When the atmosphere warms it rains and ice melts: seventh grade students’ conceptions of a climate system

Although many environmental and science educators have explored students’ conceptual understandings, misconceptions, and knowledge of the greenhouse effect, global warming, and climate change, few have investigated the ways students conceptualize climate as a system or how components of the system influence climate. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to begin the process of understanding how US students conceptualize a climate system. A total of 42 seventh grade students (ages 12–13) from the Midwest completed an open-response task. From the inductive analysis of student written responses, 22 codes emerged that reflected students’ conceptions of the climate system. From these codes, three path diagrams were constructed that illustrate these students’ conceptions about how a climate system influences climate and how greenhouse gases and global warming impact the climate system. A generalized model of students’ conception of a climate system was generated. Students in this study conceptualized a climate system in a unidirectional, linear, cause and effect relationship that emphasized the atmospheric component of the climate system.     

Belonging here, not there: The case of attaining European passports by grandchildren of Holocaust survivors

The paper presents findings obtained from interviews conducted with sixty Israeli grandchildren of Holocaust survivors, discussing their views regarding Israel and Europe as expressed by their intentions to live in Israel and acquire European citizenship. Analysis of the interviews revealed that the majority view Israel as the place in which they choose to live because of family and cultural bonds, as well as from the long-lasting impact of the Holocaust. Others felt less anchored and viewed the opportunity to immigrate to their forefathers’ European homelands more positively. Their reasons were based either on the unstable Israeli security situation, compounded by the anxieties elicited by the memory of the Holocaust, or as a result of perceiving Europe as a gateway to the globalized world and its financial gains.The emerging image of Europe for this third generation vacillates between two poles, each anchored in a different time and cultural frame. The first is the “Europe of the Holocaust”; image which emerged as a result of the events that took place on European soil during the period 1933-1945 together with current anti Semitism. The second is “Europe of the Globalized world”, that is, the Europe of the era beginning in the late 1980s, with its ever-expanding social, cultural and economic boundaries. Moreover, the willingness of the third generation to openly discuss the option of either staying or leaving Israel, represents a significant change in attitude from the first and second generation of Israeli Holocaust survivors. The change is seen, as part of a process of maturation of the Israeli identity which allows for multi voices to be heard on issues of belonging and citizenship.     

What movie advisory boards say about the cinematic representations of love among older adults

Love and romance in later life as a field of investigation has gained a notable place among academic circles in recent years, with attention mainly directed to the portrayal of older characters’ sexuality in movies. In this article, we examine the ways four movie advisory boards, the social entities responsible for setting age limits on movie admissions and presenting their justifications, investigated movies considered by the American Association of Retired Persons as Best Grownup Love Story films. It was found that the American and British movie advisory boards regulate age admissions more strictly for these movies in comparison to their counterparts in Australia and New Zealand. Yet all boards share the same concerns, namely, attaching warnings that these movies are heavy in profanity and sexuality.

This directs attention to the potential contribution of movie advisory boards in the construction of representations of older adults.