Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2006. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 161-167).

Many of the tool-using activities of both chimpanzees and children involve a complex mixture of interconnected causal relationships between a tool and a reward, and much of this tool-use is thought to be acquired, at least in part, by social learning. However, despite the considerable research effort focused on both causal understanding and social learning, few studies have directly addressed the potential interaction between these areas. It seems likely that the way in which an individual learns to use a tool through observation will be significantly influenced by its understanding of the causal relationships that it observes. This thesis presents a series of nine experiments with 3- to 7-year-old chimpanzees and 3- 6-year-old children, designed to investigate whether causal information is involved in determining which social learning strategy they employ. The first set of experiments demonstrated that chimpanzees could be influence to switch between imitation and emulation to solve the same task, by altering the availability of causal information. When causal information was available, by presenting a tool-use task in a transparent condition, chimpanzees were found to reproduce only the results of a model's behaviour, consistent with emulation. However, when the availability of causal information was restricted, by presenting the same task in an opaque condition, the chimpanzees included a greater proportion of the model's behaviour, consistent with imitation. The second set of experiments revealed that chimpanzees could learn specific causal information by observation, such as the significance of tool-reward contact. However, they may be overwhelmed by observing multiple causal relationships, or those involving unobservable causal principles, such as gravity or force. The common view that the widespread evidence for emulation in chimpanzee social learning studies indicates a deficit of imitative capacity may therefore be misleading. The results of this thesis suggest more generally that when causal information is available, chimpanzees tend to use emulation. They are also able to imitate, but do so mainly in situations where emulation is not possible. Thus, the availability of causal information plays an important role in chimpanzee social learning, by determining which learning strategy is employed, and ultimately the degree of behavioural fidelity that is achieved, hi contrast, the studies with children revealed that they imitate the actions that they observe without appearing to consider the causal efficiency of their behaviour. This may be due to a greater focus on the actions of a demonstrator rather than the results or goals of their behaviour, and a greater tendency to interpret those actions as intentional.

Esta pesquisa teve por objetivo investigar como psicólogos e pedagogos, que atuam em psicopedagogia, na clínica, compreendem os problemas de aprendizagem da leitura e escrita em crianças e como vêem o lugar da família na construção dos referidos problemas. Para atingir esse objetivo foi utilizada uma metodologia qualitativa, tendo como instrumento um roteiro semi-estruturado, utilizado em uma entrevista individual, a qual foi aplicada a três psicólogos e a três pedagogos com formação e atuação em psicopedagogia, na clínica. Cada uma das entrevistas teve seu conteúdo analisado com base na teoria psicanalítica e em estudos psicopedagógicos. Posteriormente, procedeu-se a uma análise geral de todas as entrevistas. Verificou-se que para as entrevistadas, os problemas de aprendizagem, inclusive os de leitura e escrita, são um fenômeno complexo, que envolve aspectos socioculturais, pedagógicos, cognitivos e psicodinâmicos dentre as causas a serem tratadas. No entanto, questões da dinâmica familiar foram apontadas, de forma unânime, como uma das principais fontes de problemas na aprendizagem, principalmente a grande dependência da criança em relação à mãe e a participação periférica do pai no processo de aprendizagem escolar dos filhos. Além disso, questões socioculturais acentuam uma tendência atual dos pais em delegar a educadores e psicólogos os cuidados com a aprendizagem dos filhos. Os conhecimentos acerca das formas de funcionamento da família, dentro da sua cultura e em cada etapa de seu ciclo de vida, podem contribuir para o acompanhamento terapêutico da criança e do grupo familiar / This aim of this research was to investigate as psychologists and educators, acting in psychopedagogy at consulting office, understand the children learning problems of reading and writing and as they see the role family plays in the construction of these problems. To reach that objective a qualitative methodology was used, having as instrument a semi-structuralized protocol and individualized interview, applied to three psychologists and three educators with formation and performance in clinical psychopedagogy. The content of each interview was analyzed on the basis of the psychoanalytic theory and psychopedagogical studies. Afterwards, a general analysis of all the interviews was proceeded. It was verified that for the interviewed professionals, the learning problems, including those of reading and writing, are a complex phenomenon that involves sociocultural, pedagogical, cognitive and psychodynamics aspects amongst the causes to be treated. However, questions of the familiar dynamics had been unanimously pointed as one of the main sources of problems in the learning, mainly the great dependence of the child in relation to the mother and the peripheral participation of the father in the process of pertaining to school learning of the children. Moreover, sociocultural questions stress a current trend of the parents in delegating the educators and psychologists the cares with the learning of the children. The knowledge of the forms of family functioning, inside of its culture and in each stage of its cycle of life, can contribute for the therapeutic follow up of the child and the familiar group

The aim of this thesis was to investigate and appraise the utility of analogy and explicit instruction for applied sport and physical education settings. The objective for the first study was to explore the acute, short-term impact of analogical and explicit instruction in a dart-throwing task. While previous studies have devoted considerable resources to investigating the effects of verbal instruction on motor learning, this within-subjects study explored the impact of analogical and explicit instruction on motor control. Interestingly, results indicated that analogy and explicit instruction similarly impaired throwing accuracy—in both kinematic and outcome measures—compared to baseline conditions, conflicting with trends observed in the motor learning literature. In the second study, the differential effects of analogy and explicit instructions on early stage motor learning were examined by introducing an explicit light condition—in addition to a traditional explicit condition—that matched the analogy instructions in informational volume. Although analogy learners demonstrated slightly more efficient technique and reported fewer technical rules on average, the differences between groups were not statistically significant. Kinematic analysis, however, did reveal significant differences between conditions in joint variability, which decreased with learning for all groups, but was lowest overall for the analogy learners. For the final study, the thesis investigated the impact of analogy and explicit instruction on adolescent performance (mean age = 12.7 years, SD = 0.4) in a modified high jump task. To date, research in analogy instruction has only included adult participants whose movement tendencies have likely already been shaped by personal or vicarious experiences. Analyses indicated that there were no significant differences between the analogy and explicit participants in technical efficiency or joint variability. The key outcome from this thesis is that there is limited evidence to support the use of analogy instruction over explicit instructional methods in motor learning and motor control situations.

M.Ed. (Curriculum Studies) / The problem of rural student-teachers' conceptions of Language and of learning is the focus of this stud)'. Aspects of the problem were encountered during the researcher's experience at a rural college for ten years, The researcher observed that certain students were unable to express themselves adequately in English. their language for learning. They also reflected an inadequacy in learning on n formal level. The researcher presumed that language and their conceptions of language and of learning could possibly contribute to these phenomena. The problem was investigated by constructing a research design which included a literature review comprising of second language learning with emphasis on English for black rural students. The review also consisted of an overview of theory on language across the curriculum and learning as conceptual change, Subsequent to this review a field investigation was conducted in which eighty students' conceptions of language and learning were analysed from data collected through personal sketches and complemented by observation. The findings indicate that the students' conceptions of learning were naive and their conceptions of language were focused on communication. There also seemed to be some link between their conceptions of language and their conceptions of learning. The research was concluded with suggestions pertaining to practice and policy. It was suggested that lecturers should not only concentrate on the methodology of language across the curriculum in order to ensure a cognitive change in the students' conceptions of language and of learning. but that the naive sketches that were used as research method of the study could be implemented as diagnostic aid for educators in PRESET.

Made available in DSpace on 2017-06-01T18:08:35Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Lucia Salvari.pdf: 1908198 bytes, checksum: 5d4b1d7a9ef1ce5a413d01915f3c9668 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2004-01-12 / This aim of this research was to investigate as psychologists and educators, acting in psychopedagogy at consulting office, understand the children learning problems of reading and writing and as they see the role family plays in the construction of these problems. To reach that objective a qualitative methodology was used, having as instrument a semi-structuralized protocol and individualized interview, applied to three psychologists and three educators with formation and performance in clinical psychopedagogy. The content of each interview was analyzed on the basis of the psychoanalytic theory and psychopedagogical studies. Afterwards, a general analysis of all the interviews was proceeded. It was verified that for the interviewed professionals, the learning problems, including those of reading and writing, are a complex phenomenon that involves sociocultural, pedagogical, cognitive and psychodynamics aspects amongst the causes to be treated. However, questions of the familiar dynamics had been unanimously pointed as one of the main sources of problems in the learning, mainly the great dependence of the child in relation to the mother and the peripheral participation of the father in the process of pertaining to school learning of the children. Moreover, sociocultural questions stress a current trend of the parents in delegating the educators and psychologists the cares with the learning of the children. The knowledge of the forms of family functioning, inside of its culture and in each stage of its cycle of life, can contribute for the therapeutic follow up of the child and the familiar group / Esta pesquisa teve por objetivo investigar como psicólogos e pedagogos, que atuam em psicopedagogia, na clínica, compreendem os problemas de aprendizagem da leitura e escrita em crianças e como vêem o lugar da família na construção dos referidos problemas. Para atingir esse objetivo foi utilizada uma metodologia qualitativa, tendo como instrumento um roteiro semi-estruturado, utilizado em uma entrevista individual, a qual foi aplicada a três psicólogos e a três pedagogos com formação e atuação em psicopedagogia, na clínica. Cada uma das entrevistas teve seu conteúdo analisado com base na teoria psicanalítica e em estudos psicopedagógicos. Posteriormente, procedeu-se a uma análise geral de todas as entrevistas. Verificou-se que para as entrevistadas, os problemas de aprendizagem, inclusive os de leitura e escrita, são um fenômeno complexo, que envolve aspectos socioculturais, pedagógicos, cognitivos e psicodinâmicos dentre as causas a serem tratadas. No entanto, questões da dinâmica familiar foram apontadas, de forma unânime, como uma das principais fontes de problemas na aprendizagem, principalmente a grande dependência da criança em relação à mãe e a participação periférica do pai no processo de aprendizagem escolar dos filhos. Além disso, questões socioculturais acentuam uma tendência atual dos pais em delegar a educadores e psicólogos os cuidados com a aprendizagem dos filhos. Os conhecimentos acerca das formas de funcionamento da família, dentro da sua cultura e em cada etapa de seu ciclo de vida, podem contribuir para o acompanhamento terapêutico da criança e do grupo familiar

No description available.

This project promotes an interdisciplinary approach to classroom instruction as an alternative to sequential instruction typically practiced in public schools. Specifically targeted are thematic, interdisciplinary teaching strategies.

No description available.

The purpose of this research was to examine the usefulness of David A. Kolb's Learning Styles Inventory (LSI) as a tool for categorization and analysis of systematic differences between American and International students. The research addressed five primary questions: 1. Are the learning styles of the International students tested different from those established by Kolb in previous studies of American students? 2. Do the learning styles of the International students tested differ among the various groups? 3. Are there differences among the groups of International students tested that can be related to gender? 4. Do the learning styles of the International students tested show any variation according to age? And if present, does that pattern differ in any way from patterns identified for American subjects tested? 5. Are the learning styles of the International students tested similar or dissimilar from the norms established by Kolb for American students in various fields of academic study?