THE CO‐OPERATIVE SCHOOL OF RELIGION IN PRACTICE

A report of a conference of leaders, both men and women, in the fields of secular education, religious education, community and social work, and business and professional life. In the group are Protestant, Catholic, Jew and those having less formal attachment to organized religion—the Ethical Culturist, the New Thought adherent, the pure humanist and the scoffer at man‐made schemes for personal and social salvation.     

WEEK‐DAY RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION

Using the feedback loop model, Dr. Steward provides a new view of recent Christian educational theory

     

PARALLELS OF PROGRESS IN RELIGION AND EDUCATION∗

The careful distinctions in this article assist in clarifying the tasks of educators     

SEX‐INSTRUCTION AS A PHASE OF SOCIAL EDUCATION

Do teachers of religion use history in such a way as to challenge the imagination, stir the emotions, and encourage reflection? The author thinks not, but points to ways in which this may be done.     

UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS’ SCIENCE-RELATED IDEAS AS EMBEDDED IN THEIR ENVIRONMENTAL WORLDVIEWS

This study explored environmental worldviews of selected undergraduate students in Taiwan and located the associations of these worldviews with science. The “environment” is represented as nature or the natural world, as opposed to the social and spiritual world. The participants were undergraduate students (14 science and 15 nonscience majors) enrolled in a general science course at a southern Taiwanese university. A questionnaire and individual interviews were conducted in parallel to elicit in depth the students’ ideas/beliefs about nature, such as, to what construes nature, how it works, and how humans relate to nature. The responses were analyzed using a phenomenographic approach to emphasize the qualitative variation of the students’ views. The key findings based on their relations to science and science education were the following: (1) Most students seemed to immediately relate the topic of nature to science and thus sought to explain nature from a scientific perspective, yet their understanding of scientific concepts or metaphors, such as the balance of nature, was problematic; (2) a value-free perspective is evident among some students in viewing human-induced natural crises: What we should do is merely look at facts and let science tell us what we should and should not do. (3) The students generally expressed trust in science and technology and believed it to be the key to improving the condition of nature as well as human life.     

FACULTY PERCEPTIONS OF THE QUALITY OF OFF‐CAMPUS INSTRUCTION

Two‐year college faculty teaching credit courses off‐campus were surveyed to ascertain their perceptions regarding a variety of factors about these courses. In general, faculty cited a number of factors that lead to the conclusion that the quality of off‐campus courses may be less than comparable on‐campus courses. However, the summary question about the extent of learning indicated that 83% of two‐year faculty included in the survey reported their students learned as much or more than they would in a comparable on‐campus course. The information was based upon personal perceptions of the faculty included and was not correlated to other measures such as standardized test scores or grade point averages. The data from two‐year college faculty were compared to a larger data base from 322 faculty teaching at all levels of higher education and results were similar.     

ATTITUDE OF THE JEWS TOWARD WEEK‐DAY RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION

The purpose of this column is to keep religious educators abreast of the relevant significant research in the general field of psychology. Its implications for methods and materials in religious education are clear. Religious educators may well take advantage of every new finding in scientific research.

Each abstract or group is preceded by an evaluation and interpretive comment, which aims to guide the reader in understanding the research reported.

All of these abstracts are from PSYCHOLOGICAL ABSTRACTS and used by permission of that periodical. The abstract number is Volume 30, Number 5, October 1956.     

PART‐TIME COMMUNITY COLLEGE FACULTY: THEIR NEEDS FOR INSTRUCTION‐RELATED ASSISTANCE

An aura of controversy surrounds the proliferation of part‐time faculty members on community college campuses. The related literature provides evidence that part‐timers have fewer advanced degrees and years of teaching experience than their full‐time counterparts. Nevertheless, the increasing trend toward their employment shows no sign of slowing. As part‐timers comprise a growing proportion of community college faculties, and as they are recruited from nonacademic sources, opportunities should be provided for them to hone their pedagogical skills. The findings of a study undertaken at Arizona State University's Department of Higher and Adult Education reveal part‐timers’ needs for assistance and information in instruction‐related areas such as evaluation, handling paperwork, teaching community college students and community college philosophy. An instructional resource manual developed for part‐time faculty was perceived to be a viable method of providing assistance to part‐timers.