Attitudes Toward Services of State Departments of Education,

The structure of attitudes toward services rendered by state departments was studied in six southeaste states with a 70-item scale. Development procedures are described. The scale was administered to randoml chosen samples of superintendents (N = 671), central office personnel (N = 404), principals (N = 627) teacher, (N = 3, 684), and other local personnel (N = 373). Data from each group were factored and studied for dimensic ality. The two factors common to all groups consisted, respectively, of positively and negatively worded item despite the fact that the instrument was developed in a way intended to minimize response set factors. A thire factor dealt with university-state relationships.     

COUNTERMEASURES TO IMPROVE THE DRIVING PERFORMANCE OF OLDER DRIVERS

A 2‐year study of the problems of older drivers (N = 105) was conducted by a team of researchers from the disciplines of traffic engineering, gerontology, physical therapy, occupational therapy, and driver education. The objective of the research was to develop and evaluate countermeasures to improve the safety of older drivers. During the first year, the problems of older drivers were examined and the following countermeasures designed: (a) physical therapy, (b) perceptual therapy, (c) driver education, and (d) traffic engineering improvements. In the second year, the effects of these countermeasures on the driving performance of older drivers were evaluated. All of the countermeasures improved the older adults’ performance. Combining driver education with physical or perceptual therapy tended to increase the improvement in driving performance, but none of the increases were statistically significant (s > .015). The countermeasures provided an average improvement in driving performance of 7.9%. Analysis indicated that traffic engineering improvements would be most cost‐effective on high‐volume roadways and the other countermeasures would be most cost‐effective on low‐volume roadways.     

High school students’ implicit theories of what facilitates science learning

Background: Research has primarily concentrated on adults’ implicit theories about high quality science education for all students. Little work has considered the students’ perspective. This study investigated high school students’ implicit theories about what helped them learn science.

Purpose: This study addressed (1) What characterizes high school students’ implicit theories of what facilitates their learning of science?; (2) With respect to students’ self-classifications as African American or European American and female or male, do differences exist in the students’ implicit theories?

Sample, design and methods: Students in an urban high school located in south-eastern United States were surveyed in 2006 about their thoughts on what helps them learn science. To confirm or disconfirm any differences, data from two different samples were analyzed. Responses of 112 African American and 118 European American students and responses from 297 European American students comprised the data for sample one and two, respectively.

Results: Seven categories emerged from the deductive and inductive analyses of data: personal responsibility, learning arrangements, interest and knowledge, communication, student mastery, environmental responsiveness, and instructional strategies. Instructional strategies captured 82% and 80% of the data from sample one and two, respectively; consequently, this category was further subjected to Mann-Whitney statistical analysis at p < .05 to ascertain ethnic differences. Significant differences did not exist for ethnicity but differences between females and males in sample one and sample two emerged.

Conclusions: African American and European American students’ implicit theories about instructional strategies that facilitated their science learning did not significantly differ but female and male students’ implicit theories about instructional strategies that helped them learn science significantly differed. Because students attend and respond to what they think and perceive to be important, addressing students’ implicit theories may be one way to enhance science education reform.     

Networked professional development: Issues and strategies in current practice

The Computer Based Collaborative Group Work (CBCGW) Project is an institutional Teaching and Learning Technology Programme (TLTP) Project based in the Department of Educational Studies. The Project aims to support those within and beyond institutional boundaries in the exploration and uptake of collaborative work in a networked environment. This paper reviews examples of current practices in online professional development from around the world and considers some of the issues for providers of academic support. This will in turn be used to contextualize the response to these needs being developed by the Project.     

Toward Stewardship of Democratic Ideals: Using students' perspectives to improve school‐university collaboration and model democratic practice

A healthy democracy values and depends on diverse perspectives to maintain flexibility and to make ongoing improvements that better serve its various groups. Our analysis of qualitative data from interviews conducted with students in two professional development school settings (school-university partnerships) showed that students were not regularly asked to provide their views of schooling or of school renewal efforts. The analysis further showed that students in this study, both young children and maturing adolescents alike, held personal knowledge that could contribute to adults' understandings of their work. The article is organized into five sections. First, we describe the innovation that provided the impetus for the study. Second, we describe the study's design. The third and fourth parts—students' perspectives on their schools and on the changes they were experiencing—represent the heart of the article. We conclude by placing the students' perspectives in the larger context of schooling for democracy—the theoretical framework for the study.     

Film Genres

Thomas Schatz, Hollywood Genres (New York: Random House, 1981 -- $9.95 paper).

Foster Hirsch, The Dark Side of the Screen: Film Noir (San Diego: A. S. Barnes, 1981 -- $14.95 hardcover),

Robert Ottoson, A Reference Guide to the American Film Noir: 1940-1958 (Metuchen: The Scarecrow Press, 1981 -- $15.00 hardcover).

Christopher Frayling, Spaghetti Westerns: Cowboys and Europeans from Karl May to Sergio Leone ($40.00 cloth/$20.00 paper)

Jeffrey Richards, Swordsman of the Screen: From Douglas Fairbanks to Michael York ($15.00 paper).

Leonard Malten, Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons (New York: New American Library, 1980 -- $9.95 paper).     

Primacy Effects of The Daily Show and National TV News Viewing: Young Viewers,Political Gratifications,and Internal Political Self-Efficacy

This study examines program ordering effects derived from viewing CNN television news relative to The Daily Show on the political gratifications associated with both types of information sources. Internal political self-efficacy is assessed as an individual-difference moderator. Main primacy effects are found on the gratifications associated with both national television news viewing and The Daily Show viewing. However, The Daily Show primacy effect on the political gratifications associated with national television news viewing was isolated among those participants who retain low internal political self-efficacy. Ramifications for these findings are outlined and future lines of research are summarized.     

Using Comparisons of Multiage Learning Environments to Understand Two Teachers' Democratic Educational Aims

Learning Environments Research - Several decades of research detail the nature and the relevance of learning environments in the education of children. This inquiry builds upon this earlier work...