Parity is one source of automatic reinforcement that increases the probability of verbal behavior that conforms to models provided by the verbal community. Parity as a conditioned reinforcer could explain the acquisition of grammar in the absence of direct, explicit reinforcement. This possibility has been explored in previous research on…

Six-and eight-year olds were exposed to a modeling sequence for cluster rule learning under high, medium, and low degrees of structure. Age differences in vicarious learning emerged only in the medium structure condition, while immediately imitating a model failed to influence learning for either age group. (Author/CP)

The pleasures and advantages of informal learning are highlighted in a story about childhood visits to a fabric shop. Contrasts the unhurried, flexible, self-directed nature of informal learning situations with the more structured and controlled environment of the classroom. Discusses skills and lessons learned in informal settings and suggests…

The idea that breaks from experience are necessary and salutary in teacher education is a response to an enduring problem of teacher education: the fact that aspiring teachers come to their preparation with set ideas about teaching, learning, and schooling that fit with the larger ideal and institutional order into which they were born. Typically,…

This study of two groups of four children (ages 6-9) with learning disabilities evaluated the effects of two contingencies (independent and interdependent) on the learning of students with learning and behavioral disabilities when conducted in small groups with constant time delay. Measures were collected on the rapidity with which children…