Transactivism and Postmodernity: An Agonistic Analysis of Transliterature

Combining scholarship on hurtful messages with research on humor as a communication strategy, this investigation compared humorously and non‐humorously phrased comments that hurt recipients’ feelings. The topics of hurtful messages, the relationship between recipients and the person who hurt their feelings, as well as recipients’ perceptions about the amount of hurt elicited and about the speaker's intentions and feelings were examined. The results indicated that humorous messages used to convey hurtful information were seen as less intentionally hurtful, as expressing less intense feelings across most message topics, and as causing less hurt as compared to non‐humorously phrased comments. These findings suggest that incorporating humor may make hurt‐evoking statements more palatable to recipients than non‐humorously phrased hurtful comments. The implications of this project for future research on hurtful communication and humor usage in personal relationships are discussed.     

The Function of Parental Communication Patterns: Reflection-Enhancing and Reflection-Discouraging Approaches

This study explored patterns and effects of communication apprehension and classroom apprehension in Nigerian classrooms. Significant correlation was found between student communication apprehension and student classroom apprehension. Analysis of variance revealed significant differences in classroom apprehension by class type, but no significant differences in communication apprehension by choice of occupation. Perceptions of academic performance were negatively associated with classroom apprehension scores.     

Models for Aggressive Behavior: The Attributes of Violent Characters in Popular Video Games

Americans are increasingly concerned about video games, presumably due to the amount and graphicness of violence they contain. Social Cognitive Theory suggests that people are more likely to imitate characters they see as attractive or similar to self. To date, however, little research has examined attributes of violent characters in video games related to this issue. This content analysis examined 10 minutes of play from 60 of the most popular video games. Adapting the coding scheme from the National Television Violence Study (Smith et al., 1998 Smith, S. L., Wilson, B. J., Kunkel, D., Linz, D., Potter, W. J., Colvin, C. M. and Donnerstein, E. 1998. National Television Violence Study: Vol. 3. Violence in television programming overall: University of California, Santa Barbara study, 5–220. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.  [Google Scholar]; Wilson et al., 1997 Wilson, B. J., Kunkel, D., Linz, D., Potter, W. J., Donnerstein, E.Smith, S. L. 1997. National Television Violence Study: Vol. 1. Violence in television programming overall: University of California, Santa Barbara study, 3–268. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.  [Google Scholar], 1998 Wilson, B. J., Kunkel, D., Linz, D., Potter, W. J., Donnerstein, E.Smith, S. L. 1998. National Television Violence Study: Vol. 2. Violence in television programming overall: University of California, Santa Barbara, 3–204. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications.  [Google Scholar]), various demographic and contextual features of violent characters and violent interactions were assessed. The results show that violent game characters have attributes that are likely to increase the extent to which some players perceive them as attractive and similar. Moreover, these violent characters engage in aggression that is presented as justified or graphic.     

Does Delivery Format Make a Difference in Learning About Global and Cultural Understanding?

This study assessed a learning outcome for nontraditional seniors who were in accelerated degree programs in both online and on-site formats. Using items from the National Survey of Student Engagement, researchers explored engagement with global understanding and cultural awareness. A quantitative, single-case analysis method was used to determine significance with the items. Results indicated 50% of the items were significant, and for all of the significant items, means were higher for the on-site senior group. Implications are explored, including pedagogical ideas for online programs in teaching global and cultural themes.     

Inference and Association in Children's Early Numerical Estimation

How do children map number words to the numerical magnitudes they represent? Recent work in adults has shown that two distinct mechanisms—structure mapping and associative mapping—connect number words to nonlinguistic numerical representations (Sullivan & Barner, 2012 ). This study investigated the development of number word mappings, and the roles of inference and association in children's estimation. Fifty‐eight 5‐ to 7‐year‐olds participated, and results showed that at both ages, children possess strong item‐based associative mappings for numbers up to around six, but rely primarily on structure mapping—an inferential process—for larger quantities. These findings suggest that children rely primarily on an inferential mechanism to construct and deploy mappings between number words and large approximate magnitudes.     

On skepticism and its role in the development of proof in the classroom

The purpose of this paper is to examine students’ development of a capacity to maintain doubt, against a backdrop of empirical evidence. Specifically, drawing on data from clinical interviews and a series of teaching experiments, this paper describes two pathways, the Experiential Pathway and the Cultural Non-Experiential Pathway, for the development of the mathematical disposition of engaging in skepticism towards empirical validations. Issues related to current ways of framing students’ views of empirical evidence and the role of pragmatic forms of doubt are considered.     

Assessing and Understanding Line Graph Interpretations Using a Scoring Rubric of Organized Cited Factors

This study examined how 12- and 13-year-old students’ mathematics and science background knowledge affected line graph interpretations and how interpretations were affected by graph question levels. A purposive sample of 14 students engaged in think aloud interviews while completing an excerpted Test of Graphing in Science. Data were collected and coded using a rubric of previously cited factors, categorized by Bertin’s (Semiology of graphics: Diagrams, networks, maps. The University of Wisconsin Press, Ltd., Madison, 1983) theory of graph interpretation. Data analysis revealed responses varied by graph question level. Across levels, students interpreted graphs in one or more of the three ways: mathematical word problems (focusing on an algorithm), science data to be analyzed (incorporating science knowledge), or no strategy. Although consistently used across levels, the frequency and usefulness of approaches varied by question level.     

‘Our Victorias Victorious’: Media,Rivalry, and the 1896 Winnipeg-Montreal Stanley Cup Hockey Challenges

This study analyzes media coverage of the two Stanley Cup hockey challenges played by the Winnipeg Victorias and the Montreal Victorias in February and December 1896. First presented in 1893, the Stanley Cup symbolized the national hockey championship of Canada. The essay argues that newspaper reports and telegraph reconstructions of early Stanley Cup hockey matches brought Canadians into both local and national communities of interest centred on sport, while helping to create a mediated Canadian ‘hockey world’ in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The 1896 Stanley Cup contests were likely the first two games in which the technology of telegraphy was applied to the sport of hockey in such a way that large crowds in distant cities could experience matches as they were being played. In addition, this study examines the regional and interurban rivalries that were expressed through Stanley Cup competition. Newspapers depicted Montreal and Winnipeg hockey teams as representatives of east-west conflict and difference, as well as embodiments of community identity and civic pride.