Current assessment practices for writing are moving away from the traditional objective test and towards performance-based assessment. The use of picture prompts to elicit writing samples is a common practice but it adds a level of complexity to the writing process. Writing tasks which use pictures to elicit writing samples require the writer to interpret the picture, create meaning from the picture, and then transfer the visual information into a verbal mode of expression. The purpose of this study is to examine the characteristics of style and color of picture prompts while holding content constant. Four independent variables were investigated: style, (photograph, drawing), color (color, black and white), content (delivery man with a box, cliff rescue), and grade-level (fifth, eighth). Ratings of the students' stories served as the dependent variable. Each story was scored by two raters on three dimensions: narrative, descriptive, and events. These scores were added together to obtain a total score. The overall design was a four factor repeated measures ANOVA with grade level, style, and color as between subject factors and content as a within subject factor. A total of six ANOVAs were conducted, one each for the total score, narrative component, descriptive component, events component, prior events item, and after events item. Results of the ANOVA for total scores indicate that the main effect for content was significant, as was the content by style interaction. The main effects for color and style were not significant, nor did these factors yield significant interactions. Similar results were obtained in the analysis of the narrative and descriptive components. The main effect of content was not significant on the event component due to reversal of mean scores on the two items comprising this component. When ANOVAs were conducted on the two items comprising this component, the main effect for content was significant for both items. Also of interest is that the main effect for grade level was significant for the total scores, descriptive component, events component, and prior events, but was not significant for the narrative component or after events item. / Ph. D.

Aphasia can severely impact an individual’s ability to communicate. However, existing research on interventions is limited. The current study compared different stimulus fading procedures with an older adult diagnosed with aphasia. A multielement within a multiple baseline design across behaviors was used to measure the efficacy of each approach. Results showed that the time delay procedure was more efficient at fading prompts when teaching intraverbals.

Prompting methods are common amongst animal trainers, both novice and experts. However, there is little empirical evidence to demonstrate the strengths or weaknesses of common prompting procedures. The current study assessed the strengths and weaknesses during behavior acquisition of two prompting methods, luring and targeting. Luring placed an edible directly in front of the animal which guided the animal through the desired behavior. Targeting, however used a target, an arbitrary object the animal has been trained to touch, guide behavior. A cat was trained, using each method, to walk around a flower. Walking around the right flower pot was trained using luring and walking around the left flower pot was trained using targeting. After both behaviors were acquired, a delay cue method was designed to transfer stimulus control. Later a combination of a delay cue and prompt fading was used. During acquisition the luring method acquired the behavior of walking around a pot more quickly with consistently fewer errors. During stimulus transfer the cat began independently initiating the behavior earlier with the target trained behavior and produced more correct behaviors after the verbal cue. Luring appeared to produce the faster behavior, but after stimulus transfer it could be concluded that the cat did not learn the desired behavior, but rather following the lure. Both methods could be beneficial in different circumstance, however, given the desired behavior was to walk around a flower pot on cue, targeting would be considered best practice.

Reflection plays an important role in the learning process. A good learning strategy is supposed to improve a learner¡¦s reflection level.The Prompts is one of the learning strategies to promote a learner¡¦s reflection level. As a result, a well-formed prompt strategy fitting what a learner has or is situated in the right context will be the key factor contributing to promote a learner¡¦s reflection level. This study applied the prompts strategy in a Microblogging environment and named it as ¡§Microblogging Prompts Strategy¡¨. It¡¦s expected that designed microblogging prompts strategy would have positive effects on a learner¡¦s reflection level, metacognition and learning performance. The results show that microblogging prompts strategy has significantly positive effects on a learner¡¦s reflection level and metacognition but no positive effects on learner¡¦s learning performance. In addition to this, this study further investigates the learner¡¦s usage attitude and feedback toward the microblogging prompts steategy. Finally, the learners accessing microblogging prompts system by mobile devices were interviewed in order to investigate the potential issues and prombles of this strategy in the mobile learning environment.

This study focused on two areas under the overarching theme of the effects of domain-general and domain-specific scaffolds with different levels of support, continuous or faded. First, the study investigated the effects of scaffolds on learning of scientific content and problem-solving outcomes. Second, the study examined whether students’ prior knowledge and meta cognitive skills predict their success in problem solving across different scaffolding conditions. A total of nineteen classes were randomly assigned to one of the four scaffolding conditions: domain-general continuous (DG-C), domain-general faded (DG-F), domain specific continuous (DS-C), and domain-specific faded (DS-F). Each class had access to different worksheets depending on the scaffolding condition they had been assigned. All students engaged in four problem-solving activities for thirteen class periods. Students’ scores on a multiple-choice pretest, post test, inventory of meta cognitive self-regulation, and four recommendation forms were analyzed. Results of the study revealed that students’ content knowledge in all conditions significantly increased over the thirteen class periods. However, the continuous domain specific condition outperformed the other conditions on the post test. Although domain general scaffolds were not as effective as domain-specific scaffolds on learning of scientific content and problem representation, they helped students develop solutions, make strong justifications, and monitor their learning. Unlike domain-specific scaffolds, domain-general scaffolds helped students transfer problem-solving skills even when they were faded. In terms of individual differences, results indicated that while students with lower prior knowledge and lower meta cognitive skills benefited from the domain general continuous condition, students with lower regulation of cognition benefited from the domain-general faded condition. Moreover, while students with lower prior knowledge, lower knowledge of cognition, and lower problem representation benefited from the domain-specific continuous condition, students with lower problem representation benefited from the domain-specific faded condition. In contrast, results of the study suggested that scaffolds did not substantially benefit the students with higher prior knowledge and higher meta cognitive skills. Several suggestions are discussed for making further improvements in the design of scaffolds in order to facilitate ill-structured problem solving in hypermedia learning environments.

In recent years, E-learning has become more and more popular, and reflection is one of the most important factors that affect learning. Therefore, the issue on how to motivate learners to reflect on web-based learning is worth discussing. Our study use high level prompts and peer assessment to investigate how these two factors influence learners¡¦ reflection level, reflection attitude, and reflection intention. 157 college students were asked to use the system designed in this research, and the experimental learning subject was biology. Fourteen learning situations are presented in this research according to the difference of high level prompts (giving/not giving prompts), peer assessment (no peer assessment, peer observation, and peer feedback), observation (high quality/low quality observation), feedback (positive/negative feedback). The learners were randomly assigned to one situation. The result showed that giving high level prompts and high quality observation can improve learners¡¦ reflection level. If a learner is only given high quality observation, though not given high level prompts, his reflection level is still equal to the one who is given high level prompts but not given high quality observation. The result also showed that if a learner receives positive feedback, his reflection attitude and reflection intention will be higher than the one who receives negative feedback.

Memory, or the ability to recall previously learned information, has been evaluated among different populations. Some previous research has utilized different forms of verbal prompts to assist participants in recalling associations. These verbal prompts can be categorized as simple or elaborative. Although previous research has indicated that both forms of verbal prompts are effective in teaching individuals to relate stimulus pairs, there is currently no research that compares these prompting methods. Therefore, the current study sought to compare simple and elaborative prompts for teaching a picture-association task with four typically developing preschool children. Data suggest that elaborative prompts were more effective in teaching associations across all participants and resulted in similar levels of maintenance at 1-week and 1-month probes. Keywords. associative learning, memory, verbal prompts

Two studies were conducted to compare the efficacy of two behavioral prompts in increasing safety-belt use. Two approaches were used in both studies. The first approach involved showing a sign with the message, "Please Buckle Up, I Care" to unbuckled drivers leaving a parking lot; the second involved displaying the nationwide slogan "Click it or Ticket" (CioT). Participants were 1,822 unbuckled drivers exiting two student parking lots of a large university. Research assistants identified an unbuckled driver, flashed one of two signs, and recorded whether the driver buckled after the prompt, as well as the driver's facial reactions and hand gestures. Of the unbuckled drivers, 34% buckled following the Flash-for-Life (FfL) prompt, and 26% with the CioT prompt (p < .05). Drivers gave significantly more positive facial expressions and hand gestures following FfL vs. CioT prompt (p < .05). The second study used a variation of the procedures in Study I and implemented the intervention at a large department store. Driver age was measured with the previous driver variables. Participants were 1,990 unbuckled drivers exiting a parking lot. Results showed no significant differences in terms of compliance to signs (20.8% for FfL and 20.4% for CioT, p's > .05). Significant differences in hand gestures, facial expressions and ages were detected as a function of compliance, regardless of sign (all p's < .001). Specifically, drivers who complied with either prompt were more likely to be younger, and present positive hand gestures and facial expressions. Implications and future directions are discussed. / Master of Science

The current classroom environment is filled with expectations for both teacher and student but is often lacking in time. Skolverket (2011) outlines ambitious goals such as developing students’ critical thinking abilities, adapting teaching to each student’s individual needs, and encouraging students to actively take part in the development of their own educational process, to name just a few. It is crucial to develop and use techniques that aid in attaining these objectives. Peer response could be such a tool. There is an abundance of research which demonstrates how effective it is, but there is also a great reluctance on the part of teachers and students alike to employ it in the classroom. This could be due in part to the idea that learners lack the necessary knowledge to correct and give feedback. However, this and other criticisms directed against peer feedback could be alleviated through deliberate formal peerresponse training. Most of today’s research on this topic seems to focus on English as a Second or Foreign Language (ESL/EFL) classrooms in the U.S.A and Asia, with little work having been done in the Swedish context. Also lacking are investigations regarding peer response in grammar testing, since most of the research emphasizes essay writing. This paper aims to add to the body of existing research on prompted peer response by examining its application in English classrooms in Sweden. To do so, two secondary school English classes in Sweden are tested by means of an abbreviated version of Gan’s (2011) prompted peer response model. More specifically, this paper’s objective is to explore if prompted peer response leads to improvements in grammar (operationalized in this case as reducing grammatical errors in a grammar test) when compared to unprompted peer response. In addition, this paper intends to explore whether peer response can possibly produce any additional rewards and what those could be. The results for this study seem promising. The primary results of this paper support the existing research in this area that prompted peer response leads to a reduction in student’s grammatical errors. Perhaps more importantly, the results suggest that it also aids students in developing a progressive approach to peer response which ultimately can lead to students developing learning strategies and self-reflection over their own learning process.

Based on the importance place of metacognition in education, the current study aimed to investigate whether the embedded metacognitive prompts in the manual lead a change in PSTs&rsquo / metacognitive knowledge and metacognitive skills. Throught 2009-2010 Fall semester, the data were collected from pre-service science teachers (PSTs) who enrolled in the Laboratory Applications in Science Education course. The course was offered as a must course in Elementary Science Education programme in one of the biggest universites in Ankara. The method selected for the study was mix method. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected and analyzed. Quantitative data was collected from 28 PSTs and qualitative data was collected from 7 PSTs who were the members of the researcher&rsquo / s group. In accordance with the purpose of the current study, descriptive statistics and independent samples t-test was conducted for quantitative data. In terms of qualitative part, the study was case study and interviews which were conducted before and after the course were analyzed to observe the change of PSTs&rsquo / metacognition. The result of the study revealed that before the course most of the PSTs did not report metacognitive skills. After the course it was observed that their metacognitive skills were developed. Among metacognitive skills, the most reported skill was monitoring skill after the course. It can be concluded from the study that metacognitive prompts embedded into the manual provided a metacognitively learning environment and a development in PSTs&rsquo / metacognition.