Employee and Workplace Well-being: A Multi-level Analysis of Teacher Personality and Organizational Climate in Norwegian Teachers from Rural,Urban and City Schools

Although teaching is frequently cited as a stressful profession, limited recent Norwegian data is available. This study addressed the extent to which organizational climate and individual and organizational well-being outcomes vary between schools in rural, urban, and city locations. Participants were predominantly female (68%), aged 45+ years (63.2%) and reported 20+ years of teaching experience (51%). Teachers from rural schools reported smaller student and teacher numbers, a more positive organizational climate and better organizational well-being. Multi-level analyses, with teachers grouped within school location, indicated that personality is most strongly associated with employee well-being, and organizational climate most strongly related to school morale and distress. Schools in rural locations are smaller and possess workplace climates that are conducive to positivity in the workplace, and subsequently better workplace well-being outcomes.     

Instructional design for distance learning

An intrinsic link exists between instructional design (ID) and distance learning (DL). Their inextricability in the real world raises specific problems of interest in the field of ID. In no other teaching/learning situation is ID so essential as in DL. The conditions of DL make it a necessity to have long-term instructional planning, cost analysis, curriculum and course development, instructional materials development and maintenance, delivery plans, and detailed evaluation rules. Without all of these components, DL simply could not happen. It took some time for this neccessity to be acknowledged, as can be seen in the history of DL. However, ID becomes even more critical as increasingly costly and complex means are used. Conditions of learning have special features in DL, such as the role of media, since the professor, teacher or instructor is replaced by media for either transmitting information or for organizing learning activities. In this paper, the term distance learning will be used to mean media-based, remote or asynchronous learning supported by an instructional system. This paper introduces general features of DL and examines essential aspects of ID for DL, with special emphasis on ID methodologies and on media selection.     

Revisiting the Narrative about Least Restrictive Environment in Physical Education

ABSTRACT

Since 1975, the implementation of the Least Restrictive Environment, a federal mandate of Public Law 94–142, has been historically challenging for physical educators and adapted physical educators. Confusion and misinterpretation of the law’s intent, as well as competing ideologies, have perpetuated failed Least Restrictive Environment (LRE) practice in the United States. The purpose of this essay is to revisit the conversation about LRE in PE and to provide direction for higher education’s role in addressing the issues. In doing so, a detailed historical context of the LRE is provided, followed by a discussion of the issues associated with the law that have emerged in the literature. Finally, future research directions to address these contemporary issues are presented to the readers.     

Apparent hyperglycemic and hypoglycemic conditioned responses with exogenous insulin as the unconditioned stimulus

Rats were injected with either insulin or saline and placed in one of two distinctive environments for 25 min on each of several days. On test trials for conditioning, the animals were injected with saline in both environments and blood glucose levels were measured. Apparent conditioned changes were obtained, but the direction of the conditioned response depended upon the environment in which the animals were placed. A conditioned hyperglycemic response occurred in one environment, and a conditioned hypoglycemic response occurred in the other environment. This pattern occurred in both within-subject and between-subjects designs and was not influenced by route of insulin injection (ip or sc). The hypoglycemic, but not the hyperglycemic, response was blocked by methyl atropine. The occurrence of both CR patterns with the same low insulin dose is contrary to previous speculation that the different CR patterns are due to different dose levels of insulin.     

Learning about sex and relationships among migrant and refugee young people in Sydney,Australia: ‘I never got the talk about the birds and the bees’

In a multicultural nation such as Australia, it is important for young people from migrant and refugee backgrounds to have access to quality relationships and sexuality education, as they are known to be less well engaged with mainstream services. A study was undertaken to explore the complexities and opportunities for engaging this group with sexual and reproductive health information and care in Sydney, Australia. Interviews were undertaken with 27 migrant and refugee young people (aged 16–24 years), and 34 expert informants. Relationships and sexuality education was a dominant theme throughout both data sets. Nearly all young people reported that they were unable to discuss sexuality or sexual health with their parents, and most identified secondary school as the place where they first learned about these issues. Other sources of information were identified as the Internet, friends, health professionals and pornography. Participants appeared to have limited awareness of the different services available to them. Schools, as well as other education settings such as universities, private colleges and intensive English centres, are well placed to deliver relationships and sexuality education, and for migrant and refugee young people these may be valuable settings in which to access information rarely discussed in family or community environments.     

Effect of the challenger experience on elementary children's attitudes to science

This research explored how the Challenger experience influenced over 655 elementary boys' and girls' general attitudes to science and space during the 5 months after their visit by examining their responses to four different attitude scales. These were administered to the 10‐ to 11‐year‐olds immediately before and after the Challenger experience as well as 2 and 5 months later. Knowledge tests were also administered before and after the visit. A sample of children completed an existing measure of anxiety. Although there were mainly positive outcomes immediately after the Challenger experience, there were some negative effects. There were also noticeable differences between boys and girls. Some 24% of pupils were inspired to become scientists. There was also less fear of space travel with a greater appreciation of the use of science to protect the planet after the visit. Most girls improved and maintained their attitudes toward science in society. A sizeable number of pupils were relatively unaffected by the experience and there was a significant negative effect on a small group of anxious girls. There are indications that previsit preparation and careful choice of roles during the simulation are important. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 39: 979–1000, 2002