A Comparison of the Degree of Student Satisfaction using a Simulation or a Traditional Wet Lab to Teach Physical Properties of Ice

It is often difficult to offer food chemistry students traditional, hands‐on laboratory experiences due to lack of funds for equipment, insufficient laboratory space, or the nature of distance education. A traditional wet laboratory exercise was developed to demonstrate the effects of the physical properties of ice formation when making high‐quality sorbets, varying the amounts of sugar, water, and stabilizer. This wet lab was compared to a simulated, detective‐based crime scene investigation (CSI) of why a famous food scientist's sorbet had become a “stiff.” Forty‐six food chemistry students were randomly assigned to groups, completing either the traditional wet lab or the simulated lab 1st before completing the 2nd type of laboratory. While there were preferences for one lab over another, there were no differences in the learning outcomes between the 2 laboratory formats. Students who preferred the simulated lab felt they could move at their own pace and were able to stop and review the simulation to understand the concepts more clearly. Traditional wet lab proponents liked working in groups and having immediate access to instructors. From the initial evaluation it appears that simulations could be used as replacements for hands‐on laboratory experiences or could serve as effective introductions to laboratory principles and concepts, resulting in increased student learning.     

Bookstores-San Francisco

William Fadiman's Hollywood Now (New York: Liveright, 1972 -- $6.95)

V. F. Perkins' Film as Film: Understanding and Judging Movies (Baltimore: Penguin Books, 1972 -- $2.25, paper)

Richard Corliss (ed.) The Hollywood Screenwriters (New York: Avon Discus Books, 1972 -- $1.95, paper)

Eugene Vale's The Technique of Screenplay Writing: An Analysis of the Dramatic Structure of Motion Pictures (New York: Grosset &; Dunlap, 1972 -- $5.95)

Alex Strasser's The Work of the Science Film Maker (New York: Hastings House, 1972 -- $17.50)

Dialogue on Film

Journal of the University Film Association     

Optimal presentation of graphic organizers and text: A case for large bites?

In three experiments, we investigated the optimal presentation of graphic organizers (GOs) and text by having undergraduates read a chapter-length text in its entirety, a few pages at a time, or a few sentences at a time, before or after viewing seven GOs in their entirety (large bites), one at a time (small bites), or one cell at a time (animated). Large bites were better than small bites for learning concept relations and applying that knowledge, and for recalling macropropositions when the GOs were presented before text. Animated GOs offered no advantages over the large-bites GOs at first presentation and considerably extended total study time. Presenting several GOs first, followed by the entire text, appears to be optimal in directing students’ attention to across-chapter relations in text.     

Reports of parental maltreatment during childhood in a United States population-based survey of homosexual,bisexual, and heterosexual adults

OBJECTIVE: The study objective was to determine the nature and prevalence of childhood maltreatment experiences among lesbian, gay, and bisexual adults and to compare findings to those obtained from similar heterosexual adults. METHOD: Data from the National Survey of Midlife Development in the United States (MIDUS), which measured both childhood experiences with parental emotional and physical maltreatment and adult sexual orientation, were used to compare childhood maltreatment experiences of 2,917 heterosexual, homosexual, and bisexual individuals, age 25-74 years, separately by gender. RESULTS: Homosexual/bisexual men reported higher rates than heterosexual men of childhood emotional and any physical maltreatment (including major physical maltreatment) by their mother/maternal guardian and major physical maltreatment by their father/paternal guardian. In contrast, homosexual/bisexual women, as compared to heterosexual women, reported higher rates of major physical maltreatment by both their mother/maternal guardian and their father/ paternal guardian. Differences among individuals with differing sexual orientations were most pronounced for the more extreme forms of physical maltreatment. CONCLUSIONS: Adult minority sexual orientation is a risk indicator for positive histories of experiencing parental maltreatment during childhood. While the reasons for this are beyond the scope of the current study, previous research suggests that childhood individual differences, including possibly gender atypicality, may be a causal factor.     

Development of an Evaluation Tool for Online Food Safety Training Programs

Abstract: The objective of this study was to provide the person in charge and food safety instructors an assessment tool to help characterize, identify strengths and weaknesses, determine the completeness of the knowledge gained by the employee, and evaluate the level of content presentation and usability of current retail food safety training platforms. An existing evaluation tool was modified to assess online food safety training programs that contained 5 areas of emphasis: content and instruction, learners, job transfer, design and packaging, and operation. Participation included watching 3 food safety training modules and afterwards evaluate what degree the module content met objectives. More than 85% of the participants responded positively to the scale‐based items of the course evaluation. Items addressing the content and instruction received positive responses. The assessment tool helped panelists to objectively evaluate an online food safety training program that provided numeric data for a valid comparison.