Using CHAINS, a QuickBASIC 4.5 Program, to Teach Single-Subject Experimentation with Humans

Abstract

Students enrolled in a single-subject design course studied the repeated acquisition of response sequences by using CHAINS, a QuickBASIC 4.5 program, which runs in DOS or Windows®. For about 2 months, students examined the learning of such sequences as a function of various treatments. Each week students graphed their data, discussed their research, modified their experiments, and then wrote American Psychological Association-style manuscripts. Students positively evaluated CHAINS and the instructional process. Suggestions for future instruction include distributing students' manuscripts the following semester so new students can replicate earlier work and using the alternating treatments design, which quickly permits comparing treatments.

Textbook Use and Learning: A North American Perspective

“…When textbooks are reviewed superficially, this could be a plausible conclusion: introductory psychology textbooks tend to have high production qualities, cover the same general topics, and often share a similar organisation. However, when textbooks are systematically examined, there is actually just a very small core of terms that are common across multiple textbooks (e.g., Griggs, Bujak-Johnson, & Proctor, 2004;Landrum, 1993). One issue to address in the future is whether differences across textbooks relate to factors associated with student performance.…”

“…Textbook research can be separated into two broad major categories: content and pedagogical aids. Research has examined the content of textbooks, particularly looking for similarity of core concepts (Griggs, Bujak-Johnson, & Proctor, 2004), and suggests that introductory and even upper level textbooks may have similar chapters or topics, but vary considerably in terms of coverage, terms used, and citations (Christopher, Griggs, & Hagans, 2000;Griggs & Marek, 2001).…”

“…Regardless of ratings, however, learning as assessed by quiz performance did not differ across these groups. Thus, a complicated picture emerges -although textbooks are clearly different from one another based on systematic study (e.g., Griggs et al, 2004;Landrum, 1993), instructors who hold to the notion that textbooks are alike may be correct in the context of student learning (measured via quiz scores). A key question for future research would be to determine those variables, if any, that would lead to enhanced learning as evidenced by student quiz scores.…”

How to Create Automatically Graded Spreadsheets for Statistics Courses

“…In the decades that followed, innovative psychologists used computer technology to devise their own solutions for instructional efficiency (cf. Beins, 1989) either by programming their own software (e.g., Dermer, 2004; Goldstein & Strube, 1995; Gregory, 1977; Pettijohn, 1985; Raffle & Brooks, 2005) or by customizing existing software for classroom use (e.g., Goernert, 1994; Masip, Garrido, Herrero, Ullan, & Conde, 2012; Pittenger, 1992; Renner, 2004).…”

Students’ perceptions about interactive white board used in physics class<p>Fizik dersinde öğrencilerin akıllı tahta kullanımı ile ilgili algıları

“…Sonuçta öğrencinin uygulama olan periyotlarda iyileşme kaydettiğini göstermiştir. Uygulamalar tek bir kişiye olduğu gibi bir gruba da yapılabilir(Cohen, Manion ve Morrison, 2007;Dermer, 2004; Barlow ve Hayes, 1979;Lee, 2010; La Grow ve Hamilton, 2000).Birinci safhada, A, geleneksel yöntemle dersler anlatılmıştır. Sonraki, ikinci safhada, B, akıllı tahta ile dersler anlatılmıştır.…”