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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (April 21, 1976)
Psychologists welcome age of computers By BILL LINGLE Of the Emerald Imagine that you ana Bugsy have just robbed a bank. The police say if you testify against Bugsy, you won’t have to go to jail. They've told Bugsy the same thing. You'll both get five years if you testify against each other. If neither testifies, you'll both get only two years. But H only one tes tifies, the “squealer" gets off free and the other draws 10 years. You and Bugsy can't talk to each other. How do you decide what to do? That's a real problem... even if you're not a criminal but an under graduate psychology student who's just been given the "Prisoner’s Dilemma," a tool to demonstrate strategies of coop eration and non-cooperation. The dilemma is an old one, but the University's psychology de partment is using it, and other learning devices, in a new way — with computers in an indi vidualized learning program called Inquiry Training. I he independent under graduate study program is charac terized by Robert Fagot, psychol ogy department chairman, as "one of the most exciting educa tional ventures we have at tempted." "It allows even first-year stu dents to get actively involved in the learning process in a way that can’t be done in conventional classes," Fagot says. Students check out and work with individual learning “modules" — small computer programs — designed to be run on PDP-10 and PDP-15 computer terminals in the psychology department. One such program is “Mouse." The "mouse” is a dot of light which moves randomly on the cathode ray tube. The student can "teach" the mouse to move one way or another by reinforcing its correct moves. The student can then plot the mouse’s learning curve. "Mental arithmetic" is a pro gram that explores what goes on in the mind when two small num bers are added together. The stu dent gathers data by watching a N-piant technicians failed deliberately? RICHLAND, Wash. (AP) — The idled nuclear reactor at the Han ford Nuclear Reservation could be restarted by Wednesday if 18 techni cians pass a safety test, a spokesman for the operators said. United Nuclear, which operates the kilowatt-producing reactor, closed the plant Friday after 18 of 19 operating technicians taking a routine recertification test had failing grades. United spokesman Lynn Watson said. "We feel the failure of 18 of19 of those taking the test to pass was deliberate," Watson said. Watson said the technicians had given a tipoff of what was to come when they signed a letter saying they would refuse to take the test while wage negotiations were pending. But Thomas Van Lear, a union shop steward for the Nucleonics Alliance, attributed the low examination grades to a lack of training by United Nuclear and the turmoil created by the contract negotiations. "Some of us got the 26 hours of retraining we were supposed to, and some got very litbe." he said Van Lear, whose union is affiliated with the Atomic Metal Trades Council, added "It’s difficult to buckle down and study as you should when your wages are being threatened. " Watson said United Nuclear’s position is that ample retraining was provided for all operators. “If they realty need retraining the contract says they can get up to or more than 60 days of it, but only when the company dooms there is a need,” Watson said. Watson said the operators are “highly staled, and the test will be administered again Tuesday. “If they pass the test, and we won't know until Wednesday, we could start up the N Reactor immediately,” Watson said. If those taking the test appear to genuinely fail the second time, they could lose their nuclear operation certification, Watson said. The recertification test is required every two years under a contract between the firm and the federal Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA). ERDA spokesman Tom Baumann of Richland said, “to the best of our knowledge no ERDA nuclear installation has even been shut down before by those kinds of test failures.’’ uxasma ratable service for your foreign car AUTO SERVICE VOLKSWAGEN MERCEDES • DATSUN • TOYOTA GUENTER SCHOENER Bus. Pti 342-2912 2025 Frankko BM. Eugene, Ore. 97403 Home Ph. 746-1207 SBA Brown Bag Special ★★ )im ujfflveR ★★ Representative Weaver will hold a town meeting to discuss current issues in Congress with his constituents with an emphasis on environmental problems TODflH 12:30 LAW SCHOOL Rm. 121 ^rkirkirkiritifirkirirk'kit'kifitifiritif ★★★★★★★★★★★ rapid flashby of 132 simple addi tion problems on a video display terminal. Computer analysis at the end of the experiment allows the student to draw conclusions about conflicting theories. “Computer-assisted learning is more than an audio-visual aid,’’ says Michael Posner, head of the Psychology Undergraduate Edu cation Committee and coordinator of the Inquiry Training Program.”It is an effort to make experimenta tion available ad lib.’ It's like a li brary. It's not just an aid to a lec ture; it’s an aid to inquiry.” Posner says it is rare for a sys tem like the Inquiry Training Pro gram to be available to under graduates. He says only a few universities, including Dartmouth College and the University of Il linois, have followed this ap proach ^ “The program gives students a chance to ask questions that haven’t been asked before,” he says. "The whole idea is to try to free students early in their college careers to make their own deci sions and ask their own ques tions.” John Winkelman, who earned his Ph.D. in psychology at the University and recently served as director of the Inquiry Training Program, agrees that it serves a “dual instructional and explora tory function.” “Mouse, for example, is primar ily instructive,” explains Winkel man. “The student learns for him self how reinforcement modifies behavior. With another module, a student could run the experiment on different people in different mental states and find out how long it takes them to begin re sponding in the correct way.” Such experiments have practi cal application, Winkelman says. “Take the example of parents who build up screaming behavior in their children,” he explains. "Even a very thin schedule of rein forcement can build up powerful behavior patterns. The experi ment might show that the more random or infrequent the rein forcement, the more effective it may be. This certainly would have a bearing on how to go about changing the screaming be havior.” Rod Carter, a junior in psychol ogy from Albany assists in run ning the program. Carter thinks another benefit of the experiment is that it gets students to “break down the barriers many people have against the computer as a learning tool.” The new learning approach, which already offers modules in experimental and social psychol ogy, has vast potential applica tion. Clinical modules are now being constructed. “The computer can provide a patient’ for the student to try out various techniques for modifying behavior,” Carter says. Posner says the psychology department is applying for federal funds to develop the program. He anticipates that the Inquiry Train ing Program will expand in accor dance with the psychology department's focus of “giving un dergraduate students more indi vidualized teaming situations and laboratory classes.” PROPOSED AMENDMENT PROPOSED AMENDMENT TO THE ARTICLES OF INCORPORATION UNIVERSITY OF 0RE60N BOOKSTORE, INC. ARTICLE VIII IS HEREBY AMENDED IN ITS ENTIRETY TO READ AS FOLLOWS: (a) The Board of Directors shall consist of ten (10) members of the Corporation as follows: A" atcfhe (ime they stand for election, be Undergraduate Students Graduate nnJmS' ° ? Faculty' resPecJ»vely. Five (5) members shall be Undergraduate Students r ri t rn^T1t)€r jnail he a Student-at-Large, either Undergraduate or Graduate two (2) members shall hp Graduate Students: and two (2) members shall be from the Faculty 1)6 (b) Except as Provided in paprgraph(c) below, all members shall be elected to serve a term of twn g years, andthe membership shall elect one (1) Freshman each oddmumlW^ To 5? Sophomores each year, one (1) Student -at-Large (either Undergraduate umbered year, one (1) Graduate Student each year, and one (1) member of the Faculty each year (c) Upon the years indicated below. Board Members shall be elected for terms as follows: FRESHMEN SOPHOMORES 1976 1977 1978 1979 Thereafter 1976 1977 Thereafter one member — 1-year term one member — 2-year term None one member — 2-year term one member — each odd year for a 2-year term two members — 2-year term two members — 2-year term two members — each year for a 2-year term STUDENTS-AT-LARGE 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 Thereafter one member one member one member None one member - one member — — 1-year term — 1-year term - 2-year term - 2-year term each even year for a 2-year term GRADUATE STUDENTS FACULTY 1976 1977 1977 Thereafter 1976 1977 Thereafter two members — 1-year term one member — 1-year term* one member — 2-year term** one member — each year for a 2-year term one member one member one member - — 2-year term — 2-year term each year for a 2-year term •Candidate receiving second highest number of votes cast. “Candidate receiving the highest number of votes cast. VOTING AT BOOKSTORE MAY 3-7
