As implementation of the "Next Generation Science Standards" moves forward, there is a need for new assessments that can measure students' integrated three-dimensional science learning. The National Research Council has suggested that these assessments be multicomponent tasks that utilize a combination of item formats including…

In 1992, Dr. Marian Breland Bailey, assisted by her husband Robert E. Bailey, gave the following presentation at the Psi Chi Banquet of the University of Central Arkansas. She and her first husband, Keller Breland, were students of B. F. Skinner and established Animal Behavior Enterprises (ABE) in 1947 and the IQ Zoo in 1955. Unknown to many…

The main argument being presented in this paper is that instructional designers and educational researchers need to shift their attention from performance to interest. Educational digital games have to aim at building lasting interest in real world applications. The main hypothesis advocated in this paper is that the use of rewards in educational…

An overview is provided of the principles of cognitive psychology that can be used to enhance the effectiveness of computer-assisted instruction (CAI). First, the paper looks at the features of classical and operant conditioning that provide the foundation for important parts of mastery learning and CAI programs. Next, findings from four areas of…

The notion of differentially reinforcing low rates of undesirable behavior (DRL) is examined. Further, the status of the full session DRL strategy as alternative to punishment is questioned in context of a strictly operant definition of punishment. A reexamination of the data from some studies reveals the possibility that Ss respond to said DRL…

The study, involving two severely retarded adolescents, investigated whether matching to sample is capable of extending equivalence classes with spelling responses. In preliminary training, Ss were taught the matching to sample procedure by having them match color patch samples to identical color patch comparisons. The experimenters then trained…

The study was designed to make a 6 year old autistic child's learning sessions more productive by reducing three self stimulatory rituals. Treatment involved structured academic sessions involving the S and one other child in basic motor and vocal imitation training which was done according to Discrete Trial Format followed by structured play. In…

This paper describes a series of studies investigating the effects of memory reactivation in early infancy. Twelve-week-old infants were taught a footkick response by having one leg tied to an overhead crib mobile so that each footkick produced movement of the mobile (reinforcer). Retention of the footkick response was assessed after 6, 8, and 14…

Discussed is the language impairment of children with infantile autism. The speech patterns of autistic children, including echolalia, pronomial reversal, silent language, and voice imitation, are described. The clinical picture of the autistic child is compared to that of children with such other disorders as deafness, retardation, and…

This paper examines the acquisition of superstitious behavior in young children. Six preschool children were exposed to a 15 minute fixed-time inter-reinforcement interval (FT-15") schedule while another six preschoolers were exposed to a 30 minute fixed-time inter-reinforcement interval (FT-30") schedule. In a free-operant laboratory…

A case study of a learning disabled 8-year-old with behavior disturbancs is presented to highlight the use of operant conditioning in cutting down educational costs and easing the teacher's class management problems. (CL)

This paper points out the inadequacies of emotional or drive-based theories of exploratory behavior and offers instead a behavior analysis conceptualization. Exploratory behavior as an emotional state was rejected because the environmental conditions said to arouse exploration and the behaviors said to manifest curiosity are too general to…

Twenty normal newborns, approximately 36 hours old, were tested using an auditory temporal conditioning paradigm which consisted of a slow rise, 75 db tone played for five seconds every 25 seconds, ten times. Responses to the tones were measured by instantaneous, beat-to-beat heartrate; and the test trial was designated as the 2 1/2-second period…

The study investigated the effect of object preference on the learning of signs by 12 severely and profoundly retarded children (4-7 years old). Signs were chosen that were two-handed, symmetrical, and abstract. Training of each sign consisted of 10 individual training sessions using operant techniques. Results revealed no differences in the…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the function of positive attentional cues as cognitive factors in the modification of fear responses in a desensitization-like treatment procedure. Positive attentional cues are defined as positively-valenced descriptors of the feared stimulus. Two groups of two subjects each were assessed as to the…