Comparison of Students' Knowledge Structure Coherence and Understanding of Force in the Philippines,Turkey, China,Mexico, and the United States

This study investigates the ongoing debate in the conceptual change literature between unitary and elemental perspectives on students' knowledge structure coherence. More specifically, the current study explores two potential explanations for the conflicting results reported by Ioannides and Vosniadou (2002 Ioannides, C. and Vosniadou, S. 2002. The changing meanings of force. Cognitive Science Quarterly, 2(1): 5–62.  [Google Scholar])and diSessa, Gillespie, and Esterly (2004 diSessa, A. A, Gillespie, N. and Esterly, J. 2004. Coherence versus fragmentation in the development of the concept of force. Cognitive Science, 28: 843–900. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) in terms of differences in coding schemes and differences in student populations. The current study addresses these questions by applying the coding schemes from both studies to interviews with 201 students drawn from the United States, the Philippines, Turkey, China, and Mexico. The analyses focus first on the coding schemes, suggesting that differences in coding schemes seem unlikely to account for the differences in the original studies. The analyses then focus on potential differences between student populations, suggesting that some differences exist in terms of consistency and meanings that might result from language, culture, or educational systems, but that these differences are too small to account for the radical differences in the findings of the original studies. Two additional explanations are then proposed and explored involving the instruments and the epistemological stances invoked for the students. Overall, the results align more closely with the findings of diSessa, Gillespie, and Esterly (2004 diSessa, A. A, Gillespie, N. and Esterly, J. 2004. Coherence versus fragmentation in the development of the concept of force. Cognitive Science, 28: 843–900. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). [Supplemental materials are available for this article. Go to the publisher's online edition of Journal of the Learning Sciences for the following free supplement: Coding Schemes and Rules.]     

COMMUNITY COLLEGE FACULTY ATTITUDES TOWARD CORRECTIONAL INMATES AND TOWARD TEACHING OFF‐CAMPUS COURSES AT CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTIONS

A total of 165 faculty from 8 of the 9 colleges in the Virginia Community College System that offer educational programs to prisoners were tested to investigate attitudes toward correctional inmates and willingness to participate in off‐campus programs at correctional institutions. Attitudes were defined operationally as scores on a 17‐item semantic differential with “correctional inmate” as the concept and a 12‐item Likert rating scale, both developed specifically for use in the study. Via an orientation program designed to provide contact among faculty, inmates, and the correctional environment, the attitudes of a portion of the sample were significantly altered. Generally faculty who consider their prior contact with inmates to be greater than average and those who have had experience teaching in correctional settings express more favorable attitudes. In addition, black faculty members and assistant professors score higher (more positively) on evaluative criteria than white faculty members and those of the other academic ranks. The age, sex, and years teaching experience of faculty were not found to be significant variables in their attitudes toward inmates.     

LEVERAGING RESOURCES THROUGH STRATEGIC ALLIANCES FOR WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT

The Michigan Technical Education Center (M-TEC) at Bay de Noc Community College is leading the way in workforce development for Michigan's Upper Peninsula. By leveraging resources through strategic alliances with industry, government, labor, and education, the M-TEC has become a powerful tool for training solutions. A March 1998 State of Michigan initiative sought applications from community colleges interested in a no more business as usual approach to technical skills training. The Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) awarded the M-TEC construction grant to Bay College in January 1999; groundbreaking took place in May 1999 and the center was dedicated in March 2000. The M-TEC concept - anytime, anywhere, customized training - proved itself through dramatic first-year increases in the number of workers trained (89%), total training hours (90% ), and MEDC training grant funds (500%). This has been accomplished in part through the impressive variety of resources the M-TEC leveraged from its strategic alliances. The M-TEC's sustaining partners, a group that has doubled in size after 1 year of operation (i.e., from 9 to 18), have increased the capacity of the center, even as they have contributed to its operation's budget. Equipment the center could not afford is now in use because the supplier wants its local customers to have access to it - and because the center could provide the training laboratories to house it. Dedicated computer laboratories make workforce training simple, with resources always available when needed by business and industry. The M-TEC is generating multiple revenue streams through nontraditional means to meet the state s 5-year mandate of self-sufficiency.     

Understanding Person Perceptions: Comparing Four Common Statistical Approaches to Third-Person Research

This article addresses whether current methods of measurement are sufficient to reflect all nuances of the third-person effect. We do so by content analyzing all major third-person effect (3PE) articles, assessing measurement and analysis approaches employed by 3PE researchers. We revisit data from two published studies, comparing analytical models that emerged as commonly used by 3PE researchers (i.e., the standard subtractive measure, Whitt's Diamond model, first- and third-person estimates entered separately, and the subtractive measure with self-estimates as a control). Ultimately our analysis helps us understand past research and makes suggestions for research approaches in the future. First, researchers need to more carefully explore the role of first- and third-person perceptions in the behavioral hypothesis. Second, using only one analytical model does not tell the complete story. To that end, we propose a multimodel approach to analyses in third-person research be applied to extant and future work in this area.     

The scholar's anthology: A research agenda for communication education

These five papers summarize and provide a focus for concerns about research in communication education, and identify critical areas for additional research. The authors also specify areas where educators and scholars should he implementing existing research findings in speech communication instruction.     

Foreign and International Media

Ion Trewin's The Professions: Journalism (North Pomfret, Vt.: David & Charles, 1976—$9.95)

Charles Husband (ed.) White Media and Black Britain: A Critical Look at the Role of the Media in Race Relations Today (London: Arrow Books, Ltd., 1975—about $3.50, paper)

Peter Douglas' Television Today (London: Osprey Publishing, 1975—about $9.00)

Louis L. Snyder's Encyclopedia of the Third Reich (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1976—$24.95)

Leo Bogart's Premises for Propaganda: The United States Information Agency's Operating Assumptions in the ColdWar (New York: Free Press, 1976—$12.95)

Marcellus S. Snow's International Commercial Satellite Communications: Economic and Political Issues of the First Decade of Intelsat (New York: Praeger Special Studies, 1976—$16.50)

Charles Sherman and Donald Browne (eds) Broadcast Monographs No. 2: Issues in International Broadcasting (BEA, 1771 N. St. NW, Washington D.C. 20036—$5.00, with a $4.00 price to BEA members, paper)

Access: Technology and Access to Communications Media by B.R. Webster (54 pp., $2.65, paper)

Towards Realistic Communication Policies: Recent Trends and Ideas Compiled and Analysed by John A.R. Lee (59 pp., $2.65, paper)

Mehra Masani, Broadcasting and the People (179 pp., Rs 10.25, paper)

Narayana Menon, The Communications Revolution (89 pp., Rs 5.75, paper)     

Film History

Colin Shindler, Hollywood Goes to Wars Films and American Society, 1939-1952 (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1979 – $20.00)

Barbara Zheutlin and David Talbot, Creative Differences: Profile of Hollywood Dissidents (Boston: South End Press, 1978– $5.40 paper)

The Adventures of Robin Hood, edited and an introduction by Rudy Behlmer, 235 pages

The Green Pastures, edited and an introduction by Thomas Cripps, 206 pages.

High Sierra, edited and an introduction by Douglas Gomery, 189 pages.

Our Lady Cinema by Harry Furniss (originally London: Bristol, 1914—reprint $16.00)

Jew Suss by Arthur Rawlinson and Dorothy Farnam (originally London: Methuen, 1935–reprint $18.00)

Marcia Blitz, Donald Duck (New York: Harmony Books/Crown, 1979— $12.95)     

Film Criticism

VISIBLE FICTIONS: CINEMA, TELEVISION, AND VIDEO by John Ellis (Boston: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1983---$10.50 paper)

SELECTED FILM CRITICISM by Anthony Slide, ed. (Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press)

FILM CRITICISM: A COUNTER THEORY by William Cadbury and Leland Poague (Ames, Iowa: The Iowa State University Press, 1983---$23.50)

HARMLESS ENTERTAINMENT: HOLLYWOOD AND THE IDEOLOGY OF CONSCIOUSNESS by Richarc. Maltby (Metuchen, N.J.: The Scarecrow Press, 1983---$26.50)     

Factors Influencing the Adoption of HD Radio™ by Local Radio Station Managers

A sample of 114 radio stations measured attitudes toward the adoption of HD Radio? and found that stations that have gone digital were motivated the most by 2 of 5 identified factors: image enhancement and programming considerations. The lesser factors were competition, revenue, and cost. The study also examined the relation between risk and survival. The data confirmed the importance of managerial attitudes toward disruptive technologies and their relation to image, programming, and competition.