Evaluating faculty performance under the equal pay for equal work doctrine

The issue of sex discrimination in faculty employment has become a prominent legal and political concern, necessitating the development of objective empirical methods to determine the existence of patterns of discriminatory treatment. In this study, regression techniques are employed to apply the equal pay for equal work interpretation of the fair employment doctrine. Specifically, faculty promotion and salary policies at the University of Texas at Austin are analyzed to determine whether male and female faculty members are rewarded equally for equal academic qualifications and performances. This regression analysis tends to support the discrimination hypothesis with respect to both promotion and salary policies.     

Antioch's Glen Helen

Abstract

The authors constructed a 32-item survey instrument to measure knowledge and aspects of attitudes (issue understanding and concern, locus of control, and verbal commitment) regarding sea turtle conservation on Zakynthos, Greece. It was completed by 332 5th and 6th grade students from 21 classes in 3 geographic settings. The results indicate low knowledge scores, but high score levels for attitudes. Knowledge, understanding and/or concern, and locus of control significantly correlated with grade level. Overall, a significant positive correlation between knowledge and attitudes was demonstrated. The findings of the study may be useful in designing environmental education programs to promote sea turtle conservation.     

‘That happened to me too’: young people’s informal knowledge of diverse genders and sexualities

Abstract

This paper explores how young people of diverse genders and sexualities share information about sex, sexualities and genders. Formal approaches to education often fail to consider young people’s communication and information exchange practices, including the circulation of peer knowledge through social media. In the wake of recent Australian backlash against the Safe Schools Coalition, we can observe how homophobia and queerphobia in the broader community can impact upon young peoples’ ability to learn about themselves and their bodies through formal education. Yet young people of diverse genders and sexualities can be observed to support each other in peer spaces, utilising their knowledge networks. This paper explores young people’s informal learning practices, the capacity of peer networks to support and educate young people, and the challenges of recognising such networks in a culture in which health and education discourses present them as ‘risk subjects’ rather than ‘health agents’. These issues are discussed in relation to our own experiences in research and health promotion, including one author’s role as a youth peer educator. Drawing on our workplace experiences, we provide a number of anecdotal examples which highlight the complexities of informal knowledge practice and information circulation, and the ways these can challenge and reform professional health, education, and research approaches.     

Trace and long-delay fear conditioning in the developing rat

In two experiments with rats, we examined the developmental emergence of conditioned freezing following trace and short-delay conditioning and also included a long-delay comparison group. In the short-delay and trace groups, a 10-sec conditioned stimulus (CS) was paired with shock; for the trace rats, a 10-sec trace interval followed CS termination. The long-delay groups received a 20-sec CS paired with shock, to equate for the longer interstimulus interval (ISI) in the trace group. Trace conditioning emerged later in development than did short-delay conditioning (see Moye & Rudy, 1987). Importantly, long-delay conditioning emerged in parallel with trace conditioning, at a similar time, and with similar strength. These findings suggest a role for the longer ISI, as opposed to the unfilled gap per se, in the late emergence of trace conditioning. The role of the hippocampus in trace conditioning and the possibility that young rats encode the temporal relationship between CSs and unconditioned stimuli are also considered.     

Using Mnemonics in Teaching Statistics

This article advocates the use of mnemonics as an aid to learning statistics. Some examples are supplied and others sought.