Navigational Structures and Information Selection Goals: A Closer Look at Online Selectivity

Using an experimental design coupled with Web-tracking technology, this study explores 2 factors that influence levels of congruent information gathering online. The first factor compares the navigational structure of 2 distinct Web pages—the more open, user-directed search engine versus the organized, assembled structure of a portal Web page. The second factor tests the role of goals for information seeking—telling subjects they will soon engage in a discussion with another person who either disagrees with their viewpoint, agrees, is undecided, or no discussion treatment. Results indicate both experimental factors independently contribute to selectivity in online information seeking.     

The Role of Values in Predicting Talk Radio Listening: A Model of Value Equivalence

Nontraditional sources of news, such as talk radio and the Internet, complement and sometimes replace traditional mainstream news sources. Using discriminant function analysis, this study reveals the role of values in predicting listening to political talk and religious radio programs. A model using the construct of “value equivalence” explains value differences between user and media that may affect whether or not news from nontraditional sources will be sought and used. Research questions are answered using data from the 2004 Pew Research Center Biennial Consumption Survey. Using selected independent variables (including value-based variables) to predict listening to the Rush Limbaugh program, 59% of all cases in this study were correctly classified. Using the same set of value-based variables to predict listening to religious radio shows yielded nearly 74% correctly classified cases.     

A Note on Cluster Effects in Latent Class Analysis

This article examines the effects of clustering in latent class analysis. A comprehensive simulation study is conducted, which begins by specifying a true multilevel latent class model with varying within- and between-cluster sample sizes, varying latent class proportions, and varying intraclass correlations. These models are then estimated under the assumption of a single-level latent class model. The outcomes of interest are measures of bias in the Bayesian Information Criterion (BIC) and the entropy R ² statistic relative to accounting for the multilevel structure of the data. The results indicate that the size of the intraclass correlation as well as between- and within-cluster sizes are the most prominent factors in determining the amount of bias in these outcome measures, with increasing intraclass correlations combined with small between-cluster sizes resulting in increased bias. Bias is particularly noticeable in the BIC. In addition, there is evidence that class separation interacts with the size of the intraclass correlations and cluster sizes in producing bias in these measures.     

STUDENT RIGHTS TO RELIGIOUS EXPRESSION AND THE SPECIAL CHARACTERISTICS OF SCHOOLS

In this essay Bryan Warnick explores how rights to religious expression should be understood for students in public schools. Warnick frames student religious rights as a debate between the conflicting values associated with the Free Exercise Clause and the values associated with the Establishment Clause of the United States Constitution. He then asks how the special characteristics of the school environment should guide us in prioritizing those values. The overall weight of the considerations, particularly concerns about civic education, leads to a two‐pronged approach to religious rights. The first prong involves a robust protection of student religious exercise; the second involves an equally robust regime of school disassociation from student religious exercises.     

Pathway Towards Fluency: Using ‘disaggregate instruction’ to promote science literacy

This study examines the impact of Disaggregate Instruction on students’ science learning. Disaggregate Instruction is the idea that science teaching and learning can be separated into conceptual and discursive components. Using randomly assigned experimental and control groups, 49 fifth‐grade students received web‐based science lessons on photosynthesis using our experimental approach. We supplemented quantitative statistical comparisons of students’ performance on pre‐ and post‐test questions (multiple choice and short answer) with a qualitative analysis of students’ post‐test interviews. The results revealed that students in the experimental group outscored their control group counterparts across all measures. In addition, students taught using the experimental method demonstrated an improved ability to write using scientific language as well as an improved ability to provide oral explanations using scientific language. This study has important implications for how science educators can prepare teachers to teach diverse student populations.     

A Case Study in Asynchronous Voice Conferencing for Language Instruction

In the past decade, text-based asynchronous communication technology has been used as a teaching tool and has been researched extensively for its pedagogical implications. Thus far, the research has consistently identified two major benefits of asynchronous communication technology: (1) a deeper thought process manifested in the discussion threads and (2) the facilitation of collaborative learning. However, text-based communication is restricted to written words that may be advantageous in some subject areas but is impedimental in language instruction where oral skills are essential for communicative competency. This paper describes a pilot project in the English for Academic Purposes (EAP) programme at the University of Alberta where two courses incorporated a voice-based conferencing tool called Wimba. Students took part in organized debates and discussions in class and online to improve their oral skills. An evaluation survey was conducted at the end of the pilot project to test students' reactions and determine the effectiveness of the combination of Wimba and oral learning activities. There is no doubt that more research is needed to investigate the emerging field of voice-based asynchronous technology. The EAP pilot project serves as a case study at the intersection of this new technology and language instruction. Etude de cas pour une conférence orale asynchrone pour l’apprentissage des langues. Dans la dernière décennie, la technologie de communication asynchrone basée sur des textes À été utilisée comme outil

d’enseignement et a donné lieu À des recherches nombreuses sur ses implications pédagogiques. Jusqu À présent la recherche a identifié chaque fois 2 bénéfices majeurs de la technologie de communication asynchrone. 1. un processus de pensée approfondi que se manifeste dans les fils de la discussion

2. la facilitation de l’apprentissage en coopération. Cependant, la communication basée sur les textes est limitée aux mots écrits ce qui peut etre avantageux dans certains domaines mais peut gérer l’apprentissage des langues où les compétences orales sont essentielles. Cet article décrit un projet pilote du programme »English for Academic Purposes« À l’Université d’Alberta où 2 cours ont incorporé un outil de conférence basé sur la voix appelé Wimba. Les étudiants ont pris part À des discussions et débats organisés en classe et en ligne

pour améliorer leurs compétences orales. On a procédé À une enquête d’évaluation À la fin du projet pilote pour tester les réactions des étudiants et déterminer l’efficacité de la combinaison de Wimba et des autres activités d’apprentissage oral. Sans

aucun doute il faudra davantage de recherches pour étudier le champ émergeant de la technologie asynchrone basée sur la voix. Le projet pilote EAT fournit une étude de cas utile À l’intersection de cette nouvelle technologie et de l’enseignement des

langues.     

Student Communities and Individualism in American Cinema

Hollywood films partially construct how Americans think about education. Recent work on the representation of schools in American cinema has highlighted the role of class difference in shaping school film genres. It has also advanced the idea that a nuanced understanding of American individualism helps to explain why the different class genres are shaped as they are. This article attempts to refine this theoretical approach by focusing on the paradox of individualism, which suggests that individualism must always be dependent on community. We examine 5 films (Rushmore 1988, The Breakfast Club 1985, Mona Lisa Smile 2003, School of Rock 2003, and Stand and Deliver 1988) and argue that, although the values of individualism are certainly celebrated, these films also show, perhaps unwittingly, that the achievements of individualism require robust student communities. We describe how student communities function in these films, what achievements they make possible, and what obstacles they face.     

Speaking to the People: The Rhetorical Presidency in Historical Perspective

TRAGEDY AND THE THEORY OF DRAMA. By Elder Olson. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1961; pp. 276. $6.50.

THE LONDON STAGE, 1660–1800: A CALENDAR OF PLAYS, ENTERTAINMENTS &; AFTERPIECES TOGETHER WITH CASTS, BOX‐RECEIPTS AND CONTEMPORARY COMMENT COMPILED FROM THE PLAYBILLS, NEWSPAPERS AND THEATRICAL DIARIES OF THE PERIOD. PART 3: 1729–1747. Edited with a Critical Introduction by Arthur H. Scouten. Carbondale, Ill.: Southern Illinois University Press, 1961; Volume I, pp. ccxxxiii+596; Volume II, pp. lii+597–1315. $50.00.

NEW WORLD WRITING. Numbers 19 and 20. New York: Lippincott, 1961, 1962. $3.50; paper $1.65.

BURKE, DISRAELI, AND CHURCHILL: THE POLITICS OF PERSEVERANCE. By Stephen R. Graubard. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1961; pp. 262. $5.00.

PRESIDENT JAMES BUCHANAN: A BIOGRAPHY. By Philip Shriver Klein. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1962; pp. xviii+506. $7.50.

THREE PROPHETS OF RELIGIOUS LIBERALISM: CHANNING—EMERSON—PARKER. Introduced by Conrad Wright. Boston: Beacon Press, 1961; pp. 152. Paper $1.25.

REVIVALISM AND SEPARATISM IN NEW ENGLAND, 1740–1800: STRICT CONGRE‐GATIONALISTS AND SEPARATE BAPTISTS IN THE GREAT AWAKENING. By C. C. Goen. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1963; pp. x+370. $7.50.

MARK TWAIN'S HUMOR: THE IMAGE OF A WORLD. By Pascal Covici, Jr. Dallas, Texas: Southern Methodist University Press, 1962; pp. xiv+266. $4.50.

GRADUATE EDUCATION: A CRITIQUE AND A PROGRAM. By Oliver C. Carmichael. New York: Harper, 1961; pp. ix+213. $4.50.

DECISION BY DEBATE. By Douglas Ehninger and Wayne Brockriede. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1962; pp. 412. $6.00.

NEBRASKA SYMPOSIUM ON MOTIVATION, 1961. Edited by Marshall R. Jones. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1961; pp. x+210. $4.25; paper $3.25.

MY LANGUAGE IS ME: PSYCHOTHERAPY WITH A DISTURBED ADOLESCENT. By Beulah Parker. Foreword by Theodore Lidz. New York: Basic Books, 1962; pp. viii+397. $8.50.

TELEVISION IN THE LIVES OF OUR CHILDREN. By Wilbur Schramm, Jack Lyle, and Edwin B. Parker. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1961; pp. xii+324. $6.00.

TELEVISION AND RADIO. Edited by Poyntz Tyler. (The Reference Shelf, Vol. 33, No. 6.) New York: H. W. Wilson, 1961; pp. 192. $2.50.