Processing of Sexual Media Messages Improves Due to Media Literacy Effects on Perceived Message Desirability

This study tested the double-edged desirability hypothesis to investigate whether a lack of reduction in desirability perceptions signified failure of a media literacy intervention to reduce the appeal of sexual portrayals or whether it instead represented an improved awareness of message-design techniques and, therefore, a successful intervention. Data from two media literacy curriculum evaluations, both pretest–posttest quasi-experiments with control groups (N₁ = 922, M = 14.13, SD = 1.07; N₂ = 1,098, M = 14.26, SD = 1.06) showed that the media literacy treatment in both studies eliminated the effect of desirability on participants’ attitudes, reduced the effect of message desirability on participants’ expectancies, and reduced the effect of message desirability on participants’ efficacy in one of the evaluations. The results supported the double-edged desirability hypothesis, which holds that media literacy education can diminish the influence of desirable but unrealistic sexual media messages on adolescents’ decision making concerning sex, regardless of whether it decreases their affinity for the messages. This approach appears to represent a more effective alternative to demonizing media messages teens find desirable.     

Book review

Kahin, B., & Keller, J. (Eds.). (1995). Public access to the Internet. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

Kahin, B., & Keller, J. H. (Eds.). (In press). Coordinating the Internet. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

Minow, N. W., & LaMay, C. L. (1995). Abandoned in the wasteland: Children, television, and the First Amendment. New York: Hill & Wang.

Messaris, P. (1997). Visual persuasion: The role of images in advertising. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.     

Effects of Age,Walking Speed,and Body Composition on Pedometer Accuracy in Children

The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of age group, walking speed, and body composition on the accuracy of pedometer-determined step counts in children. Eighty-five participants (43 boys, 42 girls), ages 5–7 and 9–11 years, walked on a treadmill for two-minute bouts at speeds of 42, 66, and 90 m·min^-1 while wearing a spring-levered (Yamax SW-200) and a piezoelectric (New Lifestyles NL-2000) pedometer. The number of steps taken during each bout was also recorded using a hand counter. Body mass index (BMI) was calculated from height and mass, and percentage of body fat (%BF) was determined using hand-to-foot bioelectrical impedance analysis. The tilt angle of the pedometer was assessed using a magnetic protractor. Both pedometers performed well at 66 and 90 m·min^-1, but undercounted steps by approximately 20% at 42 m·min^-1. Although age group, BMI, waist circumference, and %BF did not affect pedometer accuracy, children with large pedometer tilt angles (≥ 10°) showed significantly greater percent bias than those with small tilt angles (< 10°). We suggest that the style of waistband on the child's clothing is a more important determinant of tilt angle and thus pedometer accuracy than body composition. Our results also indicate that the NL-2000 pedometer provides similar accuracy and better precision than the SW-200 pedometer, especially in children with large tilt angles. We conclude that fastening pedometers to a firm elastic belt may improve stability and reduce undercounting in young people.     

‘In the hands of the Receivers’: The Politics of Literacy in The Savage by David Almond and Dave McKean

David Almond and Dave McKean??s The Savage is a hybrid prose and graphic novel which tells the story of one young man??s maturation through literacy. The protagonist learns to deal with the death of his father and his own ??savage?? self by writing a graphic novel. This article reads The Savage in the context of earlier, ??Northern?? literacy narratives??particularly Tony Harrison??s poem ??Them & [uz]?? and Barry Hines?? Kes??through the discourse of neoliberalism and the notion of the reluctant boy reader. It is suggested that Almond and McKean are influenced by currently dominant ideologies of gender and literacy.     

Monitoring the Effectiveness of the Wilson Reading System for Students with Disabilities: One District's Example

The current study detailed the manner in which one school district monitored the effectiveness of the Wilson Reading System for students with disabilities who were experiencing difficulty with reading. Effectiveness was measured by growth in the reading skills that have been documented to be critical for successful readers. Twenty fourth- and fifth-grade students participated in the Wilson Reading System for two consecutive years. Pretest and posttest reading scores from the Scholastic Reading Inventory and the Woodcock-Johnson III Tests of Achievement were examined. Results revealed gains in the students' reading comprehension skills as well as their overall basic reading skills, including word decoding and reading fluency. Limitations of this type of applied research are discussed.     

Desiring development? Psychoanalytic contributions to antidevelopmental psychology

This paper explores how psychoanalytic ideas might support a project of critiquing the developmental paradigm as it influences, and links, models of economic and individual development on which educational policy and practice rely. After outlining the conceptual domain and questions at issue, the paper rereads some key claims about Enlightenment and its relationship with representations of immaturity as inviting scope for reinterpreting contemporary intensifications of developmentalism. This provides some further rationale and focus for the turn to psychoanalysis as a critical conceptual and methodological resource (although with some key qualifications). Ideas drawn from feminist and postcolonial engagements with psychoanalysis are used to inform discussion of two indicative texts about childhood, drawing on contemporary Lacanian interpretations that are applied to address the problematic of childhood, before finishing with some speculations on alternative modes of engagement with Enlightenment and developmental approaches.     

Contemporary approaches to learning science: technologically-mediated practical work

This paper describes the current state of science education in Arab states and anticipates some of the challenges faced by those states as they reform their science education. After discussing problems of illiteracy, access and quality we provide contextual information about the structure of the educational systems and describe recent efforts to reform them. We focus on issues pertaining to science curriculum and textbooks, language, religion, student learning in science, science teacher education and science education research and summarise the challenges and opportunities for research faced in each area. We conclude the paper by proposing a set of policy and research recommendations that could aid in the development of lasting solutions for recurring problems.     

Shifting learning goals: from competent tool use to participatory media spaces in the emergent design process

Recently, the relationship between identity and learning has come front and center in discussions about how to design successful learning environments for youth who struggle in mainstream institutions. In this essay, I explore the role identity development plays in constructing learning environments for traditionally marginalized youth. While I agree with DeGennaro and Brown on the importance of identity development for learning, I stretch the relationship between these two constructs in several ways: First, I will argue that how we define “technology” and what that means for marginalized youth, particularly those who are assumed to be victims of the “digital divide” is a crucial aspect of the design of successful digital learning environments. Second, I discuss how identity is represented in these digital learning spaces, and analyze how meaning is constructed in multimodal spaces such as websites. Finally, I reflect on DeGennaro and Brown’s notion of “emergent design,” as a positive contribution to design research, and propose the idea of incorporating youths’ already existing competencies into the emergent design process.

Learning to learn through work? The importance of Australian apprenticeship and traineeship policies in young workers’ learning careers

This paper examines young workers’ beginning engagement in learning through work, placing it in the context of Australian policy on entry-level training. Eleven young people were followed through their first year of full-time work and the significant adults involved in their working and learning lives were also interviewed. The study demonstrates that the presence of a contract of training (an apprenticeship or traineeship) is a strong predictor of a young worker’s propensity to regard the workplace as a learning environment. However, unsatisfactory interactions with employment or training providers can create disillusionment with policy interventions that are meant to assist. Moreover, the habit of learning through work is not only a function of policy and training frameworks, but is also affected by individuals’ abilities to learn how to learn. The paper concludes by arguing that, for those young people starting work who are not in a contract of training, additional assistance may be required in order for them to continue the habit of lifelong learning in the new environment of work.