Uncertainty versus prediction error in Pavlovian fear conditioning: Commentary on Walker et al. (2019)

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/162808/2/ejn14578_am.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/162808/1/ejn14578.pd

Exploring the Value Of Integrating WWW-Chemistry Teaching with the Hawkesbury Shell

The Hawkesbury Shell project aims to provide an infrastructure and co-ordination umbrella for staff wishing to experiment with any form of IT application to their teaching. It will also be Hawkesbury’s face to the world: the interface between us and any off-campus students. Another aim of those involved in developing the shell is to initiate a variety of collaborative learning prototypes

Towards conceptual understanding: bringing research findings into the lecture theatre in tertiary science teaching

Science education has long cherished teaching and learning strategies which actively engage students and create meaningful understanding of abstract concepts. Due to the diverse ways in which science is practised, professional scientists and educators have the natural advantage of being able to use a range of teaching techniques which they assume will help motivate students. However, students’ prior expectations, existing schema and conceptions about the topics being taught and their understanding of learning can help or hinder their conceptual development in all science disciplines. Everyone relies primarily on his/her senses of sight, sound and touch to perceive the world and therefore to learn. Although each person has differing abilities in each mode, the predominant learning style of individuals (e.g., whether visual, auditory or kinesthetic) and its impact on conceptual understanding is often overlooked in tertiary Science teaching. Incorporating the variability in individual learners may help educators determine which strategies assist and which limit an individual’s understanding. Concomitantly, some changes in traditional lecturing practices may be beneficial in large first year university classes in order to improve the learning experience of many of our first-year science students. This is a preliminary study which reports on an investigation into the effectiveness of teaching and learning strategies, based on recent literature, which were developed to cater for individual differences in learning modalities in first-year classes at the University of Western Sydney. The aim of these strategies was to increase the conceptual understanding of abstract concepts such as photosynthesis. Student responses to an open-ended question regarding their overall learning experience indicated that a variety of teaching and learning strategies, which mix auditory, visual and kinesthetic learning modalities with class experience, have been effective in the development of conceptual understanding

Intervening to create conceptual change

It is well established in higher education that students arrive at university with existing schema (misconceptions) which can exist alongside new conceptions and are characterised by being personal in nature, counter intuitive, highly resistant to change and/or contradictory (Osborne and Freyberg 1985; Driver and Bell 1986; Fensham 1994; Wandersee, Mintzes and Novak 1994). Current ideas about ‘threshold concepts’ mirror this early work on science misconceptions in that some core scientific concepts are conceptually difficult, counter intuitive, and linguistically challenging (Meyer and Land 2003). As a result, there is a wealth of information indicating that the learner’s developing, imperfect cognition becomes ‘troublesome knowledge’ (e.g. Perkins 1999; Wandersee, Mintzes and Novak 1994). The resolution of the conflict between a long-held misconception and the ‘counter-intuitive’, but reasoned scientific idea can be equated with crossing a cognitive threshold and leading to a different way of thinking. Sometimes this occurs quickly, more often torturously slowly, and sometimes never. The challenge for instructors is how to create an ‘ah-ha’ moment for students and academics, likened in comic strips to a light being turned on (Liljegahl 2005) or by Meyer and Land (2003) as a transformation. One useful strategy is deliberately intervening when it is suspected the new topic could involve a threshold concept, by creating conceptual conflict that students need to resolve using reasoned scientific argument. (Gilbert, De Jong, Justi, Treagust and Van Driel 2002). In this paper, we describe a planned strategy of creative and innovative interventions to create transformations in student thinking and learning in Biology at the University of Western Sydney. This teaching methodology has evolved following the stages set out by Biggs (2003); (i) where the student is at (ii) what the teacher does and finally (iii) what the student does. (Ross and Tronson 2004; Ross, Tronson and Ritchi, 2006 and Ross, Tronson and Ritchie. in press). We present results of student evaluations and focus groups to demonstrate the success and limitations of these interventions in creating change in student’s conceptual understanding. We also propose a modified model of interconnecting lenses Brookfield (1995) that may help increase the frequency of transformations for learners

Providing quality feedback - Where to from here?

For students to progress, feedback is essential. Without feedback it is difficult for students to progress because they have little measure of their cognitive and skill development; in partnership with a facilitator or tutor it is easier. Within this partnership, however, some types of feedback are potentially more powerful than others. We argue that assessment tasks which provide a structure to encourage a feedback loop may provide the students and tutors with more opportunity for progression and performance at a higher level. For students to achieve the necessary cognitive and skill outcomes; they need to understand each of the steps they are taking along the way. If we can give students feedback that helps them reflect on their behaviour, they may progress more rapidly along this pathway and if we take our tutors with us on this journey then the learning outcomes we desire might be achieved

An investigative laboratory program in first year chemistry — experience and outcomes

A new laboratory program in first year chemistry was introduced in 2003, initially for a class of 200 students, with the aim of fostering collaborative student-centred learning and critical thinking. In the laboratory, students worked in teams, providing input into the design of some experiments and, towards the end of session they undertook a short experimental project. At the same time, the tutorial program was redesigned in order to introduce open-ended questions or questions with no single correct answer. The changes to the program were overwhelming successful, in that 78% of students reported the laboratory component to be either good, or the best thing about the course. While students found the new experimental approach challenging, and even frustrating at times, the tutorial modifications were less successful with 50% of students feeling that this section did not have the appropriate balance between conceptual and practical material. An important component of the change was to align the assessment with the goals of the new laboratory program. A higher proportion of marks were reallocated from lecture-based assessment to laboratory work, with some reduction in syllabus content. New assessment feedback sheets were designed to enable quality feedback to students and to enable demonstrators to provide consistent marks. This feedback mechanism has since been extended to other first year courses. The course was evaluated using an online student questionnaire, which allowed open comments, class visits and debriefing interviews with laboratory demonstrators and tutors. A number of further refinements have been identified, the most important of which are better structuring of tutorials and more support and training for demonstrators

Assessment for learning and motivation

Assessment is a fundamental driver of what and how students learn. Originally assessment tasks were seen as a straightforward measurement tool; in recent times, however, educators have realised the potential to use this tool in more powerful ways and issues of quality assessment and student motivation have been discussed within current pedagogical theories. When assessment tasks are embedded in the teaching and learning framework, there is a greater chance that students will achieve the intended learning outcomes and be enriched by the experience. A diversity of assessment strategies is used in the teaching of Biology at the University of Western Sydney. These strategies include self reflective and self-evaluative exercises, pre and post quizzes for lectures, writing of dialogue, creating cartoons to explain concepts as well as the more traditional strategies of mid term assessments and summative theory and practical assessments. The aims are to encourage deep understanding and knowledge and develop metacognitive skills. A key feature of these assessment tasks has been their design. The setting of explicit quality criteria, and guidelines for marking and feedback, has involved students and teaching assistants. To evaluate the success of these teaching, learning and assessment strategies, focus groups and surveys of students and teaching assistants were done in 2005 and 2006. Students identified that an important feature of the teaching, learning and assessment strategies was the personal investment by lecturers and teaching assistants

A Mismatch-Based Model for Memory Reconsolidation and Extinction in Attractor Networks

The processes of memory reconsolidation and extinction have received increasing attention in recent experimental research, as their potential clinical applications begin to be uncovered. A number of studies suggest that amnestic drugs injected after reexposure to a learning context can disrupt either of the two processes, depending on the behavioral protocol employed. Hypothesizing that reconsolidation represents updating of a memory trace in the hippocampus, while extinction represents formation of a new trace, we have built a neural network model in which either simple retrieval, reconsolidation or extinction of a stored attractor can occur upon contextual reexposure, depending on the similarity between the representations of the original learning and reexposure sessions. This is achieved by assuming that independent mechanisms mediate Hebbian-like synaptic strengthening and mismatch-driven labilization of synaptic changes, with protein synthesis inhibition preferentially affecting the former. Our framework provides a unified mechanistic explanation for experimental data showing (a) the effect of reexposure duration on the occurrence of reconsolidation or extinction and (b) the requirement of memory updating during reexposure to drive reconsolidation