Misconceptions about traumatic brain injury among students preparing to be special education professionals

The researchers performed a survey study to determine the effectiveness of collegiate programmes in dispelling common misconceptions about traumatic brain injury (TBI) while preparing undergraduate and graduate students for special education (SpEd) careers. Respondents included 136 undergraduate and 147 graduate SpEd students in their final semesters before obtaining degrees. Each completed an 18‐item true/false survey about TBI and the associated recovery process. Results were compared with survey responses from 318 lay public respondents who participated in a previous study. Two major findings emerged: (a) no significant differences existed in misconception endorsement between SpEd students completing Bachelor's versus Master's degrees; and (b) graduating students in SpEd teacher preparation programmes endorsed similar misconceptions as lay public respondents; hence, these programmes do not appear effective in dispelling common TBI misconceptions. Improving academic preparation for special educators regarding TBI is imperative for effectively identifying, assessing and serving student survivors.     

Movement and Measurement: The Case of the Incompatible Marriage

This paper contains an in-depth, three-part overview of the literature and ideas pertaining to professionalization of attitudes toward play. The first section focuses on the popular ideology which assumes that similar values are operative in both the sport world and the adult work world. The second part of the paper consists of a review and critique of the research and theory centering on value orientation and its relationship to age, athletic status, and gender. The last section contains an examination of the properties and assumptions of the Webb Scale and suggestions for scale improvement. The author attempts to show that thus far the existing research has failed to prove empirically (a) that significant differences in value orientation can be attributed to participation in athletics, and (b) that involvement in competitive sport socializes an athlete into the value system of the work world. The author also argues that the professionalization of attitudes is a complex and multidimensional phenomenon, a concept which has not been reflected in the measurement of such attitudes.     

Infant Attachment Security and Early Childhood Behavioral Inhibition Interact to Predict Adolescent Social Anxiety Symptoms

Insecure attachment and behavioral inhibition (BI) increase risk for internalizing problems, but few longitudinal studies have examined their interaction in predicting adolescent anxiety. This study included 165 adolescents (ages 14–17 years) selected based on their reactivity to novelty at 4 months. Infant attachment was assessed with the Strange Situation. Multimethod BI assessments were conducted across childhood. Adolescents and their parents independently reported on anxiety. The interaction of attachment and BI significantly predicted adolescent anxiety symptoms, such that BI and anxiety were only associated among adolescents with histories of insecure attachment. Exploratory analyses revealed that this effect was driven by insecure‐resistant attachment and that the association between BI and social anxiety was significant only for insecure males. Clinical implications are discussed.     

Round-robin presentations: Increasing opportunities for public speaking in large lectures and beyond

Courses: Large-lecture; public speaking, business, professional, and technical communication; sales and marketing courses; courses with team-based projects

Objectives: To provide opportunities to develop public speaking skills, especially in large-lecture courses; to improve public speaking endurance; to improve students’ abilities to give concise and focused presentations; to reduce public speaking anxiety.     

Journalists Primed: How Professional Identity Affects Moral Decision Making

ABSTRACT

This study examines whether professional journalists reason differently about moral problems when primed with their professional identity. This between-subjects experiment (N?=?171) used the Defining Issues Test, a much-used and validated instrument that measures moral reasoning. The results show identity priming does not affect how journalists apply ethics. The study also found that journalists score far lower in moral reasoning than they did 13 years ago. These results are interpreted through the lens of social identity theory.     

Weed 'Em and Reap? Deselection of Political Science Books

Weeding academic library collections is widely acknowledged as a necessary and beneficial, but difficult, task. Little research has been done on how librarians approach weeding for a particular academic subject area and how they apply general weeding plans and criteria to a specific subject. This project examines the weeding practices of librarians with responsibility for managing book collections in political science and related disciplines through the use of a survey about their weeding experiences and perspectives. While survey respondents expressed similar motivations for weeding, the obstacles they encounter, and their approaches to developing weeding projects to those outlined in the literature, respondents were more confident about weeding and do it more frequently than one would expect from prior scholarship. Open text responses gave insight into how librarians apply broad and subjective weeding criteria, such as currency and relevance, to their politics-related collections.