A Moderated Mediation Model: Racial Discrimination,Coping Strategies,and Racial Identity Among Black Adolescents

This study examined a moderated mediation model among 314 Black adolescents aged 13–18. The model included general coping strategies (e.g., active, distracting, avoidant, and support‐seeking strategies) as mediators and racial identity dimensions (racial centrality, private regard, public regard, minority, assimilationist, and humanist ideologies) as moderators of the relation between perceived racial discrimination and depressive symptoms. Moderated mediation examined if the relation between perceived racial discrimination and depressive symptoms varied by the mediators and moderators. Results revealed that avoidant coping strategies mediated the relation between perceptions of racial discrimination and depressive symptoms. The results indicated that avoidant coping strategies mediated the relation between perceived racial discrimination and depressive symptoms among youth with high levels of the minority/oppressive ideology.     

Jakob Leupold's Imaginary Automatic Anamorphic Devices of 1713

In 1713, the scientific instrument-maker Jakob Leupold published designs for three machines were the first attempt to design machinery with internal moving parts that replaced human agency in creating original images. This paper first analyzes his text and engravings in order to explain how he proposed to do this, given contemporary materials and command of physical forces. Next, it characterizes the devices as a transition from concepts of incision to concepts of mirroring, taken as models of the history of mechanical reproduction. And finally, Leupold’s replacement of the sighting grid with differential gears points to a set of problems appearing in contemporary philosophy represented in Rococo artistic production of this period as well. Taking the proposed devices in context, they help to theorize the complex notions of creative activity in Rococo visual culture. Taken as an episode in the history of communications, they instance the development of conceptions of personhood and of physical forces at stake in the invention of automated media.     

Students' Visualization of Metallic Bonding and the Malleability of Metals

This study investigated the mental representations of metallic bonding and the malleability of metals held by three male students aged 14–15 (Year 10) who were attending a Hong Kong school. One student was selected by their chemistry teacher as representing each of the highest, the medium, and the lowest level of attainment in chemistry in a school that admitted students of average general attainment. The students were interviewed and their understandings probed through their provision of drawings and their interpretation of the diagrams that had been previously used by their teacher. Dual coding theory was used to interpret the relative significance of visual and verbal input and the interaction between the two for their understanding. There was evidence that students relied on verbal recall in providing their initial understandings and showed an appreciation of the nature of the structural components of the electron-sea model of metallic bonding. However, they varied in terms of their appreciation of the electrostatic force which was responsible for the malleability of metals. The study suggests that a clearer understanding of the electrostatic force involved can be attained when students experience visual and verbal representations simultaneously, a conclusion supported by dual coding theory. Principles for good practice in using diagrams in teaching are discussed.     

Enigmas in School Science: students’ conceptions for scientifically associated words

Master's students were involved in the design, and later the administration, of a questionnaire for 500 junior secondary students in Botswana and Lesotho, to buildup a picture of student perceptions of science and technology. Responses to mainly open‐ended questions were categorised according to key phrases mentioned by the students. There was some confusion over the differences between science and technology, but they were overwhelmingly perceived as subjects appropriate to both sexes. Science and technology were seen in broad socio‐economic terms, enabling people to cope in the modern world, gain employment in both the formal and informal sectors, and contribute towards national development. Although science and technology were judged to have enhanced the quality of life, they had introduced conflicts into traditional beliefs and cultures, in part as a result of increasing female emancipation. The attitudes of the students towards the two subjects, and to the impact they have had on everyday life, were congruent with the philosophical aims of the science and technology syllabuses of both countries and with global initiatives such as Project 2000 +.