Damage to the medial region of the thalamus, both in clinical cases (e.g., patients with infarcts or the Korsakoff's syndrome) and animal lesion models, is associated with variable amnesic deficits. Some studies suggest that many of these memory deficits rely on the presence of lateral thalamic lesions (LT) that include the intralaminar nuclei,…

Students often do not have a clear idea of what is expected of them when they study. They have an "ambiguity of purpose" problem, that is to say, they are not sure of the learning goals and the means to achieve them. A large amount of responsibility for analyzing content and selecting learning strategies falls upon the student and their skills in…

Ethnocentrism is a nearly universal syndrome of attitudes and behaviors, typically including in-group favoritism. Empirical evidence suggests that a predisposition to favor in-groups can be easily triggered by even arbitrary group distinctions and that preferential cooperation within groups occurs even when it is individually costly. The authors…

This paper is a response to a review of the conference titled, "Unintegration, Disintegration and Integration", written by Cathy Urwin and Maria Rhode in the ACP Bulletin. The review mentioned Michael Fordham, noting that he referred to a "good" kind of unintegration. In this paper, I point out that this is a somewhat misleading reference to what…

Current theories of environmental cognition typically differentiate between an online, transient, and dynamic system of spatial representation and an offline and enduring system of memory representation. Here the authors present additional evidence for such 2-system theories in the context of the disorientation paradigm introduced by R. F. Wang…

This study used a phenomenological approach to investigate the recollections of participants of an environmental education (EE) residential program. Ten students who participated in a residential EE program in the fall of 2001 were interviewed in the fall of 2002. Three major themes relating to the participants' long-term memory of the residential…

This paper undertakes a review of the literature on writing cognition, writing instruction, and writing assessment with the goal of developing a framework and competency model for a new approach to writing assessment. The model developed is part of the Cognitively Based Assessments of, for, and as Learning (CBAL) initiative, an ongoing research…

Background: Teaching styles in physical education (PE) found prominence through Muska Mosston's teaching styles "Spectrum" model. Mosston's Spectrum has been remarkably successful and its logic currently underpins the conceptualisation of teaching styles in many PE practices in Western education systems, including those in the United…

This study proposed and tested a developmental model of impression formation based on observed behavior, prior expectancies, and additional incongruent information. Participants were 51 kindergartners, 53 second graders, and 104 college students who provided trait and liking judgments after watching a child actor engage in behaviors from three…

Background: The prediction and explanation of academic performance and the investigation of the factors relating to the academic success and persistence of students are topics of utmost importance in higher education. Aims: The main aim of the present study is to develop and test a conceptual framework in a university context, where the effects of…

This paper examines several questions about reflective thinking and its application in education as a way of extending the applications of the concept. An early section offers background on reflection from dictionary definitions and from philosophers such as John Locke and John Dewey. The next section examines educational practice and reflective…

This paper discusses a mental model of learning based on the processes of attention, perception, processing, and application. The learning process starts with attention, such as curiosity, excitement, expectation, or fear; in pedagogy this is called motivation. New impressions are dependent on and interpreted against the background of previous…

The interest in the application of large-scale computerized adaptive testing has served to focus attention on issues that arise when theoretical advances are made operational. Some of these issues stem less from changes in testing conditions and more from changes in testing paradigms. One such issue is that of the order in which questions are…

This book is intended to give readers an observational scheme for understanding the process of organizational knowledge development at the individual and social levels. Chapter 1 examines devising a concept of organizational knowledge. In chapter 2, the place of epistemology within philosophy is discussed along with organizational, cognitivist,…

The conceptual starting point for almost all recent gender related theory and research is to identify the characteristics of current educational practice as rooted in a type of thought that is linear, analytical, stage dependent, discursive, and "objective," and that separates thought and language--this is the mode that is typically associated…