Negotiating the constraints of schools: environmental education practices within a school district

The purpose of this study was to explore environmental education (EE) practices within elementary and secondary schools. Using complementary mixed-methods (survey and focus groups), we detail these practices in schools (n?=?58) within one school district. Our findings are categorized according to classroom teaching conditions affecting EE, and whole-school perspectives of the supports and resources for EE in these schools. Our analyses reveal that while typical normative teaching and cultural constraints of schools are still evident (e.g. curriculum standards, school-level organization), there are identifiable practices involving administrators and teachers negotiating these challenges due to their personal commitment to schools and the environment. In particular was a provincial environmental certification program called Ecoschools supporting environmental educators’ initiatives at their respective schools. We conclude with a discussion of recommendations based on an interpretation of our findings in relation to the school reform literature on how to enhance EE in schools and propose future research opportunities.     

Verbal Final Exam in Introductory Biology Yields Gains in Student Content Knowledge and Longitudinal Performance

We studied gains in student learning over eight semesters in which an introductory biology course curriculum was changed to include optional verbal final exams (VFs). Students could opt to demonstrate their mastery of course material via structured oral exams with the professor. In a quantitative assessment of cell biology content knowledge, students who passed the VF outscored their peers on the medical assessment test (MAT), an exam built with 40 Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT) questions (66.4% [n = 160] and 62% [n = 285], respectively; p < 0.001);. The higher-achieving students performed better on MCAT questions in all topic categories tested; the greatest gain occurred on the topic of cellular respiration. Because the VF focused on a conceptually parallel topic, photosynthesis, there may have been authentic knowledge transfer. In longitudinal tracking studies, passing the VF also correlated with higher performance in a range of upper-level science courses, with greatest significance in physiology, biochemistry, and organic chemistry. Participation had a wide range but not equal representation in academic standing, gender, and ethnicity. Yet students nearly unanimously (92%) valued the option. Our findings suggest oral exams at the introductory level may allow instructors to assess and aid students striving to achieve higher-level learning.     

Trends in global communication policy‐making: Lessons from the Asian case∗

This paper surveys current trends in the restructuring of global communications since publication of the MacBride Commission Report on NWICO. Focusing on a specific region, Asia, the analysis addresses implications of the shift in communication policy from the dominant, twentieth century democratic conception of the ‘public’ as a community of free citizens, to a more archaic conception of the ‘public’ as individual consumers in a laissez‐faire’ market. The paper inquires into evidence of this policy shift in the Asian context as well as into the contemporary relevance of concerns expressed by NWICO advocates. Based on a substantive examination of recent literature, it is argued that since communication is a precondition to development, access to and control over the means and processes of communication are properly questions of great social importance. The paper further argues that current Asian trends converting communication into a commodity run counter to the possibilities for rational and autonomous public communication necessary to the practice of liberal democracy. A headlong rush to a global economic market as the definer of communication processes has forced governments to share power with national and multi‐national private commercial interests, thereby radically altering the very structure of institutions shaping communication policy and practice. Consequences of this restructuring have been to virtually eliminate any influential national or global setting where these issues may be debated and addressed.     

Performing literary works judged problematic

This study offers several options for performing literary works judged problematic, discusses those options in relationship to four literary texts, and examines some of the theoretical implications surrounding the options.     

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.     

A model of empathic communication

This study examines a path model of empathic communication. Several empathie structures are predicted to influence the process of empathie communication. Results show that humanistic orientation predicted perspective‐taking, which predicted communicative responsiveness, which predicted comforting. Empathie concern and emotional responsiveness were eliminated from the model The parameter estimates and predicted correlations among the remaining variables were all statistically significant (p < .05). In addition, self‐rated comforting and independent ratings correlated at only .51, with the former exhibiting higher correlations with other variable.     

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 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)