Portrayal of the History of the Photoelectric Effect in Laboratory Instructions

The literature on the pedagogical aspects of the photoelectric effect as used in the undergraduate student laboratory shows that little research has been done in this area. Our current study is an analysis of the instructions in 38, electronically published laboratory manuals for the photoelectric effect. The analyses were based on history and philosophy of science criteria that we had developed for evaluating the presentation of the photoelectric effect in introductory, university-physics textbooks. The results show that writers of laboratory instructions do not pay sufficient attention to the relevant background for the photoelectric effect. In our study, none of the instructions achieved a score of excellent, only 5% were scored as satisfactory, and only 7% mentioned the various aspects contained in our criteria. These results for our analysis of laboratory instructions are significantly less favorable than those achieved for physics textbooks in our previous study. Based on our work, we recommend that several historical aspects be included in all laboratory instructions for the photoelectric effect.     

Experimenter Effects in Exercise Tolerance Testing: The Race and Gender of the Tester and the Tester/Subject Relationship

Abstract

Two studies examined the effects of the experimenter on heart rate (HR), rating of perceived exertion (RPE), and time to voluntary exhaustion on a graded treadmill test in college students. The first study determined the effects of the gender and race of the tester on black and white subjects of both sexes. Four testers (black female—BFT, white female—WFT, black male—BMT, and white male—WMT) tested 5 subjects of each gender and race. Differences based on gender and race were determined by a 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 ANOVA. The second study dealt with the tester/subject relationship. One tester tested 20 subjects. Ten were his friends (5 males, 5 females) and 10 (5 males, 5 females) did not know him. Differences were determined by 2 × 2 ANOVA. In both studies, the female subjects had poorer performance than the males. HR during moderate and heavy exercise was not affected by the race and gender of the tester or the tester/subject relationship. For time to exhaustion, white female subjects (WFS) exercised longer when being tested by a female but black female subjects (BFS) had a longer total time with male testers. Significant interactions occurred for HR at rest and at various times during light work for both studies. There were also significant interactions for RPE at various stages of light, moderate and heavy exercise for both studies. For subjects unaccustomed to exercise testing, it appears that the effects of the race and gender of the tester and the tester/subject relationship predominate at rest and during light work. Fewer effects are observed during moderate and heavy work. Many of the results in these studies are consistent with societal roles and expectations for males and females, blacks and whites. A consistent testing environment can minimize the influence of extrinsic testing variables.     

Attentional Strategy Use by Experienced Distance Runners: Physiological and Psychological Effects

The purpose of this investigation was twofold: (a) to compare most and least economical runners on use of attentional strategies and (b) to determine whether the least economical runners within the subject sample could improve running economy (RE) with the use of an active associative (relaxation) attentional strategy. Subjects (N = 36) completed an initial assessment of attentional style and RE; then the 12 least economical runners ran in each of three laboratory sessions using control, passive associative, and active associative attentional strategies. Results showed that the most economical and least economical runners did not differ in associative style use. The most economical runners, however, reported less dissociation use and more use of relaxation than did the least economical runners. No significant physiological or psychological changes were associated with any of the three attentional strategy conditions. The findings are related to possible differences in how most and least economical runners use associative strategies.     

Evaluation at the University: Yes and No

This study examined the statistical effect of changing from a 10-point to a 5-point response scale on students' evaluation of instruction. Participants were 5,616 students enrolled in classes offered by the College of Social Sciences and Public Affairs at a large Western university, who completed both the old evaluation (10-point response) and the new evaluation (5-point response). On average, students used a greater range of points on the scale for the 5-point scale (32 percent) than on the 10-point scale (19 percent). The effects of changing the response scale are discussed.     

Lecture: Impact of Digital Scholarship on Research Libraries

ABSTRACT

The future of research libraries will be shaped by broader developments at research universities in the areas of creating, sharing, disseminating, and curating knowledge. Universities face fundamental policy choices in all of these areas that have been recast by developments in information technology. This article discusses trends in digital scholarship practices across the humanities, science, and social science disciplines and examines implications for academic institutions and their research libraries as a means of framing these policy choices.

This article originally published in Journal of Library Administration, Vol. 49, Issue 3, pages 227–244, 2009. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01930820902785041.     

Crafting Hyperreal Spaces for Comic Insights: The Onion News Network's Ironic Iconicity

In 2007, the flagship humor publication, The Onion, launched the Onion News Network (ONN), a comic news organization producing online sketch videos. This article argues that ONN is a distinctive form of hyperreal social critique that uses ironic iconicity, rather than slapstick or the usual tomfoolery of much comedy programming, to invite rhetorical insights about contemporary media events and political practices. ONN's videos draw attention toward communicative dynamics, creating spaces for alternative civic understandings through a televisual technique that imitates but also reconfigures the structure, delivery, or content of mainstream news broadcasts like CNN and Fox News. Although not without limitations, this ironic iconicity crafts a multimodal online rhetoric and demonstrates the contingency, recursivity, and judgment of news communication norms and practices.     

A Selective Bibliography on the Evolution of CATV 1950–1970

A full bibliography on one of the most active areas of broadcasting —CATV—is long overdue. Don Le Duc originally prepared this compilation while working on his doctorate at the University of Wisconsin. It is based on an extensive clipping file collected by Kenneth Lichty of India, California, and by the author's major professor, Lawrence W. Lichty of the University of Wisconsin. Support for completing the collection came, in part, through a fellowship awarded by the Department of Communication Arts and a travel grant from the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences of the University of Wisconsin. Dr. Le Duc is a member of the State of Wisconsin and United States Supreme Court Bars, and is on the publications committee of the Federal Communications Bar Association and the communications committee of the American Bar Association. Formerly on the faculty of the University of Maryland, he will be assistant professor in the Department of Speech at the Ohio State University starting this fall.     

Programa de fortalecimiento de capacidades: reflections on a case study of community-based teacher education set in rural northern Peru

This article explores distinctive features of a 5-year international education development project set in rural northern Peru (PROMEB, the Proyecto de Mejoramiento de la Educación Básica). Grounded within a partnership between teacher educators from Peru, Mexico and Canada, and rural Peruvian teachers, students and their communities, we offer reflections on a teacher education initiative which sought to support action-orientated inquiries as a mechanism for school/community development. Set against a background of poverty, hunger, isolation and an “educational crisis”, we outline our pedagogy and describe two projects. We then reflect on the influences of our engagements and on associated tensions and ambiguities in our methods. We hope that such discussions might offer insights for others involved in international school/community development projects of this type.