Consuming the Fractured Female: Lessons from MTV's The Real World

Using MTV's popular long-running program The Real World as a case study, this essay examines the interrelationship of the construction and consumption of bodies in an increasingly surveillance-based, commercial, hybrid media culture. This article is part of a larger project that employed a multi-method approach grounded in feminism combining textual data from The Real World with interviews with producers and female fans of The Real World. The author investigates how Real World viewers make sense of the series' claims to the real, using the body as the site of cultural production. Two key frames of bodies on The Real World are identified: the troubled body and the heteronormative body. The analysis is situated among studies of media realism to interrogate the context in which real women today are recreated as the “fractured female” in popular culture. The author argues that scholars should continue in a move toward interdisciplinary approaches that link the cultural with the capital and offers the body as a major site of cultural production and reception.     

The Science Semester: Cross-Disciplinary Inquiry for Prospective Elementary Teachers

We describe the Science Semester, a semester-long course block that integrates three science courses and a science education methods course for elementary teacher education majors, and examine prospective elementary teachers’ developing conceptions about inquiry, science teaching efficacy, and reflections on learning through inquiry. The Science Semester was designed to provide inquiry-oriented and problem-based learning experiences, opportunities to examine socially relevant issues through cross-disciplinary perspectives, and align with content found in elementary curricula and standards. By the end of the semester, prospective elementary teachers moved from naïve to intermediate understandings of inquiry and significantly increased self-efficacy for science teaching as measured on one subscore of the STEBI-B. Reflecting on the semester, prospective teachers understood and appreciated the goals of the course and the PBL format, but struggled with the open-ended and student-directed elements of the course.     

Learning by Giving: A Quasi-Experimental Study of Student Philanthropy in Criminal Justice Education

Student philanthropy is a teaching strategy that “provides students with the opportunity to study social problems and nonprofit organizations, and then make decisions about investing funds in them.” This represents the first study of student philanthropy in the criminal justice education literature and the first quasi-experimental study of student philanthropy in the higher-education literature. Specifically, it examines the impact of student philanthropy on students' beliefs, interest, learning, and intended behavior by analyzing pretest and posttest data for students who participated in a philanthropy experience (experimental group), relative to students who did not participate (comparison group). Key findings include: those who participated in the student philanthropy project were significantly more likely to be aware of organizations in their community, and change scores support the differences between the experimental and comparison groups regarding social problem awareness.     

Students as Scholars: Integrating Independent Research into Undergraduate Education

Undergraduate programs across the country are working to develop students as scholars, integrating independent scholarly experiences into traditional undergraduate classroom environments (see, e.g. George Mason University's Students as Scholars Quality Enhancement Plan; Boston University’s Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program; University of Houston’s Learning through Discovery; University of Michigan’s Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program; etc.). Scholars and universities have touted the benefits of engaging students in research experiences for students as well as faculty. However, there is little empirical work exploring how undergraduate students adapt to their new role as scholars. In this paper, we explore the process of students integrating research into their undergraduate classroom experience. Based on participant observation and pre and postsemester survey data, we discuss the process of students learning as scholars in a capstone Criminology, Law & Society course. We focus on how students gathered and analyzed data and integrated their research experience into their overall learning for the course. We find the process of research reinforces the learning objectives of the course.     

Managerial characteristics, operational observations, and small business performance: A comparison of US and Mexican ventures

To contribute to our cross-cultural understanding of small business ventures, we investigate manager reports of small business effectiveness in the United States and Mexico. We examine the influence of organizational policies, managerial characteristics, and managerial process observations on reports of business effectiveness. Data were gathered from ventures in both countries, and results showed differences in interpersonal processes, business structure, and gender. Implications for future research are given.     

Daily fluctuations in young children’s persistence

Children's behavior changes from day to day, but the factors that contribute to its variability are understudied. We developed a novel repeated measures paradigm to study children's persistence by capitalizing on a task that children complete every day: toothbrushing (N = 81; 48% female; 36–47 months; 80% white, 14% Multiracial, 10% Hispanic, 2% Asian, 1% Black; 1195 observations collected between January 2019 and March 2020). Children brushed longer on days when their parents used more praise (d = .23) and less instruction (d = −.22). Sensitivity to mood, sleep, and parent stress varied across children, suggesting that identifying the factors that shape an individual child's persistence could lead to personalized interventions.     

Youth are watching: Adolescents’ sociopolitical development in the Trump era

This study examined whether appraisals of 45th U.S. President Donald J. Trump by 1433 adolescents (M_age = 16.1, SD_age = 1.16, Female = 56.9%, Latinx = 43.6%, White = 35.7%, Black = 12.6%, Asian = 5.8%) predicted change from 2017 to 2018 across four dimensions of sociopolitical development (SPD): marginalization, critical analysis, civic efficacy, and political action. Trump supporters declined in awareness of inequality and race consciousness but increased in voting intentions. Trump detractors increased in awareness of inequality, race consciousness, and experiences of discrimination. Trump supporters and detractors increased in civic efficacy compared to youth with no opinion. Additional findings were moderated by race and ethnicity. Findings suggest adolescents’ SPD has been shaped in distinct ways by the Trump era.     

What they know and who they are telling: Concussion knowledge and disclosure behaviour in New Zealand adolescent rugby union players

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to survey high school rugby players from a range of ethnic, geographic and socioeconomic backgrounds in New Zealand (NZ) to gain an understanding of concussion knowledge, awareness of NZ Rugby’s (NZR) guidelines and attitudes towards reporting behaviours. Male and female high school rugby players (n= 416) from across NZ were surveyed. The findings indicated that 69% of players had sustained a suspected concussion, and 31% had received a medical diagnosis of concussion. 63% of players indicated they were aware of NZR’s guidelines. Māori and Pasifika players were less likely to be aware of the guidelines compared to NZ European, Adjusted OR 0.5, p = 0.03. Guideline awareness was significantly higher for those from high decile schools when compared to low (Unadjusted OR 1.63, p = 0.04); however, when ethnicity and school locations were controlled for this became non-significant (Adjusted OR= 1.3, p=0.37). The coach was the key individual for the provision of concussion information and disclosure of symptoms for players. The findings of this study will inform the development and delivery of NZR’s community concussion initiative and how these examined factors influence a high school player’s concussion knowledge and reporting behaviour.