2012-01-01

Previous studies have indicated that bilingualism may facilitate lexical learning in adults. The goals of this research were (i) to examine whether bilingual influences on word learning diverge for phonologically-familiar and phonologically-unfamiliar novel words, and (ii) to examine whether increased phonological memory capacity can account for…

Gaps and Progress in Our Knowledge of Learning Organizations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tuggle, Francis D.

2016-01-01

Purpose: This study aims to review previously published issues of "The Learning Organization" ("TLO") to assess what progress has been made since the journal started in terms of what is known about learning organizations. The author also aims to identify important gaps in what is still to be discovered about organizations that…

"What Makes Her Succeed?" Children's Interpretations of Their Peers' Successes in Learning Situations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mykkänen, Arttu; Määttä, Elina; Järvelä, Sanna

2016-01-01

Previous research has shown that observing peers' success in learning is important for the development of children's belief in themselves as learners. However, in research, these observations are seldom made in actual classroom learning activities. This study investigated how children explain factors that lead to their peers' successes in…

Augmented Reality in the Science Museum: Lessons Learned in Scaffolding for Conceptual and Cognitive Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yoon, Susan A.; Elinich, Karen; Wang, Joyce; Van Schooneveld, Jacqueline G.

2012-01-01

This research follows on previous studies that investigated how digitally augmented devices and knowledge scaffolds enhance learning in a science museum. We investigated what combination of scaffolds could be used in conjunction with the unique characteristics of informal participation to increase conceptual and cognitive outcomes. 307 students…

Innovative Learning and Developments in Motivation and Achievement in Upper Primary School

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hornstra, Lisette; van der Veen, Ineke; Peetsma, Thea; Volman, Monique

2015-01-01

Although previous research has shown the potential of innovative learning for enhancing motivation and learning outcomes, further understanding is needed on which aspects of IL are most effective and whether these are equally motivating for different types of students. The present study investigated how developments in students' motivation and…

The Development of a Decision Support System for Mobile Learning: A Case Study in Taiwan

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chiu, Po-Sheng; Huang, Yueh-Min

2016-01-01

While mobile learning (m-learning) has considerable potential, most of previous strategies for developing this new approach to education were analysed using the knowledge, experience and judgement of individuals, with the support of statistical software. Although these methods provide systematic steps for the implementation of m-learning…

Word Learning by Preschoolers with SLI: Effect of Phonotactic Probability and Object Familiarity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gray, Shelley; Brinkley, Shara; Svetina, Dubravka

2012-01-01

Purpose: In this study, the authors investigated whether previous findings of a low phonotactic probability/unfamiliar object word-learning advantage in preschoolers could be replicated, whether this advantage would be apparent at different "stages" of word learning, and whether findings would differ for preschoolers with specific language…

Guidance of Spatial Attention by Incidental Learning and Endogenous Cuing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jiang, Yuhong V.; Swallow, Khena M.; Rosenbaum, Gail M.

2013-01-01

Our visual system is highly sensitive to regularities in the environment. Locations that were important in one's previous experience are often prioritized during search, even though observers may not be aware of the learning. In this study we characterized the guidance of spatial attention by incidental learning of a target's spatial probability,…

Creating an Online Learning Community in a Flipped Classroom to Enhance EFL Learners' Oral Proficiency

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wu, Wen-Chi Vivian; Hsieh, Jun Scott Chen; Yang, Jie Chi

2017-01-01

Since the advent of new technology for learning, innovative language instructors have been constantly seeking new pedagogy to match the potential of technology-enhanced instruction. While previous studies have supported the adoption of technologies to facilitate language teaching and learning, research into enhancing English as a foreign language…

A Collaborative Virtual Environment for Situated Language Learning Using VEC3D

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shih, Ya-Chun; Yang, Mau-Tsuen

2008-01-01

A 3D virtually synchronous communication architecture for situated language learning has been designed to foster communicative competence among undergraduate students who have studied English as a foreign language (EFL). We present an innovative approach that offers better e-learning than the previous virtual reality educational applications. The…

A Cognitive Component Analysis Approach for Developing Game-Based Spatial Learning Tools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hung, Pi-Hsia; Hwang, Gwo-Jen; Lee, Yueh-Hsun; Su, I-Hsiang

2012-01-01

Spatial ability has been recognized as one of the most important factors affecting the mathematical performance of students. Previous studies on spatial learning have mainly focused on developing strategies to shorten the problem-solving time of learners for very specific learning tasks. Such an approach usually has limited effects on improving…

Unpacking Activities-Based Learning in Kindergarten Classrooms: Insights from Teachers' Perspectives

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Annobil, Charles Nyarko; Thompson, Mumuni

2018-01-01

Even though previous research points to the significance of kindergarten teachers' practices which consider the nature of children and how they learn, there is still limited research regarding how learning activities impact children's development. To address this gap in literature, a qualitative multi-case study into teachers' perceptions of…

An Online Learning Community for Beginning In-Service Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Taranto, Gregory A.

2011-01-01

The purpose of this study was to design, implement, and evaluate the effectiveness of incorporating an online learning community as part of a comprehensive new teacher induction program. First, the researcher created an online learning community model based on the results of a comprehensive review of literature and from the previous year's…

Issues in the Identification of Minority College Students with Learning Disabilities.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Heggoy, Synnove; Grant, Dale

This study examined differences in the manifestation of learning disabilities (LD) between minority and non-minority students at a southeastern public college. Profiles of non-minority and minority college students not previously identified as learning disabled and with a history of academic difficulty were compared. Among trends noted in both…

Freedom to Connect: Insight Into the Existential Dimension of Transformative Learning in a Graduate Seminar

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sohn, Brian K.; Plaas, Kristina; Franklin, Karen; Dellard, Tiffany; Murphy, Brenda; Greenberg, Katherine H.; Greenberg, Neil B.; Pollio, Howard R.; Thomas, Sandra P.

2016-01-01

Previous analyses of transformational learning (TL) focused on rational or nonrational processes such as critical reflection on an uncomfortable personal situation or emotional learning. In this phenomenological study, researchers examined existential dimensions of TL. Individual interviews were analyzed to identify the lived experiences of eight…

An Examination of the Effects of Collaborative Scientific Visualization via Model-Based Reasoning on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Learning within an Immersive 3D World

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Soleimani, Ali

2013-01-01

Immersive 3D worlds can be designed to effectively engage students in peer-to-peer collaborative learning activities, supported by scientific visualization, to help with understanding complex concepts associated with learning science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Previous research studies have shown STEM learning benefits…

Demographically Induced Variation in Students' Beliefs about Learning and Studying German.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chavez, Monika

1995-01-01

Examines how the demographic values of foreign travel, previous foreign-language learning, major field of study, and other factors affect students' beliefs about the study of German. The article focuses on student-perceived improvement in the four skills and cultural knowledge, student motivation, and the expected contributions of teachers and…

Learning Communities, Academic Performance, Attrition, and Retention: A Four-Year Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Popiolek, Gene; Fine, Ricka; Eilman, Valerie

2013-01-01

This study extends and makes unique methodological contributions to research on the impact of learning communities (LCs) on community college students. Much of the previous research was short-term, lacked adequate comparison groups, and focused on four-year college students. This four-year study controlled for instructor-related variables by…

[Application of the method of one-day learning in a Morris water maze to analyse the effects of sleep deprivation on memory trace recall 24 hours later, after learning].

PubMed

Dorokhov, V B; Kozhedub, R G; Arsenyev, G N; Bukhgolts, O I; Marchenko, V G; Puchkova, A N

2014-01-01

The proposed model of a one-day spatial learning is of interest in research of how sleep influences the hippocamp-dependent memory consolidation. We have studied the influence of a one-day total sleep deprivation on spatial memory consolidation in hooded rats after a one-day learning in the Morris water maze according to Feldman et al. [2010] protocol. According to it rats had to find a submerged platform that was alternatively marked by a flag or completely invisible to an animal. In a previous study [Dorokhov et al., 2011] we have used another one-day learning protocol [Frick et al., 2000] and Wistar rats and have demonstrated a large interindividual variance in learning parameters and sleep deprivation effects on memory consolidation. In this study we confirm previously acquired results on negative impact of sleep deprivation on spatial memory consolidation. To demonstrate the effects of sleep deprivation on the results of one-day learning we are using for the first time an evaluation of the time spent by an animal in the area of the platform placement and corresponding areas in the other quadrants of the water maze.

Different patterns of oviposition learning in two closely related ectoparasitoid wasps with contrasting reproductive strategies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sasakawa, Kôji; Uchijima, Kenta; Shibao, Harunobu; Shimada, Masakazu

2013-02-01

Many parasitoid wasps learn host-associated cues and use them in subsequent host-searching behavior. This associative learning, namely "oviposition learning," has been investigated in many studies. However, few studies have compared multiple species, and no comparative study has previously been conducted on ectoparasitoid species. We compared the effects of oviposition learning on host preference and offspring sex ratio in two closely related ectoparasitoid wasps with contrasting reproductive strategies, Anisopteromalus calandrae (r-strategist) and its sibling species (K-strategist). Using two bruchine hosts, Callosobruchus chinensis and Callosobruchus maculatus larvae infesting the cowpea Vigna unguiculata, oviposition choice experiments were performed at high and low host densities. In both species, no conspicuous effect on the offspring sex ratio was detected, but effects on host preference were found to differ between the species. In A. calandrae, the effects were detected only at high host density, suggesting that oviposition learning plays a role in host discrimination from a short distance but not from a long distance. In the sibling species, those effects were not detected in any of the cases, suggesting the absence of oviposition learning. These results are compatible with those of previous comparative studies of endoparasitoid wasps in that few lifetime oviposition experiences and/or low reward per foraging decision result in low or absent oviposition learning ability. This finding may indicate that ecological traits contributing to learning ability are similar between endoparasitoid and ectoparasitoid wasps. Thus, our species comparison of ectoparasitoids provides another model system for investigating learning and memory dynamics in parasitoid wasps.

Smell, learn and live: the role of chemical alarm cues in predator learning during early life history in a marine fish.

PubMed

Holmes, Thomas H; McCormick, Mark I

2010-03-01

The speed with which individuals can learn to identify and react appropriately to predation threats when transitioning to new life history stages and habitats will influence their survival. This study investigated the role of chemical alarm cues in both anti-predator responses and predator identification during a transitional period in a newly settled coral reef damselfish, Pomacentrus amboinensis. Individuals were tested for changes in seven behavioural traits in response to conspecific and heterospecific skin extracts. Additionally, we tested whether fish could learn to associate a previously novel chemical cue (i.e. simulated predator scent) with danger, after previously being exposed to a paired cue combining the conspecific skin extract with the novel scent. Fish exposed to conspecific skin extracts were found to significantly decreased their feeding rate whilst those exposed to heterospecific and control cues showed no change. Individuals were also able to associate a previously novel scent with danger after only a single previous exposure to the paired conspecific skin extract/novel scent cue. Our results indicate that chemical alarm cues play a large role in both threat detection and learned predator recognition during the early post-settlement period in coral reef fishes. Copyright (c) 2010. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Presence of cysts on magnetic resonance images (MRIs) in children with asperger disorder and nonverbal learning disabilities.

PubMed

Semrud-Clikeman, Margaret; Fine, Jodene

2011-04-01

The main purpose of this study was to report the existence of previously unidentified brain cysts or lesions in children with nonverbal learning disabilities, Asperger syndrome, or controls. The authors compared the incidence of cysts or lesions on magnetic resonance images (MRIs) in 28 children with nonverbal learning disability, 26 children with Asperger syndrome, and 24 typical controls for abnormalities. In this study, the authors found 25% of children previously diagnosed with nonverbal learning disability to have unsuspected brain abnormalities generally including cysts or lesions in the occipital region, compared with approximately 4% in the Asperger syndrome or control group. The cysts/lesions were found mainly in the occipital lobe, an area responsible for visual/spatial reasoning. It is appropriate to speculate that there might be a connection between anomalous brain development and skill differences among these groups.

Confirmation bias in human reinforcement learning: Evidence from counterfactual feedback processing

PubMed Central

Lefebvre, Germain; Blakemore, Sarah-Jayne

2017-01-01

Previous studies suggest that factual learning, that is, learning from obtained outcomes, is biased, such that participants preferentially take into account positive, as compared to negative, prediction errors. However, whether or not the prediction error valence also affects counterfactual learning, that is, learning from forgone outcomes, is unknown. To address this question, we analysed the performance of two groups of participants on reinforcement learning tasks using a computational model that was adapted to test if prediction error valence influences learning. We carried out two experiments: in the factual learning experiment, participants learned from partial feedback (i.e., the outcome of the chosen option only); in the counterfactual learning experiment, participants learned from complete feedback information (i.e., the outcomes of both the chosen and unchosen option were displayed). In the factual learning experiment, we replicated previous findings of a valence-induced bias, whereby participants learned preferentially from positive, relative to negative, prediction errors. In contrast, for counterfactual learning, we found the opposite valence-induced bias: negative prediction errors were preferentially taken into account, relative to positive ones. When considering valence-induced bias in the context of both factual and counterfactual learning, it appears that people tend to preferentially take into account information that confirms their current choice. PMID:28800597

Confirmation bias in human reinforcement learning: Evidence from counterfactual feedback processing.

PubMed

Palminteri, Stefano; Lefebvre, Germain; Kilford, Emma J; Blakemore, Sarah-Jayne

2017-08-01

Previous studies suggest that factual learning, that is, learning from obtained outcomes, is biased, such that participants preferentially take into account positive, as compared to negative, prediction errors. However, whether or not the prediction error valence also affects counterfactual learning, that is, learning from forgone outcomes, is unknown. To address this question, we analysed the performance of two groups of participants on reinforcement learning tasks using a computational model that was adapted to test if prediction error valence influences learning. We carried out two experiments: in the factual learning experiment, participants learned from partial feedback (i.e., the outcome of the chosen option only); in the counterfactual learning experiment, participants learned from complete feedback information (i.e., the outcomes of both the chosen and unchosen option were displayed). In the factual learning experiment, we replicated previous findings of a valence-induced bias, whereby participants learned preferentially from positive, relative to negative, prediction errors. In contrast, for counterfactual learning, we found the opposite valence-induced bias: negative prediction errors were preferentially taken into account, relative to positive ones. When considering valence-induced bias in the context of both factual and counterfactual learning, it appears that people tend to preferentially take into account information that confirms their current choice.

Cooperative Learning in Science: Follow-up from primary to high school

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thurston, Allen; Topping, Keith J.; Tolmie, Andrew; Christie, Donald; Karagiannidou, Eleni; Murray, Pauline

2010-03-01

This paper reports a two-year longitudinal study of the effects of cooperative learning on science attainment, attitudes towards science, and social connectedness during transition from primary to high school. A previous project on cooperative learning in primary schools observed gains in science understanding and in social aspects of school life. This project followed 204 children involved in the previous project and 440 comparison children who were not as they undertook transition from 24 primary schools to 16 high schools. Cognitive, affective, and social gains observed in the original project survived transition. The implications improving the effectiveness of school transition by using cooperative learning initiatives are explored. Possibilities for future research and the implications for practice and policy are discussed.

Collaborative Action Research on Technology Integration for Science Learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Chien-Hsing; Ke, Yi-Ting; Wu, Jin-Tong; Hsu, Wen-Hua

2012-02-01

This paper briefly reports the outcomes of an action research inquiry on the use of blogs, MS PowerPoint [PPT], and the Internet as learning tools with a science class of sixth graders for project-based learning. Multiple sources of data were essential to triangulate the key findings articulated in this paper. Corresponding to previous studies, the incorporation of technology and project-based learning could motivate students in self-directed exploration. The students were excited about the autonomy over what to learn and the use of PPT to express what they learned. Differing from previous studies, the findings pointed to the lack information literacy among students. The students lacked information evaluation skills, note-taking and information synthesis. All these findings imply the importance of teaching students about information literacy and visual literacy when introducing information technology into the classroom. The authors suggest that further research should focus on how to break the culture of "copy-and-paste" by teaching the skills of note-taking and synthesis through inquiry projects for science learning. Also, further research on teacher professional development should focus on using collaboration action research as a framework for re-designing graduate courses for science teachers in order to enhance classroom technology integration.

Rethinking Teacher Education: Synchronizing Eastern and Western Views of Teaching and Learning to Promote 21st Century Skills and Global Perspectives

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith, Judith; Hu, Ran

2013-01-01

The purpose of the study was to share findings with educators across disciplines of how to incorporate an eastern and western blended philosophy of teaching and learning to promote 21st century skills and global perspectives. Drawing from a previous self-study of their views of teaching and learning between Chinese and American cultures, the two…

Upregulation of Neurotrophic Factors Selectively in Frontal Cortex in Response to Olfactory Discrimination Learning

PubMed Central

Naimark, Ari; Barkai, Edi; Matar, Michael A.; Kaplan, Zeev; Kozlovsky, Nitzan; Cohen, Hagit

2007-01-01

We have previously shown that olfactory discrimination learning is accompanied by several forms of long-term enhancement in synaptic connections between layer II pyramidal neurons selectively in the piriform cortex. This study sought to examine whether the previously demonstrated olfactory-learning-task-induced modifications are preceded by suitable changes in the expression of mRNA for neurotrophic factors and in which brain areas this occurs. Rats were trained to discriminate positive cues in pair of odors for a water reward. The relationship between the learning task and local levels of mRNA for brain-derived neurotrophic factor, tyrosine kinase B, nerve growth factor, and neurotrophin-3 in the frontal cortex, hippocampal subregions, and other regions were assessed 24 hours post olfactory learning. The olfactory discrimination learning activated production of endogenous neurotrophic factors and induced their signal transduction in the frontal cortex, but not in other brain areas. These findings suggest that different brain areas may be preferentially involved in different learning/memory tasks. PMID:17710248

Learning L2 Collocations Incidentally from Reading

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pellicer-Sánchez, Ana

2017-01-01

Previous studies have shown that intentional learning through explicit instruction is effective for the acquisition of collocations in a second language (L2) (e.g. Peters, 2014, 2015), but relatively little is known about the effectiveness of incidental approaches for the acquisition of L2 collocations. The present study examined the incidental…

Toward Self-Authoring a Civic Teacher Identity: Service-Learning in Teacher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McLean, Lorna R.; Truong-White, Hoa H.

2016-01-01

Previous scholarship has examined how teachers' civic knowledge and conceptions of citizenship influence their goals, pedagogical practices, and confidence in teaching citizenship, but few studies have probed how teacher candidates develop identities as civic educators through community service-learning projects. This case study draws upon Baxter…

A Learner Perspective on Barriers to E-Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Becker, Karen; Newton, Cameron; Sawang, Sukanlaya

2013-01-01

This study aims to identify and categorize barriers to e-learning adoption and the relative impact of those barriers on learners. It contributes to the understanding of learner perceptions of barriers, the different types of barriers and their relative importance. This study used a quantitative methodology grounded in previous literature. The…

Cooperative Learning: Middle School Students' Math Perceptions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Odom, Rhonda

2010-01-01

Many American middle school students have negative perceptions of mathematics that could be impacting math achievement. Previous studies have examined the impact of cooperative learning on mathematics achievement and not on attitudes. The purpose of this quasi-experimental quantitative study was to measure the effect of Student Teams Achievement…

Exploring student learning profiles in algebra-based studio physics: A person-centered approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pond, Jarrad W. T.; Chini, Jacquelyn J.

2017-06-01

In this study, we explore the strategic self-regulatory and motivational characteristics of students in studio-mode physics courses at three universities with varying student populations and varying levels of success in their studio-mode courses. We survey students using questions compiled from several existing questionnaires designed to measure students' study strategies, attitudes toward and motivations for learning physics, organization of scientific knowledge, experiences outside the classroom, and demographics. Using a person-centered approach, we utilize cluster analysis methods to group students into learning profiles based on their individual responses to better understand the strategies and motives of algebra-based studio physics students. Previous studies have identified five distinct learning profiles across several student populations using similar methods. We present results from first-semester and second-semester studio-mode introductory physics courses across three universities. We identify these five distinct learning profiles found in previous studies to be present within our population of introductory physics students. In addition, we investigate interactions between these learning profiles and student demographics. We find significant interactions between a student's learning profile and their experience with high school physics, major, gender, grade expectation, and institution. Ultimately, we aim to use this method of analysis to take the characteristics of students into account in the investigation of successful strategies for using studio methods of physics instruction within and across institutions.

Improving Student Reading Fluency Scores through Music

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Huckabee, Jennifer Ellen

2013-01-01

Due to the controversial nature of previous research it is unclear whether music has positive or negative effect on cognition. Previous studies tested different styles and tempos of music, and have found that songs with faster beats distract learning. There have been numerous studies and each study refutes another study. Research has been done on…

Factors that Contribute towards Improving Learning Effectiveness Using a Specific Learning Management System (LMS) at the Military Academy (MA): A Demonstration

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pretorius, Andre

2010-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the factors that contribute towards learning effectiveness in e-learning courses. A review of previous studies was carried out to determine those factors that are most applicable to a tertiary teaching environment and to propose a model to assess effectiveness in online courses. The virtual learning…

Incidental Vocabulary Learning in Second Language Acquisition: A Literature Review (Aprendizaje incidental de vocabulario en la adquisición de una segunda lengua: una revisión de literatura)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Restrepo Ramos, Falcon Dario

2015-01-01

This literature review aims to analyze previous studies that address the incidental learning of vocabulary in second language acquisition. The articles included in this literature review look into the understanding of vocabulary learning through incidental means, the relationship of reading and incidental vocabulary learning, and the strategies…

Using Dual-Task Methodology to Dissociate Automatic from Nonautomatic Processes Involved in Artificial Grammar Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hendricks, Michelle A.; Conway, Christopher M.; Kellogg, Ronald T.

2013-01-01

Previous studies have suggested that both automatic and intentional processes contribute to the learning of grammar and fragment knowledge in artificial grammar learning (AGL) tasks. To explore the relative contribution of automatic and intentional processes to knowledge gained in AGL, we utilized dual-task methodology to dissociate automatic and…

Performance of Children with Developmental Dyslexia on High and Low Topological Entropy Artificial Grammar Learning Task

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Katan, Pesia; Kahta, Shani; Sasson, Ayelet; Schiff, Rachel

2017-01-01

Graph complexity as measured by topological entropy has been previously shown to affect performance on artificial grammar learning tasks among typically developing children. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of graph complexity on implicit sequential learning among children with developmental dyslexia. Our goal was to determine…

The GABAergic Anterior Paired Lateral Neurons Facilitate Olfactory Reversal Learning in "Drosophila"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wu, Yanying; Ren, Qingzhong; Li, Hao; Guo, Aike

2012-01-01

Reversal learning has been widely used to probe the implementation of cognitive flexibility in the brain. Previous studies in monkeys identified an essential role of the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) in reversal learning. However, the underlying circuits and molecular mechanisms are poorly understood. Here, we use the T-maze to investigate the neural…

Are In-Class Peer Leaders Effective in the Peer-Led Team-Learning Approach?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schray, Keith; Russo, M. Jean; Egolf, Roger; Lademan, William; Gelormo, David

2009-01-01

Peer-led team learning (PLTL) has been widely adopted for enhanced learning in a variety of disciplines, mostly in introductory chemistry, but also in organic chemistry, as in this study (Tien, Roth, and Kampmeier 2002). This pedagogical approach forms student groups led by students who have previously done well in the course (standard peer…

Collaborative Learning with Screen-Based Simulation in Health Care Education: An Empirical Study of Collaborative Patterns and Proficiency Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hall, L. O.; Soderstrom, T.; Ahlqvist, J.; Nilsson, T.

2011-01-01

This article is about collaborative learning with educational computer-assisted simulation (ECAS) in health care education. Previous research on training with a radiological virtual reality simulator has indicated positive effects on learning when compared to a more conventional alternative. Drawing upon the field of Computer-Supported…

How to Implement an E-Learning Curriculum to Streamline Teaching Digital Image Processing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Király, Sándor

2016-01-01

In the field of teaching, one of the interesting subjects is the research of the fact which didactic methods are good for learning the current curriculum for the students who show a wide range of age, interest, chosen courses, previous studies and motivation. This article introduces the facilities that support the learning process: the…

Impact of Parkinson's Disease and Dopaminergic Medication on Adaptation to Explicit and Implicit Visuomotor Perturbations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mongeon, David; Blanchet, Pierre; Messier, Julie

2013-01-01

The capacity to learn new visuomotor associations is fundamental to adaptive motor behavior. Evidence suggests visuomotor learning deficits in Parkinson's disease (PD). However, the exact nature of these deficits and the ability of dopamine medication to improve them are under-explored. Previous studies suggested that learning driven by large and…

Using Asynchronous Online Discussion to Learn Introductory Programming: An Exploratory Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kay, Robin

2006-01-01

Previous research on online discussions has focused on university students learning higher level subjects. The purpose of the current study was to examine whether online discussions could be used effectively by secondary school students attempting to learn introductory level topics. Forty-­five male students, ranging in age from 13 to 15 years…

Collaborative Action Research on Technology Integration for Science Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wang, Chien-hsing; Ke, Yi-Ting; Wu, Jin-Tong; Hsu, Wen-Hua

2012-01-01

This paper briefly reports the outcomes of an action research inquiry on the use of blogs, MS PowerPoint [PPT], and the Internet as learning tools with a science class of sixth graders for project-based learning. Multiple sources of data were essential to triangulate the key findings articulated in this paper. Corresponding to previous studies,…

Facilitating Self-Directed Learning (SDL) and Satisfaction with SDL among Pre-University Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yeoh, Miranda P.; Cazan, Ana-Maria; Ierardi, Enzo; Jacic, Ljubomir A.

2017-01-01

The aim of the study was to evaluate our practice of self-directed learning (SDL) among pre-university students in Malaysia. Respondents provided data on their previous school learning experiences besides present SDL experiences in college. We carried out exploratory factor analysis based on the school data. We did a confirmatory factor analysis…

The Use of Collaboration, Authentic Learning, Linking Material to Personal Knowledge, and Technology in the Constructivist Classroom: Interviews with Community College Faculty Members

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zielinski, Dianne E.

2017-01-01

This study explored how faculty members implemented constructivist teaching methods after training. The student-centered teaching methods were interactions and collaborations, authentic learning and real-world experiences, linking material to previously learned information, and using technology in the classroom. Seven faculty members trained in…

Using Voice Boards: Pedagogical Design, Technological Implementation, Evaluation and Reflections

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yaneske, Elisabeth; Oates, Briony

2011-01-01

We present a case study to evaluate the use of a Wimba Voice Board to support asynchronous audio discussion. We discuss the learning strategy and pedagogic rationale when a Voice Board was implemented within an MA module for language learners, enabling students to create learning objects and facilitating peer-to-peer learning. Previously students…

Using Voice Boards: Pedagogical Design, Technological Implementation, Evaluation and Reflections

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yaneske, Elisabeth; Oates, Briony

2010-01-01

We present a case study to evaluate the use of a Wimba Voice Board to support asynchronous audio discussion. We discuss the learning strategy and pedagogic rationale when a Voice Board was implemented within an MA module for language learners, enabling students to create learning objects and facilitating peer-to-peer learning. Previously students…

The Relevance of the Nature of Learned Associations for the Differentiation of Human Memory Systems

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rose, Michael; Haider, Hilde; Weiller, Cornelius; Buchel, Christian

2004-01-01

In a previous functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study we demonstrated an involvement of the medial temporal lobe (MTL) during an implicit learning task. We concluded that the MTL was engaged because of the complex contingencies that were implicitly learned. In addition, the basal ganglia demonstrated effects of a paralleled…

Can E-Learning Promote Participation of Female Students in STEM Disciplines in Higher Learning Institutions of Tanzania?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sanga, C.; Magesa, M. M.; Chingonikaya, E.; Kayunze, K. A.

2013-01-01

The recent development of ICTs has brought many changes in different sectors. In Higher Learning Institutions, there are a number of positive changes. ICTs have brought efficiency, effectiveness and efficacy in the provision of the core functions namely: teaching, outreach, research and consultancy. Previous studies showed that even though there…

The Use of Team-Based Learning as an Approach to Increased Engagement and Learning for Marketing Students: A Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chad, Paul

2012-01-01

Marketing educators are often faced with poor preclass preparation by students, declining student interest in attending classes as the semester progresses, and student complaints regarding previous bad experiences with team assessment activities. Team-based learning (TBL) is an innovative teaching strategy using semiformalized guidelines aimed to…

Evaluating the Impact of Instructional Support Using Data Mining and Process Mining: A Micro-Level Analysis of the Effectiveness of Metacognitive Prompts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sonnenberg, Christoph; Bannert, Maria

2016-01-01

In computer-supported learning environments, the deployment of self-regulatory skills represents an essential prerequisite for successful learning. Metacognitive prompts are a promising type of instructional support to activate students' strategic learning activities. However, despite positive effects in previous studies, there are still a large…

Linkages between Approaches to Learning, Perceived Stress and Expected and Actual Academic Outcomes among First-Semester Psychology Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Öhrstedt, Maria; Lindfors, Petra

2018-01-01

Previous research indicates that higher educational students' perceptions of stress are in part related to the teaching and learning context, and influence academic outcomes. This study intends to deepen our understanding of these processes by examining the linkages between approaches to learning, perceived stress and expected and actual academic…

Questioning Student Learning: An Exploration of Student's Views on Learning to Become Independent Nurse Prescribers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Banning, Maggi; Cortazzi, Martin

2004-01-01

This illuminative evaluation study gives insights into attitudes to learning, interaction and the perceived roles of theory, evidence, reading and previous experience. These insights lead us to question some aspects of the course as currently presented. Students indicated that they found the course material stimulating but prior guidance on the…

What is mLearning and How Can It Be Used to Support Learning and Teaching in Econometrics?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Morales, Lucia

2013-01-01

The aim of case this study was to analyze the integration of mobile learning technologies in a postgraduate course in Finance (MSc in Finance) at Dublin Institute of Technology, where econometrics is an important course component. Previous experience with students undertaking econometrics modules supported this analysis, where the researcher…

Involving Children in Reflective Discussions about Their Perceived Self-Efficacy and Learning Experiences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Määttä, Elina; Järvelä, Sanna

2013-01-01

Previous research indicates the importance of self-efficacy beliefs for young children's learning and achievement. However, the challenge has been to research young children's self-efficacy in authentic learning situations. Therefore, the aims of this study were to investigate young children's immediate experiences of confidence in…

Pedagogical Perspectives and Practices Reflected in Metaphors of Learning and Digital Learning of ICT Leaders

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Blau, Ina; Grinberg, Ronen; Shamir-Inbal, Tamar

2018-01-01

This study examines the meaning attributed to the contribution of technology to pedagogical practices from the perspective of school ICT leaders. While previous studies use metaphors for bottom-up exploration, this study employs an innovative combination of bottom-up and top-down metaphor analysis based on two frameworks: (a) metaphors of general…

The Effect of English Language Learning on Creative Thinking Skills: A Mixed Methods Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sehic, Sandro

2017-01-01

The purpose of this sequential explanatory mixed-methods case study was to investigate the effects of English language learning on creative thinking skills in the domains of fluency, flexibility, originality, and elaboration as measured with the Alternate Uses Test. Unlike the previous research studies that investigated the links between English…

Previous experience in manned space flight: A survey of human factors lessons learned

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chandlee, George O.; Woolford, Barbara

1993-01-01

Previous experience in manned space flight programs can be used to compile a data base of human factors lessons learned for the purpose of developing aids in the future design of inhabited spacecraft. The objectives are to gather information available from relevant sources, to develop a taxonomy of human factors data, and to produce a data base that can be used in the future for those people involved in the design of manned spacecraft operations. A study is currently underway at the Johnson Space Center with the objective of compiling, classifying, and summarizing relevant human factors data bearing on the lessons learned from previous manned space flights. The research reported defines sources of data, methods for collection, and proposes a classification for human factors data that may be a model for other human factors disciplines.

General functioning predicts reward and punishment learning in schizophrenia.

PubMed

Somlai, Zsuzsanna; Moustafa, Ahmed A; Kéri, Szabolcs; Myers, Catherine E; Gluck, Mark A

2011-04-01

Previous studies investigating feedback-driven reinforcement learning in patients with schizophrenia have provided mixed results. In this study, we explored the clinical predictors of reward and punishment learning using a probabilistic classification learning task. Patients with schizophrenia (n=40) performed similarly to healthy controls (n=30) on the classification learning task. However, more severe negative and general symptoms were associated with lower reward-learning performance, whereas poorer general psychosocial functioning was correlated with both lower reward- and punishment-learning performances. Multiple linear regression analyses indicated that general psychosocial functioning was the only significant predictor of reinforcement learning performance when education, antipsychotic dose, and positive, negative and general symptoms were included in the analysis. These results suggest a close relationship between reinforcement learning and general psychosocial functioning in schizophrenia. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Attempting to Answer a Meaningful Question Enhances Subsequent Learning Even When Feedback Is Delayed

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kornell, Nate

2014-01-01

Attempting to retrieve information from memory enhances subsequent learning even if the retrieval attempt is unsuccessful. Recent evidence suggests that this benefit materializes only if subsequent study occurs immediately after the retrieval attempt. Previous studies have prompted retrieval using a cue (e.g., "whale-???") that has no…

Physical Education Teachers' Career-Long Professional Learning: Getting Personal

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Makopoulou, Kyriaki; Armour, Kathleen M.

2011-01-01

The aim of this study was to build upon previous PE-CPD (Physical Education Continuing Professional Development) research by exploring Greek case study physical education (PE) teachers' engagement in professional learning. It is argued that in the contemporary European context, where the teaching profession is viewed as central to achieving wider…

The Measurement and Dimensionality of Mobile Learning Systems Success: Two-Stage Development and Validation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lin, Hsin-Hui; Wang, Yi-Shun; Li, Ci-Rong; Shih, Ying-Wei; Lin, Shin-Jeng

2017-01-01

The main purpose of this study is to develop and validate a multidimensional instrument for measuring mobile learning systems success (MLSS) based on the previous research. This study defines the construct of MLSS, develops a generic MLSS instrument with desirable psychometric properties, and explores the instrument's theoretical and practical…

Promoting Student Mental Health, Learning & Welfare: 1995-96 School Psychology Services Accountability Studies.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McDaid, Janet L.; Reifman, Arthur

As part of an ongoing project to determine how effectively school psychological services promote student mental health, learning, and welfare in San Diego City Schools (California), accountability studies were conducted. A previously developed planning model guided the process. During the 1995-96 school year, school psychologists gathered data…

Factors Related to Students' Learning of Biomechanics Concepts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hsieh, ChengTu; Smith, Jeremy D.; Bohne, Michael; Knudson, Duane

2012-01-01

The purpose of this study was to replicate and expand a previous study to identify the factors that affect students' learning of biomechanical concepts. Students were recruited from three universities (N = 149) located in the central and western regions of the United States. Data from 142 students completing the Biomechanics Concept Inventory…

Reading Strategies and Approaches to Learning of Bilingual Primary School Pupils

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rao, Zhenhui; Gu, Peter Yongqi; Zhang, Lawrence Jun; Hu, Guangwei

2007-01-01

The research reported here investigated primary school pupils' use of reading strategies. The study differed from most of the previous studies on reading strategies in that (1) the participants were young bilinguals in multicultural Singapore; (2) the data were examined within the Student Approaches to Learning (SAL) framework developed by John…

Principal Component Analysis Study of Visual and Verbal Metaphoric Comprehension in Children with Autism and Learning Disabilities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mashal, Nira; Kasirer, Anat

2012-01-01

This research extends previous studies regarding the metaphoric competence of autistic and learning disabled children on different measures of visual and verbal non-literal language comprehension, as well as cognitive abilities that include semantic knowledge, executive functions, similarities, and reading fluency. Thirty seven children with…

Meta-Analysis of Reading Comprehension Interventions for Students with Learning Disabilities: Strategies and Implications

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sencibaugh, Joseph M.

2005-01-01

This paper examines research studies, which focus on interventions commonly used with students who are learning disabled and identify effective methods that produce substantial benefits concerning reading comprehension. This paper synthesizes previous observation studies by conducting a meta-analysis of strategies used to improve the reading…

Meta-Analysis of Reading Comprehension Interventions for Students with Learning Disabilities: Strategies and Implications

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sencibaugh, Joseph M.

2007-01-01

This paper examines research studies, which focus on interventions commonly used with students who are learning disabled and identifies effective methods that produce substantial benefits concerning reading comprehension. This paper synthesizes previous observation studies by conducting a meta-analysis of strategies used to improve the reading…

The Relationship between Visual Metaphor Comprehension and Recognition of Similarities in Children with Learning Disabilities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mashal, Nira; Kasirer, Anat

2012-01-01

Previous studies have shown metaphoric comprehension deficits in children with learning disabilities. To understand metaphoric language, children must have enough semantic knowledge about the metaphorical terms and the ability to recognize similarity between two different domains. In the current study visual and verbal metaphor understanding was…

Learning to Integrate Divergent Information Sources: The Interplay of Epistemic Cognition and Epistemic Metacognition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barzilai, Sarit; Ka'adan, Ibtisam

2017-01-01

Learning to integrate multiple information sources is vital for advancing learners' digital literacy. Previous studies have found that learners' epistemic metacognitive knowledge about the nature of knowledge and knowing is related to their strategic integration performance. The purpose of this study was to understand how these relations come into…

Family Influences on Science Learning among Hong Kong Adolescents: What We Learned from PISA

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ho, Esther Sui Chu

2010-01-01

This study investigated the relationship between family factors and students' scientific literacy performance in Hong Kong, which has excelled in science performance in previous international studies. Data were obtained from the 2006 Programme for International Student Assessment. Multilevel analysis was used to examine the relationship between…

Consonant-Vowel Co-Occurrence Patterns in Mandarin-Learning Infants

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chen, Li-Mei; Kent, Raymond D.

2005-01-01

Most studies on CV co-occurrence patterns in early phonetic development have been based on Indo-European languages. Data from infants learning Mandarin, which has a substantially different phonological system from Indo-European languages, can confirm or refute the findings of previous studies, thus shedding further light on the theoretical bases…

Understanding Producers' Intentions and Viewers' Learning Outcomes in a Science Museum Theater Play on Evolution

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Peleg, R.; Baram-Tsabari, A.

2016-01-01

Science museums often introduce plays to liven up exhibits, attract visitors to specific exhibitions, and help visitors to "digest" difficult content. Most previous research has concentrated on viewers' learning outcomes. This study uses performance and spectator analyses from the field of theater studies to explore the link between…

Bi-Lingual Teaching and Learning: Effectiveness and Challenges in Postgraduate Studies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ling, Lee Kar

2013-01-01

The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of the use of bilingual teaching and learning methodology for Vietnamese postgraduate students from 2011-2012. Overall, the findings indicated relatively positive outcomes in most of the spectrum evaluated or assessed. These findings were then compared with previous researches and to…

An Approach to Meeting the Needs of Medical Students with Learning Disabilities.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Walters, Janice A.; Croen, Lila G.

1993-01-01

A study at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine (Yeshiva University, New York) has identified students from each medical class with previously unidentified learning disabilities. In three case studies, the importance of early identification and support is illustrated. In each case, dramatic improvement occurred with student awareness and…

Learning and exploration in action-perception loops.

PubMed

Little, Daniel Y; Sommer, Friedrich T

2013-01-01

Discovering the structure underlying observed data is a recurring problem in machine learning with important applications in neuroscience. It is also a primary function of the brain. When data can be actively collected in the context of a closed action-perception loop, behavior becomes a critical determinant of learning efficiency. Psychologists studying exploration and curiosity in humans and animals have long argued that learning itself is a primary motivator of behavior. However, the theoretical basis of learning-driven behavior is not well understood. Previous computational studies of behavior have largely focused on the control problem of maximizing acquisition of rewards and have treated learning the structure of data as a secondary objective. Here, we study exploration in the absence of external reward feedback. Instead, we take the quality of an agent's learned internal model to be the primary objective. In a simple probabilistic framework, we derive a Bayesian estimate for the amount of information about the environment an agent can expect to receive by taking an action, a measure we term the predicted information gain (PIG). We develop exploration strategies that approximately maximize PIG. One strategy based on value-iteration consistently learns faster than previously developed reward-free exploration strategies across a diverse range of environments. Psychologists believe the evolutionary advantage of learning-driven exploration lies in the generalized utility of an accurate internal model. Consistent with this hypothesis, we demonstrate that agents which learn more efficiently during exploration are later better able to accomplish a range of goal-directed tasks. We will conclude by discussing how our work elucidates the explorative behaviors of animals and humans, its relationship to other computational models of behavior, and its potential application to experimental design, such as in closed-loop neurophysiology studies.

Projection specificity in heterogeneous locus coeruleus cell populations: implications for learning and memory

PubMed Central

Uematsu, Akira; Tan, Bao Zhen

2015-01-01

Noradrenergic neurons in the locus coeruleus (LC) play a critical role in many functions including learning and memory. This relatively small population of cells sends widespread projections throughout the brain including to a number of regions such as the amygdala which is involved in emotional associative learning and the medial prefrontal cortex which is important for facilitating flexibility when learning rules change. LC noradrenergic cells participate in both of these functions, but it is not clear how this small population of neurons modulates these partially distinct processes. Here we review anatomical, behavioral, and electrophysiological studies to assess how LC noradrenergic neurons regulate these different aspects of learning and memory. Previous work has demonstrated that subpopulations of LC noradrenergic cells innervate specific brain regions suggesting heterogeneity of function in LC neurons. Furthermore, noradrenaline in mPFC and amygdala has distinct effects on emotional learning and cognitive flexibility. Finally, neural recording data show that LC neurons respond during associative learning and when previously learned task contingencies change. Together, these studies suggest a working model in which distinct and potentially opposing subsets of LC neurons modulate particular learning functions through restricted efferent connectivity with amygdala or mPFC. This type of model may provide a general framework for understanding other neuromodulatory systems, which also exhibit cell type heterogeneity and projection specificity. PMID:26330494

Vernier perceptual learning transfers to completely untrained retinal locations after double training: A “piggybacking” effect

PubMed Central

Wang, Rui; Zhang, Jun-Yun; Klein, Stanley A.; Levi, Dennis M.; Yu, Cong

2014-01-01

Perceptual learning, a process in which training improves visual discrimination, is often specific to the trained retinal location, and this location specificity is frequently regarded as an indication of neural plasticity in the retinotopic visual cortex. However, our previous studies have shown that “double training” enables location-specific perceptual learning, such as Vernier learning, to completely transfer to a new location where an irrelevant task is practiced. Here we show that Vernier learning can be actuated by less location-specific orientation or motion-direction learning to transfer to completely untrained retinal locations. This “piggybacking” effect occurs even if both tasks are trained at the same retinal location. However, piggybacking does not occur when the Vernier task is paired with a more location-specific contrast-discrimination task. This previously unknown complexity challenges the current understanding of perceptual learning and its specificity/transfer. Orientation and motion-direction learning, but not contrast and Vernier learning, appears to activate a global process that allows learning transfer to untrained locations. Moreover, when paired with orientation or motion-direction learning, Vernier learning may be “piggybacked” by the activated global process to transfer to other untrained retinal locations. How this task-specific global activation process is achieved is as yet unknown. PMID:25398974

Toward instructional design principles: Inducing Faraday's law with contrasting cases

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kuo, Eric; Wieman, Carl E.

2016-06-01

Although physics education research (PER) has improved instructional practices, there are not agreed upon principles for designing effective instructional materials. Here, we illustrate how close comparison of instructional materials could support the development of such principles. Specifically, in discussion sections of a large, introductory physics course, a pair of studies compare two instructional strategies for teaching a physics concept: having students (i) explain a set of contrasting cases or (ii) apply and build on previously learned concepts. We compare these strategies for the teaching of Faraday's law, showing that explaining a set of related contrasting cases not only improves student performance on Faraday's law questions over building on a previously learned concept (i.e., Lorentz force), but also prepares students to better learn subsequent topics, such as Lenz's law. These differences persist to the final exam. We argue that early exposure to contrasting cases better focuses student attention on a key feature related to both concepts: change in magnetic flux. Importantly, the benefits of contrasting cases for both learning and enjoyment are enhanced for students who did not first attend a Faraday's law lecture, consistent with previous research suggesting that being told a solution can circumvent the benefits of its discovery. These studies illustrate an experimental approach for understanding how the structure of activities affects learning and performance outcomes, a first step toward design principles for effective instructional materials.

Facilitating the Learning Process in Design-Based Learning Practices: An Investigation of Teachers' Actions in Supervising Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gómez Puente, S. M.; van Eijck, M.; Jochems, W.

2013-01-01

Background: In research on design-based learning (DBL), inadequate attention is paid to the role the teacher plays in supervising students in gathering and applying knowledge to design artifacts, systems, and innovative solutions in higher education. Purpose: In this study, we examine whether teacher actions we previously identified in the DBL…

Differential Use of Learning Strategies in First-Year Higher Education: The Impact of Personality, Academic Motivation, and Teaching Strategies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Donche, Vincent; De Maeyer, Sven; Coertjens, Liesje; Van Daal, Tine; Van Petegem, Peter

2013-01-01

Background. Although the evidence in support of the variability of students' learning strategies has expanded in recent years, less is known about the explanatory base of these individual differences in terms of the joint Influences of personal and contextual characteristics. Aims. Previous studies have often investigated how student learning is…

Technology Integration in Education: An Examination of Technology Adoption in Teaching and Learning by Secondary Teachers in Minnesota

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cherry, Jennifer E.

2014-01-01

The purpose of this study was to explore possible causal factors for level of teachers' adoption of technology in teaching and learning. Furthering the understanding of the factors related to teachers' technology adoption may facilitate increased levels of technology integration in the teaching and learning process. Based on previous research and…

Can 18-Month-Old Infants Learn Words by Listening in on Conversations?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Floor, Penelope; Akhtar, Nameera

2006-01-01

Previous research has shown that children as young as 2 can learn words from 3rd-party conversations (Akhtar, Jipson, & Callanan, 2001). The focus of this study was to determine whether younger infants could learn a new word through overhearing. Novel object labels were introduced to 18-month-old infants in 1 of 2 conditions: directly by an…

The Effect of Situated Learning on Knowledge Transfer of Students with and without Disabilities in Inclusive Classrooms: A Meta-Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kim, Jiyoung

2012-01-01

The purpose of this meta-analysis was to examine the effect of situated learning on the academic performance of students with and without disabilities in inclusive general education classrooms. While previous research has reported the overall effectiveness of situated learning, relatively few studies have been conducted to investigate how situated…

The Current Status and Future Prospects of Corporate e-Learning in Korea

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lim, Cheolil

2007-01-01

Corporate e-Learning in Korea has grown rapidly over the previous six years (2000-2005). This study argues that the main cause of this heightened interest in corporate e-Learning in Korea was not that companies needed to provide high-quality training programs through the Internet, but rather that the government took initiative to transform the…

Sound Sequence Discrimination Learning Motivated by Reward Requires Dopaminergic D2 Receptor Activation in the Rat Auditory Cortex

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kudoh, Masaharu; Shibuki, Katsuei

2006-01-01

We have previously reported that sound sequence discrimination learning requires cholinergic inputs to the auditory cortex (AC) in rats. In that study, reward was used for motivating discrimination behavior in rats. Therefore, dopaminergic inputs mediating reward signals may have an important role in the learning. We tested the possibility in the…

Comparing the Effects of Unknown-Known Ratios on Word Reading Learning versus Learning Rates

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Joseph, Laurice M.; Nist, Lindsay M.

2006-01-01

An extension of G. L. Cates et al. (2003) investigation was conducted to determine if students' cumulative learning rates would be superior for words read under a traditional drill and practice condition (as they were for spelling in the previous study) than under interspersal conditions of varying ratios of unknown to known words. Participants…

Effect of Learning Communities on Student Attitudes and Corresponding Behaviors: "A Mediated Test of Involvement Theory"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bonilla, Daniel; Buch, Kimberly K.; Johnson, Cindy Wolf

2013-01-01

Learning communities are small pre-selected student groups based on a common interest with a variety of goals related to student outcomes. Previous research has shown robust effects of learning community participation on student success outcomes, but little is known about the mechanisms which may mediate these effects. The current study analyzed…

Effects of Online Sensory Feedback Restriction during the Training on Immediate and Long-Term Learning on a Finger Opposition Tapping Task

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Piemonte, Maria Elisa Pimentel; Kopczynski, Marcos Cammarosano; Voos, Mariana Callil; Miranda, Camila Souza; Oliveira, Tatiana de Paula

2015-01-01

Background: Online sensory feedback has been considered fundamental for motor learning. The sensory inputs experienced in previous attempts can be processed and compared to allow the online refinement of subsequent attempts, resulting on performance improvement. However, numerous studies have provided direct and indirect evidence that learning new…

Transfer of Knowledge in Technical Vocational Education: A Narrative Study in Swedish Upper Secondary School

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kilbrink, Nina; Bjurulf, Veronica

2013-01-01

In vocational education, teaching and learning are expected to take place in the different learning arenas; schools and workplaces. In such a dual school system, the question of transfer is vital, i.e. how to use knowledge learned in previous situations in new situations. This article is an empirical contribution to research concerning transfer,…

Statistical Learning and Dyslexia: A Systematic Review

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schmalz, Xenia; Altoè, Gianmarco; Mulatti, Claudio

2017-01-01

The existing literature on developmental dyslexia (hereafter: dyslexia) often focuses on isolating cognitive skills which differ across dyslexic and control participants. Among potential correlates, previous research has studied group differences between dyslexic and control participants in performance on statistical learning tasks. A statistical…

A Collaborative Approach to Experiential Learning in University Newswriting and Editing Classes: A Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Parks, Perry

2015-01-01

This case study examines a creative approach by two journalism professors to enhance experiential learning in separate skills-based newswriting and editing courses by collaborating to produce a live online news report from campus each week on a four-hour deadline. The study builds on previous research into how innovative classroom structures that…

Using Wikipedia to Enhance Student Learning: A Case Study in Economics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Freire, Tiago; Li, Jingping

2016-01-01

Currently, there is widespread interest in how Web 2.0 tools can be used to improve students' learning experiences. Previous studies have focused either on the advantages of wikis or on concerns over the use of Wikipedia. In this study, we propose to use Wikipedia as a classroom wiki. In doing so, we discuss how students can improve their standard…

Moderate psychosocial stress appears not to impair recall of words learned 4 weeks prior to stress exposure.

PubMed

Wolf, Oliver T; Schommer, Nicole C; Hellhammer, Dirk H; Reischies, Friedel M; Kirschbaum, Clemens

2002-02-01

Recent studies in humans have reported that recall of previously learned material is especially sensitive to the disruptive effects of pharmacologically induced cortisol elevations. Whether similar effects occur after exposure to psychosocial stress remains to be shown. Moreover it is unknown whether stress before or after the initial learning interacts with the later effects of repeated stress on delayed recall (e.g. state-dependent learning). Forty subjects participated in the present experiment. They learned a word list either one hour before or 10 min after exposure to a psychosocial laboratory stressor. Delayed recall was tested 4 weeks later, again either before or after stress. Salivary cortisol levels increased significantly in response to both stress exposures. Stress had no effects on the initial learning and also did not impair delayed recall. Moreover there was no evidence for state-dependent learning. The current data seem to be in conflict with previous studies demonstrating that delayed recall is especially sensitive to elevated cortisol levels. Several reasons for these discrepancies are discussed. Among them is the small sample size, the moderate cortisol increase in response to the second stress exposure but also the long recall delay, which might lead to memory traces less susceptible to stress.

Effect of explicit dimension instruction on speech category learning

PubMed Central

Chandrasekaran, Bharath; Yi, Han-Gyol; Smayda, Kirsten E.; Maddox, W. Todd

2015-01-01

Learning non-native speech categories is often considered a challenging task in adulthood. This difficulty is driven by cross-language differences in weighting critical auditory dimensions that differentiate speech categories. For example, previous studies have shown that differentiating Mandarin tonal categories requires attending to dimensions related to pitch height and direction. Relative to native speakers of Mandarin, the pitch direction dimension is under-weighted by native English speakers. In the current study, we examined the effect of explicit instructions (dimension instruction) on native English speakers' Mandarin tone category learning within the framework of a dual-learning systems (DLS) model. This model predicts that successful speech category learning is initially mediated by an explicit, reflective learning system that frequently utilizes unidimensional rules, with an eventual switch to a more implicit, reflexive learning system that utilizes multidimensional rules. Participants were explicitly instructed to focus and/or ignore the pitch height dimension, the pitch direction dimension, or were given no explicit prime. Our results show that instruction instructing participants to focus on pitch direction, and instruction diverting attention away from pitch height resulted in enhanced tone categorization. Computational modeling of participant responses suggested that instruction related to pitch direction led to faster and more frequent use of multidimensional reflexive strategies, and enhanced perceptual selectivity along the previously underweighted pitch direction dimension. PMID:26542400

Choline acetyltransferase in the hippocampus is associated with learning strategy preference in adult male rats.

PubMed

Hawley, Wayne R; Witty, Christine F; Daniel, Jill M; Dohanich, Gary P

2015-08-01

One principle of the multiple memory systems hypothesis posits that the hippocampus-based and striatum-based memory systems compete for control over learning. Consistent with this notion, previous research indicates that the cholinergic system of the hippocampus plays a role in modulating the preference for a hippocampus-based place learning strategy over a striatum-based stimulus--response learning strategy. Interestingly, in the hippocampus, greater activity and higher protein levels of choline acetyltransferase (ChAT), the enzyme that synthesizes acetylcholine, are associated with better performance on hippocampus-based learning and memory tasks. With this in mind, the primary aim of the current study was to determine if higher levels of ChAT and the high-affinity choline uptake transporter (CHT) in the hippocampus were associated with a preference for a hippocampus-based place learning strategy on a task that also could be solved by relying on a striatum-based stimulus--response learning strategy. Results confirmed that levels of ChAT in the dorsal region of the hippocampus were associated with a preference for a place learning strategy on a water maze task that could also be solved by adopting a stimulus-response learning strategy. Consistent with previous studies, the current results support the hypothesis that the cholinergic system of the hippocampus plays a role in balancing competition between memory systems that modulate learning strategy preference. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The Influence of Learning Style on English Learning Achievement Among Undergraduates in Mainland China.

PubMed

Huang, Fang; Hoi, Cathy Ka Weng; Teo, Timothy

2018-03-26

Learning style is one of the main factors that determines how students learn English and has a significant influence on students' learning strategy selection, which further affects their learning outcomes (Ehrman and Oxford in Mod Lang J 74(3):311-327, 1990; Oxford in Language learning styles and strategies: an overview, 2003. http://web.ntpu.edu.tw/~language/workshop/read2.pdf ). This study examines the learning style preferences of Chinese university students and whether those preferences influence their English achievements. Four hundred undergraduates from one university in eastern mainland China participated in this study. Data from 329 valid questionnaires were analysed. The results revealed that the Chinese university students preferred the visual learning style the most, followed by the auditory and kinaesthetic styles. However, no learning style preference was found to influence the students' English proficiency. Cultural reasons are discussed to explain the findings, which contradict those of previous studies of learning style theories and practices. This study recommends that Chinese scholars consider issues of English teaching and learning in China and to adopt appropriate teaching methods to effectively improve English teaching.

Content Classification and Context-Based Retrieval System for E-Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mittal, Ankush; Krishnan, Pagalthivarthi V.; Altman, Edward

2006-01-01

A recent focus in web based learning systems has been the development of reusable learning materials that can be delivered as personalized courses depending of a number of factors such as the user's background, his/her learning preferences, current knowledge based on previous assessments, or previous browsing patterns. The student is often…

Early Learning and Early Identification Follow-Up Study: Transition from the Early to the Later Childhood Grades, 1990-93.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marcon, Rebecca A.

As follow-up to an in-depth study of the District of Columbia's early learning programs and their impact, this study provided data on the transition of previously studied children from primary education to upper elementary grades. Academic progress of the original group of pre-kindergarten and Head Start children was studied during years 5 and 6…

Is the Recall of Verbal-Spatial Information from Working Memory Affected by Symptoms of ADHD?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Caterino, Linda C.; Verdi, Michael P.

2012-01-01

Objective: The Kulhavy model for text learning using organized spatial displays proposes that learning will be increased when participants view visual images prior to related text. In contrast to previous studies, this study also included students who exhibited symptoms of ADHD. Method: Participants were presented with either a map-text or…

Proactive and Reactive Dimensions of Life-Course Agency: Mapping Student Teachers' Language Learning Experiences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ruohotie-Lyhty, Maria; Moate, Josephine

2015-01-01

Although the concept of agency has received a lot of interest in recent educational research, its significance in language learning biographies as well as contextual and relational aspects of learner agency are still little studied. This paper aims at a more thorough understanding of agency by studying student teachers' previous language learning…

Individual Differences and Intervention Flaws: A Sequential Explanatory Study of College Students' Copy-and-Paste Note Taking

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Igo, L. Brent; Kiewra, Kenneth A.; Bruning, Roger

2008-01-01

In this study, qualitative themes and quantitative findings from previous research were used to justify the exploration of four experimental, note-taking conditions and the impact of those conditions on student learning from Web-based text. However, puzzling results obtained from dependent measures of student learning were quite inconsistent with…

Students' Use of Technology in Learning Course Material: Is It Cheating?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cole, Michele T.; Swartz, Louis B.; Shelley, Daniel J.

2014-01-01

This paper presents the results of a four-year study examining business students' perceptions of academic integrity and the role of technology in e-learning. This study is an extension of previous research on academic integrity in the online environment (Cole, Shelley & Swartz, 2013; Cole & Swartz, 2013; Shelley, Cole & Swartz, 2010).…

A Clinical Study of ADHD Symptoms with Relation to Symptoms of Learning Disorders in Schoolchildren in Bogota, Colombia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Talero-Gutierrez, Claudia; Van Meerbeke, Alberto Velez; Reyes, Rodrigo Gonzalez

2012-01-01

Objective: To investigate possible relationships between symptoms of ADHD and of learning disorder (LD) in a population geographically, culturally, and linguistically distinct from previous studies. Method: The authors evaluated a cross section of 834 Colombian schoolchildren for childhood neurological pathologies on the basis of a medical…

Word Learning in Clear and Plain Speech in Quiet and Noisy Listening Conditions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Riley, Kristine Marie Grohne

2010-01-01

Previous research demonstrates enhanced speech perception abilities for typically hearing and hearing-impaired listeners when speakers use clear versus plain speech, particularly in the presence of background noise. To date, very few studies have investigated the effects of noise on word learning and no studies have examined the effects of clear…

Learning Arithmetic Outdoors in Junior High School--Influence on Performance and Self-Regulating Skills

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fägerstam, Emilia; Samuelsson, Joakim

2014-01-01

This study aims to explore the influence of outdoor teaching among students, aged 13, on arithmetic performance and self-regulation skills as previous research concerning outdoor mathematics learning is limited. This study had a quasi-experimental design. An outdoor and a traditional group answered a test and a self-regulation skills questionnaire…

Academic Success Is about Self-Efficacy Rather than Frequency of Use of the Learning Management System

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Broadbent, Jaclyn

2016-01-01

Previous studies have investigated the association between the frequency of student learning management system (LMS) use (logins, discussion board use, resources used, etc.) and academic achievement. These studies indicate that low LMS use by students is likely to result in less academic success. However, these models fail to take into account…

Strategic Planning, Recasts, Noticing, and L2 Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hama, Mika

2012-01-01

Since the mid-1990s, the link between recasts and L2 development has been extensively tested, and the results from those studies have largely demonstrated that recasts have a positive effect on L2 learning. With this firm support from previous empirical evidence, studies have begun to focus on how recasts assist learning and under what conditions…

How Seductive Are Decorative Elements in Learning Materials?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rey, Gunter Daniel

2012-01-01

The seductive detail effect arises when people learn more deeply from a multimedia presentation when interesting but irrelevant adjuncts are excluded. However, previous studies about this effect are rather inconclusive and contained various methodical problems. The recent experiment attempted to overcome these methodical problems. Undergraduate…

PFIESTERIA PISCICIDA-INDUCED COGNITIVE EFFECTS: VISUAL SIGNAL DETECTION PERFORMANCE AND REVERSAL.

EPA Science Inventory

Humans exposed to Pfiesteria piscicida report cognitive impairment. In a rat model, we showed that exposure to Pfiesteria impaired learning a new task, but not performance of previously-learned behavior. In this study, we characterized the behavioral effects of Pfiesteria in rats...

Urban Schools' Teachers Enacting Project-Based Science

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tal, Tali; Krajcik, Joseph S.; Blumenfeld, Phyllis C.

2006-01-01

What teaching practices foster inquiry and promote students to learn challenging subject matter in urban schools? Inquiry-based instruction and successful inquiry learning and teaching in project-based science (PBS) were described in previous studies (Brown & Campione, [1990]; Crawford, [1999]; Krajcik, Blumenfeld, Marx, Bass, & Fredricks,…

Gender Differences in Computer- and Instrumental-Based Musical Composition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shibazaki, Kagari; Marshall, Nigel A.

2013-01-01

Background: Previous studies have argued that technology can be a major support to the music teacher enabling, amongst other things, increased student motivation, higher levels of confidence and more individualised learning to take place [Bolton, J. 2008. "Technologically mediated composition learning: Josh's story." "British…

Evaluation of technology-assisted learning setups for undertaking assessment and providing intervention to persons with a diagnosis of vegetative state.

PubMed

Lancioni, Giulio; O'Reilly, Mark; Singh, Nirbhay; Buonocunto, Francesca; Sacco, Valentina; Colonna, Fabio; Navarro, Jorge; Lanzilotti, Crocifissa; Belardinelli, Marta Olivetti; Bosco, Andrea; Megna, Gianfranco; de Tommaso, Marina

2009-01-01

To evaluate the viability of technology-assisted learning setups for undertaking assessment and providing intervention to persons in vegetative state. Study I investigated whether three persons with a diagnosis of vegetative state could associate eye blinking or hand closure responses with contingent, positive stimulation, thus increasing their frequencies (showing signs of learning). Study II extended the learning process (introducing a new response and new stimuli) for one of the participants of Study I. Two of the participants of Study I succeeded in increasing their responses, indicating signs of learning. Study II showed that the participant (one of the two succeeding in Study I) acquired a new response to access new stimuli and could alternate this response with the one acquired in Study I. Learning might represent a basic level of knowledge and consciousness. Detecting signs of learning might help modify a previous diagnosis of vegetative state and support intervention/rehabilitation efforts.

The study of topics of Astronomy in Physics teaching that addresses the significant learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Santos Neta, M. L.; Voelzke, M. R.

2017-12-01

In this work are discussed the results of the case study on the oceanic tides for which it was used didactic sequences, based on the Cycle of Experience of George Kelly (Kelly 1963), applied in four groups of the first year of the integral medium teaching. The data obtained in two same tests - Pre and Post-Test - before and after the application of the didactic sequences, as well as the verification of the significant learning analysed as for the conditions of the previous knowledge considering authors Boczko (1984), Horvath (2008) and Kepler & Saraiva (2013). Also the values were analysed obtained the Post-Test II applied to the long period. The results reveal that the worked groups presented previous knowledge in conditions adapted for the understanding of the event, as well as, for they be used in the situation-problem resolution that demands the understanding. Verify also that the idea of the didactic sequence can be used as tool in the relationship teaching-learning addressed to the significant learning.

Intrinsic motivation and metacognition as predictors of learning potential in patients with remitted schizophrenia.

PubMed

Tas, Cumhur; Brown, Elliot C; Esen-Danaci, Aysen; Lysaker, Paul H; Brüne, Martin

2012-08-01

Previous research has suggested that neurocognitive functioning predicts best the potential of patients with schizophrenia to acquire newly learned material, which, in turn may impact patients' social functioning. Recent studies have also shown that intrinsic motivation and metacognitive abilities play a decisive role in social functioning in schizophrenia. Accordingly, the present study sought to examine the relationship between intelligence, motivation, metacognition, and learning during a cognitive remediation experimental training. We hypothesized that metacognition and intrinsic motivation would have a strong relationship and independently predict learning potential. Thirty-two patients with schizophrenia who fulfilled the criteria of functional remission were recruited. In a pre-training-post experimental design, patients' learning potential was assessed using previously defined cognitive remediation training for WCST. Intrinsic motivation was examined using Intrinsic Motivation Inventory for schizophrenia; mastery, a domain of metacognition, was measured using the Metacognitive Assessment Scale. Metacognition significantly correlated with subdomains of intrinsic motivation. Patients with higher intrinsic motivation and preserved metacognition improved more in the learning paradigm compared to poorly motivated patients and patients with reduced metacognitive abilities. In particular, "mastery" was determined as an independent predictor of learning potential. Motivation and metacognition are important predictors of learning in schizophrenia. Psychological interventions in schizophrenia may therefore consider incorporating techniques to stimulate metacognitive and motivational abilities as well as developing individualized training programs. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Perceptual advantage for category-relevant perceptual dimensions: the case of shape and motion.

PubMed

Folstein, Jonathan R; Palmeri, Thomas J; Gauthier, Isabel

2014-01-01

Category learning facilitates perception along relevant stimulus dimensions, even when tested in a discrimination task that does not require categorization. While this general phenomenon has been demonstrated previously, perceptual facilitation along dimensions has been documented by measuring different specific phenomena in different studies using different kinds of objects. Across several object domains, there is support for acquired distinctiveness, the stretching of a perceptual dimension relevant to learned categories. Studies using faces and studies using simple separable visual dimensions have also found evidence of acquired equivalence, the shrinking of a perceptual dimension irrelevant to learned categories, and categorical perception, the local stretching across the category boundary. These later two effects are rarely observed with complex non-face objects. Failures to find these effects with complex non-face objects may have been because the dimensions tested previously were perceptually integrated. Here we tested effects of category learning with non-face objects categorized along dimensions that have been found to be processed by different areas of the brain, shape and motion. While we replicated acquired distinctiveness, we found no evidence for acquired equivalence or categorical perception.

Effective Teaching and Learning Environments and Principal Self-Efficacy in Oklahoma: Replication of a Previous Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Berry, Kathryn

2013-01-01

The purpose of this study was to replicate a previous study by Smith et al. (2006) that explored principal self-efficacy beliefs for facilitating effective instructional environments at their schools. There has been limited research conducted on principal's self-efficacy, and the studies that have been completed on the topic have not been…

A mixed-methods study of interprofessional learning of resuscitation skills.

PubMed

Bradley, Paul; Cooper, Simon; Duncan, Fiona

2009-09-01

This study aimed to identify the effects of interprofessional resuscitation skills teaching on medical and nursing students' attitudes, leadership, team-working and performance skills. Year 2 medical and nursing students learned resuscitation skills in uniprofessional or interprofessional settings, prior to undergoing observational ratings of video-recorded leadership, teamwork and skills performance and subsequent focus group interviews. The Readiness for Interprofessional Learning Scale (RIPLS) was administered pre- and post-intervention and again 3-4 months later. There was no significant difference between interprofessional and uniprofessional teams for leadership, team dynamics or resuscitation tasks performance. Gender, previous interprofessional learning experience, professional background and previous leadership experience had no significant effect. Interview analysis showed broad support for interprofessional education (IPE) matched to clinical reality with perceived benefits for teamwork, communication and improved understanding of roles and perspectives. Concerns included inappropriate role adoption, hierarchy issues, professional identity and the timing of IPE episodes. The RIPLS subscales for professional identity and team-working increased significantly post-intervention for interprofessional groups but returned to pre-test levels by 3-4 months. However, interviews showed interprofessional groups retained a 'residual positivity' towards IPE, more so than uniprofessional groups. An intervention based on common, relevant, shared learning outcomes set in a realistic educational context can work with students who have differing levels of previous IPE and skills training experience. Qualitatively, positive attitudes outlast quantitative changes measured using the RIPLS. Further quantitative and qualitative work is required to examine other domains of learning, the timing of interventions and impact on attitudes towards IPE.

Effect of Modifying Intervention Set Size with Acquisition Rate Data among Students Identified with a Learning Disability

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Haegele, Katherine; Burns, Matthew K.

2015-01-01

The amount of information that students can successfully learn and recall at least 1 day later is called an acquisition rate (AR) and is unique to the individual student. The current study extended previous drill rehearsal research with word recognition by (a) using students identified with a learning disability in reading, (b) assessing set sizes…

Linking the Shapes of Alphabet Letters to Their Sounds: The Case of Hebrew

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Treiman, Rebecca; Levin, Iris; Kessler, Brett

2012-01-01

Learning the sounds of letters is an important part of learning a writing system. Most previous studies of this process have examined English, focusing on variations in the phonetic iconicity of letter names as a reason why some letter sounds (such as that of b, where the sound is at the beginning of the letter's name) are easier to learn than…

A Cross-Sectional Study to Describe Academics' Confidence, Attitudes, and Experience of Online Distance Learning in Higher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harrison, Roger; Hutt, Ian; Thomas-Varcoe, Catherine; Motteram, Gary; Else, Kathryn; Rawlings, Barbara; Gemmell, Isla

2017-01-01

Previous research, mainly from North America and Asia, has highlighted how many academics in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) are concerned about the academic integrity of online distance learning (ODL) compared with face-to-face-teaching and its impact on their work and the student learning experience. Far less is known about this topic for…

Physiotherapy students' perspectives of online e-learning for interdisciplinary management of chronic health conditions: a qualitative study.

PubMed

Gardner, Peter; Slater, Helen; Jordan, Joanne E; Fary, Robyn E; Chua, Jason; Briggs, Andrew M

2016-02-16

To qualitatively explore physiotherapy students' perceptions of online e-learning for chronic disease management using a previously developed, innovative and interactive, evidence-based, e-learning package: Rheumatoid Arthritis for Physiotherapists e-Learning (RAP-eL). Physiotherapy students participated in three focus groups in Perth, Western Australia. Purposive sampling was employed to ensure maximum heterogeneity across age, gender and educational background. To explore students' perspectives on the advantages and disadvantages of online e-learning, ways to enhance e-learning, and information/learning gaps in relation to interdisciplinary management of chronic health conditions, a semi-structured interview schedule was developed. Verbatim transcripts were analysed using inductive methods within a grounded theory approach to derive key themes. Twenty-three students (78 % female; 39 % with previous tertiary qualification) of mean (SD) age 23 (3.6) years participated. Students expressed a preference for a combination of both online e-learning and lecture-style learning formats for chronic disease management, citing flexibility to work at one's own pace and time, and access to comprehensive information as advantages of e-learning learning. Personal interaction and ability to clarify information immediately were considered advantages of lecture-style formats. Perceived knowledge gaps included practical application of interdisciplinary approaches to chronic disease management and developing and implementing physiotherapy management plans for people with chronic health conditions. Physiotherapy students preferred multi-modal and blended formats for learning about chronic disease management. This study highlights the need for further development of practically-oriented knowledge and skills related to interdisciplinary care for people with chronic conditions among physiotherapy students. While RAP-eL focuses on rheumatoid arthritis, the principles of learning apply to the broader context of chronic disease management.

Arguing Collaboratively: Argumentative Discourse Types and Their Potential for Knowledge Building

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Felton, Mark; Garcia-Mila, Merce; Villarroel, Constanza; Gilabert, Sandra

2015-01-01

Background: There is growing interest in using argumentative discourse in educational settings. However, in a previous study, we found that discourse goals (persuasion vs. consensus) while arguing can affect student outcomes in both content learning and reasoning. Aims: In this study, we look at argumentative discourse data from a previous study…

The Price of Fame: The Impact of Stimulus Familiarity on Proactive Interference Resolution

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Prabhakaran, Ranjani; Thompson-Schill, Sharon L.

2011-01-01

Interference from previously learned information, known as proactive interference (PI), limits our memory retrieval abilities. Previous studies of PI resolution have focused on the role of short-term familiarity, or recency, in causing PI. In the present study, we investigated the impact of long-term stimulus familiarity on PI resolution…

"Mind the Gap": An Empirical Study of the Gap between Intention and Actual Usage of Corporate E-Learning Programmes in the Financial Industry

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Luor, Tainyi; Hu, Changya; Lu, His-Peng

2009-01-01

While numerous previous studies have focused on the use of some corporate e-learning programmes (CELP), little is known about the difference between users' pre-installation reactions to CELP and user's post-installation reactions to CELP. This study narrows the above gap with two investigations into a financial company's CELP. In the…

Structural Enhancement of Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Trumpower, David L.; Goldsmith, Timothy E.

2004-01-01

Structural learning aids, such as interactive overviews (IOs), have previously been shown to facilitate text comprehension and recall. In this study, we examined the effects of structural aids on learners' structural knowledge and their performance on a procedural transfer task. In Experiment 1, 90 college students were presented definitions of…

Declarative memory: sleep protects new memories from interference.

PubMed

Norman, Kenneth A

2006-08-08

Interference is one of the most fundamental phenomena in memory research: acquiring new memories causes forgetting of other, related memories. A new study shows that sleep, interposed between learning episodes, can mitigate the extent to which new (post-sleep) learning interferes with recall of previously acquired knowledge.

Motivation and Satisfaction in Internet-Supported Learning Environments: A Review

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bekele, Teklu Abate

2010-01-01

Previous studies examined student motivation and satisfaction in Internet-Supported Learning Environments (ISLE) in higher education but none provided a comprehensive analysis of significant methodological and theoretical issues. To contribute toward filling this knowledge gap and then to better inform instructional systems development, practice,…

Enhancing Learning Outcomes through Application Driven Activities in Marketing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stegemann, Nicole; Sutton-Brady, Catherine

2013-01-01

This paper introduces an activity used in class to allow students to apply previously acquired information to a hands-on task. As the authors have previously shown active learning is a way to effectively facilitate and improve students' learning outcomes. As a result to improve learning outcomes we have overtime developed a series of learning…

Hippocampal BOLD response during category learning predicts subsequent performance on transfer generalization.

PubMed

Fera, Francesco; Passamonti, Luca; Herzallah, Mohammad M; Myers, Catherine E; Veltri, Pierangelo; Morganti, Giuseppina; Quattrone, Aldo; Gluck, Mark A

2014-07-01

To test a prediction of our previous computational model of cortico-hippocampal interaction (Gluck and Myers [1993, 2001]) for characterizing individual differences in category learning, we studied young healthy subjects using an fMRI-adapted category-learning task that has two phases, an initial phase in which associations are learned through trial-and-error feedback followed by a generalization phase in which previously learned rules can be applied to novel associations (Myers et al. [2003]). As expected by our model, we found a negative correlation between learning-related hippocampal responses and accuracy during transfer, demonstrating that hippocampal adaptation during learning is associated with better behavioral scores during transfer generalization. In addition, we found an inverse relationship between Blood Oxygenation Level Dependent (BOLD) activity in the striatum and that in the hippocampal formation and the orbitofrontal cortex during the initial learning phase. Conversely, activity in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, orbitofrontal cortex and parietal lobes dominated over that of the hippocampal formation during the generalization phase. These findings provide evidence in support of theories of the neural substrates of category learning which argue that the hippocampal region plays a critical role during learning for appropriately encoding and representing newly learned information so that that this learning can be successfully applied and generalized to subsequent novel task demands. Copyright © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Do emergency medicine residents and faculty have similar learning styles when assessed with the Kolb learning style assessment tool?

PubMed

Fredette, Jenna; O'Brien, Corinne; Poole, Christy; Nomura, Jason

2015-04-01

Experiential learning theory and the Kolb Learning Style Inventory (Kolb LSI) have influenced educators worldwide for decades. Knowledge of learning styles can create efficient learning environments, increase information retention, and improve learner satisfaction. Learning styles have been examined in medicine previously, but not specifically with Emergency Medicine (EM) residents and attendings. Using the Kolb LSI, the learning styles of Emergency Medicine residents and attendings were assessed. The findings showed that the majority of EM residents and attendings shared the accommodating learning style. This result was different than prior studies that found the majority of medical professionals had a converging learning style and other studies that found attendings often have different learning styles than residents. The issue of learning styles among emergency medical residents and attendings is important because learning style knowledge may have an impact on how a residency program structures curriculum and how EM residents are successfully, efficiently, and creatively educated.

Microstimulation of the Human Substantia Nigra Alters Reinforcement Learning

PubMed Central

Ramayya, Ashwin G.; Misra, Amrit

2014-01-01

Animal studies have shown that substantia nigra (SN) dopaminergic (DA) neurons strengthen action–reward associations during reinforcement learning, but their role in human learning is not known. Here, we applied microstimulation in the SN of 11 patients undergoing deep brain stimulation surgery for the treatment of Parkinson's disease as they performed a two-alternative probability learning task in which rewards were contingent on stimuli, rather than actions. Subjects demonstrated decreased learning from reward trials that were accompanied by phasic SN microstimulation compared with reward trials without stimulation. Subjects who showed large decreases in learning also showed an increased bias toward repeating actions after stimulation trials; therefore, stimulation may have decreased learning by strengthening action–reward associations rather than stimulus–reward associations. Our findings build on previous studies implicating SN DA neurons in preferentially strengthening action–reward associations during reinforcement learning. PMID:24828643

The Effects of Study Tasks in a Computer-Based Chemistry Learning Environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Urhahne, Detlef; Nick, Sabine; Poepping, Anna Christin; Schulz, Sarah Jayne

2013-12-01

The present study examines the effects of different study tasks on the acquisition of knowledge about acids and bases in a computer-based learning environment. Three different task formats were selected to create three treatment conditions: learning with gap-fill and matching tasks, learning with multiple-choice tasks, and learning only from text and figures without any additional tasks. Participants were 196 ninth-grade students who learned with a self-developed multimedia program in a pretest-posttest control group design. Research results reveal that gap-fill and matching tasks were most effective in promoting knowledge acquisition, followed by multiple-choice tasks, and no tasks at all. The findings are in line with previous research on this topic. The effects can possibly be explained by the generation-recognition model, which predicts that gap-fill and matching tasks trigger more encompassing learning processes than multiple-choice tasks. It is concluded that instructional designers should incorporate more challenging study tasks for enhancing the effectiveness of computer-based learning environments.

Domain-Specific and Domain-General Learning Factors are Expressed in Genetically Heterogeneous CD-1 mice

PubMed Central

Kolata, Stefan; Light, Kenneth; Matzel, Louis D.

2008-01-01

It has been established that both domain-specific (e.g. spatial) as well as domain-general (general intelligence) factors influence human cognition. However, the separation of these processes has rarely been attempted in studies using laboratory animals. Previously, we have found that the performances of outbred mice across a wide range of learning tasks correlate in such a way that a single factor can explain 30– 44% of the variance between animals. This general learning factor is in some ways qualitatively and quantitatively analogous to general intelligence in humans. The complete structure of cognition in mice, however, has not been explored due to the limited sample sizes of our previous analyses. Here we report a combined analysis from 241 CD-1 mice tested in five primary learning tasks, and a subset of mice tested in two additional learning tasks. At least two (possibly three) of the seven learning tasks placed explicit demands on spatial and/or hippocampus-dependent processing abilities. Consistent with previous findings, we report a robust general factor influencing learning in mice that accounted for 38% of the variance across tasks. In addition, a domain-specific factor was found to account for performance on that subset of tasks that shared a dependence on hippocampal and/or spatial processing. These results provide further evidence for a general learning/cognitive factor in genetically heterogeneous mice. Furthermore (and similar to human cognitive performance), these results suggest a hierarchical structure to cognitive processes in this genetically heterogeneous species. PMID:19129932

Longitudinal attentional engagement rescues mice from age-related cognitive declines and cognitive inflexibility

PubMed Central

Matzel, Louis D.; Light, Kenneth R.; Wass, Christopher; Colas-Zelin, Danielle; Denman-Brice, Alexander; Waddel, Adam C.; Kolata, Stefan

2011-01-01

Learning, attentional, and perseverative deficits are characteristic of cognitive aging. In this study, genetically diverse CD-1 mice underwent longitudinal training in a task asserted to tax working memory capacity and its dependence on selective attention. Beginning at 3 mo of age, animals were trained for 12 d to perform in a dual radial-arm maze task that required the mice to remember and operate on two sets of overlapping guidance (spatial) cues. As previously reported, this training resulted in an immediate (at 4 mo of age) improvement in the animals' aggregate performance across a battery of five learning tasks. Subsequently, these animals received an additional 3 d of working memory training at 3-wk intervals for 15 mo (totaling 66 training sessions), and at 18 mo of age were assessed on a selective attention task, a second set of learning tasks, and variations of those tasks that required the animals to modify the previously learned response. Both attentional and learning abilities (on passive avoidance, active avoidance, and reinforced alternation tasks) were impaired in aged animals that had not received working memory training. Likewise, these aged animals exhibited consistent deficits when required to modify a previously instantiated learned response (in reinforced alternation, active avoidance, and spatial water maze). In contrast, these attentional, learning, and perseverative deficits were attenuated in aged animals that had undergone lifelong working memory exercise. These results suggest that general impairments of learning, attention, and cognitive flexibility may be mitigated by a cognitive exercise regimen that requires chronic attentional engagement. PMID:21521768

Longitudinal attentional engagement rescues mice from age-related cognitive declines and cognitive inflexibility.

PubMed

Matzel, Louis D; Light, Kenneth R; Wass, Christopher; Colas-Zelin, Danielle; Denman-Brice, Alexander; Waddel, Adam C; Kolata, Stefan

2011-01-01

Learning, attentional, and perseverative deficits are characteristic of cognitive aging. In this study, genetically diverse CD-1 mice underwent longitudinal training in a task asserted to tax working memory capacity and its dependence on selective attention. Beginning at 3 mo of age, animals were trained for 12 d to perform in a dual radial-arm maze task that required the mice to remember and operate on two sets of overlapping guidance (spatial) cues. As previously reported, this training resulted in an immediate (at 4 mo of age) improvement in the animals' aggregate performance across a battery of five learning tasks. Subsequently, these animals received an additional 3 d of working memory training at 3-wk intervals for 15 mo (totaling 66 training sessions), and at 18 mo of age were assessed on a selective attention task, a second set of learning tasks, and variations of those tasks that required the animals to modify the previously learned response. Both attentional and learning abilities (on passive avoidance, active avoidance, and reinforced alternation tasks) were impaired in aged animals that had not received working memory training. Likewise, these aged animals exhibited consistent deficits when required to modify a previously instantiated learned response (in reinforced alternation, active avoidance, and spatial water maze). In contrast, these attentional, learning, and perseverative deficits were attenuated in aged animals that had undergone lifelong working memory exercise. These results suggest that general impairments of learning, attention, and cognitive flexibility may be mitigated by a cognitive exercise regimen that requires chronic attentional engagement.

Achieving Affective and Behavioral Outcomes in Culture Learning: The Case for Ethnographic Interviews

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bateman, Blair E.

2004-01-01

This study sought to extend previous research on ethnographic interviews as a method of culture learning in foreign language classes by employing a qualitative case study methodology. Fifty-four university students in a first-year Spanish course worked in pairs to conduct a series of three ethnographic interviews with a native speaker of Spanish.…

Investigating an Application of Speech-to-Text Recognition: A Study on Visual Attention and Learning Behaviour

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Huang, Y-M.; Liu, C-J.; Shadiev, Rustam; Shen, M-H.; Hwang, W-Y.

2015-01-01

One major drawback of previous research on speech-to-text recognition (STR) is that most findings showing the effectiveness of STR for learning were based upon subjective evidence. Very few studies have used eye-tracking techniques to investigate visual attention of students on STR-generated text. Furthermore, not much attention was paid to…

Should Gender Differences Be Considered When Assessing Student Satisfaction in the Online Learning Environment for Millennials?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harvey, Heather Lea; Parahoo, Sanjai; Santally, Mohammad

2017-01-01

The majority of today's students in online higher education are millennials and have grown up using technology. Therefore, there is a need to determine if their expectations from online learning are different from previous contextual studies and whether or not these vary across gender. This study used a mixed method approach, using focus groups,…

The Adoption of Blended E-Learning Technology in Vietnam Using a Revision of the Technology Acceptance Model

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tran, Khanh Ngo Nhu

2016-01-01

This study examines factors that determine the attitudes of learners toward a blended e-learning system (BELS) using data collected by questionnaire from a sample of 396 students involved in a BELS environment in Vietnam. A theoretical model is derived from previous studies and is analyzed and developed using structural equation modeling…

Relationships of Attitudes toward Homework and Time Spent on Homework to Course Outcomes: The Case of Foreign Language Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chang, Charles B.; Wall, Daniel; Tare, Medha; Golonka, Ewa; Vatz, Karen

2014-01-01

In previous studies of homework in core academic subjects, positive student attitudes toward homework were linked to higher achievement, whereas time spent on homework showed an inconsistent relationship with achievement. This study examined the generalizability of these findings to foreign language learning by analyzing 2,342 adult students'…

UK Health-Care Professionals' Experience of On-Line Learning Techniques: A Systematic Review of Qualitative Data

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carroll, Christopher; Booth, Andrew; Papaioannou, Diana; Sutton, Anthea; Wong, Ruth

2009-01-01

Introduction: Continuing professional development and education is vital to the provision of better health services and outcomes. The aim of this study is to contribute to the evidence base by performing a systematic review of qualitative data from studies reporting health professionals' experience of e-learning. No such previous review has been…

Collaboration, Reflection and Selective Neglect: Campus-Based Marketing Students' Experiences of Using a Virtual Learning Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Molesworth, Mike

2004-01-01

Previous studies have suggested significant benefits to using computer-mediated communication in higher education and the development of the relevant skills may also be important for preparing students for their working careers. This study is a review of the introduction of a virtual learning environment to support a group of 60 campus-based,…

Exploring the Factors That Affect the Intention to Use Collaborative Technologies: The Differing Perspectives of Sequential/Global Learners

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Huang, Yong-Ming

2015-01-01

The use of collaborative technologies in learning has received considerable attention in recent years, but few studies to date have examined the factors that affect sequential and global learners' intention to use such technologies. Previous studies have shown that the learners of different learning styles have different needs for educational…

An Evaluation of Self-Learning Centers in Adult Education: A Research Report of a Ph.D. Dissertation.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lifer, Charles W.; And Others

This report presents a study undertaken to evaluate the effectiveness of contacting previously unreached urban audiences through the use of films at automatic self-learning centers. To accomplish this, the study attempted to determine: (1) the extent to which people in an urban business (a large insurance company) would look at agricultural films…

Learning Vocabulary through E-Book Reading of Young Children with Various Reading Abilities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lee, Sung Hee

2017-01-01

Previous studies revealed that young children learn novel word meanings by simply reading and listening to a printed book. In today's classroom, many children's e-books provide audio narration support so young readers can simply listen to the e-books. The focus of the present study is to examine the effect of e-book reading with audio narration…

The Impact of Trial Stage, Developer Involvement and International Transferability on Universal Social and Emotional Learning Programme Outcomes: A Meta-Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wigelsworth, M.; Lendrum, A.; Oldfield, J.; Scott, A.; ten Bokkel, I.; Tate, K.; Emery, C.

2016-01-01

This study expands upon the extant prior meta-analytic literature by exploring previously theorised reasons for the failure of school-based, universal social and emotional learning (SEL) programmes to produce expected results. Eighty-nine studies reporting the effects of school-based, universal SEL programmes were examined for differential effects…

Going beyond Kirkpatrick's Training Evaluation Model: The Role of Workplace Factors in Distance Learning Transfer

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Aluko, F. R.; Shonubi, O. K.

2014-01-01

This article emanates from a longitudinal study of the impact of a distance education programme for teacher training on graduates' job performance, in which the authors built on the findings of a previous pilot study. After using Kirkpatrick's Training Evaluation Model in a previous study, one of the authors found there to be a strong relationship…

Procedural learning: A developmental study of motor sequence learning and probabilistic classification learning in school-aged children.

PubMed

Mayor-Dubois, Claire; Zesiger, Pascal; Van der Linden, Martial; Roulet-Perez, Eliane

2016-01-01

In this study, we investigated motor and cognitive procedural learning in typically developing children aged 8-12 years with a serial reaction time (SRT) task and a probabilistic classification learning (PCL) task. The aims were to replicate and extend the results of previous SRT studies, to investigate PCL in school-aged children, to explore the contribution of declarative knowledge to SRT and PCL performance, to explore the strategies used by children in the PCL task via a mathematical model, and to see whether performances obtained in motor and cognitive tasks correlated. The results showed similar learning effects in the three age groups in the SRT and in the first half of the PCL tasks. Participants did not develop explicit knowledge in the SRT task whereas declarative knowledge of the cue-outcome associations correlated with the performances in the second half of the PCL task, suggesting a participation of explicit knowledge after some time of exposure in PCL. An increasing proportion of the optimal strategy use with increasing age was observed in the PCL task. Finally, no correlation appeared between cognitive and motor performance. In conclusion, we extended the hypothesis of age invariance from motor to cognitive procedural learning, which had not been done previously. The ability to adopt more efficient learning strategies with age may rely on the maturation of the fronto-striatal loops. The lack of correlation between performance in the SRT task and the first part of the PCL task suggests dissociable developmental trajectories within the procedural memory system.

Using comprehension strategies with authentic text in a college chemistry course

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cain, Stephen Daniel

College science students learn important topics by reading textbooks, which contain dense technical prose. Comprehension strategies are known to increase learning from reading. One class of comprehension strategies, called elaboration strategies, is intended to link new information with prior knowledge. Elaboration strategies have an appeal in science courses where new information frequently depends on previously learned information. The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of an elaboration strategy in an authentic college environment. General chemistry students read text about Lewis structures, figures drawn by chemists to depict molecules, while assigned to use either an elaboration strategy, namely elaborative interrogation, or another strategy, rereading, which served as a placebo control. Two texts of equal length were employed in this pretest-posttest experimental design. One was composed by the researcher. The other was an excerpt from a college textbook and contained a procedure for constructing Lewis structures. Students (N = 252) attending a large community college were randomly assigned to one of the two texts and assigned one of the two strategies. The elaborative interrogation strategy was implemented with instructions to answer why-questions posed throughout the reading. Answering why-questions has been hypothesized to activate prior knowledge of a topic, and thus to aid in cognitively connecting new material with prior knowledge. The rereading strategy was implemented with instructions to read text twice. The use of authentic text was one of only a few instances of applying elaborative interrogation with a textbook. In addition, previous studies have generally focused on the learning of facts contained in prose. The application of elaborative interrogation to procedural text has not been previously reported. Results indicated that the more effective strategy was undetermined when reading authentic text in this setting. However, prior knowledge level was identified as a statistically significant factor for learning from authentic text. That is, students with high prior knowledge learned more, regardless of assigned strategy. Another descriptive study was conducted with a separate student sample (N = 34). Previously reported Lewis structure research was replicated. The trend of difficulty for 50 structures in the earlier work was supported.

Contrastive Constraints Guide Explanation-Based Category Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chin-Parker, Seth; Cantelon, Julie

2017-01-01

This paper provides evidence for a contrastive account of explanation that is motivated by pragmatic theories that recognize the contribution that context makes to the interpretation of a prompt for explanation. This study replicates the primary findings of previous work in explanation-based category learning (Williams & Lombrozo, 2010),…

Understanding the Science-Learning Environment: A Genetically Sensitive Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Haworth, Claire M. A.; Davis, Oliver S. P.; Hanscombe, Ken B.; Kovas, Yulia; Dale, Philip S.; Plomin, Robert

2013-01-01

Previous studies have shown that environmental influences on school science performance increase in importance from primary to secondary school. Here we assess for the first time the relationship between the science-learning environment and science performance using a genetically sensitive approach to investigate the aetiology of this link. 3000…

Changing Epistemological Beliefs: The Unexpected Impact of a Short-Term Intervention

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kienhues, Dorothe; Bromme, Rainer; Stahl, Elmar

2008-01-01

Background: Previous research has shown that sophisticated epistemological beliefs exert a positive influence on students' learning strategies and learning outcomes. This gives a clear educational relevance to studies on the development of methods for promoting a change in epistemological beliefs and making them more sophisticated. Aims: To…

Reciprocal Elucidation: A Student-Led Pedagogy in Multidisciplinary Undergraduate Research Conferences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Walkington, Helen; Hill, Jennifer; Kneale, Pauline E.

2017-01-01

There is no previous study of the benefits of attending a national multidisciplinary conference dedicated to undergraduate researchers, despite the growing number of such conferences internationally. This paper addresses the gap in knowledge of the learning gains from these conferences, and reveals a student driven learning process, a…

A GIS-Interface Web Site: Exploratory Learning for Geography Curriculum

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Huang, Kuo Hung

2011-01-01

Although Web-based instruction provides learners with sufficient resources for self-paced learning, previous studies have confirmed that browsing navigation-oriented Web sites possibly hampers users' comprehension of information. Web sites designed as "categories of materials" for navigation demand more cognitive effort from users to orient their…

Associations among Sleep Problems, Learning Difficulties and Substance Use in Adolescence

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fakier, Nuraan; Wild, Lauren G.

2011-01-01

This study investigated the relationships among sleep problems, learning difficulties and substance use in adolescence. Previous research suggests that these variables share an association with executive functioning deficits, and are intertwined. The sample comprised 427 adolescents (M age = 16 years) attending remedial schools and 276 adolescents…

Building Knowledge Structures by Testing Helps Children with Mathematical Learning Difficulty

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zhang, Yiyun; Zhou, Xinlin

2016-01-01

Mathematical learning difficulty (MLD) is prevalent in the development of mathematical abilities. Previous interventions for children with MLD have focused on number sense or basic mathematical skills. This study investigated whether mathematical performance of fifth grade children with MLD could be improved by developing knowledge structures by…

Politeness Strategies in Collaborative E-Mail Exchanges

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vinagre, Margarita

2008-01-01

Computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) has been the subject of a wide range of studies over the last twenty years. Previous research suggests that CSCL exchanges can facilitate group-based learning and knowledge construction among learners who are in different geographical locations [Littleton, K. & Whitelock, D. (2004). "Guiding the…

Self-Explanation and Explanatory Feedback in Games: Individual Differences, Gameplay, and Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Killingsworth, Stephen S.; Clark, Douglas B.; Adams, Deanne M.

2015-01-01

Previous research has demonstrated the efficacy of two explanation-based approaches for increasing learning in educational games. The first involves asking students to explain their answers (self-explanation) and the second involves providing correct explanations (explanatory feedback). This study (1) compared self-explanation and explanatory…

Recategorized WISC-R Scores of Juvenile Delinquents.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Groff, Martin G.; Hubble, Larry M.

1981-01-01

Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised scores of a male delinquent sample were grouped by A. Bannatyne's classification of Wechsler's subtests, and these recategorized scores were compared with results of a previous study of learning disabled children. Findings failed to support a theory that learning disabled youth possess a unique…

Some Variables in Relation to Students' Anxiety in Learning Statistics.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sutarso, Toto

The purpose of this study was to investigate some variables that relate to students' anxiety in learning statistics. The variables included sex, class level, students' achievement, school, mathematical background, previous statistics courses, and race. The instrument used was the 24-item Students' Attitudes Toward Statistics (STATS), which was…

The Role of Tone Height, Melodic Contour, and Tone Chroma in Melody Recognition.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Massaro, Dominic W.; And Others

1980-01-01

Relationships among tone height, melodic contour, tone chroma, and recognition of recently learned melodies were investigated. Results replicated previous studies using familiar folk songs, providing evidence that melodic contour, tone chroma, and tone height contribute to recognition of both highly familiar and recently learned melodies.…

What have we learned about intelligent transportation systems? Chapter 5, What have we learned about advanced public transportation systems?

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1995-12-01

THE PURPOSE OF THE STUDY REPORTED HERE WAS TO EXAMINE WHETHER AGE AND SPATIAL ABILITY ARE FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE A DRIVER'S ABILITY TO NAVIGATE AND TO USE NAVIGATIONAL DISPLAYS. THESE FACTORS WERE EXAMINED BECAUSE PREVIOUS RESEARCH SUGGESTS THAT SPAT...

Early Childhood Directors as Socializers of Emotional Climate

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zinsser, Katherine M.; Denham, Susanne A.; Curby, Timothy W.; Chazan-Cohen, Rachel

2016-01-01

Early childhood centres are vibrant social communities where child and adult emotions are integral to learning. Previous research has focused on teaching practices that support children's social-emotional learning; fewer studies have attended to relevant centre-level factors, such as the emotional leadership practices of the centre director. The…

Identification of Genes Related to Learning and Memory in the Brain Transcriptome of the Mollusc, "Hermissenda Crassicornis"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tamvacakis, Arianna N.; Senatore, Adriano; Katz, Paul S.

2015-01-01

The sea slug "Hermissenda crassicornis" (Mollusca, Gastropoda, Nudibranchia) has been studied extensively in associative learning paradigms. However, lack of genetic information previously hindered molecular-level investigations. Here, the "Hermissenda" brain transcriptome was sequenced and assembled de novo, producing 165,743…

Working Memory and Cognitive Styles in Adolescents' Attainment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Packiam Alloway, Tracy; Banner, Gloria E.; Smith, Patrick

2010-01-01

Background: Working memory, the ability to store and process information, is strongly related to learning outcomes. Aims: The aim of the present study is to extend previous research on early learning and investigate the relationship between working memory, cognitive styles, and attainment in adolescents using both national curriculum tests and…

Effects of Reinforcement on Peer Imitation in a Small Group Play Context

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barton, Erin E.; Ledford, Jennifer R.

2018-01-01

Children with disabilities often have deficits in imitation skills, particularly in imitating peers. Imitation is considered a behavioral cusp--which, once learned, allows a child to access additional and previously unavailable learning opportunities. In the current study, researchers examined the efficacy of contingent reinforcement delivered…

Writing to Learn Mathematics: An Update

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Teuscher, Dawn; Kulinna, Pamala Hodges; Crooker, Carol

2015-01-01

This study investigated 309 secondary mathematics teachers', from 50 school districts, perceptions of Writing to Learn Mathematics (WTLM) strategies. A modified version of a previously validated instrument was used for an online survey (Silver, 1999). Only 45% of teachers who participated in the survey were familiar with WTLM. The majority of…

Write from the Start: Writing to Learn Science.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rillero, Peter; And Others

1996-01-01

Describes the Write Now approach that allows teachers to transform the first few minutes of class into a powerful learning experience by helping students reflect on the previous day's lessons and encouraging them to construct their own knowledge of the concepts being studied. Discusses Quasar questions, reviewing responses, constructing…

Digital Game-Based Language Learning in Foreign Language Teacher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alyaz, Yunus; Genc, Zubeyde Sinem

2016-01-01

New technologies including digital game-based language learning have increasingly received attention. However, their implementation is far from expected and desired levels due to technical, instructional, financial and sociological barriers. Previous studies suggest that there is a strong need to establish courses in order to support adaptation of…

Internships as a Bridge from Community College into a Career

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rogers, John Mark

2017-01-01

Internships, externships, apprenticeships and co-operative education programs are all forms of experiential learning in a workplace setting that community colleges sponsor to enhance learning and career outcomes for their graduates. Previous studies have examined wage gains associated with co-op participation at the baccalaureate level, but no…

Online Learning: A New Testament

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Baggaley, Jon

2014-01-01

The statement by Hunter R. Rawlings III that "there are no good studies on what constitutes bad online pedagogy" coincides with the creation of a Global Learning Council to define the guidelines that previous online educators have allegedly failed to identify. This article discusses these disparaging remarks by the President of the…

Effectiveness of Problem-Based Learning in Introductory Business Courses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hartman, Katherine B.; Moberg, Christopher R.; Lambert, Jamie M.

2013-01-01

Problem-based learning (PBL) is an instructional approach that provides learners with opportunities to identify solutions to ill-structured, real-world problems. Previous research provides evidence to support claims about the positive effects of PBL on cognitive skill development and knowledge retention. This study contributes to existing…

The first two years of practice: a longitudinal perspective on the learning and professional development of promising novice physical therapists.

PubMed

Hayward, Lorna M; Black, Lisa L; Mostrom, Elizabeth; Jensen, Gail M; Ritzline, Pamela D; Perkins, Jan

2013-03-01

Physical therapists work in complex health care systems requiring professional competence in clinical reasoning and confidence in decision-making skills. For novice physical therapists, the initial practice years are a time for developing professional identity and practical knowledge. The study purpose was to extend previous research describing the experiences, learning, and professional development of 11 promising novice therapists during their first year of practice. The present study examined the continued development of the same therapists during their second year of clinical practice. Seven researchers from 4 physical therapist educational programs in the eastern and midwestern United States used a longitudinal, qualitative, multiple case study approach. Eleven physical therapist graduates identified as "promising novices" were recruited using purposive sampling. Participants ranged in age from 24 to 29 years and entered varied practice settings. Data were collected for 2 years using semistructured interviews, reflective journals, and participant observation. A conceptual model describing the participants' ongoing development during the second year of practice emerged. The 3 themes were formal and informal learning, increasing confidence and expansion of skills, and engagement in an environment characterized by collaborative exchange and opportunities for teaching. The second year represented consolidation and elaboration of practice-based learning and skills. The expansion of confidence, skills, and responsibilities and the externalization of learning the participants experienced promoted professional role formation. Learning previously directed inward and self-focused turned outward, fueled by growing self-confidence. Research illuminating the professional role formation experienced during early clinical practice is not widely available. The current study and further research into the learning and development of novice practitioners may assist educators in the design of pedagogical strategies and learning environments that enhance the professional development of physical therapists.

Defining Peer-to-Peer Learning--From an Old "Art of Practice" to a New Mode of Forest Owner Extension?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hamunen, Katri; Appelstrand, Marie; Hujala, Teppo; Kurttila, Mikko; Sriskandarajah, Nadarajah; Vilkriste, Lelde; Westberg, Lotten; Tikkanen, Jukka

2015-01-01

Purpose: This paper explores the concept of peer-to-peer learning (P2PL) in the context of North-European small-scale forest owners. The aim is to develop a framework for initiating new and evaluating already existing forest owners' P2PL communities. Design: Previous studies of peer-learning are used to determine and justify eight dimensions for…

Variability in Dopamine Genes Dissociates Model-Based and Model-Free Reinforcement Learning

PubMed Central

Bath, Kevin G.; Daw, Nathaniel D.; Frank, Michael J.

2016-01-01

Considerable evidence suggests that multiple learning systems can drive behavior. Choice can proceed reflexively from previous actions and their associated outcomes, as captured by “model-free” learning algorithms, or flexibly from prospective consideration of outcomes that might occur, as captured by “model-based” learning algorithms. However, differential contributions of dopamine to these systems are poorly understood. Dopamine is widely thought to support model-free learning by modulating plasticity in striatum. Model-based learning may also be affected by these striatal effects, or by other dopaminergic effects elsewhere, notably on prefrontal working memory function. Indeed, prominent demonstrations linking striatal dopamine to putatively model-free learning did not rule out model-based effects, whereas other studies have reported dopaminergic modulation of verifiably model-based learning, but without distinguishing a prefrontal versus striatal locus. To clarify the relationships between dopamine, neural systems, and learning strategies, we combine a genetic association approach in humans with two well-studied reinforcement learning tasks: one isolating model-based from model-free behavior and the other sensitive to key aspects of striatal plasticity. Prefrontal function was indexed by a polymorphism in the COMT gene, differences of which reflect dopamine levels in the prefrontal cortex. This polymorphism has been associated with differences in prefrontal activity and working memory. Striatal function was indexed by a gene coding for DARPP-32, which is densely expressed in the striatum where it is necessary for synaptic plasticity. We found evidence for our hypothesis that variations in prefrontal dopamine relate to model-based learning, whereas variations in striatal dopamine function relate to model-free learning. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Decisions can stem reflexively from their previously associated outcomes or flexibly from deliberative consideration of potential choice outcomes. Research implicates a dopamine-dependent striatal learning mechanism in the former type of choice. Although recent work has indicated that dopamine is also involved in flexible, goal-directed decision-making, it remains unclear whether it also contributes via striatum or via the dopamine-dependent working memory function of prefrontal cortex. We examined genetic indices of dopamine function in these regions and their relation to the two choice strategies. We found that striatal dopamine function related most clearly to the reflexive strategy, as previously shown, and that prefrontal dopamine related most clearly to the flexible strategy. These findings suggest that dissociable brain regions support dissociable choice strategies. PMID:26818509

Magnetic stimulation of visual cortex impairs perceptual learning.

PubMed

Baldassarre, Antonello; Capotosto, Paolo; Committeri, Giorgia; Corbetta, Maurizio

2016-12-01

The ability to learn and process visual stimuli more efficiently is important for survival. Previous neuroimaging studies have shown that perceptual learning on a shape identification task differently modulates activity in both frontal-parietal cortical regions and visual cortex (Sigman et al., 2005;Lewis et al., 2009). Specifically, fronto-parietal regions (i.e. intra parietal sulcus, pIPS) became less activated for trained as compared to untrained stimuli, while visual regions (i.e. V2d/V3 and LO) exhibited higher activation for familiar shape. Here, after the intensive training, we employed transcranial magnetic stimulation over both visual occipital and parietal regions, previously shown to be modulated, to investigate their causal role in learning the shape identification task. We report that interference with V2d/V3 and LO increased reaction times to learned stimuli as compared to pIPS and Sham control condition. Moreover, the impairment observed after stimulation over the two visual regions was positive correlated. These results strongly support the causal role of the visual network in the control of the perceptual learning. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Active Learning Not Associated with Student Learning in a Random Sample of College Biology Courses

PubMed Central

Andrews, T. M.; Leonard, M. J.; Colgrove, C. A.; Kalinowski, S. T.

2011-01-01

Previous research has suggested that adding active learning to traditional college science lectures substantially improves student learning. However, this research predominantly studied courses taught by science education researchers, who are likely to have exceptional teaching expertise. The present study investigated introductory biology courses randomly selected from a list of prominent colleges and universities to include instructors representing a broader population. We examined the relationship between active learning and student learning in the subject area of natural selection. We found no association between student learning gains and the use of active-learning instruction. Although active learning has the potential to substantially improve student learning, this research suggests that active learning, as used by typical college biology instructors, is not associated with greater learning gains. We contend that most instructors lack the rich and nuanced understanding of teaching and learning that science education researchers have developed. Therefore, active learning as designed and implemented by typical college biology instructors may superficially resemble active learning used by education researchers, but lacks the constructivist elements necessary for improving learning. PMID:22135373

Refining a learning progression of energy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yao, Jian-Xin; Guo, Yu-Ying; Neumann, Knut

2017-11-01

This paper presents a revised learning progression for the energy concept and initial findings on diverse progressions among subgroups of sample students. The revised learning progression describes how students progress towards an understanding of the energy concept along two progress variables identified from previous studies - key ideas about energy and levels of conceptual development. To assess students understanding with respect to the revised learning progression, we created a specific instrument, the Energy Concept Progression Assessment (ECPA) based on previous work on assessing students' understanding of energy. After iteratively refining the instrument in two pilot studies, the ECPA was administered to a total of 4550 students (Grades 8-12) from schools in two districts in a major city in Mainland China. Rasch analysis was used to examine the validity of the revised learning progression and explore factors explaining different progressions. Our results confirm the validity of the four conceptual development levels. In addition, we found that although following a similar progression pattern, students' progression rate was significantly influenced by environmental factors such as school type. In the discussion of our findings, we address the non-linear and complex nature of students' progression in understanding energy. We conclude with illuminating our research's implication for curriculum design and energy teaching.

The General Impact of the Dwyer Materials on the Acquisition and Retention of Information about the Heart.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Roberts, Dennis M.

The effectiveness of the Dwyer heart materials in facilitating learning and retention of information related to the heart under normal research conditions was investigated. Previous studies have focused on the manipulation of stimulus dimensions and not the effectiveness of the materials themselves. Data from three previous studies were compared…

Perceptual statistical learning over one week in child speech production.

PubMed

Richtsmeier, Peter T; Goffman, Lisa

2017-07-01

What cognitive mechanisms account for the trajectory of speech sound development, in particular, gradually increasing accuracy during childhood? An intriguing potential contributor is statistical learning, a type of learning that has been studied frequently in infant perception but less often in child speech production. To assess the relevance of statistical learning to developing speech accuracy, we carried out a statistical learning experiment with four- and five-year-olds in which statistical learning was examined over one week. Children were familiarized with and tested on word-medial consonant sequences in novel words. There was only modest evidence for statistical learning, primarily in the first few productions of the first session. This initial learning effect nevertheless aligns with previous statistical learning research. Furthermore, the overall learning effect was similar to an estimate of weekly accuracy growth based on normative studies. The results implicate other important factors in speech sound development, particularly learning via production. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A formative evaluation of problem-based learning as an instructional strategy in a medical laboratory technician course

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nelson, Diane Patricia

2002-09-01

This study is a formative evaluation of problem-based learning as an effective course delivery strategy in a second year introductory Medical Laboratory Technician discipline-specific hematology course. This strategy can serve two purposes in this type of course: discipline specific content knowledge and process skills learning. A needs study identified that students required additional workplace skills as they entered the clinical internship. Students tested well on the national registry examinations, discipline-specific content knowledge, but group process skills needed improvement in the areas of collaboration, communication, and critical reasoning. Problem-based learning was identified as an change intervention to help provide these skills. A search of the literature revealed that the Baker College cultural and physical environment would support this intervention. Twelve cases were written, situated in a clinical laboratory environment, addressing learning issues identified in a modified Delphi survey of laboratory personnel e.g. fiscal responsibility, turn-around time, invasiveness of laboratory techniques, and holistic view of healthcare environment. A hematology class of 13 students received the intervention. The cases were structured to proceed from instructor-centered (guided) learning issues to learner-centered learning issues. Observations of the in-group collaboration processes were documented, as well as oral presentations and critical reasoning, with students given periodic feedback on these skills. Student surveys provided data about satisfaction, attitude to PBL process, and self-efficacy. Multiple choice discipline-specific content examinations were given and compared with classes from the previous four years. The study found that students receiving the PBL treatment scored as well as or better than students from previous years on traditional multiple choice exams. Recall questions showed positive significance and application/analysis questions showed no significance from previous years. Clinical correlations end-of-case evaluations addressing the issues of thoroughness of investigation, supporting evidence, accuracy of information, order and clarity of thought showed positive improvement across the intervention, as did the PBL processes of in-group collaboration skills, teamwork skills, and presentation skills. By the end of the intervention, students expressed preference for student-centered learning issues.

Microstimulation of the human substantia nigra alters reinforcement learning.

PubMed

Ramayya, Ashwin G; Misra, Amrit; Baltuch, Gordon H; Kahana, Michael J

2014-05-14

Animal studies have shown that substantia nigra (SN) dopaminergic (DA) neurons strengthen action-reward associations during reinforcement learning, but their role in human learning is not known. Here, we applied microstimulation in the SN of 11 patients undergoing deep brain stimulation surgery for the treatment of Parkinson's disease as they performed a two-alternative probability learning task in which rewards were contingent on stimuli, rather than actions. Subjects demonstrated decreased learning from reward trials that were accompanied by phasic SN microstimulation compared with reward trials without stimulation. Subjects who showed large decreases in learning also showed an increased bias toward repeating actions after stimulation trials; therefore, stimulation may have decreased learning by strengthening action-reward associations rather than stimulus-reward associations. Our findings build on previous studies implicating SN DA neurons in preferentially strengthening action-reward associations during reinforcement learning. Copyright © 2014 the authors 0270-6474/14/346887-09$15.00/0.

Physical exercise improves learning in zebrafish, Danio rerio.

PubMed

Luchiari, Ana Carolina; Chacon, Diana Marques Martins

2013-11-01

Zebrafish is an ideal vertebrate model for neuroscience studies focusing on learning and memory. Although genetic manipulation of zebrafish is available, behavioral protocols are often lacking. In this study we tested whether physical activity can facilitate zebrafish's learning process in an associative conditioning task. Learning was inferred by the approach of the feeding area just after the conditioned stimulus (light). Unexercised zebrafish showed conditioning response from the 5th testing day while fish previously submitted to swim against the water current showed learning by the 3rd day of testing. It seems that physical activity may accelerate associative learning response in zebrafish, indicating the benefits of exercise for cognitive processes. We suggest that this preliminary work could be useful for high throughput screening. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Volitional control of the anterior insula in criminal psychopaths using real-time fMRI neurofeedback: a pilot study

PubMed Central

Sitaram, Ranganatha; Caria, Andrea; Veit, Ralf; Gaber, Tilman; Ruiz, Sergio; Birbaumer, Niels

2014-01-01

This pilot study aimed to explore whether criminal psychopaths can learn volitional regulation of the left anterior insula with real-time fMRI neurofeedback. Our previous studies with healthy volunteers showed that learned control of the blood oxygenation-level dependent (BOLD) signal was specific to the target region, and not a result of general arousal and global unspecific brain activation, and also that successful regulation modulates emotional responses, specifically to aversive picture stimuli but not neutral stimuli. In this pilot study, four criminal psychopaths were trained to regulate the anterior insula by employing negative emotional imageries taken from previous episodes in their lives, in conjunction with contingent feedback. Only one out of the four participants learned to increase the percent differential BOLD in the up-regulation condition across training runs. Subjects with higher Psychopathic Checklist-Revised (PCL:SV) scores were less able to increase the BOLD signal in the anterior insula than their lower PCL:SV counterparts. We investigated functional connectivity changes in the emotional network due to learned regulation of the successful participant, by employing multivariate Granger Causality Modeling (GCM). Learning to up-regulate the left anterior insula not only increased the number of connections (causal density) in the emotional network in the single successful participant but also increased the difference between the number of outgoing and incoming connections (causal flow) of the left insula. This pilot study shows modest potential for training psychopathic individuals to learn to control brain activity in the anterior insula. PMID:25352793

Block Play and Mathematics Learning in Preschool: The Effects of Building Complexity, Peer and Teacher Interactions in the Block Area, and Replica Play Materials

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Trawick-Smith, Jeffrey; Swaminathan, Sudha; Baton, Brooke; Danieluk, Courtney; Marsh, Samantha; Szarwacki, Monika

2017-01-01

Block play has been included in early childhood classrooms for over a century, yet few studies have examined its effects on learning. Several previous investigations indicate that the complexity of block building is associated with math ability, but these studies were often conducted in adult-guided, laboratory settings. In the present…

Emotion and Multimedia Learning: An Investigation of the Effects of Valence and Arousal on Different Modalities in an Instructional Animation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chung, Sungwon; Cheon, Jongpil; Lee, Kwang-Woo

2015-01-01

Previous emotion studies in education have focused mainly on the superiority of positive emotion for learning performance (e.g., enjoyment) over negative emotion (e.g., fear). However, few studies have considered different arousal levels in terms of learners' emotion. For example, the effects of calm positive or negative emotion have not been…

The Impacts of Virtual Manipulatives and Prior Knowledge on Geometry Learning Performance in Junior High School

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lee, Chun-Yi; Chen, Ming-Jang

2014-01-01

Previous studies on the effects of virtual and physical manipulatives have failed to consider the impact of prior knowledge on the efficacy of manipulatives. This study focuses on the learning of plane geometry in junior high schools, including the sum of interior angles in polygons, the sum of exterior angles in polygons, and the properties of…

The Hope for American School Reform: The Cold War Pursuit of Inquiry Learning in Social Studies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Evans, Ronald W.

2010-01-01

As the issue of school reform grows ever more intense, it is imperative that we learn what we can from previous efforts. The new social studies was a 1960's attempt to transform the teaching of history and the social sciences in schools. With origins in the Cold War, the movement sought to develop critical thinkers through "inquiry" and…

A Case Study of the Impact of a Reformed Science Curriculum on Student Attitudes and Learning in a Secondary Physics Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Molotsky, Gregg Jeremy

2011-01-01

This case study examined the impact of the application of an inquiry-based concept related physics curriculum on student attitudes and learning in a secondary physics classroom in southern New Jersey. Students who had previously used a traditional physics curriculum were presented with a 10 week inquiry-based concept related physics curriculum on…

An Interactive Learning Environment Designed to Increase the Possibilities for Learning and Communicating about Radioactivity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mork, Sonja M.

2011-01-01

Information and communication technology (ICT) is a natural part of most people's everyday life, and has also been introduced in schools. Previous studies have tended to focus on issues related to competency of teachers and lack of computer technology in schools. Focus now seems to be moving towards studies that help us understand how ICT may be…

"Don't Try This at Home": Toddlers' Imitation of New Skills from People on Video

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Strouse, Gabrielle A.; Troseth, Georgene L.

2008-01-01

Imitation of people on educational television is a potential way for very young children to learn new skills. Although toddlers in previous studies exhibited a "video deficit" in learning, 24-month-olds in Study 1 successfully reproduced behaviors modeled by a person who was on video as well as they did those modeled by a person who was present in…

The Emergence of the Teaching/Learning Process in Preschoolers: Theory of Mind and Age Effect

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bensalah, Leila

2011-01-01

This study analysed the gradual emergence of the teaching/learning process by examining theory of mind (ToM) acquisition and age effects in the preschool period. We observed five dyads performing a jigsaw task drawn from a previous study. Three stages were identified. In the first one, the teacher focuses on the execution of her/his own task…

Improving learning with science and social studies text using computer-based concept maps for students with disabilities.

PubMed

Ciullo, Stephen; Falcomata, Terry S; Pfannenstiel, Kathleen; Billingsley, Glenna

2015-01-01

Concept maps have been used to help students with learning disabilities (LD) improve literacy skills and content learning, predominantly in secondary school. However, despite increased access to classroom technology, no previous studies have examined the efficacy of computer-based concept maps to improve learning from informational text for students with LD in elementary school. In this study, we used a concurrent delayed multiple probe design to evaluate the interactive use of computer-based concept maps on content acquisition with science and social studies texts for Hispanic students with LD in Grades 4 and 5. Findings from this study suggest that students improved content knowledge during intervention relative to a traditional instruction baseline condition. Learning outcomes and social validity information are considered to inform recommendations for future research and the feasibility of classroom implementation. © The Author(s) 2014.

Contribution of Brain Tissue Oxidative Damage in Hypothyroidism-associated Learning and Memory Impairments

PubMed Central

Baghcheghi, Yousef; Salmani, Hossein; Beheshti, Farimah; Hosseini, Mahmoud

2017-01-01

The brain is a critical target organ for thyroid hormones, and modifications in memory and cognition happen with thyroid dysfunction. The exact mechanisms underlying learning and memory impairments due to hypothyroidism have not been understood yet. Therefore, this review was aimed to compress the results of previous studies which have examined the contribution of brain tissues oxidative damage in hypothyroidism-associated learning and memory impairments. PMID:28584813

Organizational Learning and the Application of Intelligence Processes in Higher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Breckenridge, James Garvin

2012-01-01

The purpose of this study is to explore intelligence processes and procedures as they apply to organizational learning in higher education settings. This exploration seeks to identify key components and processes in higher education institutions that were previously identified in the research as important and integral to the discipline of…

The Role of Competition in Word Learning via Referent Selection

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Horst, Jessica S.; Scott, Emilly J.; Pollard, Jessica A.

2010-01-01

Previous research suggests that competition among the objects present during referent selection influences young children's ability to learn words in fast mapping tasks. The present study systematically explored this issue with 30-month-old children. Children first received referent selection trials with a target object and either two, three or…

Learning to Remember by Learning to Speak

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ettlinger, Marc; Lanter, Jennifer; Van Pay, Craig K.

2014-01-01

Does the language we speak affect the way we think, and if so, how? Previous researchers have considered this question by exploring the cognitive abilities of speakers of different languages. In the present study, we looked for evidence of linguistic relativity within a language and within participants by looking at memory recall for monolingual…

Virtual Action Learning: A Pilot in Building Leadership Capacity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Radcliff, Phil

2017-01-01

This account of practice encompasses a pilot virtual action learning programme with a small group of learners. This was an 18-month extension to the one-week Leadership Open Programme that the participants had previously completed at the Business School. It includes insights from an evaluation study completed in early 2016. It considers in…

A Framework for Evaluating and Enhancing Alignment in Self-Regulated Learning Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dent, Amy L.; Hoyle, Rick H.

2015-01-01

We discuss the articles of this special issue with reference to an important yet previously only implicit dimension of study quality: alignment across the theoretical and methodological decisions that collectively define an approach to self-regulated learning. Integrating and extending work by leaders in the field, we propose a framework for…

Implicit Language Learning: Adults' Ability to Segment Words in Norwegian

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kittleson, Megan M.; Aguilar, Jessica M.; Tokerud, Gry Line; Plante, Elena; Asbjornsen, Arve E.

2010-01-01

Previous language learning research reveals that the statistical properties of the input offer sufficient information to allow listeners to segment words from fluent speech in an artificial language. The current pair of studies uses a natural language to test the ecological validity of these findings and to determine whether a listener's language…

Using Personal Construct Theory to Explore Self-Image with Adolescents with Learning Disabilities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thomas, Samantha; Butler, Richard; Hare, Dougal Julian; Green, David

2011-01-01

A young person's construct of self can be fundamental to their psychological well being (Glick 1999; Emler 2001). However limited research has been conducted in the United Kingdom to explore self-image with adolescents with learning disabilities. Previous studies have demonstrated the effective use of personal construct theory with children…

Media Literacy in the Social Studies Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nielsen, Greg

2011-01-01

Previous generations of students learned about history from reading the textbooks, listening to teachers, and analyzing primary source documents. Today, these forms of instruction take a backseat to learning about the past from such media as Hollywood commercial film, YouTube, Netflix, and video games. Teachers must find ways to teach students to…

Predicting Performance on Academic and Non-Academic Tasks: A Comparison of Adolescents with and without Learning Disabilities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Job, Jenelle M.; Klassen, Robert M.

2012-01-01

Previous research suggests that adolescents with learning disabilities (LD) are less accurate in predicting academic performance than normally achieving (NA) adolescents and display a tendency to overestimate their level of performance (e.g., Klassen, 2007). However, no studies have been conducted investigating whether this overestimation is…

Performance vs. Paper-And-Pencil Estimates of Cognitive Abilities.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Arima, James K.

Arima's Discrimination Learning Test (DLT) was reconfigured, made into a self-paced mode, and administered to potential recruits in order to determine if: (1) a previous study indicating a lack of difference in learning performance between white and nonwhites would hold up; and (2) the correlations between scores attained on the DLT and scores…

Leadership Style and Learning Organization: A Survey of Information Technology Professionals

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stewart, Jeffrey E.

2013-01-01

Leadership in information technology (IT) firms remains a topic for study. Understanding how IT professionals react to leadership styles creates an opportunity for IT leaders to better lead by matching expectation to leadership style. Previous research has linked transformation leadership to the learning organization in the pharmaceutical sector,…

Facilitating a Faculty Learning Community: Determining Consensus Using Q Methodology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ramlo, Susan

2011-01-01

With plans to improve a Technical Report Writing course, writing faculty and engineering technology faculty formed a faculty learning community (FLC). Although discussions were often productive, it was often difficult to gauge consensus and differing views among the group members. In a previous study, Q methodology, a measure of subjectivity, was…

Service-Learning in Building Engineering by Use of Interdisciplinary Field Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Leung, Barbara Y. P.

2016-01-01

Previous studies have demonstrated that service-learning (SL) can help students not only develop their personal qualities but also enhance their social and civic sense of responsibility. Despite many promotions since the mid-1990s, the development of SL is popular in humanity faculties but not in technical faculties with intellectual orientations…

A New Creative Learning Centre at a Girls School in Australia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bell, Amanda

2007-01-01

Brisbane Girls Grammar School's new Creative Learning Centre was conceived to group arts studies which were previously scattered across the campus and to serve all students as a meeting place and technology hub. The building is specifically designed to provide the most flexible and innovative environment for teenaged girls, having special regard…

A Laboratory Testbed for Embedded Fuzzy Control

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Srivastava, S.; Sukumar, V.; Bhasin, P. S.; Arun Kumar, D.

2011-01-01

This paper presents a novel scheme called "Laboratory Testbed for Embedded Fuzzy Control of a Real Time Nonlinear System." The idea is based upon the fact that project-based learning motivates students to learn actively and to use their engineering skills acquired in their previous years of study. It also fosters initiative and focuses…

Looking Back to Move Ahead: How Students Learn Geologic Time by Predicting Future Environmental Impacts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zhu, Chen; Rehrey, George; Treadwell, Brooke; Johnson, Claudia C.

2012-01-01

This Scholarship of Teaching and Learning project discusses the effectiveness of using distance metaphor-building activities along with a case study exam to help undergraduate nonscience majors understand and apply geologic time. Using action research, we describe how a scholarly teacher integrated previously published and often-used teaching…

Exploring Student Perceptions, Learning Outcome and Gender Differences in a Flipped Mathematics Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chen, So-Chen; Yang, Stephen J. H.; Hsiao, Chia-Chang

2016-01-01

The flipped classroom approach has recently gained prominence in education. However, a review of previous studies shows that the relationship associated with gender difference, student perceptions and learning outcomes has still remained unexplored, and there has been little discussion regarding flipped classroom environment. To fill this gap,…

Self-Monitoring Support for Learning to Write

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cho, Kwangsu; Cho, Moon-Heum; Hacker, Douglas J.

2010-01-01

This study examined the role of self-monitoring (SM) support for writing skill improvement in a reciprocal peer review of writing system called scaffolded writing and revision in the disciplines (SWoRD). Based on previous literature on the key role of SM in self-regulated learning, students were provided with opportunities to self-monitor their…

Examining the Relationships between Student Learning Habits and Post-Secondary Educational Outcomes: The Missing Component

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Goodlowe-Scott, Quinhon N.

2017-01-01

In high schools across the country, college readiness standards have emerged as an important post-secondary educational outcome. Previous reform efforts have largely focused on "failing schools" versus "failing students" (Weissberg, 2010). This study takes the view that student learning habits might be better determinants of…

Open-Source Learning Management Systems: A Predictive Model for Higher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

van Rooij, S. Williams

2012-01-01

The present study investigated the role of pedagogical, technical, and institutional profile factors in an institution of higher education's decision to select an open-source learning management system (LMS). Drawing on the results of previous research that measured patterns of deployment of open-source software (OSS) in US higher education and…

Student Teachers' Engagement with Re-Contextualized Materials: A Case of Numerical Approximation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brijlall, Deonarain; Bansilal, Sarah

2011-01-01

This paper reports on an exploration of students' learning derived from the implementation of learning materials developed in a previous collaborative project. The purpose of the study was to examine the development of third-year students' understanding of the Reimann Sum. These concepts were taught to undergraduate teacher trainees wishing to…

Women Entrepreneurs Reflect on Informal/Self-Directed Learning in Business and Life

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Howard, Yvonne Biedron

2010-01-01

Research studies about women business owners or women entrepreneurs are few, and previous research has focused on gender differences of business owners, traits of entrepreneurs, and reasons for and success of entrepreneurship. Very little research exists on female business owners/entrepreneurs discussing their informal learning and experiences'…

The Impact of Emotion and Power Relations on Workplace Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sebrant, Ulla

2008-01-01

In a previous ethnographic study (Sebrant, 2000) a social constructionist view of how social identity is produced among professional groups in Swedish healthcare was developed. Looking at the workplace as an important environment for identity construction suggested that these processes were conditions for learning. The purpose of this paper is to…

Problem Order Implications for Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Li, Nan; Cohen, William W.; Koedinger, Kenneth R.

2013-01-01

The order of problems presented to students is an important variable that affects learning effectiveness. Previous studies have shown that solving problems in a blocked order, in which all problems of one type are completed before the student is switched to the next problem type, results in less effective performance than does solving the problems…

The Role of Psychological Needs in Ceasing Music and Music Learning Activities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Evans, Paul; McPherson, Gary E.; Davidson, Jane W.

2013-01-01

This article addresses individuals' decisions to continue or cease playing a musical instrument from a basic psychological needs perspective. Participants began learning music 10 years prior to the study and were the subject of previous longitudinal research. They completed a survey investigating the three psychological needs of competence,…

Impact of a Freshman Academy on Student Performance at a Comprehensive Public High School

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hernandez, Jose Angel, Jr.

2012-01-01

Previous high school research has highlighted the importance of students' freshman year. Limited research has supported the implementation of a smaller learning community, also known as a freshman academy. The theoretical framework of the study was based on stage environment fit, adolescence development and smaller learning community theories. The…

Cognitive Learning Strategy as a Partial Effect on Major Field Test in Business Results

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Strang, Kenneth David

2014-01-01

An experiment was developed to determine if cognitive learning strategies improved standardized university business exam results. Previous studies revealed that factors such as prior ability, age, gender, and culture predicted a student's Major Field Test in Business (MFTB) score better than course content. The experiment control consisted of…

Is a Partner's Competence Threatening during Dyadic Cooperative Work? It Depends on Resource Interdependence

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Buchs, Celine; Butera, Fabrizio

2009-01-01

Previous studies with university students have shown that resource interdependence during cooperative dyadic work on texts produces two different dynamics in student interaction and learning. Working on complementary information produces positive interactions, but a good quality of information transmission is needed to foster student learning.…

Formal Schema Theory and Teaching EFL Reading

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Young, Barbara N; Man, Zhou

2005-01-01

Inquirers designed and conducted a study investigating whether or not results derived from previous research focusing on teaching and learning English as a native or foreign language would be replicated in a learning environment in which English is taught as a foreign language as in China. Because activation of formal schemata plays an important…

The effects of acute alcohol intoxication on the cognitive mechanisms underlying false facial recognition.

PubMed

Colloff, Melissa F; Flowe, Heather D

2016-06-01

False face recognition rates are sometimes higher when faces are learned while under the influence of alcohol. Alcohol myopia theory (AMT) proposes that acute alcohol intoxication during face learning causes people to attend to only the most salient features of a face, impairing the encoding of less salient facial features. Yet, there is currently no direct evidence to support this claim. Our objective was to test whether acute alcohol intoxication impairs face learning by causing subjects to attend to a salient (i.e., distinctive) facial feature over other facial features, as per AMT. We employed a balanced placebo design (N = 100). Subjects in the alcohol group were dosed to achieve a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.06 %, whereas the no alcohol group consumed tonic water. Alcohol expectancy was controlled. Subjects studied faces with or without a distinctive feature (e.g., scar, piercing). An old-new recognition test followed. Some of the test faces were "old" (i.e., previously studied), and some were "new" (i.e., not previously studied). We varied whether the new test faces had a previously studied distinctive feature versus other familiar characteristics. Intoxicated and sober recognition accuracy was comparable, but subjects in the alcohol group made more positive identifications overall compared to the no alcohol group. The results are not in keeping with AMT. Rather, a more general cognitive mechanism appears to underlie false face recognition in intoxicated subjects. Specifically, acute alcohol intoxication during face learning results in more liberal choosing, perhaps because of an increased reliance on familiarity.

Transfer of conflict and cooperation from experienced games to new games: a connectionist model of learning

PubMed Central

Spiliopoulos, Leonidas

2015-01-01

The question of whether, and if so how, learning can be transfered from previously experienced games to novel games has recently attracted the attention of the experimental game theory literature. Existing research presumes that learning operates over actions, beliefs or decision rules. This study instead uses a connectionist approach that learns a direct mapping from game payoffs to a probability distribution over own actions. Learning is operationalized as a backpropagation rule that adjusts the weights of feedforward neural networks in the direction of increasing the probability of an agent playing a myopic best response to the last game played. One advantage of this approach is that it expands the scope of the model to any possible n × n normal-form game allowing for a comprehensive model of transfer of learning. Agents are exposed to games drawn from one of seven classes of games with significantly different strategic characteristics and then forced to play games from previously unseen classes. I find significant transfer of learning, i.e., behavior that is path-dependent, or conditional on the previously seen games. Cooperation is more pronounced in new games when agents are previously exposed to games where the incentive to cooperate is stronger than the incentive to compete, i.e., when individual incentives are aligned. Prior exposure to Prisoner's dilemma, zero-sum and discoordination games led to a significant decrease in realized payoffs for all the game classes under investigation. A distinction is made between superficial and deep transfer of learning both—the former is driven by superficial payoff similarities between games, the latter by differences in the incentive structures or strategic implications of the games. I examine whether agents learn to play the Nash equilibria of games, how they select amongst multiple equilibria, and whether they transfer Nash equilibrium behavior to unseen games. Sufficient exposure to a strategically heterogeneous set of games is found to be a necessary condition for deep learning (and transfer) across game classes. Paradoxically, superficial transfer of learning is shown to lead to better outcomes than deep transfer for a wide range of game classes. The simulation results corroborate important experimental findings with human subjects, and make several novel predictions that can be tested experimentally. PMID:25873855

Participation in asynchronous online discussion forums does improve student learning of gross anatomy.

PubMed

Green, Rodney A; Farchione, Davide; Hughes, Diane L; Chan, Siew-Pang

2014-01-01

Asynchronous online discussion forums are common in blended learning models and are popular with students. A previous report has suggested that participation in these forums may assist student learning in a gross anatomy subject but it was unclear as to whether more academically able students post more often or whether participation led to improved learning outcomes. This study used a path model to analyze the contribution of forum participation, previous academic ability, and student campus of enrolment to final marks in a multicampus gross anatomy course for physiotherapy students. The course has a substantial online learning management system (LMS) that incorporates asynchronous forums as a learning tool, particularly to answer learning objectives. Students were encouraged to post new threads and answer queries in threads started by others. The forums were moderated weekly by staff. Discussion forums were the most used feature of the LMS site with 31,920 hits. Forty-eight percent of the students posted at least once with 186 threads initiated by students and a total of 608 posts. The total number of posts made a significant direct contribution to final mark (P = 0.008) as did previous academic ability (P = 0.002). Although campus did not contribute to final mark, there was a trend for students at the campus where the course coordinator was situated to post more often than those at the other campus (P = 0.073). These results indicate that asynchronous online discussion forums can be an effective tool for improving student learning outcomes as evidenced by final marks in gross anatomy teaching. Copyright © 2013 American Association of Anatomists.

The relationship between English language learning strategies and gender among pre-university students: An overview of UMS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kiram, Johannah Jamalul; Sulaiman, Jumat; Swanto, Suyansah; Din, Wardatul Akmam

2014-06-01

This study aims to analyze the effects psychological gender differences on the relationship between language learning strategies and their proficiency in English language for pre-university students. Previous researchers found that the more employment of language learning strategies, the more successful the learners are and those with higher level of strategy use are female rather than male. In this study, fifty-six pre-university students (22 males, 34 females) of University Malaysia Sabah participated in this study. Oxford's Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL) self-report questionnaire was adopted to identify the students' language learning strategies, whereas their proficiencies were based on their Malaysian University English Test (MUET) results. Pearson's correlation coefficient, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and the t-test were utilized to make statistical interpretation about the relationship. The knowledge obtained from this study will be helpful for future studies on how to improve the quality of learning and proficiency in English.

Learning Strategies in Matching to Sample: If-then and Configural Learning by Pigeons

PubMed Central

Katz, Jeffrey S.; Bodily, Kent D.; Wright, Anthony A.

2008-01-01

Pigeons learned a matching-to-sample task with a split training-set design in which half of the stimulus displays were untrained and tested following acquisition. Transfer to the untrained displays along with no novel-stimulus transfer indicated that these pigeons learned the task (partially) via if-then rules. Comparisons to other performance measures indicated that they also partially learned the task via configural learning (learning the gestalt of the whole stimulus display). Differences in the FR-sample requirement (1 vs. 20) had no systematic effect on the type of learning or level of learning obtained. Differences from a previous study (Wright, 1997) are discussed, including the effect of displaying the stimuli vertically (traditional display orientation) or horizontally from the floor. PMID:18079071

Size and modality effects in Braille learning: Implications for the blind child from pre-reading sighted children.

PubMed

Barlow-Brown, Fiona; Barker, Christopher; Harris, Margaret

2018-06-17

Beginning readers are typically introduced to enlarged print, and the size of this print decreases as readers become more fluent. In comparison, beginning blind readers are expected to learn standard-sized Braille from the outset because past research suggests letter knowledge cannot be transferred across different sizes of Braille. The study aims to investigate whether learning Braille using an oversized pegboard leads to faster, transferable, letter learning and whether performance is mediated by either tactile or visual learning. Sixty-eight children participated in the study. All children were sighted pre-readers with no previous knowledge of Braille. The children came from two nursery schools with an average age of 47.8 months. Children were taught specific Braille letters using either an enlarged pegboard or standard Braille. Two other groups of children were taught using visually presented Braille characters in either an enlarged or standard size and a further control group mirrored the experience of blind children in receiving non-specific tactile training prior to being introduced to Braille. In all tactile conditions it was ensured that the children did not visually experience any Braille for the duration of the study. Results demonstrated that initially training children with large Braille tactually led to the best subsequent learning of standard Braille. Despite the fact that both initial visual and large tactual learning were significantly faster than learning standard Braille, when transferring letter knowledge to standard tactile Braille, previous tactile experience with the large pegboard offered the most efficient route. Braille letter knowledge can be transferred across size and modality particularly effectively with large tactile Braille. This has significant implications for the education of blind children. © 2018 The British Psychological Society.

Domain Independent Assessment of Dialogic Properties of Classroom Discourse

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Samei, Borhan; Olney, Andrew M.; Kelly, Sean; Nystrand, Martin; D'Mello, Sidney; Blanchard, Nathan; Sun, Xiaoyi; Glaus, Marcy; Graesser, Art

2014-01-01

We present a machine learning model that uses particular attributes of individual questions asked by teachers and students to predict two properties of classroom discourse that have previously been linked to improved student achievement. These properties, uptake and authenticity, have previously been studied by using trained observers to live-code…

The Goldilocks Effect in Infant Auditory Attention

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kidd, Celeste; Piantadosi, Steven T.; Aslin, Richard N.

2014-01-01

Infants must learn about many cognitive domains (e.g., language, music) from auditory statistics, yet capacity limits on their cognitive resources restrict the quantity that they can encode. Previous research has established that infants can attend to only a subset of available acoustic input. Yet few previous studies have directly examined infant…

Assessing readiness for self-directed learning within a non-traditional nursing cohort.

PubMed

Phillips, Brian N; Turnbull, Beverley J; He, Flora X

2015-03-01

Increasing deregulation of the Australian tertiary system has led to changes in entry behaviours anticipated in non-traditional student cohorts. Many nursing students are returning to formal studies later in their lives seeking a career change. Accessibility and flexible study paths make external study increasingly attractive. However external studies require a level of commitment and willingness to develop self-direction and a capacity for resilience. This study sought to elicit the level of self-directed learning readiness (SDLR) among undergraduate nursing students currently enrolled at a bachelor level, and to elicit what differences existed in the levels of SDLR in relation to age, gender, academic year, and previous qualifications. An online survey questionnaire was utilised based on the Self-directed Learning Readiness Scale for Nursing Education. In contrast to earlier work, the participant profile in this study was predominantly non-traditional and captured participants from all three years of the nursing programme. Results found no significant age or gender differences. First year students demonstrated lower levels of self-directed learning readiness. However, unexpected results were demonstrated in the survey subscales in relation to previous qualifications. Participants who already held post-graduate qualifications showed lower scores for Self-Management than those who held diploma qualifications, while students who already held a bachelor's degree had the highest scores in Desire for Learning. The study findings suggest that universities should not assume that SDL capability is dependent on mature age or length of exposure to tertiary study. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Learning-dependent plasticity in human auditory cortex during appetitive operant conditioning.

PubMed

Puschmann, Sebastian; Brechmann, André; Thiel, Christiane M

2013-11-01

Animal experiments provide evidence that learning to associate an auditory stimulus with a reward causes representational changes in auditory cortex. However, most studies did not investigate the temporal formation of learning-dependent plasticity during the task but rather compared auditory cortex receptive fields before and after conditioning. We here present a functional magnetic resonance imaging study on learning-related plasticity in the human auditory cortex during operant appetitive conditioning. Participants had to learn to associate a specific category of frequency-modulated tones with a reward. Only participants who learned this association developed learning-dependent plasticity in left auditory cortex over the course of the experiment. No differential responses to reward predicting and nonreward predicting tones were found in auditory cortex in nonlearners. In addition, learners showed similar learning-induced differential responses to reward-predicting and nonreward-predicting tones in the ventral tegmental area and the nucleus accumbens, two core regions of the dopaminergic neurotransmitter system. This may indicate a dopaminergic influence on the formation of learning-dependent plasticity in auditory cortex, as it has been suggested by previous animal studies. Copyright © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Performance of children with developmental dyslexia on high and low topological entropy artificial grammar learning task.

PubMed

Katan, Pesia; Kahta, Shani; Sasson, Ayelet; Schiff, Rachel

2017-07-01

Graph complexity as measured by topological entropy has been previously shown to affect performance on artificial grammar learning tasks among typically developing children. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of graph complexity on implicit sequential learning among children with developmental dyslexia. Our goal was to determine whether children's performance depends on the complexity level of the grammar system learned. We conducted two artificial grammar learning experiments that compared performance of children with developmental dyslexia with that of age- and reading level-matched controls. Experiment 1 was a high topological entropy artificial grammar learning task that aimed to establish implicit learning phenomena in children with developmental dyslexia using previously published experimental conditions. Experiment 2 is a lower topological entropy variant of that task. Results indicated that given a high topological entropy grammar system, children with developmental dyslexia who were similar to the reading age-matched control group had substantial difficulty in performing the task as compared to typically developing children, who exhibited intact implicit learning of the grammar. On the other hand, when tested on a lower topological entropy grammar system, all groups performed above chance level, indicating that children with developmental dyslexia were able to identify rules from a given grammar system. The results reinforced the significance of graph complexity when experimenting with artificial grammar learning tasks, particularly with dyslexic participants.

Could a Multimodal Dictionary Serve as a Learning Tool? An Examination of the Impact of Technologically Enhanced Visual Glosses on L2 Text Comprehension

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sato, Takeshi

2016-01-01

This study examines the efficacy of a multimodal online bilingual dictionary based on cognitive linguistics in order to explore the advantages and limitations of explicit multimodal L2 vocabulary learning. Previous studies have examined the efficacy of the verbal and visual representation of words while reading L2 texts, concluding that it…

The Relationship between Vocabulary, Grammar, and False Belief Task Performance in Children with Autistic Spectrum Disorders and Children with Moderate Learning Difficulties

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fisher, Naomi; Happe, Francesca; Dunn, Judy

2005-01-01

Background: The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between language and theory of mind in children with autistic spectrum disorders (ASD) and children with moderate learning difficulties (MLD). Previous studies have found a strong association between language and theory of mind in a range of groups, but mostly have not included…

Training directionally selective motion pathways can significantly improve reading efficiency

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lawton, Teri

2004-06-01

This study examined whether perceptual learning at early levels of visual processing would facilitate learning at higher levels of processing. This was examined by determining whether training the motion pathways by practicing leftright movement discrimination, as found previously, would improve the reading skills of inefficient readers significantly more than another computer game, a word discrimination game, or the reading program offered by the school. This controlled validation study found that practicing left-right movement discrimination 5-10 minutes twice a week (rapidly) for 15 weeks doubled reading fluency, and significantly improved all reading skills by more than one grade level, whereas inefficient readers in the control groups barely improved on these reading skills. In contrast to previous studies of perceptual learning, these experiments show that perceptual learning of direction discrimination significantly improved reading skills determined at higher levels of cognitive processing, thereby being generalized to a new task. The deficits in reading performance and attentional focus experienced by the person who struggles when reading are suggested to result from an information overload, resulting from timing deficits in the direction-selectivity network proposed by Russell De Valois et al. (2000), that following practice on direction discrimination goes away. This study found that practicing direction discrimination rapidly transitions the inefficient 7-year-old reader to an efficient reader.

A framework for recognition of prior learning within a Postgraduate Diploma of Nursing Management in South Africa.

PubMed

Jooste, Karien; Jasper, Melanie

2010-09-01

The present study focuses on the development of an initial framework to guide educators in nursing management in designing a portfolio for the recognition of prior learning for accreditation of competencies within a postgraduate diploma in South Africa. In South Africa, there is a unique educational need, arising from the legacy of apartheid and previous political regimes, to facilitate educational development in groups previously unable to access higher education. Awareness of the need for continuous professional development in nursing management practice and recognition of prior learning in the educational environment has presented the possibility of using one means to accomplish both aims. Although the content of the present study is pertinent to staff development of nurse managers, it is primarily written for nurse educators in the field of nursing management. The findings identify focus areas to be addressed in a recognition of prior learning portfolio to comply with the programme specific outcomes of Nursing Service Management. Further work to refine these focus areas to criteria that specify the level of performance required to demonstrate achievement is needed. CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSE MANAGERS: Managers need to facilitate continuous professional development through portfolio compilation which acknowledges the learning opportunities within the workplace and can be used as recognition of prior learning. © 2010 The Authors. Journal compilation © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Recall is not necessary for verbal sequence learning.

PubMed

Kalm, Kristjan; Norris, Dennis

2016-01-01

The question of whether overt recall of to-be-remembered material accelerates learning is important in a wide range of real-world learning settings. In the case of verbal sequence learning, previous research has proposed that recall either is necessary for verbal sequence learning (Cohen & Johansson Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 6, 139-143, 1967; Cunningham, Healy, & Williams Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 10, 575-597, 1984), or at least contributes significantly to it (Glass, Krejci, & Goldman Journal of Memory and Language, 28, 189-199, 1989; Oberauer & Meyer Memory, 17, 774-781, 2009). In contrast, here we show that the amount of previous spoken recall does not predict learning and is not necessary for it. We suggest that previous research may have underestimated participants' learning by using suboptimal performance measures, or by using manual or written recall. However, we show that the amount of spoken recall predicted how much interference from other to-be-remembered sequences would be observed. In fact, spoken recall mediated most of the error learning observed in the task. Our data support the view that the learning of overlapping auditory-verbal sequences is driven by learning the phonological representations and not the articulatory motor responses. However, spoken recall seems to reinforce already learned representations, whether they are correct or incorrect, thus contributing to a participant identifying a specific stimulus as either "learned" or "new" during the presentation phase.

A Deep Learning Method to Automatically Identify Reports of Scientifically Rigorous Clinical Research from the Biomedical Literature: Comparative Analytic Study.

PubMed

Del Fiol, Guilherme; Michelson, Matthew; Iorio, Alfonso; Cotoi, Chris; Haynes, R Brian

2018-06-25

A major barrier to the practice of evidence-based medicine is efficiently finding scientifically sound studies on a given clinical topic. To investigate a deep learning approach to retrieve scientifically sound treatment studies from the biomedical literature. We trained a Convolutional Neural Network using a noisy dataset of 403,216 PubMed citations with title and abstract as features. The deep learning model was compared with state-of-the-art search filters, such as PubMed's Clinical Query Broad treatment filter, McMaster's textword search strategy (no Medical Subject Heading, MeSH, terms), and Clinical Query Balanced treatment filter. A previously annotated dataset (Clinical Hedges) was used as the gold standard. The deep learning model obtained significantly lower recall than the Clinical Queries Broad treatment filter (96.9% vs 98.4%; P<.001); and equivalent recall to McMaster's textword search (96.9% vs 97.1%; P=.57) and Clinical Queries Balanced filter (96.9% vs 97.0%; P=.63). Deep learning obtained significantly higher precision than the Clinical Queries Broad filter (34.6% vs 22.4%; P<.001) and McMaster's textword search (34.6% vs 11.8%; P<.001), but was significantly lower than the Clinical Queries Balanced filter (34.6% vs 40.9%; P<.001). Deep learning performed well compared to state-of-the-art search filters, especially when citations were not indexed. Unlike previous machine learning approaches, the proposed deep learning model does not require feature engineering, or time-sensitive or proprietary features, such as MeSH terms and bibliometrics. Deep learning is a promising approach to identifying reports of scientifically rigorous clinical research. Further work is needed to optimize the deep learning model and to assess generalizability to other areas, such as diagnosis, etiology, and prognosis. ©Guilherme Del Fiol, Matthew Michelson, Alfonso Iorio, Chris Cotoi, R Brian Haynes. Originally published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (http://www.jmir.org), 25.06.2018.

Media multitasking and implicit learning.

PubMed

Edwards, Kathleen S; Shin, Myoungju

2017-07-01

Media multitasking refers to the simultaneous use of different forms of media. Previous research comparing heavy media multitaskers and light media multitaskers suggests that heavy media multitaskers have a broader scope of attention. The present study explored whether these differences in attentional scope would lead to a greater degree of implicit learning for heavy media multitaskers. The study also examined whether media multitasking behaviour is associated with differences in visual working memory, and whether visual working memory differentially affects the ability to process contextual information. In addition to comparing extreme groups (heavy and light media multitaskers) the study included analysis of people who media multitask in moderation (intermediate media multitaskers). Ninety-four participants were divided into groups based on responses to the media use questionnaire, and completed the contextual cueing and n-back tasks. Results indicated that the speed at which implicit learning occurred was slower in heavy media multitaskers relative to both light and intermediate media multitaskers. There was no relationship between working memory performance and media multitasking group, and no relationship between working memory and implicit learning. There was also no evidence for superior performance of intermediate media multitaskers. A deficit in implicit learning observed in heavy media multitaskers is consistent with previous literature, which suggests that heavy media multitaskers perform more poorly than light media multitaskers in attentional tasks due to their wider attentional scope.

Effects of the Team Competition-Based Ubiquitous Gaming Approach on Students' Interactive Patterns, Collective Efficacy and Awareness of Collaboration and Communication

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chen, Chih-Hung; Hwang, Gwo-Jen

2017-01-01

Previous research has illustrated the importance of acquiring knowledge from authentic contexts; however, without full engagement, students' learning performance might not be as good as expected. In this study, a Team Competition-based Ubiquitous Gaming approach was proposed for improving students' learning effectiveness in authentic learning…

Elementary Teachers' Perceptions of Appropriate Collaborative Planning and Professional Planning Time: A Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wise, Kristi

2017-01-01

Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) are a best practice that has been around for decades; however, due to organizational structuring in elementary schools, teachers are allowed 30 minutes of planning time. During this time little planning or collaboration with peers is achieved. Previous research has proven that professional learning by way…

The Effect of Conceptual and Contextual Familiarity on Transfer Performance

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kulasegaram, Kulamakan; Min, Cynthia; Ames, Kimberly; Howey, Elizabeth; Neville, Alan; Norman, Geoffrey

2012-01-01

Applying a previously learned concept to a novel problem is an important but difficult process called transfer. It is suggested that a commonsense analogy aids in transfer by linking novel concepts to familiar ones. How the context of practice affects transfer when learning using analogies is still unclear. This study investigated the effect of a…

Assessing the Impact of Continuous Evaluation Strategies: Tradeoff between Student Performance and Instructor Effort

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Poza-Lujan, Jose-Luis; Calafate, Carlos T.; Posadas-Yagüe, Juan-Luis; Cano, Juan-Carlos

2016-01-01

Current opinion on undergraduate studies has led to a reformulation of teaching methodologies to base them not just on learning, but also on skills and competencies. In this approach, the teaching/learning process should accomplish both knowledge assimilation and skill development. Previous works demonstrated that a strategy that uses continuous…

Using a Multitrait-Multimethod Analysis to Examine Conceptual Similarities of Three Self-Regulated Learning Inventories

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Muis, Krista R.; Winne, Philip H.; Jamieson-Noel, Dianne

2007-01-01

Background: A programme of construct validity research is necessary to clarify previous research on self-regulation and to provide a stronger basis for future research. Aim: A multitrait-multimethod (MTMM) analysis was conducted to assess convergent and discriminant validity of three self-regulation measures: the Learning and Study Strategies…

Learning Science in a Virtual Reality Application: The Impacts of Animated-Virtual Actors' Visual Complexity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kartiko, Iwan; Kavakli, Manolya; Cheng, Ken

2010-01-01

As the technology in computer graphics advances, Animated-Virtual Actors (AVAs) in Virtual Reality (VR) applications become increasingly rich and complex. Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning (CTML) suggests that complex visual materials could hinder novice learners from attending to the lesson properly. On the other hand, previous studies have…

Squad Overmatch Study: Training Human Dimension to Enhance Performance

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-09-30

warrior skills training programs across the Soldier training continuum, using adult learning strategies with facilitated and self -guided After Action...warrior skills AARs were supplemented with facilitated and self -guided ASA and resilience discussions, reinforcing previously learned skills. 4...coaching and feedback with guided team self -correction Implementation Strategy 1. Single Army HD Requirements Integration Manager: The Big

The Analysis of the Blogs Created in a Blended Course through the Reflective Thinking Perspective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dos, Bulent; Demir, Servet

2013-01-01

Blogs have evolved from simple online diaries to communication tools with the capacity to engage people in collaboration, knowledge sharing, reflection and debate. Blog archives can be a source of information about student learning, providing a basis for ongoing feedback and redesign of learning activities. Previous studies show that blogs can…

The Association between Students' Use of an Electronic Voting System and their Learning Outcomes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kennedy, G. E.; Cutts, Q. I.

2005-01-01

This paper reports on the use of an electronic voting system (EVS) in a first-year computing science subject. Previous investigations suggest that students' use of an EVS would be positively associated with their learning outcomes. However, no research has established this relationship empirically. This study sought to establish whether there was…

The Absence of a Shape Bias in Children's Word Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cimpian, Andrei; Markman, Ellen M.

2005-01-01

There is debate about whether preschool-age children interpret words as referring to kinds or to classes defined by shape similarity. The authors argue that the shape bias reported in previous studies is a task-induced artifact rather than a genuine word-learning strategy. In particular, children were forced to extend an object's novel label to…

Developing an Educational Computer Game for Migratory Bird Identification Based on a Two-Tier Test Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chu, Hui-Chun; Chang, Shao-Chen

2014-01-01

Although educational computer games have been recognized as being a promising approach, previous studies have indicated that, without supportive models, students might only show temporary interest during the game-based learning process, and their learning performance is often not as good as expected. Therefore, in this paper, a two-tier test…

Using Peer Assisted Learning Strategies for Boys, Aboriginal Learners, and At-Risk Populations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mattatall, Chris A.

2017-01-01

This study reports on one school district's attempt to address reading gaps in boys, Aboriginal students, and special education students at 1st grade by implementing Peer Assisted Learning Strategies (PALS) to supplement classroom reading instruction. Findings indicate that compared to previous years, when PALS was not used, students in this study…

Otto Peters on Distance Education: The Industrialization of Teaching and Learning. Routledge Studies in Distance Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Keegan, Desmond, Ed.

This book contains new and previously published translations of 11 essays and articles about the industrialization of teaching and learning in distance education that were originally published in German by Otto Peters between 1965 and 1993. A "Preface" (Desmond Keegan) and an introduction placing Peters' writings in their historical…

Confronting Similar Challenges? Disabled and Non-Disabled Students' Learning and Assessment Experiences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Madriaga, Manuel; Hanson, Katie; Heaton, Caroline; Kay, Helen; Newitt, Sarah; Walker, Ann

2010-01-01

The article presents evidence from a systematic survey of disabled (n = 172) and non-disabled (n = 312) students regarding their learning and assessment experiences within one higher education institution in the UK. This study builds upon previous work in the sector, with the aim of gathering evidence to inform inclusive policy and practice for…

Bimodal Emotion Congruency Is Critical to Preverbal Infants' Abstract Rule Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tsui, Angeline Sin Mei; Ma, Yuen Ki; Ho, Anna; Chow, Hiu Mei; Tseng, Chia-huei

2016-01-01

Extracting general rules from specific examples is important, as we must face the same challenge displayed in various formats. Previous studies have found that bimodal presentation of grammar-like rules (e.g. ABA) enhanced 5-month-olds' capacity to acquire a rule that infants failed to learn when the rule was presented with visual presentation of…

Developing a Learning Progression for Number Sense Based on the Rule Space Model in China

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chen, Fu; Yan, Yue; Xin, Tao

2017-01-01

The current study focuses on developing the learning progression of number sense for primary school students, and it applies a cognitive diagnostic model, the rule space model, to data analysis. The rule space model analysis firstly extracted nine cognitive attributes and their hierarchy model from the analysis of previous research and the…

What Play Means to Us: Exploring Children's Perspectives on Play in an English Year 1 Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Howe, Sally

2016-01-01

Opportunities for play and self-initiated activity, considered to be an important part of children's learning in early childhood settings, diminish as children progress into school. Previous studies suggest that losing time for play/self-initiated activity can impact negatively on children's attitudes to school learning. This article discusses the…

The Effects of Jigsaw Learning on Students' Attitudes in a Vietnamese Higher Education Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tran, Van Dat; Lewis, Ramon

2012-01-01

As a part of an experimental study on the effects of jigsaw learning on Vietnamese tertiary students' achievement and knowledge retention, students' attitudes towards six weeks of this kind of instruction were assessed. As noted in our previous report, students in the experimental group (N = 40), who perceived their instruction as more cooperative…

Are Changes in Students' Perceptions of the Learning Environment Related to Changes in Emotional and Behavioural Problems?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thuen, Elin; Bru, Edvin

2009-01-01

Previous cross-sectional based research suggests that students' perceptions of the learning environment are associated with emotional and behavioural problems (EBP). However, it is not clear to what extent the associations identified are merely reflections of individual student characteristics. The present study explored this issue by utilizing a…

Preservice Elementary School Teachers' Knowledge of Fractions: A Mirror of Students' Knowledge?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Van Steenbrugge, H.; Lesage, E.; Valcke, M.; Desoete, A.

2014-01-01

This research analyses preservice teachers' knowledge of fractions. Fractions are notoriously difficult for students to learn and for teachers to teach. Previous studies suggest that student learning of fractions may be limited by teacher understanding of fractions. If so, teacher education has a key role in solving the problem. We first reviewed…

Finding "Mathematics": Parents Questioning School-Centered Approaches to Involvement in Children's Mathematics Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jay, Tim; Rose, Jo; Simmons, Ben

2017-01-01

This paper reports on a study of parental involvement in children's mathematics learning in the context of a series of workshops carried out in four primary schools in the United Kingdom. Previous research suggests that, while there are high correlations between parental involvement and positive student outcomes, it can be difficult to raise…

Effect of Cooperative Learning on Achievement of Students in General Science at Secondary Level

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Parveen, Qaisara; Batool, Sadia

2012-01-01

The aim of the study was to explore the effects of cooperative learning on General Science achievement among 9th class students. Based upon previous research literature it was hypothesized that significant difference existed between the mean posttest scores of General Science achievement of experimental group and control group. The pretest…

Examining the Influence of Self-Efficacy and Self-Regulation in Online Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bradley, Rachel L.; Browne, Blaine L.; Kelley, Heather M.

2017-01-01

This paper examined self-efficacy and self-regulatory skills and their influence on achievement in an online learning environment. This study utilized the Online Academic Success Indicators Scale (OASIS). The results of the scale were compared to previous tests measuring the predictive nature of self-efficacy and self-regulatory skills on academic…

University Teachers' Perceptions of Online Informal Learning of English (OILE)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Toffoli, Denyze; Sockett, Geoff

2015-01-01

Online Informal Learning of English (OILE) involves the many different types of language practices that non-specialist EFL students of English are involved in on the Internet. This article reviews previous studies in the area and summarises the specific outcomes that OILE is thought to produce. It then presents an analysis of a survey of teachers'…

Content and Language Integrated Learning Next in Asia: Evidence of Learners' Achievement in CLIL Education from a Taiwan Tertiary Degree Programme

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yang, Wenhsien

2015-01-01

This study investigates learners' performance in a Taiwanese tertiary content and language integrated learning (CLIL) programme. Learners' English proficiency was measured immediately after entering the programme and before their industrial placement, i.e. after two years. As in previously reported cases, the learners showed a significant…

Vocabulary Knowledge and Growth in Immersion and Regular Language-Learning Programmes in Hong Kong

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lo, Yuen Yi; Murphy, Victoria A.

2010-01-01

The aim of this study was to investigate vocabulary knowledge and growth across two different language-learning programmes in Hong Kong. The two programmes compared were English immersion programmes (IM) and regular English second-language programmes (RL2). While previous research has identified an overall advantage to IM with respect to language…

Reflecting on the Think-Aloud Method for Evaluating E-Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cotton, Deborah; Gresty, Karen

2006-01-01

E-learning is increasingly being used in higher education settings, yet research examining how students use e-resources is frequently limited. Some previous studies have used the think-aloud method (an approach with origins in cognitive psychology) as an alternative to the more usual questionnaire or focus groups, but there is little discussion in…

The Effects of Socialization on Cognitive Style and Second Language Learning among Southeast Asian Refugees.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ritchie, Dana Conner

1988-01-01

A study investigated the relationship of the upbringing of Indochinese children and cognitive style, especially in relation to the learning of English as a Second Language. Subjects were 108 Kampuchean and 73 Vietnamese refugee children at a Philippine refugee processing center. The children were interviewed concerning their previous school…

Deeper Look at Student Learning of Quantum Mechanics: The Case of Tunneling

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McKagan, S. B.; Perkins, K. K.; Wieman, C. E.

2008-01-01

We report on a large-scale study of student learning of quantum tunneling in four traditional and four transformed modern physics courses. In the transformed courses, which were designed to address student difficulties found in previous research, students still struggle with many of the same issues found in other courses. However, the reasons for…

The Role of Learning Technologists in Supporting E-Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Peacock, Susi; Robertson, Ann; Williams, Sarah; Clausen, Maria Giatsi

2009-01-01

This article explores how the role of learning technologists, a professional group that has emerged during the last 15 to 20 years, may be diversifying to include supporting e-research. It contributes to the current debate about the emerging profession and the roles it should play in contemporary higher education. Previous studies have shown that,…

Levels of Engagement and Barriers to Physical Activity in a Population of Adults with Learning Disabilities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hawkins, Andrew; Look, Roger

2006-01-01

This study examined levels of, and barriers to, physical activity in a population of 19 adults with learning disabilities living in community supported accommodation, using diary records and semi-structured interviews with staff. The levels of physical activity were higher in the sample population than previous figures for adults with learning…

Influences on Personal Understanding: Intentions, Approaches to Learning, Perceptions of Assessment, and a "Meeting of Minds"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Karagiannopoulou, Evangelia; Entwistle, Noel

2013-01-01

Using a case-study approach, interviews with four final-year psychology students showed different approaches to learning and varying experiences of teaching in courses assessed through open-book exams. Analysis of their experiences, supported by previous research findings, provided insights into the reasons for the contrasting approaches being…

AX+/BX- Discrimination Learning in the Fear-Potentiated Startle Paradigm in Monkeys

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Winslow, James T.; Noble, Pamela L.; Davis, Michael

2008-01-01

Individuals with anxiety disorders often do not respond to safety signals and hence continue to be afraid and anxious. Consequently, it is important to develop paradigms in animals that can directly study brain systems involved in learning about, and responding to, safety signals. We previously developed a discrimination procedure in rats of the…

Standardizing the Essential Knowledge, Skills, and Attitudes for Democratic Life: A Content Analysis of Virginia Standards of Learning and Social Studies Textbooks

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Scott, Wendy; Suh, Yonghee

2015-01-01

This content analysis explored how Civics and Government textbooks and the Virginia Standards of Learning for Civics and Government courses reflect citizenship outcomes, specifically deconstructing the unique needs of marginalized students. The coding frame was constructed by using themes and categories from previous literature, specifically…

Locus of Control Orientations in Students with Intellectual Disability, Learning Disabilities, and No Disabilities: A Latent Growth Curve Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shogren, Karrie A.; Bovaird, James A.; Palmer, Susan B.; Wehmeyer, Michael L.

2010-01-01

Previous research has suggested differences in the locus of control (LOC) orientations of students with intellectual disability, learning disabilities, and no disabilities, although this research has been characterized by methodological limitations. The purpose of this study was to examine the development of LOC orientations in students with…

Teaching-Learning Patterns of Expert and Novice Adapted Physical Educators

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Everhart, Brett; Everhart, Kim; McHugh, Heather; Newman, Chelsea Dimon; Hershey, Kacie; Lorenzi, David

2013-01-01

This study was intended to provide a description of teaching and learning patterns seen in the lessons taught by experts and novices in Adapted Physical Education. Two experts who had won previous state teaching awards and served in leadership positions in state associations were filmed and their lessons were analyzed first to develop a systematic…

Curriculum Infusion of the Social Norms Approach: Information Only vs. Service Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Flynn, Mark A.; Carter, Elizabeth

2016-01-01

A two-group pretest-post-test quasi-experiment was conducted to analyze the impact of curriculum infusion of the social norms approach on students' alcohol perceptions and behaviors. This study extended previous research by examining two types of curriculum infusion, information only (IO) and service learning (SL). Also, owing to variations in…

Mutation at the TrkB PLC[gamma]-Docking Site Affects Hippocampal LTP and Associative Learning in Conscious Mice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Valenzuela-Harrington, Mauricio; Delgado-Garcia, Jose M.; Minichiello, Liliana; Gruart, Agnes; Sciarretta, Carla

2007-01-01

Previous in vitro studies have characterized the electrophysiological properties and molecular events associated with long-term potentiation (LTP), but as yet there are no in vivo data from molecular-level dissection that directly identify LTP as the biological substrate for learning and memory. Understanding whether the molecular pathways…

Effective classroom teaching methods: a critical incident technique from millennial nursing students' perspective.

PubMed

Robb, Meigan

2014-01-11

Engaging nursing students in the classroom environment positively influences their ability to learn and apply course content to clinical practice. Students are motivated to engage in learning if their learning preferences are being met. The methods nurse educators have used with previous students in the classroom may not address the educational needs of Millennials. This manuscript presents the findings of a pilot study that used the Critical Incident Technique. The purpose of this study was to gain insight into the teaching methods that help the Millennial generation of nursing students feel engaged in the learning process. Students' perceptions of effective instructional approaches are presented in three themes. Implications for nurse educators are discussed.

Rapid Association Learning in the Primate Prefrontal Cortex in the Absence of Behavioral Reversals

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cromer, Jason A.; Machon, Michelle; Miller, Earl K.

2011-01-01

The PFC plays a central role in our ability to learn arbitrary rules, such as "green means go." Previous experiments from our laboratory have used conditional association learning to show that slow, gradual changes in PFC neural activity mirror monkeys' slow acquisition of associations. These previous experiments required monkeys to repeatedly…

Predictors of science success: The impact of motivation and learning strategies on college chemistry performance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Obrentz, Shari B.

As the number of college students studying science continues to grow, it is important to identify variables that predict their success. The literature indicates that motivation and learning strategy use facilitate science success. Research findings show these variables can change throughout a semester and differ by performance level, gender and ethnicity. However, significant predictors of performance vary by research study and by group. The current study looks beyond the traditional predictors of grade point averages, SAT scores and completion of advanced placement (AP) chemistry to consider a comprehensive set of variables not previously investigated within the same study. Research questions address the predictive ability of motivation constructs and learning strategies for success in introductory college chemistry, how these variables change throughout a semester, and how they differ by performance level, gender and ethnicity. Participants were 413 introductory college chemistry students at a highly selective university in the southeast. Participants completed the Chemistry Motivation Questionnaire (CMQ) and Learning Strategies section of the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ) three times during the semester. Self-efficacy, effort regulation, assessment anxiety and previous achievement were significant predictors of chemistry course success. Levels of motivation changed with significant decreases in self-efficacy and increases in personal relevance and assessment anxiety. Learning strategy use changed with significant increases in elaboration, critical thinking, metacognitive self-regulation skills and peer learning, and significant decreases in time and study management and effort regulation. High course performers reported the highest levels of motivation and learning strategy use. Females reported lower intrinsic motivation, personal relevance, self-efficacy and critical thinking, and higher assessment anxiety, rehearsal and organization. Self-efficacy predicted performance for males and females, while self-determination, help-seeking and time and study environment also predicted female success. Few differences in these variables were found between ethnicity groups. Self-efficacy positively predicted performance for Asians and Whites, and metacognitive self-regulation skills negatively predicted success for Other students. The results have implications for college science instructors who are encouraged to collect and utilize data on students' motivation and learning strategy use, promote both in science classes, and design interventions for specific students who need more support.

Dynamics of EEG functional connectivity during statistical learning.

PubMed

Tóth, Brigitta; Janacsek, Karolina; Takács, Ádám; Kóbor, Andrea; Zavecz, Zsófia; Nemeth, Dezso

2017-10-01

Statistical learning is a fundamental mechanism of the brain, which extracts and represents regularities of our environment. Statistical learning is crucial in predictive processing, and in the acquisition of perceptual, motor, cognitive, and social skills. Although previous studies have revealed competitive neurocognitive processes underlying statistical learning, the neural communication of the related brain regions (functional connectivity, FC) has not yet been investigated. The present study aimed to fill this gap by investigating FC networks that promote statistical learning in humans. Young adults (N=28) performed a statistical learning task while 128-channels EEG was acquired. The task involved probabilistic sequences, which enabled to measure incidental/implicit learning of conditional probabilities. Phase synchronization in seven frequency bands was used to quantify FC between cortical regions during the first, second, and third periods of the learning task, respectively. Here we show that statistical learning is negatively correlated with FC of the anterior brain regions in slow (theta) and fast (beta) oscillations. These negative correlations increased as the learning progressed. Our findings provide evidence that dynamic antagonist brain networks serve a hallmark of statistical learning. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Students' experiences of blended learning across a range of postgraduate programmes.

PubMed

Smyth, Siobhan; Houghton, Catherine; Cooney, Adeline; Casey, Dympna

2012-05-01

The article describes the students' experiences of taking a blended learning postgraduate programme in a school of nursing and midwifery. The indications to date are that blended learning as a pedagogical tool has the potential to contribute and improve nursing and midwifery practice and enhance student learning. Little is reported about the students' experiences to date. Focus groups were conducted with students in the first year of introducing blended learning. The two main themes that were identified from the data were (1) the benefits of blended learning and (2) the challenges to blended learning. The blended learning experience was received positively by the students. A significant finding that was not reported in previous research was that the online component meant little time away from study for the students suggesting that it was more invasive on their everyday life. It is envisaged that the outcomes of the study will assist educators who are considering delivering programmes through blended learning. It should provide guidance for further developments and improvements in using Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) and blended learning in nurse education. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Leadership for learning: a literature study of leadership for learning in clinical practice.

PubMed

Allan, Helen T; Smith, Pamela A; Lorentzon, Maria

2008-07-01

To report a literature study of leadership for learning in clinical practice in the United Kingdom. Background Previous research in the United Kingdom showed that the ward sister was central to creating a positive learning environment for student nurses. Since the 1990s, the ward mentor has emerged as the key to student nurses' learning in the United Kingdom. A literature study of new leadership roles and their influence on student nurse learning (restricted to the United Kingdom) which includes an analysis of ten qualitative interviews with stakeholders in higher education in the United Kingdom undertaken as part of the literature study. Learning in clinical placements is led by practice teaching roles such as mentors, clinical practice facilitators and practice educators rather than new leadership roles. However, workforce changes in clinical placements has restricted the opportunities for trained nurses to role model caring activities for student nurses and university based lecturers are increasingly distant from clinical practice. Leadership for learning in clinical practice poses three unresolved questions for nurse managers, practitioners and educators - what is nursing, what should student nurses learn and from whom? Leadership for student nurse learning has passed to new learning and teaching roles with Trusts and away from nursing managers. This has implications for workforce planning and role modelling within the profession.

Variability in Dopamine Genes Dissociates Model-Based and Model-Free Reinforcement Learning.

PubMed

Doll, Bradley B; Bath, Kevin G; Daw, Nathaniel D; Frank, Michael J

2016-01-27

Considerable evidence suggests that multiple learning systems can drive behavior. Choice can proceed reflexively from previous actions and their associated outcomes, as captured by "model-free" learning algorithms, or flexibly from prospective consideration of outcomes that might occur, as captured by "model-based" learning algorithms. However, differential contributions of dopamine to these systems are poorly understood. Dopamine is widely thought to support model-free learning by modulating plasticity in striatum. Model-based learning may also be affected by these striatal effects, or by other dopaminergic effects elsewhere, notably on prefrontal working memory function. Indeed, prominent demonstrations linking striatal dopamine to putatively model-free learning did not rule out model-based effects, whereas other studies have reported dopaminergic modulation of verifiably model-based learning, but without distinguishing a prefrontal versus striatal locus. To clarify the relationships between dopamine, neural systems, and learning strategies, we combine a genetic association approach in humans with two well-studied reinforcement learning tasks: one isolating model-based from model-free behavior and the other sensitive to key aspects of striatal plasticity. Prefrontal function was indexed by a polymorphism in the COMT gene, differences of which reflect dopamine levels in the prefrontal cortex. This polymorphism has been associated with differences in prefrontal activity and working memory. Striatal function was indexed by a gene coding for DARPP-32, which is densely expressed in the striatum where it is necessary for synaptic plasticity. We found evidence for our hypothesis that variations in prefrontal dopamine relate to model-based learning, whereas variations in striatal dopamine function relate to model-free learning. Decisions can stem reflexively from their previously associated outcomes or flexibly from deliberative consideration of potential choice outcomes. Research implicates a dopamine-dependent striatal learning mechanism in the former type of choice. Although recent work has indicated that dopamine is also involved in flexible, goal-directed decision-making, it remains unclear whether it also contributes via striatum or via the dopamine-dependent working memory function of prefrontal cortex. We examined genetic indices of dopamine function in these regions and their relation to the two choice strategies. We found that striatal dopamine function related most clearly to the reflexive strategy, as previously shown, and that prefrontal dopamine related most clearly to the flexible strategy. These findings suggest that dissociable brain regions support dissociable choice strategies. Copyright © 2016 the authors 0270-6474/16/361211-12$15.00/0.

The Structure of Pre-Adolescents' Perceptions of Their Teacher's Interpersonal Behaviours and Their Relation to Pre-Adolescents' Learning Outcomes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Charalampous, Kyriakos; Kokkinos, Constantinos M.

2018-01-01

Previous studies have offered indications that the way pre-adolescents (fifth and sixth graders) structure their perceptions of their teacher's interaction in terms of Agency and Communion differs from adolescents. The purpose of this study was to delineate previous findings by thoroughly examining the structure of pre-adolescents' perceptions of…

Measuring Curricular Impact on Dental Hygiene Students' Transformative Learning.

PubMed

Springfield, Emily C; Smiler, Andrew P; Gwozdek, Anne E

2015-12-01

Previous research has suggested that transformative learning can be fostered in higher education by creating active learning experiences that are directly related to content taught, are personally engaging, and can stimulate reflection. The aim of this qualitative study was to assess changes experienced by students in an e-learning dental hygiene degree completion program beyond attainment of competence-changes that may be described as transformative learning. The data used were transcripts of focus groups that had been conducted with each of the first five cohorts of students to graduate from the program; a total of 30 of the 42 students in the five cohorts (71%) participated. Using their previously developed Transformation Rubric for Engaged Learning, the authors categorized focus group data to identify changes in students' confidence, pride, skills, perceptions of the world, and personal identity at the transformative and nontransformative levels. Every participant reported at least one change; overall, the students averaged 8.3 changes. The vast majority (84%) of these changes were transformative. Middle-performing students showed a disproportionately higher rate of transformational changes in the areas of confidence and pride. The e-learning program appeared to have had a significant transformative impact on students, but additional research on the effect on middle-performing students is warranted.

Enhanced appetitive learning and reversal learning in a mouse model for Prader-Willi syndrome.

PubMed

Relkovic, Dinko; Humby, Trevor; Hagan, Jim J; Wilkinson, Lawrence S; Isles, Anthony R

2012-06-01

Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) is caused by lack of paternally derived gene expression from the imprinted gene cluster on human chromosome 15q11-q13. PWS is characterized by severe hypotonia, a failure to thrive in infancy and, on emerging from infancy, evidence of learning disabilities and overeating behavior due to an abnormal satiety response and increased motivation by food. We have previously shown that an imprinting center deletion mouse model (PWS-IC) is quicker to acquire a preference for, and consume more of a palatable food. Here we examined how the use of this palatable food as a reinforcer influences learning in PWS-IC mice performing a simple appetitive learning task. On a nonspatial maze-based task, PWS-IC mice acquired criteria much quicker, making fewer errors during initial acquisition and also reversal learning. A manipulation where the reinforcer was devalued impaired wild-type performance but had no effect on PWS-IC mice. This suggests that increased motivation for the reinforcer in PWS-IC mice may underlie their enhanced learning. This supports previous findings in PWS patients and is the first behavioral study of an animal model of PWS in which the motivation of behavior by food rewards has been examined. © 2012 American Psychological Association

Interactive knowledge networks for interdisciplinary course navigation within Moodle.

PubMed

Scherl, Andre; Dethleffsen, Kathrin; Meyer, Michael

2012-12-01

Web-based hypermedia learning environments are widely used in modern education and seem particularly well suited for interdisciplinary learning. Previous work has identified guidance through these complex environments as a crucial problem of their acceptance and efficiency. We reasoned that map-based navigation might provide straightforward and effortless orientation. To achieve this, we developed a clickable and user-oriented concept map-based navigation plugin. This tool is implemented as an extension of Moodle, a widely used learning management system. It visualizes inner and interdisciplinary relations between learning objects and is generated dynamically depending on user set parameters and interactions. This plugin leaves the choice of navigation type to the user and supports direct guidance. Previously developed and evaluated face-to-face interdisciplinary learning materials bridging physiology and physics courses of a medical curriculum were integrated as learning objects, the relations of which were defined by metadata. Learning objects included text pages, self-assessments, videos, animations, and simulations. In a field study, we analyzed the effects of this learning environment on physiology and physics knowledge as well as the transfer ability of third-term medical students. Data were generated from pre- and posttest questionnaires and from tracking student navigation. Use of the hypermedia environment resulted in a significant increase of knowledge and transfer capability. Furthermore, the efficiency of learning was enhanced. We conclude that hypermedia environments based on Moodle and enriched by concept map-based navigation tools can significantly support interdisciplinary learning. Implementation of adaptivity may further strengthen this approach.

Stress, burnout and doctors' attitudes to work are determined by personality and learning style: a twelve year longitudinal study of UK medical graduates.

PubMed

McManus, I C; Keeling, A; Paice, E

2004-08-18

The study investigated the extent to which approaches to work, workplace climate, stress, burnout and satisfaction with medicine as a career in doctors aged about thirty are predicted by measures of learning style and personality measured five to twelve years earlier when the doctors were applicants to medical school or were medical students. Prospective study of a large cohort of doctors. The participants were first studied when they applied to any of five UK medical schools in 1990. Postal questionnaires were sent to all doctors with a traceable address on the current or a previous Medical Register. The current questionnaire included measures of Approaches to Work, Workplace Climate, stress (General Health Questionnaire), burnout (Maslach Burnout Inventory), and satisfaction with medicine as a career and personality (Big Five). Previous questionnaires had included measures of learning style (Study Process Questionnaire) and personality. Doctors' approaches to work were predicted by study habits and learning styles, both at application to medical school and in the final year. How doctors perceive their workplace climate and workload is predicted both by approaches to work and by measures of stress, burnout and satisfaction with medicine. These characteristics are partially predicted by trait measures of personality taken five years earlier. Stress, burnout and satisfaction also correlate with trait measures of personality taken five years earlier. Differences in approach to work and perceived workplace climate seem mainly to reflect stable, long-term individual differences in doctors themselves, reflected in measures of personality and learning style.

Stress, burnout and doctors' attitudes to work are determined by personality and learning style: A twelve year longitudinal study of UK medical graduates

PubMed Central

McManus, IC; Keeling, A; Paice, E

2004-01-01

Background The study investigated the extent to which approaches to work, workplace climate, stress, burnout and satisfaction with medicine as a career in doctors aged about thirty are predicted by measures of learning style and personality measured five to twelve years earlier when the doctors were applicants to medical school or were medical students. Methods Prospective study of a large cohort of doctors. The participants were first studied when they applied to any of five UK medical schools in 1990. Postal questionnaires were sent to all doctors with a traceable address on the current or a previous Medical Register. The current questionnaire included measures of Approaches to Work, Workplace Climate, stress (General Health Questionnaire), burnout (Maslach Burnout Inventory), and satisfaction with medicine as a career and personality (Big Five). Previous questionnaires had included measures of learning style (Study Process Questionnaire) and personality. Results Doctors' approaches to work were predicted by study habits and learning styles, both at application to medical school and in the final year. How doctors perceive their workplace climate and workload is predicted both by approaches to work and by measures of stress, burnout and satisfaction with medicine. These characteristics are partially predicted by trait measures of personality taken five years earlier. Stress, burnout and satisfaction also correlate with trait measures of personality taken five years earlier. Conclusions Differences in approach to work and perceived workplace climate seem mainly to reflect stable, long-term individual differences in doctors themselves, reflected in measures of personality and learning style. PMID:15317650

Multisensory training can promote or impede visual perceptual learning of speech stimuli: visual-tactile vs. visual-auditory training.

PubMed

Eberhardt, Silvio P; Auer, Edward T; Bernstein, Lynne E

2014-01-01

In a series of studies we have been investigating how multisensory training affects unisensory perceptual learning with speech stimuli. Previously, we reported that audiovisual (AV) training with speech stimuli can promote auditory-only (AO) perceptual learning in normal-hearing adults but can impede learning in congenitally deaf adults with late-acquired cochlear implants. Here, impeder and promoter effects were sought in normal-hearing adults who participated in lipreading training. In Experiment 1, visual-only (VO) training on paired associations between CVCVC nonsense word videos and nonsense pictures demonstrated that VO words could be learned to a high level of accuracy even by poor lipreaders. In Experiment 2, visual-auditory (VA) training in the same paradigm but with the addition of synchronous vocoded acoustic speech impeded VO learning of the stimuli in the paired-associates paradigm. In Experiment 3, the vocoded AO stimuli were shown to be less informative than the VO speech. Experiment 4 combined vibrotactile speech stimuli with the visual stimuli during training. Vibrotactile stimuli were shown to promote visual perceptual learning. In Experiment 5, no-training controls were used to show that training with visual speech carried over to consonant identification of untrained CVCVC stimuli but not to lipreading words in sentences. Across this and previous studies, multisensory training effects depended on the functional relationship between pathways engaged during training. Two principles are proposed to account for stimulus effects: (1) Stimuli presented to the trainee's primary perceptual pathway will impede learning by a lower-rank pathway. (2) Stimuli presented to the trainee's lower rank perceptual pathway will promote learning by a higher-rank pathway. The mechanisms supporting these principles are discussed in light of multisensory reverse hierarchy theory (RHT).

Medical student changes in self-regulated learning during the transition to the clinical environment.

PubMed

Cho, Kenneth K; Marjadi, Brahm; Langendyk, Vicki; Hu, Wendy

2017-03-21

Self-regulated learning (SRL), which is learners' ability to proactively select and use different strategies to reach learning goals, is associated with academic and clinical success and life-long learning. SRL does not develop automatically in the clinical environment and its development during the preclinical to clinical learning transition has not been quantitatively studied. Our study aims to fill this gap by measuring SRL in medical students during the transitional period and examining its contributing factors. Medical students were invited to complete a questionnaire at the commencement of their first clinical year (T0), and 10 weeks later (T1). The questionnaire included the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ) and asked about previous clinical experience. Information about the student's background, demographic characteristics and first clinical rotation were also gathered. Of 118 students invited to participate, complete paired responses were obtained from 72 medical students (response rate 61%). At T1, extrinsic goal orientation increased and was associated with gender (males were more likely to increase extrinsic goal orientation) and type of first attachment (critical care and community based attachments, compared to hospital ward based attachments). Metacognitive self-regulation decreased at T1 and was negatively associated with previous clinical experience. Measurable changes in self-regulated learning occur during the transition from preclinical learning to clinical immersion, particularly in the domains of extrinsic goal orientation and metacognitive self-regulation. Self-determination theory offers possible explanations for this finding which have practical implications and point the way to future research. In addition, interventions to promote metacognition before the clinical immersion may assist in preserving SRL during the transition and thus promote life-long learning skills in preparation for real-world practice.

Multisensory training can promote or impede visual perceptual learning of speech stimuli: visual-tactile vs. visual-auditory training

PubMed Central

Eberhardt, Silvio P.; Auer Jr., Edward T.; Bernstein, Lynne E.

2014-01-01

In a series of studies we have been investigating how multisensory training affects unisensory perceptual learning with speech stimuli. Previously, we reported that audiovisual (AV) training with speech stimuli can promote auditory-only (AO) perceptual learning in normal-hearing adults but can impede learning in congenitally deaf adults with late-acquired cochlear implants. Here, impeder and promoter effects were sought in normal-hearing adults who participated in lipreading training. In Experiment 1, visual-only (VO) training on paired associations between CVCVC nonsense word videos and nonsense pictures demonstrated that VO words could be learned to a high level of accuracy even by poor lipreaders. In Experiment 2, visual-auditory (VA) training in the same paradigm but with the addition of synchronous vocoded acoustic speech impeded VO learning of the stimuli in the paired-associates paradigm. In Experiment 3, the vocoded AO stimuli were shown to be less informative than the VO speech. Experiment 4 combined vibrotactile speech stimuli with the visual stimuli during training. Vibrotactile stimuli were shown to promote visual perceptual learning. In Experiment 5, no-training controls were used to show that training with visual speech carried over to consonant identification of untrained CVCVC stimuli but not to lipreading words in sentences. Across this and previous studies, multisensory training effects depended on the functional relationship between pathways engaged during training. Two principles are proposed to account for stimulus effects: (1) Stimuli presented to the trainee’s primary perceptual pathway will impede learning by a lower-rank pathway. (2) Stimuli presented to the trainee’s lower rank perceptual pathway will promote learning by a higher-rank pathway. The mechanisms supporting these principles are discussed in light of multisensory reverse hierarchy theory (RHT). PMID:25400566

From prediction error to incentive salience: mesolimbic computation of reward motivation

PubMed Central

Berridge, Kent C.

2011-01-01

Reward contains separable psychological components of learning, incentive motivation and pleasure. Most computational models have focused only on the learning component of reward, but the motivational component is equally important in reward circuitry, and even more directly controls behavior. Modeling the motivational component requires recognition of additional control factors besides learning. Here I will discuss how mesocorticolimbic mechanisms generate the motivation component of incentive salience. Incentive salience takes Pavlovian learning and memory as one input and as an equally important input takes neurobiological state factors (e.g., drug states, appetite states, satiety states) that can vary independently of learning. Neurobiological state changes can produce unlearned fluctuations or even reversals in the ability of a previously-learned reward cue to trigger motivation. Such fluctuations in cue-triggered motivation can dramatically depart from all previously learned values about the associated reward outcome. Thus a consequence of the difference between incentive salience and learning can be to decouple cue-triggered motivation of the moment from previously learned values of how good the associated reward has been in the past. Another consequence can be to produce irrationally strong motivation urges that are not justified by any memories of previous reward values (and without distorting associative predictions of future reward value). Such irrationally strong motivation may be especially problematic in addiction. To comprehend these phenomena, future models of mesocorticolimbic reward function should address the neurobiological state factors that participate to control generation of incentive salience. PMID:22487042

A case study analysing the process of analogy-based learning in a teaching unit about simple electric circuits

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Paatz, Roland; Ryder, James; Schwedes, Hannelore; Scott, Philip

2004-09-01

The purpose of this case study is to analyse the learning processes of a 16-year-old student as she learns about simple electric circuits in response to an analogy-based teaching sequence. Analogical thinking processes are modelled by a sequence of four steps according to Gentner's structure mapping theory (activate base domain, postulate local matches, connect them to a global match, draw candidate inferences). We consider whether Gentner's theory can be used to account for the details of this specific teaching/learning context. The case study involved video-taping teaching and learning activities in a 10th-grade high school course in Germany. Teaching used water flow through pipes as an analogy for electrical circuits. Using Gentner's theory, relational nets were created from the student's statements at different stages of her learning. Overall, these nets reflect the four steps outlined earlier. We also consider to what extent the learning processes revealed by this case study are different from previous analyses of contexts in which no analogical knowledge is available.

Place and Response Learning in the Open-field Tower Maze.

PubMed

Lipatova, Olga; Campolattaro, Matthew M; Toufexis, Donna J; Mabry, Erin A

2015-10-28

This protocol describes how the Open-field Tower Maze (OFTM) paradigm is used to study spatial learning in rodents. This maze is especially useful for examining how rats learn to use a place- or response-learning to successfully navigate in an open-field arena. Additionally, this protocol describes how the OFTM differs from other behavioral maze paradigms that are commonly used to study spatial learning in rodents. The OFTM described in this article was adapted from the one previously described by Cole, Clipperton, and Walt (2007). Specifically, the OFTM was created to test spatial learning in rodents without the experimenter having to consider how "stress" might play a role as a confounding variable. Experiments have shown that stress-alone can significantly affect cognitive function(1). The representative results section contains data from an experiment that used the OFTM to examine the effects of estradiol treatment on place- and response-learning in adult female Sprague Dawley rats(2). Future studies will be designed to examine the role of the hippocampus and striatum in place- and response-learning in the OFTM.

Does task-irrelevant colour information create extraneous cognitive load? Evidence from a learning task.

PubMed

Miller, Paul; Hazan-Liran, Batel; Cohen, Danielle

2018-06-01

Previous studies have shown that task-irrelevant information impedes learning by creating extraneous cognitive load. But still open is whether such intrusion reflects a purely semantic phenomenon or whether it also stands for sheer perceptual interference. Using Cognitive Load Theory as a framework, this study aimed to answer this question by examining whether and how task-irrelevant colour information modifies extraneous cognitive load in relation to a new code-learning paradigm. For this purpose, university students were asked to learn, based on an example, associations between colour-related and colour-unrelated words and digits presented in black or in a mismatched ink colour. Evident costs in learning efficacy were found in learning the associations between words and digits for colour-related, but not for colour-unrelated, word stimuli. This suggests that interference by task-irrelevant information in learning stands for a mere semantic conflict. Implications of the findings for extraneous cognitive load on learning efficacy are discussed.

Intact implicit statistical learning in borderline personality disorder.

PubMed

Unoka, Zsolt; Vizin, Gabriella; Bjelik, Anna; Radics, Dóra; Nemeth, Dezso; Janacsek, Karolina

2017-09-01

Wide-spread neuropsychological deficits have been identified in borderline personality disorder (BPD). Previous research found impairments in decision making, declarative memory, working memory and executive functions; however, no studies have focused on implicit learning in BPD yet. The aim of our study was to investigate implicit statistical learning by comparing learning performance of 19 BPD patients and 19 healthy, age-, education- and gender-matched controls on a probabilistic sequence learning task. Moreover, we also tested whether participants retain the acquired knowledge after a delay period. To this end, participants were retested on a shorter version of the same task 24h after the learning phase. We found intact implicit statistical learning as well as retention of the acquired knowledge in this personality disorder. BPD patients seem to be able to extract and represent regularities implicitly, which is in line with the notion that implicit learning is less susceptible to illness compared to the more explicit processes. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

An Active Learning Activity to Reinforce the Design Components of the Corticosteroids

PubMed Central

Mandela, Prashant

2018-01-01

Despite the popularity of active learning applications over the past few decades, few activities have been reported for the field of medicinal chemistry. The purpose of this study is to report a new active learning activity, describe participant contributions, and examine participant performance on the assessment questions mapped to the objective covered by the activity. In this particular activity, students are asked to design two novel corticosteroids as a group (6–8 students per group) based on the design characteristics of marketed corticosteroids covered in lecture coupled with their pharmaceutics knowledge from the previous semester and then defend their design to the class through an interactive presentation model. Although class performance on the objective mapped to this material on the assessment did not reach statistical significance, use of this activity has allowed fruitful discussion of misunderstood concepts and facilitated multiple changes to the lecture presentation. As pharmacy schools continue to emphasize alternative learning pedagogies, publication of previously implemented activities demonstrating their use will help others apply similar methodologies. PMID:29401733

An Active Learning Activity to Reinforce the Design Components of the Corticosteroids.

PubMed

Slauson, Stephen R; Mandela, Prashant

2018-02-05

Despite the popularity of active learning applications over the past few decades, few activities have been reported for the field of medicinal chemistry. The purpose of this study is to report a new active learning activity, describe participant contributions, and examine participant performance on the assessment questions mapped to the objective covered by the activity. In this particular activity, students are asked to design two novel corticosteroids as a group (6-8 students per group) based on the design characteristics of marketed corticosteroids covered in lecture coupled with their pharmaceutics knowledge from the previous semester and then defend their design to the class through an interactive presentation model. Although class performance on the objective mapped to this material on the assessment did not reach statistical significance, use of this activity has allowed fruitful discussion of misunderstood concepts and facilitated multiple changes to the lecture presentation. As pharmacy schools continue to emphasize alternative learning pedagogies, publication of previously implemented activities demonstrating their use will help others apply similar methodologies.

Analysis of a Constellation Lab Cooperative Learning Activity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gauthier, A. J.

2001-12-01

A cooperative learning activity was designed for use in the undergraduate laboratory course Introduction to Astronomical Observation. This group exercise enhances the student's learning of constellations and will hopefully increase retention of the material throughout the semester. It also serves as an "ice-breaker" during the first week of lab, promoting student involvement and vested interest in the course. To gain some insight into the student mind, a survey was conducted to evaluate the usefulness and overall opinion of this method. The students who completed the survey had previously been enrolled in a pre-requisite astronomy course that also required a constellation lab. In this previous course they "learned" the constellations from an instructor and a flashlight beam, studied them on their own, and then promptly took a quiz. Both methods are analyzed from an instructional designer's point of view and suggestions for future activities are presented. The preliminary results and accompanying activity will be discussed in poster and hand-out medium.

Jordan-3: measuring visual reversals in children as symptoms of learning disability and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

PubMed

Jordan, Brian T; Martin, Nancy; Austin, J Sue

2012-12-01

The purpose of this research was to establish new norms for the Jordan-3 for children ages 5 to 18 years. The research also investigated the frequency of visual reversals in children previously identified as having reading disability, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and broader learning disabilities. Participants were regular education students, ages 5 through 18 years, and special education students previously diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, reading disability, or broader learning disability. Jordan-3 Accuracy and Error raw scores were compared to assess if there was a significant difference between the two groups. Mean Accuracy and Error scores were compared for males and females. Children with learning disability and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder had higher reversals when compared to regular education children, which lends continued support to the Jordan-3 as a valid and reliable measure of visual reversals in children and adolescents. This study illustrates the utility of the Jordan-3 when assessing children who may require remediation to reach their academic potential.

Adolescent athletes with learning disability display atypical maturational trajectories on concussion baseline testing: Implications based on a Finnish sample.

PubMed

Peltonen, Kati; Vartiainen, Matti; Laitala-Leinonen, Tiina; Koskinen, Sanna; Luoto, Teemu; Pertab, Jon; Hokkanen, Laura

2018-05-21

Previous research has reported lower cognitive test scores on baseline testing in athletes reporting multiple previous concussions or a history of learning disability (LD). Age also has an important influence on cognitive performance. While these factors have been considered individually in previous studies, the present study is the first to explore the interaction of age, self-reported LD, and history of concussion on baseline Immediate Post-Concussion Assessment and Cognitive Testing (ImPACT®) in a nationwide study of adolescent athletes. ImPACT® was administered to 1823 Finnish male ice hockey players (aged 12-21 years old) prior to the 2015-2016 or 2016-2017 playing seasons. Linear regressions and simple slopes analyses were used for clarifying the impact of LD and previous concussion history on maturational trajectories. In comparison to typically developing athletes, athletes with LD had lower neurocognitive scores in all composites and differing maturational trajectory in verbal memory and visual motor speed. The number of previous concussions did not impair neurocognitive performance at baseline assessment. Application of standard age-based norms to adolescent athletes with a history of LD has the potential to negatively skew clinical decision-making. Separate reference values for LD athletes are warranted due to their unique developmental cognitive trajectories. The reference values for the Finnish participants in this study are presented.

The Effect of Senior Medical Student Tutors Compared to Faculty Tutors on Examination Scores of First- and Second-Year Medical Students in Two Problem-Based Learning Courses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sakai, Damon H; D'Eon, Marcel; Trinder, Krista; Kasuya, Richard T.

2016-01-01

At the University of Hawaii John A. Burns School of Medicine, senior medical student volunteers are used as tutors for some problem-based learning groups in both the first and second years. Previous studies on the advantages and disadvantages of student tutors compared to faculty tutors have been equivocal. This study expected to answer the…

Knowing and learning about science in a preservice setting: A narrative study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mulholland, Judith; Wallace, John

1994-12-01

This study employs narrative methods to give a holistic view of the experiences of five mature age preservice teachers in a semester unit of science education. The unit was designed to help teachers examine and make explicit their ideas about science and science teaching and consider ways in which they might put those ideas into practice. The pivotal theme, around which the teachers' experiences could be organised, was found to be learning science. The preservice teachers expressed a need for a supportive learning environment in which concepts were built gradually and introduced using concrete examples. Previous science experience was found to be a major influence on the attitudes the participants brought to the present course. A lack of previous experience or negative past experiences were a major cause of anxiety. Gender was also important as it had limited the science experiences available to some participants in the past and continued to influence the way they participated in classes during the semester.

A Framework for Evaluating and Enhancing Alignment in Self-Regulated Learning Research

PubMed Central

Dent, Amy L.; Hoyle, Rick H.

2015-01-01

We discuss the articles of this special issue with reference to an important yet previously only implicit dimension of study quality: alignment across the theoretical and methodological decisions that collectively define an approach to self-regulated learning. Integrating and extending work by leaders in the field, we propose a framework for evaluating alignment in the way self-regulated learning research is both conducted and reported. Within this framework, the special issue articles provide a springboard for discussing methodological promises and pitfalls of increasingly sophisticated research on the dynamic, contingent, and contextualized features of self-regulated learning. PMID:25825589

Multimodal sequence learning.

PubMed

Kemény, Ferenc; Meier, Beat

2016-02-01

While sequence learning research models complex phenomena, previous studies have mostly focused on unimodal sequences. The goal of the current experiment is to put implicit sequence learning into a multimodal context: to test whether it can operate across different modalities. We used the Task Sequence Learning paradigm to test whether sequence learning varies across modalities, and whether participants are able to learn multimodal sequences. Our results show that implicit sequence learning is very similar regardless of the source modality. However, the presence of correlated task and response sequences was required for learning to take place. The experiment provides new evidence for implicit sequence learning of abstract conceptual representations. In general, the results suggest that correlated sequences are necessary for implicit sequence learning to occur. Moreover, they show that elements from different modalities can be automatically integrated into one unitary multimodal sequence. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Implicit face prototype learning from geometric information.

PubMed

Or, Charles C-F; Wilson, Hugh R

2013-04-19

There is evidence that humans implicitly learn an average or prototype of previously studied faces, as the unseen face prototype is falsely recognized as having been learned (Solso & McCarthy, 1981). Here we investigated the extent and nature of face prototype formation where observers' memory was tested after they studied synthetic faces defined purely in geometric terms in a multidimensional face space. We found a strong prototype effect: The basic results showed that the unseen prototype averaged from the studied faces was falsely identified as learned at a rate of 86.3%, whereas individual studied faces were identified correctly 66.3% of the time and the distractors were incorrectly identified as having been learned only 32.4% of the time. This prototype learning lasted at least 1 week. Face prototype learning occurred even when the studied faces were further from the unseen prototype than the median variation in the population. Prototype memory formation was evident in addition to memory formation of studied face exemplars as demonstrated in our models. Additional studies showed that the prototype effect can be generalized across viewpoints, and head shape and internal features separately contribute to prototype formation. Thus, implicit face prototype extraction in a multidimensional space is a very general aspect of geometric face learning. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Generalization of Dynamics Learning Across Changes in Movement Amplitude

PubMed Central

Mattar, Andrew A. G.

2010-01-01

Studies on generalization show the nature of how learning is encoded in the brain. Previous studies have shown rather limited generalization of dynamics learning across changes in movement direction, a finding that is consistent with the idea that learning is primarily local. In contrast, studies show a broader pattern of generalization across changes in movement amplitude, suggesting a more general form of learning. To understand this difference, we performed an experiment in which subjects held a robotic manipulandum and made movements to targets along the body midline. Subjects were trained in a velocity-dependent force field while moving to a 15 cm target. After training, subjects were tested for generalization using movements to a 30 cm target. We used force channels in conjunction with movements to the 30 cm target to assess the extent of generalization. Force channels restricted lateral movements and allowed us to measure force production during generalization. We compared actual lateral forces to the forces expected if dynamics learning generalized fully. We found that, during the test for generalization, subjects produced reliably less force than expected. Force production was appropriate for the portion of the transfer movement in which velocities corresponded to those experienced with the 15 cm target. Subjects failed to produce the expected forces when velocities exceeded those experienced in the training task. This suggests that dynamics learning generalizes little beyond the range of one's experience. Consistent with this result, subjects who trained on the 30 cm target showed full generalization to the 15 cm target. We performed two additional experiments that show that interleaved trials to the 30 cm target during training on the 15 cm target can resolve the difference between the current results and those reported previously. PMID:20463200

Does formal complexity reflect cognitive complexity? Investigating aspects of the Chomsky Hierarchy in an artificial language learning study.

PubMed

Öttl, Birgit; Jäger, Gerhard; Kaup, Barbara

2015-01-01

This study investigated whether formal complexity, as described by the Chomsky Hierarchy, corresponds to cognitive complexity during language learning. According to the Chomsky Hierarchy, nested dependencies (context-free) are less complex than cross-serial dependencies (mildly context-sensitive). In two artificial grammar learning (AGL) experiments participants were presented with a language containing either nested or cross-serial dependencies. A learning effect for both types of dependencies could be observed, but no difference between dependency types emerged. These behavioral findings do not seem to reflect complexity differences as described in the Chomsky Hierarchy. This study extends previous findings in demonstrating learning effects for nested and cross-serial dependencies with more natural stimulus materials in a classical AGL paradigm after only one hour of exposure. The current findings can be taken as a starting point for further exploring the degree to which the Chomsky Hierarchy reflects cognitive processes.

Does Formal Complexity Reflect Cognitive Complexity? Investigating Aspects of the Chomsky Hierarchy in an Artificial Language Learning Study

PubMed Central

Öttl, Birgit; Jäger, Gerhard; Kaup, Barbara

2015-01-01

This study investigated whether formal complexity, as described by the Chomsky Hierarchy, corresponds to cognitive complexity during language learning. According to the Chomsky Hierarchy, nested dependencies (context-free) are less complex than cross-serial dependencies (mildly context-sensitive). In two artificial grammar learning (AGL) experiments participants were presented with a language containing either nested or cross-serial dependencies. A learning effect for both types of dependencies could be observed, but no difference between dependency types emerged. These behavioral findings do not seem to reflect complexity differences as described in the Chomsky Hierarchy. This study extends previous findings in demonstrating learning effects for nested and cross-serial dependencies with more natural stimulus materials in a classical AGL paradigm after only one hour of exposure. The current findings can be taken as a starting point for further exploring the degree to which the Chomsky Hierarchy reflects cognitive processes. PMID:25885790

An exploratory investigation of teaching innovations and learning factors in a lean manufacturing systems engineering course

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Choomlucksana, Juthamas; Doolen, Toni L.

2017-11-01

The use of collaborative activities and simulation sessions in engineering education has been explored previously. However, few studies have investigated the relationship of these types of teaching innovations with other learner characteristics, such as self-efficacy and background knowledge. This study explored the effects of collaborative activities and simulation sessions on learning and the relationships between self-efficacy beliefs, background knowledge, and learning. Data were collected from two different terms in an upper division engineering course entitled Lean Manufacturing Systems Engineering. Findings indicated that the impact of collaborative activities and simulation sessions appears to be different, depending on the concepts being taught. Simulation sessions were found to have a significant effect on self-efficacy beliefs, and background knowledge had a mixed effect on learning. Overall the results of this study highlight the complex set of relationships between classroom innovations, learner characteristics, and learning.

Social learning in juvenile lemon sharks, Negaprion brevirostris.

PubMed

Guttridge, Tristan L; van Dijk, Sander; Stamhuis, Eize J; Krause, Jens; Gruber, Samuel H; Brown, Culum

2013-01-01

Social learning is taxonomically widespread and can provide distinct behavioural advantages, such as in finding food or avoiding predators more efficiently. Although extensively studied in bony fishes, no such empirical evidence exists for cartilaginous fishes. Our aim in this study was to experimentally investigate the social learning capabilities of juvenile lemon sharks, Negaprion brevirostris. We designed a novel food task, where sharks were required to enter a start zone and subsequently make physical contact with a target in order to receive a food reward. Naive sharks were then able to interact with and observe (a) pre-trained sharks, that is, 'demonstrators', or (b) sharks with no previous experience, that is, 'sham demonstrators'. On completion, observer sharks were then isolated and tested individually in a similar task. During the exposure phase observers paired with 'demonstrator' sharks performed a greater number of task-related behaviours and made significantly more transitions from the start zone to the target, than observers paired with 'sham demonstrators'. When tested in isolation, observers previously paired with 'demonstrator' sharks completed a greater number of trials and made contact with the target significantly more often than observers previously paired with 'sham demonstrators'. Such experience also tended to result in faster overall task performance. These results indicate that juvenile lemon sharks, like numerous other animals, are capable of using socially derived information to learn about novel features in their environment. The results likely have important implications for behavioural processes, ecotourism and fisheries.