Global Environmental Change: Modifying Human Contributions Through Education

The 1995 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC, 1996) Science report concludes that evidence now available points toward a discernible human influence on global climate (p. 439). Reductions in emissions will require changes in human behavior. This study assessed whether gains in global environmental change knowledge would lead to changes in human behaviors that could be deemed environmentally responsible. The study assessed the impact on participant behavior of a two-and-one-half day National Informal Educators Workshop and Videoconference held November 14–16, 1994. The workshops were located in seven down-link sites around the continental U.S. and Hawaii. The program utilized a variety of pedagogical techniques during five hours of satellite programming with national expertise on global change topics (natural variability, greenhouse effect, ozone depletion, ecosystem response, and population and resource distribution) and applications of that information with local experts in regional workshops. Participants implemented many personal and professional behavior changes after participation in this program. Six behavior change scales were created from assessment of survey responses (four coefficient alphas were above .7, one was .68, and one was .58). Personal behavior changes grouped into three categories: Use of Fewer Resources (acts of everyday life generally under volitional control), Purchasing Choices/Options (less frequent acts, not under total volitional control, with significant environmental effect over the lifetime of the decision, e.g., an automobile) and Increased Awareness and Discussion (indicating changes in habits of mind). The professional behavior changes also grouped into three categories: Curriculum Development (developing/revising curricula including new knowledge); Networking (with colleagues from the program); and Office Procedures (reflecting environmentally responsible behavior). The statistically significant behavior changes implemented correspond with increases in content knowledge, confidence, a developing national network, regional applications, and satisfaction with the program.     

Middle childhood,poverty, and adjustment: Does social support have an impact?

The present study evaluated 64 children and their primary caregivers who were living in poverty. The children were administered a stress measure, a social support measure, and a measure of self‐esteem. Caregivers completed a stress measure, a measure of child adjustment, and a demographic questionnaire. Social support was not found to moderate the relationship between stress and child outcome. However, social support was found to be one possible mediator of the child's reported stress on their self‐esteem. According to the mediating model, enhancing children's social support may positively influence their self‐esteem. Greater levels of self‐esteem can affect many aspects of children's lives, such as improving school performance and efforts toward achieving goals. Because of the important role that social support can play on children's self‐esteem, social support should be actively promoted through school and community groups and organizations, especially with children from disadvantaged economic situations. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

The efficiency of universities

The purpose of this article is to explore the nature of the output of a university and of the inputs to it, in order to see how far measures of productivity or efficiency can be devised. It is assumed to be desirable to use the resources of the institution, necessarily limited, as efficiently as possible in the pursuit of its objects. But there are logical difficulties about any overall measure of efficiency: a university is not like a coal mine. However, useful results can be obtained from a partial approach, and a number of suggestions are offered. A central difficulty is the lack of a sufficient understanding of the nature of the work-load which is most likely to make a person of high intellectual ability effective. It is suggested that a variety of tasks is essential: and this has implications for the use of ancillary staff. A number of sub-sections of university activity can be made more productive provided that minimum standards of performance can be specified. This is occasionally easy, but the specification of performance for (e.g.) central administration is a difficult matter. It is suggested that over-enthusiasm for the better use of buildings and equipment may not always be wise, but that common-sense and operational research can nevertheless lead to significant savings in the use of capital resources.

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Résumé Le but de l'article est d'explorer, dans le cas d'une université, la nature de l'output qu'elle produit et des inputs qu'elle reçoit, pour voir jusqu'à quel point on peut procéder à des mesures de productivité ou d'efficacité. On part du principe qu'il importe d'utiliser les ressources de l'institution, qui sont forcément limitées, aussi intensivement que possible pour atteindre ses objectifs. On rencontre évidemment toutes sortes de difficultés logiques dès que l'on veut procéder à une mesure adéquate d'efficacité: une université n'est pas une houillère. Cependant, on peut atteindre à des résultats utiles par une approche partielle du problème. La difficulté principale réside dans l'ignorance relative où nous sommes de la quantité de travail qui est capable de donner son maximum d'efficacité à une personne d'une grande capacité intellectuelle. On suggère que la variété des tâches est une variable essentielle; ce qui a des conséquences dans l'utilisation du personnel technique. On peut rendre plus productifs certains types d'activité universitaire, pourvu qu'on puisse préciser des niveaux minimum d'accomplissement. Si cela peut parfois se faire aisément, la définition de l'accomplissement dans le cas de l'administration centrale est une chose difficile. On suggère aussi que le zèle extrême déployé pour l'optimisation de l'emploi des locaux et des installations n'est pas toujours très sage, mais que le bon sens et la recherche opérationnelle peuvent néanmoins conduire à des économies sensibles dans l'emploi des ressoureces.

     

Relationship between ability-paired interactions and the development of fifth graders' concepts of balance

This study describes the effects of ability-paired student interactions on achievement as fifth graders (10-year-olds) worked on laboratory activities relating to balance. Achievement gains were assessed (n = 83) by analysis of pretest–posttest differences on the lever concept test. Audio recordings and field notes (n = 30) were analyzed for the following laboratory behaviors: number of words spoken, tinkering, block moving, turns speaking, incidence of helping and distracting behavior. Results revealed that: (1) low-ability student achievement is greater when students are paired with high-ability partners; (2) low-ability students speak more words, exhibit less distracting behavior, and move blocks on the lever less when they are paired with a partner of high ability; (3) high-ability students speak more words, take more turns speaking, and exhibit more helping behaviors when they are paired with low-ability students rather than with other high ability students; and (4) there are no achievement differences for high-ability students regardless of the ability level of their partner. These findings suggest that heterogeneous grouping of students in science can be beneficial to low-ability students partnered with high-ability students, without being detrimental to the high-ability partners.     

Changing Teacher–Child Dyadic Interactions to Improve Preschool Children's Externalizing Behaviors

A randomized controlled trial was used to examine the impact of an attachment‐based, teacher–child, dyadic intervention (Banking Time) to improve children's externalizing behavior. Participants included 183 teachers and 470 preschool children (3–4 years of age). Classrooms were randomly assigned to Banking Time, child time, or business as usual (BAU). Sparse evidence was found for main effects on child behavior. Teachers in Banking Time demonstrated lower negativity and fewer positive interactions with children compared to BAU teachers at post assessment. The impacts of Banking Time and child time on reductions of parent‐ and teacher‐reported externalizing behavior were greater when teachers evidenced higher‐quality, classroom‐level, teacher–child interactions at baseline. An opposite moderating effect was found for children's positive engagement with teachers.     

Evaluating the adolescent peer leader aids education project

A group of peer leaders, together with members of their peer group(s) was identified using sociometric methods. Peer leaders participated in an intervention involving the acquisition of authentic health and sexuality knowledge; the development of social and interpersonal skills; valuing activities and outdoor education. On return to their school and homes, the peer leaders were monitored, together with previously identified members of their peer groups, in order to assess the extent to which peer leader influence diffused to the school community. An instrument was administered to the school population before and after the peer leader intervention in order to measure eight outcome variables of concern to teenagers regarding human relationships. Instrument scales were reduced using factor analytic procedures, and data were subjected to ANOVA. These suggested a modest transfer of peer leader influence to the school population occurred. The study has implications for health and human relations curricula.     

Queering the Social Work Classroom: Strategies for Increasing the Inclusion of LGBTQ Persons and Experiences

ABSTRACT

The inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) perspectives and experiences in the social work classroom is necessary to adequately include LGBTQ students and prepare graduates to practice effectively. Drawing from queer theory as a theoretical framework and the authors’ experiences in practice and teaching/learning spaces with LGBTQ youth, this article offers practical strategies for creating classrooms inclusive of LGBTQ persons. Queering the classroom builds skills in students beyond practice with LGBTQ people and communities, thereby enhancing their capacity to engage diversity in practice more generally and to advance human rights and social justice.     

Analysis of behavioural responding across multiple instructional conditions for a child with childhood disintegrative disorder

The effects of multiple instructional conditions on self-injury/aggression and on-task behaviours were assessed with a 9-year-old boy diagnosed with childhood disintegrative disorder. Behavioural responses were assessed as part of an educational evaluation to determine the occurrence of target behaviours in relation to varying degrees of educational support. Self-injury/aggression and task engagement were assessed across baseline conditions and instructional conditions involving pre-session access to preferred items, followed by systematic presentation of work tasks with contingent reinforcement and auditory cueing. Results indicated an increase in task engagement and a decrease in the target behaviours from baseline across subsequent conditions. This study lends support for directly assessing the efficacy of specific potential instructional support as a means of developing individualised treatment packages for learners with childhood disintegrative disorder.     

Public opinion on school choice: The Detroit metropolitan area

This paper analyzes public opinion on the issue of school choice using telephone survey data from the Detroit metropolitan area. Four choice plans are examined: within-district, cross-district, statewide, and tax-credit. There is substantial support for school choice, the level of support varying with the expansiveness of the choice plan, the geographical area, and the race of the respondent. Overall, the residents of the Detroit metropolitan area, as elsewhere in the United States, are receptive to the idea of school choice, despite the area's history of extreme racial segregation.This paper uses data from the Detroit Metropolitan Area Public Policy Survey (DMAPPS) II Study that was funded and conducted by the College of Urban, Labor, and Metropolitan Affairs of Wayne State University. The authors gratefully acknowledge the support and assistance of the college and its staff: Sue Marx Smock, Dean; Larry Ledebur, Director of the Center for Urban Studies; Neva Nahan, Director of Survey Operations; Melissa Motchall; and Amy Lobsiger.