The Effect of Textual Errors on Dyadic and Individual Learning

The Major Objective of the Present Experiment Was to Assess the Effects of Textual Errors on Dyadic and Individual Learning. One Hundred Undergraduates Were Taught a Four-Step Learning Strategy, after Which They Studied a Text Passage Either Dyadically or Individually. Half of the Passages within Both Conditions Contained Syntactic Errors. Total Recall Measures Indicated that Dyads Performed Better Than Individuals on Recall of Text in Sections Not Containing Errors, Whereas the Groups Did Not Differ on Recall of the Material in Text Sections Containing Errors. Further, Dyads Outscored Individuals on Measures of Recall of Error Location, Error Frequency, and Perceived Difficulty of the Text Sections Which Contained Errors. in Addition, Subjective Processing Measures Indicated that Motivation and Interest Were Strongly Related to Recall. © 1989, SAGE Publications. All Rights Reserved

Modeling information technology impacts in clerical work environments

The industrialization of white collar work via information technology (IT) is a key indicator of the emerging post-industrial economy (Hirschhorn, 1988). A conceptual model linking clerical work environments to effective IT impacts such as IT utilization, IT\u27s perceived ease of use and performance impact was developed and empirically tested. Underlying the model is the premise that clerical job structure is a facilitator of IT impacts (Weber, 1988). The results indicate that clerical job structure factors such as typing, composing or editing, and bookkeeping were significantly related to IT impacts in clerical work settings. A job holder\u27s IT competence and top management commitment to IT were also found to be significantly related to IT impacts in clerical work settings. Antecedent relationships among the IT impacts also contributed to understanding the IT impacts - for example, IT utilization affected perceived ease of use and perceived performance impact, and perceived ease of use affected perceived performance impact

Baffin Island Expedition, 1950: A Preliminary Report

Brief resume by the leader, of the personnel, itinerary, camps, transportation and program of an expedition sponsored by Arctic Institute of North America, Royal Canadian Air Force, Geological Survey of Canada, Swiss Foundation for Alpine Research and the Canadian Geographical Society, to the east coast of Baffin Island at Clyde settlement, May-Aug. 1950; with short "initial reports on progress" of the scientific studies..

Promoting Functional Literacy through Cooperative Learning

The Effects of Cooperative Learning Strategy Manipulations on the Enactment and Recall of a Medical Procedure Were Explored. One Hundred and Twenty-Three College Students Completed the Experiment. during Training, Participants Were Randomly Assigned to a Dyad in One of Four Conditions: (A) No-Strategy, (B) Baseline Strategy, (C) Prompting Strategy, and (D) Planning Strategy. during Testing, Participants Both Performed and Produced Written Recalls of the Procedure Instructions. Test Order Was Counterbalanced within Dyad. Training and Test Performances Were Videotaped. the Planning Group Produced the Best Recalls and Recalled More Conditions of the Procedure. the Prompting Group Performed Best. Recall of the Procedure in All Groups Was Enhanced by Prior Performance. However, Performance Was Enhanced by Prior Recall in Only Two Groups. the Groups Differed Also in the Nature of the Transition from Training to Testing. Theoretical and Applied Implications of These Findings Are Discussed. © 1988, SAGE Publications. All Rights Reserved

Specifying computer-supported collaboration scripts

Collaboration scripts are activity programs which aim to foster collaborative learning by structuring interaction between learners. Computer-supported collaboration scripts generally suffer from the problem of being restrained to a specific learning platform and learning context. A standardization of collaboration scripts first requires a specification of collaboration scripts that integrates multiple perspectives from computer science, education and psychology. So far, only few and limited attempts at such specifications have been made. This paper aims to consolidate and expand these approaches in light of recent findings and to propose a generic framework for the specification of collaboration scripts. The framework enables a description of collaboration scripts using a small number of components (participants, activities, roles, resources and groups) and mechanisms (task distribution, group formation and sequencing)

Epistemic and social scripts in computer-supported collaborative learning

Collaborative learning in computer-supported learning environments typically means that learners work on tasks together, discussing their individual perspectives via text-based media or videoconferencing, and consequently acquire knowledge. Collaborative learning, however, is often sub-optimal with respect to how learners work on the concepts that are supposed to be learned and how learners interact with each other. One possibility to improve collaborative learning environments is to conceptualize epistemic scripts, which specify how learners work on a given task, and social scripts, which structure how learners interact with each other. In this contribution, two studies will be reported that investigated the effects of epistemic and social scripts in a text-based computer-supported learning environment and in a videoconferencing learning environment in order to foster the individual acquisition of knowledge. In each study the factors ‘epistemic script’ and ‘social script’ have been independently varied in a 2×2-factorial design. 182 university students of Educational Science participated in these two studies. Results of both studies show that social scripts can be substantially beneficial with respect to the individual acquisition of knowledge, whereas epistemic scripts apparently do not to lead to the expected effects

Evidence for a role of NTS2 receptors in the modulation of tonic pain sensitivity

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Central neurotensin (NT) administration results in a naloxone-insensitive antinociceptive response in animal models of acute and persistent pain. Both NTS1 and NTS2 receptors were shown to be required for different aspects of NT-induced analgesia. We recently demonstrated that NTS2 receptors were extensively associated with ascending nociceptive pathways, both at the level of the dorsal root ganglia and of the spinal dorsal horn. Then, we found that spinally administered NTS2-selective agonists induced dose-dependent antinociceptive responses in the acute tail-flick test. In the present study, we therefore investigated whether activation of spinal NTS2 receptors suppressed the persistent inflammatory pain symptoms observed after intraplantar injection of formalin.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We first demonstrated that spinally administered NT and NT69L agonists, which bind to both NTS1 and NTS2 receptors, significantly reduced pain-evoked responses during the inflammatory phase of the formalin test. Accordingly, pretreatment with the NTS2-selective analogs JMV-431 and levocabastine was effective in inhibiting the aversive behaviors induced by formalin. With resolution at the single-cell level, we also found that activation of spinal NTS2 receptors reduced formalin-induced <it>c-fos </it>expression in dorsal horn neurons. However, our results also suggest that NTS2-selective agonists and NTS1/NTS2 mixed compounds differently modulated the early (21–39 min) and late (40–60 min) tonic phase 2 and recruited endogenous pain inhibitory mechanisms integrated at different levels of the central nervous system. Indeed, while non-selective drugs suppressed pain-related behaviors activity in both part of phase 2, intrathecal injection of NTS2-selective agonists was only efficient in reducing pain during the late phase 2. Furthermore, assessment of the stereotypic pain behaviors of lifting, shaking, licking and biting to formalin also revealed that unlike non-discriminative NTS1/NTS2 analogs reversing all nociceptive endpoint behaviors, pure NTS2 agonists specifically inhibited paw lifting, supporting a role of NTS2 in spinal modulation of persistent nociception.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The present study provides the first demonstration that activation of NTS2 receptors produces analgesia in the persistent inflammatory pain model of formalin. The dichotomy between these two classes of compounds also indicates that both NTS1 and NTS2 receptors are involved in tonic pain inhibition and implies that these two NT receptors modulate the pain-induced behavioral responses by acting on distinct spinal and/or supraspinal neural circuits. In conclusion, development of NT agonists targeting both NTS1 and NTS2 receptors could be useful for chronic pain management.</p

Liana communities exhibit different species composition, diversity and community structure across forest types in the Congo Basin

Lianas are poorly characterized for central African forests. We quantify variation in liana composition, diversity and community structure in different forest types in the Yangambi Man and Biosphere Reserve, Democratic Republic of Congo. These attributes of liana assemblages were examined in 12 1-ha plots, randomly demarcated within regrowth forest, old growth monodominant forest, old growth mixed forest and old growth edge forest. Using a combination of multivariate and univariate community analyses, we visualize the patterns of these liana assemblage attributes and/or test for their significant differences across forest types. The combined 12 1-ha area contains 2,638 lianas (>= 2 cm diameter) representing 105 species, 49 genera and 22 families. Liana species composition differed significantly across forest types. Taxonomic diversity was higher in old growth mixed forests compared to old growth monodominant and regrowth forests. Trait diversity was higher than expected in the regrowth forest as opposed to the rest of forest types. Similarly, the regrowth forest differed from the rest of forest types in the pattern of liana species ecological traits and diameter frequency distribution. The regrowth forest was also less densely populated in lianas and had lower liana total basal area than the rest of forest types. We speculate that the mechanism of liana competitive exclusion by dominant tree species is mainly responsible for the lower liana species diversity in monodominant compared to mixed forests. We attribute variation in liana community structure between regrowth and old growth forests mostly to short development time of size hierarchies

Relevant prior knowledge moderates the effect of elaboration during small group discussion on academic achievement

This study set out to test whether relevant prior knowledge would moderate a positive effect on academic achievement of elaboration during small-group discussion. In a 2 × 2 experimental design, 66 undergraduate students observed a video showing a small-group problem-based discussion about thunder and lightning. In the video, a teacher asked questions to the observing participants. Participants either elaborated by responding to these questions, or did not elaborate, but completed a