Genetic and Environmental Influences on Vocabulary IQ: Parental Education Level as Moderator

This article examines how parental education level moderates the genetic and environmental contributions to variation in verbal IQ. Data are from 1909 non-Hispanic Whites and African American sibling pairs from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, which obtained nationally-based samples of identical (MZ) twins, fraternal (DZ) twins, full and half siblings, cousins (in the same household), and biologically unrelated siblings. In the whole sample, the variance estimate for heritability (h2 = .57, SE = .08) was greater than that for shared environment (c2 = .13, SE = .04). Both heritability and the shared environmental estimate were moderated, however, by level of parental education. Specifically, among more highly educated families, the average h2 = .74 (SE = .10) and the average c2 = .00 (SE = .05). Conversely, among less well-educated families, heritability decreased and shared environmental influences increased, yielding similar proportions of variance explained by genetic and environmental factors, average h2 = .26 (SE = .15), and average c2 = .23 (SE = .07).     

The Macro- and Micropolitics of Personnel Evaluation: A Framework

In this article, the authors explicate a conceptual framework for analyzing the politics of personnel evaluation in an educational context. Using several elements of their framework, they discuss the politics of teacher evaluation in California in relation to the types of personnel evaluation decisions, the actors, their access to these decisions, their sources and level of power, and the outcomes related to their decisions. The authors further portray how politics enters into personnel evaluation at the district level by describing an actual case.     

Chemistry problem solving instruction: a comparison of three computer-based formats for learning from hierarchical network problem representations

Within the cognitive load theory framework, we designed and compared three alternative instructional solution formats that can be derived from a common static hierarchical network representation depicting problem structure. The interactive-solution format permitted students to search in self-controlled manner for solution steps, static-solution format displayed all solutions steps, and no-solution format did not have solution steps. When we matched instructional time across the formats, in relation to the complex molarity problems rather than the dilution problems, differential transfer performance existed between the static-solution or no-solution formats and the interactive-solution format, but not between the static-solution format and no-solution format. The manner in which learners interact with the static-solution and no-solution formats depends on their level of expertise in the chemistry domain. With considerable learner expertise, provision of solution steps may be redundant incurring extraneous cognitive load. Absence of the solution steps may not have left sufficient cognitive capacity for germane cognitive load as some beginning learners lacked the prior knowledge to deduce the solution steps. Searching for solution steps presumably incurred extraneous cognitive load which interfered with learning and hence, in the interactive-solution format, it outweighed the benefit of engaging in self-regulated interaction with the content. Hence, cognitive load theory is a promising tool to predict the mental load associated with learning from the three alternative computer-based instructional formats.     

eSport: Construct specifications and implications for sport management

The purpose of this article is to add to the conceptual discussion on eSport, analyze the role of eSport within sport management, and suggest avenues for future eSport research. The authors suggest that debates surround the degree to which eSport represents formal sport, and disagreements likely stem from conceptualizations of sport and context. Irrespective of one’s notion of eSport as formal sport, the authors suggest the topic has a place in sport management scholarship and discourse. Such a position is consistent with the broad view of sport adopted by Sport Management Review, the perspective that eSport represents a form of sportification, and the association among eSport and various outcomes, including physical and psychological health, social well-being, sport consumption outcomes, and diversity and inclusion. Finally, the authors conclude that eSport scholarship can advance through the study of its governance, marketing, and management as well as by theorizing about eSport.     

British and Australian Media

Graham Cleverley's The Fleet Street Disaster: British National Newspapers as a Case Study in Mismanagement (London: Constable [Beverly Hills, Calif.: Sage Publications] , 1976—4.50 [$12.95])

Recent Books on Mass Media with British Imprints, January 1975-September 1976 (41 pp.)

Current British Research on Mass Media and Mass Communication: Register of Ongoing and Recently Completed Research (74 pp.)

Television and Radio 1977 (Independent Broadcasting Authority, 70 Brompton Road, London SW3 I EY, England–L1.40, or about $2.50, paper)

Davis, Anthony. Television: The First Forty Years (159 pp.)

Fairley, Peter. Television: Behind the Screen (160 pp.)

Davis, Anthony. Television: Here is the News (144 pp.)

Ian K. MacKay, Broadcasting in Papua New Guinea (Carlton, Victoria: Melbourne University Press [ISBS Inc., P.O. Box 555, Forest Grove, Ore. 971161, 1976—$22.50 in the U.S.)     

Communication Research and General Media

William B. Fairley and Frederick Mosteller, eds. Statistics and Public Policy (Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley, 1977— price not given)

Julian L. Simon's Basic. Research Methods in Social Sciences: The Art of Empirical Investigation (New York: Random House, 1978—$14.95)

Delbert C. Miller's Handbook of Research Design and Social Measurement (New York: McKay, 1978—$14.95, with a paperback edition available)

James Monaco, ed. Media Culture and Celebrity: The Media as Image Makers (New York: Delta Books (Dell), 1978—$4.95 each, paper)     

The Reading Habits of Superior College Students

A structured team approach in learning introductory COBOL programming was empirically assessed with a sample of 215 undergraduate business administration majors. For each assigned program, students in the experimental group read and critiqued team members’ program listings. COBOL proficiency was measured by a final examination testing knowledge of language rules, ability to read a program, and the ability to write a program. Analysis of multiple covariance was used to statistically adjust test scores for age and conditional reasoning scores. For the program writing variable, a significant difference favoring the experimental group was found. The language rules variable showed no significant difference, while the reading variable did not satisfy the required assumptions of the proposed statistical model. However, the experimental group showed higher mean scores for both of these variables. The findings provide empirical support for incorporating team activities into the programming learning process to more effectively develop student proficiency in writing COBOL programs.     

Implicit Association Tests of Attitudes Toward Persons With Disabilities

The authors assessed 3 of the currently available implicit association tests designed to measure attitudes toward persons with disabilities. The Revised Multiple Disability Implicit Association Test, the Implicit Association Test for Attitudes Toward Athletes With Disabilities, and the Disability Attitude Implicit Association Test were related to each other, demonstrating some consistency in measurement. They were mostly unrelated, however, to more traditional, explicit measures of attitudes toward persons with disabilities. In addition, although the implicit association tests were not related to socially desirable responding, the most psychometrically sound explicit measure (The Interaction With Disabled Persons Scale) was related to socially desirable responding.