Evaluation of a school‐based sex education programme delivered to Grade Nine students in Canada

The effectiveness of a multidimensional Canadian sex education programme was evaluated using 240 Grade Nine students. The intervention was offered by representatives from various community groups and involved instructional classes on anatomy/physiology of the reproductive system and sexually transmitted infections, a video and group discussion on healthy relationships, a form of ‘peer education’ and discussion on teen pregnancy and HIV/AIDS, as well as a parent workshop and newsletter on teen sexuality. Respondents in the intervention and control groups completed a self‐administered questionnaire at baseline and one month after the programme. Compared with the control group, students in the intervention group showed positive changes in the areas of knowledge, sex‐role attitudes, sexual interaction values, and the perception that birth control is important. These results suggest that a collaborative effort of outside professionals from various community organisations and involvement of ‘peer educators’ to provide sexual health education in Grade Nine high school classes may be a useful strategy.     

INDIGENOUS STUDENTS’ EXPERIENCES OF THE HIDDEN CURRICULUM IN SCIENCE EDUCATION: A CROSS-NATIONAL STUDY IN NEW ZEALAND AND TAIWAN

The tacit messages transmitted to indigenous learners in the science classroom provide a lens through which indigenous disengagement with school science can be better understood. In this paper, the findings of a cross-national comparative study conducted with indigenous Maori students in New Zealand and Seediq/Atayal students in Taiwan are discussed from a sociological perspective. The purposes of the present study were to explore the ways in which indigenous elementary school students in two industrialized nations experience the science curriculum and to identify the socialization processes through which patterns of indigenous under-achievement in science are maintained and reproduced. The findings suggest that the peripheral positioning of indigenous culture and knowledge within the science curriculum in developed nations underpins a series of tacit pedagogical codes that contribute to indigenous student disengagement with the subject.     

Museums and Technology: Being Inclusive Helps Accessibility for All

This paper explores accessibility issues for museums in the context of growing dependence on technology. The background of these issues is described, along with the evolution from physical access to digital access—for example, via the Web—and, increasingly, mobile technology. The authors are people with different disabilities and they describe personal experiences, giving a sense of the various barriers and benefits that are involved. The aim of this paper is to provide museums with a disabled person's point of view, which could help in inspiring improvements for the future. Often the task is one of understanding as much as financial constraints, since many solutions can be implemented at little additional cost.     

Leadership Effectiveness and School Development: Putting Reform in Perspective

System‐wide and school‐based initiatives continue to be linked through staff and leadership development programs. Factors such as reduced funding are having an impact on structures and organization. The clear focus on instruction and school based planning have helped the district maintain its direction while adapting initiatives to meet changing needs and resources.     

Cultural and Economic Ties: Developing Links and Relationships Between the Chinese and Australian Publishing Industries

The publishing industry in China has changed rapidly since the 1970s and 1980s, in large part due to increasing ties with the West. The Chinese Government has begun encouraging these ties, recognising the importance of cultural links as well as economic ones. Australia is one of those countries with which China’s publishing industry has been developing a relationship, predominantly through shared publishing projects and international forums. Australia has a long history of Chinese publishing; and the demand for Chinese language materials in Australia is growing. As such, it is likely that the relationship between the publishing industries in the two nations will grow and develop in coming years.     

Some Cognitive and Affective Outcomes of Same-Sex versus Coeducational Grouping in First Grade

Coeducational grouping in classrooms was instituted a century ago as an economical way of assuring good schooling for girls. The justification for coeducation was summarized by Thomas Woody (15) as “realistic, economically advantageous, and a wholesome socializing experience for both sexes, as well as the best way of providing equal educational opportunity for women.” However, coeducational classroom organization may have a deterring effect on some children’s early school progress, considering present knowledge of developmental growth patterns which indicate that young boys mature more slowly than girls of the same chronological age. The child’s initial school experience in the first grade learning environment can set the stage for later learning progress. Attitudes about self and others, as well as early learning styles can affect children’s performance in school. There is little definitive research to support coeducational grouping as the optimal grouping pattern for first grade boys and girls.     

8. TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION

ON THE HISTORY OF FILM STYLE by David Bordwell (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1997‐$60.00/24.95, ISBN 0–674–63428–4 hard, 0–674–63429–2 paper, 322 pp., photographs, chapter notes, index)

MASKED MEN: MASCULINITY AND THE MOVIES IN THE FIFTIES by Steven Cohan (Bloomington: Indiana University Press “Arts and Politics of the Everyday,”; 1997‐$39.95/8.95, ISBN 0–253–33297–4 hard, 0–253–21127–1 paper, 376 pp., photographs, selected filmography, chapter notes, references, index)

THE EXPLODING EYE: A RE‐VISIONARY HISTORY OF 1960s AMERICAN EXPERIMENTAL CINEMA by Wheeler Winston Dixon (Albany: State University of New York Press “SUNY Series, Cultural Studies in Cinema/Video,”; 1997‐$57.50/18.95, ISBN 0–7914–3565–2 hard, 0–7914–3566–0 paper, 250 pp., photos, bibliography, index)

THE KING OF THE MOVIES: FILM PIONEER SIEGMUND LUBIN by Joseph P. Eckhardt (Madison, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1997‐$55.00, ISBN 0–8386–3728–0, 286 pp., B&;.W photos, notes, bibliography, index)

WITHIN OUR GATES: ETHNICITY IN AMERICAN FEATURE FILMS, 1911–1960: AMERICAN FILM INSTITUTE CATALOG edited by Alan Gevinson (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997‐$150.00, ISBN 0–520–20964–833, 1571 pp., abbreviations list, indexes, bibliography)

FRAME BY FRAME II: A FILMOGRAPHY OF THE AFRICAN AMERICAN IMAGE, 1978–1994 by Phyllis R. Kotman and Gloria J. Gibson (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1997‐$49.95/29.95, ISBN 0–253–33280‐X hard, 0–253–21120–4 paper, 771 pp., bibliography, indexes)

FILMMAKERS AND FINANCING: BUSINESS PLANS FOR INDEPENDENTS by Louise Levison (Boston: Focal Press, 1998 [2nd ed.]‐$22.95, paper, ISBN 0–240–80300–0, 190 pp., tables, index)

FEMINISM, FILM, FASCISM: WOMEN'S AUTO/BIOGRAPHICAL FILM IN POSTWAR GERMANY by Susan E. Linville (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1998‐$30.00/14.95, ISBN 0–292–74696–2 hard, 0–292–74697–0 paper, 208 pp., photos, chapter notes, bibliography, index)

THE MOTION PICTURE MEGA‐INDUSTRY by Barry R. Litman (Boston: Allyn &; Bacon “Series in Mass Communication,”; 1998‐$24.00, paper, ISBN 0–205–20026–5, 321 pp., charts, tables, notes, references, index)

FROM HEADLINE HUNTER TO SUPERMAN: A JOURNALISM FIL‐MOGRAPHY by Richard R. Ness (Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 1997‐$89.50, ISBN 0–8108–3291–7, 787 pp., references, appendices, black‐and‐white photographs, index)

Chile v/s Hollywood / CHILE vs HOLLYWOOD by Daniel Olave (Santiago, Chile: Editorial Grijalbo, 1997‐no price available, ISBN 956–258–051–2, 208 pp., photographs)

TRIANGULATED VISIONS: WOMEN IN RECENT GERMAN CINEMA edited by Ingeborg Majer O'Sickey and Ingeborg von Zadow (Albany: State University of New York Press “SUNY Series in Feminist Criticism and Theory,”; and “SUNY Series, Cultural Studies in Cinema/Video,”; 1998‐$65.50/21.95, ISBN 0–7914–3717–5 hard, 0–7914–3718–3 paper, 290 pp., photos, chapter notes, index)

FILM AND THE NUCLEAR AGE: REPRESENTING CULTURAL ANXIETY by Toni A. Perrine (New York: Garland “Garland Studies in American Popular History and Culture,”; 1998‐$68.00, ISBN 0–8153–2932–6, 304 pp., index, bibliography, chronology, filmography)

CONTEMPORARY CINEMATOGRAPHERS ON THEIR ART by Pauline Rogers (Boston: Focal Press, 1998‐$19.95, paper, ISBN 0–240–80309–4, 223 pp.)

HOLLYWOOD'S WORLD WAR I: MOTION PICTURE IMAGES edited by Peter C. Rollins and John E. O'Connor (Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1998‐$49.95/19.95, ISBN 0–87972–755–1 hard, 0–87972–756‐X paper, 304 pp., illustrations, notes, general index, film/TV index)

DOCUMENTING OURSELVES: FILM, VIDEO, AND CULTURE by Sharon R. Sherman (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1998‐$22.95, paper, ISBN 0–8131–0934–5, 336 pp., photographs, filmography, chapter notes, references, index)

JAMES WILLIAMSON: STUDIES AND DOCUMENTS OF A PIONEER IN THE FILM NARRATIVE by Martin Sopocy (Cranbury, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1998‐$52.50, ISBN 0–8386–3716–7, 337 pp., photographs, chapter notes, bibliography, index)

HISTORY BY HOLLYWOOD: THE USE AND ABUSE OF THE AMERICAN PAST by Robert Brent Toplin (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1996— 288 pp., $36.95/16.95, ISBN 0–252–02073–1, 0–252–06536–0 paper, photos, chapter notes, selected bibliography, index)     

PUBLIC ATTITUDES TOWARD DATA SHARING BY FEDERAL AGENCIES

Because of the high cost of the 1990 census and the continuedundercoverage of some population subgroups, it has been suggestedthat administrative records be used to supplement or replaceconventional census-taking activities. Very little informationexists concerning public knowledge and attitudes on this topic.The most extensive information to date comes from questionsasked on several IRS surveys of taxpayers. In late 1993 an opportunitypresented itself to add a small number of questions about datasharing to national telephone surveys conducted by the WisconsinLetters and Sciences Survey Center. Here we report on an analysisof these data.