Previous research has shown that usage preferences (non-categorical constraints on the distribution of syntactic structures) shape many grammatical alternations. In the present study, we show that usage preferences also influence which alternate listeners report hearing when presented with acoustically degraded input. We investigated the English…

Is phonological learning subject to the same inductive biases as learning in other domains? Previous studies of non-linguistic learning found that intra-dimensional dependencies (between two instances of the same feature) were learned more easily than inter-dimensional ones. This study compares implicit learning of intra- and inter-dimensional…

There has been much research on principles and fundamental concepts of mechanics. Problems concerning the law of inertia, the concepts of force, fictitious force, weight, mass and the distinction between inertial and gravitational mass are addressed in the first part of the present paper. It is argued in the second that the law of inertia is the…

Virtual organisms animated by a selectionist theory of behavior dynamics worked on concurrent random interval schedules where both the rate and magnitude of reinforcement were varied. The selectionist theory consists of a set of simple rules of selection, recombination, and mutation that act on a population of potential behaviors by means of a…

Four experiments tested whether there are enduring spatial representations of objects' locations in memory. Previous studies have shown that under certain conditions the internal consistency of pointing to objects using memory is disrupted by disorientation. This disorientation effect has been attributed to an absence of or to imprecise enduring…

One hypothesis raised by Newport and Aslin to explain how speakers learn dependencies between nonadjacent phonemes is that speakers track bigram probabilities between two segments that are adjacent to each other within a tier of their own. The hypothesis predicts that a dependency between segments separated from each other at the tier level cannot…

When engineers design heat-pump-based geothermal heating systems for homes and other buildings, they can use coil loops buried around the perimeter of the structure to gather low-grade heat from the earth. As an alternative approach, they can drill well casings and store the summer's heat deep in the earth, then bring it back in the winter to warm…

Undergraduate courses in electrical machines often include an introduction to their magnetic circuits and to the various magnetic materials used in their construction and their properties. The students must learn to be able to recognize and compare the permeability, saturation, and losses of these magnetic materials, relate each material to its…

The purpose of this research is to examine the number sense performance of the classroom teacher candidates taking the Mathematics Education I and II courses. Moreover, it investigates whether there is a change in the number sense performance of the teacher candidates following the Mathematics Education I and II courses. Embedded experimental…

A two-part laboratory exercise was developed to enhance classroom instruction on the significance of p53 mutations in cancer development. Students were asked to mine key information from an international database of p53 genetic changes related to cancer, the IARC TP53 database. Using this database, students designed several data mining activities…

A simple and ecofriendly procedure was developed in order to prepare extracts from red and green leaves. This procedure enables the separation of yellow, green, and red band pigments and optimizes the previously reported baking soda "supermarket column". The same extract also led to a novel and colorful potato starch column, which can…

A novel procedure is described where students use COMU [(1-cyano-2-ethoxy-2-oxoethylidenaminooxy)dimethylamino-morpholino-carbenium hexafluorophosphate], as a nonhazardous partner, in the one-pot coupling of a carboxylic acid and amine producing N,N-diethyl-3-methylbenzamide (DEET). Fundamental principles of carbonyl reactivity are understood,…

In this article, we present two concrete applications of the concept of the human element to chemistry education; starting with a course and experimental project on blue pigment synthesis and concluding with cross-disciplinary lessons and experiments on blue photography. In addition to the description of the content of these courses, we explore…

Most high school and introductory college physics classes study simple harmonic motion and various wave phenomena. With the majority of states adopting the Next Generation Science Standards and pushing students to explore the scientific process for themselves, there is a growing demand for hands-on inquiry activities that involve and develop more…

Nowadays, the use of information technology (ICT) in education is nothing new. But the question is where the limit is when the use of ICT does not have the desired effect. In the paper we discuss the use of simulations in the teaching process that can positively influence students' achievements. At the beginning of the paper we present the results…