Sample records for mockingbirds quickly learn

  1. "To Kill a Mockingbird": An Historical Perspective. Learning Page Lesson Plan.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Prody, Kathleen; Whearty, Nicolet

    Students gain from a sense of the living history that surrounds Harper Lee's novel, "To Kill a Mockingbird." Through studying primary source materials from American Memory and other online sources, students of all backgrounds may better grasp how historical events and human forces have shaped relationships between black and white and…

  2. Getting Together, Getting Along, Getting to the Business of Teaching and Learning.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cintorino, Margaret A.

    1993-01-01

    Examines taped small-group student discussions of "To Kill a Mockingbird" in two tenth grade classes. Explores various discussion skills, including getting started, overcoming tension, deciding who begins, keeping the discussion moving, supporting one another in groups, and dealing with conflict. (MM)

  3. Side Effects: An Analysis of Mind the Gap's "Boo" and the Reception of Theatre Involving Learning Disabled Actors

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hargrave, Matt

    2010-01-01

    This article analyses Mind the Gap's Boo, a re-imagining of Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird", which features a cast of learning disabled actors. It is concerned with the public reception of the work, particularly the "effect" of an all-disabled cast. What are the consequences, both ethical and aesthetic, for these actors to tell this story on…

  4. Beyond Film: Exploring the Content of Movies

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Scacco, John

    2007-01-01

    This article looks at the use of movies in the language-learning classroom. The author promotes the use of the movie "To Kill a Mockingbird" due to its content, which involves poverty, racial inequality and mental illness, and to the availability of websites related to its use in English classrooms. The author highlights six scenes for…

  5. Effects of Army Training Activities on Bird Communities at the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site, Colorado

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1991-09-01

    sparrows increased markedly over the 2 years, while the latter three declined. Mockingbirds , western kingbirds, and Brewer’s sparrows were not common...except for kingbirds, on site 37, and mockingbirds and northern orioles, on site 3. (Both of these sites contained trees.) Total and relative density... mockingbirds . The average among the eleven species with significant multiple correlations (excluding Cassin’s sparrow) was 66.8 percent. Species below the

  6. Teaching Film as Literature: "Places in the Heart" and "To Kill a Mockingbird."

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Aycock, Estelle

    1986-01-01

    Discusses the issues of finding a current film acceptable to local standards and justifying it as literature. Gives teaching suggestions for dealing with the setting, characters, themes, ending scenes, and visual poetry using the films "Places in the Heart" and "To Kill a Mockingbird." (EL)

  7. Will the Real Mockingbird Please Stand Up?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hipple, Theodore W.

    1969-01-01

    The central theme of "To Kill a Mockingbird," one of the most widely taught novels in high school English classes, is frequently misinterpreted by well-meaning teachers. Although the cause of racial justice deserves classroom attention, the central theme and the focus of the four significant parts of the novel--the opening words, the…

  8. "To Kill A Mockingbird": Then and Now--A 35th Anniversary Celebration. Teacher Study Guide.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    National Council of Teachers of English, Urbana, IL.

    This study guide offers a different approach, teleconferencing, to new information, ideas, and resources on the film, "To Kill a Mockingbird." Following general information on "then and now," the guide consists of sections entitled: Preparing to Teach TKM: Special Considerations (by Charles Suhor and Larry Bell); Historical…

  9. Integrating Poetry and "To Kill a Mockingbird."

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jolley, Susan Arpajian

    2002-01-01

    Outlines a method of teaching "To Kill a Mockingbird" along with the study of poetry. Notes that this method allows students to consider the themes of courage and developing compassion. Concludes that teaching such a multigenre unit allows students to look for connections among fact and fiction, the past and present, their own lives and…

  10. What Is John Dewey Doing in "To Kill a Mockingbird"?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Frank, Jeff

    2015-01-01

    Harper Lee's novel "To Kill a Mockingbird" is taught in countless public schools and is beloved by many teachers and future teachers. Embedded within this novel--interestingly--is a strong criticism of an approach to education mockingly referred to as the "Dewey Decimal System." In this essay I explore Lee's criticism of…

  11. Dynamics of zebra finch and mockingbird vocalizations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Cimenser, Aylin

    Along with humans, whales, and bats, three groups of birds which include songbirds (oscines) such as the Zebra Finch (Taeniopygia guttata) and Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos) are the only creatures known to learn sounds by imitation. Numerous similarities between human and songbird vocalizations exist and, recently, it has been shown that Zebra Finch in particular possesses a gene, FoxP2, known to be involved in human language. This thesis investigates song development in Zebra Finches, as well as the temporal dynamics of song in Mockingbirds. Zebra Finches have long been the system of choice for studying vocal development, ontogeny, and complexity in birdsong. Physicists find them intriguing because the spectrally complex vocalizations of the Zebra Finch can exhibit sudden transitions to chaotic dynamics, period doubling & mode-locking phenomena. Mockingbirds, by contrast, provide an ideal system to examine the richness of an avian repertoire, since these musically versatile songbirds typically know upwards of 200 songs. To analyse birdsong data, we have developed a novel clustering algorithm that can be applied to the bird's syllables, tracing their dynamics back to the earliest stages of vocal development. To characterize birdsong we have used Fourier techniques, based upon multitaper spectral analysis, to optimally work around the constraints imposed by (Heisenberg's) time-frequency uncertainty principle. Furthermore, estimates that provide optimal compromise between frequency and temporal resolution have beautiful connections with solutions to the Helmholtz wave equation in prolate spheroidal coordinates. We have used this connection to provide firm foundation for certain heuristics used in the literature to compute associated spectral derivatives and supply a pedagogical account here in this thesis. They are of interest because spectral derivatives emphasize sudden changes in the dynamics of the underlying phenomenon, and often provide a nice way to visualize such dynamics. Our Zebra Finch data consist of continuous recordings of six tutored birds from the early, plastic stages of sound production to the development of fully crystallized mature song. Our analysis reveals that well before the Zebra Finch hears adult song, identifiably distinct clusters are observable for all birds in the same regions of feature space. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

  12. When the Mockingbird becomes an Albatross: Reading and Resistance in the Language Arts Classroom.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ricker-Wilson, Carol

    1998-01-01

    Describes the discomfort experienced by students and teacher as they explored how blackness is portrayed and understood in "To Kill a Mockingbird." Grapples with fundamental pedagogical questions: how to talk about race with a diverse group of students and how to examine victimization and oppression. Suggests tandem teaching with M.…

  13. Developing a Critical Literacy Approach with "To Kill a Mockingbird."

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Spires, Marian

    2000-01-01

    Ponders why the novel "To Kill a Mockingbird" has held a place in the secondary school canon for 40 years. Describes a 10-week unit for year 10 English students that takes a critical literacy approach to the novel. Outlines a set of pre-reading activities, during reading activities and post-reading activities. (SR)

  14. Teaching "To Kill a Mockingbird" Today: Coming to Terms with Race, Racism, and America's Novel

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Macaluso, Michael

    2017-01-01

    This article urges educators to responsibly teach, discuss, and read against "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee for fear that it may otherwise perpetuate subtle racist ideologies in generations of students who continue to read it in schools. One way to do this is through a comparative lens of old and new racism.

  15. Hearing the Difference: "Mockingbird" Novel Inspires Student-Led Anti-Racism Video Project

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Coe, Cindy A.

    2017-01-01

    In this article, Cindy Coe describes how after wrapping up her eighth grade "To Kill a Mockingbird" unit, one of her students came to her about derogatory terms being used around school and expressed that she wanted to do something about it in light of their recent unit. In a meeting with the principal, the student shared her frustration…

  16. The Discovery Route to Values, Via Literature: "To Kill a Mockingbird" and the Importance of Individuals.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    LeSueur, Virginia T.

    The main section of this 10th-grade teaching unit on Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird" consists primarily of sample dialogue, between the teacher and students, which attempts to lead the students to think critically about values. Other sections list questions on the novel, major events of the plot, and page references for descriptions…

  17. Stand Together or Apart: A Thematic Unit for "The Chocolate War" by Robert Cormier and "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Yinger, Lisa

    This thematic unit is all about what a classic novel about race relations in the 1930s American South, "To Kill a Mockingbird," and a frequently banned contemporary teen story about a candy sale, "The Chocolate War," have in common. The unit considers what people have in common, what it means to stand apart, and what…

  18. Environmental Assessment for Wing Infrastructure Development Outlook (WINDO) Plan Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2004-10-01

    officially established on August 30, 1941 and was named after 1st Lt. Ervin D. Shaw, a Sumter County resident who was killed in action during World War I...Examples of the animal species likely to occur within this community include the cottontail, mockingbird , American robin, and crow. At the Poinsett...include the white-tailed deer, red fox, raccoon, opossum, striped skunk, cottontail, meadowlark, mockingbird , American kestrel, fence lizard, and

  19. Final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) Activities on White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2007-05-01

    taggants south of Mockingbird Gap and the limited number of simulants met the Agency requirements. It was recognized at that time if either situation...from attack. * A new test bed for HTD testing is proposed at Mockingbird South. Alternative one, the preferred alternative, would allow DTRA to expand...HTD tests, and explosive tests have the potential to directly injure or kill native fauna from flying debris and blast overpressure. Craters

  20. Assessment System for Aircraft Noise (ASAN) Citation Database. Volume 1

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1989-12-01

    kills "). Most researchers would take an opposing position on the given research topic. 2 Some elements of the publication are con-r ,ersial 14 4. Report...01.02.21.09.00.00 Mockingbirds 01.07.22.06.00.00 Mojarras 01.07.24.00.00.00 Molas 01.01.03.03.00.00 Moles 02.00.00.00.00.00 Mollusca 02.00.00.00.00.00...Bluebirds ...Robins ...Sialia ...Turdus Ol.02.2l.09.OO.OO ... Catbirds ... Mimidae -. Mockingbirds ... Thrashers 01.02.21:1.0.00. ... Motacillidae

  1. A hitchhikers guide to the Galápagos: co-phylogeography of Galápagos mockingbirds and their parasites

    PubMed Central

    2011-01-01

    Background Parasites are evolutionary hitchhikers whose phylogenies often track the evolutionary history of their hosts. Incongruence in the evolutionary history of closely associated lineages can be explained through a variety of possible events including host switching and host independent speciation. However, in recently diverged lineages stochastic population processes, such as retention of ancestral polymorphism or secondary contact, can also explain discordant genealogies, even in fully co-speciating taxa. The relatively simple biogeographic arrangement of the Galápagos archipelago, compared with mainland biomes, provides a framework to identify stochastic and evolutionary informative components of genealogic data in these recently diverged organisms. Results Mitochondrial DNA sequences were obtained for four species of Galápagos mockingbirds and three sympatric species of ectoparasites - two louse and one mite species. These data were complemented with nuclear EF1α sequences in selected samples of parasites and with information from microsatellite loci in the mockingbirds. Mitochondrial sequence data revealed differences in population genetic diversity between all taxa and varying degrees of topological congruence between host and parasite lineages. A very low level of genetic variability and lack of congruence was found in one of the louse parasites, which was excluded from subsequent joint analysis of mitochondrial data. The reconciled multi-species tree obtained from the analysis is congruent with both the nuclear data and the geological history of the islands. Conclusions The gene genealogies of Galápagos mockingbirds and two of their ectoparasites show strong phylogeographic correlations, with instances of incongruence mostly explained by ancestral genetic polymorphism. A third parasite genealogy shows low levels of genetic diversity and little evidence of co-phylogeny with their hosts. These differences can mostly be explained by variation in life-history characteristics, primarily host specificity and dispersal capabilities. We show that pooling genetic data from organisms living in close ecological association reveals a more accurate phylogeographic history for these taxa. Our results have implications for the conservation and taxonomy of Galápagos mockingbirds and their parasites. PMID:21966954

  2. Balancing selection and genetic drift create unusual patterns of MHCIIβ variation in Galápagos mockingbirds.

    PubMed

    Vlček, Jakub; Hoeck, Paquita E A; Keller, Lukas F; Wayhart, Jessica P; Dolinová, Iva; Štefka, Jan

    2016-10-01

    The extracellular subunit of the major histocompatibility complex MHCIIβ plays an important role in the recognition of pathogens and the initiation of the adaptive immune response of vertebrates. It is widely accepted that pathogen-mediated selection in combination with neutral micro-evolutionary forces (e.g. genetic drift) shape the diversity of MHCIIβ, but it has proved difficult to determine the relative effects of these forces. We evaluated the effect of genetic drift and balancing selection on MHCIIβ diversity in 12 small populations of Galápagos mockingbirds belonging to four different species, and one larger population of the Northern mockingbird from the continental USA. After genotyping MHCIIβ loci by high-throughput sequencing, we applied a correlational approach to explore the relationships between MHCIIβ diversity and population size by proxy of island size. As expected when drift predominates, we found a positive effect of population size on the number of MHCIIβ alleles present in a population. However, the number of MHCIIβ alleles per individual and number of supertypes were not correlated with population size. This discrepancy points to an interesting feature of MHCIIβ diversity dynamics: some levels of diversity might be shaped by genetic drift while others are independent and possibly maintained by balancing selection. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  3. Parasitic egg rejection decisions of chalk-browed mockingbirds Mimus saturninus are independent of clutch composition.

    PubMed

    de la Colina, M A; Pompilio, L; Hauber, M E; Reboreda, J C; Mahler, B

    2018-03-01

    Obligate avian brood parasites lay their eggs in nests of other host species, which assume all the costs of parental care for the foreign eggs and chicks. The most common defensive response to parasitism is the rejection of foreign eggs by hosts. Different cognitive mechanisms and decision-making rules may guide both egg recognition and rejection behaviors. Classical optimization models generally assume that decisions are based on the absolute properties of the options (i.e., absolute valuation). Increasing evidence shows instead that hosts' rejection decisions also depend on the context in which options are presented (i.e., context-dependent valuation). Here we study whether the chalk-browed mockingbird's (Mimus saturninus) rejection of parasitic shiny cowbird (Molothrus bonariensis) eggs is a fixed behavior or varies with the context of the clutch. We tested three possible context-dependent mechanisms: (1) range effect, (2) habituation to variation, and (3) sensitization to variation. We found that mockingbird rejection of parasitic eggs does not change according to the characteristics of the other eggs in the nest. Thus, rejection decisions may exclusively depend on the objective characteristics of the eggs, meaning that the threshold of acceptance or rejection of a foreign egg is context-independent in this system.

  4. RESPONSES OF MALE TROPICAL MOCKINGBIRDS TO VARIATION IN WITHIN-SONG AND BETWEEN-SONG VERSATILITY

    PubMed Central

    Botero, Carlos A.; Vehrencamp, Sandra L.

    2007-01-01

    Despite their large vocal repertoires and otherwise highly versatile singing style, male mockingbirds sometimes sing in a highly repetitive fashion. We conducted a playback experiment to determine the possible signal value of different syllable presentation patterns during simulated male intrusions in the Tropical Mockingbird (Mimus gilvus) testing the hypothesis that more repetitive singing represents a stronger threat and generates a stronger aggressive response. Responses were measured in terms of approach and singing behavior and were analyzed using McGregor’s (1992) multivariate method. We also introduce the use of survival analysis for analyzing response variables for which subjects do not perform the behavior in question in at least one of the replicates (known as ‘right-censored variables’ in the statistical literature). As predicted by theory, experimental subjects responded more aggressively to songs composed of a single note than to variable ones. However, versatility at the between-song level had an opposite effect as high song switching rates generated stronger responses than low ones. Given the lack of a statistical interaction between within-song versatility and switching rate, we conclude that these two parameters may serve independent purposes and possibly transmit different information. We discuss the possibility that the signal value of variation in vocal versatility lies in the mediation of territorial conflicts, the attraction of female partners and/or the mediation of conflicts over access to reproductive females. PMID:18509510

  5. The role of socioeconomic status in adolescent literature.

    PubMed

    Pearlman, M

    1995-01-01

    This article attempts to establish that socioeconomic status (SES) plays an important role in the lives of adolescents and is reflected in adolescent literature. The emphasis on SES in four adolescent novels: The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger, and The Pigman by Paul Zindel suggests that both the authors and their young readers are aware of its influence in today's society. Three areas which are greatly affected by SES are examined: adolescents' self-esteem, how it affects characterization and subsequently the degree to which adolescents identify with a literary character, and how it functions as a learning device, enabling authors to infuse their own moral values into the minds of their audiences.

  6. Upon Our Words.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Schechter, Sara P.

    1991-01-01

    Describes New York City Technical College's "Law through Literature" course, an English elective especially for Legal Assistant Studies students. Quotes from students' essays about personal experiences related to characters/events from Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird." Recounts class discussions about influences on…

  7. Exploring Ideas through Synectics.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Meier, E. Anne

    1997-01-01

    Defines "synectics" as the bringing together of diverse elements. Notes that as an instructional strategy, it depends upon thinking by analogy or metaphor. Discusses components of a synectics lesson. Presents three sample synectics lessons (on "Macbeth," friendship, and Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird"). (PA)

  8. Studies of FAUNA at Eglin Air Force Base

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2006-07-01

    occasionally resulted in fires that were hot enough to kill mature pines, including the old growth pines upon which RCWs depend for cavity excavation...cardinalis NOCA Northern flicker* Colaptes auratus NOFL Northern mockingbird Mimus polyglottos NOMO Northern rough-winged swallow Stelgidopteryx

  9. 75 FR 9281 - General Provisions; Revised List of Migratory Birds

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-03-01

    ... York (AOU 1982, 1983, 1998); Flycatcher, La Sagra's, Myiarchus sagrae--Alabama, Florida (AOU 1982, 1983..., Belcher's, Larus belcheri--Florida (AOU 1982, 1983, 1998, 2003); Hawk, Roadside, Buteo magnirostis--Texas..., Southern, Progne elegans--Florida (AOU 1982, 1983, 1998); Mockingbird, Bahama, Mimus gundlachii--Florida...

  10. Welcome to the real world: reflections on teaching and administration.

    PubMed

    Miller, K J

    2000-12-01

    The author compares his former position as an assistant professor in a program preparing future teachers of deaf and hard of hearing students with his present position as an administrator of a public school program serving these students. He maintains that in some ways, teacher training programs in deafness and the public school settings hiring these graduates are separate worlds. The emphasis in teacher training programs appears to be on preparing graduates to work with deaf students in self-contained or residential school settings even though most teaching positions are with hard of hearing students mainstreamed in public schools. Other important areas, such as collaboration with general education teachers, litigation, parental relationships, and individualized education programs, seem to be overlooked by teacher training programs. The author employs the mockingbird metaphor from the novel To Kill A Mockingbird (Lee, 1960) to highlight differences between teacher training programs and public school settings, while making recommendations for strengthening connections between the two.

  11. Rationales for Commonly "Challenged" Taught Books.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Shugert, Diane P., Ed.; And Others

    1983-01-01

    Intended for teachers, this focused journal issue contains separate rationales for teaching books that have been challenged as appropriate instructional materials. Following a discussion of the purpose for rationales and suggestions for using them, the journal presents rationales for teaching the following books: "To Kill a Mockingbird,""The Diary…

  12. Stationing a U.S. Army Reserve Black Hawk Helicopter Company at Joint Forces Training Base Los Alamitos, California

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2011-03-01

    include the American crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos), northern mockingbird (Mimus polyglotos), black phoebe (Saynoris nigricans), house finch (Carpodacus...cumulative impacts. Any wildlife killed during aviation activities is reported to the JFTB Los Alamitos Environmental Office for proper identification

  13. Reshaping High School English.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pirie, Bruce

    This book takes up the question of what shape high school English studies should take in the coming years. It describes an English program that blends philosophical depth with classroom practicality. Drawing examples from commonly taught texts such as "Macbeth,""To Kill a Mockingbird," and "Lord of the Flies," the…

  14. Think Texas! Suggested Activities to Help Celebrate Our Sesquicentennial.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Texas Education Agency, Austin.

    A packet of teaching activities helps elementary and secondary teachers commemorate the sesquicentennial of Texas' independence. Activities include listening to stories about the mockingbird, bluebonnet, and pecan tree, drawing interpretations of these stories, and using a graphics tablet, light pen, or graphics software to illustrate a Texas folk…

  15. Karuk Stories #2.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bennett, Ruth, Ed.; And Others

    Three illustrated stories from the Karuk Indians of northwestern California are told in free English translation and in Karuk with literal English translation. English and Karuk Unifon alphabet charts are provided. Stories tell of seasonal migration of the mockingbird and the swamp robin, coyote's quest for the sun and how he determined the sun's…

  16. A resolution commemorating the 50th anniversary of the publication of "To Kill a Mockingbird".

    THOMAS, 111th Congress

    Sen. Sessions, Jeff [R-AL

    2010-08-05

    Senate - 08/05/2010 Submitted in the Senate, considered, and agreed to without amendment and with a preamble by Unanimous Consent. (All Actions) Tracker: This bill has the status Agreed to in SenateHere are the steps for Status of Legislation:

  17. Regional Novels in the Study of Rural Education.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Peters, Dianne S.

    1983-01-01

    Contrasts and compares historical research on rural and Native American education and regional novels ("To Kill a Mockingbird" and "Laughing Boy") in order to demonstrate the importance of diversity in the concept of rurality. Suggests regional novels are an important component in the study of rural education. (AH)

  18. Draft Environmental Impact Statement: F-15E Beddown at Seymour Johnson AFB, North Carolina

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1988-03-01

    destruction, stunted growth, necrosis ( killing of plant tissue), chlorosis (loss or reduction in plant chlorophyll), leaf abscission (dropping of leaves...occasionally run, fly, or crowd when exposed to sonic booms. In a field and laboratory study, Mourning Doves, Mockingbirds , Cardinals, Lark Sparrows, and

  19. Holden and Company: A Separate Piece (of the Curriculum).

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Brown, Joanne

    An instructor of an adolescent literature course wanted to give the students an opportunity to study some novels not specifically written for an adolescent audience. Examples of such novels were: Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird," J.D. Salinger's "Catcher in the Rye," and Jamaica Kincaid's "Annie John." Including…

  20. E-Learning QUICK Checklist

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Khan, Badrul

    2005-01-01

    "E-Learning QUICK Checklist" walks readers through the various factors important to developing, evaluating and implementing an open, flexible and distributed learning environment. This book is designed as a quick checklist for e-learning. It contains many practical items that the reader can use as review criteria to check if e-learning modules,…

  1. The Novel in Educational Research: The Rhythm of the Land and Its People.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Peters, Dianne S.

    Regional novels constitute an important component for research in rural education because they deal with relationships between people and place and with the impact of schooling on human life. Selected incidents from Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird" (1960) and LaFarge's "Laughing Boy" (1929) are congruent with contemporary research…

  2. Controversy, Trials, and Crime--Oh My!

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rott, Kim

    2006-01-01

    Teenagers' innate interest with the justice system is one of the reasons that so many high school literary classics teem with criminals, controversial issues, and trials. Novels such as "To Kill a Mockingbird," "A Separate Peace," "The Crucible," and "Twelve Angry Men" feature high-impact trials. In the author's desire to tap into this interest,…

  3. The Homeschooling of Scout Finch

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kelley, James B.

    2012-01-01

    Harper Lee's novel "To Kill a Mockingbird" is one of the most widely taught texts in language arts classrooms through the English-speaking world and is greatly valued by many readers today for its depiction of youth grappling with racism in the American South of the Depression Era. However, the novel's subtle and sustained critique of…

  4. Performance constraints and the production of birdsong

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Suthers, Roderick A.; Vallet, Eric; Zollinger, Sue Anne

    2004-05-01

    The role of physical and physiological constraints in determining the performance limits on the tempo and frequency bandwidth of birdsong was investigated. One series of experiments examined the mechanism by which a vocal mimic, the northern mockingbird (Mimus polygottos), copied the songs of other species with which it was tutored as a juvenile. Other experiments analyzed the motor basis of special canary (Serinus canaria) syllables eliciting sexual responses from females. In each case, the mechanism of vocalization was determined by measuring the respiratory dynamics and sound produced on each side of the songbirds duplex vocal organ, the syrinx. When mockingbirds copied the songs of other species the accuracy of their copy depended on the accuracy with which they reproduced the motor pattern used by the tutor species. Motor difficulty of various acoustic features was assessed by the accuracy of its copy. The high repetition rate, broadband canary syllables preferred by females required especially demanding bilateral motor skills. The results indicate that constraints on the rate of respiratory ventilation and bilateral syringeal coordination can set an upper limit on syllable repetition rate and frequency bandwidth. [Work supported by NIH and NSF.

  5. A small satellite design for deep space network testing and training

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Mcwilliams, Dennis; Slatton, Clint; Norman, Cassidy; Araiza, Joe; Jones, Jason; Tedesco, Mark; Wortman, Michael; Opiela, John; Lett, Pat; Clavenna, Michael

    1993-01-01

    With the continuing exploration of the Solar System and the reemphasis on Earth focused missions, the need for faster data transmission rates has grown. Ka-band could allow a higher data delivery rate over the current X-band, however the adverse effects of the Earth's atmosphere on Ka are as yet unknown. The Deep Space Network and Jet Propulsion Lab have proposed to launch a small satellite that would simultaneously transmit X and Ka signals to test the viability of switching to Ka-band. The Mockingbird Design Team at the University of Texas at Austin applied small satellite design principles to achieve this objective. The Mockingbird design, named BATSAT, incorporates simple, low-cost systems designed for university production and testing. The BATSAT satellite is a 0.64 m diameter, spherical panel led satellite, mounted with solar cells and omni-directional antennae. The antennae configuration negates the need for active attitude control or spin stabilization. The space-frame truss structure was designed for 11 g launch loads while allowing for easy construction and solar-panel mounting. The communication system transmits at 1 mW by carrying the required Ka and X-band transmitters, as well as an S band transmitter used for DSN training. The power system provides the 8.6 W maximum power requirements via silicon solar arrays and nickel-cadmium batteries. The BATSAT satellite will be lofted into an 1163 km, 70 deg orbit by the Pegasus launch system. This orbit fulfills DSN dish slew rate requirements while keeping the satellite out of the heaviest regions of the Van Allen radiation belts. Each of the three DSN stations capable of receiving Ka-band (Goldstone, Canberra, and Madrid) will have an average of 85 minutes of view-time per day over the satellites ten year design life. Mockingbird Designs hopes that its small satellite design will not only be applicable to this specific mission scenario, but that it could easily be modified for instrument capability for university, government, and/or commercial research.

  6. Re-Seeing "The Mighty": Critically Examining One Film's Representations of Disability in the English Classroom

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Maples, Joellen; Arndt, Katrina; White, Julia M.

    2010-01-01

    Films portraying characters with disabilities are often shown in the English classroom. Films such as "Of Mice and Men," "Simon Birch," "To Kill a Mockingbird," "The Hunchback of Notre Dame," "The Glass Menagerie," "Moby Dick," "Gattaca," and "A Beautiful Mind" often show simplistic and stereotypical representations of characters and their…

  7. Lighting the Flame: Teaching High School Students To Love, Not Loathe, Literature.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Milburn, Michael

    2001-01-01

    Discusses how Francine Prose accuses English teachers of assigning simplistic, badly written books that breed incompetent writers and readers who loathe literature. Notes that Prose focuses her contempt upon "To Kill a Mockingbird" and Maya Angelou's "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings." Suggests that students show teachers how to help them love…

  8. High School English IV: Social Consciousness in the American Novel, 1900-1950.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Phillips, James A.

    This university independent course of study on the contemporary American novel is presented to bring to light a source of social significance in America. Four novels are studied: Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle," John Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath" and "Of Mice and Men," and Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird." Nine assignments are included. (CK)

  9. Integrating Government and Literature: Mock Civil and Criminal Trials Based on "To Kill A Mockingbird"

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kumler, Lori; Palchick, Rina

    2008-01-01

    For many students, high school coursework consists of discrete subjects, each disconnected from the other, but together adding up to a high school diploma. Nonetheless, at the classroom level one can find many examples of integrated, interdisciplinary, or cross-subject teaching. Some pursue this approach because they consider that high school…

  10. Memory for Dialogue: Recalling an Anchor through Talk and Response.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Beaver, Pam

    This paper reports on a project involving student recall of the dialogue in a movie and retention of the "anchor," which in this case refers to a videotape recording of "To Kill a Mockingbird." The project looked at how students retained knowledge over a few days and what kind of activities resulted from expertise with an…

  11. "It's That Easy": Designing Assignments That Blend Old and New Literacies

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Connors, Sean P.; Sullivan, Racheal

    2012-01-01

    This article recounts what happened when one of the authors, a pre-service teacher, introduced a digital multimodal composition project in her 9th-grade inclusion English classes to support junior high students as they read the novel "To Kill a Mockingbird". Rather than regard new literacies as competing with print literacy for attention, the…

  12. Commitment to Change: The Council on Interracial Books for Children and the World of Children's Books.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Banfield, Beryle

    1998-01-01

    The Council on Interracial Books for Children (CIBC), founded in 1965, was formed to promote and develop children's literature that adequately reflects a multiracial society and to effect change in media portrayal of minorities. Past critiques by CIBC of "The Cay" (Theodore Taylor) and "To Kill a Mockingbird" (Harper Lee) are…

  13. Development of a Microcomputer-Based Adaptive Testing System. Phase I. Specification of Requirements and Preliminary Design.

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1982-06-30

    treatments, and cure (or kill ) a patient. Administratively, the items were in a multiple-choice format and the simulation proceeded by branching...Discs: dual 5 1/4 inch floppies (IM) Bus: N/A Operating System: CP/M, MmmOST Price: $3,495 -14 ~-174- - ’i~ Model 820 Xerox 1341 West Mockingbird Lane

  14. Different recognition cues reveal the decision rules used for egg rejection by hosts of a variably mimetic avian brood parasite.

    PubMed

    de la Colina, M Alicia; Pompilio, Lorena; Hauber, Mark E; Reboreda, Juan C; Mahler, Bettina

    2012-09-01

    Brood parasitism imposes several fitness costs on the host species. To reduce these costs, hosts of avian brood parasites have evolved various defenses, of which egg rejection is the most prevalent. In the face of variable host-parasite mimicry and the costs of egg discrimination itself, many hosts reject only some foreign eggs. Here, we experimentally varied the recognition cues to study the underlying cognitive mechanisms used by the Chalk-browed Mockingbird (Mimus saturninus) to reject the white immaculate eggs laid by the parasitic Shiny Cowbird (Molothrus bonariensis). Immaculate eggs are the only parasite eggs rejected by this host, as it accepts all polymorphic, spotted eggs laid by cowbirds. Using a within-breeding pair experimental design, we tested for the salience of spotting, UV reflectance, and brightness in eliciting rejection. We found that the presence of spotting significantly decreased the probability of rejection while increments in brightness significantly increased rejection frequencies. The cognitive rules underlying mockingbird rejection behavior can be explained by a decision-making model which predicts changes in the levels of rejection in direct relation to the number of relevant attributes shared between host and parasite eggs.

  15. Killing the Mockingbird: Systems Failure and a Radical Hope for Re-Grounding Responsibility and Access to Health Care in a Mallee Town Community

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Coldwell, Ian

    2010-01-01

    The plight of Aboriginal health and the question of Aboriginal health care in a remote rural community came into focus when I realised that "the system" was peppered with in-built racist beliefs and values that discriminate against and disadvantage minority groups. Cyborg theory assists the difficulties of explaining the paradoxes that…

  16. Mockingbirds

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Stewart, Arthur J.

    2018-03-01

    "Science flavored" poetry offers an aesthetic way to explore spaces between facts. This poem, through recursively introducing a central metaphor—a mockingbird—may encourage new ways to think about teaching science. Important context for the poem is this: a cohort of about 250 students arrived at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory in east Tennessee on a beautiful day in June, 2016, ready to start their summer research experience.

  17. Construction of Explosive Ordnance Disposal Facility Moody Air Force Base, Georgia Environmental Assessment

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2008-07-01

    rodents and songbirds such as the northern mockingbird (Mimus polyglottis), northern cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis), mourning dove (Zenaida... killed during construction activities. Additionally, the proposed action would result in the permanent destruction of less than one acre of wildlife...species likely to be displaced or killed are common, abundant species in the area. Additional short-term minor impacts to wildlife, including

  18. Using "To Kill a Mockingbird" as a Conduit for Teaching about the School-to-Prison Pipeline

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Maher, Steffany Comfort

    2013-01-01

    The author primarily teaches traditional high school English texts in a largely white, middle-class school, but the method she uses allows her to address important issues relevant to students. One unit she teaches is an investigation of the criminal justice system and a variety of issues related to the school-to-prison pipeline. A crucial text…

  19. The Values in Four Selected American Novels and Suggested Uses of These Values in High School English Classes.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hipple, Theodore Wallace

    The first purpose of this study was to discover and analyze the values in "The Red Badge of Courage,""Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,""The Catcher in the Rye," and "To Kill a Mockingbird." The values--conscious or unconscious motivators and justifiers of characters' actions and judgments--were classified according to H. S. Broudy's "Building a…

  20. Environmental Assessment for the Construction and Operation of an Indoor Small Arms Range at Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station, New York

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2009-08-01

    Name Northern flicker Colaptes auratus Northern harrier2 Circus cyaneus Northern mockingbird Mimus polyglottos Northern rough-winged swallow...Installation operations impact wildlife habitat. Disturbance of vegetation by construction. Displacement and potential to kill or injure...Unless otherwise permitted by regulations, the MBTA makes it unlawful to pursue, hunt, take, capture, or kill ; attempt to take, capture or kill

  1. Redefining Information Warfare Boundaries for an Army in a Wireless World

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2013-01-01

    development. For example, such a generic requirement might involve detection, identification, tracking, and kill - ing a class of targets by nonkinetic...Merging Information Operations and Psychological Operations,” Military Review, January–February 2008, pp. 108–111. Rosin, Randolph, “To Kill a... Mockingbird : The Deconstruction of Information Operations,” Small Wars Journal, August 17, 2009. As of December 6, 2010: http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog

  2. Environmental Assessment for Leasing Nellis Air Force Base Land for Construction and Operation of a Solar Photovoltaic System, Clark County, Nevada

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2006-08-01

    oxides OSHA Occupational Safety and Health Administration PL Public Law PM10 Particulate matter ≤ 10 microns in diameter POL Petroleum, oils , and...several years, costs and demand for energy produced through non- renewable resources, such as crude oil , have increased dramatically. In response to...flycatcher Empidonax difficilus Rough-winged swallow Stelgidopteryx serripennis Ruby-crowned kinglet Regulus calendula Northern mockingbird Mimus

  3. Environmental Assessment for the Expansion and Renovation of Dog Kennels, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2006-12-01

    leucocephala), killdeer (Charities vociferous), English sparrow (Passer domesticus), mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos), and red-winged blackbird (Agelaius...or killed . The project site should be examined daily for snakes, and if any eastern massasaugas are found, all work shall cease and the USFWS shall...airfield safety zones were established under AICUZ to minimize the number of people who would be injured or killed if an aircraft crashed. Three safety

  4. The acquisition of simple associations as observed in color-word contingency learning.

    PubMed

    Lin, Olivia Y-H; MacLeod, Colin M

    2018-01-01

    Three experiments investigated the learning of simple associations in a color-word contingency task. Participants responded manually to the print colors of 3 words, with each word associated strongly to 1 of the 3 colors and weakly to the other 2 colors. Despite the words being irrelevant, response times to high-contingency stimuli and to low-contingency stimuli quickly diverged. This high-low difference remained quite constant over successive blocks of trials, evidence of stable contingency learning. Inclusion of a baseline condition-an item having no color-word contingency-permitted separation of the contingency learning effect into 2 components: a cost due to low contingency and a benefit due to high contingency. Both cost and benefit were quick to acquire, quick to extinguish, and quick to reacquire. The color-word contingency task provides a simple way to directly study the learning of associations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

  5. Interdisciplinary Studies on the Combat Readiness and Health Issues Faced by Military Personnel

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2008-09-01

    University of Texas T and operational at the University of Texas at Dallas Center for BrainHealth located at 2200 W. Mockingbird Lane, Dallas, Texas...cells), and the targeted cells have been efficiently killed with NIR. This work is now published (Chakravarty et al., 2008) (Appendix B...mononuclear cells bound only to the CNTs coupled to the anti-CD25 mAb. Most importantly, only the specifically targeted cells were killed after exposure to

  6. Final Environmental Assessment Addressing Construction, Operation, and Maintenance of a Military Working Dog Facility at Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2011-03-01

    dove (Zenaida macroura), greater roadrunner (Geococcyx californianus), American crow (Cowus brachyrhynchos), northern mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos...permitted by regulations, the MBTA makes it unlawful to pursue, hunt, take, capture, or kill ; attempt to take, capture, or kill ; possess; offer to or...or through a foreign country, any bird, part, nest, or egg that was captured, killed , taken, shipped, transported, or carried contrary to the laws

  7. Rapidly Measuring the Speed of Unconscious Learning: Amnesics Learn Quickly and Happy People Slowly

    PubMed Central

    Dienes, Zoltan; Baddeley, Roland J.; Jansari, Ashok

    2012-01-01

    Background We introduce a method for quickly determining the rate of implicit learning. Methodology/Principal Findings The task involves making a binary prediction for a probabilistic sequence over 10 minutes; from this it is possible to determine the influence of events of a different number of trials in the past on the current decision. This profile directly reflects the learning rate parameter of a large class of learning algorithms including the delta and Rescorla-Wagner rules. To illustrate the use of the method, we compare a person with amnesia with normal controls and we compare people with induced happy and sad moods. Conclusions/Significance Learning on the task is likely both associative and implicit. We argue theoretically and demonstrate empirically that both amnesia and also transient negative moods can be associated with an especially large learning rate: People with amnesia can learn quickly and happy people slowly. PMID:22457759

  8. Foot abnormalities of wild birds

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Herman, C.M.; Locke, L.N.; Clark, G.M.

    1962-01-01

    The various foot abnormalities that occur in birds, including pox, scaly-leg, bumble-foot, ergotism and freezing are reviewed. In addition, our findings at the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center include pox from dove, mockingbird, cowbird, grackle and several species of sparrows. Scaly-leg has been particularly prevalent on icterids. Bumble foot has been observed in a whistling swan and in a group of captive woodcock. Ergotism is reported from a series of captive Canada geese from North Dakota. Several drug treatments recommended by others are presented.

  9. Aldo Leopold: A Bio-Bibliography

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1990-10-01

    34 "Destroying Female Trees" "Wanted--National Forest Game Refuges" "Determining the Kill Factor for Blacktail Deer in the Southwest" "’Piute Forestry...Cornbelt" 27 "Game and Wild Life Conservation" "A Flight of Franklin’s Gulls in Northwestern Iowa" "The Conservation Ethic" "The Mockingbird in...Bulletin, 10, No. 4 (1945), 3-5.* "Destroying Female Trees." American Forestry, 25 (1919), 1479-80. "Determining the Kill Factor for Blacktail Deer in

  10. Final Environmental Assessment Realignment of Jenkins Armed Forces Reserve Center (AFRC), Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico, BRAC 2005

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2007-05-01

    cryptoleucus Northern mockingbird Mimus polyglottos Black-throated sparrow Amphispiza bilineata Eastern meadowlark Sturnella magna House finch...Americans- and ealii~ kills 5,000 each year. :ses1 The network combines nub lie e sJ\\ awareness with an Internet- based information service and -qnd...scientists agree that p;roper cooking · will kill HEAL:: s most kinds of harmful bacteria, nobody is convinced that the bulk of consumers know what

  11. Quick Estimation Model for the Concentration of Indoor Airborne Culturable Bacteria: An Application of Machine Learning.

    PubMed

    Liu, Zhijian; Li, Hao; Cao, Guoqing

    2017-07-30

    Indoor airborne culturable bacteria are sometimes harmful to human health. Therefore, a quick estimation of their concentration is particularly necessary. However, measuring the indoor microorganism concentration (e.g., bacteria) usually requires a large amount of time, economic cost, and manpower. In this paper, we aim to provide a quick solution: using knowledge-based machine learning to provide quick estimation of the concentration of indoor airborne culturable bacteria only with the inputs of several measurable indoor environmental indicators, including: indoor particulate matter (PM 2.5 and PM 10 ), temperature, relative humidity, and CO₂ concentration. Our results show that a general regression neural network (GRNN) model can sufficiently provide a quick and decent estimation based on the model training and testing using an experimental database with 249 data groups.

  12. Transforming clinical imaging and 3D data for virtual reality learning objects: HTML5 and mobile devices implementation.

    PubMed

    Trelease, Robert B; Nieder, Gary L

    2013-01-01

    Web deployable anatomical simulations or "virtual reality learning objects" can easily be produced with QuickTime VR software, but their use for online and mobile learning is being limited by the declining support for web browser plug-ins for personal computers and unavailability on popular mobile devices like Apple iPad and Android tablets. This article describes complementary methods for creating comparable, multiplatform VR learning objects in the new HTML5 standard format, circumventing platform-specific limitations imposed by the QuickTime VR multimedia file format. Multiple types or "dimensions" of anatomical information can be embedded in such learning objects, supporting different kinds of online learning applications, including interactive atlases, examination questions, and complex, multi-structure presentations. Such HTML5 VR learning objects are usable on new mobile devices that do not support QuickTime VR, as well as on personal computers. Furthermore, HTML5 VR learning objects can be embedded in "ebook" document files, supporting the development of new types of electronic textbooks on mobile devices that are increasingly popular and self-adopted for mobile learning. © 2012 American Association of Anatomists.

  13. Quick Response (QR) Codes for Audio Support in Foreign Language Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Vigil, Kathleen Murray

    2017-01-01

    This study explored the potential benefits and barriers of using quick response (QR) codes as a means by which to provide audio materials to middle-school students learning Spanish as a foreign language. Eleven teachers of Spanish to middle-school students created transmedia materials containing QR codes linking to audio resources. Students…

  14. A Learning Environment for English Vocabulary Using Quick Response Codes

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Arikan, Yuksel Deniz; Ozen, Sevil Orhan

    2015-01-01

    This study focuses on the process of developing a learning environment that uses tablets and Quick Response (QR) codes to enhance participants' English language vocabulary knowledge. The author employed the concurrent triangulation strategy, a mixed research design. The study was conducted at a private school in Izmir, Turkey during the 2012-2013…

  15. Quick Estimation Model for the Concentration of Indoor Airborne Culturable Bacteria: An Application of Machine Learning

    PubMed Central

    Liu, Zhijian; Li, Hao; Cao, Guoqing

    2017-01-01

    Indoor airborne culturable bacteria are sometimes harmful to human health. Therefore, a quick estimation of their concentration is particularly necessary. However, measuring the indoor microorganism concentration (e.g., bacteria) usually requires a large amount of time, economic cost, and manpower. In this paper, we aim to provide a quick solution: using knowledge-based machine learning to provide quick estimation of the concentration of indoor airborne culturable bacteria only with the inputs of several measurable indoor environmental indicators, including: indoor particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10), temperature, relative humidity, and CO2 concentration. Our results show that a general regression neural network (GRNN) model can sufficiently provide a quick and decent estimation based on the model training and testing using an experimental database with 249 data groups. PMID:28758941

  16. Quick fuzzy backpropagation algorithm.

    PubMed

    Nikov, A; Stoeva, S

    2001-03-01

    A modification of the fuzzy backpropagation (FBP) algorithm called QuickFBP algorithm is proposed, where the computation of the net function is significantly quicker. It is proved that the FBP algorithm is of exponential time complexity, while the QuickFBP algorithm is of polynomial time complexity. Convergence conditions of the QuickFBP, resp. the FBP algorithm are defined and proved for: (1) single output neural networks in case of training patterns with different targets; and (2) multiple output neural networks in case of training patterns with equivalued target vector. They support the automation of the weights training process (quasi-unsupervised learning) establishing the target value(s) depending on the network's input values. In these cases the simulation results confirm the convergence of both algorithms. An example with a large-sized neural network illustrates the significantly greater training speed of the QuickFBP rather than the FBP algorithm. The adaptation of an interactive web system to users on the basis of the QuickFBP algorithm is presented. Since the QuickFBP algorithm ensures quasi-unsupervised learning, this implies its broad applicability in areas of adaptive and adaptable interactive systems, data mining, etc. applications.

  17. Summer Professional Development in Chemistry for Inservice Teachers Using OWL Quick Prep

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Powell, Cynthia B.; Pamplin, Kim L.; Blake, Robert E.; Mason, Diana S.

    2010-01-01

    Secondary teachers participating in summer professional development chemistry workshops in Texas used an online chemistry tutoring program, OWL Quick Prep (Day et al. in OWL: Online Web-based Learning, Brooks-Cole Cengage Learning, Florence, KY, 1997) as a part of the inservice training. Self-reported demographic data were used to identify factors…

  18. Factorial Structure of the Quick Neurological Screening Test-Revised for Children with Learning Disabilities.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Finlayson, Shannon B.; Obrzut, John E.

    1993-01-01

    Administered Quick Neurological Screening Test-Revised (QNST-R) to 122 elementary-aged children diagnosed with learning disabilities. QNST-R appeared to measure primarily lower order sensory perception/processing and fine and gross motoric skills, which are thought presumably to serve as basis for later higher order cognitive functions. Age, but…

  19. Investigating the Use of Quick Response Codes in the Gross Anatomy Laboratory

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Traser, Courtney J.; Hoffman, Leslie A.; Seifert, Mark F.; Wilson, Adam B.

    2015-01-01

    The use of quick response (QR) codes within undergraduate university courses is on the rise, yet literature concerning their use in medical education is scant. This study examined student perceptions on the usefulness of QR codes as learning aids in a medical gross anatomy course, statistically analyzed whether this learning aid impacted student…

  20. QuickSmart: a basic academic skills intervention for middle school students with learning difficulties.

    PubMed

    Graham, Lorraine; Bellert, Anne; Thomas, Jenny; Pegg, John

    2007-01-01

    QuickSmart is a basic academic skills intervention designed for persistently low-achieving students in the middle years of schooling that aims to improve the automaticity of basic skills to improve higher-order processes, such as problem solving and comprehension, as measured on standardized tests. The QuickSmart instructional program consists of three structured, teacher- or teacher aide-directed, 30-minute, small-group lessons each week for approximately 26 weeks. In this study, 42 middle school students experiencing learning difficulties (LD) completed the QuickSmart reading program, and a further 42 students with LD took part in the QuickSmart mathematics program. To investigate the effects of the intervention, comparisons were made between the reading and mathematics progress of the intervention group and a group of 10 high-achieving and 10 average-achieving peers. The results indicated that although the standardized reading comprehension and mathematics scores of QuickSmart students remained below those of comparison students, they improved significantly from pretest to posttest. In contrast, the standardized scores of comparison students were not significantly different from pretest to posttest. On measures of response speed and accuracy gathered using the Cognitive Aptitude Assessment System (CAAS), QuickSmart students were able to narrow the gap between their performance and that of their high- and average-achieving peers. Implications are drawn regarding the importance of interventions that emphasize the automaticity of basic academic skills for students with learning difficulties.

  1. Learning Spanish the Fenix Way

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wholey, Jane

    1977-01-01

    The Instituto Fenix, a language learning school in Cuernavaca, Mexico, features oral language learning and a creative teaching technique to help language students to learn Spanish both effectively and quickly. (RK)

  2. Ten quick tips for machine learning in computational biology.

    PubMed

    Chicco, Davide

    2017-01-01

    Machine learning has become a pivotal tool for many projects in computational biology, bioinformatics, and health informatics. Nevertheless, beginners and biomedical researchers often do not have enough experience to run a data mining project effectively, and therefore can follow incorrect practices, that may lead to common mistakes or over-optimistic results. With this review, we present ten quick tips to take advantage of machine learning in any computational biology context, by avoiding some common errors that we observed hundreds of times in multiple bioinformatics projects. We believe our ten suggestions can strongly help any machine learning practitioner to carry on a successful project in computational biology and related sciences.

  3. Learning from near misses: from quick fixes to closing off the Swiss-cheese holes.

    PubMed

    Jeffs, Lianne; Berta, Whitney; Lingard, Lorelei; Baker, G Ross

    2012-04-01

    The extent to which individuals in healthcare use near misses as learning opportunities remains poorly understood. Thus, an exploratory study was conducted to gain insight into the nature of, and contributing factors to, organisational learning from near misses in clinical practice. A constructivist grounded theory approach was employed which included semi-structured interviews with 24 participants (16 clinicians and 8 administrators) from a large teaching hospital in Canada. This study revealed three scenarios for the responses to near misses, the most common involved 'doing a quick fix' where clinicians recognised and corrected an error with no further action. The second scenario consisted of reporting near misses but not hearing back from management, which some participants characterised as 'going into a black hole'. The third scenario was 'closing off the Swiss-cheese holes', in which a reported near miss generated corrective action at an organisational level. Explanations for 'doing a quick fix' included the pervasiveness of near misses that cause no harm and fear associated with reporting the near miss. 'Going into a black hole' reflected managers' focus on operational duties and events that harmed patients. 'Closing off the Swiss-cheese holes' occurred when managers perceived substantial potential for harm and preventability. Where learning was perceived to occur, leaders played a pivotal role in encouraging near-miss reporting. To optimise learning, organisations will need to determine which near misses are appropriate to be responded to as 'quick fixes' and which ones require further action at the unit and corporate levels.

  4. World of intelligence defense object detection-machine learning (artificial intelligence)

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gupta, Anitya; Kumar, Akhilesh; Bhushan, Vinayak

    2018-04-01

    This paper proposes a Quick Locale based Convolutional System strategy (Quick R-CNN) for question recognition. Quick R-CNN expands on past work to effectively characterize ob-ject recommendations utilizing profound convolutional systems. Com-pared to past work, Quick R-CNN utilizes a few in-novations to enhance preparing and testing speed while likewise expanding identification precision. Quick R-CNN trains the profound VGG16 arrange 9 quicker than R-CNN, is 213 speedier at test-time, and accomplishes a higher Guide on PASCAL VOC 2012. Contrasted with SPPnet, Quick R-CNN trains VGG16 3 quicker, tests 10 speedier, and is more exact. Quick R-CNN is actualized in Python and C++ (utilizing Caffe) and is accessible under the open-source MIT Permit.

  5. QR Codes

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lai, Hsin-Chih; Chang, Chun-Yen; Li, Wen-Shiane; Fan, Yu-Lin; Wu, Ying-Tien

    2013-01-01

    This study presents an m-learning method that incorporates Integrated Quick Response (QR) codes. This learning method not only achieves the objectives of outdoor education, but it also increases applications of Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning (CTML) (Mayer, 2001) in m-learning for practical use in a diverse range of outdoor locations. When…

  6. An Investigation of the Epistemological Predictors of Self-Regulated Learning of Advanced Science Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Koksal, Mustafa Serdar; Yaman, Suleyman

    2012-01-01

    Recent research in educational psychology has shown that beliefs about knowing and learning have an effect on learning. These epistemological beliefs, which are categorized as certainty, simplicity of knowledge, existence of quick learning, and the fixed ability to learn, are related to educationally important cognitive and affective factors, such…

  7. Learning to Learn Cooperatively

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Byrd, Anne Hammond

    2009-01-01

    Cooperative learning, put quite simply, is a type of instruction whereby students work together in small groups to achieve a common goal. Cooperative learning has become increasingly popular as a feature of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) with benefits that include increased student interest due to the quick pace of cooperative tasks,…

  8. Using E-Learning and ICT Courses in Educational Environment: A Review

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Salehi, Hadi; Shojaee, Mohammad; Sattar, Susan

    2015-01-01

    With the quick emergence of computers and related technology, Electronic-learning (E-learning) and Information Communication and Technology (ICT) have been extensively utilized in the education and training field. Miscellaneous methods of integrating computer technology and the context in which computers are used have affected student learning in…

  9. Mobile Learning: Readiness and Perceptions of Teachers of Open Universities of Commonwealth Asia

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Miglani, Anshu; Awadhiya, Ashish Kumar

    2017-01-01

    Integration of "Mobile Learning" (m-learning) in Open and Distance Learning (ODL) systems can play a crucial role in reducing the "Digital Divide" and strengthening "Democratization of Education" by providing quality educational opportunities and access to information quickly at affordable cost in Commonwealth Asian…

  10. The Big Picture: Understanding Learning and Meta-Learning Challenges

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Carneiro, Roberto

    2007-01-01

    The future learning agenda is fraught with uncertainty. This opening article attempts to pose broad societal questions that determine the learning agenda-setting as well as the emergence of new knowledge paradigms. It begins with a quick overview of the futures of learning agenda. Then, it moves on to depict the value chain that departs from…

  11. Learning to think like a nurse: stories from new nurse graduates.

    PubMed

    Etheridge, Sharon A

    2007-01-01

    One aim of nursing education is to help students learn to be beginning practitioners, which includes making clinical judgments that ensure patient safety. Clinical judgments often determine how quickly nurses detect a life-threatening complication, how soon patients leave the hospital, or how quickly patients learn to take care of themselves. However, current research shows that new graduates do not perform well when making clinical judgments, despite having graduated from accredited schools of nursing and passing the NCLEX examination. This descriptive, qualitative study examined the perceptions of recent nursing graduates about learning to make clinical judgments. Graduates with baccalaureate degrees in nursing were interviewed three times in 9 months to determine their perceptions of how they learned to think like nurses. The results of this study should be useful in identifying strategies to help new graduates make the transition from students to registered nurses.

  12. Reconciling Reinforcement Learning Models with Behavioral Extinction and Renewal: Implications for Addiction, Relapse, and Problem Gambling

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Redish, A. David; Jensen, Steve; Johnson, Adam; Kurth-Nelson, Zeb

    2007-01-01

    Because learned associations are quickly renewed following extinction, the extinction process must include processes other than unlearning. However, reinforcement learning models, such as the temporal difference reinforcement learning (TDRL) model, treat extinction as an unlearning of associated value and are thus unable to capture renewal. TDRL…

  13. A history of the INTERNIST-1 and Quick Medical Reference (QMR) computer-assisted diagnosis projects, with lessons learned.

    PubMed

    Miller, R A

    2010-01-01

    The INTERNIST-1/Quick Medical Reference (QMR) diagnostic decision support project spans four decades, from 1971-onward. This paper describes the history of the project and details insights gained of relevance to the general clinical and informatics communities.

  14. Psychological Principles in Materials Selection.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Colvin, Cynthia M.

    Those psychological principles which might aid the teacher in the selection of instructional materials are examined. Since learning is a process which builds sequentially on past learning, beginning reading materials should include words that have personal relevance for the individual child. Meaningful material is learned more quickly than…

  15. A Quick Tour of the Brain.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hart, Leslie

    1983-01-01

    Using a question-and-answer format, the author discusses brain research, its relationship to existing learning theory, left- and right-brain differences and their relationship to logical thinking, brain growth spurts, learning styles, and the effects of future brain knowledge on learning, especially on schools' development of brain-compatible…

  16. Note-Taking and Secondary Students with Learning Disabilities: Challenges and Solutions

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Boyle, Joseph R.

    2012-01-01

    As more secondary students with learning disabilities (LD) enroll in advanced content-area classes and are expected to pass state exams, they are faced with the challenge of mastering difficult concepts and abstract vocabulary while learning content. Once in these classes, students must learn from lectures that move at a quick pace, record…

  17. The Effectiveness of Using Procedural Scaffoldings in a Paper-Plus-Smartphone Collaborative Learning Context

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Huang, Hui-Wen; Wu, Chih-Wei; Chen, Nian-Shing

    2012-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of using procedural scaffoldings in fostering students' group discourse levels and learning outcomes in a paper-plus-smartphone collaborative learning context. All participants used built-in camera smartphones to learn new knowledge by scanning Quick Response (QR) codes, a type of…

  18. On Recommending Web 2.0 Tools to Personalise Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Juškeviciene, Anita; Kurilovas, Eugenijus

    2014-01-01

    The paper aims to present research results on using Web 2.0 tools for learning personalisation. In the work, personalised Web 2.0 tools selection method is presented. This method takes into account student's learning preferences for content and communication modes tailored to the learning activities with a view to help the learner to quickly and…

  19. Violence Prevention. A Center Quick Training Aid.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    California Univ., Los Angeles. Center for Mental Health in Schools.

    Safe schools, violence prevention, and conflict resolution are all major concerns in addressing barriers to learning. This quick training aid presents a brief set of resources to guide those providing an in-service training session on violence prevention in schools. The packet contains a brief introduction to the topic with key talking points,…

  20. Examining the Relationship between Learning Organization Characteristics and Change Adaptation, Innovation, and Organizational Performance

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kontoghiorghes, Constantine; Awbre, Susan M.; Feurig, Pamela L.

    2005-01-01

    The main purpose of this exploratory study was to examine the relationship between certain learning organization characteristics and change adaptation, innovation, and bottom-line organizational performance. The following learning organization characteristics were found to be the strongest predictors of rapid change adaptation, quick product or…

  1. Technology and Pedagogy: Using Big Data to Enhance Student Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Brinton, Christopher Greg

    2016-01-01

    The "big data revolution" has penetrated many fields, from network monitoring to online retail. Education and learning are quickly becoming part of it, too, because today, course delivery platforms can collect unprecedented amounts of behavioral data about students as they interact with learning content online. This data includes, for…

  2. Juggling with Language Learning Theories. [Videotape

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Murphey, Tim

    2005-01-01

    Learning to juggle has become popular among corporate training programs because it shows participants how to appreciate mistakes and use "Intelligent Fast Failure" (learning quickly by daring to make a lot of simple mistakes at the beginning of a process). Big business also likes the way juggling can get executives "out of the…

  3. Extend Instruction outside the Classroom: Take Advantage of Your Learning Management System

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jensen, Lauren A.

    2010-01-01

    Numerous institutions of higher education have implemented a learning management system (LMS) or are considering doing so. This web-based software package provides self-service and quick (often personalized) access to content in a dynamic environment. Learning management systems support administrative, reporting, and documentation activities. LMSs…

  4. Factors that Influence Acceptance of Web-Based E-Learning Systems for the In-Service Education of Junior High School Teachers in Taiwan

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chen, Hong-Ren; Tseng, Hsiao-Fen

    2012-01-01

    Web-based e-learning is not restricted by time or place and can provide teachers with a learning environment that is flexible and convenient, enabling them to efficiently learn, quickly develop their professional expertise, and advance professionally. Many research reports on web-based e-learning have neglected the role of the teacher's…

  5. Some Characteristics of an Effective Language Learning Program. CATESOL Occasional Papers, No. 1.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sutherland, Kenton

    Children learn a second language quickly and easily simply by being exposed to it. Adults generally learn more slowly and less well. It is hypothesized that the brain in youth is extremely plastic, but hardens with adolescence and adulthood and becomes less receptive. Children learn in an active way, during play, and the language is reinforced by…

  6. Neural Evidence of Statistical Learning: Efficient Detection of Visual Regularities without Awareness

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Turk-Browne, Nicholas B.; Scholl, Brian J.; Chun, Marvin M.; Johnson, Marcia K.

    2009-01-01

    Our environment contains regularities distributed in space and time that can be detected by way of statistical learning. This unsupervised learning occurs without intent or awareness, but little is known about how it relates to other types of learning, how it affects perceptual processing, and how quickly it can occur. Here we use fMRI during…

  7. Pre-Service Teachers' Perception of Quick Response (QR) Code Integration in Classroom Activities

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ali, Nagla; Santos, Ieda M.; Areepattamannil, Shaljan

    2017-01-01

    Quick Response (QR) codes have been discussed in the literature as adding value to teaching and learning. Despite their potential in education, more research is needed to inform practice and advance knowledge in this field. This paper investigated the integration of the QR code in classroom activities and the perceptions of the integration by…

  8. Rapid E-Learning Simulation Training and User Response

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rackler, Angeline

    2011-01-01

    A new trend in e-learning development is to have subject matter experts use rapid development tools to create training simulations. This type of training is called rapid e-learning simulation training. Though companies are using rapid development tools to create training quickly and cost effectively, there is little empirical research to indicate…

  9. Dose Dependent Dopaminergic Modulation of Reward-Based Learning in Parkinson's Disease

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    van Wouwe, N. C.; Ridderinkhof, K. R.; Band, G. P. H.; van den Wildenberg, W. P. M.; Wylie, S. A.

    2012-01-01

    Learning to select optimal behavior in new and uncertain situations is a crucial aspect of living and requires the ability to quickly associate stimuli with actions that lead to rewarding outcomes. Mathematical models of reinforcement-based learning to select rewarding actions distinguish between (1) the formation of stimulus-action-reward…

  10. Effects of Learning Experience on Forgetting Rates of Item and Associative Memories

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Yang, Jiongjiong; Zhan, Lexia; Wang, Yingying; Du, Xiaoya; Zhou, Wenxi; Ning, Xueling; Sun, Qing; Moscovitch, Morris

    2016-01-01

    Are associative memories forgotten more quickly than item memories, and does the level of original learning differentially influence forgetting rates? In this study, we addressed these questions by having participants learn single words and word pairs once (Experiment 1), three times (Experiment 2), and six times (Experiment 3) in a massed…

  11. An Online Authoring Tool for Creating Activity-Based Learning Objects

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ahn, Jeong Yong; Mun, Gil Seong; Han, Kyung Soo; Choi, Sook Hee

    2017-01-01

    As higher education increasingly relies on e-learning, the need for tools that will allow teachers themselves to develop effective e-learning objects as simply and quickly as possible has also been increasingly recognized. This article discusses the design and development of a novel tool, Enook (Evolutionary note book), for creating activity-based…

  12. Embracing Distance Education in a Blended Learning Model: Challenges and Prospects

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Fresen, Jill W.

    2018-01-01

    Distance education reaches out to non-traditional students in geographically dispersed locations, who are unable to attend face-to-face classes. Contact institutions have been quick to realise the many advantages of distance (online) learning, such as easy access to learning materials, interactive activities, assessment and communication tools.…

  13. Enhancing Nursing and Midwifery Student Learning Through the Use of QR Codes.

    PubMed

    Downer, Terri; Oprescu, Florin; Forbes, Helen; Phillips, Nikki; McTier, Lauren; Lord, Bill; Barr, Nigel; Bright, Peter; Simbag, Vilma

    A recent teaching and learning innovation using new technologies involves the use of quick response codes, which are read by smartphones and tablets. Integrating this technology as a teaching and learning strategy in nursing and midwifery education has been embraced by academics and students at a regional university.

  14. Lexical Learning in Sung and Spoken Story Script Contexts

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kouri, Theresa A.; Winn, Jennifer

    2006-01-01

    Although most children seem to love music, our understanding of the role it plays in facilitating speech and language learning is limited, as is research validating its efficacy in the clinical setting. The purpose of this study was to examine how singing affects children's quick incidental learning (QUIL) of novel vocabulary terms. Sixteen…

  15. Rapid Prototyping of Mobile Learning Games

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Federley, Maija; Sorsa, Timo; Paavilainen, Janne; Boissonnier, Kimo; Seisto, Anu

    2014-01-01

    This position paper presents the first results of an on-going project, in which we explore rapid prototyping method to efficiently produce digital learning solutions that are commercially viable. In this first phase, rapid game prototyping and an iterative approach was tested as a quick and efficient way to create learning games and to evaluate…

  16. Student Interaction and Community Building: An Evaluation of Social Networking in Online Learning Environments

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cardona-Divale, Maria Victoria

    2012-01-01

    Learners often report difficulty maintaining social connectivity in online courses. Technology is quickly changing how people communicate, collaborate and learn using online social networking sites (SNSs). These sites have transformed education in a way that provides new learning opportunities when integrated with web 2.0 tools. Little research is…

  17. Modular Rapid E-Learning Framework (MORELF) in Desktop Virtualization Environment: An Effective Hybrid Implementation in Nurse Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Parlakkilic, Alattin

    2015-01-01

    Generally it is not easy for an instructor to prepare and deliver electronic courses via e-learning. Therefore it is necessary to work and develop an easy system. In this context module technology was used to for provide modularity in conducting educational development of e-learning course. Then, rapid e-learning was used for more quick and easy…

  18. Effects of Mode of Target Task Selection on Learning about Plants in a Mobile Learning Environment: Effortful Manual Selection versus Effortless QR-Code Selection

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gao, Yuan; Liu, Tzu-Chien; Paas, Fred

    2016-01-01

    This study compared the effects of effortless selection of target plants using quick respond (QR) code technology to effortful manual search and selection of target plants on learning about plants in a mobile device supported learning environment. In addition, it was investigated whether the effectiveness of the 2 selection methods was…

  19. Strategies for Stimulating Discussion

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2017-06-01

    discussion; Adult learning ; Discourse 19. LIMITATION OF ABSTRACT 20. NUMBER OF PAGES 21. RESPONSIBLE PERSON 16. REPORT Unclassified 17...capacity to learn and adapt quickly. The U.S. Army Learning Concept for Training and Education 2020- 2040 (U.S Department of the Army, 2017) emphasizes...the need to enhance the rigor and relevance of individual learning and continue to be open to inventiveness, input of learner knowledge, and advances

  20. Object-based habitat mapping using very high spatial resolution multispectral and hyperspectral imagery with LiDAR data

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Onojeghuo, Alex Okiemute; Onojeghuo, Ajoke Ruth

    2017-07-01

    This study investigated the combined use of multispectral/hyperspectral imagery and LiDAR data for habitat mapping across parts of south Cumbria, North West England. The methodology adopted in this study integrated spectral information contained in pansharp QuickBird multispectral/AISA Eagle hyperspectral imagery and LiDAR-derived measures with object-based machine learning classifiers and ensemble analysis techniques. Using the LiDAR point cloud data, elevation models (such as the Digital Surface Model and Digital Terrain Model raster) and intensity features were extracted directly. The LiDAR-derived measures exploited in this study included Canopy Height Model, intensity and topographic information (i.e. mean, maximum and standard deviation). These three LiDAR measures were combined with spectral information contained in the pansharp QuickBird and Eagle MNF transformed imagery for image classification experiments. A fusion of pansharp QuickBird multispectral and Eagle MNF hyperspectral imagery with all LiDAR-derived measures generated the best classification accuracies, 89.8 and 92.6% respectively. These results were generated with the Support Vector Machine and Random Forest machine learning algorithms respectively. The ensemble analysis of all three learning machine classifiers for the pansharp QuickBird and Eagle MNF fused data outputs did not significantly increase the overall classification accuracy. Results of the study demonstrate the potential of combining either very high spatial resolution multispectral or hyperspectral imagery with LiDAR data for habitat mapping.

  1. Exploiting ICT and E-Learning in Teacher's Professional Development in Algeria: The Case of English Secondary School Teachers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Guemide, Boutkhil; Benachaiba, Chellali

    2012-01-01

    The real potential of ICT is the way it changes learners to become autonomous in their learning process. E-learning also plays a crucial role in today's life and in modern education. Its importance lies in the fact that people are finding that e-learning can make a remarkable change in teaching/ or learning: to how quickly they master a skill; how…

  2. Summer Professional Development in Chemistry for Inservice Teachers Using OWL Quick Prep

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Powell, Cynthia B.; Pamplin, Kim L.; Blake, Robert E.; Mason, Diana S.

    2010-04-01

    Secondary teachers participating in summer professional development chemistry workshops in Texas used an online chemistry tutoring program, OWL Quick Prep (Day et al. in OWL: Online Web-based Learning, Brooks-Cole Cengage Learning, Florence, KY, 1997) as a part of the inservice training. Self-reported demographic data were used to identify factors in preparation and practice that affected pretest and posttest scores. Data from the pretests and posttests indicate that nomenclature and problems requiring calculations were the most challenging topics for the cohort. The participants who correctly completed 90% of the questions in the tutoring modules showed significant improvement in content mastery.

  3. To Tan or Not to Tan?: Students Learn About Sunscreens through an Inquiry Activity Based on the Learning Cycle

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Keen-Rocha, Linda

    2005-01-01

    Science instructors sometimes avoid inquiry-based activities due to limited classroom time. Inquiry takes time, as students choose problems, design experiments, obtain materials, conduct investigations, gather data, communicate results, and discuss their experiments. While there are no quick solutions to time concerns, the 5E learning cycle seeks…

  4. Redesigning Schools: Models to Reach Every Student with Excellent Teachers. Model Summaries

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Public Impact, 2012

    2012-01-01

    In the schoolhouse, nothing matters more to students' learning than their teachers. But only about one of every four U.S. classrooms has an "excellent teacher"--one who produces enough learning progress to close achievement gaps quickly and help all students leap ahead to higher-order learning. What can schools do, now, to reach many…

  5. Understanding Angle and Angle Measure: A Design-Based Research Study Using Context Aware Ubiquitous Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Crompton, Helen

    2015-01-01

    Mobile technologies are quickly becoming tools found in the educational environment. The researchers in this study use a form of mobile learning to support students in learning about angle concepts. Design-based research is used in this study to develop an empirically-substantiated local instruction theory about students' develop of angle and…

  6. Evaluating QR Code Case Studies Using a Mobile Learning Framework

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rikala, Jenni

    2014-01-01

    The aim of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of Quick Response (QR) codes and mobile devices in the context of Finnish basic education. The feasibility was analyzed through a mobile learning framework, which includes the core characteristics of mobile learning. The study is part of a larger research where the aim is to develop a…

  7. "Nostalgia for the Past," or What Lessons Young People Could Have Learned and Did Learn

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zorkaia, Nataliia

    2009-01-01

    The hope that young people would accept and quickly learn Western ideas and democratic principles rather than just economic and technological achievements occupied a key place in the conceptions of the liberal and democratic parties in Russia. The possibilities of the modernization of Russian society and its economy were associated directly with…

  8. Word Learning in 6-Month-Olds: Fast Encoding-Weak Retention

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Friedrich, Manuela; Friederici, Angela D.

    2011-01-01

    There has been general consensus that initial word learning during early infancy is a slow and time-consuming process that requires very frequent exposure, whereas later in development, infants are able to quickly learn a novel word for a novel meaning. From the perspective of memory maturation, this shift in behavioral development might represent…

  9. Attributes Used to Promote Adult Continuing Education Degree Programs in a Metropolitan Newspaper

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Solan, Ann M.; Gambescia, Stephen F.

    2010-01-01

    Commentators in the profession are asking why adult continuing education students seem preoccupied over getting "a good grade" and "finishing school quickly" rather than pausing to consider how the teaching/learning process helps their personal growth and valuing learning for learning's sake. The purpose of this study was to identify, categorize,…

  10. Using Primary Sources on the Internet To Teach and Learn History. ERIC Digest.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Shiroma, Deanne

    The Internet enables teachers to enhance the teaching and learning of history through quick and extensive access to primary sources. Introducing and using primary sources in the history classroom will almost certainly lead to active learning and development of critical thinking, reasoning, and problem solving. This Digest discusses: (1) types and…

  11. Accelerated nursing students and theater students: creating a safe environment by acting the part.

    PubMed

    Cangelosi, Pamela R

    2008-01-01

    Traditional approaches to teaching basic nursing skills are being questioned for accelerated, or second-degree, nursing students. Since accelerated nursing students have demonstrated the ability to quickly assimilate new information and to transfer skills from a previous career into a new field, it is thought that they may benefit from teaching strategies that promote experiential learning. Through a hermeneutic phenomenological approach, this study inquired into the experiences of 22 accelerated baccalaureate nursing students to determine if narrative learning in a campus laboratory setting helped them integrate content from classroom and clinical practica and move quickly along the pathway to the competencies that are needed for safe nursing practice. Data analysis revealed the teaching/learning significance of narratives for these students and is identified in the theme, "Creating a Safe Environment".

  12. Effects of pesticides on songbird productivity in conjunction with pecan cultivation in southern Georgia: A multiple-exposure experimental design

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Patnode, K.A.; White, D.H.

    1991-01-01

    A prototypic experimental design was used to assess sublethal effects of multiple and varied organophosphates and carbamates on reproduction in birds. The design allowed for classification of pesticide exposure according to toxicity of applied compounds and type and frequency of applications. Daily survival rates (DSRs) of nests, eggs, and nestlings were determined for northern mockingbirds (Mimus polyglottos), brown thrashers (Toxostoma rufum), and northern cardinals (Cardinalis cardinalis) nesting along edges of pecan orchards and row crops in southern Georgia [USA]. Egg and nestling DSRs for all species combined varied inversely (P 0.05) among three exposure levels. Brain cholinesterase activities were age-dependent and substantiated adult, but not nestling, exposure. Results suggest that increasing exposure to pesticides may reduce songbird productivity.

  13. Brain Mechanisms Underlying Individual Differences in Reaction to Stress: An Animal Model

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1988-10-29

    Schooler, et al., 1976; Gershon & Buchsbaum, 1977; Buchsbaum, et al., 1977), personality scales of extraversion- introversion (Haier, 1984) and sensation...exploratory and learned to bar press more quickly and efficiently. Reducers with a lower inhibitory threshold learned the differential reinforcement of

  14. Using Quick Response Codes in the Classroom: Quality Outcomes.

    PubMed

    Zurmehly, Joyce; Adams, Kellie

    2017-10-01

    With smart device technology emerging, educators are challenged with redesigning teaching strategies using technology to allow students to participate dynamically and provide immediate answers. To facilitate integration of technology and to actively engage students, quick response codes were included in a medical surgical lecture. Quick response codes are two-dimensional square patterns that enable the coding or storage of more than 7000 characters that can be accessed via a quick response code scanning application. The aim of this quasi-experimental study was to explore quick response code use in a lecture and measure students' satisfaction (met expectations, increased interest, helped understand, and provided practice and prompt feedback) and engagement (liked most, liked least, wanted changed, and kept involved), assessed using an investigator-developed instrument. Although there was no statistically significant correlation of quick response use to examination scores, satisfaction scores were high, and there was a small yet positive association between how students perceived their learning with quick response codes and overall examination scores. Furthermore, on open-ended survey questions, students responded that they were satisfied with the use of quick response codes, appreciated the immediate feedback, and planned to use them in the clinical setting. Quick response codes offer a way to integrate technology into the classroom to provide students with instant positive feedback.

  15. Transforming Clinical Imaging and 3D Data for Virtual Reality Learning Objects: HTML5 and Mobile Devices Implementation

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Trelease, Robert B.; Nieder, Gary L.

    2013-01-01

    Web deployable anatomical simulations or "virtual reality learning objects" can easily be produced with QuickTime VR software, but their use for online and mobile learning is being limited by the declining support for web browser plug-ins for personal computers and unavailability on popular mobile devices like Apple iPad and Android…

  16. A Family Case Study: How Money Might Matter for Academic Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Compton-Lilly, Catherine

    2014-01-01

    Many children living in low-income communities do not face struggles in school. Many learn quickly and easily. But for some students, living in a high poverty communities and attending underfunded schools has consequences that can make learning difficult. In this paper, Compton-Lilly draws on the words of a parent living in a low-income community…

  17. WWC Quick Review of the Article "Culture and the Interaction of Student Ethnicity with Reward Structure in Group Learning" Revised

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    What Works Clearinghouse, 2010

    2010-01-01

    This paper presents an updated WWC (What Works Clearinghouse) Review of the Article "Culture and the Interaction of Student Ethnicity with Reward Structure in Group Learning". The study examined the effects of different reward systems used in group learning situations on the math skills of African-American and White students. The…

  18. Digital Badges--Rewards for Learning?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Shields, Rebecca; Chugh, Ritesh

    2017-01-01

    Digital badges are quickly becoming an appropriate, easy and efficient way for educators, community groups and other professional organisations, to exhibit and reward participants for skills obtained in professional development or formal and informal learning. This paper offers an account of digital badges, how they work and the underlying…

  19. Location-Based Learning through Augmented Reality

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chou, Te-Lien; Chanlin, Lih-Juan

    2014-01-01

    A context-aware and mixed-reality exploring tool cannot only effectively provide an information-rich environment to users, but also allows them to quickly utilize useful resources and enhance environment awareness. This study integrates Augmented Reality (AR) technology into smartphones to create a stimulating learning experience at a university…

  20. Masking Level Difference Response Norms from Learning Disabled Individuals.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Waryas, Paul A.; Battin, R. Ray

    1985-01-01

    The study presents normative data on Masking Level Difference (an improvement of the auditory processing of interaural time/intensity differences between signals and masking noises) for 90 learning disabled persons (4-35 years old). It was concluded that the MLD may quickly screen for auditory processing problems. (CL)

  1. Learn by Doing: Practical Applications On and Off Campus.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zeuschner, Raymond Bud

    Speech communication students and faculty at California Polytechnic State University, where the university motto is "Learn by Doing," take their skills and training beyond the classroom and reach out to diverse audiences by doing speaking. Members of the "student host" corps need to be quick, prepared and diplomatic as they…

  2. Neural network applications in telecommunications

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Alspector, Joshua

    1994-01-01

    Neural network capabilities include automatic and organized handling of complex information, quick adaptation to continuously changing environments, nonlinear modeling, and parallel implementation. This viewgraph presentation presents Bellcore work on applications, learning chip computational function, learning system block diagram, neural network equalization, broadband access control, calling-card fraud detection, software reliability prediction, and conclusions.

  3. Using Formative and Alternative Assessments to Support Instruction and Measure Student Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Britton, Tricia

    2011-01-01

    Using formative assessment involves gathering data from students on their progress and comprehension so that instruction can be adjusted to meet their learning needs (Popham 2001; Greenstein 2010). This article describes how the author uses homework, "three quick questions," trivia questions, pretests, and practice tests to formatively…

  4. The Unknown Variable: Identifying Learning Disabilities with Pupil Behavior Rating Scales.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Winzer, Margret; Malarczyk, Barbara

    Difficulties in identifying learning disabilities (LD) are examined, and special problems presented by hearing impaired children with LD are considered. The value of rating scales as a quick instrument for obtaining, measuring, recording and communicating information is emphasized. Adaptations of the Pupil Rating Scale for hearing impaired…

  5. Characteristics of Context for Instructional Design

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hansen, Brett E.

    2010-01-01

    The fast-paced and continual change experienced in the workplace requires graduates to possess knowledge that can immediately transfer to their chosen profession so that they can quickly become productive and successful. Learning in context is known to have positive effects on learning and facilitate the transfer of knowledge from learning…

  6. Minimizing Security Vulnerabilities in High-Tech Classrooms

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ozkan, Betul C.; Gunay, Vedat

    2004-01-01

    Emerging technologies are quickly becoming part of daily learning and teaching endeavors in academia. Due to the access to certain high-tech tools educators must learn how to integrate these tools in educational settings. However, many also encounter problems and weaknesses in the same high-tech environment that uses and delivers information…

  7. Learning Analytics Platform, towards an Open Scalable Streaming Solution for Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lewkow, Nicholas; Zimmerman, Neil; Riedesel, Mark; Essa, Alfred

    2015-01-01

    Next generation digital learning environments require delivering "just-in-time feedback" to learners and those who support them. Unlike traditional business intelligence environments, streaming data requires resilient infrastructure that can move data at scale from heterogeneous data sources, process the data quickly for use across…

  8. Enhancing Automaticity through Task-Based Language Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    De Ridder, Isabelle; Vangehuchten, Lieve; Gomez, Marta Sesena

    2007-01-01

    In general terms automaticity could be defined as the subconscious condition wherein "we perform a complex series of tasks very quickly and efficiently, without having to think about the various components and subcomponents of action involved" (DeKeyser 2001: 125). For language learning, Segalowitz (2003) characterised automaticity as a…

  9. Do the Demands of the Global Forces Shape Local Agenda? An Analysis of Lifelong Learning Policies and Practice in China

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wang, Mo; Yuan, Dayong; Weidlich, Maximilian

    2017-01-01

    Lifelong learning has become a global phenomenon that has significantly reshaped the conventional foundation of national education systems. Lifelong Learning has experienced an evolution that can be identified in two generations: it first emerged in the 1970s and then quickly gained significance and prevalence by the 1990s. There is general…

  10. Language (Medical Terminology) Assistance to Multinational Partners in Coalition Operations

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2012-02-01

    also without us being conscious that we are learning” [19], i.e. facilitate life-long learning as a part of other activities related to business or...research a proof of concept experiment, qualitative study, statistical evaluation Due to the varieties of the MALL studies as described above and quick...learning research agenda for active, experiential learning: Four case studies. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, http

  11. QuickAssist: Reading and Learning Vocabulary Independently with the Help of CALL and NLP Technologies

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wood, Peter

    2011-01-01

    Independent learning is a buzz word that is often used in connection with computer technologies applied to the area of foreign language instruction. This chapter takes a critical look at some of the stereotypes that exist with regard to computer-assisted language learning (CALL) as a money saver and an easy way to create an "independent"…

  12. Caudate nucleus reactivity predicts perceptual learning rate for visual feature conjunctions.

    PubMed

    Reavis, Eric A; Frank, Sebastian M; Tse, Peter U

    2015-04-15

    Useful information in the visual environment is often contained in specific conjunctions of visual features (e.g., color and shape). The ability to quickly and accurately process such conjunctions can be learned. However, the neural mechanisms responsible for such learning remain largely unknown. It has been suggested that some forms of visual learning might involve the dopaminergic neuromodulatory system (Roelfsema et al., 2010; Seitz and Watanabe, 2005), but this hypothesis has not yet been directly tested. Here we test the hypothesis that learning visual feature conjunctions involves the dopaminergic system, using functional neuroimaging, genetic assays, and behavioral testing techniques. We use a correlative approach to evaluate potential associations between individual differences in visual feature conjunction learning rate and individual differences in dopaminergic function as indexed by neuroimaging and genetic markers. We find a significant correlation between activity in the caudate nucleus (a component of the dopaminergic system connected to visual areas of the brain) and visual feature conjunction learning rate. Specifically, individuals who showed a larger difference in activity between positive and negative feedback on an unrelated cognitive task, indicative of a more reactive dopaminergic system, learned visual feature conjunctions more quickly than those who showed a smaller activity difference. This finding supports the hypothesis that the dopaminergic system is involved in visual learning, and suggests that visual feature conjunction learning could be closely related to associative learning. However, no significant, reliable correlations were found between feature conjunction learning and genotype or dopaminergic activity in any other regions of interest. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  13. Repeated learning makes cultural evolution unique

    PubMed Central

    Strimling, Pontus; Enquist, Magnus; Eriksson, Kimmo

    2009-01-01

    Although genetic information is acquired only once, cultural information can be both abandoned and reacquired during an individual's lifetime. Therefore, cultural evolution will be determined not only by cultural traits' ability to spread but also by how good they are at sticking with an individual; however, the evolutionary consequences of this aspect of culture have not previously been explored. Here we show that repeated learning and multiple characteristics of cultural traits make cultural evolution unique, allowing dynamical phenomena we can recognize as specifically cultural, such as traits that both spread quickly and disappear quickly. Importantly, the analysis of our model also yields a theoretical objection to the popular suggestion that biological and cultural evolution can be understood in similar terms. We find that the possibility to predict long-term cultural evolution by some success index, analogous to biological fitness, depends on whether individuals have few or many opportunities to learn. If learning opportunities are few, we find that the existence of a success index may be logically impossible, rendering notions of “cultural fitness” meaningless. On the other hand, if individuals can learn many times, we find a success index that works, regardless of whether the transmission pattern is vertical, oblique, or horizontal. PMID:19666615

  14. Mathematical Tasks, Study Approaches, and Course Grades in Undergraduate Mathematics: A Year-by-Year Analysis

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Maciejewski, Wes; Merchant, Sandra

    2016-01-01

    Students approach learning in different ways, depending on the experienced learning situation. A deep approach is geared toward long-term retention and conceptual change while a surface approach focuses on quickly acquiring knowledge for immediate use. These approaches ultimately affect the students' academic outcomes. This study takes a…

  15. Space and Embodiment in Informal Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cox, Andrew M.

    2018-01-01

    Changes in pedagogy to emphasise independent study and group work have increased the need for informal learning spaces on campuses. University libraries have been quick to respond to this need, partly because of the decline in book lending and partly because of technology enablers. Furthermore, new types of buildings that combine many types of…

  16. The Husky Byte Program: Delivering Nutrition Education One Sound Byte at a Time

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pierce, Michelle B.; Hudson, Kerrian A.; Lora, Karina R.; Havens, Erin K.; Ferris, Ann M.

    2011-01-01

    The Husky Byte program uses interactive displays to deliver quick sound bytes of nutrition information to adults in frequented community settings. This innovative program considers time constraints, adult learning theory, diverse learning styles, and is easily accessible to adults. Both process and impact evaluations have demonstrated positive…

  17. Evaluating What Works in Blended Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Education Week, 2012

    2012-01-01

    Blended learning--the mix of virtual education and face-to-face instruction--is evolving quickly in schools across the country, generating a variety of different models. This special report, the second in a three-part 2012-13 series on virtual education, examines several of those approaches and aims to identify what is working and where…

  18. Examining the Acquisition of Phonological Word Forms with Computational Experiments

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Vitevitch, Michael S.; Storkel, Holly L.

    2013-01-01

    It has been hypothesized that known words in the lexicon strengthen newly formed representations of novel words, resulting in words with dense neighborhoods being learned more quickly than words with sparse neighborhoods. Tests of this hypothesis in a connectionist network showed that words with dense neighborhoods were learned better than words…

  19. Changing Technology = Empowering Students through Media Literacy Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    De Abreu, Belinha

    2010-01-01

    Background: As the world is changing quickly due to the technological advances, educators are looking at ways in which to empower their students' learning with digital platforms. Media literacy education is key for how this can happen in the 21st century classroom which seeks to promote learning without censoring the learner. Considering how media…

  20. Reducing Class Size: What Do We Know?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bascia, Nina

    2010-01-01

    This report provides an overview of findings from the research on primary class size reduction as a strategy to improve student learning. Its purpose is to provide a comprehensive and balanced picture of a very popular educational reform strategy that has often been seen as a "quick fix" for improving students' opportunities to learn in…

  1. Speeding Up Team Learning.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Edmondson, Amy; Bohmer, Richard; Pisano, Gary

    2001-01-01

    A study of 16 cardiac surgery teams looked at how the teams adapted to new ways of working. The challenge of team management is to implement new processes as quickly as possible. Steps for creating a learning team include selecting a mix of skills and expertise, framing the challenge, and creating an environment of psychological safety. (JOW)

  2. A Strategic Planning Approach to Technology Integration: Critical Success Factors.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Shaw, Sam; Zabudsky, Jeff

    Within most institutions of higher learning, the typical approach to the integration of new information and communications technologies into the teaching and learning process has involved a heavy reliance on early adopters. This path of least resistance approach has provided organizations with the opportunity to quickly claim a presence in the…

  3. The Little eLearn Centre with a Big Impact

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Anderson, Terry

    2013-01-01

    The Open University of Catalonia (UOC) was established as public, online university and thus has grown quickly with the global interest in online courses. However, like other dedicated distance-education institutions, UOC has had challenges adapting to MOOCs, and the emergent world of Web 2.0 learning technologies. To meet these challenges, UOC…

  4. Communication, Hip Hop Style

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Apel, Laura

    2009-01-01

    When Candi Carter, a producer at "The Oprah Winfrey Show", learned that her son, Emerson, was born with chromosome 8p, which causes heart defects, mental retardation, severe speech delay, and other issues, she was immediately thrust into the world of special needs parenting. Like many in her position, she learned quickly that her child's…

  5. Stories from Students in Their First Semester of Distance Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Brown, Mark; Hughes, Helen; Keppell, Mike; Hard, Natasha; Smith, Liz

    2015-01-01

    Online and distance learning is becoming increasingly common. Some would say it has quickly become the preferred or "new normal" mode of study throughout the world. However, surprisingly little is known about what actually happens to first year distance students once they have enrolled in tertiary institutions; what motivates them and…

  6. Identifying What Matters

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wardrip, Peter; Evancho, Jeffrey; McNamara, Annie

    2018-01-01

    A question like "what do you want your children to be like when they leave your class?" seems simple on the surface, but it quickly becomes complex when teachers are asked to name, prioritize, and document the kinds of student learning and engagement they value most. This article shares the ongoing work of a regional learning community…

  7. Does the Medium Dictate the Message? Cultivating E-Communication in an Asynchronous Environment.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kiernan, Mary; Thomas, Pete; Woodroffe, Mark

    Virtual learning environments (VLEs) are often perceived by education establishments as an opportunity to widen access without traditional overheads. An integral part of most VLEs is asynchronous computer conferencing and on-line moderators must help students migrate quickly to the new virtual environment to minimize learning disruption. This…

  8. UPMC's blueprint for BuILDing a high-value health care system.

    PubMed

    Keyser, Donna; Kogan, Jane; McGowan, Marion; Peele, Pamela; Holder, Diane; Shrank, William

    2018-03-30

    National-level demonstration projects and real-world studies continue to inform health care transformation efforts and catalyze implementation of value-based service delivery and payment models, though evidence generation and diffusion of learnings often occurs at a relatively slow pace. Rapid-cycle learning models, however, can help individual organizations to more quickly adapt health care innovations to meet the challenges and demands of a rapidly changing health care landscape. Integrated delivery and financing systems (IDFSs) offer a unique platform for rapid-cycle learning and innovation. Since both the provider and payer benefit from delivering care that enhances the patient experience, improves quality, and reduces cost, incentives are aligned to experiment with value-based models, enhance learning about what works and why, and contribute to solutions that can accelerate transformation. In this article, we describe how the UPMC Insurance Services Division, as part of a large IDFS, uses its Business, Innovation, Learning, and Dissemination (BuILD) model to prioritize, design, test, and refine health care innovations and accelerate learning. We provide examples of how the BuILD model offers an approach for quickly assessing the impact and value of health care transformation efforts. Lessons learned through the BuILD process will offer insights and guidance for a wide range of stakeholders whether an IDFS or independent payer-provider collaborators. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  9. Using E-Learning to Train Youth Workers: The Bell Experience

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Marquart, Matthea; Rizzi, Zora Jones; Parikh, Amita Desai

    2010-01-01

    A national provider of afterschool and summer programming plans to expand quickly into new regions, bringing its successful model of out-of-school learning to more children in disadvantaged schools and neighborhoods. A large number of staff members must be trained in the provider's program model in a short window of time. The organization needs to…

  10. Development and Evaluation of a Virtual Campus on Second Life: The Case of SecondDMI

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    De Lucia, Andrea; Francese, Rita; Passero, Ignazio; Tortora, Genoveffa

    2009-01-01

    Video games and new communication metaphors are quickly changing today's young people habits. Considering the actual e-learning scenarios, embedded in a fully technological enabled environment it is crucial to take advantage of this kind of capabilities to let learning process gain best results. This paper presents a virtual campus created using…

  11. The Implicit and Explicit Learning of Orthographic Structure and Function of a New Writing System

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wang, Min; Liu, Ying; Perfetti, Charles A.

    2004-01-01

    Two experiments were carried out to examine how adult readers of English learn to acquire the orthographic structure and function of Chinese characters selected from reading material in their first-semester college course in Chinese. The first experiment, an online lexical decision task, demonstrated that the learners quickly acquired knowledge…

  12. Teacher Candidates Implementing Universal Design for Learning: Enhancing Picture Books with QR Codes

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Grande, Marya; Pontrello, Camille

    2016-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to investigate if teacher candidates could gain knowledge of the principles of Universal Design for Learning by enhancing traditional picture books with Quick Response (QR) codes and to determine if the process of making these enhancements would impact teacher candidates' comfort levels with using technology on both…

  13. Open Secrets: Using the Internet to Learn about the Influence of Money in Politics

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Scheuerell, Scott K.

    2008-01-01

    With the 2008 election quickly approaching, candidates continue the scramble to fund their campaigns--collecting money from individuals, corporations, and labor unions. Students can learn a great deal about the political system by examining how politicians are financed. The vast majority of high school students do not understand the influence of…

  14. Accelerating Leadership Development via Immersive Learning and Cognitive Apprenticeship

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Backus, Clark; Keegan, Kevin; Gluck, Charles; Gulick, Lisa M. V.

    2010-01-01

    The authors put forward an approach to leadership development that builds on the principle of accelerated learning. They argue that leadership development, particularly in a period of recession or slow economic growth, needs to deliver results more quickly and with fewer resources. Indeed, they raise the question of whether or not this is what is…

  15. The Role of Visualization in Learning from Computer-Based Images. Research Report

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Piburn, Michael D.; Reynolds, Stephen J.; McAuliffe, Carla; Leedy, Debra E.; Birk, James P.; Johnson, Julia K.

    2005-01-01

    Among the sciences, the practice of geology is especially visual. To assess the role of spatial ability in learning geology, we designed an experiment using: (1) web-based versions of spatial visualization tests, (2) a geospatial test, and (3) multimedia instructional modules built around QuickTime Virtual Reality movies. Students in control and…

  16. Using REU Projects and Crowdsourcing to Facilitate Learning on Demand

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Liu, Hong P.; Klein, Jerry E.

    2013-01-01

    With the increasing complexity of technology and large quantities of data in our digital age, learning and training has become a major cost of employers. Employee competence depends more and more on how quickly one can acquire new knowledge and solve problems to meet pressing deadlines. This paper presents a practical method to use REU (Research…

  17. Animated Cell Biology: A Quick and Easy Method for Making Effective, High-Quality Teaching Animations

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    O'Day, Danton H.

    2006-01-01

    There is accumulating evidence that animations aid learning of dynamic concepts in cell biology. However, existing animation packages are expensive and difficult to learn, and the subsequent production of even short animations can take weeks to months. Here I outline the principles and sequence of steps for producing high-quality PowerPoint…

  18. The Syllabus as Passport into a Common Culture of Teaching and Learning: Developing and Assessing Strategies for Dealing with Diversity

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Green, Barbara; Stortz, Martha

    2006-01-01

    Finding themselves teaching to increasingly diverse student populations, two mid-career faculty from different disciplines embarked on a common voyage to make their foundational courses more sensitive to student learning styles. Adrift in the seas of multiple intelligences and multiculturalism, the researchers quickly abandoned any hope of…

  19. Using Word Clouds for Fast, Formative Assessment of Students' Short Written Responses

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Brooks, Bill J.; Gilbuena, Debra M.; Krause, Stephen J.; Koretsky, Milo D.

    2014-01-01

    Active learning in class helps students develop deeper understanding of chemical engineering principles. While the use of multiple-choice ConcepTests is clearly effective, we advocate for including student writing in learning activities as well. In this article, we demonstrate that word clouds can provide a quick analytical technique to assess…

  20. Korean Parental Beliefs about ELT from the Perspective of Teachers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Linse, Caroline

    2011-01-01

    In South Korea, as in many other parts of the world, children begin learning English when they are very young. Korean parents want their children to learn English as quickly as possible and often make heavy financial and other investments in their children's English language education. English language teachers of school-age learners in Korea…

  1. Principals Who Think Like Teachers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Fahey, Kevin

    2013-01-01

    Being a principal is a complex job, requiring quick, on-the-job learning. But many principals already have deep experience in a role at the very essence of the principalship. They know how to teach. In interviews with principals, Fahey and his colleagues learned that thinking like a teacher was key to their work. Part of thinking the way a teacher…

  2. Blending Classroom Teaching and Learning with QR Codes

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rikala, Jenni; Kankaanranta, Marja

    2014-01-01

    The aim of this case study was to explore the feasibility of the Quick Response (QR) codes and mobile devices in the context of Finnish basic education. The interest was especially to explore how mobile devices and QR codes can enhance and blend teaching and learning. The data were collected with a teacher interview and pupil surveys. The learning…

  3. VastMM-Tag: Semantic Indexing and Browsing of Videos for E-Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Morris, Mitchell J.

    2012-01-01

    Quickly accessing the contents of a video is challenging for users, particularly for unstructured video, which contains no intentional shot boundaries, no chapters, and no apparent edited format. We approach this problem in the domain of lecture videos though the use of machine learning, to gather semantic information about the videos; and through…

  4. Learning of Monotonic and Nonmonotonic Sequences in Domesticated Horses ("Equus Callabus") and Chickens ("Gallus Domesticus")

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kundey, Shannon M. A.; Strandell, Brittany; Mathis, Heather; Rowan, James D.

    2010-01-01

    (Hulse and Dorsky, 1977) and (Hulse and Dorsky, 1979) found that rats, like humans, learn sequences following a simple rule-based structure more quickly than those lacking a rule-based structure. Through two experiments, we explored whether two additional species--domesticated horses ("Equus callabus") and chickens ("Gallus domesticus")--would…

  5. Introduction to Special Issue on Games + Learning + Society

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Squire, Kurt; Gaydos, Matthew; DeVane, Ben

    2016-01-01

    Digital games for learning have quickly transitioned from a theoretical possibility, to a hyped technology, to an idea that almost seems quaint compared to advances in Biochips, Smart Robots, and self-driving cars. As a field, it is now better understand what games are good for, what they are not, and in what kinds of situations they can be…

  6. Optimizing Learning of Scientific Category Knowledge in the Classroom: The Case of Plant Identification

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kirchoff, Bruce K.; Delaney, Peter F.; Horton, Meg; Dellinger-Johnston, Rebecca

    2014-01-01

    Learning to identify organisms is extraordinarily difficult, yet trained field biologists can quickly and easily identify organisms at a glance. They do this without recourse to the use of traditional characters or identification devices. Achieving this type of recognition accuracy is a goal of many courses in plant systematics. Teaching plant…

  7. Museums and Planetariums: Bridging the Gap between Hawaiian Culture and Astronomy through Informal Education--A Case Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ciotti, Joseph E.

    2010-01-01

    Behavioral research supports informal education as fundamental to lifelong learning and responsible for much of what we know. Such learning occurs outside of formal schooling through venues such as the Internet, libraries, museums and planetariums. Unrestricted by the regulations of formal institutions, informal education can respond more quickly,…

  8. Discrepancy Approaches for Identifying Learning Disabilities. Quick Turn Around (QTA).

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Schrag, Judy A.

    A study reviewed recent trends, issues, and changes within the states related to the use of discrepancy formulas and other approaches for determining eligibility of students with learning disabilities (LD) for special education and related services. A survey of the 50 states and the District of Columbia found they all have a statement in their…

  9. The Techy Teacher/Using Data to Personalize Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tucker, Catlin

    2015-01-01

    Technology makes it easier than ever for educators to generate meaningful, ongoing data to inform their teaching, track student progress, and personalize learning. When the author began to explore how she could use technology to quickly assess student skills, data became exciting and took on a new role in her teaching practice. Now she uses data…

  10. Healthy Sleep

    MedlinePlus

    ... next day Learn information, get insight, and form memories Give your heart and vascular system a rest ... ability to think clearly, react quickly, and form memories. This may cause you to make bad decisions ...

  11. A Multi-Year Study of Mosquito Feeding Patterns on Avian Hosts in a Southeastern Focus of Eastern Equine Encephalitis Virus

    PubMed Central

    Estep, Laura K.; McClure, Christopher J. W.; Burkett-Cadena, Nathan D.; Hassan, Hassan K.; Hicks, Tyler L.; Unnasch, Thomas R.; Hill, Geoffrey E.

    2011-01-01

    Eastern equine encephalitis virus (EEEV) is a mosquito-borne pathogen that cycles in birds but also causes severe disease in humans and horses. We examined patterns of avian host use by vectors of EEEV in Alabama from 2001 to 2009 using blood-meal analysis of field-collected mosquitoes and avian abundance surveys. The northern cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) was the only preferred host (fed on significantly more than expected based on abundance) of Culiseta melanura, the enzootic vector of EEEV. Preferred hosts of Culex erraticus, a putative bridge vector of EEEV, were American robin (Turdus migratorius), Carolina chickadee (Poecile carolinensis), barred owl (Strix varia), and northern mockingbird (Mimus polyglottis). Our results provide insight into the relationships between vectors of EEEV and their avian hosts in the Southeast and suggest that the northern cardinal may be important in the ecology of EEEV in this region. PMID:21540380

  12. Designing for Educational Technology to Enhance the Experience of Learners in Distance Education: How Open Educational Resources, Learning Design and MOOCs Are Influencing Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Scanlon, Eileen; McAndrew, Patrick; O'Shea, Tim

    2015-01-01

    The area of learning has a justifiable claim to be a special case in how it can be enhanced or supported by technology. In areas such as commerce and web design the aim is usually to ensure efficiency and support specific actions such as purchasing or accessing information as quickly and easily as possible. Working with technology for the purpose…

  13. AVERT Main Module Quick Start Guide

    EPA Pesticide Factsheets

    Learn how to get started with the AVERT tool, which guides non-experts in evaluating county-level emissions displaced at electric power plants by energy efficiency and renewable energy policies and programs.

  14. "Diabetes has instant consequences…"

    MedlinePlus

    ... Javascript on. Feature: Diabetes Stories "Diabetes has instant consequences…" Past Issues / Fall 2009 Table of Contents Photo: ... to chuck it all. But Diabetes has instant consequences. You learn to be responsible pretty quickly, or ...

  15. The Missing Bodies of Mathematical Thinking and Learning Have Been Found

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Stevens, Reed

    2012-01-01

    For a long time, the body has had a bad rap among some big names in the Western philosophical tradition. Plato and Descartes come quickly to mind as particularly bad rappers. But it appears that the body is making a comeback in the cognitive and learning sciences. Long banished from the main stage by an idealized, inside-the-head…

  16. The Education of Attention as Explanation of Variability of Practice Effects : Learning the Final Approach Phase in a Flight Simulator

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Huet, Michael; Jacobs, David M.; Camachon, Cyril; Missenard, Olivier; Gray, Rob; Montagne, Gilles

    2011-01-01

    The present study reports two experiments in which a total of 20 participants without prior flight experience practiced the final approach phase in a fixed-base simulator. All participants received self-controlled concurrent feedback during 180 practice trials. Experiment 1 shows that participants learn more quickly under variable practice…

  17. An Evaluation of Independent Learning of the Japanese Hiragana System Using an Interactive CD

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Geraghty, Barbara; Quinn, Ann Marcus

    2009-01-01

    As Japanese uses three writing systems (hiragana, katakana, and the ideograms known as kanji), and as materials in the target language include all three, it is a major challenge to learn to read and write quickly. This paper focuses on interactive multi-media methods of teaching Japanese reading which foster learner autonomy. As little has been…

  18. Training and Maintenance of a Picture-Based Communication Response in Older Adults with Dementia

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Trahan, Maranda A.; Donaldson, Jeanne M.; McNabney, Matthew K.; Kahng, SungWoo

    2014-01-01

    We examined whether adults with dementia could learn to emit a picture-based communication response and if this skill would maintain over time. Three women with moderate to severe dementia were taught to exchange a picture card for a highly preferred activity. All participants quickly learned to exchange the picture card and maintained this…

  19. Summary of State Policy on Online Learning. White Paper. Version 1.0

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kim, Kellie; Schiller, Ellen; Meinders, Dona; Nadkarni, Swati; Bull, Bruce; Crain, Danielle; Huennekens, Bill; O'Hara, Nancy; Thacker, Christopher

    2015-01-01

    This white paper provides a snapshot of available policies and guidance related to online learning and students with disabilities from a small group of states that require online experience as part of high school graduation or report a higher number of online course enrollments. The Appendix allows for a quick scan of the following 12 elements…

  20. The Implementation of an Individualized Curriculum in Periodontology at the Temple University School of Dentistry.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Salkin, Leslie M.; And Others

    An individualized, self-paced curriculum at Temple University Dental School is being used to break the lock-step pattern of the lecture-oriented system and to help students reach the clinical learning environment more quickly. Freshmen begin work in periodontology with 12 programed lessons studied in a Learning Resources Center open 75 hours a…

  1. An overview of the lesson learned in almost 20 years of fight against the "tiger" mosquito.

    PubMed

    Romi, R; Majori, G

    2008-06-01

    Since its introduction in Italy in 1990, Aedes albopictus has spread quickly across the country, being at present reported in scattered foci in all regions below 600 m of altitude. The most important items of the lesson learned in almost 20 years of fight against the "Tiger" in Italy are here reported and discussed.

  2. Imitative Robotic Control: The Puppet Master

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2014-07-09

    puppet style control device and the lessons learned while implementing such a device. 15. SUBJECT TERMS 16. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION OF: 17...mission to be completed in a quick, accurate and efficient manner. This paper outlines the potential features of a puppet style control device and the...lessons learned while implementing such a device. INTRODUCTION As ground robotics moves towards autonomous and semi- autonomous operations, the

  3. Using Math Apps for Improving Student Learning: An Exploratory Study in an Inclusive Fourth Grade Classroom

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zhang, Meilan; Trussell, Robert P.; Gallegos, Benjamin; Asam, Rasmiyeh R.

    2015-01-01

    Recent years have seen a quick expansion of tablet computers in households and schools. One of the educational affordances of tablet computers is using math apps to engage students in mathematics learning. However, given the short history of the mobile devices, little research exists on the effectiveness of math apps, particularly for struggling…

  4. Learning about Cystic Fibrosis

    MedlinePlus

    ... New Horizons and Research Patient Management Policy and Ethics Issues Quick Links for Patient Care Education All About ... Genome Exhibition Talking Glossary: English Talking Glossary: Español Issues ... Contacts Media Resources NHGRI-Related News Journal Articles ...

  5. Learning about Retinitis Pigmentosa

    MedlinePlus

    ... New Horizons and Research Patient Management Policy and Ethics Issues Quick Links for Patient Care Education All About ... Genome Exhibition Talking Glossary: English Talking Glossary: Español Issues ... Contacts Media Resources NHGRI-Related News Journal Articles ...

  6. Learning about Breast Cancer

    MedlinePlus

    ... New Horizons and Research Patient Management Policy and Ethics Issues Quick Links for Patient Care Education All About ... Genome Exhibition Talking Glossary: English Talking Glossary: Español Issues ... Contacts Media Resources NHGRI-Related News Journal Articles ...

  7. Learning about Klinefelter Syndrome

    MedlinePlus

    ... New Horizons and Research Patient Management Policy and Ethics Issues Quick Links for Patient Care Education All About ... Genome Exhibition Talking Glossary: English Talking Glossary: Español Issues ... Contacts Media Resources NHGRI-Related News Journal Articles ...

  8. Learning about Skin Cancer

    MedlinePlus

    ... New Horizons and Research Patient Management Policy and Ethics Issues Quick Links for Patient Care Education All About ... Genome Exhibition Talking Glossary: English Talking Glossary: Español Issues ... Contacts Media Resources NHGRI-Related News Journal Articles ...

  9. Learning about Holoprosencephaly (HPE)

    MedlinePlus

    ... New Horizons and Research Patient Management Policy and Ethics Issues Quick Links for Patient Care Education All About ... Genome Exhibition Talking Glossary: English Talking Glossary: Español Issues ... Contacts Media Resources NHGRI-Related News Journal Articles ...

  10. Learning about Hereditary Hemochromatosis

    MedlinePlus

    ... New Horizons and Research Patient Management Policy and Ethics Issues Quick Links for Patient Care Education All About ... Genome Exhibition Talking Glossary: English Talking Glossary: Español Issues ... Contacts Media Resources NHGRI-Related News Journal Articles ...

  11. Learning about Dercum Disease

    MedlinePlus

    ... New Horizons and Research Patient Management Policy and Ethics Issues Quick Links for Patient Care Education All About ... Genome Exhibition Talking Glossary: English Talking Glossary: Español Issues ... Contacts Media Resources NHGRI-Related News Journal Articles ...

  12. Learning about Duane Syndrome

    MedlinePlus

    ... New Horizons and Research Patient Management Policy and Ethics Issues Quick Links for Patient Care Education All About ... Genome Exhibition Talking Glossary: English Talking Glossary: Español Issues ... Contacts Media Resources NHGRI-Related News Journal Articles ...

  13. Seed dispersal by specialist versus generalist foragers: the plant's perspective

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Larson, D.L.

    1996-01-01

    I examined the seed dispersal ecology of the stem parasitic plant, desert mistletoe (Phoradendron californicum, Viscaceae), with the objectives of (1) determining the relative effectiveness of specialist and generalist foragers for seed dispersal, (2) determining the extent to which desert mistletoe fruiting characteristics correspond to those predicted for plants attracting specialist versus generalist foragers, and (3) examining the potential consequences of the observed dispersal strategy for mistletoe reproduction. Three species of birds, phainopepla, Gila woodpecker, and northern mockingbird, fed on desert mistletoe at my study site. The specialist, phainopepla, was the most abundant and the most likely to perch in host species, where defecated seeds had a greater probability of lodging in a site suitable for establishment. Gila woodpeckers, although abundant, spent little time in host plants, thus dooming most of the seeds they consumed. Mockingbirds may disperse a small number of seeds, but were abundant enough to consume only a small portion of the available fruits. As expected for plants attracting specialist frugivores, mistletoes produced fruits throughout the 6-month season in which phainopeplas reside in the Sonoran desert. Contrary to expectation, numbers of fruits produced far exceeded the amount that could be consumed by the frugivores at my study site. Fruit crop size was positively related to absolute fruit removal, but not to proportional removal at the scale of the entire study site. However, crop size was positively related to proportional removal within the neighborhood of mistletoes occupying an individual host tree. Frugivores were attracted to infected hosts, host attractiveness increased, although proportional removal of fruit declined, with number of female mistletoes. The observed dispersal ecology of desert mistletoe suggests the likelihood of increasingly clumped distributions of mistletoe plants, as more and more seeds are deposited on previously infected hosts, and increased density of mistletoes attract ever more visits by birds. I observed no decline in vigor, in terms of fruit production, within the levels of infestation at my study site. The seed dispersal strategy of desert mistletoe thus includes aspects of that expected both for plants dependent on specialists and those dependent on generalists. Fruits are available through the entire season to maintain the specialist. Production far exceeds that expected, but serves to attract the specialist within a neighborhood of vigorously fruiting conspecifics.

  14. Combining deep learning and satellite data to inform sustainable development

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lobell, D. B.

    2017-12-01

    Methods in machine learning, and in particular deep learning, are quickly advancing, in parallel with dramatic increases in the availability of fine resolution satellite data. The combination of both offers the possibility to improve understanding of some of the poorest regions of the world, where traditional data sources are limited. This talk will cover recent applications to track poverty at the village level in Africa, spot the onset of disease outbreaks in agriculture, and identify land use patterns and crop productivity.

  15. Reinforcement learning in complementarity game and population dynamics

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Jost, Jürgen; Li, Wei

    2014-02-01

    We systematically test and compare different reinforcement learning schemes in a complementarity game [J. Jost and W. Li, Physica A 345, 245 (2005), 10.1016/j.physa.2004.07.005] played between members of two populations. More precisely, we study the Roth-Erev, Bush-Mosteller, and SoftMax reinforcement learning schemes. A modified version of Roth-Erev with a power exponent of 1.5, as opposed to 1 in the standard version, performs best. We also compare these reinforcement learning strategies with evolutionary schemes. This gives insight into aspects like the issue of quick adaptation as opposed to systematic exploration or the role of learning rates.

  16. Natural Variation in "Drosophila" Larval Reward Learning and Memory Due to a cGMP-Dependent Protein Kinase

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kaun, Karla R.; Hendel, Thomas; Gerber, Bertram; Sokolowski, Marla B.

    2007-01-01

    Animals must be able to find and evaluate food to ensure survival. The ability to associate a cue with the presence of food is advantageous because it allows an animal to quickly identify a situation associated with a good, bad, or even harmful food. Identifying genes underlying these natural learned responses is essential to understanding this…

  17. An evaluation of Global Zakat Game (GZG) as edutainment board game in enhancing Zakat education in Malaysia

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rahman, Azman Ab.; Sahrir, Muhammad Sabri; Zainuddin, Nurkhamimi; Khafidz, Hasanah Abd.

    2018-01-01

    Board games have become one of the useful tools in teaching and learning. Many instructors and educators have chosen to use board games to enhance the way of delivering course contents. A board game will help students understand the education concept quickly and get involved in experiential learning, where students can manage and solve problems in…

  18. Learning about Tay-Sachs Disease

    MedlinePlus

    ... New Horizons and Research Patient Management Policy and Ethics Issues Quick Links for Patient Care Education All About ... Genome Exhibition Talking Glossary: English Talking Glossary: Español Issues ... Contacts Media Resources NHGRI-Related News Journal Articles ...

  19. Learning about Cri du Chat Syndrome

    MedlinePlus

    ... New Horizons and Research Patient Management Policy and Ethics Issues Quick Links for Patient Care Education All About ... Genome Exhibition Talking Glossary: English Talking Glossary: Español Issues ... Contacts Media Resources NHGRI-Related News Journal Articles ...

  20. Learning about Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy

    MedlinePlus

    ... New Horizons and Research Patient Management Policy and Ethics Issues Quick Links for Patient Care Education All About ... Genome Exhibition Talking Glossary: English Talking Glossary: Español Issues ... Contacts Media Resources NHGRI-Related News Journal Articles ...

  1. Microcomputer-Assisted Mathematics: From Simple Interest to e.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kimberling, Clark

    1985-01-01

    The progression from simple interest to compound interest leads naturally and quickly to the number e, involving mathematical discovery learning through writing programs. Several programs are given, with suggestions for a teaching sequence. (MNS)

  2. Life of a Tooth: A Visual Timeline

    MedlinePlus Videos and Cool Tools

    ... InfoBites Quick Reference Learn more Sports and Oral Health What is Dental Amalgam (Silver Filling)? Pacifiers Have ... Home | InfoBites | Find a Dentist | Your Family's Oral Health | RSS About AGD | Contact AGD | Site Map | Reprints ...

  3. Social Media and Teaching-Learning: Connecting or Distancing?

    PubMed

    Yancey, Nan Russell

    2017-10-01

    As new ideas and new ways of connecting seemingly surface ever more quickly, faculty face the daunting task of using emerging technology in the teaching-learning endeavor while honoring the presence of teacher with learner. The focus of this column is on using social media as a teaching-learning tool in the shared journey of coming to know, which is so essential for the aspiring nurse. While opportunities for using teaching-learning technologies abound and are ever-changing, faculty are challenged to cocreate a learner-focused journey of coming to know, without allowing the technology to become the focus.

  4. Visual error augmentation enhances learning in three dimensions.

    PubMed

    Sharp, Ian; Huang, Felix; Patton, James

    2011-09-02

    Because recent preliminary evidence points to the use of Error augmentation (EA) for motor learning enhancements, we visually enhanced deviations from a straight line path while subjects practiced a sensorimotor reversal task, similar to laparoscopic surgery. Our study asked 10 healthy subjects in two groups to perform targeted reaching in a simulated virtual reality environment, where the transformation of the hand position matrix was a complete reversal--rotated 180 degrees about an arbitrary axis (hence 2 of the 3 coordinates are reversed). Our data showed that after 500 practice trials, error-augmented-trained subjects reached the desired targets more quickly and with lower error (differences of 0.4 seconds and 0.5 cm Maximum Perpendicular Trajectory deviation) when compared to the control group. Furthermore, the manner in which subjects practiced was influenced by the error augmentation, resulting in more continuous motions for this group and smaller errors. Even with the extreme sensory discordance of a reversal, these data further support that distorted reality can promote more complete adaptation/learning when compared to regular training. Lastly, upon removing the flip all subjects quickly returned to baseline rapidly within 6 trials.

  5. The Human Touch: Practical and Ethical Implications of Putting AI and Robotics to Work for Patients.

    PubMed

    Banks, Jim

    2018-01-01

    We live in a time when science fiction can quickly become science fact. Within a generation, the Internet has matured from a technological marvel to a utility, and mobile telephones have redefined how we communicate. Health care, as an industry, is quick to embrace technology, so it is no surprise that the application of programmable robotic systems that can carry out actions automatically and artificial intelligence (AI), e.g., machines that learn, solve problems, and respond to their environment, is being keenly explored.

  6. Risky decision making from childhood through adulthood: Contributions of learning and sensitivity to negative feedback.

    PubMed

    Humphreys, Kathryn L; Telzer, Eva H; Flannery, Jessica; Goff, Bonnie; Gabard-Durnam, Laurel; Gee, Dylan G; Lee, Steve S; Tottenham, Nim

    2016-02-01

    Decision making in the context of risk is a complex and dynamic process that changes across development. Here, we assessed the influence of sensitivity to negative feedback (e.g., loss) and learning on age-related changes in risky decision making, both of which show unique developmental trajectories. In the present study, we examined risky decision making in 216 individuals, ranging in age from 3-26 years, using the balloon emotional learning task (BELT), a computerized task in which participants pump up a series of virtual balloons to earn points, but risk balloon explosion on each trial, which results in no points. It is important to note that there were 3 balloon conditions, signified by different balloon colors, ranging from quick- to slow-to-explode, and participants could learn the color-condition pairings through task experience. Overall, we found age-related increases in pumps made and points earned. However, in the quick-to-explode condition, there was a nonlinear adolescent peak for points earned. Follow-up analyses indicated that this adolescent phenotype occurred at the developmental intersection of linear age-related increases in learning and decreases in sensitivity to negative feedback. Adolescence was marked by intermediate values on both these processes. These findings show that a combination of linearly changing processes can result in nonlinear changes in risky decision making, the adolescent-specific nature of which is associated with developmental improvements in learning and reduced sensitivity to negative feedback. (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

  7. Real-time modeling of primitive environments through wavelet sensors and Hebbian learning

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Vaccaro, James M.; Yaworsky, Paul S.

    1999-06-01

    Modeling the world through sensory input necessarily provides a unique perspective for the observer. Given a limited perspective, objects and events cannot always be encoded precisely but must involve crude, quick approximations to deal with sensory information in a real- time manner. As an example, when avoiding an oncoming car, a pedestrian needs to identify the fact that a car is approaching before ascertaining the model or color of the vehicle. In our methodology, we use wavelet-based sensors with self-organized learning to encode basic sensory information in real-time. The wavelet-based sensors provide necessary transformations while a rank-based Hebbian learning scheme encodes a self-organized environment through translation, scale and orientation invariant sensors. Such a self-organized environment is made possible by combining wavelet sets which are orthonormal, log-scale with linear orientation and have automatically generated membership functions. In earlier work we used Gabor wavelet filters, rank-based Hebbian learning and an exponential modulation function to encode textural information from images. Many different types of modulation are possible, but based on biological findings the exponential modulation function provided a good approximation of first spike coding of `integrate and fire' neurons. These types of Hebbian encoding schemes (e.g., exponential modulation, etc.) are useful for quick response and learning, provide several advantages over contemporary neural network learning approaches, and have been found to quantize data nonlinearly. By combining wavelets with Hebbian learning we can provide a real-time front-end for modeling an intelligent process, such as the autonomous control of agents in a simulated environment.

  8. Social learning by following: an analysis1

    PubMed Central

    Bullock, Daniel; Neuringer, Allen

    1977-01-01

    Learning by “following”, probably a common means by which behaviors are socially transmitted from adults to young in many species, was analyzed. Pigeons first learned to eat from a human hand. When the hand then approached an operant key and pecked it, the pigeons followed and quickly learned to do the same, thereby demonstrating social learning. When the hand only led the birds to the area of the key, without demonstrating the key-peck response, the birds learned as rapidly as with a key-peck demonstration. Birds also learned, but less reliably and more slowly, when they could observe the hand's responses but were constrained and unable to follow. “Following” was also shown to engender very rapid learning of a more complex, two-member response chain. PMID:16811970

  9. Interactive Mold House Tour

    EPA Pesticide Factsheets

    Get a quick glimpse of some of the most important ways to protect your home from mold by this interactive tour of the Mold House. Room-by-room, you'll learn about common mold issues and how to address them.

  10. Weather uncertainty versus climate change uncertainty in a short television weather broadcast

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Witte, J.; Ward, B.; Maibach, E.

    2011-12-01

    For TV meteorologists talking about uncertainty in a two-minute forecast can be a real challenge. It can quickly open the way to viewer confusion. TV meteorologists understand the uncertainties of short term weather models and have different methods to convey the degrees of confidence to the viewing public. Visual examples are seen in the 7-day forecasts and the hurricane track forecasts. But does the public really understand a 60 percent chance of rain or the hurricane cone? Communication of climate model uncertainty is even more daunting. The viewing public can quickly switch to denial of solid science. A short review of the latest national survey of TV meteorologists by George Mason University and lessons learned from a series of climate change workshops with TV broadcasters provide valuable insights into effectively using visualizations and invoking multimedia-learning theories in weather forecasts to improve public understanding of climate change.

  11. Impaired face recognition is associated with social inhibition

    PubMed Central

    Avery, Suzanne N; VanDerKlok, Ross M; Heckers, Stephan; Blackford, Jennifer U

    2016-01-01

    Face recognition is fundamental to successful social interaction. Individuals with deficits in face recognition are likely to have social functioning impairments that may lead to heightened risk for social anxiety. A critical component of social interaction is how quickly a face is learned during initial exposure to a new individual. Here, we used a novel Repeated Faces task to assess how quickly memory for faces is established. Face recognition was measured over multiple exposures in 52 young adults ranging from low to high in social inhibition, a core dimension of social anxiety. High social inhibition was associated with a smaller slope of change in recognition memory over repeated face exposure, indicating participants with higher social inhibition showed smaller improvements in recognition memory after seeing faces multiple times. We propose that impaired face learning is an important mechanism underlying social inhibition and may contribute to, or maintain, social anxiety. PMID:26776300

  12. Impaired face recognition is associated with social inhibition.

    PubMed

    Avery, Suzanne N; VanDerKlok, Ross M; Heckers, Stephan; Blackford, Jennifer U

    2016-02-28

    Face recognition is fundamental to successful social interaction. Individuals with deficits in face recognition are likely to have social functioning impairments that may lead to heightened risk for social anxiety. A critical component of social interaction is how quickly a face is learned during initial exposure to a new individual. Here, we used a novel Repeated Faces task to assess how quickly memory for faces is established. Face recognition was measured over multiple exposures in 52 young adults ranging from low to high in social inhibition, a core dimension of social anxiety. High social inhibition was associated with a smaller slope of change in recognition memory over repeated face exposure, indicating participants with higher social inhibition showed smaller improvements in recognition memory after seeing faces multiple times. We propose that impaired face learning is an important mechanism underlying social inhibition and may contribute to, or maintain, social anxiety. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  13. Mobile-Based Dictionary of Information and Communication Technology

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Liando, O. E. S.; Mewengkang, A.; Kaseger, D.; Sangkop, F. I.; Rantung, V. P.; Rorimpandey, G. C.

    2018-02-01

    This study aims to design and build mobile-based dictionary of information and communication technology applications to provide access to information in the form of glossary of terms in the context of information and communication technologies. Applications built in this study using the Android platform, with SQLite database model. This research uses prototype model development method which covers the stages of communication, Quick Plan, Quick Design Modeling, Construction of Prototype, Deployment Delivery & Feedback, and Full System Transformation. The design of this application is designed in such a way as to facilitate the user in the process of learning and understanding the new terms or vocabularies encountered in the world of information and communication technology. Mobile-based dictionary of Information And Communication Technology applications that have been built can be an alternative to learning literature. In its simplest form, this application is able to meet the need for a comprehensive and accurate dictionary of Information And Communication Technology function.

  14. Ontogeny of classical and operant learning behaviors in zebrafish.

    PubMed

    Valente, André; Huang, Kuo-Hua; Portugues, Ruben; Engert, Florian

    2012-03-20

    The performance of developing zebrafish in both classical and operant conditioning assays was tested with a particular focus on the emergence of these learning behaviors during development. Strategically positioned visual cues paired with electroshocks were used in two fully automated assays to investigate both learning paradigms. These allow the evaluation of the behavioral performance of zebrafish continuously throughout development, from larva to adult. We found that learning improves throughout development, starts reliably around week 3, and reaches adult performance levels at week 6. Adult fish quickly learned to perform perfectly, and the expression of the learned behavior is manifestly controlled by vision. The memory is behaviorally expressed in adults for at least 6 h and retrievable for at least 12 h.

  15. Ontogeny of classical and operant learning behaviors in zebrafish

    PubMed Central

    Valente, André; Huang, Kuo-Hua; Portugues, Ruben; Engert, Florian

    2012-01-01

    The performance of developing zebrafish in both classical and operant conditioning assays was tested with a particular focus on the emergence of these learning behaviors during development. Strategically positioned visual cues paired with electroshocks were used in two fully automated assays to investigate both learning paradigms. These allow the evaluation of the behavioral performance of zebrafish continuously throughout development, from larva to adult. We found that learning improves throughout development, starts reliably around week 3, and reaches adult performance levels at week 6. Adult fish quickly learned to perform perfectly, and the expression of the learned behavior is manifestly controlled by vision. The memory is behaviorally expressed in adults for at least 6 h and retrievable for at least 12 h. PMID:22434824

  16. Dryden Overview for Schools

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    1994-01-01

    This video presentation gives a narrated, quick look at the Dryden Flight Research Center and the Center's various projects. The presentation is directed toward a 6th-grade audience and emphasizes staying in school to learn the vital skills needed to succeed today.

  17. Real-time adaptive off-road vehicle navigation and terrain classification

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Muller, Urs A.; Jackel, Lawrence D.; LeCun, Yann; Flepp, Beat

    2013-05-01

    We are developing a complete, self-contained autonomous navigation system for mobile robots that learns quickly, uses commodity components, and has the added benefit of emitting no radiation signature. It builds on the au­tonomous navigation technology developed by Net-Scale and New York University during the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Learning Applied to Ground Robots (LAGR) program and takes advantage of recent scientific advancements achieved during the DARPA Deep Learning program. In this paper we will present our approach and algorithms, show results from our vision system, discuss lessons learned from the past, and present our plans for further advancing vehicle autonomy.

  18. Learning Efficiency: Identifying Individual Differences in Learning Rate and Retention in Healthy Adults.

    PubMed

    Zerr, Christopher L; Berg, Jeffrey J; Nelson, Steven M; Fishell, Andrew K; Savalia, Neil K; McDermott, Kathleen B

    2018-06-01

    People differ in how quickly they learn information and how long they remember it, yet individual differences in learning abilities within healthy adults have been relatively neglected. In two studies, we examined the relation between learning rate and subsequent retention using a new foreign-language paired-associates task (the learning-efficiency task), which was designed to eliminate ceiling effects that often accompany standardized tests of learning and memory in healthy adults. A key finding was that quicker learners were also more durable learners (i.e., exhibited better retention across a delay), despite studying the material for less time. Additionally, measures of learning and memory from this task were reliable in Study 1 ( N = 281) across 30 hr and Study 2 ( N = 92; follow-up n = 46) across 3 years. We conclude that people vary in how efficiently they learn, and we describe a reliable and valid method for assessing learning efficiency within healthy adults.

  19. Project management lessons learned on SDIO's Delta Star and Single Stage Rocket Technology programs

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Klevatt, Paul L.

    1992-01-01

    The topics are presented in viewgraph form and include the following: a Delta Star (Delta 183) Program Overview, lessons learned, and rapid prototyping and the Single Stage Rocket Technology (SSRT) Program. The basic objective of the Strategic Defense Initiative Programs are to quickly reduce key uncertainties to a manageable range of parameters and solutions, and to yield results applicable to focusing subsequent research dollars on high payoff areas.

  20. Bayesian Kernel Methods for Non-Gaussian Distributions: Binary and Multi-class Classification Problems

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2013-05-28

    those of the support vector machine and relevance vector machine, and the model runs more quickly than the other algorithms . When one class occurs...incremental support vector machine algorithm for online learning when fewer than 50 data points are available. (a) Papers published in peer-reviewed journals...learning environments, where data processing occurs one observation at a time and the classification algorithm improves over time with new

  1. Energy Sector Security through a System for Intelligent, Learning Network Configuration Monitoring and Management (“Essence”)

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Miller, Craig; Larmouth, Robert

    The project was conceived and executed with the overarching objective to provide cost effective tools to cooperative utilities that enabled them to quickly detect, characterize and take remediative action against cyber attacks.

  2. Maximization, learning, and economic behavior

    PubMed Central

    Erev, Ido; Roth, Alvin E.

    2014-01-01

    The rationality assumption that underlies mainstream economic theory has proved to be a useful approximation, despite the fact that systematic violations to its predictions can be found. That is, the assumption of rational behavior is useful in understanding the ways in which many successful economic institutions function, although it is also true that actual human behavior falls systematically short of perfect rationality. We consider a possible explanation of this apparent inconsistency, suggesting that mechanisms that rest on the rationality assumption are likely to be successful when they create an environment in which the behavior they try to facilitate leads to the best payoff for all agents on average, and most of the time. Review of basic learning research suggests that, under these conditions, people quickly learn to maximize expected return. This review also shows that there are many situations in which experience does not increase maximization. In many cases, experience leads people to underweight rare events. In addition, the current paper suggests that it is convenient to distinguish between two behavioral approaches to improve economic analyses. The first, and more conventional approach among behavioral economists and psychologists interested in judgment and decision making, highlights violations of the rational model and proposes descriptive models that capture these violations. The second approach studies human learning to clarify the conditions under which people quickly learn to maximize expected return. The current review highlights one set of conditions of this type and shows how the understanding of these conditions can facilitate market design. PMID:25024182

  3. Maximization, learning, and economic behavior.

    PubMed

    Erev, Ido; Roth, Alvin E

    2014-07-22

    The rationality assumption that underlies mainstream economic theory has proved to be a useful approximation, despite the fact that systematic violations to its predictions can be found. That is, the assumption of rational behavior is useful in understanding the ways in which many successful economic institutions function, although it is also true that actual human behavior falls systematically short of perfect rationality. We consider a possible explanation of this apparent inconsistency, suggesting that mechanisms that rest on the rationality assumption are likely to be successful when they create an environment in which the behavior they try to facilitate leads to the best payoff for all agents on average, and most of the time. Review of basic learning research suggests that, under these conditions, people quickly learn to maximize expected return. This review also shows that there are many situations in which experience does not increase maximization. In many cases, experience leads people to underweight rare events. In addition, the current paper suggests that it is convenient to distinguish between two behavioral approaches to improve economic analyses. The first, and more conventional approach among behavioral economists and psychologists interested in judgment and decision making, highlights violations of the rational model and proposes descriptive models that capture these violations. The second approach studies human learning to clarify the conditions under which people quickly learn to maximize expected return. The current review highlights one set of conditions of this type and shows how the understanding of these conditions can facilitate market design.

  4. Environmental variability and acoustic signals: a multi-level approach in songbirds.

    PubMed

    Medina, Iliana; Francis, Clinton D

    2012-12-23

    Among songbirds, growing evidence suggests that acoustic adaptation of song traits occurs in response to habitat features. Despite extensive study, most research supporting acoustic adaptation has only considered acoustic traits averaged for species or populations, overlooking intraindividual variation of song traits, which may facilitate effective communication in heterogeneous and variable environments. Fewer studies have explicitly incorporated sexual selection, which, if strong, may favour variation across environments. Here, we evaluate the prevalence of acoustic adaptation among 44 species of songbirds by determining how environmental variability and sexual selection intensity are associated with song variability (intraindividual and intraspecific) and short-term song complexity. We show that variability in precipitation can explain short-term song complexity among taxonomically diverse songbirds, and that precipitation seasonality and the intensity of sexual selection are related to intraindividual song variation. Our results link song complexity to environmental variability, something previously found for mockingbirds (Family Mimidae). Perhaps more importantly, our results illustrate that individual variation in song traits may be shaped by both environmental variability and strength of sexual selection.

  5. In memoriam: John Warren Aldrich, 1906-1995

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Banks, Richard C.

    1997-01-01

    John Aldrich was born in Providence, Rhode Island, on 23 February 1906, and went to the Providence public schools. He developed a broad interest in natural history at an early age, being stimulated by his mother, a kindergarten teacher, who introduced him to nature books. His interest was strengthened by Harold L. Madison, Director of the Park Museum in Providence, an Associate ( = member) of the AOU. As a high school student, John taught nature study at the Rhode Island Boy Scout Camp in summers. John was President of his class at Classical High School, and manager of the school's football team in his senior year. Also in that year, 1923, John published his first paper, a note in Bird-Lore on the occurrence of the Mockingbird in Rhode Island. That paper is a literary gem, showing that his skill in writing developed as early as his knowledge of birds. His early interest in football continued as well; he was a devoted fan of the Washington Redskins in his later years.

  6. Effects of habitat on avian productivity in abandoned pecan orchards in southern Georgia

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Patnode, K.A.; White, D.H.

    1992-01-01

    Daily survival rates (DSRs) of nests, eggs and nestlings were determined for Mourning Doves (Zenaida macroura), Northern Cardinals (Cardinalis cardinalis), Brown Thrashers (Toxostoma rufum) and Northern Mockingbirds (Mimus polyglottos) occupying abandoned pecan orchards in a highly fragmented and intensively farmed area of southern Georgia. The effects of nest placement parameters, seasonal factors and habitat disruptions on DSRs for all species combined were statistically analyzed. Egg and nestling DSRs varied significantly by month of nesting, percent cover, vegetative form and position of nest in substrate. Causes of nest failure (no fledglings produced) in order of decreasing importance were predation by small mammals/snakes, avian predation, predation by large mammals, and abandonment. Results provide further evidence that the importance of nest placement and habitat disruptions in nesting success is influenced by foraging strategies of the predator community. Site-specific predator/habitat complexes may be a more appropriate criterion than habitat conditions alone for evaluating avian nesting habitat

  7. Text Version of the Indoor Air Quality House Tour

    EPA Pesticide Factsheets

    Get a quick glimpse of some of the most important ways to protect the air in your home by touring the Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) House. Room-by-room, you'll learn about the key pollutants and how to address them.

  8. Creative Punishment.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sweeney, John

    1988-01-01

    Punishment given in a caring, supportive environment can assist children to learn some tasks more quickly, when used in conjunction with programmed positive reinforcement. The manner in which a punishment is implemented impacts its effectiveness. Two experiments are presented in which teachers used creative punishment to produce classroom behavior…

  9. I ANIMATE.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    RAYMOND, JOSEPH

    A COLLECTION OF MATERIALS IS PRESENTED TO AID STUDENTS IN LEARNING SPANISH. SPANISH IS PRESENTED IN UNITS RANGING FROM PROVERBS, RIDDLES, SONGS, ANECDOTES, SHORT-SHORT STORIES, TO SKITS FOR QUICK ASSIMILATION, EASY RETENTION, AND NORMAL UNCOMPLICATED CONVERSATION. SKILLS SOUGHT FOR ARE ABILITY TO UNDERSTAND, SPEAK, AND WRITE SPANISH. THE…

  10. What Learning Systems do Intelligent Agents Need? Complementary Learning Systems Theory Updated.

    PubMed

    Kumaran, Dharshan; Hassabis, Demis; McClelland, James L

    2016-07-01

    We update complementary learning systems (CLS) theory, which holds that intelligent agents must possess two learning systems, instantiated in mammalians in neocortex and hippocampus. The first gradually acquires structured knowledge representations while the second quickly learns the specifics of individual experiences. We broaden the role of replay of hippocampal memories in the theory, noting that replay allows goal-dependent weighting of experience statistics. We also address recent challenges to the theory and extend it by showing that recurrent activation of hippocampal traces can support some forms of generalization and that neocortical learning can be rapid for information that is consistent with known structure. Finally, we note the relevance of the theory to the design of artificial intelligent agents, highlighting connections between neuroscience and machine learning. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  11. Japanese monkeys (Macaca fuscata) quickly detect snakes but not spiders: Evolutionary origins of fear-relevant animals.

    PubMed

    Kawai, Nobuyuki; Koda, Hiroki

    2016-08-01

    Humans quickly detect the presence of evolutionary threats through visual perception. Many theorists have considered humans to be predisposed to respond to both snakes and spiders as evolutionarily fear-relevant stimuli. Evidence supports that human adults, children, and snake-naive monkeys all detect pictures of snakes among pictures of flowers more quickly than vice versa, but recent neurophysiological and behavioral studies suggest that spiders may, in fact, be processed similarly to nonthreat animals. The evidence of quick detection and rapid fear learning by primates is limited to snakes, and no such evidence exists for spiders, suggesting qualitative differences between fear of snakes and fear of spiders. Here, we show that snake-naive Japanese monkeys detect a single snake picture among 8 nonthreat animal pictures (koala) more quickly than vice versa; however, no such difference in detection was observed between spiders and pleasant animals. These robust differences between snakes and spiders are the most convincing evidence that the primate visual system is predisposed to pay attention to snakes but not spiders. These findings suggest that attentional bias toward snakes has an evolutionary basis but that bias toward spiders is more due to top-down, conceptually driven effects of emotion on attention capture. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

  12. CAT-PUMA: CME Arrival Time Prediction Using Machine learning Algorithms

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Liu, Jiajia; Ye, Yudong; Shen, Chenglong; Wang, Yuming; Erdélyi, Robert

    2018-04-01

    CAT-PUMA (CME Arrival Time Prediction Using Machine learning Algorithms) quickly and accurately predicts the arrival of Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) of CME arrival time. The software was trained via detailed analysis of CME features and solar wind parameters using 182 previously observed geo-effective partial-/full-halo CMEs and uses algorithms of the Support Vector Machine (SVM) to make its predictions, which can be made within minutes of providing the necessary input parameters of a CME.

  13. Targeted Training: An Integrated Initiative.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Valvasori, Joe

    The Learning Enrichment Foundation (LEF) in Toronto, Ontario (Canada) offers 12 targeted training programs that have successfully helped "hard-to-serve" clients return to the workforce. Compared with traditional training, targeted training has a much narrower focus and adapts quickly to industry trends to meet employers' changing…

  14. Power Source

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Schooley, Michael L.

    2010-01-01

    Principals are powerful: They are the primary catalysts for creating a lasting foundation for learning, driving school and student performance, and shaping the long-term impact of school improvement efforts. Yet few principals would characterize themselves as powerful. Rather, they're self-effacing, adaptable, pragmatic, and quick to share credit…

  15. Smart Networking Decisions: A Kase Study.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sturgeon, Julie

    1999-01-01

    Describes one decision-making approach for quickly implementing a communications network into a school district. The use of volunteer labor for wiring installation, computer selection focusing on standardization to aid in troubleshooting, and an intranet system to achieve efficiency and learning opportunities for teachers and administrative…

  16. Restructuring Schools on a Service-Industry Model.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Holden, Daniel

    1994-01-01

    Proposes reform in education from an "assembly line" to a "provider-client" approach. Swanton High School (Ohio), winner of GTE's Pioneering Partners program, which used Learning Management Systems to track student progress and testing, satellite courses, videodiscs, Hypercard, QuickTime video, and Internet connections, is…

  17. Computer-Based Internet-Hosted Assessment of L2 Literacy: Computerizing and Administering of the Oxford Quick Placement Test in ExamView and Moodle

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Meurant, Robert C.

    Sorting of Korean English-as-a-Foreign-Language (EFL) university students by Second Language (L2) aptitude allocates students to classes of compatible ability level, and was here used to screen candidates for interview. Paper-and-pen versions of the Oxford Quick Placement Test were adapted to computer-based testing via online hosting using FSCreations ExamView. Problems with their online hosting site led to conversion to the popular computer-based learning management system Moodle, hosted on www.ninehub.com. 317 sophomores were tested online to encourage L2 digital literacy. Strategies for effective hybrid implementation of Learning Management Systems in L2 tertiary education include computer-based Internet-hosted L2 aptitude tests. These potentially provide a convenient measure of student progress in developing L2 fluency, and offer a more objective and relevant means of teacher- and course-assessment than student evaluations, which tend to confuse entertainment value and teacher popularity with academic credibility and pedagogical effectiveness.

  18. An English Vocabulary Learning System Based on Fuzzy Theory and Memory Cycle

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wang, Tzone I.; Chiu, Ti Kai; Huang, Liang Jun; Fu, Ru Xuan; Hsieh, Tung-Cheng

    This paper proposes an English Vocabulary Learning System based on the Fuzzy Theory and the Memory Cycle Theory to help a learner to memorize vocabularies easily. By using fuzzy inferences and personal memory cycles, it is possible to find an article that best suits a learner. After reading an article, a quiz is provided for the learner to improve his/her memory of the vocabulary in the article. Early researches use just explicit response (ex. quiz exam) to update memory cycles of newly learned vocabulary; apart from that approach, this paper proposes a methodology that also modify implicitly the memory cycles of learned word. By intensive reading of articles recommended by our approach, a learner learns new words quickly and reviews learned words implicitly as well, and by which the vocabulary ability of the learner improves efficiently.

  19. e-Learning in nursing education--Challenges and opportunities.

    PubMed

    Kokol, Peter; Blazun, Helena; Micetić-Turk, Dusanka; Abbott, Patricia A

    2006-01-01

    Quick changes on the field of informational communication technologies forces educational and other institutions to think about different ways of teaching and learning in both formal and informal environments. It addition it is well known that due to fast advancement of science and technology the knowledge gained in schools is getting out-of-date rapidly, so life long learning is becoming an essential alternative. As a consequence we are facing a rapid development and use of new educational approaches such as e-learning, simulations, virtual reality, etc. They brought a revolution to learning and instruction. But in general the empirical results of e-learning studies are somewhat disappointing. They cannot prove the superiority of e-learning processes over traditional learning in general, neither in specific areas like nursing. In our international study we proved that e-Learning can have many benefits and that it can enhance learning experience in nursing education, but it has to be provided in correct manner.

  20. Social learning across species: horses (Equus caballus) learn from humans by observation.

    PubMed

    Schuetz, Aurelia; Farmer, Kate; Krueger, Konstanze

    2017-05-01

    This study examines whether horses can learn by observing humans, given that they identify individual humans and orientate on the focus of human attention. We tested 24 horses aged between 3 and 12. Twelve horses were tested on whether they would learn to open a feeding apparatus by observing a familiar person. The other 12 were controls and received exactly the same experimental procedure, but without a demonstration of how to operate the apparatus. More horses from the group with demonstration (8/12) reached the learning criterion of opening the feeder twenty times consecutively than horses from the control group (2/12), and younger horses seemed to reach the criterion more quickly. Horses not reaching the learning criteria approached the human experimenters more often than those that did. The results demonstrate that horses learn socially across species, in this case from humans.

  1. Effectiveness of e-learning in hospitals.

    PubMed

    Chuo, Yinghsiang; Liu, Chuangchun; Tsai, Chunghung

    2015-01-01

    Because medical personnel share different work shifts (i.e., three work shifts) and do not have a fixed work schedule, implementing timely, flexible, and quick e-learning methods for their continued education is imperative. Hospitals are currently focusing on developing e-learning. This study aims to explore the key factors that influence the effectiveness of e-learning in medical personnel. This study recruited medical personnel as the study participants and collected sample data by using the questionnaire survey method. This study is based on the information systems success model (IS success model), a significant model in MIS research. This study found that the factors (i.e., information quality, service quality, convenience, and learning climate) influence the e-learning satisfaction and in turn influence effectiveness in medical personnel. This study provided recommendations to medical institutions according to the derived findings, which can be used as a reference when establishing e-learning systems in the future.

  2. Application of furniture images selection based on neural network

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wang, Yong; Gao, Wenwen; Wang, Ying

    2018-05-01

    In the construction of 2 million furniture image databases, aiming at the problem of low quality of database, a combination of CNN and Metric learning algorithm is proposed, which makes it possible to quickly and accurately remove duplicate and irrelevant samples in the furniture image database. Solve problems that images screening method is complex, the accuracy is not high, time-consuming is long. Deep learning algorithm achieve excellent image matching ability in actual furniture retrieval applications after improving data quality.

  3. Self-teaching neural network learns difficult reactor control problem

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Jouse, W.C.

    1989-01-01

    A self-teaching neural network used as an adaptive controller quickly learns to control an unstable reactor configuration. The network models the behavior of a human operator. It is trained by allowing it to operate the reactivity control impulsively. It is punished whenever either the power or fuel temperature stray outside technical limits. Using a simple paradigm, the network constructs an internal representation of the punishment and of the reactor system. The reactor is constrained to small power orbits.

  4. Activity Theory and the Transformation of Pedagogic Practice

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Yamazumi, Katsuhiro

    2006-01-01

    Today, work and other societal practices are experiencing accelerating paradigm shifts from mass-production-based systems toward new systems based on networking between organizations, collaboration, and partnerships. This shift requires new paradigms in the fields of education, learning, and development. As human activity quickly changes to…

  5. Benefits of an Electronic Consultation-Liaison Note System: Better Notes Faster

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sola, Christopher L.; Bostwick, J. Michael; Sampson, Shirlene

    2007-01-01

    Objective: The authors determined the efficiency of electronic documentation in consultation-liaison psychiatry. METHOD: An electronic note system was customized for a psychiatric consultation note. Specific attention given to common diagnoses permitted rapid documentation. Results: Residents learned the system quickly. The standardized nature of…

  6. Fact Book on Higher Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Marks, Joseph L.; Diaz, Alicia A.

    2009-01-01

    The "Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) Fact Book on Higher Education" is one of the nation's most comprehensive collections of comparative data on higher education. For decades, state leaders, policy-makers, researchers and journalists have used the "Fact Book" to find useful data quickly--and to learn more about…

  7. 76 FR 35451 - Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee; Notice of Meeting

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-06-17

    ... modifications that impact a previously announced advisory committee meeting cannot always be published quickly... appropriate advisory committee hot line/phone line to learn about possible modifications before coming to the... product is for the treatment of relapsed or refractory systemic anaplastic large cell lymphoma. FDA...

  8. ViNEL: A Virtual Networking Lab for Cyber Defense Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Reinicke, Bryan; Baker, Elizabeth; Toothman, Callie

    2018-01-01

    Professors teaching cyber security classes often face challenges when developing workshops for their students: How does one quickly and efficiently configure and deploy an operating system for a temporary learning/testing environment? Faculty teaching these classes spend countless hours installing, configuring and deploying multiple system…

  9. How Quickly Do They React?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ortolano, Girolamo; Finn, Julia; Ortolano, Leonard

    2017-01-01

    In this activity, students learned scientific practices and evidence-based reasoning by formulating and testing hypotheses about factors affecting human reaction time and examining those hypotheses with data from ruler-drop tests. The project aligns with all eight of the science and engineering practices (SEP) embodied in the "Next Generation…

  10. A Practice Turn for Teacher Education?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Reid, Jo-Anne

    2011-01-01

    Within the Research Institute for Professional Practice, Learning and Education (RIPPLE) at Charles Sturt University, teacher education researchers have been quick to respond to the opportunities created by what is known as "the practice turn" that characterises contemporary theory around the globe and across disciplines. We are working,…

  11. A Special Kind of Tutor

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Anderson, Linda Brown

    2007-01-01

    Tutoring has long been recognized as superior to group instruction, especially for students with special needs. Tutors can adapt instruction to the learner's pace, learning style and level of understanding. Feedback and correction are immediate. Basic misunderstandings can be quickly identified and corrected. Tutoring also has emotional benefits:…

  12. A Pythonic Approach for Computational Geosciences and Geo-Data Processing

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Morra, G.; Yuen, D. A.; Lee, S. M.

    2016-12-01

    Computational methods and data analysis play a constantly increasing role in Earth Sciences however students and professionals need to climb a steep learning curve before reaching a sufficient level that allows them to run effective models. Furthermore the recent arrival and new powerful machine learning tools such as Torch and Tensor Flow has opened new possibilities but also created a new realm of complications related to the completely different technology employed. We present here a series of examples entirely written in Python, a language that combines the simplicity of Matlab with the power and speed of compiled languages such as C, and apply them to a wide range of geological processes such as porous media flow, multiphase fluid-dynamics, creeping flow and many-faults interaction. We also explore ways in which machine learning can be employed in combination with numerical modelling. From immediately interpreting a large number of modeling results to optimizing a set of modeling parameters to obtain a desired optimal simulation. We show that by using Python undergraduate and graduate can learn advanced numerical technologies with a minimum dedicated effort, which in turn encourages them to develop more numerical tools and quickly progress in their computational abilities. We also show how Python allows combining modeling with machine learning as pieces of LEGO, therefore simplifying the transition towards a new kind of scientific geo-modelling. The conclusion is that Python is an ideal tool to create an infrastructure for geosciences that allows users to quickly develop tools, reuse techniques and encourage collaborative efforts to interpret and integrate geo-data in profound new ways.

  13. Phonological similarity influences word learning in adults learning Spanish as a foreign language

    PubMed Central

    Stamer, Melissa K.; Vitevitch, Michael S.

    2013-01-01

    Neighborhood density—the number of words that sound similar to a given word (Luce & Pisoni, 1998)—influences word-learning in native English speaking children and adults (Storkel, 2004; Storkel, Armbruster, & Hogan, 2006): novel words with many similar sounding English words (i.e., dense neighborhood) are learned more quickly than novel words with few similar sounding English words (i.e., sparse neighborhood). The present study examined how neighborhood density influences word-learning in native English speaking adults learning Spanish as a foreign language. Students in their third-semester of Spanish language classes learned advanced Spanish words that sounded similar to many known Spanish words (i.e., dense neighborhood) or sounded similar to few known Spanish words (i.e., sparse neighborhood). In three word-learning tasks, performance was better for Spanish words with dense rather than sparse neighborhoods. These results suggest that a similar mechanism may be used to learn new words in a native and a foreign language. PMID:23950692

  14. Perceptual learning.

    PubMed

    Seitz, Aaron R

    2017-07-10

    Perceptual learning refers to how experience can change the way we perceive sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and touch. Examples abound: music training improves our ability to discern tones; experience with food and wines can refine our pallet (and unfortunately more quickly empty our wallet), and with years of training radiologists learn to save lives by discerning subtle details of images that escape the notice of untrained viewers. We often take perceptual learning for granted, but it has a profound impact on how we perceive the world. In this Primer, I will explain how perceptual learning is transformative in guiding our perceptual processes, how research into perceptual learning provides insight into fundamental mechanisms of learning and brain processes, and how knowledge of perceptual learning can be used to develop more effective training approaches for those requiring expert perceptual skills or those in need of perceptual rehabilitation (such as individuals with poor vision). I will make a case that perceptual learning is ubiquitous, scientifically interesting, and has substantial practical utility to us all. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  15. Bats without borders: Predators learn novel prey cues from other predatory species.

    PubMed

    Patriquin, Krista J; Kohles, Jenna E; Page, Rachel A; Ratcliffe, John M

    2018-03-01

    Learning from others allows individuals to adapt rapidly to environmental change. Although conspecifics tend to be reliable models, heterospecifics with similar resource requirements may be suitable surrogates when conspecifics are few or unfamiliar with recent changes in resource availability. We tested whether Trachops cirrhosus , a gleaning bat that localizes prey using their mating calls, can learn about novel prey from conspecifics and the sympatric bat Lophostoma silvicolum. Specifically, we compared the rate for naïve T. cirrhosus to learn an unfamiliar tone from either a trained conspecific or heterospecific alone through trial and error or through social facilitation. T. cirrhosus learned this novel cue from L. silvicolum as quickly as from conspecifics. This is the first demonstration of social learning of a novel acoustic cue in bats and suggests that heterospecific learning may occur in nature. We propose that auditory-based social learning may help bats learn about unfamiliar prey and facilitate their adaptive radiation.

  16. The multisensory brain and its ability to learn music.

    PubMed

    Zimmerman, Emily; Lahav, Amir

    2012-04-01

    Playing a musical instrument requires a complex skill set that depends on the brain's ability to quickly integrate information from multiple senses. It has been well documented that intensive musical training alters brain structure and function within and across multisensory brain regions, supporting the experience-dependent plasticity model. Here, we argue that this experience-dependent plasticity occurs because of the multisensory nature of the brain and may be an important contributing factor to musical learning. This review highlights key multisensory regions within the brain and discusses their role in the context of music learning and rehabilitation. © 2012 New York Academy of Sciences.

  17. A Proof Progression for Geometry

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Nirode, Wayne

    2018-01-01

    Twenty years ago when the author was student teaching, he quickly learned what geometry teachers and researchers (e.g., Senk 1985) have long known: High school geometry students struggle with proof. Throughout his career, he has tried to create instructional materials to make proof more accessible to his students. From field-testing materials with…

  18. Learning to Read Music Fluently

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Stauffer, Donald W.

    2005-01-01

    The ability to read music accurately at sight is an extremely important, if not indispensable, qualification of both professional and amateur musicians. Sight-reading can be defined as the ability to translate musical symbols and terms into a musical performance using strict time limits. The musician must quickly perceive symbols ahead while…

  19. Digitools: Hi-Tech for the Digital Generation

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Carver, Diane

    2012-01-01

    Getting students to learn new technology skills can be a challenge. After all, they know everything about computers and the Internet, right? Ninth grade students in Mrs. Aszklar's Digital Media Tools ("Digitools") class at Spanaway Junior High in Washington state quickly discovered they might not know as much as they thought. From…

  20. Problematic Internet Usage of ICT Teachers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gunduz, Semseddin

    2017-01-01

    Information and communication technologies (ICT) have affected all area in a society. Human can learn quickly and accurately from the internet. The aim of this study was to investigate what the problematic internet usage of ICT teachers. Therefore, the present study investigated the problematic internet usage, who worked as an ICT teacher in…

  1. EPA Science Matters Newsletter: Stand-by Science: EPA Helps the Nation Be Better Prepared for Emergency Response (Published November 2013)

    EPA Pesticide Factsheets

    Learn about the EPA guide (Selected Analytical Methods for Environmental Remediation and Recovery) that helps labs around the country quickly select the appropriate environmental testing and analysis methods to use after a wide-scale chemical event

  2. Teaching Technical Skills through Play.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gullion, Laurie

    The value of light-hearted play in teaching technical recreational sport skills is immense. Children as well as adults can learn more quickly and completely with a games-oriented approach. Often without realizing the hidden goal of excellent skiing or paddling, participants respond to intriguing tasks in a game, immerse themselves in good…

  3. Integrating Computer Interfaced Videodisc Systems in Introductory College Biology.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ebert-Zawasky, Kathleen; Abegg, Gerald L.

    This study was designed as a systematic investigation of the feasibility and effectiveness of student authored videodisc presentations in a non-major introductory level college biology course. Students (n=66) used a quick-learn authoring system, the Macintosh computer, and videodisc player with color monitor. Results included: (1) students managed…

  4. Academic Rigor

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tucker, James E.

    2014-01-01

    The field of K-12 deaf education today continues to be fractured by ideological camps. A newcomer to the field quickly learns that the controversies related to language, communication, and instructional approaches continue to rage after almost 200 years of contentious debate. Much attention is given to auditory and speech development as well as…

  5. Breaking Silences

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    McGarry, Robert A.

    2011-01-01

    When a gay male student began distributing letters at his high school alerting students and teachers to the antigay language in the school and teachers' lack of intervention, the letter was quickly confiscated. McGarry, an administrator in the central office, learned of the incident and of other incidents in which LGBT students and teachers were…

  6. Improving Lethal Action: Learning and Adapting in U.S. Counterterrorism Operations

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2014-09-01

    rather than being proactive and establishing the facts quickly to avoid misunderstandings. Lessons from the Uruzgan Incident The “ Swiss cheese model...of accident causation describes how problems (holes in the Swiss cheese ) can arise relatively frequently with no impact; however, when the holes all

  7. Promoting Student Achievement through Improved Health Policy. Policy Update. Vol. 22, No. 11

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Fobbs, Erima

    2015-01-01

    "Promoting Student Achievement through Improved Health Policy" is a quick primer of the [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] CDC's "Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child" model, which highlights 10 important areas for connecting health and learning: health education; physical education and physical activity;…

  8. Enhancing Student Collaboration in Global Virtual Teams

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kohut, Gary F.

    2012-01-01

    With the growth in the global economy and the rapid development of communication and information technologies, global virtual teams are quickly becoming the norm in the workplace. Research indicates, however, that many students have little or no experience working in such teams. Students who learn through these experiences benefit from higher task…

  9. Building a Brainier Mouse.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tsien, Joe Z.

    2000-01-01

    Describes a genetic engineering project to build an intelligent mouse. Cites understanding the molecular basis of learning and memory as a very important step. Concludes that while science will never create a genius mouse that plays the stock market, it can turn a mouse into a quick learner with a better memory. (YDS)

  10. Starting an e-Mentor Program

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Caron, Daniel W.

    2008-01-01

    Mentorship is a valuable learning tool. A quick search of the Internet will result in hundreds of examples of mentorship between students, teachers, and people from industry. In this article, the author describes an e-mentor program used by aerospace students at Kingswoood Regional High School in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire. The author also describes…

  11. Using the Internet To Strengthen Curriculum.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lewin, Larry

    This book helps teachers learn how to bring the Internet's World Wide Web into their classrooms and encourage students to tap into this resource. Using the dozens of examples and strategies provided, teachers can help students: use search engines effectively; quickly find Web sites and understand their content; conduct sound research; think…

  12. When You Can't Get out: "Strategies for Supporting Community-Based Instruction"

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Steere, Daniel E.; DiPipi-Hoy, Caroline

    2012-01-01

    Although community-based instruction (CBI) is an essential component of an effective educational program for students with severe disabilities, teachers frequently struggle to implement such instruction on a frequent and consistent enough basis for students to learn functional skills quickly and efficiently. This article describes evidence-based…

  13. Out of the Stone Age

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kademan, Robyn

    2005-01-01

    One of the most beneficial uses for technology in the science classroom is data manipulation. During labs and other learning experiences, students can quickly put the data they collect into spreadsheets or databases. Then they can make comparisons, create graphs, draw conclusions, sort the data in new ways, and, ultimately, give their data…

  14. Visual Elements and Container Metaphors for Multi-Media.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Howarth, Mike

    1997-01-01

    An interactive version of an educational radio program can be developed quickly and easily with a main menu interface that takes into account physical classroom conditions; interactive learning interfaces that accommodate eye and vision requirements of children; and a story interface design informed by the "container" metaphor and the 2-D…

  15. The Skipper's Course.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Coast Guard, Washington, DC.

    This book is a self-instructional program for learning boating safety rules and practices. A "quick quiz" is presented at the end of each topic of information (usually every page), and a review concludes each of the major sections, which are: (1) Prelude to Boating--overview, classes of boats, safe boat trailering; (2) Safety Afloat--presailing…

  16. Mutually Humble Collaboration in College Literacy Courses: Same Papers, Dialogical Responses

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bouchard, Don D.

    2017-01-01

    Each fall, first-year college students enter required composition courses with the expectation that they will learn the necessary skills to write competently for their collegiate careers. Quickly, students who survive and thrive discover that complex factors such as experience, academic cultural etiquette, self-regulation, and relationships with…

  17. A "Quick & Dirty" Strategic Audit

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Brawley, Dorothy E.

    2016-01-01

    In teaching Strategic Management, it is imperative that students first learn how to audit the firm before they begin analysis, planning and implementation. Unfortunately this is a step often overlooked. Without a complete and up to date audit, any analysis conducted would have questionable validity and reliability. This report focuses on an…

  18. Oleanna Math Program Smorgasbord (I).

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Coole, Walter A.

    This packet is a compilation of short units and quick review assignments used in the Oleanna Math Program at Skagit Valley College (Washington). This math program is taught in an auto-tutorial learning laboratory situation with programmed materials. Each unit of study is contained on a 5" by 8" card, which describes performance…

  19. Fishing for Learning with a Podcast Net

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hargis, Jace; Schofield, Kathleen; Wilson, David

    2008-01-01

    Communicating through the internet has quickly evolved from email, listservs, discussion boards, instant messaging, blogging and now to podcasting. Many of these communication tools have been exploited by the educational community and the latter appears to be no exception. This paper will share background on blogs and podcasts as well as…

  20. Let It Roll

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Trundle, Kathy Cabe; Smith, Mandy McCormick

    2011-01-01

    Some of children's earliest explorations focus on movement of their own bodies. Quickly, children learn to further explore movement by using objects like a ball or car. They recognize that a ball moves differently than a pushed block. As they grow, children enjoy their experiences with motion and movement, including making objects move, changing…

  1. Reinforcement Sensitivity and Responsiveness to Performance Feedback: A Preliminary Investigation

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lovett, Benjamin J.; Eckert, Tanya L.

    2009-01-01

    Variability in responsiveness to academic interventions is a common phenomenon in school psychology practice, but the variables associated with this responsiveness are not well understood. Reinforcement sensitivity, a generalized tendency to learn quickly in reward contingency situations, is one variable for increased understanding. In the present…

  2. Speed Pairs, a Spoken Exercise

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kishi, Adrienne

    2017-01-01

    While written exercises may serve students adequately on tests, the structures they emphasize can remain elusive or difficult for students to master in conversation. Students tend to interpret their difficulty in applying what they have learned as a lack of language ability, and they can quickly lose confidence when speaking. Producing a target…

  3. 78 FR 4026 - Definition of Troubled Condition

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-01-18

    ... made a difference. From cases arising in the recent financial crisis, NCUA has learned that it must be.... In some cases during the crisis, it was not possible to respond quickly enough when NCUA's CAMEL... rating by NCUA in either the Financial Risk or Risk Management composites; (2) A corporate FISCU is...

  4. Going Green Robots

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Nelson, Jacqueline M.

    2011-01-01

    In looking at the interesting shapes and sizes of old computer parts, creating robots quickly came to the author's mind. In this article, she describes how computer parts can be used creatively. Students will surely enjoy creating their very own robots while learning about the importance of recycling in the society. (Contains 1 online resource.)

  5. How Adults Read. A Staff Development Curriculum.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rance-Roney, Judith A.; Ditmars, Jane W.

    This textbook/sourcebook and accompanying trainer's guide, which were issued as part of a project to republish important staff development project reports/materials, are updated and repackaged versions of a staff development curriculum in adult literacy and learning. The first part of the sourcebook contains 20 "keys" or quick overviews…

  6. Tutoring Companies Take Over Remedial Teaching at Some Colleges.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gose, Ben

    1997-01-01

    Kaplan Educational Centers and Sylvan Learning Centers, private remedial instruction programs, are being used increasingly to move students through college remedial programs more quickly, either through oversight or teaching. One uses its own instructors; the other hires teachers already employed by client colleges. Some find the services…

  7. How quickly do breast screeners learn their skills?

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Nevisi, Hossein; Dong, Leng; Chen, Yan; Gale, Alastair G.

    2017-03-01

    The UK's Breast Screening Programme is 27 years old and many experienced breast radiologists are now retiring, coupled with an influx of new screening personnel. It is important to the ongoing Programme that new mammography readers are quickly up to the skill level of experienced readers. This raises the question of how quickly the necessary cancer detection skills are learnt. All breast screening radiologists in the UK read educational training sets of challenging FFDM images (the PERFORMS® scheme) yearly to maintain and improve their performance in real life screening. Data were examined from the PERFORMS® annual scheme for 54 new screeners, 55 screeners who have been screening for one year and also for more experienced screeners (597 screeners). Not surprisingly, significant differences in cancer detection rate were found between new readers and both of the other groups. Additionally, the performance of 48 new readers who have now been screening for about a year and have taken part twice in the PERFORMS® scheme were further examined where again a significant difference in cancer detection was found. These data imply that cancer detection skills are learnt quickly in the first year of screening. Information was also examined concerning the volume of cases participants read and other factors.

  8. Larval antlions show a cognitive ability/hunting efficiency trade-off connected with the level of behavioural asymmetry.

    PubMed

    Miler, Krzysztof; Kuszewska, Karolina; Zuber, Gabriela; Woyciechowski, Michal

    2018-05-14

    Recently, antlion larvae with greater behavioural asymmetry were shown to have improved learning abilities. However, a major evolutionary question that remained unanswered was why this asymmetry does not increase in all individuals during development. Here, we show that a trade-off exists between learning ability of larvae and their hunting efficiency. Larvae with greater asymmetry learn better than those with less, but the latter are better able to sense vibrational signals used to detect prey and can capture prey more quickly. Both traits, learning ability and hunting efficiency, present obvious fitness advantages; the trade-off between them may explain why behavioural asymmetry, which presumably stems from brain lateralization, is relatively rare in natural antlion populations.

  9. [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.

  10. Active semi-supervised learning method with hybrid deep belief networks.

    PubMed

    Zhou, Shusen; Chen, Qingcai; Wang, Xiaolong

    2014-01-01

    In this paper, we develop a novel semi-supervised learning algorithm called active hybrid deep belief networks (AHD), to address the semi-supervised sentiment classification problem with deep learning. First, we construct the previous several hidden layers using restricted Boltzmann machines (RBM), which can reduce the dimension and abstract the information of the reviews quickly. Second, we construct the following hidden layers using convolutional restricted Boltzmann machines (CRBM), which can abstract the information of reviews effectively. Third, the constructed deep architecture is fine-tuned by gradient-descent based supervised learning with an exponential loss function. Finally, active learning method is combined based on the proposed deep architecture. We did several experiments on five sentiment classification datasets, and show that AHD is competitive with previous semi-supervised learning algorithm. Experiments are also conducted to verify the effectiveness of our proposed method with different number of labeled reviews and unlabeled reviews respectively.

  11. Learning Negotiation Policies Using IB3 and Bayesian Networks

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Nalepa, Gislaine M.; Ávila, Bráulio C.; Enembreck, Fabrício; Scalabrin, Edson E.

    This paper presents an intelligent offer policy in a negotiation environment, in which each agent involved learns the preferences of its opponent in order to improve its own performance. Each agent must also be able to detect drifts in the opponent's preferences so as to quickly adjust itself to their new offer policy. For this purpose, two simple learning techniques were first evaluated: (i) based on instances (IB3) and (ii) based on Bayesian Networks. Additionally, as its known that in theory group learning produces better results than individual/single learning, the efficiency of IB3 and Bayesian classifier groups were also analyzed. Finally, each decision model was evaluated in moments of concept drift, being the drift gradual, moderate or abrupt. Results showed that both groups of classifiers were able to effectively detect drifts in the opponent's preferences.

  12. Towards Intelligent Interpretation of Low Strain Pile Integrity Testing Results Using Machine Learning Techniques.

    PubMed

    Cui, De-Mi; Yan, Weizhong; Wang, Xiao-Quan; Lu, Lie-Min

    2017-10-25

    Low strain pile integrity testing (LSPIT), due to its simplicity and low cost, is one of the most popular NDE methods used in pile foundation construction. While performing LSPIT in the field is generally quite simple and quick, determining the integrity of the test piles by analyzing and interpreting the test signals (reflectograms) is still a manual process performed by experienced experts only. For foundation construction sites where the number of piles to be tested is large, it may take days before the expert can complete interpreting all of the piles and delivering the integrity assessment report. Techniques that can automate test signal interpretation, thus shortening the LSPIT's turnaround time, are of great business value and are in great need. Motivated by this need, in this paper, we develop a computer-aided reflectogram interpretation (CARI) methodology that can interpret a large number of LSPIT signals quickly and consistently. The methodology, built on advanced signal processing and machine learning technologies, can be used to assist the experts in performing both qualitative and quantitative interpretation of LSPIT signals. Specifically, the methodology can ease experts' interpretation burden by screening all test piles quickly and identifying a small number of suspected piles for experts to perform manual, in-depth interpretation. We demonstrate the methodology's effectiveness using the LSPIT signals collected from a number of real-world pile construction sites. The proposed methodology can potentially enhance LSPIT and make it even more efficient and effective in quality control of deep foundation construction.

  13. 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

  14. Learning to Use Illumination Gradients as an Unambiguous Cue to Three Dimensional Shape

    PubMed Central

    Harding, Glen; Harris, Julie M.; Bloj, Marina

    2012-01-01

    The luminance and colour gradients across an image are the result of complex interactions between object shape, material and illumination. Using such variations to infer object shape or surface colour is therefore a difficult problem for the visual system. We know that changes to the shape of an object can affect its perceived colour, and that shading gradients confer a sense of shape. Here we investigate if the visual system is able to effectively utilise these gradients as a cue to shape perception, even when additional cues are not available. We tested shape perception of a folded card object that contained illumination gradients in the form of shading and more subtle effects such as inter-reflections. Our results suggest that observers are able to use the gradients to make consistent shape judgements. In order to do this, observers must be given the opportunity to learn suitable assumptions about the lighting and scene. Using a variety of different training conditions, we demonstrate that learning can occur quickly and requires only coarse information. We also establish that learning does not deliver a trivial mapping between gradient and shape; rather learning leads to the acquisition of assumptions about lighting and scene parameters that subsequently allow for gradients to be used as a shape cue. The perceived shape is shown to be consistent for convex and concave versions of the object that exhibit very different shading, and also similar to that delivered by outline, a largely unrelated cue to shape. Overall our results indicate that, although gradients are less reliable than some other cues, the relationship between gradients and shape can be quickly assessed and the gradients therefore used effectively as a visual shape cue. PMID:22558279

  15. The role of the U.S. Army Medical Department in domestic disaster assistance operations - lessons learned from hurricane Andrew.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1996-04-01

    Hurricane Andrew, which struck South Dade County, Florida on the morning of 24 August 1992, was the "worst natural disaster ever to hit the United States..." The capabilities of the local and state governments to respond to the disaster were quickly ...

  16. Redesigning Leadership

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Maeda, John

    2011-01-01

    When designer and computer scientist John Maeda was tapped to be president of the celebrated Rhode Island School of Design in 2008, he had to learn how to be a leader quickly. He had to transform himself from a tenured professor--with a love of argument for argument's sake and the freedom to experiment--into the head of a hierarchical…

  17. The Role of Contingency Awareness in Single-Cue Human Eyeblink Conditioning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Weidemann, Gabrielle; Best, Erin; Lee, Jessica C; Lovibond, Peter F.

    2013-01-01

    Single-cue delay eyeblink conditioning is presented as a prototypical example of automatic, nonsymbolic learning that is carried out by subcortical circuits. However, it has been difficult to assess the role of cognition in single-cue conditioning because participants become aware of the simple stimulus contingency so quickly. In this experiment…

  18. Signature Concepts of Key Researchers in North American Higher Education Teaching and Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kandlbinder, Peter

    2015-01-01

    Universities in the English-speaking world share a common ancestry that extends back to medieval times. From these beginnings universities quickly developed distinctive qualities as they became integrated within different social and cultural systems of their home societies. A number of comparisons of higher education research have shown major…

  19. Using Test Data to Find Misconceptions in Secondary Science

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Fuchs, Travis T.; Arsenault, Mike

    2017-01-01

    Students, as well as teachers, often learn what makes sense to them, even when it is wrong. These misconceptions are a problem. The authors sought a quick, quantitative way of identifying student misconceptions in secondary science. Using the University of Toronto's National Biology Competition test data, this article presents a method of quickly…

  20. Student Leadership Education in Elementary Classrooms

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hess, Lindsay

    2010-01-01

    As I began my career as a teacher, I assumed leadership education would naturally be integrated into the elementary classroom curriculum because I was intrigued by this topic. However, as I spent more time in the classroom I quickly realized leadership skills were not part of regular classroom learning or practice for elementary age students. I…

  1. Negotiating World Englishes in a Writing-Based MOOC

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    McCorkle, Ben; Halasek, Kay; Clinnin, Kaitlin; Selfe, Cynthia L.

    2016-01-01

    This article recounts the experiences of a team of faculty, graduate students, and instructional technologists facilitating Rhetorical Composing, a writing-focused Massive Open Online Course (MOOC). When first offering the MOOC, we recognized quickly that we needed to emphasize the global makeup of our learning cohort to foster a stronger sense of…

  2. Psychosemiotics and Libraries: Identifying Signways in Library Informational Guides, Games, and Tutorials

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Laster, Barbara; Blummer, Barbara; Kenton, Jeffrey M.

    2010-01-01

    Tutorials and digital learning objects provide librarians a quick, concise mechanism for delivering information and training on a wide range of library topics. The semiotic theory promoted by Charles Sanders Peirce (Wiener, 1958) and Howard Smith (2005) contains implications for enhancing the effectiveness of library tutorials through the…

  3. Quick Guide on Making School Climate Improvements. School Climate Improvement Resource Package

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    National Center on Safe Supportive Learning Environments, 2016

    2016-01-01

    Students learn best when they are in environments in which they feel safe, supported, challenged, and accepted. In addition, environments that have strong school climates foster the social, emotional, and academic well-being of all students. Research shows that when schools and districts effectively focus on improving school climate, students are…

  4. Supporting the Supporter

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Apel, Laura

    2008-01-01

    Stacy Kane Greenzeig knows that being the parent of a child with special needs is a difficult, time consuming, emotionally draining, and a selfless job. As the mother of a son with disabilities, she has faced the challenges first hand and learned quickly that researching treatments, visiting doctors' offices, and working to help her child in any…

  5. Survey Tools for Faculty to Quickly Assess Multidisciplinary Team Dynamics in Capstone Courses

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Solnosky, Ryan; Fairchild, Joshua

    2017-01-01

    Many engineering faculty have limited skills and/or assessment tools to evaluate team dynamics in multidisciplinary team-based capstone courses. Rapidly deployable tools are needed here to provide proactive feedback to teams to facilitate deeper learning. Two surveys were developed based on industrial and organizational psychology theories around…

  6. Lessons Learned from an Elementary School Norovirus Outbreak

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gomez, Eileen Button

    2008-01-01

    Outbreaks of norovirus have been on the increase. The virus often spreads quickly through schools and similar institutions. The school nurse may be able to minimize the impact of a school norovirus outbreak by providing accurate information about the disease, the scope of the local situation, and instruction on infection control measures. This…

  7. The Peer Counselor's Pocket Book.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sturkie, Joan; Gibson, Valerie

    Peer counselors are individuals who have been trained in communication skills and who have learned how to apply these skills in helping another person. This booklet was written by a peer counselor and peer counseling teacher to fill a frequently expressed need for a quick, easy-to-read reference. Its purpose is to make available to peer counselors…

  8. It's a Matter of Principle

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Furlong, Cerys

    2010-01-01

    As the new Minister for Education, Lifelong Learning and Skills and Wales, Leighton Andrews takes his first major decision, that is, commissioning a review of the cost of administering education in Wales with the aim of establishing "quick wins" from the costs of administering education. The author argues that plans to review the cost of…

  9. Health Informatics Program Design and Outcomes: Learning from an Early Offering at a Mid-Level University

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Parker, Kevin R.; Srinivasan, Sankara Subramanian; Houghton, Robert F.; Kordzadeh, Nima; Bozan, Karoly; Ottaway, Thomas; Davey, Bill

    2017-01-01

    Curriculum development is particularly challenging in computing-related disciplines as the computing industry changes more quickly than most. As information technology degrees have become relatively pervasive, some institutions that offer information systems degrees have recognized a need to develop specialist studies in information systems. This…

  10. Learning Value at Senior High School Al-Kautsar Lampung for the Formation of Character

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Anwar, Chairul

    2015-01-01

    Globalization process went very quickly and move brings tremendous impact and implications for life, including educational institutions. Objectively, students in public schools and private are increasingly far deviated from the values of religious and moral values, the brawl between students, pornography and pornographic, played by students, abuse…

  11. Berkeley Lab Training

    Science.gov Websites

    Berkeley Lab Berkeley Lab A-Z Index Phone Book Jobs Search DOE Help Berkeley Lab Training Welcome Welcome to Berkeley Lab Training! Login to access your LBNL Training Profile. This provides quick access to all of the courses you need. Look below, to learn about different types of training available at

  12. A Sports Franchise Simulation Game

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Surdam, David G.

    2009-01-01

    Students in sports economics courses might better learn the basic concepts by running their own franchise. A simple game, based on the card game War, is easy and inexpensive to implement. Students quickly grasp the importance of weighing marginal benefits, both in terms of team record and marginal revenue, against the costs of improving their…

  13. Using Film to Illustrate Theory: A Case Study of "High Fidelity"

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Thompson-Hayes, Marceline; Moore, Nerma

    2012-01-01

    As noted by Proctor (1999), "a quick perusal of communication textbooks, instructors manuals, and conference papers suggests that film use is common in contemporary communication courses." One reason the use of film is popular is that it can engage students in higher learning processes such as applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and evaluating…

  14. Helping Students Get Back on Track

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dillon, Robert

    2006-01-01

    The pressure to keep kids in class and learning is always present for principals and assistant principals, but students who are removed for inappropriate behavior on a regular or chronic basis are a particular challenge. Such students move through the traditional consequences and quickly exhaust alternative and creative ideas to return them to the…

  15. COPD Learn More Breathe Better® | NIH MedlinePlus the Magazine

    MedlinePlus

    ... this may be related to COPD. SUGGEST AN OFFICE VISIT A doctor or health care provider can diagnose COPD with a simple breathing test called spirometry. It's quick, painless—and worth it. ENCOURAGE YOUR LOVED ONE TO BE A GOOD "MANAGER." Once diagnosed, there are many ways that your ...

  16. Using the Internet to Facilitate Career Choices in Psychology-Related Fields

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Golding, Jonathan M.; Lippert, Anne M.; Malik, Sarah E.

    2018-01-01

    Career planning for psychology majors has broadened to include a diverse array of opportunities (e.g., medicine, law, education, government, and military). The Internet has made it possible for students to learn about and quickly obtain information regarding these new career options. This article describes various career resources on the Internet…

  17. Changing Methods and Mindsets: Lessons from Innovate NYC

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hodas, Steven

    2016-01-01

    As schools and classrooms explore technology-based, student-centered, personalized approaches to teaching and learning, their efforts to innovate can be hamstrung by archaic district operating systems that do not allow them to take advantage of new technologies, to work with smaller startup companies, or to quickly make and implement decisions.…

  18. Inertial Navigation: A Bridge between Kinematics and Calculus

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sadler, Philip M.; Garfield, Eliza N.; Tremblay, Alex; Sadler, Daniel J.

    2012-01-01

    Those who come to Cambridge soon learn that the fastest route between Harvard and MIT is by the subway. For many students, this short ride is a quick and easy way to link physics and calculus. A simple, homemade accelerometer provides all the instrumentation necessary to produce accurate graphs of acceleration, velocity, and displacement position…

  19. From Know How to Do Now: Instructional Applications of Simulated Interactions within Teacher Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dotger, Benjamin H.

    2011-01-01

    The induction years of teaching challenge novice educators to quickly transition from what they learned as teacher candidates into what they can do as emerging professionals. This article outlines a simulated interaction methodology to help bridge teacher preparation and practice. Building from examples of simulated interactions between teacher…

  20. LULAC: Mexican-American Adult Learning, Collectivism, and Social Movement

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rook, Brian W.

    2013-01-01

    The development of the League of United Latino American Citizens (LULAC) is often viewed as a method of cultural assimilation through adult education. However, LULAC can be viewed through a collectivist's lens wherein the members established a shared philosophy, teaching adults to mobilize and expand their cause quickly and effectively. The social…

  1. The Picture Exchange Communication System: Communicative Outcomes for Young Children with Disabilities.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Schwartz, Ilene S.; Garfinkle, Ann N.; Bauer, Janet

    1998-01-01

    Presents two studies documenting the use of the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) for 31 preschool children with severe disabilities. Initial findings indicated the children could learn to use PECS quickly and efficiently. The second study, which included 18 participants, found that PECS use generalized to untrained settings. (Author/CR)

  2. Ten Tips for Organizing a Competitive Events Conference

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Givens, Ron

    2005-01-01

    The first year of coordinating a local Technology Student Association (TSA) leadership conference is the most challenging. An organizer will quickly learn from his or her successes and failures and will make appropriate adjustments the following year. Hosting a conference requires a lot of work but it is very rewarding. The benefits of being…

  3. Active Listening Strategies of Academically Successful University Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Canpolat, Murat; Kuzu, Sekvan; Yildirim, Bilal; Canpolat, Sevilay

    2015-01-01

    Problem Statement: In formal educational environments, the quality of student listening affects learning considerably. Students who are uninterested in a lesson listen reluctantly, wanting time to pass quickly and the class to end as soon as possible. In such situations, students become passive and, though appearing to be listening, will not use…

  4. Programming for Fun: MUDs as a Context for Collaborative Learning.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bruckman, Amy

    Multi-User Dungeons (MUDs), are text-based virtual reality environments in which participants separated by great physical distances can communicate and collaborate in programming. Most MUDs started out as adventure games but are quickly being adapted for more "serious" endeavors. This paper presents a case study of the experiences of a…

  5. EBOOK.EXE: A Desktop Authoring Tool for HURAA.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hu, Xiangen; Mathews, Eric; Graesser, Arthur C.; Susarla, Suresh

    The development of authoring tools for intelligent systems is an important step for creating, maintaining, and structuring content in a quick and easy manner. It has the benefit of allowing for a rapid change to new domains or topics for tutoring. The development of such tools requires functional control, access protection, ease of learning, and…

  6. Visual Teaching Model for Introducing Programming Languages

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Shehane, Ronald; Sherman, Steven

    2014-01-01

    This study examines detailed usage of online training videos that were designed to address specific course problems that were encountered in an online computer programming course. The study presents the specifics of a programming course where training videos were used to provide students with a quick start path to learning a new programming…

  7. 12 Things Teachers Must Know about Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Page, Bill

    2010-01-01

    When information is presented to students, it goes into the working memory of their brain. But the information quickly fades away unless something is done to trigger its move into the brain's long-term memory where it is stored and recalled later. This article offers established facts, understandings, and practices that teachers can use to help…

  8. Using Math Menus

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Burns, Marilyn

    2016-01-01

    Math education consultant Marilyn Burns finds that teachers ask her the same three questions so often she's named them "The Big Three": What can I do with students who finish their math work more quickly?, How can I free up time to work with kids who need extra help?, and How can I differentiate math learning experiences? Burns, who…

  9. Frequency of Input Effects on Word Comprehension of Children with Specific Language Impairment.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rice, Mabel L.; And Others

    1994-01-01

    This study compared factors contributing to Quick Incidental Learning of new vocabulary by 50 5-year olds with specific language impairment (SLI) and 2 comparison groups. Although SLI children exhibited a robust representational mapping ability, performance was modulated by a minimum input constraint and apparent problems with storage into…

  10. Differentiating Instruction in the Primary Grades with the Big6[TM

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jansen, Barbara A.

    2009-01-01

    Tomlinson defines differentiated instruction as "attempts to meet students where they are in the learning process and move them along as quickly and as far as possible in the context of a mixed-ability classroom." Successful differentiation equals student engagement and understanding. Instruction can be differentiated in several ways: by student…

  11. Easy as AcHGzrjq: the Quick Letter Name Knowledge Assessment

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tortorelli, Laura S.; Bowles, Ryan P.; Skibbe, Lori E.

    2017-01-01

    A firm foundation in alphabet knowledge is critical for children learning to read. Under new literacy standards, letter name knowledge in preschool and kindergarten can function as a gatekeeper to the rest of the curriculum. Teachers need data about their students' alphabet knowledge early and often to plan differentiated instruction that moves…

  12. There's No Place Like Home

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Elrick, Mike

    2010-01-01

    The integrated program that the author teaches--the Community Environmental Leadership Program (CELP)--begins with a five-night wilderness trip. Here connections to the Earth are clear: water comes from lakes, fuel comes from trees and waste decomposes in the soil below. Students learn quickly that they shouldn't pee in the water they are…

  13. Revolving Classroom Door: Management Strategies To Eliminate the Quick Spin.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rancifer, Jesse L.

    This paper presents classroom management practices that can be used to avoid the "revolving classroom door." In the revolving classroom door, misbehaving students are sent to the principal, and eventually returned to the classroom with no gains in student behavior or opportunity for learning. The paper begins by discussing the meaning of classroom…

  14. LMS Lessons

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Freifeld, Lorri

    2010-01-01

    With technology changing every second of every day, it is no surprise a learning management system (LMS) quickly can become outdated. But it is no easy task to re-engineer a current LMS or find exactly the right new one to purchase. In this article, three 2010 Top Young Trainers share their experiences with implementing or re-engineering an…

  15. Film Library Information Management System.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Minnella, C. Vincent; And Others

    The computer program described not only allows the user to determine rental sources for a particular film title quickly, but also to select the least expensive of the sources. This program developed at SUNY Cortland's Sperry Learning Resources Center and Computer Center is designed to maintain accurate data on rental and purchase films in both…

  16. Riding the Information Highway--Towards a New Kind of Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Aro, Mikko; Olkinuora, Erkki

    2007-01-01

    In the modern world, skimming through information quickly and finding the important nuggets of knowledge from amongst the information overload is an essential skill. One way to train oneself for this kind of literacy is reading on the internet, which requires continuous assessment of search results and specifying searches. In this article a…

  17. Predictive information processing is a fundamental learning mechanism present in early development: evidence from infants.

    PubMed

    Trainor, Laurel J

    2012-02-01

    Evidence is presented that predictive coding is fundamental to brain function and present in early infancy. Indeed, mismatch responses to unexpected auditory stimuli are among the earliest robust cortical event-related potential responses, and have been measured in young infants in response to many types of deviation, including in pitch, timing, and melodic pattern. Furthermore, mismatch responses change quickly with specific experience, suggesting that predictive coding reflects a powerful, early-developing learning mechanism. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  18. Screen time and young children: Promoting health and development in a digital world.

    PubMed

    2017-11-01

    The digital landscape is evolving more quickly than research on the effects of screen media on the development, learning and family life of young children. This statement examines the potential benefits and risks of screen media in children younger than 5 years, focusing on developmental, psychosocial and physical health. Evidence-based guidance to optimize and support children's early media experiences involves four principles: minimizing, mitigating, mindfully using and modelling healthy use of screens. Knowing how young children learn and develop informs best practice strategies for health care providers.

  19. Energy recapture through deceleration - regenerative braking in electric vehicles from a user perspective.

    PubMed

    Cocron, Peter; Bühler, Franziska; Franke, Thomas; Neumann, Isabel; Dielmann, Benno; Krems, Josef F

    2013-01-01

    We report results from a 1-year field study (N = 80) on user interactions with regenerative braking in electric vehicles. Designed to recapture energy in vehicles with electric powertrains, regenerative braking has an important influence on both the task of driving and energy consumption. Results from user assessments and data from onboard data loggers indicate that most drivers quickly learned to interact with the system, which was triggered via accelerator. Further, conventional braking manoeuvres decreased significantly as the majority of deceleration episodes could only be executed through regenerative braking. Still, some drivers reported difficulties when adapting to the system. These difficulties could be addressed by offering different levels of regeneration so that the intensity of the deceleration could be individually modified. In general, the system is trusted and regarded as a valuable tool for prolonging range. Regenerative braking in electric vehicles has direct implications for the driving task. We found that drivers quickly learn to use and accept a system, which is triggered via accelerator. For those reporting difficulties in the interaction, it appears reasonable to integrate options to customise or switch off the system.

  20. Fast Adapting Ensemble: A New Algorithm for Mining Data Streams with Concept Drift

    PubMed Central

    Ortíz Díaz, Agustín; Ramos-Jiménez, Gonzalo; Frías Blanco, Isvani; Caballero Mota, Yailé; Morales-Bueno, Rafael

    2015-01-01

    The treatment of large data streams in the presence of concept drifts is one of the main challenges in the field of data mining, particularly when the algorithms have to deal with concepts that disappear and then reappear. This paper presents a new algorithm, called Fast Adapting Ensemble (FAE), which adapts very quickly to both abrupt and gradual concept drifts, and has been specifically designed to deal with recurring concepts. FAE processes the learning examples in blocks of the same size, but it does not have to wait for the batch to be complete in order to adapt its base classification mechanism. FAE incorporates a drift detector to improve the handling of abrupt concept drifts and stores a set of inactive classifiers that represent old concepts, which are activated very quickly when these concepts reappear. We compare our new algorithm with various well-known learning algorithms, taking into account, common benchmark datasets. The experiments show promising results from the proposed algorithm (regarding accuracy and runtime), handling different types of concept drifts. PMID:25879051

  1. Learning strategies during clerkships and their effects on clinical performance.

    PubMed

    van Lohuizen, M T; Kuks, J B M; van Hell, E A; Raat, A N; Cohen-Schotanus, J

    2009-11-01

    Previous research revealed relationships between learning strategies and knowledge acquisition. During clerkships, however, students' focus widens beyond mere knowledge acquisition as they further develop overall competence. This shift in focus can influence learning strategy use. We explored which learning strategies were used during clerkships and their relationship to clinical performance. Participants were 113 (78%) clerks at the university hospital or one of six affiliated hospitals. Learning strategies were assessed using the 'Approaches to Learning at Work Questionnaire' (deep, surface-rational and surface-disorganised learning). Clinical performance was calculated by taking the mean of clinical assessment marks. The relationship between learning strategies and clinical performance was explored using regression analysis. Most students (89%) did not clearly prefer a single learning strategy. No relationship was found between learning strategies and clinical performance. Since overall competence comprises integration of knowledge, skills and professional behaviour, we assume that students without a clear preference use more than one learning strategy. Finding no relationship between learning strategies and clinical performance reflects the complexity of clinical learning. Depending on circumstances it may be important to obtain relevant information quickly (surface-rational) or understand material thoroughly (deep). In future research we will examine when and why students use different learning strategies.

  2. Shiny cowbird parasitism in two avian communities in Puerto Rico

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Wiley, J.W.

    1985-01-01

    The shiny cowbird (M. bonariensis), a brood parasite, has recently expanded its range from South America to Puerto Rico via the Lesser Antilles. This species is a host generalist and, on reaching Puerto Rico, encounteed avian species with no history of social parasitism. In mangrove habitat study areas, 42% of the resident non-raptorial land bird species were parasitized. Some species were heavily parasitized; e.g., yellow warbler (Dendroica petechia), 76% of nests parasitized black-whiskered vireo (Vireo altiloquus), 82%, Puerto Rican flycatcher (Myiarchus antillarum), 85%, yellow-shouldered blackbird (Agelaius xanthomus), 95%, troupial (Icterus icterus), 100%, black-cowled oriole (I. dominicensis), 100%. Others suffered low rates of parasitism (2-17% of nests examined); e.g., gray kingbird (Tyrannus dominicensis), red-legged thrush (Turdus plumbeus), bronze mannikin (Lonchura cucullata), northern mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos), greater antillean grackle (Quiscalus niger). Cowbird parasitism affected hosts by depressing nest success an average of 41% below non-parasitized nests and reducing host productivity. Parasitized host nests hatched 12% fewer eggs an fledged 67% fewer of their own chicks than non-parasitized pairs.

  3. Efficient Authoring of SCORM Courseware Adapted to User Learning Style: The Case of ProPer SAT

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kazanidis, Ioannis; Satratzemi, Maya

    Online courses are the most popular way to deliver knowledge for distance learning. New researches attempt to personalize the educational process with the use of the Adaptive Educational Hypermedia Systems. Moreover, due to the significant amount of time, money and effort devoted to creating online courses, developers strive to incorporate standards, such as SCORM, for the reusability, interoperability and durability of the educational content. However, it is a difficult task for teachers without programming knowledge to design and author adaptive courses. This work presents ProPer SAT, an authoring tool implemented for quick and easy SCORM courseware construction which can also be adapted to specific user learning styles.

  4. QuickStrike ASOC Battlefield Simulation: Preparing the War Fighter to Win

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Jones, Richard L.

    2010-01-01

    The QuickStrike ASOC (Air Support Operations Center) Battlefield Simulation fills a crucial gap in USAF and United Kingdom Close Air Support (CAS) and airspace manager training. The system now provides six squadrons with the capability to conduct total-mission training events whenever the personnel and time are available. When the 111th ASOC returned from their first deployment to Afghanistan they realized the training available prior to deployment was inadequate. They sought an organic training capability focused on the ASOC mission that was low cost, simple to use, adaptable, and available now. Using a commercial off-the-shelf simulation, they developed a complete training system by adapting the simulation to their training needs. Through more than two years of spiral development, incorporating lessons learned, the system has matured, and can now realistically replicate the Tactical Operations Center (TOC) in Kabul, Afghanistan, the TOC supporting the mission in Iraq, or can expand to support a major conflict scenario. The training system provides a collaborative workspace for the training audience and exercise control group via integrated software and workstations that can easily adapt to new mission reqUirements and TOC configurations. The system continues to mature. Based on inputs from the war fighter, new capabilities have been incorporated to add realism and simplify the scenario development process. The QuickStrike simulation can now import TBMCS Air Tasking Order air mission data and can provide air and ground tracks to a common operating picture; presented through either C2PC or JADOCS. This oranic capability to practice team processes and tasks and to conduct mission rehearsals proved its value in the 111 h ASOS's next deployment. The ease of scenario development and the simple to learn and intuitive gamelike interface enables the squadrons to develop and share scenarios incorporating lessons learned from every deployment. These war fighters have now filled the training gap and have the capability they need to train to win.

  5. Work-based learning: supporting advanced perioperative practice.

    PubMed

    Quick, Julie

    2010-07-01

    The arrival of work-based learning awards in professional education offers an alternative route for healthcare professionals looking to undertake post-registration education. The unique way that work-based learning integrates individual learning needs with that of role requirements makes the award an ideal choice for the advanced perioperative practitioner (APP) who wishes to combine academic study with professional development. As an experienced and professionally qualified practitioner (Thatcher 2003) the APP will have an accumulation of knowledge, skills and experience that may go unrecognised in alternative awards. The term APP refers to a nurse, ODP or allied healthcare professional who undertakes a role that challenges the traditional boundaries of care within the perioperative environment (Radford 2004), such as that of a surgical care practitioner (SCP). Here Julie Quick, a SCP, examines the changes within post-registration education and in particular describes why work-based learning awards may be an appropriate choice for practitioners working at a higher level of practice.

  6. The Clementine mechanisms

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Purdy, William; Hurley, Michael

    1995-01-01

    The Clementine spacecraft was developed under the 'faster, better, cheaper' theme. The constraints of a low budget coupled with an unusually tight schedule forced many departures from the normal spacecraft development methods. This paper discusses technical lessons learned about several of the mechanisms on the Clementine spacecraft as well as managerial lessons learned for the entire mechanisms subsystem. A quick overview of the Clementine mission is included; the mission schedule and environment during the mechanisms releases and deployment are highlighted. This paper then describes the entire mechanisms subsystem. The design and test approach and key philosophies for a fast-track program are discussed during the description of the mechanisms subsystem. The mechanism subsystem included a marman clamp separation system, a separation nut separation system, a solar panel deployment and pointing system, a high gain antenna feed deployment system, and two separate sensor cover systems. Each mechanism is briefly discussed. Additional technical discussion is given on the marman clamp design, the sensor cover designs, and the design and testing practices for systems driven by heated actuators (specifically paraffin actuators and frangibolts). All of the other mechanisms were of conventional designs and will receive less emphasis. Lessons learned are discussed throughout the paper as they applied to the systems being discussed. Since there is information on many different systems, this paper is organized so that information on a particular topic can be quickly referenced.

  7. The Role of Motor Learning in Spatial Adaptation near a Tool

    PubMed Central

    Brown, Liana E.; Doole, Robert; Malfait, Nicole

    2011-01-01

    Some visual-tactile (bimodal) cells have visual receptive fields (vRFs) that overlap and extend moderately beyond the skin of the hand. Neurophysiological evidence suggests, however, that a vRF will grow to encompass a hand-held tool following active tool use but not after passive holding. Why does active tool use, and not passive holding, lead to spatial adaptation near a tool? We asked whether spatial adaptation could be the result of motor or visual experience with the tool, and we distinguished between these alternatives by isolating motor from visual experience with the tool. Participants learned to use a novel, weighted tool. The active training group received both motor and visual experience with the tool, the passive training group received visual experience with the tool, but no motor experience, and finally, a no-training control group received neither visual nor motor experience using the tool. After training, we used a cueing paradigm to measure how quickly participants detected targets, varying whether the tool was placed near or far from the target display. Only the active training group detected targets more quickly when the tool was placed near, rather than far, from the target display. This effect of tool location was not present for either the passive-training or control groups. These results suggest that motor learning influences how visual space around the tool is represented. PMID:22174944

  8. Investigating the use of quick response codes in the gross anatomy laboratory.

    PubMed

    Traser, Courtney J; Hoffman, Leslie A; Seifert, Mark F; Wilson, Adam B

    2015-01-01

    The use of quick response (QR) codes within undergraduate university courses is on the rise, yet literature concerning their use in medical education is scant. This study examined student perceptions on the usefulness of QR codes as learning aids in a medical gross anatomy course, statistically analyzed whether this learning aid impacted student performance, and evaluated whether performance could be explained by the frequency of QR code usage. Question prompts and QR codes tagged on cadaveric specimens and models were available for four weeks as learning aids to medical (n = 155) and doctor of physical therapy (n = 39) students. Each QR code provided answers to posed questions in the form of embedded text or hyperlinked web pages. Students' perceptions were gathered using a formative questionnaire and practical examination scores were used to assess potential gains in student achievement. Overall, students responded positively to the use of QR codes in the gross anatomy laboratory as 89% (57/64) agreed the codes augmented their learning of anatomy. The users' most noticeable objection to using QR codes was the reluctance to bring their smartphones into the gross anatomy laboratory. A comparison between the performance of QR code users and non-users was found to be nonsignificant (P = 0.113), and no significant gains in performance (P = 0.302) were observed after the intervention. Learners welcomed the implementation of QR code technology in the gross anatomy laboratory, yet this intervention had no apparent effect on practical examination performance. © 2014 American Association of Anatomists.

  9. Spatial learning and memory is preserved in rats after early development in a microgravity environment.

    PubMed

    Temple, Meredith D; Kosik, Kenneth S; Steward, Oswald

    2002-09-01

    This study evaluated the cognitive mapping abilities of rats that spent part of their early development in a microgravity environment. Litters of male and female Sprague-Dawley rat pups were launched into space aboard the National Aeronautics and Space Administration space shuttle Columbia on postnatal day 8 or 14 and remained in space for 16 days. These animals were designated as FLT groups. Two age-matched control groups remained on Earth: those in standard vivarium housing (VIV) and those in housing identical to that aboard the shuttle (AGC). On return to Earth, animals were tested in three different tasks that measure spatial learning ability, the Morris water maze (MWM), and a modified version of the radial arm maze (RAM). Animals were also tested in an open field apparatus to measure general activity and exploratory activity. Performance and search strategies were evaluated in each of these tasks using an automated tracking system. Despite the dramatic differences in early experience, there were remarkably few differences between the FLT groups and their Earth-bound controls in these tasks. FLT animals learned the MWM and RAM as quickly as did controls. Evaluation of search patterns suggested subtle differences in patterns of exploration and in the strategies used to solve the tasks during the first few days of testing, but these differences normalized rapidly. Together, these data suggest that development in an environment without gravity has minimal long-term impact on spatial learning and memory abilities. Any differences due to development in microgravity are quickly reversed after return to earth normal gravity.

  10. Spatial learning and memory is preserved in rats after early development in a microgravity environment

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Temple, Meredith D.; Kosik, Kenneth S.; Steward, Oswald

    2002-01-01

    This study evaluated the cognitive mapping abilities of rats that spent part of their early development in a microgravity environment. Litters of male and female Sprague-Dawley rat pups were launched into space aboard the National Aeronautics and Space Administration space shuttle Columbia on postnatal day 8 or 14 and remained in space for 16 days. These animals were designated as FLT groups. Two age-matched control groups remained on Earth: those in standard vivarium housing (VIV) and those in housing identical to that aboard the shuttle (AGC). On return to Earth, animals were tested in three different tasks that measure spatial learning ability, the Morris water maze (MWM), and a modified version of the radial arm maze (RAM). Animals were also tested in an open field apparatus to measure general activity and exploratory activity. Performance and search strategies were evaluated in each of these tasks using an automated tracking system. Despite the dramatic differences in early experience, there were remarkably few differences between the FLT groups and their Earth-bound controls in these tasks. FLT animals learned the MWM and RAM as quickly as did controls. Evaluation of search patterns suggested subtle differences in patterns of exploration and in the strategies used to solve the tasks during the first few days of testing, but these differences normalized rapidly. Together, these data suggest that development in an environment without gravity has minimal long-term impact on spatial learning and memory abilities. Any differences due to development in microgravity are quickly reversed after return to earth normal gravity.

  11. Using Reinforcement Learning to Provide Stable Brain-Machine Interface Control Despite Neural Input Reorganization

    PubMed Central

    Pohlmeyer, Eric A.; Mahmoudi, Babak; Geng, Shijia; Prins, Noeline W.; Sanchez, Justin C.

    2014-01-01

    Brain-machine interface (BMI) systems give users direct neural control of robotic, communication, or functional electrical stimulation systems. As BMI systems begin transitioning from laboratory settings into activities of daily living, an important goal is to develop neural decoding algorithms that can be calibrated with a minimal burden on the user, provide stable control for long periods of time, and can be responsive to fluctuations in the decoder’s neural input space (e.g. neurons appearing or being lost amongst electrode recordings). These are significant challenges for static neural decoding algorithms that assume stationary input/output relationships. Here we use an actor-critic reinforcement learning architecture to provide an adaptive BMI controller that can successfully adapt to dramatic neural reorganizations, can maintain its performance over long time periods, and which does not require the user to produce specific kinetic or kinematic activities to calibrate the BMI. Two marmoset monkeys used the Reinforcement Learning BMI (RLBMI) to successfully control a robotic arm during a two-target reaching task. The RLBMI was initialized using random initial conditions, and it quickly learned to control the robot from brain states using only a binary evaluative feedback regarding whether previously chosen robot actions were good or bad. The RLBMI was able to maintain control over the system throughout sessions spanning multiple weeks. Furthermore, the RLBMI was able to quickly adapt and maintain control of the robot despite dramatic perturbations to the neural inputs, including a series of tests in which the neuron input space was deliberately halved or doubled. PMID:24498055

  12. Evaluation of drug interaction microcomputer software: Dambro's Drug Interactions.

    PubMed

    Poirier, T I; Giudici, R A

    1990-01-01

    Dambro's Drug Interactions was evaluated using general and specific criteria. The installation process, ease of learning and use were rated excellent. The user documentation and quality of the technical support were good. The scope of coverage, clinical documentation, frequency of updates, and overall clinical performance were fair. The primary advantages of the program are the quick searching and detection of drug interactions, and the attempt to provide useful interaction data, i.e., significance and reference. The disadvantages are the lack of current drug interaction information, outdated references, lack of evaluative drug interaction information, and the inability to save or print patient profiles. The program is not a good value for the pharmacist but has limited use as a quick screening tool.

  13. Working with Planetary-Scale Data in the Cloud

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Flasher, J.

    2017-12-01

    When data is shared on AWS, it can be analyzed using AWS on-demand computing resources quickly and efficiently. Users can work with any amount of data without needing to download it or store their own copies. When heavy data like imagery, genomics data, or volumes of sensor data are available in AWS's cloud, the time required to copy the data to a virtual server for analysis is virtually eliminated. AWS's global infrastructure allows data providers to make their data available worldwide and ensure quick access to critical data from anywhere. In this session, we will share lessons learned from our experience supporting a global community of entrepreneurs, students and researchers by making petabytes of data freely available for anyone to use in the cloud.

  14. The MaizeGDB Genome Browser Tutorial: One example of database outreach to biologists via video

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Video tutorials are an effective way for researchers to quickly learn how to use online tools offered by biological databases. At the Maize Genetics and Genomics Database (MaizeGDB), we have developed a number of video tutorials that aim to demonstrate how to use various tools as well as to explici...

  15. SFA Ombudsman Serving Students. Interim Report, September 1999 to March 2000.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Department of Education, Washington, DC. Student Financial Assistance.

    This 6-page pamphlet shares what the Student Financial Assistance (SFA) Office of the Ombudsman has learned from cases it has handled. An initial section offers information on the case management process, noting that the ombudsman process depends on the case's complexity and that many are revolved quickly. Next, it examines customer-reported case…

  16. Using comics to increase literacy and assess student learning

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Schwaller, Terry

    2013-02-01

    Formative assessment strategies and the integration of literacy pose two of the many hurdles teachers face. With the pressure of standardized test scores hanging over everyone's heads, finding class time to integrate these essential strategies is at a premium. By integrating comics with quick, formative written assessment, you can kill the proverbial two birds with one stone.

  17. Update on State-Wide School Finance Cases. School Finance Project.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Washington, DC.

    In May 1974, the School Finance Project of the Lawyers' Committee published a Summary of State-Wide School Finance Cases. Its purpose was to provide an overview of the field so that interested persons could quickly learn the status of school finance litigation in the several states. This was accomplished by tracing the procedural history of each…

  18. Designing and Experimenting of English Instructional Material for Facilitating Constructivist Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sharma, Ritu

    2011-01-01

    Background: Constructivism has emerged as one of the greatest influences on the practice of education in the last twenty-five years. Teachers have embraced constructivist-based pedagogy with an enthusiasm that is rare in these days of quick fixes and a shopping mall approach to school improvement. For many teachers, the focus on constructing…

  19. Gold from the South: Hispanic Literature.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Fuchs, Lucy

    New Hispanic immigrants to the United States bring with them a different world view and a desire to succeed in a new country. They also find resistance to their presence, prejudice against their language, and ignorance of their customs on the part of many older, more settled Americans. In addition, children quickly learn that their old customs are…

  20. QRIS and Inclusion: Do State QRIS Standards Support the Learning Needs of All Children? CEELO FastFact

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Horowitz, Michelle; Squires, Jim

    2014-01-01

    As the country quickly builds its efforts to enhance quality in early education and care classrooms, states are implementing Quality Rating and Improvement Systems (QRIS) to recognize and improve the quality of programs. QRIS also provides technical support and increased financial benefits for participating programs to attain higher levels of…

  1. Investigating the Role of Human Resources in School Turnaround: Evidence from Two States

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hansen, Michael

    2012-01-01

    Teachers are generally recognized as the schooling factor accounting for the highest proportion of student learning outcomes (Aaronson et al., 2007; Hanushek, 1986). This implies the quick and dramatic improvement in school performance observed in turnaround (TA) schools was associated with a major change in the performance of its teachers. This…

  2. Tools for Using Citizen Science in Environmental, Agricultural, and Natural Resources Extension Programs

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Stofer, Kathryn A.

    2017-01-01

    Citizen science is quickly becoming a valuable tool in the Extension professional's tool kit. This is the case whether you are a 4-H agent looking to involve youth in agriscience and agriculture-related science, technology, engineering, and math experiential learning activities or an agriculture and natural resources agent seeking to help…

  3. The Development of Cortical Sensitivity to Visual Word Forms

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ben-Shachar, Michal; Dougherty, Robert F.; Deutsch, Gayle K.; Wandell, Brian A.

    2011-01-01

    The ability to extract visual word forms quickly and efficiently is essential for using reading as a tool for learning. We describe the first longitudinal fMRI study to chart individual changes in cortical sensitivity to written words as reading develops. We conducted four annual measurements of brain function and reading skills in a heterogeneous…

  4. Relationship-Based Infant Care: Responsive, on Demand, and Predictable

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Petersen, Sandra; Wittmer, Donna

    2008-01-01

    Young babies are easily overwhelmed by the pain of hunger or gas. However, when an infant's day is filled with caregiving experiences characterized by quick responses to his cries and accurate interpretations of the meaning of his communication, the baby learns that he can count on being fed and comforted. He begins to develop trust in his teacher…

  5. Tamarisk Mapping and Monitoring Using High Resolution Satellite Imagery

    Treesearch

    Jason W. San Souci; John T. Doyle

    2006-01-01

    QuickBird high resolution multispectral satellite imagery (60 cm GSD, 4 spectral bands) and calibrated products from DigitalGlobe’s AgroWatch program were used as inputs to Visual Learning System’s Feature Analyst automated feature extraction software to map localized occurrences of pervasive and aggressive Tamarisk (Tamarix ramosissima), an invasive...

  6. For-Profits Fill a Niche in Mexico, but Graduates Face Dim Prospects

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ambrus, Steven

    2012-01-01

    With 16,000 graduate and undergraduate students, the International College for Experienced Learning (ICEL) is widely considered among the better for-profit universities in Mexico, where such institutions have flourished over the last 20 years by offering degrees that can be earned relatively quickly, and flexibility in terms of fee payments and…

  7. The Cat Sat on the Mat: Changing Minds, Changing Ideas

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Statham, Mick

    2013-01-01

    In this second installment of a two-part article, the author draws from coaching and research into children's learning in science to present a model for building pupils' scientific ideas quickly and effectively. In the first article, the author outlined how pupils' reading improves when they are more engaged in finding scientific…

  8. Integrating Enterprise Systems Concepts in the B-School--A Regional University Perspective

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hunt, C. Steven; Regan, Elizabeth A.; Everett, Donna R.; Green, David T.; Hunt, Darla; Becka, Patrick

    2010-01-01

    A quick look at today's business job postings and advertisements solidify that our future business graduates will be less likely to compete successfully or interview for the new corporate job openings without business process integration skills. Our credibility, reputation and visibility as an institution of higher learning is at stake--given that…

  9. No Quick Fix: Rethinking Literacy Programs in America's Elementary Schools. Language and Literacy Series.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Allington, Richard L., Ed.; Walmsley, Sean A., Ed.

    Responding to the growing consensus among researchers and educators that prevention of learning problems makes more sense than remediation, this book presents essays that suggest ways to improve literacy instruction for all children, particularly those who are at risk. Essays in the book discuss practical matters such as funding, curriculum,…

  10. Improving Foreign Language Speaking through Formative Assessment

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tuttle, Harry Grover; Tuttle, Alan Robert

    2012-01-01

    Want a quick way to get your students happily conversing more in the target language? This practical book shows you how to use formative assessments to gain immediate and lasting improvement in your students' fluency. You'll learn how to: (1) Imbed the 3-minute formative assessment into every lesson with ease; (2) Engage students in peer formative…

  11. No Quick Fixes: Problems in the Development of A-Level Students' Writing (and Learning)

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Brady, Monica

    2013-01-01

    Over the past 15 years, there has been a range of standards-driven educational interventions in England: focused particularly on students' writing, they have been targeted at particular students, short-term and based on the assumption that identifiable, quantifiable inputs would produce pre-identified, measurable outputs. This article explores one…

  12. Research on the Learning Effects of Multimedia Assisted Instruction Using Information Technology Model

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chen, Chen-Yuan

    2012-01-01

    As technology advances, whether from the previous multi-media teaching, online teaching, or now interactive whiteboard, the various changes in both hardware and software resources as well as information are very huge. The information is quickly circulating under the changes in the old and new technology, and the new knowledge has been created.…

  13. A Unique Design for High-Impact Safety and Awareness Training

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Calandra, Brendan; Harmon, Stephen W.

    2012-01-01

    The authors were asked to design and develop a large-scale, web-based learning environment that would effectively assist international aid workers in conducting their daily tasks in the field, at home and in the office in a safer and more secure fashion. The design, development and dissemination of the training needed to be done quickly,…

  14. Learning How to Construct Models of Dynamic Systems: An Initial Evaluation of the Dragoon Intelligent Tutoring System

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    VanLehn, Kurt; Wetzel, Jon; Grover, Sachin; van de Sande, Brett

    2017-01-01

    Constructing models of dynamic systems is an important skill in both mathematics and science instruction. However, it has proved difficult to teach. Dragoon is an intelligent tutoring system intended to quickly and effectively teach this important skill. This paper describes Dragoon and an evaluation of it. The evaluation randomly assigned…

  15. Toy Story: Illustrating Gender Differences in a Motor Skills Task

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Knight, Jennifer L.; Hebl, Michelle R.; Mendoza, Miriam

    2004-01-01

    To challenge students' stereotypes about gendered performance on motor skills tasks, we developed a classroom active learning demonstration. Four 3-person, same-gender teams received either a Barbie(r) doll or a Transformer(r), and team members dressed the Barbie or manipulated the Transformer from a tank to a robot as quickly as possible, with…

  16. Versatile Spaces: Using Furniture to Create Spaces for Varied Needs, Even on a Budget

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Stewart, David

    2008-01-01

    The learning landscape is changing quickly, and education institutions are hard-pressed to make sure their academic facilities are meeting the evolving needs of teachers and students. Within a universe of continual change, though, school facilities still need furniture. Furniture selection goes beyond color or size. Furniture must be flexible and…

  17. Birds of a Feather... and Clay, Wire, Tissue and Paint!

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Feiner, Lois

    2011-01-01

    What began as a review lesson in clay construction quickly became a fun learning experience filled with inspiring conversations and creatively painted birds. This lesson was successful from beginning to end, with a final reward when the artwork was displayed. The author describes the process of working on this project and shares how the students…

  18. New Teachers Search for Place in New Orleans

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zubrzycki, Jaclyn

    2013-01-01

    Derek Roguski and Hannah Sadtler came to New Orleans in 2008 through Teach For America. The competitive program provided five weeks' training and helped place them in schools, and both young teachers were eager to learn to teach and help the city's students. But they quickly found that they had more questions than answers about the schools they…

  19. After the Bell, Beyond the Walls

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Langhorst, Eric

    2007-01-01

    Today, anyone can publish text, audio, pictures, or video on the Web quickly and at no charge using blogs, wikis, podcasts, and videosharing sites like YouTube. An 8th grade American history class has taken advantage of these technologies to expand student learning. Students read books and blog about them with people who live in different states,…

  20. Youthful High School Noncompleters: Enhancing Opportunities for Employment and Education. Information Series No. 316.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Martin, Larry G.

    High school noncompletion is a complex problem that requires complex solutions that schools are often inhibited from implementing quickly. Alternative educational services are often necessary for students who are able to complete high school but who find school an unrewarding place in which to learn. A loose network of public and private programs…

  1. Assessing Second-Language Oral Proficiency for Research: The Spanish Elicited Imitation Task

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bowden, Harriet Wood

    2016-01-01

    Proficiency is a key variable in late second language (L2) learning, but one that is undermeasured in current research. This study investigates whether L2 oral proficiency can be quickly and reliably assessed via the Spanish "elicited imitation task" (EIT; Ortega, Iwashita, Rabie, & Norris, 1999). Thirty-seven L2 learners of Spanish…

  2. A Life of Learning for All

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Figel, Jan

    2009-01-01

    With the financial crisis and its fallout dominating the news headlines, there is a tendency to focus excessively on quick, short-term solutions. Urgent action is, of course, required--hence the recovery plan announced by the European Commission in November--but, in this time of crisis, people also need to make sure that they do not lose sight of…

  3. Student Solutions to Racial Conflict

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gutierrez, Richard

    2005-01-01

    According to the U.S. Department of Education, 39% of public school students were considered to be part of a minority group in 2000, as opposed to just 22% in 1972. Although the increased diversity offers many opportunities for staff members and students to learn from one another, not all members of the school community adjust quickly to a…

  4. "A" Is for Aerial Maps and Art

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Todd, Reese H.; Delahunty, Tina

    2007-01-01

    The technology of satellite imagery and remote sensing adds a new dimension to teaching and learning about maps with elementary school children. Just a click of the mouse brings into view some images of the world that could only be imagined a generation ago. Close-up aerial pictures of the school and neighborhood quickly catch the interest of…

  5. Fast-Mapping and Deliberate Word-Learning by EFL Children

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hu, Chieh-Fang

    2012-01-01

    This study examined the abilities of young English as a foreign language (EFL) learners to identify quickly new words from a nonostensive, indirect teaching context (known as fast- mapping) and their ability to commit the words to memory. Seventy-five fourth-grade EFL learners heard novel words embedded in sentences. They were then tested for…

  6. Nutrition, Exercise, and Sleep: Physiological Considerations in the Classroom for Alternative Certification Teachers. Editor's Perspective Article

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Evans, Brian R.

    2012-01-01

    Proper nutrition, adequate amounts of physical activity, and sufficient amounts of sleep are three important variables for healthy children. Alternative certification teachers quickly enter the classroom at the beginning of their programs and may encounter disengaged students who lack the energy needed for quality learning and achievement.…

  7. Safety in the Middle School Science Classroom Grades: 5 - 8

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    National Science Teachers Association (NJ3), 2004

    2004-01-01

    Conveniently designed for hanging, this colorful flipchart ensures that you have, at a glance, the latest information for preventing safety problems in today's inquiry-intensive learning environment. The front page has space for you to enter emergency phone numbers. A final checklist acts as a quick reference on some of the most important safety…

  8. Specific-Language-Impaired Children's Quick Incidental Learning of Words: The Effect of a Pause.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rice, Mabel L.; And Others

    1992-01-01

    Comparison of 2 methods of presenting novel words, either preceded by a pause or in normal prosody, on initial word comprehension of 20 5-year-old children with language impairments (and 2 control groups matched for either age or mean length of utterance) found no effect for presentation method. (Author/DB)

  9. Parent-Implemented Natural Language Paradigm to Increase Language and Play in Children with Autism

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gillett, Jill N.; LeBlanc, Linda A.

    2007-01-01

    Three parents of children with autism were taught to implement the Natural Language Paradigm (NLP). Data were collected on parent implementation, multiple measures of child language, and play. The parents were able to learn to implement the NLP procedures quickly and accurately with beneficial results for their children. Increases in the overall…

  10. You've Been Evaluated. Now What?: Use Results to Pump up Professional Learning's Potential

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hirsh, Stephanie

    2013-01-01

    This school year, countless teachers are participating in new evaluation systems. Individual teachers working on their own examining evaluation feedback will have valuable information to inform individual improvement. However, teacher evaluations have the potential to achieve more, and to do it more quickly, when they are part of a comprehensive…

  11. Masters of All They Survey

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Fredette, Michelle

    2012-01-01

    This article discusses a survey tool, known as TechQual+, which gives IT leaders a quick and easy way to gauge their departments' performance on campus and learn what matters to their constituents, including faculty, students, and staff. The idea of an IT survey tool that can be used across higher education has its skeptics, who feel that colleges…

  12. YouTube Video Project: A "Cool" Way to Learn Communication Ethics

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lehman, Carol M.; DuFrene, Debbie D.; Lehman, Mark W.

    2010-01-01

    The millennial generation embraces new technologies as a natural way of accessing and exchanging information, staying connected, and having fun. YouTube, a video-sharing site that allows users to upload, view, and share video clips, is among the latest "cool" technologies for enjoying quick laughs, employing a wide variety of corporate activities,…

  13. Towards Intelligent Interpretation of Low Strain Pile Integrity Testing Results Using Machine Learning Techniques

    PubMed Central

    Cui, De-Mi; Wang, Xiao-Quan; Lu, Lie-Min

    2017-01-01

    Low strain pile integrity testing (LSPIT), due to its simplicity and low cost, is one of the most popular NDE methods used in pile foundation construction. While performing LSPIT in the field is generally quite simple and quick, determining the integrity of the test piles by analyzing and interpreting the test signals (reflectograms) is still a manual process performed by experienced experts only. For foundation construction sites where the number of piles to be tested is large, it may take days before the expert can complete interpreting all of the piles and delivering the integrity assessment report. Techniques that can automate test signal interpretation, thus shortening the LSPIT’s turnaround time, are of great business value and are in great need. Motivated by this need, in this paper, we develop a computer-aided reflectogram interpretation (CARI) methodology that can interpret a large number of LSPIT signals quickly and consistently. The methodology, built on advanced signal processing and machine learning technologies, can be used to assist the experts in performing both qualitative and quantitative interpretation of LSPIT signals. Specifically, the methodology can ease experts’ interpretation burden by screening all test piles quickly and identifying a small number of suspected piles for experts to perform manual, in-depth interpretation. We demonstrate the methodology’s effectiveness using the LSPIT signals collected from a number of real-world pile construction sites. The proposed methodology can potentially enhance LSPIT and make it even more efficient and effective in quality control of deep foundation construction. PMID:29068431

  14. Online Learning of Genetic Network Programming and its Application to Prisoner’s Dilemma Game

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mabu, Shingo; Hirasawa, Kotaro; Hu, Jinglu; Murata, Junichi

    A new evolutionary model with the network structure named Genetic Network Programming (GNP) has been proposed recently. GNP, that is, an expansion of GA and GP, represents solutions as a network structure and evolves it by using “offline learning (selection, mutation, crossover)”. GNP can memorize the past action sequences in the network flow, so it can deal with Partially Observable Markov Decision Process (POMDP) well. In this paper, in order to improve the ability of GNP, Q learning (an off-policy TD control algorithm) that is one of the famous online methods is introduced for online learning of GNP. Q learning is suitable for GNP because (1) in reinforcement learning, the rewards an agent will get in the future can be estimated, (2) TD control doesn’t need much memory and can learn quickly, and (3) off-policy is suitable in order to search for an optimal solution independently of the policy. Finally, in the simulations, online learning of GNP is applied to a player for “Prisoner’s dilemma game” and its ability for online adaptation is confirmed.

  15. A matter of timing: harm reduction in learned helplessness.

    PubMed

    Richter, Sophie Helene; Sartorius, Alexander; Gass, Peter; Vollmayr, Barbara

    2014-11-03

    Learned helplessness has excellent validity as an animal model for depression, but problems in reproducibility limit its use and the high degree of stress involved in the paradigm raises ethical concerns. We therefore aimed to identify which and how many trials of the learned helplessness paradigm are necessary to distinguish between helpless and non-helpless rats. A trial-by-trial reanalysis of tests from 163 rats with congenital learned helplessness or congenital non-learned helplessness and comparison of 82 rats exposed to inescapable shock with 38 shock-controls revealed that neither the first test trials, when rats showed unspecific hyperlocomotion, nor trials of the last third of the test, when almost all animals responded quickly to the stressor, contributed to sensitivity and specificity of the test. Considering only trials 3-10 improved the classification of helpless and non-helpless rats. The refined analysis allows abbreviation of the test for learned helplessness from 15 trials to 10 trials thereby reducing pain and stress of the experimental animals without losing statistical power.

  16. Deep Interactive Learning with Sharkzor

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    None

    Sharkzor is a web application for machine-learning assisted image sort and summary. Deep learning algorithms are leveraged to infer, augment, and automate the user’s mental model. Initially, images uploaded by the user are spread out on a canvas. The user then interacts with the images to impute their mental model into the applications algorithmic underpinnings. Methods of interaction within Sharkzor’s user interface and user experience support three primary user tasks: triage, organize and automate. The user triages the large pile of overlapping images by moving images of interest into proximity. The user then organizes said images into meaningful groups. Aftermore » interacting with the images and groups, deep learning helps to automate the user’s interactions. The loop of interaction, automation, and response by the user allows the system to quickly make sense of large amounts of data.« less

  17. Contextual cueing: implicit learning and memory of visual context guides spatial attention.

    PubMed

    Chun, M M; Jiang, Y

    1998-06-01

    Global context plays an important, but poorly understood, role in visual tasks. This study demonstrates that a robust memory for visual context exists to guide spatial attention. Global context was operationalized as the spatial layout of objects in visual search displays. Half of the configurations were repeated across blocks throughout the entire session, and targets appeared within consistent locations in these arrays. Targets appearing in learned configurations were detected more quickly. This newly discovered form of search facilitation is termed contextual cueing. Contextual cueing is driven by incidentally learned associations between spatial configurations (context) and target locations. This benefit was obtained despite chance performance for recognizing the configurations, suggesting that the memory for context was implicit. The results show how implicit learning and memory of visual context can guide spatial attention towards task-relevant aspects of a scene.

  18. Design and Control of Large Collections of Learning Agents

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Agogino, Adrian

    2001-01-01

    The intelligent control of multiple autonomous agents is an important yet difficult task. Previous methods used to address this problem have proved to be either too brittle, too hard to use, or not scalable to large systems. The 'Collective Intelligence' project at NASA/Ames provides an elegant, machine-learning approach to address these problems. This approach mathematically defines some essential properties that a reward system should have to promote coordinated behavior among reinforcement learners. This work has focused on creating additional key properties and algorithms within the mathematics of the Collective Intelligence framework. One of the additions will allow agents to learn more quickly, in a more coordinated manner. The other will let agents learn with less knowledge of their environment. These additions will allow the framework to be applied more easily, to a much larger domain of multi-agent problems.

  19. Intelligent fault-tolerant controllers

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Huang, Chien Y.

    1987-01-01

    A system with fault tolerant controls is one that can detect, isolate, and estimate failures and perform necessary control reconfiguration based on this new information. Artificial intelligence (AI) is concerned with semantic processing, and it has evolved to include the topics of expert systems and machine learning. This research represents an attempt to apply AI to fault tolerant controls, hence, the name intelligent fault tolerant control (IFTC). A generic solution to the problem is sought, providing a system based on logic in addition to analytical tools, and offering machine learning capabilities. The advantages are that redundant system specific algorithms are no longer needed, that reasonableness is used to quickly choose the correct control strategy, and that the system can adapt to new situations by learning about its effects on system dynamics.

  20. Form–meaning links in the development of visual word recognition

    PubMed Central

    Nation, Kate

    2009-01-01

    Learning to read takes time and it requires explicit instruction. Three decades of research has taught us a good deal about how children learn about the links between orthography and phonology during word reading development. However, we have learned less about the links that children build between orthographic form and meaning. This is surprising given that the goal of reading development must be for children to develop an orthographic system that allows meanings to be accessed quickly, reliably and efficiently from orthography. This review considers whether meaning-related information is used when children read words aloud, and asks what we know about how and when children make connections between form and meaning during the course of reading development. PMID:19933139

  1. Tried and True: Self-Regulation Theory as a Guiding Framework for Teaching Parents Diabetes Education Using Human Patient Simulation

    PubMed Central

    Sullivan-Bolyai, Susan; Johnson, Kimberly; Cullen, Karen; Hamm, Terry; Bisordi, Jean; Blaney, Kathleen; Maguire, Laura; Melkus, Gail

    2014-01-01

    Parents become emotionally upset when learning their child has Type 1 Diabetes, yet they are expected to quickly learn functional diabetes management. The purpose of this article is to describe the application of Self-Regulation theory to guide a family-focused education intervention using human patient simulation to enhance the initial education of parents in diabetes management. A brief description is provided of the intervention framed by Self-Regulation theory. Based on the literature, we describe the educational vignettes used based on Self-Regulation in the randomized controlled trial entitled Parent Education Through Simulation-Diabetes. Examples of theory-in-practice will be illustrated by parental learning responses to this alternative educational innovation. PMID:25365286

  2. Some problems with the design of self-learning management systems

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Flikop, Ziny

    1992-01-01

    In this paper some problems in the design of management systems for complex objects are discussed. Considering the absence of adequate models and the fact that human expertise in the management of non-stationary objects becomes obsolete quickly, the use of self-learning together with a two-step optimization of on-line control rules is suggested. To prepare for the object analysis, a set of definitions has been proposed. Traditional and fuzzy sets approaches are used in the analysis. To decrease the reaction time of the control system, we propose the development of control rules without feedback.

  3. Changing viewer perspectives reveals constraints to implicit visual statistical learning.

    PubMed

    Jiang, Yuhong V; Swallow, Khena M

    2014-10-07

    Statistical learning-learning environmental regularities to guide behavior-likely plays an important role in natural human behavior. One potential use is in search for valuable items. Because visual statistical learning can be acquired quickly and without intention or awareness, it could optimize search and thereby conserve energy. For this to be true, however, visual statistical learning needs to be viewpoint invariant, facilitating search even when people walk around. To test whether implicit visual statistical learning of spatial information is viewpoint independent, we asked participants to perform a visual search task from variable locations around a monitor placed flat on a stand. Unbeknownst to participants, the target was more often in some locations than others. In contrast to previous research on stationary observers, visual statistical learning failed to produce a search advantage for targets in high-probable regions that were stable within the environment but variable relative to the viewer. This failure was observed even when conditions for spatial updating were optimized. However, learning was successful when the rich locations were referenced relative to the viewer. We conclude that changing viewer perspective disrupts implicit learning of the target's location probability. This form of learning shows limited integration with spatial updating or spatiotopic representations. © 2014 ARVO.

  4. Instructor-Designed Tutorials--Meeting the Needs of Our Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Brichta, J. P.; Bizheva, K.; Sanderson, J. H.; Holbrook, J.

    2009-01-01

    We have developed an easy-to-use online tutorial generator designed to allow instructors to make tutorials quickly and with a minimal learning curve. The motivation was to create a generator that would allow instructors to create tutorials as needed and possibly build up a bank of tutorials over a number of years. A key design feature of the…

  5. Equality of Educational Opportunity, Merit and the New Zealand Education System

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Seve-Williams, Nuhisifa

    2013-01-01

    Pacific students in New Zealand (NZ) quickly learn that they are not very smart. The statistics tell them this. They also come to believe that they do not try very hard. The talk of equal opportunities tells them this, especially when it is coupled with negative statistics. This is not surprising. Education in NZ has been embedded in notions of…

  6. An Exit Strategy for School Safety

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kennedy, Mike

    2011-01-01

    When a new school facility opens, most of the staff and students are eager to get inside quickly and check out the new surroundings and all the cool stuff that will make their days of teaching and learning more comfortable and enjoyable. In their excitement, they are unlikely to pay much attention to what every one of them has to pass through to…

  7. Examining the Use of Spacing Effect to Increase the Efficiency of Incremental Rehearsal

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Swehla, Sarah E.; Burns, Matthew K.; Zaslofsky, Anne F.; Hall, Matthew S.; Varma, Sashank; Volpe, Robert J.

    2016-01-01

    Incremental rehearsal (IR) is a highly effective intervention that uses high repetition and a high ratio of known to unknown items with linearly spaced known items between the new items. It has been hypothesized that narrowly spaced practice would result in quick learning, whereas items that are widely spaced would result in longer-term retention.…

  8. Plug Your Users into Library Resources with OpenSearch Plug-Ins

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Baker, Nicholas C.

    2007-01-01

    To bring the library catalog and other online resources right into users' workspace quickly and easily without needing much more than a short XML file, the author, a reference and Web services librarian at Williams College, learned to build and use OpenSearch plug-ins. OpenSearch is a set of simple technologies and standards that allows the…

  9. Is There Life after Facebook? The Cyber Gulag Revisited and Debate Reloaded

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bajrektarevic, Anis

    2012-01-01

    Misled by a quick triumphalism of the social media, the international news agencies have confused the two: revolt and revolution. The past episodes of unrest started as a social, not a political, public revolt. Through the pain of sobriety, the protesters are learning that neither globalisation nor the McFB way of life is a shortcut to…

  10. WWC Quick Review of the Report: "Scaling Up SimCalc Project: Can a Technology Enhanced Curriculum Improve Student Learning of Important Mathematics?"

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    What Works Clearinghouse, 2008

    2008-01-01

    This study examines whether "SimCalc Mathworlds"[TM] improves students' knowledge of the algebra concepts of rate and proportionality. Strengths: The study is a well implemented randomized controlled trial (RCT) with acceptable sample attrition rates and no indications of other problems. Cautions: The study authors describe a rigorous…

  11. Two Parts Reflection, One Part Selfie: A Visual Alternative to the Minute Paper

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Meehlhause, Kellie

    2016-01-01

    For almost 40 years, the Minute Paper has been a quick and easy means of learning assessment, both in the college classroom and in library instruction. More recently, the use of social media, particularly selfies, has gained popularity by connecting with students through the technology with which they are most familiar. This article makes the case…

  12. Computer Assisted Reading in German as a Foreign Language, Developing and Testing an NLP-Based Application

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wood, Peter

    2011-01-01

    "QuickAssist," the program presented in this paper, uses natural language processing (NLP) technologies. It places a range of NLP tools at the disposal of learners, intended to enable them to independently read and comprehend a German text of their choice while they extend their vocabulary, learn about different uses of particular words,…

  13. Using Words Instead of Jumbled Characters as Stimuli in Keyboard Training Facilitates Fluent Performance

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    DeFulio, Anthony; Crone-Todd, Darlene E.; Long, Lauren V.; Nuzzo, Paul A.; Silverman, Kenneth

    2011-01-01

    Keyboarding skill is an important target for adult education programs due to the ubiquity of computers in modern work environments. A previous study showed that novice typists learned key locations quickly but that fluency took a relatively long time to develop. In the present study, novice typists achieved fluent performance in nearly half the…

  14. Evaluating of the Impact of Hybrid/Blended Instructional Design on Muslim Student Performance Scores in a Traditional On-Campus Course

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rawlins, Troy A.; Ali, Rifath

    2017-01-01

    A traditional classroom atmosphere, creates a paradigm in which university professors must be able to quickly identify and accommodate differences among student-learning needs to achieve favorable academic performance scores while simultaneously working within university policies regarding course deviation(s) or alteration(s) in dates and times.…

  15. What Works Clearinghouse Quick Review: "Academic Music: Music Instruction to Engage Third-Grade Students in Learning Basic Fraction Concepts"

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    What Works Clearinghouse, 2012

    2012-01-01

    The study examined the effectiveness of an intervention designed to teach mathematical concepts through music. Specifically, it investigated the effect of the intervention on third-grade students' understanding of fractions. Sixty-seven students from one northern California elementary school participated in the study over a period of six weeks; of…

  16. Quick, Easy Method to Show Living Soil Organisms to High School or Beginning-Level College Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Loynachan, Thomas E.

    2006-01-01

    The living component of soil is difficult for students to learn about and understand because students have difficulty relating to things they cannot see (beyond sight, beyond mind). Line drawings from textbooks help explain conceptual relationships but do little to stimulate an active interest in the living component of soil. Alternatively,…

  17. Freeing the Language Learner: The How and Why of a More Powerful Vocabulary.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hughey, Jane B.; Wormuth, Deanna R.

    College and university students in English as a second language classes need to acquire an active and fairly extensive vocabulary rather quickly. Methods of learning such as analysis and memorization of word lists, word building, and dictionary use can be combined with methods of gaining vocabulary by becoming familiar with it and using it in…

  18. Can the Performance Gap between Immigrant and Non-Immigrant Students Be Closed? PISA in Focus. No. 53

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    OECD Publishing, 2015

    2015-01-01

    Many children with an immigrant background face enormous challenges at school: they need to quickly adjust to different academic expectations, learn in a new language, forge a social identity that incorporates both their background and their adopted country of residence--all while often under conflicting pressures from family and peers. These…

  19. Considering the Influence of Prerequisite Performance on Wheel Spinning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wan, Hao; Beck, Joseph Barbosa

    2015-01-01

    The phenomenon of wheel spinning refers to students attempting to solve problems on a particular skill, but becoming stuck due to an inability to learn the skill. Past research has found that students who do not master a skill quickly tend not to master it at all. One question is why do students wheel spin? A plausible hypothesis is that students…

  20. Leadership A to Z: A Guide for the Appropriately Ambitious. Jossey-Bass Business & Management Series.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    O'Toole, James

    This book identifies what leaders need to do to create high-performing, self-renewing organizations. The emphasis is on action rather than theory, and the short passages are designed for quick perusal. The book emphasizes the notion that most elements of leadership can be learned; the only inherent character trait needed for effective leadership…

  1. The Retarding Force on a Fan-Cart Reversing Direction

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Aurora, Tarlok S.; Brunner, Bernard J.

    2011-01-01

    In introductory physics, students learn that an object tossed upward has a constant downward acceleration while going up, at the highest point and while falling down. To demonstrate this concept, a self-propelled fan cart system is used on a frictionless track. A quick push is given to the fan cart and it is allowed to move away on a track under…

  2. Teach the Way They Learn: 62 Easy, Engaging, & Effective Language Arts Activities

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hines, Joanne I; Vincent, Pamela J.

    2005-01-01

    This book focuses on quick and easy language arts activities to inspire and motivate students in kindergarten to sixth grades. Ingenious ideas appeal to children's enthusiasm for games, parades, race cars, their own names, and much more. The activities cost little or nothing. They engage young learners, and they work! This book is perfect for a…

  3. Dr. Mashup or, Why Educators Should Learn to Stop Worrying and Love the Remix

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lamb, Brian

    2007-01-01

    A music track that lays a vocal from Madonna over guitars from the Sex Pistols. A classroom portal that presents automatically updated syndicated resources from the campus library, news sources, student events, weblogs, and podcasts and that was built quickly using free tools. A Web site that takes crime data from the Chicago Police and applies…

  4. Positioning as Not-Understanding: The Value of Showing Uncertainty for Engaging in Science

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Watkins, Jessica; Hammer, David; Radoff, Jennifer; Jaber, Lama Z.; Phillips, Anna M.

    2018-01-01

    Not understanding is central to scientific work: what scientists do is learn about the natural world, which involves seeking out what they do not know. In classrooms, however, the position of not-understanding is generally a liability; confusion is an unfortunate condition to resolve as quickly as possible, or to conceal. In this article, we argue…

  5. Teaching Interrupted. Do Discipline Policies in Today's Public Schools Foster the Common Good?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Public Agenda, 2004

    2004-01-01

    Too many students are losing critical opportunities for learning,and too many teachers are leaving the profession because of the behavior of a few persistent trouble makers. What?s more, say teachers, today?s misbehaving students are quick to remind them that students have rights and their parents can sue. These are some key findings in this…

  6. Best Practices in Student Veteran Education: Making a "Veteran-Friendly" Institution

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dillard, Robert J.; Yu, Helen H.

    2016-01-01

    With the conclusion of major military engagements in Iraq and Afghanistan, U.S. institutions of higher learning are experiencing an inflow of student veterans on a scale not seen since the conclusion of World War II. In response, a large number of American colleges and universities quickly sought to exploit this glut of new students by arbitrarily…

  7. We Don't Have to Learn Anything; We Just Have to Find the Answer

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hoover, Clara

    2005-01-01

    In today's society, how many people just want to know the answer? How many students are satisfied with accepting their first Internet hit without comparing information and validating sources? How many adults do the same? With today's technology, instant gratification and completing a task as quickly as possible seem to be the norm. This article…

  8. Learning curve of speech recognition.

    PubMed

    Kauppinen, Tomi A; Kaipio, Johanna; Koivikko, Mika P

    2013-12-01

    Speech recognition (SR) speeds patient care processes by reducing report turnaround times. However, concerns have emerged about prolonged training and an added secretarial burden for radiologists. We assessed how much proofing radiologists who have years of experience with SR and radiologists new to SR must perform, and estimated how quickly the new users become as skilled as the experienced users. We studied SR log entries for 0.25 million reports from 154 radiologists and after careful exclusions, defined a group of 11 experienced radiologists and 71 radiologists new to SR (24,833 and 122,093 reports, respectively). Data were analyzed for sound file and report lengths, character-based error rates, and words unknown to the SR's dictionary. Experienced radiologists corrected 6 characters for each report and for new users, 11. Some users presented a very unfavorable learning curve, with error rates not declining as expected. New users' reports were longer, and data for the experienced users indicates that their reports, initially equally lengthy, shortened over a period of several years. For most radiologists, only minor corrections of dictated reports were necessary. While new users adopted SR quickly, with a subset outperforming experienced users from the start, identification of users struggling with SR will help facilitate troubleshooting and support.

  9. From machine learning to deep learning: progress in machine intelligence for rational drug discovery.

    PubMed

    Zhang, Lu; Tan, Jianjun; Han, Dan; Zhu, Hao

    2017-11-01

    Machine intelligence, which is normally presented as artificial intelligence, refers to the intelligence exhibited by computers. In the history of rational drug discovery, various machine intelligence approaches have been applied to guide traditional experiments, which are expensive and time-consuming. Over the past several decades, machine-learning tools, such as quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) modeling, were developed that can identify potential biological active molecules from millions of candidate compounds quickly and cheaply. However, when drug discovery moved into the era of 'big' data, machine learning approaches evolved into deep learning approaches, which are a more powerful and efficient way to deal with the massive amounts of data generated from modern drug discovery approaches. Here, we summarize the history of machine learning and provide insight into recently developed deep learning approaches and their applications in rational drug discovery. We suggest that this evolution of machine intelligence now provides a guide for early-stage drug design and discovery in the current big data era. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  10. Practice-based learning and improvement: a dream that can become a reality.

    PubMed

    Manning, Phil R

    2003-01-01

    Systematically enhancing learning from experience (practice-based learning) dominates the teachings of Sir William Osler and adult learning theorists such as Eduard Lindeman, Malcolm Knowles, and Cyril Houle. Because of time constraints, most physicians have not implemented methods that systematically facilitate learning from day-to-day work, but improvements in information technology offer the promise of making systematic practice-based learning practical. At least four ingredients need to be incorporated to significantly enhance learning from experience: a database that makes it possible to study individual practices; methods for supplying short, quick answers to questions while seeing patients; a reminder system to avoid errors of omission; and the opportunity to discuss practice data with colleagues. Great progress has been made, but significant barriers still must be overcome before a majority of physicians will participate. In particular, methods of data collection must be simplified, the delivery of point-of-care information and reminders must become more automatic, and physicians must develop skills to make the discussion of practice data acceptable, stimulating, and not unduly punitive.

  11. Wolfram technologies as an integrated scalable platform for interactive learning

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kaurov, Vitaliy

    2012-02-01

    We rely on technology profoundly with the prospect of even greater integration in the future. Well known challenges in education are a technology-inadequate curriculum and many software platforms that are difficult to scale or interconnect. We'll review an integrated technology, much of it free, that addresses these issues for individuals and small schools as well as for universities. Topics include: Mathematica, a programming environment that offers a diverse range of functionality; natural language programming for getting started quickly and accessing data from Wolfram|Alpha; quick and easy construction of interactive courseware and scientific applications; partnering with publishers to create interactive e-textbooks; course assistant apps for mobile platforms; the computable document format (CDF); teacher-student and student-student collaboration on interactive projects and web publishing at the Wolfram Demonstrations site.

  12. X-FIDO: An Effective Application for Detecting Olive Quick Decline Syndrome with Deep Learning and Data Fusion.

    PubMed

    Cruz, Albert C; Luvisi, Andrea; De Bellis, Luigi; Ampatzidis, Yiannis

    2017-01-01

    We have developed a vision-based program to detect symptoms of Olive Quick Decline Syndrome (OQDS) on leaves of Olea europaea L. infected by Xylella fastidiosa , named X-FIDO ( Xylella FastIdiosa Detector for O. europaea L.). Previous work predicted disease from leaf images with deep learning but required a vast amount of data which was obtained via crowd sourcing such as the PlantVillage project. This approach has limited applicability when samples need to be tested with traditional methods (i.e., PCR) to avoid incorrect training input or for quarantine pests which manipulation is restricted. In this paper, we demonstrate that transfer learning can be leveraged when it is not possible to collect thousands of new leaf images. Transfer learning is the re-application of an already trained deep learner to a new problem. We present a novel algorithm for fusing data at different levels of abstraction to improve performance of the system. The algorithm discovers low-level features from raw data to automatically detect veins and colors that lead to symptomatic leaves. The experiment included images of 100 healthy leaves, 99 X. fastidiosa -positive leaves and 100 X. fastidiosa -negative leaves with symptoms related to other stress factors (i.e., abiotic factors such as water stress or others diseases). The program detects OQDS with a true positive rate of 98.60 ± 1.47% in testing, showing great potential for image analysis for this disease. Results were obtained with a convolutional neural network trained with the stochastic gradient descent method, and ten trials with a 75/25 split of training and testing data. This work shows potential for massive screening of plants with reduced diagnosis time and cost.

  13. A transfer learning approach for classification of clinical significant prostate cancers from mpMRI scans

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chen, Quan; Xu, Xiang; Hu, Shiliang; Li, Xiao; Zou, Qing; Li, Yunpeng

    2017-03-01

    Deep learning has shown a great potential in computer aided diagnosis. However, in many applications, large dataset is not available. This makes the training of a sophisticated deep learning neural network (DNN) difficult. In this study, we demonstrated that with transfer learning, we can quickly retrain start-of-the-art DNN models with limited data provided by the prostateX challenge. The training data consists of 330 lesions, only 78 were clinical significant. Efforts were made to balance the data during training. We used ImageNet pre-trained inceptionV3 and Vgg-16 model and obtained AUC of 0.81 and 0.83 respectively on the prostateX test data, good for a 4th place finish. We noticed that models trained for different prostate zone has different sensitivity. Applying scaling factors before merging the result improves the AUC for the final result.

  14. Lessons learned from process incident databases and the process safety incident database (PSID) approach sponsored by the Center for Chemical Process Safety.

    PubMed

    Sepeda, Adrian L

    2006-03-17

    Learning from the experiences of others has long been recognized as a valued and relatively painless process. In the world of process safety, this learning method is an essential tool since industry has neither the time and resources nor the willingness to experience an incident before taking corrective or preventative steps. This paper examines the need for and value of process safety incident databases that collect incidents of high learning value and structure them so that needed information can be easily and quickly extracted. It also explores how they might be used to prevent incidents by increasing awareness and by being a tool for conducting PHAs and incident investigations. The paper then discusses how the CCPS PSID meets those requirements, how PSID is structured and managed, and its attributes and features.

  15. Form preferences in successive discrimination learning of young chicks.

    PubMed

    Zolman, J F; Pursley, D G; Hall, J A; Sahley, C L

    1975-12-01

    In four experiments the effects of form and orientation pecking preferences of 1- and 3-day old Vantress X Arbor Acre chicks on successive discrimination learning were determined, using heat reinforcement. Major findings were as follows: (a) The young chick has both circle and verticle orientation pecking preferences that are present during at least the first 3 days after hatching; (b) when either of these preferred cues is the nonreinforced cue, the young chick has difficulty in learning not to respond to it but learns quickly not to respond to an unpreferred cue (e.g., triangle and horizontal oriented dots or bar); and (c) these pecking preferences can be modified by heat reinforcement, and the effects of this conditioning is evidenct in subsequent extinction and retention tests. The main conclusion from these experiments is that form and orientation preferences, like brightness and color preferences, are important developmental constraints on conditioning of the young chick.

  16. Comparison of the learning curves and frustration level in performing laparoscopic and robotic training skills by experts and novices.

    PubMed

    Passerotti, Carlo C; Franco, Felipe; Bissoli, Julio C C; Tiseo, Bruno; Oliveira, Caio M; Buchalla, Carlos A O; Inoue, Gustavo N C; Sencan, Arzu; Sencan, Aydin; do Pardo, Rogerio Ruscitto; Nguyen, Hiep T

    2015-07-01

    Robotic assistance may provide for distinct technical advantages over conventional laparoscopic technique. The goals of this study were (1) to objectively evaluate the difference in the learning curves by novice and expert surgeons in performing fundamental laparoscopic skills using conventional laparoscopic surgery (CLS) and robotic-assisted laparoscopic surgery (RALS) and (2) to evaluate the surgeons' frustration level in performing these tasks. Twelve experienced and 31 novices in laparoscopy were prospectively evaluated in performing three standardized laparoscopic tasks in five consecutive, weekly training sessions. Analysis of the learning curves was based on the magnitude, rate, and quickness in performance improvement. The participant's frustration and mood were also evaluated during and after every session. For the novice participants, RALS allowed for shorter time to task completion and greater accuracy. However, significant and rapid improvement in performance as measured by magnitude, rate, and quickness at each session was also seen with CLS. For the experienced surgeons, RALS only provided a slight improvement in performance. For all participants, the use of RALS was associated with less number of sessions in which they felt frustrated, less number of frustration episodes during a session, lower frustration score during and after the session, and higher good mood score. The advantages of RALS may be of most benefit when doing more complex tasks and by less experienced surgeons. RALS should not be used as a replacement for CLS but rather in specific situations in which it has the greatest advantages.

  17. Altitude control in honeybees: joint vision-based learning and guidance.

    PubMed

    Portelli, Geoffrey; Serres, Julien R; Ruffier, Franck

    2017-08-23

    Studies on insects' visual guidance systems have shed little light on how learning contributes to insects' altitude control system. In this study, honeybees were trained to fly along a double-roofed tunnel after entering it near either the ceiling or the floor of the tunnel. The honeybees trained to hug the ceiling therefore encountered a sudden change in the tunnel configuration midways: i.e. a "dorsal ditch". Thus, the trained honeybees met a sudden increase in the distance to the ceiling, corresponding to a sudden strong change in the visual cues available in their dorsal field of view. Honeybees reacted by rising quickly and hugging the new, higher ceiling, keeping a similar forward speed, distance to the ceiling and dorsal optic flow to those observed during the training step; whereas bees trained to follow the floor kept on following the floor regardless of the change in the ceiling height. When trained honeybees entered the tunnel via the other entry (the lower or upper entry) to that used during the training step, they quickly changed their altitude and hugged the surface they had previously learned to follow. These findings clearly show that trained honeybees control their altitude based on visual cues memorized during training. The memorized visual cues generated by the surfaces followed form a complex optic flow pattern: trained honeybees may attempt to match the visual cues they perceive with this memorized optic flow pattern by controlling their altitude.

  18. Pull or Push? Octopuses Solve a Puzzle Problem

    PubMed Central

    Richter, Jonas N.; Hochner, Binyamin; Kuba, Michael J.

    2016-01-01

    Octopuses have large brains and exhibit complex behaviors, but relatively little is known about their cognitive abilities. Here we present data from a five-level learning and problem-solving experiment. Seven octopuses (Octopus vulgaris) were first trained to open an L shaped container to retrieve food (level 0). After learning the initial task all animals followed the same experimental protocol, first they had to retrieve this L shaped container, presented at the same orientation, through a tight fitting hole in a clear Perspex partition (level 1). This required the octopuses to perform both pull and release or push actions. After reaching criterion the animals advanced to the next stage of the test, which would be a different consistent orientation of the object (level 2) at the start of the trial, an opaque barrier (level 3) or a random orientation of the object (level 4). All octopuses were successful in reaching criterion in all levels of the task. At the onset of each new level the performance of the animals dropped, shown as an increase in working times. However, they adapted quickly so that overall working times were not significantly different between levels. Our findings indicate that octopuses show behavioral flexibility by quickly adapting to a change in a task. This can be compared to tests in other species where subjects had to conduct actions comprised of a set of motor actions that cannot be understood by a simple learning rule alone. PMID:27003439

  19. A Neural Circuit Model of Flexible Sensori-motor Mapping: Learning and Forgetting on Multiple Timescales

    PubMed Central

    Fusi, Stefano; Asaad, Wael F.; Miller, Earl K.; Wang, Xiao-Jing

    2007-01-01

    Summary Volitional behavior relies on the brain’s ability to remap sensory flow to motor programs whenever demanded by a changed behavioral context. To investigate the circuit basis of such flexible behavior, we have developed a biophysically-based decision-making network model of spiking neurons for arbitrary sensorimotor mapping. The model quantitatively reproduces behavioral and prefrontal single-cell data from an experiment in which monkeys learn visuo-motor associations that are reversed unpredictably from time to time. We show that when synaptic modifications occur on multiple timescales, the model behavior becomes flexible only when needed: slow components of learning usually dominate the decision process. However, if behavioral contexts change frequently enough, fast components of plasticity take over, and the behavior exhibits a quick forget-and-learn pattern. This model prediction is confirmed by monkey data. Therefore, our work reveals a scenario for conditional associative learning that is distinct from instant switching between sets of well established sensorimotor associations. PMID:17442251

  20. Abstract numerical discrimination learning in rats.

    PubMed

    Taniuchi, Tohru; Sugihara, Junko; Wakashima, Mariko; Kamijo, Makiko

    2016-06-01

    In this study, we examined rats' discrimination learning of the numerical ordering positions of objects. In Experiments 1 and 2, five out of seven rats successfully learned to respond to the third of six identical objects in a row and showed reliable transfer of this discrimination to novel stimuli after being trained with three different training stimuli. In Experiment 3, the three rats from Experiment 2 continued to be trained to respond to the third object in an object array, which included an odd object that needed to be excluded when identifying the target third object. All three rats acquired this selective-counting task of specific stimuli, and two rats showed reliable transfer of this selective-counting performance to test sets of novel stimuli. In Experiment 4, the three rats from Experiment 3 quickly learned to respond to the third stimulus in object rows consisting of either six identical or six different objects. These results offer strong evidence for abstract numerical discrimination learning in rats.

  1. A neural circuit model of flexible sensorimotor mapping: learning and forgetting on multiple timescales.

    PubMed

    Fusi, Stefano; Asaad, Wael F; Miller, Earl K; Wang, Xiao-Jing

    2007-04-19

    Volitional behavior relies on the brain's ability to remap sensory flow to motor programs whenever demanded by a changed behavioral context. To investigate the circuit basis of such flexible behavior, we have developed a biophysically based decision-making network model of spiking neurons for arbitrary sensorimotor mapping. The model quantitatively reproduces behavioral and prefrontal single-cell data from an experiment in which monkeys learn visuomotor associations that are reversed unpredictably from time to time. We show that when synaptic modifications occur on multiple timescales, the model behavior becomes flexible only when needed: slow components of learning usually dominate the decision process. However, if behavioral contexts change frequently enough, fast components of plasticity take over, and the behavior exhibits a quick forget-and-learn pattern. This model prediction is confirmed by monkey data. Therefore, our work reveals a scenario for conditional associative learning that is distinct from instant switching between sets of well-established sensorimotor associations.

  2. Hand Gesture and Mathematics Learning: Lessons From an Avatar.

    PubMed

    Cook, Susan Wagner; Friedman, Howard S; Duggan, Katherine A; Cui, Jian; Popescu, Voicu

    2017-03-01

    A beneficial effect of gesture on learning has been demonstrated in multiple domains, including mathematics, science, and foreign language vocabulary. However, because gesture is known to co-vary with other non-verbal behaviors, including eye gaze and prosody along with face, lip, and body movements, it is possible the beneficial effect of gesture is instead attributable to these other behaviors. We used a computer-generated animated pedagogical agent to control both verbal and non-verbal behavior. Children viewed lessons on mathematical equivalence in which an avatar either gestured or did not gesture, while eye gaze, head position, and lip movements remained identical across gesture conditions. Children who observed the gesturing avatar learned more, and they solved problems more quickly. Moreover, those children who learned were more likely to transfer and generalize their knowledge. These findings provide converging evidence that gesture facilitates math learning, and they reveal the potential for using technology to study non-verbal behavior in controlled experiments. Copyright © 2016 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

  3. Social interaction with non-averse group-mates modifies a learned food aversion in single- and mixed-species groups of tamarins (Saguinus fuscicollis and S. labiatus).

    PubMed

    Prescott, M J; Buchanan-Smith, H M; Smith, A C

    2005-04-01

    For social species, being a member of a cohesive group and performing activities as a coordinated unit appear to provide a mechanism for the efficient transmission of information about food. Social learning about food palatability was investigated in two captive primates, Saguinus fuscicollis and S. labiatus, which form stable and cohesive mixed-species groups in the wild. We explored whether an induced food aversion toward a preferred food is modified during and after social interaction with non-averse conspecifics or congeners. Sets of intra- and interspecific pairs were presented with two foods, one of which was considered distasteful by one of the pairs (the other was palatable), and their behavior was compared pre-interaction, during interaction, and post-interaction. For the aversely-conditioned individuals of both species, the change in social context corresponded to a change in their preference for the food that they considered unpalatable, regardless of whether they had interacted with a conspecific or congeneric pair, and the change in food preference was maintained post-interaction. In a control condition, in which averse individuals did not have the opportunity to interact with non-averse animals, S. fuscicollis sampled the preferred food, but not as quickly as when given the opportunity to interact. We conclude that the social learning demonstrated here may allow individual tamarins to track environmental change, such as fruit ripening, more efficiently than asocial learning alone, because social learners can more quickly and safely focus on appropriate behavior by sharing up-to-date foraging information. Furthermore, since the behavior of congeners, as well as conspecifics, acts to influence food choice in a more adaptive direction, social learning about food palatability may be an advantage of mixed-species group formation to tamarins of both species. Copyright 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc

  4. Mate familiarity and social learning in a monogamous lizard.

    PubMed

    Munch, Kirke L; Noble, Daniel W A; Wapstra, Erik; While, Geoffrey M

    2018-05-08

    Social learning is thought to be advantageous as it allows an animal to gather information quickly without engaging in costly trial-and-error learning. However, animals should be selective about when and whom they learn from. Familiarity is predicted to positively influence an animal's reliance on social learning; yet, few studies have empirically tested this theory. We used a lizard (Liopholis whitii) that forms long-term monogamous pair bonds to examine the effects of partner familiarity on social learning in two novel foraging tasks, an association and a reversal task. We allowed female lizards to observe trained conspecifics that were either familiar (social mate) or unfamiliar execute these tasks and compared these two groups with control females that did not receive social information. Lizards preferentially relied on trial-and-error learning in the association task. In the reversal task, lizards that were demonstrated by familiar partners learnt in fewer trials compared to control lizards and made more correct choices. Our results provide some evidence for context-dependent learning with lizards differentiating between when they utilize social learning, and, to a limited degree, whom they learnt from. Understanding the role of the social context in which learning occurs provides important insights into the benefits of social learning and sociality more generally.

  5. A Novel Clustering Method Curbing the Number of States in Reinforcement Learning

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kotani, Naoki; Nunobiki, Masayuki; Taniguchi, Kenji

    We propose an efficient state-space construction method for a reinforcement learning. Our method controls the number of categories with improving the clustering method of Fuzzy ART which is an autonomous state-space construction method. The proposed method represents weight vector as the mean value of input vectors in order to curb the number of new categories and eliminates categories whose state values are low to curb the total number of categories. As the state value is updated, the size of category becomes small to learn policy strictly. We verified the effectiveness of the proposed method with simulations of a reaching problem for a two-link robot arm. We confirmed that the number of categories was reduced and the agent achieved the complex task quickly.

  6. Parent Perception of Two Eye-Gaze Control Technology Systems in Young Children with Cerebral Palsy: Pilot Study.

    PubMed

    Karlsson, Petra; Wallen, Margaret

    2017-01-01

    Eye-gaze control technology enables people with significant physical disability to access computers for communication, play, learning and environmental control. This pilot study used a multiple case study design with repeated baseline assessment and parents' evaluations to compare two eye-gaze control technology systems to identify any differences in factors such as ease of use and impact of the systems for their young children. Five children, aged 3 to 5 years, with dyskinetic cerebral palsy, and their families participated. Overall, families were satisfied with both the Tobii PCEye Go and myGaze® eye tracker, found them easy to position and use, and children learned to operate them quickly. This technology provides young children with important opportunities for learning, play, leisure, and developing communication.

  7. Emergency Support Function 15 Standard Operating Procedures

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2013-08-01

    learned from numerous incidents to include the BP oil spill, the Fukushima nuclear incident, Hurricane Sandy and the Boston Marathon attack. Guidance is...Staffing  Operations  Activation  Incident Operations  Case Study - 2013 Boston Marathon Bombing  Case Study - 2011 Fukushima Nuclear Crisis...Quick Summary  Radiological Dispersal Device (RDD)  Improvised Nuclear Device (IND)  Federal Response  Case Studies – 2011 Fukushima Nuclear

  8. Seniors in Cyberspace. Trends and Issues Alerts.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Imel, Susan

    Approximately 15% (7.6 million) of the estimated 50.6 million U.S. citizens who browse the World Wide Web are aged 50 or older, and 30% of adults aged 55-75 own a computer. Although many older adults initially log on to the Internet as a means of connecting with friends and family, they quickly learn that it is also a valuable source of…

  9. The Professor's Guide to Taming Technology: Leveraging Digital Media, Web 2.0 and More for Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    King, Kathleen P., Ed.; Cox, Thomas D., Ed.

    2010-01-01

    This book is provided as a guide, encouragement and handbook for faculty to introduce digital media in language they can understand and provide strategies and activities they can quickly assimilate into their teaching. The authors are excited that more people will be able to benefit from the powerful help and guidance contained in this book. This…

  10. Horizons in Learning Innovation through Technology: Prospects for Air Force Education Benefits

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2010-06-10

    prototyping, and implementation. Successfully implementing disruptive innovations requires change management to help steward the identification ...systems and environments for Air Force education benefits goes beyond the identification and analysis of emerging horizons. Processes and methods...scene, a patrol area, or a suspect lineup (“Augmented- reality,” 2010). Connection to Innovation Triangle. The concepts of LVC and AR are quickly

  11. Common Core Standards for Middle School English Language Arts: A Quick-Start Guide

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kendall, John; Frazee, Dana J.; Ryan, Susan

    2012-01-01

    Go in depth on Common Core Standards for middle schools to learn how they help students build on and extend skills acquired in earlier grades and prepare them for the nuanced communication and analytical work they will encounter in high school. Getting a copy for every teacher ensures they'll know: (1) The key focus areas of the Common Core…

  12. Student Perception on a Student Response System Formed by Combining Mobile Phone and a Polling Website

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wong, Adam

    2016-01-01

    Every teacher understands the importance of getting timely student feedback for effective and efficient teaching and learning. However, students are not always keen to answer questions in the classroom in front of their peers. There is a need for an efficient method to engage all the students in a classroom and quickly evaluate the progress of…

  13. Multilingual Literacy Skill Development in Kenya: Results from Medium Scale Randomized Controlled Trials

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Piper, Benjamin

    2016-01-01

    If children do not learn how to read in the first few years of primary school, they at greater risk of dropping out. It is therefore crucial to identify and test interventions that have the potential of making a large impact, can be implemented quickly, and are affordable to be taken to scale by the Kenyan government. This paper presents the…

  14. Inclusion of Pre-Kindergarten and Other Early Childhood Staff in State Teacher Evaluation Systems. CEELO FastFacts

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Connors-Tadros, L.

    2014-01-01

    Federal Staff from the U.S. Department of Education asked the Center on Enhancing Early Learning Outcomes (CEELO) to provide information on the number of states that include prekindergarten teachers in state teacher evaluation systems. This was a quick turnaround response to a request from the Office of Management and Budget. In response to this…

  15. An Evaluative Review of Hemispheric Learning Potential

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1985-10-01

    suggests that the name response (Aa) involves different mechanisms than the physically identical match (AA) (Posner & Mitchell, 1967). Furthermore, the...probably not Important In tasks employing suprathreshold stimulation . Benton and his colleagues used an electromechanical device to stimulate the...back of the hand. Three points lying In a straight line were stimulated In quick succession, and the subject’s task was to indicate from among four

  16. A Randomized Rounding Approach for Optimization of Test Sheet Composing and Exposure Rate Control in Computer-Assisted Testing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wang, Chu-Fu; Lin, Chih-Lung; Deng, Jien-Han

    2012-01-01

    Testing is an important stage of teaching as it can assist teachers in auditing students' learning results. A good test is able to accurately reflect the capability of a learner. Nowadays, Computer-Assisted Testing (CAT) is greatly improving traditional testing, since computers can automatically and quickly compose a proper test sheet to meet user…

  17. Introducing Professional Writing Skills to Future Naval Officers: An Adjunct to NPS Distance Learning

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2008-12-18

    make smart organizational and stylistic choices—resulting in messages that are quick to read, easy to understand, and effective in serving their...analyzed the work of research specialists, cognitive psychologists, professional naval writers, and business communication researchers. Also in the...memory and Bever’s (1972) work on short- and long- term effect on sentence processing provides important information on cognitive information

  18. The Adventures of a Guinea Pig: Sharing a Class Pet with Children and Their Families.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Boyer, Becky

    2000-01-01

    Recounts the use of pets in a kindergarten classroom for children to experience pet ownership and to share the care of animals. Outlines the entire process of pet selection, program implementation, and reactions to the program. Notes that in addition to exposure to pet care, children quickly learned the days of the week and recycling concepts. (SD)

  19. Assessment of the Policy Guidelines for the Teaching and Learning of Geography at the Senior High School Level in Ghana

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ababio, Bethel T.; Dumba, Hillary

    2014-01-01

    This article empirically assessed the extent to which geography teachers adhered to the Ghana Education Service policy guidelines on the teaching of geography at the Senior High School Level in Ghana. Census survey was used to collect data from seven geography teachers because of the researchers' objective of gaining a quick insight into the…

  20. Unsupervised Learning Through Randomized Algorithms for High-Volume High-Velocity Data (ULTRA-HV).

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Pinar, Ali; Kolda, Tamara G.; Carlberg, Kevin Thomas

    Through long-term investments in computing, algorithms, facilities, and instrumentation, DOE is an established leader in massive-scale, high-fidelity simulations, as well as science-leading experimentation. In both cases, DOE is generating more data than it can analyze and the problem is intensifying quickly. The need for advanced algorithms that can automatically convert the abundance of data into a wealth of useful information by discovering hidden structures is well recognized. Such efforts however, are hindered by the massive volume of the data and its high velocity. Here, the challenge is developing unsupervised learning methods to discover hidden structure in high-volume, high-velocity data.

  1. Development rate rather than social environment influences cognitive performance in Australian black field crickets, Teleogryllus commodus.

    PubMed

    Anderson, Caitlin L; Kasumovic, Michael M

    2017-01-01

    Cognitive functioning is vital for enabling animals of all taxa to optimise their chances of survival and reproductive success. Learning and memory in particular are drivers of many evolutionary processes. In this study, we examine how developmental plasticity can affect cognitive ability by exploring the role the early social environment has on problem solving ability and learning of female black field crickets, Teleogryllus commodus. We used two learning paradigms, an analog of the Morris water maze and a novel linear maze, to examine cognitive differences between individuals reared in two acoustic treatments: silence or calling. Although there was no evidence of learning or memory, individuals that took longer to mature solved the Morris water maze more quickly. Our results suggest that increased investment into cognitive development is likely associated with increased development time during immature stages. Inconsistent individual performance and motivation during the novel linear maze task highlights the difficulties of designing ecologically relevant learning tasks within a lab setting. The role of experimental design in understanding cognitive ability and learning in more natural circumstances is discussed.

  2. Incorporating Real-time Earthquake Information into Large Enrollment Natural Disaster Course Learning

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Furlong, K. P.; Benz, H.; Hayes, G. P.; Villasenor, A.

    2010-12-01

    Although most would agree that the occurrence of natural disaster events such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and floods can provide effective learning opportunities for natural hazards-based courses, implementing compelling materials into the large-enrollment classroom environment can be difficult. These natural hazard events derive much of their learning potential from their real-time nature, and in the modern 24/7 news-cycle where all but the most devastating events are quickly out of the public eye, the shelf life for an event is quite limited. To maximize the learning potential of these events requires that both authoritative information be available and course materials be generated as the event unfolds. Although many events such as hurricanes, flooding, and volcanic eruptions provide some precursory warnings, and thus one can prepare background materials to place the main event into context, earthquakes present a particularly confounding situation of providing no warning, but where context is critical to student learning. Attempting to implement real-time materials into large enrollment classes faces the additional hindrance of limited internet access (for students) in most lecture classrooms. In Earth 101 Natural Disasters: Hollywood vs Reality, taught as a large enrollment (150+ students) general education course at Penn State, we are collaborating with the USGS’s National Earthquake Information Center (NEIC) to develop efficient means to incorporate their real-time products into learning activities in the lecture hall environment. Over time (and numerous events) we have developed a template for presenting USGS-produced real-time information in lecture mode. The event-specific materials can be quickly incorporated and updated, along with key contextual materials, to provide students with up-to-the-minute current information. In addition, we have also developed in-class activities, such as student determination of population exposure to severe ground shaking (i.e. simulating the USGS PAGER product), tsunami warning calculations, and building damage analyses that allow the students to participate in realistic hazard analyses as the event unfolds. Examples of these templates and activities will be presented. Key to the successful implementation of real-time materials is sufficient flexibility and adaptability in the course syllabus.

  3. Cancer Detection Using Neural Computing Methodology

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Toomarian, Nikzad; Kohen, Hamid S.; Bearman, Gregory H.; Seligson, David B.

    2001-01-01

    This paper describes a novel learning methodology used to analyze bio-materials. The premise of this research is to help pathologists quickly identify anomalous cells in a cost efficient method. Skilled pathologists must methodically, efficiently and carefully analyze manually histopathologic materials for the presence, amount and degree of malignancy and/or other disease states. The prolonged attention required to accomplish this task induces fatigue that may result in a higher rate of diagnostic errors. In addition, automated image analysis systems to date lack a sufficiently intelligent means of identifying even the most general regions of interest in tissue based studies and this shortfall greatly limits their utility. An intelligent data understanding system that could quickly and accurately identify diseased tissues and/or could choose regions of interest would be expected to increase the accuracy of diagnosis and usher in truly automated tissue based image analysis.

  4. The Federal Geospatial Platform a shared infrastructure for publishing, discovering and exploiting public data and spatial applications.

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Dabolt, T. O.

    2016-12-01

    The proliferation of open data and data services continues to thrive and is creating new challenges on how researchers, policy analysts and other decision makes can quickly discover and use relevant data. While traditional metadata catalog approaches used by applications such as data.gov prove to be useful starting points for data search they can quickly frustrate end users who are seeking ways to quickly find and then use data in machine to machine environs. The Geospatial Platform is overcoming these obstacles and providing end users and applications developers a richer more productive user experience. The Geospatial Platform leverages a collection of open source and commercial technology hosted on Amazon Web Services providing an ecosystem of services delivering trusted, consistent data in open formats to all users as well as a shared infrastructure for federal partners to serve their spatial data assets. It supports a diverse array of communities of practice ranging on topics from the 16 National Geospatial Data Assets Themes, to homeland security and climate adaptation. Come learn how you can contribute your data and leverage others or check it out on your own at https://www.geoplatform.gov/

  5. A Software Engineering Paradigm for Quick-turnaround Earth Science Data Projects

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Moore, K.

    2016-12-01

    As is generally the case with applied sciences professional and educational programs, the participants of such programs can come from a variety of technical backgrounds. In the NASA DEVELOP National Program, the participants constitute an interdisciplinary set of backgrounds, with varying levels of experience with computer programming. DEVELOP makes use of geographically explicit data sets, and it is necessary to use geographic information systems and geospatial image processing environments. As data sets cover longer time spans and include more complex sets of parameters, automation is becoming an increasingly prevalent feature. Though platforms such as ArcGIS, ERDAS Imagine, and ENVI facilitate the batch-processing of geospatial imagery, these environments are naturally constricting to the user in that they limit him or her to the tools that are available. Users must then turn to "homemade" scripting in more traditional programming languages such as Python, JavaScript, or R, to automate workflows. However, in the context of quick-turnaround projects like those in DEVELOP, the programming learning curve may be prohibitively steep. In this work, we consider how to best design a software development paradigm that addresses two major constants: an arbitrarily experienced programmer and quick-turnaround project timelines.

  6. Research on cultivating medical students' self-learning ability using teaching system integrated with learning analysis technology.

    PubMed

    Luo, Hong; Wu, Cheng; He, Qian; Wang, Shi-Yong; Ma, Xiu-Qiang; Wang, Ri; Li, Bing; He, Jia

    2015-01-01

    Along with the advancement of information technology and the era of big data education, using learning process data to provide strategic decision-making in cultivating and improving medical students' self-learning ability has become a trend in educational research. Educator Abuwen Toffler said once, the illiterates in the future may not be the people not able to read and write, but not capable to know how to learn. Serving as educational institutions cultivating medical students' learning ability, colleges and universities should not only instruct specific professional knowledge and skills, but also develop medical students' self-learning ability. In this research, we built a teaching system which can help to restore medical students' self-learning processes and analyze their learning outcomes and behaviors. To evaluate the effectiveness of the system in supporting medical students' self-learning, an experiment was conducted in 116 medical students from two grades. The results indicated that problems in self-learning process through this system was consistent with problems raised from traditional classroom teaching. Moreover, the experimental group (using this system) acted better than control group (using traditional classroom teaching) to some extent. Thus, this system can not only help medical students to develop their self-learning ability, but also enhances the ability of teachers to target medical students' questions quickly, improving the efficiency of answering questions in class.

  7. A Collaborative Learning Network Approach to Improvement: The CUSP Learning Network.

    PubMed

    Weaver, Sallie J; Lofthus, Jennifer; Sawyer, Melinda; Greer, Lee; Opett, Kristin; Reynolds, Catherine; Wyskiel, Rhonda; Peditto, Stephanie; Pronovost, Peter J

    2015-04-01

    Collaborative improvement networks draw on the science of collaborative organizational learning and communities of practice to facilitate peer-to-peer learning, coaching, and local adaption. Although significant improvements in patient safety and quality have been achieved through collaborative methods, insight regarding how collaborative networks are used by members is needed. Improvement Strategy: The Comprehensive Unit-based Safety Program (CUSP) Learning Network is a multi-institutional collaborative network that is designed to facilitate peer-to-peer learning and coaching specifically related to CUSP. Member organizations implement all or part of the CUSP methodology to improve organizational safety culture, patient safety, and care quality. Qualitative case studies developed by participating members examine the impact of network participation across three levels of analysis (unit, hospital, health system). In addition, results of a satisfaction survey designed to evaluate member experiences were collected to inform network development. Common themes across case studies suggest that members found value in collaborative learning and sharing strategies across organizational boundaries related to a specific improvement strategy. The CUSP Learning Network is an example of network-based collaborative learning in action. Although this learning network focuses on a particular improvement methodology-CUSP-there is clear potential for member-driven learning networks to grow around other methods or topic areas. Such collaborative learning networks may offer a way to develop an infrastructure for longer-term support of improvement efforts and to more quickly diffuse creative sustainment strategies.

  8. To have or to learn? The effects of materialism on British and Chinese children's learning.

    PubMed

    Ku, Lisbeth; Dittmar, Helga; Banerjee, Robin

    2014-05-01

    This article presents a systematic attempt to examine the associations of materialism with learning in 9- to 11-year-old children in 2 countries of similar economic development but different cultural heritage. Using cross-sectional, longitudinal, and experimental methods, we test a theoretically driven model of associations among materialism, learning motivations, and learning outcomes. Convergent findings suggest that a materialist orientation in elementary school children lowers intrinsic learning motivations, fosters extrinsic learning motivations, and leads to poorer learning outcomes. Materialism was linked directly to lower exam performance, and this link was mediated by lower mastery and heightened performance goals, with patterns not differing between British and Hong Kong Chinese children (Study 1). A follow-up showed that initial materialism predicted worse exam grades 1 year later, suggesting a detrimental long-term effect on Chinese children's school performance (Study 2). We then tested relationships between materialism and learning experimentally, by priming a momentary (state) orientation toward materialism. Writing about material possessions and money affected Chinese children's learning motivations, so that they endorsed lower mastery and higher performance goals (Study 3). A video-diary materialism prime had significant effects on actual learning behaviors, leading British children to (a) choose a performance-oriented learning task over a mastery-oriented task and (b) give up on the task more quickly (Study 4). This research has important implications for personality psychology, educational policy, and future research.

  9. Reading strategies in infantile nystagmus syndrome.

    PubMed

    Thomas, Mervyn G; Gottlob, Irene; McLean, Rebecca J; Maconachie, Gail; Kumar, Anil; Proudlock, Frank A

    2011-10-17

    The adaptive strategies adopted by individuals with infantile nystagmus syndrome (INS) during reading are not clearly understood. Eye movement recordings were used to identify ocular motor strategies used by patients with INS during reading. Eye movements were recorded at 500 Hz in 25 volunteers with INS and 7 controls when reading paragraphs of text centered at horizontal gaze angles of -20°, -10°, 0°, 10°, and 20°. At each location, reading speeds were measured, along with logMAR visual acuity and nystagmus during gaze-holding. Adaptive strategies were identified from slow and quick-phase patterns in the nystagmus waveform. Median reading speeds were 204.3 words per minute in individuals with INS and 273.6 words per minute in controls. Adaptive strategies included (1) suppression of corrective quick phases allowing involuntary slow phases to achieve the desired goal, (2) voluntarily changing the character of the involuntary slow phases using quick phases, and (3) correction of involuntary slow phases using quick phases. Several individuals with INS read more rapidly than healthy control volunteers. These findings demonstrate that volunteers with INS learn to manipulate their nystagmus using a range of strategies to acquire visual information from the text. These strategies include taking advantage of the stereotypical and periodic nature of involuntary eye movements to allow the involuntary eye movements to achieve the desired goal. The versatility of these adaptations yields reading speeds in those with nystagmus that are often much better than might be expected, given the degree of foveal and ocular motor deficits.

  10. Implicit and explicit motor sequence learning in children born very preterm.

    PubMed

    Jongbloed-Pereboom, Marjolein; Janssen, Anjo J W M; Steiner, K; Steenbergen, Bert; Nijhuis-van der Sanden, Maria W G

    2017-01-01

    Motor skills can be learned explicitly (dependent on working memory (WM)) or implicitly (relatively independent of WM). Children born very preterm (VPT) often have working memory deficits. Explicit learning may be compromised in these children. This study investigated implicit and explicit motor learning and the role of working memory in VPT children and controls. Three groups (6-9 years) participated: 20 VPT children with motor problems, 20 VPT children without motor problems, and 20 controls. A nine button sequence was learned implicitly (pressing the lighted button as quickly as possible) and explicitly (discovering the sequence via trial-and-error). Children learned implicitly and explicitly, evidenced by decreased movement duration of the sequence over time. In the explicit condition, children also reduced the number of errors over time. Controls made more errors than VPT children without motor problems. Visual WM had positive effects on both explicit and implicit performance. VPT birth and low motor proficiency did not negatively affect implicit or explicit learning. Visual WM was positively related to both implicit and explicit performance, but did not influence learning curves. These findings question the theoretical difference between implicit and explicit learning and the proposed role of visual WM therein. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  11. Phenotypic transformation affects associative learning in the desert locust.

    PubMed

    Simões, Patrício M V; Niven, Jeremy E; Ott, Swidbert R

    2013-12-02

    In desert locusts, increased population densities drive phenotypic transformation from the solitarious to the gregarious phase within a generation [1-4]. Here we show that when presented with odor-food associations, the two extreme phases differ in aversive but not appetitive associative learning, with solitarious locusts showing a conditioned aversion more quickly than gregarious locusts. The acquisition of new learned aversions was blocked entirely in acutely crowded solitarious (transiens) locusts, whereas appetitive learning and prior learned associations were unaffected. These differences in aversive learning support phase-specific feeding strategies. Associative training with hyoscyamine, a plant alkaloid found in the locusts' habitat [5, 6], elicits a phase-dependent odor preference: solitarious locusts avoid an odor associated with hyoscyamine, whereas gregarious locusts do not. Remarkably, when solitarious locusts are crowded and then reconditioned with the odor-hyoscyamine pairing as transiens, the specific blockade of aversive acquisition enables them to override their prior aversive memory with an appetitive one. Under fierce food competition, as occurs during crowding in the field, this provides a neuroecological mechanism enabling locusts to reassign an appetitive value to an odor that they learned previously to avoid. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  12. Behavioral and neural properties of social reinforcement learning

    PubMed Central

    Jones, Rebecca M.; Somerville, Leah H.; Li, Jian; Ruberry, Erika J.; Libby, Victoria; Glover, Gary; Voss, Henning U.; Ballon, Douglas J.; Casey, BJ

    2011-01-01

    Social learning is critical for engaging in complex interactions with other individuals. Learning from positive social exchanges, such as acceptance from peers, may be similar to basic reinforcement learning. We formally test this hypothesis by developing a novel paradigm that is based upon work in non-human primates and human imaging studies of reinforcement learning. The probability of receiving positive social reinforcement from three distinct peers was parametrically manipulated while brain activity was recorded in healthy adults using event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Over the course of the experiment, participants responded more quickly to faces of peers who provided more frequent positive social reinforcement, and rated them as more likeable. Modeling trial-by-trial learning showed ventral striatum and orbital frontal cortex activity correlated positively with forming expectations about receiving social reinforcement. Rostral anterior cingulate cortex activity tracked positively with modulations of expected value of the cues (peers). Together, the findings across three levels of analysis - social preferences, response latencies and modeling neural responses – are consistent with reinforcement learning theory and non-human primate electrophysiological studies of reward. This work highlights the fundamental influence of acceptance by one’s peers in altering subsequent behavior. PMID:21917787

  13. Reading Skill Transfer across Languages: Outcomes from Longitudinal Bilingual Randomized Control Trials in Kenya and Haiti

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Piper, Benjamin; Bulat, Jennae; Johnston, Andrew

    2015-01-01

    If children do not learn how to read in the first few years of primary school, they will struggle to complete the cycle, and are at greater risk of dropping out. It is therefore crucial to identify and test interventions that have the potential of making a large impact, can be implemented quickly, and are affordable to be taken to scale. This is…

  14. Applying a Goal-Driven Model of Science Teacher Cognition to the Resolution of Two Anomalies in Research on the Relationship between Science Teacher Education and Classroom Practice

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hutner, Todd L.; Markman, Arthur B.

    2017-01-01

    Two anomalies continue to confound researchers and science teacher educators. First, new science teachers are quick to discard the pedagogy and practices that they learn in their teacher education programs in favor of a traditional, didactic approach to teaching science. Second, a discrepancy exists at all stages of science teachers' careers…

  15. "It's Never Too Late to Learn"--How Does the Polish U3A Change the Quality of Life for Seniors?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mackowicz, Jolanta; Wnek-Gozdek, Joanna

    2016-01-01

    In the face of the ageing of society, the concept of active ageing has become a key problem within European politics. (United Nations, 2002; European Commission, 2006). In recent years, the University of Third Age (U3A) movement has developed very quickly both within Poland and outside our country. In this article, we consider the educational…

  16. All Seem to Need Immediate Attention--What Should I Do First? A Successful Principal in a New School Assignment at Secundaria Revolucion

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Torres-Arcadia, Celina; Flores-Kastanis, Eduardo

    2012-01-01

    This case provides emerging school administrators the opportunity to learn about the school system in Mexico. The case relates to a successful principal in her new school assignment. Martha Miramontes is an experienced and successful principal who quickly identified a number of challenges in her new campus. Even though each problem can be solved…

  17. Everything a New Elementary School Teacher Really Needs to Know (But Didn't Learn in College)

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kriegel, Otis

    2014-01-01

    Not your typical how-to manual for new teachers, this no-nonsense, jargon-free elementary school teacher resource offers a wide variety of tools and tactics for getting through every school day with grace and sanity. Covered in glue, glitter, orange juice--or worse? Make a quick change into the spare set of clothes you keep on hand for just this…

  18. The Writing Road to Reading: The Spalding Method of Phonics for Teaching Speech, Writing, & Reading. Fourth Revised Edition.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Spalding, Romalda Bishop; Spalding, Walter T.

    A fully detailed teacher's manual for classroom, home, or tutorial use, this book is for the child in the beginning grades, the pupil who needs remedial work, or any adult studying English as a second language, who will find learning by the Spalding Method a practical, quick way of mastering verbal skills. The book notes that the Spalding Method…

  19. Reinforcement Learning Applications to Combat Identification

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2017-03-01

    Operations and Reports, 1215 Jefferson Davis Highway, Suite 1204, Arlington, VA 22202-4302, and to the Office of Management and Budget, Paperwork...DISTRIBUTION CODE 13. ABSTRACT (maximum 200 words) Crucial to the safe and effective operation of U.S. Navy vessels is the quick and accurate...abilities of a human operator . While this research does focus on a sea-based, naval, application, the findings can also be expanded to DOD-wide

  20. Zero to Sixty with Design-by-Prototype: How to Move Quickly in Product Development by Holding off on Design

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Mulenburg, Gerald M.

    2004-01-01

    I'm going to cover four issues to emphasize why design-by-prototype has significant value: 1) We start too soon and end too late; 2) If you don't know where you're going, go there! 3) Iteration is not a dirty word, it's how we learn; 4) Experts at fabrication know how to design better.

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