Some aspects of broadcast news coverage and riot participation

It has often been said that the commercial rating services are “the only game in town.” Thus far, the academic researchers usually have left it up to the operators of the “game” to test and refine their methods. The following article is one of the exceptions: an interesting methodological study of how people respond when queried in different ways about their viewing. Dr. Green‐berg is associate professor of communication at Michigan State University; Miss Dervin and Mr. Dominick are graduate students in the same department.     

The Effects of Frustration on the Figural Creative Thinking of Fifth Grade Students

In this study 24 fifth graders, 12 males and 12 females, were individually tested twice, once under frustrating conditions and once under non-frustrating conditions, in order to determine whether their creative expression would be affected by frustration. The frustrating condition consisted of being prematurely halted from completing a familiar task with the opportunity of receiving a reward upon its completion. The non-frustrating condition allowed the subject to finish the task and be rewarded. Changes in fluency, flexibility, originality, and elaboration as measured by the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking, Figural Forms A and B, were investigated. On all components except originality, nonsignificantly higher scores were found under the frustrating conditions. Females scored higher than males on all four components. The only statistically significant interaction effect found was the sex X treatment interaction for elaboration.     

Improving Teaching through Continuous Learning: The Inquiry Process John Wooden Used to Become Coach of the Century

Past and contemporary scholars have emphasized the importance of job-embedded, systematic instructional inquiry for educators. A recent review of the literature highlights four key features shared by several well documented inquiry approaches for classroom teachers. Interestingly, another line of research suggests that these key features also characterized the process that UCLA's John Wooden used to systematically improve his teaching of basketball over a period of three decades. As educators and researchers work to build the case for inquiry-based models in classrooms, sports, and physical education, John Wooden's example provides a unifying and compelling illustration of the potential of the inquiry-based approach for any pedagogical context. It also provides an enduring image of the commitment required over time to achieve results.     

School reform policy in England since 1988: relentless pursuit of the unattainable

There is growing concern that almost 20 years after the 1988 Education Act, top‐down, large‐scale reform has stalled. The policy mix of choice, competition, markets, regulation, accountability and leadership seems not to have closed the gap between advantaged and disadvantaged areas and individuals, while most variations in school performance can be explained in terms of intake differences. This paper reviews policy and progress since 1988 and assesses the extent to which central government has achieved its educational aims. Unacknowledged tensions and contradictions are identified in structures and practices that are supposed to constitute a reliable framework for sustainable improvement. The conclusion is drawn that since 1988 the national government apparatus has itself become an important obstacle to further progress. An independent review of policy‐making and implementation is recommended so that schools and colleges are enabled to contribute more effectively to improvements in the quality of education.     

Managing Older Worker Training: A Literature Review and Conceptual Framework

This article reviews literature on educational gerontology, adult education, and training and identifies factors that may encourage or discourage older workers from participation in training. Previous research has emphasized models based on either motivation or deterrent factors. This article offers a unique exploratory model combining five motivational and two deterrent factors that hold the potential for predicting older worker's participation in training. Research based on the proposed model can help explain older learner's participation in work-related training and, thereby, provide practitioners with clues to enhance training programs for older workers.     

From course assessment to redesign: a hybrid-vehicle course as a case illustration

Assessment has become a central aspect of engineering education for evaluating student learning, attaining accreditation, and ensuring accountability. However, the final step of the assessment process, which requires assessment results be used to redesign courses and programmes, is appreciably underdeveloped in the literature. As such, this work suggests a process, based on the engineering problem-solving method, to analyse and act on problems and successes identified in the assessment results. The process is illustrated through an application to Colorado State University's new programme for Hybrid-Electric Vehicle Engineering, for which the redesign process was originally created. Readers will benefit by simplifying and systematising the essential aspect of the assessment process – application to course redesign – for use in both research and practice applications.     

Reenacted Case Scenarios for Undergraduate Healthcare Students to Illustrate Person-Centered Care in Dementia

Healthcare practitioners have suggested that interpreting person-centered care for people who have dementia to undergraduate students requires guidance in practical application. This article describes the production of a written and digital interdisciplinary educational resource for tertiary students. It uses real-life case scenarios provided by healthcare practitioners to illustrate person-centered care in practice with people who have dementia. The resource provides students with the theoretical underpinning of person-centered care and dementia as well as reflective questions that relate to the reenacted case scenarios to guide their application of this theory in practice.