Hierarchical Mentoring: A Transformative Strategy for Improving Diversity and Retention in Undergraduate STEM Disciplines

In the United States, less than half of the students who enter into science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) undergraduate curricula as freshmen will actually graduate with a STEM degree. There is even greater disparity in the national STEM graduation rates of students from underrepresented groups with approximately three-fourths of minority students leaving STEM disciplines at the undergraduate level. A host of programs have been designed and implemented to model best practices in retaining students in STEM disciplines. The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Professors Program at Louisiana State University, under leadership of HHMI Professor Isiah M. Warner, represents one of these programs and reports on a mentoring model that addresses the key factors that impact STEM student attrition at the undergraduate level. By integrating mentoring and strategic academic interventions into a structured research program, an innovative model has been developed to guide STEM undergraduate majors in adopting the metacognitive strategies that allow them to excel in their programs of study, as they learn to appreciate and understand science more completely. Comparisons of the persistence of participants and nonparticipants in STEM curricular, at the host university and with other national universities and colleges, show the impact of the model’s salient features on improving STEM retention through graduation for all students, particularly those from underrepresented groups.     

Media Production

Mitchell V. Charnley and Blair Charnley, Reporting (New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1979—$9.95, paper)

Jerry McGuire's How to Write, Direct & Produce Effective Business Films and Documentaries (Blue Ridge Sunimit, Pa.: TAB Books, 1978—$14.95)

David W. Samuelson's Motion Picture Camera & Lighting Equipment: Choice & Technique (London and New York: Focal Press, 1977 (but not released in the US until February 1979)

David W. Samuelson's Motion Picture Camera Techniques (New York: Focal Press/Hastings House, 1978—$8.95, paper)

H. William Bockhus, Jr.'s Advertising Graphics (London: Collier Macmillan/New York: Macmillan, 1979—price not given, paper)

Stuart W. Hyde's Television and Radio Announcing (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1979-415.95)

Robert McLeish, The Technique of Radio Production (London and New York: Focal Press, 1979—$18.95)

David Lachenbruch's Videocassette Recorders: The Complete Home Guide (New York: Everest House, 1979—$6.95, paper)

Charles Bensinger, The Video Guide (Video-Info Publications, P.O. Box 1507, Santa Barbara, Calif. 93102—$14.95, paper)

Deirdre Boyle, ed. Expanding Media (Phoenix, Ar.: Oryx Press, 1977—$13.95)

Dan Poynter's The Self-Publishing Manual: How to Write, Print and Sell Your Own Book (Parachusting Publications, P.O. Box 4232, Santa Barbara, Calif. 93103—$14.95/9.95)     

Comparison of mail and telephone methods of studying media contactors

Cable regulation should be based on the unique characteristics of cable, the rights of speakers to be as free as possible from government regulation, and a First Amendment theory that recognizes the public's right to a diverse marketplace of ideas. As a consequence, it is recommended that cable be defined as a limited public forum to include both the utility poles/conduits and the attached coaxial cable. This approach suggests that de facto monopoly franchise agreements and franchise fees are unconstitutional, but that limited access channel requirements such as one or two public access channels would be constitutional.     

Facing corrections in the workplace: The influence of perceived face threat on the consequences of managerial reproaches

The purpose of this study was to determine whether workplace reproaches differ in their level of perceived face threat and to examine the relationship between perceived face threat and a variety of outcomes. One hundred and four full‐time employees completed a survey asking them to describe in detail a time they were reproached by a manager. The survey included scales measuring perceived face threat, interactional fairness, anger, communicative competence, and satisfaction with the outcome of the incident. As predicted, we found that reproaches differ from each other in degree of perceived face threat. In addition, perceived face threat was negatively correlated with interactional fairness, communicative competence, and satisfaction with the outcome of the incident, and positively correlated with anger.     

Education to Promote Positive Attitudes About Aging

ABSTRACT

This longitudinal study examined what a one-time intervention about aging does to the attitudes of high-school students toward aging. Early findings from the study support previous research that indicates ageist attitudes formed in early childhood become difficult to change as children reach adolescence. This research further supports the need for aging education to begin in early childhood.     

Peer Group Norms and Accountability Moderate the Effect of School Norms on Children's Intergroup Attitudes

The present study examined the interactive effects of school norms, peer norms, and accountability on children's intergroup attitudes. Participants (n = 229) aged 5–11 years, in a between‐subjects design, were randomly assigned to a peer group with an inclusion or exclusion norm, learned their school either had an inclusion norm or not, and were accountable to either their peer group, teachers, or nobody. Findings indicated, irrespective of age, that an inclusive school norm was less effective when the peer group had an exclusive norm and children were held accountable to their peers or teachers. These findings support social identity development theory (D. Nesdale, 2004, 2007), which expects both the in‐group peer and school norm to influence children's intergroup attitudes.     

Correlates of kindergarten adjustment: Temperament and communicative competence

The kindergarten adjustment of 217 Causasian children (mean AGE=70 months) was examined in relation to their temperament and communicative competence. Both communicative competence and various dimensions of temperament accounted for a significant proportion of the variance in kindergarten adjustment. Children who were evaluated as normal-to-advanced in their level of competence were found to be significantly more adjusted to kindergarten than were those assessed as delayed. Along with age and gender, the temperament dimensions of attention span-distractibility, rhythmicity, general activity level, and mood were significantly predictive of children's adjustment. An understanding of these factors can help parents and professionals promote a successful initial experience within the educational system.     

Strategies for Affecting the Necessary Course of Cognitive Growth as an Integral Part of Curricular and Instructional Planning

This paper explores the public awareness that there presently exists a crisis in mathematics education and a “dumbingdown" of the curriculum, examines the nature of this crisis and argues that there has been a lowering of cultural, pedagogical and cognitive expectations with respect to most learners. The notion of cognitive development in mathematics education is re-examined and a model of how the concepts of learners can be transformed in the very process of engaging with the conceptual revolutions that defined geometry is proposed. The importance of cultivating a meta-narrative in support of metacognition and the development of cognitive growth are stressed.     

A new paradigm for mentored undergraduate research in molecular microbiology

Science educators agree that an undergraduate research experience is critical for students who are considering graduate school or research careers. The process of researching a topic in the primary literature, designing experiments, implementing those experiments, and analyzing the results is essential in developing the analytical skills necessary to become a true scientist. Because training undergraduates who will only be in the laboratory for a short period is time consuming for faculty mentors, many students are unable to find appropriate research opportunities. We hypothesized that we could effectively mentor several students simultaneously, using a method that is a hybrid of traditional undergraduate research and a traditional laboratory course. This article describes a paradigm for mentored undergraduate research in molecular microbiology where students have ownership of their individual projects, but the projects are done in parallel, enabling the faculty mentor to guide multiple students efficiently.     

Picturebook Endpapers: Resources for Literary and Aesthetic Interpretation

In this article, we explore one of the important peritextual features of picturebooks—the endpapers. In order to represent the rich diversity of form and function displayed by endpapers, we group examples along two dimensions: whether the endpapers are illustrated or unillustrated, and whether the front and back end papers are identical or dissimilar. Within the four categories delineated by these two dimensions, we further articulate the various roles that endpapers can play in the construction of meaning from picturebooks. We present quotations from young children that show how they use endpapers as resources for literary and aesthetic interpretation, and provide suggestions for the integration of talk about endpapers within classroom literature discussions.