Understanding communicative actions:A repetitive TMS study

Previous work has shown that the right posterior superior temporal sulcus (RpSTS) is involved in inferring both instrumental goals and communicative intentions of observed actions (1, 2), using previous knowledge to generate perceptual and/or conceptual inferences (3, 4). Here, we disturb neural activity in RpSTS to test whether this region is necessary for understanding the meaning of novel communicative actions. Thirteen subjects received two 20 min sessions of low-frequency (1 Hz) repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), either over RpSTS (50,-42,14) or over a control region (area MT+, -43,-70,10), before performance of a communicative game and a control task. The game involved controlled non-verbal communicative interactions between pairs of subjects (40 trials). Each pair was asked to jointly create a goal configuration of two geometrical tokens, using the movements of the tokens on a gameboard as the only available communicative channel (5). One participant (a confederate) knew the goal configuration, and she moved her token on the gameboard to inform an addressee (a participant) where and how to position his token. The control task was a visual search paradigm that involved the same stimuli, responses, joint attention, and inter-subjects dependencies, but no communicative necessities. Performance was indexed by Task Efficiency, defined as the number of correct responses per unit of planning time, and by Efficiency Rate, defined as the rate of change (across trials) in Task Efficiency. After rTMS over RpSTS, but not left MT+, the Efficiency Rate of the addresses was reduced in the communicative game, but not in the visual search. In contrast, after rTMS over left MT+, subjects were not able to benefit from experience gained during the previous trials of the visual search task (Task X Site interaction, p<0.05). There were no corresponding interactions between tasks and site of rTMS intervention on the Task Efficiency parameter. These findings qualify how RpSTS contributes to understanding the meaning of non-verbal communicative actions. Repetitive TMS over RpSTS did not disrupt the ability of addressees to interpret novel communicative actions. Rather, this region appears to be necessary for incorporating previous knowledge, accumulated during interactions with a communicative partner, to constrain the inferential process that leads to action understanding

Active learning: views and actions of students and teachers in basic education

This article discusses how teachers and adult, female, immigrant students in basic education deal with active learning. The study orientations, mental models of learning and images of ideal students of the two groups are compared both with each other and with actual educational practice, in order to obtain insight into the impediments to active learning experienced by teachers in basic education. We suggest, on the basis of four case studies, that the students' 'passive attitude', which teachers experience as culturally determined and problematic, might unintentionally be exacerbated by the teaching strategies used. Teachers tend to take too much responsibility for relating students' experiences to the subject matter and give little attention to teaching them study strategies

The contribution of teachers of research-intensive teacher education programmes to a culture of inquiry in primary schools

A culture of inquiry in schools, where teachers work collaboratively andinquiry based, can contribute to the quality of education. It is assumedthat teachers of research-intensive teacher education programmes canplay an important role in creating such a culture. Little is known, however,about how these teachers function. This case-study research investigateshow primary school teachers of research-intensive teacher educationprogrammes in the Netherlands contribute to a culture of inquiry andwhich factors influence this. In five schools semi-structured interviewswere conducted with a teacher and her/his school leader. Also schoolpolicy documents were analysed and team meetings were observed. Theteachers contributed to a culture of inquiry in their schools in three ways,by 1) initiating collective critical reflection on school policy, 2) sharingknowledge with colleagues and 3) initiating innovations. According to theteachers, self-efficacy in collaboration with colleagues in inquiry-basedworking and a formal research position in the school facilitates the contribution they can make to a culture of inquiry