Stimulus discriminability,contingency discriminability,and schedule performance     

Michael Davison  Peter E. Jenkins 《Learning & behavior》1985,13(1):77-84

A detection-theory model to describe the effects of varying stimulus disparity on switching-key concurrent variable-interval schedule performance (Miller, Saunders, & Bourland, 1980) is presented. It describes the available data on stimulus disparity well. Using the additional notion of contingency discriminability, the model is then developed into an account of schedule and stimulus control that is both wider in application and conceptually clearer than the generalized matching law. A basic assumption of the new model is that subjects may not perfectly discriminate that a reinforcer followed a response of one class versus that of another, and this ability is measured as reinforcer-contingency discriminability, d_r. This idea is then applied to performance in signal-detection procedures, both with and without error reinforcement, to multiple-schedule performance, and to single-schedule performance. The model fitted the data well, and it thus constitutes a coherent and viable alternative to the generalized matching law in the procedures and conditions in which the latter has been shown to apply.  相似文献   

Chronicling engagement: students’ experience of online learning over time     

Tracey Muir  Naomi Milthorpe  Cathy Stone  Janet Dyment  Elizabeth Freeman  Belinda Hopwood 《Distance Education》2019,40(2):262-277

Although there is ample research into student engagement in online learning, much of this investigates the student experience through surveys administered at a fixed point in time, usually at the exit point of a single unit of study or course. The study described in this paper, by contrast, aimed to understand online student engagement over a whole semester, guided by two overarching questions: What factors impact students’ engagement over a semester? What factors account for fluctuation in engagement levels over time? This paper presents results from weekly feedback on online education students’ engagement over the length of one semester at a regional Australian university. It also chronicles in more depth the experiences of one student across the same semester. The findings offer longitudinal accounts of student engagement, demonstrating that levels of engagement fluctuate and are influenced by a variety of factors.  相似文献   

Adding value to education through improved mental health: A review of the research evidence on the effectiveness of counselling for children and young people     

Sue Pattison  Belinda Harris 《The Australian Educational Researcher》2006,33(2):97-121

This paper is set against the backdrop of an increasing number of strategies and policies developed by the Department for Education and Skills in the U.K. regarding the promotion of positive mental health in schools and the recognition of the value of improving mental health in relation to children’s learning, achievement, attendance and behaviour. The aim of the paper is to present the results from a systematic review of the research evidence on counselling children and young people and discuss these results in relation to the educational context and the added value to be gained in addressing the mental health needs of children and young people. A systematic review methodology is used to assess the outcome research literature. The review is structured around a range of counselling issues and four groups of counselling approaches: cognitive-behavioural, person-centred, psychodynamic and creative therapies. Results indicate that all four approaches to counselling are effective for children and young people across the full range of counselling issues. However, more high quality published research evidence was located for the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioural counselling than other approaches, identifying significant gaps in the evidence bases for these approaches. Other gaps in the evidence include research into counselling for school related issues and self-harm.  相似文献   

Educators’ use of questioning as a pedagogical strategy in long day care nurseries   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

Belinda Davis  Jane Torr 《Early Years: An International Journal of Research and Development》2016,36(1):97-111

Educators’ questions can encourage children to engage in extended conversations, facilitate comprehension and stimulate thinking. Many studies of educators’ questioning have focused on children aged 3 years and older. Little is known about the manner in which educators of infants in non-parental group care settings use questioning as a pedagogical strategy. Six university-qualified early childhood educators in Sydney, Australia, were videorecorded for 40 min each in their long day care centres. Informed by systemic functional linguistic theory, the educators’ questions addressed to infants (defined as children under 2 years of age) were coded according to whether they served a pedagogical or regulatory function. Pedagogical questions were defined as questions intended to promote children’s learning, whereas regulatory questions functioned as commands and offers which were intended to manage behaviour. The educators’ pedagogical questions were then further analysed according to the response required of the infant. Confirm questions sought a yes or no response, specify questions (who, when, where, what) sought the name of a person, time, place or entity and explain questions (why or how) sought an explanation or justification. The findings demonstrated that educators differed greatly in terms of the frequency and manner in which they used questioning as a pedagogical strategy when interacting with infants. So-called open questioning, which has been shown to stimulate conversation with older children, may not be appropriate for infants whose distinctive developmental trajectories differ from those of preschool-aged children. The findings suggest the need for a more nuanced understanding of the role of questioning in promoting infants’ language, literacy and intellectual development.  相似文献   

Investigating the Psychometric Properties of the ACEI Global Guidelines Assessment,Third Edition (GGA) in Nine Countries     

Belinda J. Hardin  Doris Bergen  Dionne Sills Busio  William Boone 《Early Childhood Education Journal》2017,45(3):297-312

The Third Edition of the ACEI Global Guidelines Assessment (GGA) was evaluated for its effectiveness as an international assessment tool for use by early childhood educators to develop, assess, and improve program quality worldwide. This expanded study was conducted in nine countries [People’s Republic of China (2 sites), Guatemala, India, Italy, Mexico (2 sites), Peru (2 sites), Taiwan, Thailand, United States] to continue the investigation of the psychometric properties of the GGA. A total of 346 programs and 678 early care and education professionals participated in this study. Results primarily confirmed the findings of the previous study, (Hardin et al. in Early Child Educ J 41(2): 91–101, 2013), indicating that the GGA showed strong to moderate internal consistency and interrater reliability for subscale ratings across this larger number of countries and programs. The congruence of item ratings and written evidence to support ratings was acceptable, although some programs had lower participation in providing evidence. To test concurrent validity of ratings, external raters also evaluated a subset of programs (n = 44 from Peru and United States) on both the GGA and the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale-Revised that showed moderate positive correlations. Patterns of program practices were also identified within and across the participating sites and countries. Results suggest that the GGA can be used as an onsite evaluation method that can help stakeholder participants (teachers and administrators) increase their awareness of program quality standards and serve as an assessment method for their own programs. In particular, the results suggest the GGA is a reliable and useful instrument that can be used effectively by early childhood stakeholders for assessing and improving program quality worldwide (Bergen and Hardin in Child Educ 91(4): 259–264, 2015).  相似文献   

Understanding infants: characteristics of early childhood practitioners' interpretations of infants and their behaviours   总被引：1，自引：1，他引：0  

Sheila Degotardi  Belinda Davis 《Early Years: An International Journal of Research and Development》2008,28(3):221-234

This research explored the nature of early childhood practitioners' interpretations of infants in their programs on the basis that such interpretations guide practitioner–infant interactions and curriculum decision‐making processes. Twenty‐four infant practitioners were asked to describe a nominated infant in their program and to interpret video extracts of that infant's behaviour in the contexts of toy play and a nappy‐change routine. Constant comparison techniques were employed to develop a model representing the theoretical properties of the ideas and explanations contained within their interpretive statements, and to identify main areas of individual or contextual variation. The findings extend current understandings of the psychological context of early childhood infant programs and provide a foundation for future investigations of the implications of infant practitioner interpretations for their professional teaching and caregiving practices.  相似文献   

A model for personal and professional support for nurture group staff: to what extent can group process consultation be used as a resource to meet the challenges of running a nurture group?     

Patricia Davison  Joseph Duffy 《Educational Psychology in Practice》2017,33(4):387-405

This article details a mixed methods study designed to examine the impact of a group process consultation model in helping staff manage challenging behaviour in the nurture group setting. It relates to two geographical clusters of staff, including teachers and teaching assistants, running 11 nurture groups in a major metropolitan area in the UK, facilitated by an educational psychologist (EP). For 32 consultation referrals, teacher-rated levels of concern were compared before and after each session revealing a consistent drop, which was maintained throughout the intervention (p < 0.001). Measures of self-confidence and self-efficacy collected at the beginning of the group process consultation programme, and at the end of the first year of operation, revealed that teacher and teaching assistant self-confidence had improved significantly (p < 0.001) along with aspects of teacher self-efficacy (p = 0.023). A focus group, comprising eight teachers and teaching assistants, identified several themes and provided further elaboration on the outcomes of involvement.  相似文献   

Creative learning for inclusion: creative approaches to meet special needs within the classroom     

Belinda Wauge 《International Journal of Disability, Development & Education》2013,60(2):174-176

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The Thomas Outreach Project (TOP): an early years intervention for children with an autistic spectrum disorder (ASD)     

Belinda Medhurst  Daisy Clay 《Educational Psychology in Practice》2008,24(1):69-78

The Thomas Outreach Project (TOP) has developed from the Hampshire outline for meeting the needs of under fives on the autistic spectrum (THOMAS) course and has been in operation for over five years in Hampshire, supporting pre‐schools and families with a range of strategies for use in all settings. In reviewing the service delivered we have assessed some of the more measurable outcomes with a view to establishing the success criteria and core components for successful early interventions with autistic spectrum disorders (ASD). It appears clear that visual structure is a key component of curriculum delivery, together with the development of play through child centred approaches such as “special time”. In examining parents’ views of celebrations at the end of service delivery, the importance of tolerance and social interaction skills seem to have been of most value, and contribute to the “feel good” factors evident from the input of TOP services across the county.  相似文献   

Virtuality Check: Power Relations and Alternative Strategies in the Information Society,by François Fortier. London and New York: Verso, 2001. vii + 145 pp. $23£16/C$34. ISBN 1-85984-628-9     

Robert M. Davison 《The Information Society》2013,29(3):235-236

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