Research: Gender and Race Differences in the Perceptions of Sexual Harassment

This study examined the influence of gender and race on the perception of sexual harassment and on recommended punitive measures for the potential harasser by college judicial boards. Significant gender-based differences were found in perception of an ambiguous sexual harassment situation. Significant differences by race of the harasser were not found in the perception of harassment or recommendation of punitive measures. Results suggest a possible shift in race relations among college students as well as differences in the way men and women perceive ambiguous sexual harassment situations. Implications for college counselors and administrators are discussed.     

The effect of sensory awareness training on interpersonal social distance in fourth graders

The use of sensory awareness training and the place of training (youth hostel or regular classroom) were systematically controlled in 4 fourth-grade classrooms. The Horace Mann-Lincoln Social Distance Scale was given. A 2-way nested analysis of variance produced significant effects of intervention training in both settings. This supports the hypothesis that sensory awareness and personal contact promote lessening of social distance within groups. The training methods described in this study can easily be adapted for use in elementary classrooms as a part of group activities and as a counseling technique.     

President's Page

This month President Judy Springer has invited Eileen Spector to use this space to make some important observations. Eileen was Persident of the Chicago Chapter for two years. She is now National Awards Committee Chair, as well as Treasurer of the Chicago Chapter. She is a Senior Trainning Specialist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, where she does program development, internal consulting, O. D. and classroom instruction, She specializes in communications, management training, computer user training and basic psychology.     

Developing Creativity Ecosystems: Preparing College Students for Tomorrow's Innovation Challenge

Eileen Hulme, Ben Thomas, and Hal DeLaRosby argue for the importance of creativity as a learning outcome and challenge higher education to produce students capable of becoming the innovative leaders the twenty‐first‐century economy requires.     

Support for Students' Learning: What the Form Tutor Can Do

This article is written for new and experienced tutors to review the ways in which they are supporting their students' learning. It considers the purposes of tutoring, drawing on the voices of students themselves. The article then considers the ways in which the tutor can support the learning of young people, including academic tutoring. It concludes with some guidance for the tutor to develop their own learning about tutoring.     

Portfolios for learning,assessment and professional development in higher education

This article focuses on the use of portfolios for learning and professional development in Higher Education (HE). Recent research findings related to learning and assessment help to contextualize the study. The use of portfolios for summative assessment and development of teaching and reflective practice dominates the literature. What is lacking is research that provides insights into how a portfolio for learning can be used in HE to develop understanding into one’s own learning, assessment and professional practices. The action research findings related to portfolio use for learning purposes identified in the three case studies include: the importance of establishing the purpose of the portfolio; the impact of portfolio use on the approach to learning, to teaching and to professional development; the changes to professional practice brought about as a result of the learning; and the need to consider issues related to ethics and confidentiality.     

Conceptual change among middle school students studying elementary thermodynamics

There is great interest in the processes by which learners reorganize and reformulate knowledge. This research adds to the current understanding by exploring two questions. “How does the learner's understanding change during the study of elementary thermodynamics?,” and “What motivates learners to restructure or reorganize their knowledge?” The conceptual changes and factors affecting that change over the course of a semester within an eighth grade physical science class are presented. General student understanding was assessed through open ended pretests, short tests and posttests given to the entire population (N=180). This was combined with a series of five clinical interviews over the course of the 13 week instruction period for each of 33 students selected by stratified random design for gender and class period. Analysis combined interview and written test data for the experimental groups and written test data for the entire population, allowing both within subject and between subject analyses. A detailed process of conceptual change emerges with individual differences illustrating impediments to knowledge integration. Inferences that have broader application in science instruction are made.     

Women's Studies in a Cold Climate: conference report

Women's studies has been in existence for almost two decades but in the current climate of fostering technological innovation and entrepreneurialism in the educational sector, it is fighting to retain its hard‐earned place in the curriculum. This paper provides information about current developments in the British context via a report of the 1988 national conference of the UK Women's Studies Network. Major themes of the conference range from plenary discussions of the future for Women's Studies, to workshop analyses of: theory and methodology, pedagogy and course structures, sexuality and European networks.     

The adolescent dyslexic: Strategies for spelling

The adolescent dyslexic student’s problems with spelling are very different from those of a young dyslexic child, as he already has considerable knowledge of the English spelling system. But this knowledge is very often random and confused, so he needs to acquire a logical structure which will enable him to generate spelling for himself and to communicate effectively in writing. It will be suggested that accuracy is not always attainable, but the student can be taught to recognize and use the main components of the spelling system and can learn to employ all available resources. The general aim is to provide the dyslexic adolescent with the tools he needs to cope with his spelling requirements, both in school and outside; to make informed deductions; to think for himself. In short, to spell independently and logically.