An empirical test of anchoring the NEP scale in environmental ethics

Some argue that the new ecological paradigm (NEP) scale is incomplete and does not adequately reflect contemporary debates in environmental ethics. We focus on one specific shortcoming of the NEP, its lack of an item to reflect an ecocentric viewpoint. To test this concern, we administered the NEP to three different audiences and included one additional item to capture an ecocentric perspective. The empirical tests were designed to determine whether the addition of such an item changed results in a meaningful way. We find evidence that NEP may already capture ecocentric viewpoints, but our investigation leads us to question the validity and reliability of the NEP in capturing ecological worldview.     

Does culture travel? Cultural influences on environmentalism in Taiwan in comparison to the United States

Abstract

This study investigates how the grid-group two-dimensional cultural theory (CT) of Douglas and Wildavsky, demographic attributes, and partisan identification are associated with environmentalism in Taiwan, in comparison to the Weather, Society, and Government survey collected in the United States. Results reveal that partisan identification better explains environmental attitudes and concerns in Taiwan, but its explanatory power is not comprehensive. Gender and age explain environmental concerns in Taiwan but not environmental attitudes. The impact of CT on environmentalism appears in the Taiwanese environmentalist’s group but not in the public, whereas CT has satisfactory power in explaining environmentalism in the United States.     

论当前我国英语教学的新范式

范式是一个特定社团的成员共同接受的信仰,公认的价值和技术的总和。我国课程与教学改革的全方位推进,为逐渐形成新的英语教学范式创造了理论与实践基础。语言与文化是现代英语教学的基本观念范式,活动与参与是现代英语教学的过程范式,系统是现代英语教学的方法范式,回归生活状态是现代英语教学的质量范式。     

The new ecological paradigm revisited: anchoring the NEP scale in environmental ethics

The New Environmental or Ecological Paradigm (NEP) is widely acknowledged as a reliable multiple‐item scale to capture environmental attitudes or beliefs. It has been used in statistical analyses for almost 30 years, primarily by psychologists, but also by political scientists, sociologists and geographers. The scale's theoretical foundation is, however, seldom discussed and not comprehensively specified. This article explores the environmental ethics that underlies the scale, analysing which ethical positions on human—nature relations the scale seem to match. The study shows that pronounced forms of anthropocentrism are well captured by the scale, while the environmental position is ‘shallow’ rather than ‘deep green’ and misses crucial elements of the contemporary environmental ethics debate.     

Successful schooling for pupils with intellectual disabilities: the demand for a new paradigm

A comprehensive review of educational interventions for pupils with intellectual disabilities showed that most studies report positive results for a variety of interventions. The aim of this article is to explore how these results can be understood. We draw on similar earlier findings concerning intervention effects in psychotherapy and social work, discussing the so-called Dodo bird conjecture, indicating that established methods for identification of evidence-based practices can provide false, positive results influenced by so-called common factors present in most interventions. In conclusion, we argue for a new paradigm of research on educational interventions for pupils with intellectual disabilities, replacing the present ambition to find evidence-based support for specific interventions in favour of a line of research exploring alternative explanations in terms of, for instance, common positive factors.     

新时期马克思主义政治经济学的基本范式和内容的创新

随着我国经济建设的不断发展,新时期政治经济学的研究主题发生了历史性变迁,需要从改革的经济学演进到发展的经济学。与此相适应,需要按照科学发展观的要求,对政治经济学的研究范式和内容进行调整。要在教学中贯彻政治经济学新研究范式和研究内容的思想,需要对政治经济学课程现行的教学内容、教学手段和教学方法进行相应的改革。     

Piecing together the puzzle: development of the Societal Attitudes towards Autism (SATA) scale

The rise in the prevalence of autism creates a need for a reliable and valid measure of attitudes towards autism. The current study describes the development of a brief 16‐ item measure of Societal Attitudes towards Autism (SATA) that exhibits sound psychometric properties and has a demonstrated ability to discriminate between expert and general college student samples. The final SATA was the result of pilot work on 75 items and exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses on a 45‐item version with 475 undergraduates. Knowledge and personal distance subscales yielded inconsistent reliability and validity outcomes. The SATA showed strong content and construct validity as evidenced by known groups discrimination, and predicted associations with an attitude towards disability measure, an autism preference item, and a measure of implicit attitudes towards disabilities.     

Socially desirable responding in an environmental context: development of a domain specific scale

Numerous studies have pointed to a gap between the attitudes people express about the natural environment and their subsequent behaviors toward that environment. Variables identified within these studies include: how significant others view behaviors related to the attitudes; demographic variables such as sex, age or education; self‐perceived ability to do the attitude‐related behavior; attitude strength; and personal relevance of the attitude. This study proposes the concept of environmental desirability responding (EDR) as another factor which might contribute to the attitude‐behavior discrepancy. The development and construct validation of the Environmentally Desirable Response Scale (EDRS), which is designed to identify the existence and level of EDR, is described. The EDRS contains items designed to measure two types of socially desirable responding – ‘Self‐deception’ and ‘Image management’. A total of 1024 usable data sets were obtained from a sample of respondents in several countries (Japan, the US and Australia). Principal factors and correlation analyses revealed that the EDRS comprises three factors identified as ‘Self‐deception/Assertion of positives’, ‘Image management’ and ‘Self‐deception/Denial of negatives’. Cronbach alpha estimates of reliability for the three factors were .74, .66, and .61. Suggestions for further research regarding the scale and EDR are offered.     

环境问题的历史发展

自人类诞生以来，就有了环境问题，农业革命以来，人口骤增。为了生存，竭泽而渔，使局部生态环境恶化，导致了人类古代明的衰落，工业革命后，环境污染日趋严重，已危及到人类的生存。20世纪80年代中、后期、人类统一了认识，采取一系列措施，挽救地球，挽救人类。     

“多元性诉求”抑或“普遍中生长”?——当代马克思主义哲学研究范式与路径选择问题透析

马克思主义哲学研究若要成为世界通用语并向着普遍中生长,进入目前由西方哲学及其文化霸权所控制的世界公共视域:必须通过公平的对话和交流,在问答逻辑的牵引中产生交往互惠和重叠共识,从而在多元性诉求中使之获得合和共生;必须在各种研究范式之间保持一种必要的理性张力,通过省思以往研究范式的缺失、体认各种文化元素之间的相容相生关系,以便为其未来的发展预留出足够多的理性空间;必须以建设中国特色社会主义这一共同事业为最高原则,才能使各种研究范式互渗互动,并在最高的世界观层面,体现和把握当代中国发展的事情本身,促使其向实践处谋划、向着未来拓展。     

The influence of the family,the school,and the group on the environmental attitudes of European students

The attitudes of young people arise from an intense interaction with their social groups of reference, and in this work we examine the extent to which this background conditions the individual environmental attitudes of the young. Using data provided by the PISA 2006 survey for the European Union, we test for the influence of the family, the characteristics of the school, and the social interactions or school peer group on attitudes toward the environment. The existence of social interactions, as well as the important role of family characteristics and school activities, are confirmed. The results allow us to emphasize the importance of the social context of the adolescent, and the need to take this into account as a channel that amplifies the influence of specific environmental education strategies.     

Validity Evidence against the Children’s New Ecological Paradigm Scale

Abstract

The Children’s New Ecological Paradigms scale was originally developed for children ages 10–12 and was presented as valuable for comparing that age group with older participants. This study uses cognitive interviews and measurement invariance testing to investigate how well the scores maintain the same meaning between these two age groups. The qualitative and quantitative results were consistent in revealing that at least 20% of the items function differently than expected when we use it for this purpose. The findings revealed similarities with critiques of the adult NEP and questioned the validity of the use of this instrument in its present form.     

Environmental action and student environmental leaders: exploring the influence of environmental attitudes,locus of control,and sense of personal responsibility

The Student Climate and Conservation Congress (SC3) is a joint educational effort between the United States Fish and Wildlife Service and the Green Schools Alliance that aims to develop the next generation of conservation leaders through fostering action competence in youth. Data from SC3 participants was used to investigate four predictors of adult environmental behavior (environmental attitudes, locus of control, sense of personal responsibility, intention) to explore their predictability of environmental action and intention toward future involvement in environmental action in student environmental leaders. Of the four variables explored, pre-program levels of environmental attitudes was a significant predictor of environmental action. Additionally, changes in levels of environmental attitudes significantly predicted environmental action, with an increase in environmental attitudes being associated with a decrease in environmental action. Pre-program levels of environmental attitudes and sense of personal responsibility, and an interaction between the two, potentially were predictors of intention toward future involvement in environmental action. Changes in pre- and post-program levels of environmental attitudes, locus of control, and sense of personal responsibility did not significantly predict intention toward future involvement in environmental action, nor did environmental action. Implications for programming and research, in light of the study’s limitations, are discussed.     

略论近代石家庄的公立新式学堂

近代石家庄作为迅速崛起的新兴城市,其教育发展状况却异常缓慢,并不像人口聚集那样迅速,人口与教育两者未形成均衡发展的局面。“七七事变”之前,石家庄学校教育规模甚小,公立学校极度匮乏,教育普及的广泛程度长期落伍,未能确立其区域教育文化中心的地位,未能担负起区域教育文化中心的职能。其主要原因在于石家庄长期以来没有形成统一的城市管理体制,畸形政体造成百弊丛生,使得城市综合管理严重缺失。     

复杂性范式的兴起与科学世界观的变革

复杂性科学被有些学者认为是"21世纪的科学",由此也兴起了一种新的科学范式:复杂性范式.复杂性范式具有丰富的内涵,在本体论、认识论和方法论等方面都与传统科学范式相区别,并在许多领域逐渐取代传统科学范式,从而引起了世界观的变革.     

Development and validation of scales to measure environmental responsibility,character development,and attitudes toward school

This investigation examines the use of structural equation modeling (SEM) procedures to develop and validate scales to measure environmental responsibility, character development and leadership, and attitudes toward school for environmental education programs servicing middle school children. The scales represent outcomes commonly of interest to environmental education programs and also to after‐school and positive youth development activities. First, we developed the scales using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and then we used multi‐group longitudinal CFA to cross‐validate the model with data collected before participation in the environmental education program, immediately after the program, and three months later. The results support a three‐factor model, producing three scales that appear to be valid and reliable.     

The effect of problem-based learning on the environmental attitudes of preservice science teachers

This study attempted to investigate the effect of problem-based learning (PBL) on the environmental attitudes of preservice science teachers. In the study, an experimental design was used with a pre-test and post-test control group. In all, 51 junior preservice science teachers participated in the study. The study was carried out over 10 weeks within the scope of an environmental science course. During the study, lessons in the experimental group were processed using a PBL approach while lessons in the control group were processed using a traditional teaching approach. Data were collected through a personal information form and environmental attitudes inventory. Data were then analysed using PASW Statistics 18 (SPSS Inc.). The findings of the study revealed a statistically significant increase in favour of the experimental group preservice science teachers’ environmental attitudes. An increase in environmental attitudes was also found in the control group; however, this increase was not statistically significant. As a result, PBL was found to be more effective than the traditional teaching approach in the development of environmental attitudes in preservice science teachers.     

基于人行为尺度确定的大学校园与学生数合理规模——新城市主义理论在大学校园规划中的应用

大学校园面积与学生规模如何确定是国内外教育经济学、高等教育界长期讨论的一个悬而未决的基础问题。大学校园规划完全可以、也应该充分借鉴西方城市规划理论当中的新城市主义理论。以人的行为尺度确定大学校园面积和学生规模的最优值,较之传统研究方法的优点在于能够基于若干逻辑前提自然地推导出最优值结果,而不是对已有现象的简单总结,因此所得结论更有说服力。     

层次分析法的一种新标度法

该文分析了T.L.Saaty层次分析法的1—9标度评判的非一致性,提出了一种新的标度法,经与1—9标度法进行比较,新的标度法较优。