A Review of: “LEARNING LATER By Brian Findsen”

Many older adults do not use health information available on the Internet. Older adults residing in affordable housing were taught to use the NIHSeniorHealth.gov Web site. Participants were predominantly African American women with limited education and income (N = 42). Outcomes included changes in computer and health Web site navigation skills. Results showed significant improvements for all demographic groups in both computer and Web site navigation (p < .001). Older minority adults with no prior computer experience were willing and able to learn to use health Web sites. Success factors included an instructor familiar with the community, peer training assistants, and a focus on new learner needs.     

A Review of: “Encouraging Civility as a Community College Leader By Paul A. Elsner George R. Boggs (Eds.)”

The purpose of this study was to add to the research base on the community college presidency by focusing on contemporary topics and challenges. The study involved a group of community college presidents from across the United States who were appointed to their positions during a 21 - month period from 1995 to 1997. The instrument used in this study was designed to obtain the following: previous positions held, presidents' motivation to seek a presidency, the time it took to obtain a presidency, presidential search processes, and initial observations upon taking office. The presidents were also quizzed on the Carver Governance Model, as well as the current movement to transform community colleges from teacher - centered to learner - centered institutions.     

A Review of: “NURSING HOME ADMINISTRATION (4th Ed.)By James E. Allen”

The relation of fiction to society may be interpreted from several points of view. As any other medium of mass communication, fiction is a source of information and attitudes, and an indicator of popular perspectives. In addition, fiction responds to its own rules. Necessities and conventions of representation in a particular form lead to certain combinations that are attributable neither to reflections of the situation nor to the intention to influence.

This paper examines the place of the aged in novels published in the United States during the years 1931‐1970. Because of the different ingredients that go into the creation of characters in novels, no simple relationship of contact with social conditions or attempted influence by an author can be discerned. A realistic picture of the presentation cannot concentrate on the status of old heroes and heroines, but on the manner in which old people become part of the general scene or setting within a whole presentation of a novel. One can contrast this approach with that of looking at the traits of the principal characters in novels and other media (Aronoff, 1974; Charles, 1976; Peterson &; Karnes, 1976). The relation of the reader to particular characters is ambiguous, and the influence of clear stereotypes is not clearly understood; one has only to consider the controversy surrounding Archie Bunker. The position of the aged as an integral part of novels may be more enduring because of the less obvious influence on the audience, corresponding to the place of salience in learning and media influence (Krugman, 1965).     

A Review of: “TALKING ABOUT DEATH By Virginia Morris”

Partnerships at local and state levels between the aging and developmental disabilities establishments can positively affect the quality of operation of each. The two systems need to exchange experiences that benefit the clients and overcome obstacles, expand the range of offerings at senior centers, plan jointly for secure and permanent residences for dependent adults who lose caregiving parents, join forces to overcome bias and prejudice against their constituencies, and assert the rights of all people rather than to pit one group against another.     

A Review of “Shaped By God: Twelve Essentials for Nurturing Faith in Children,Youth, and Adults”

There were moments when the weirdest things made a new and deep sense beyond sense — when Confession did not mean cleaning up oneself (the blackboard erased again) but cleansing a whole world, the first glimpse of sky or grass as one came out of church. When communion was not cannibalism, but its reverse, body taken up in Spirit. Being inwardly shaken by unsummoned prayers, as by muffled explosions. Moments of purity remembered, when the world seemed fresh out of its maker's hands, trees washed by some rain sweeter than the world's own. All these things were shared, part of community life. Not a rare isolated joy like reading poems. These moments belonged to a “people,” not to oneself. It was a ghetto, undeniably. But not a bad ghetto to grow up in. ^{1 1}Garry Wills, Bare Ruined Choirs (Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1971), 37.

To be rooted is perhaps the most important and least recognized need of the human soul. It is one of the hardest to define. A human being has roots by virtue of his [sic] real, active, and natural participation in the life of a community, which preserves in living shape certain particular treasures of the past and certain particular expectations for the future. ^{2 2}Simone Weil, The Need for Roots (New York: Harper &; Row, 1952), 43.

     

A Review of “Fields of Green: Restorying Culture,Environment, and Education”

This essay describes an educational initiative that used environmentally themed (green) hip-hop to stimulate learning in an environmental science classroom. Students were then challenged to compose their own green hip-hop and their lyrics demonstrated skills that have thematic consistency around what is called a Critical Ecological Literacy (CEL). An analysis of more than 200 creative pieces collected from eight runs of this curriculum over four years shows that CEL can be used as a guiding concept for the creation of curriculum targeting urban areas and racially diverse learners. Several examples of this student-produced green hip-hop are shared to delineate elements of CEL that can help educators evaluate student learning as well as their own teaching materials.