Envisioning the Future: the challenge for environmental educators

One of the main concerns of environmental education is the need to create a more ecologically sustainable future, yet environmental educators often lack the expertise needed to explore alternative futures in this way. However, there is much of value that can be learnt from futures studies and from the work of futurists. In particular futures studies is interested in how people view the future and ways of cultivating clearer images of preferred futures. One established strategy for this is the futures workshop and examples are given of work by Robert Jungk, Warren Ziegler and Elise Boulding in this field. It is suggested that a valuable cross‐fertilisation of ideas could thus occur between environmental educators and such futurists.     

Intratrial proactive interference in rats’ serial alternation performance in the radial maze

Rats acquired a serial alternation task in an eight-arm radial maze that was partitioned into four pairs of arms. Each pair was associated with a different distal stimulus. Rats were initially forced to the left or right arm in each pair (the study segment) before being exposed to both arms in each pair (the free-choice or test segment). Only the previously blocked arm of each pair remained baited. Following initial training, proactive interference (PI) was induced by presenting rats with a forced-choice (prestudy) segment containing arm positions opposite those in the subsequent study segment. Such trials generated poorer free-choice accuracy than did trials without a prestudy segment. Forcing rats to both arms in the pair in a prestudy segment produced only transient PI. A slight improvement in rats’ free-choice performance was obtained by forcing them to the same arm position, but only when the test segment was delayed by 30 min. Increasing the interval between the prestudy and study segments from 2 to 30 min eliminated PI, but only when free-choice testing was delayed by 2 min rather than by 30 min. These results suggest that intratrial PI in this preparation was primarily due to confusion about which arm position in each pair had been visited during the last forced-choice segment.     

Developing the methodological toolbox for information literacy research: Grounded theory and visual research methods

The growing complexity of information environments calls for a reconsideration of the ways in which grounded theory method is employed within library and information science (LIS). This methodological discussion explores the synergies between grounded theory, information literacy and visual research to establish a research agenda for the extension of grounded theory method within LIS. The discussion draws upon recent theoretical and methodological advances to outline the challenges and opportunities of the proposed shift in focus for the development of a LIS researchers methodological toolbox. The ongoing exploration of grounded theory method is vital for the creation of richer and more complex theorising about the ways in which people engage with information within evolving settings and spaces.     

Positive youth development and gender differences in high performance sport

ABSTRACT

We examined positive youth development within a high performance sport environment. Youth football players (N = 455; Males = 315; Females = 140) completed a range of questionnaires including: the Youth Experiences Survey for Sport; Self-Confidence subscale of the Competitive State Anxiety Inventory–2 Revised; Sport Competence Inventory; Prosocial and Antisocial Behaviour in Sport Scale; and the modified Coach-Athlete Relationship questionnaire. The players reported a relatively high level of self-confidence, competence and positive youth experiences. They felt a strong coach-athlete relationship and displayed higher levels of prosocial than antisocial behaviour. Males scored significantly higher than females on self-confidence, perceived self-competence, antisocial behaviour to teammates and opponents, relationship with their coach, and cognitive skills. Findings suggest a relationship between high performance sport environments and positive youth development.     

Establishing an online community of inquiry at the Distance Education Centre,Victoria

This pilot intervention focused on three courses that were redesigned to utilize the online environment to establish an online community of inquiry (CoI). The setting for this research study was the Distance Education Centre, Victoria (DECV), an Australian co-educational school with approximately 3000 students who, for a variety of reasons, are studying one or more subjects via distance education. Despite the availability of information and communications technology, many students at the DECV remain socially isolated from their peers. The DECV recognizes that online student collaboration has the potential to bridge this divide. Results of this study suggest that the adaptation of these courses had led to improvements in students’ perception of their educational experience. These findings may be of use to other P–12 education providers who are attempting to promote online collaboration and student connectedness.     

Developing and executing strategy: Using the balanced scorecard for alignment and accountability

The balanced scorecard is a strategic performance management system that charts the course and evaluates the strategic goals of an organization. Practitioners in the field of performance improvement are results focused, with efforts purposefully channeled toward achievement of successful outcomes for their clients. Using a systematic and systemic approach, performance improvement practitioners are uniquely qualified to guide their practice using a balanced scorecard as a tool toward achieving measurable and results‐focused objectives.     

Purchasers and Providers: The Impact of the NHS Reforms on Medical Schools

The introduction of the National Health Service (NHS) reforms, and more particularly of an internal market for the provision of health care to local populations, is continuing to impact on medical education and research in ways that create considerable challenges for university managers. The lack of an overarching framework of principles at national level means that they are having to negotiate outcomes and develop solutions to problems locally, with no guarantee of consistency across the country. Moreover, the market is not a totally free market, but subject to Government intervention when this is considered politically expedient. University managers'efforts to safeguard the interests of medical education nationally and institutionally may have salutary lessons for other areas of university activity, and provide an indication of future trends.     

‘NO WAR THIS YEAR’

The London Daily Express proclaimed the maxim ‘No War this Year’ on its front pages as late as 7 August 1939. Newspaper historian Stephen Koss has suggested that the ‘no war’ slogan was a ‘delusion’ on the part of the proprietor, Lord Beaverbrook. Berlin chief correspondent, R. Selkirk Panton, was instrumental in ensuring that the policy line was observed through both his news stories and opinion pieces throughout 1938 and 1939. This paper aims to explore the extent to which Panton shared his employer's views, as well as tracing the divergent path of the Express from the rest of Fleet Street and Panton's position as a political outsider within the ‘foreign press colony’ of Berlin. Through the examination of several key stories during the last year before the outbreak of war, in his copy and personal correspondence, a critical evaluation of how Panton negotiated the space between the policy of the paper and the European crises on which he reported can be achieved.     

New books

The Literacy Test for Immigrants: A Debate. University of Chicago, Chapter of Delta Sigma Rho, Chicago, 1916. Paper, pp. 62, $1.00.

The Brief‐Maker's Notebook. By WARREN CHOATE SHAW. New York: Ginn & Co., 1916. Cloth, $1.00.

The Elements of Public Speaking. BY HARRY GARFIELD HOUGH‐TON. New York: Ginn and Co., 1916. Cloth, $1.50.

Thinking as a Science. By HENRY HAZLITT. New York: E. P. Button & Co., 1916. Cloth, pp. 251. $1.00.

Universities Debaters’ Annual. Edited by EDWARD C. MABIE. White Plains, N. Y. The H. W. Wilson Company, 1916. Cloth, pp. 294. $1.80.

American Merchant Marine. Edited by E. M. PHELPS. White Plains, New York: The H. W. Wilson Company, 1916. Cloth, pp. xxviii+2180 $1.00.

Debaters’ Manual. Edited by E. M. PHELPS. White Plains, New York: The H. W. Wilson Company, 1916. Cloth, pp. x+181. $1.00.

Lessons in Public Speaking and Oral Reading for Class and Private Drill. By JOHN R. PELSMA. Austin, Texas, 1916. Published by the author. Cloth, pp. 58. $0.40.

Community Drama and Pageantry. By MARY PORTER BEEGLE and JACK RANDALL CRAWFORD. New Haven, Conn. Yale University Press, 1916. Cloth and boards, pp. 370. $2.50.