Using Theory to Inform Capacity‐Building: Bootstrapping Communities of Practice in Computer Science Education Research

In this paper, we describe our efforts in the deliberate creation of a community of practice of researchers in computer science education (CSEd). We understand community of practice in the sense in which Wenger describes it, whereby the community is characterized by mutual engagement in a joint enterprise that gives rise to a shared repertoire of knowledge, artefacts, and practices. We first identify CSEd as a research field in which no shared paradigm exists, and then we describe the Bootstrapping project, its metaphor, structure, rationale, and delivery, as designed to create a community of practice of CSEd researchers. Features of other projects are also outlined that have similar aims of capacity building in disciplinary‐specific pedagogic enquiry. A theoretically derived framework for evaluating the success of endeavours of this type is then presented, and we report the results from an empirical study. We conclude with four open questions for our project and others like it: Where is the locus of a community of practice? Who are the core members? Do capacity‐building models transfer to other disciplines? Can our theoretically motivated measures of success apply to other projects of the same nature?     

The choose-get-keep model of psychiatric rehabilitation: A synopsis of recent studies.

Objective: Comprehensive review of studies using the choose-get-keep (CGK) process model of psychiatric rehabilitation. Also, other studies are identified that have demonstrated methodologies useful in future research on the CGK model. Intervention Model: The CGK process is conceptualized as the phases through which people with psychiatric disabilities proceed as they engage in psychiatric rehabilitation. Conclusion: The CGK model is a potentially useful psychiatric rehabilitation intervention that can be implemented in a variety of service settings and that focuses on the activities of the practitioner and the service recipient. The CGK model warrants further empirical study to examine its effectiveness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Test-retest reliability of alcohol measures: Is there a difference between Internet-based assessment and traditional methods?

This study compared Web-based assessment techniques with traditional paper-based methods of commonly used measures of alcohol use. Test-retest reliabilities were obtained, and tests of validity were conducted. A total of 255 participants were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 conditions: paper-based (P&P), Web-based (Web), or Web-based with interruption (Web-I). Follow-up assessments 1 week later indicated reliabilities ranging from .59 to .93 within all measures and across all assessment methods. Significantly high test-retest reliability coefficients support the use of these measures for research and clinical applications. Furthermore, no significant differences were found between assessment techniques, suggesting that Web-based methods are a suitable alternative to more traditional methods. This cost-efficient alternative has the advantage of minimizing data collection and entry errors while increasing survey accessibility. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Gender-Typed Play and Amniotic Testosterone.

Sex differences in play are apparent in a number of mammalian species, including humans. Prenatal testosterone may contribute to these differences. The authors report the first attempt to correlate gender-typed play in a normative sample of humans with measurements of amniotic testosterone (aT). Testosterone was measured in the amniotic fluid of 53 children (31 boys and 22 girls). A strong sex difference was observed in aT and, at ages 4.75 to 5.8 years, on a modified version of the Child Game Participation Questionnaire. Hierarchical regression analyses on the entire group and within-sex correlations suggested that variations in aT did not contribute to individual differences in game participation as reported by the mother. A critique of explanations for this finding is presented. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Distribution of reading time when questions are asked about a restricted category of text information.

43 undergraduates read a text either with or without inserted questions. Although there was no overall reading time difference between the question or no-question groups, Ss who received inserted questions spent more time on the parts of the text that contained information of the type needed to answer the questions. Question groups performed better, relative to controls, on posttest items that repeated inserted questions and also on new posttest items from the same categories as the inserted questions. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Emotion and Cognition in Arts Education

Claims are made by educators in the arts that we have some a priori function in training emotions or feelings. What do these claims amount to? If we are saying that simply to experience those emotions is good enough, then surely we are not giving our students a full and developed emotional education. If, however, it is possible to ascertain that emotions can enhance or even stimulate cognition then we have a solid, justifiable foundation upon which to base a search for ways of training the right emotions. This paper attempts to chart one thread of the argument: how is cognition born from emotions that are effected through creating or responding to the arts. The next stage would be to examine how that enhanced cognition can be beneficial, selecting the 'right' emotions and thus the 'right' cognition. Finally, it would then be possible to assess how to teach the arts to allow this to take place.     

Cultural and linguistic bias in mental health evaluations of deaf people.

Examines assessment issues related to deaf clients, focusing on cultural and linguistic bias. Reliability and validity problems encountered when administering intellectual and personality assessments to hearing-impaired Ss are discussed. Factors influencing psychological assessment are addressed, including inaccurate beliefs and problems with rapport, miscommunication, and using interpreters. It is recommended that research be conducted to refine the psychometric properties of assessment instruments used, that psychologists become more sophisticated about deaf culture, and that psychologists interested in working with deaf clients need to become more skilled in the use of sign language. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reversal learning and resistance to extinction: A review of the rat literature.

Observation of an overtraining reversal effect (ORE) seems to be favored by the use of exteroceptive discriminative stimuli while training on a position response most frequently results in no ORE or a reverse ORE. The review of this literature is preceded by reviews of the literature on resistance to extinction following varying amounts of 100% reinforcement, nondiscriminative training, varying amounts of 100% reinforcement, discrimination training, and reversal learning without overtraining. The data in the last 3 topics provide support for the distinction between exteroceptive stimuli and position response training and suggestions about the variables accounting for the differences in results obtained with the 2 training methods. (2 p. ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reversal learning and resistance to extinction: A supplementary report.

Several very recent and highly relevant articles provide substantiation for some hypotheses advanced in a previous review in an analysis of the overtraining reversal data. These same data permit the rejection of an hypothesis advanced by another reviewer to account for the results. It can now be shown fairly conclusively that amount of reward determines the direction of the ORE following position response training and that the variables affecting overtraining reversal data with exteroceptive discriminative stimuli remain unidentified. (16 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Predictable and unpredictable shock stimulates gastric contractility and causes mucosal injury in rats.

The effects of tailshock on gastric contractility and lesions were investigated in rats exposed to 100 1-mA tailshocks while confined inside plastic tubes. A light preceded each shock in one group and was randomly presented with respect to shock in the other. Contractility of the corpus of the stomach was measured by means of chronically implanted extraluminal force transducers. Contractility was measured in 10-min blocks and analyzed by computer. Signaled (n?=?13) and unsignaled (n?=?17) shock stimulated high-amplitude gastric contractions in fasted rats, which continued for 2 hr after the shock session. Cumulative contractile activity (1.5-hr shock plus 2-hr rest) in shocked animals was twice that in restrained and unrestrained control animals (n?=?19, p?