Analysis of a Quasi-Experimental Design Based on Environmental Problem Solving for the Initial Training of Future Teachers of Environmental Education

Abstract

Many parameters may be used to measure the deterioration of water quality. One very important parameter is total dissolved solids (TDS). An increase in TDS beyond acceptable levels can have a significant impact on municipal, industrial, and agricultural use of water. In this review an overview of the problem of high TDS levels is given. Factors related to TDS which are considered include: (a) laboratory determination, (b) natural and man-influenced sources, (c) adverse effects, and (d) treatment process removal techniques. A brief summary of the TDS problem associated with the Colorado River is also considered.     

‘I'm just there to ease the burden’: the parent support adviser role in English schools and the question of emotional labour

In 2005, the Department for Education and Skills announced a £40 million investment in a new school support worker role, the parent support adviser (PSA), for 20 English local authorities. A pilot project ran from 2006–2008 and resulted in the establishment of 717 PSAs in 1167 schools. The national evaluation of the project forms the evidential basis of this paper, with interviews conducted with 69 PSAs, 85 PSA line managers and 105 parents and a database recording casework with nearly 21,000 parents. This paper focuses on the nature of the PSA role as the first centrally funded parent support role in English schools. The theoretical framework provided by the concept of ‘emotional labour’ and the development of the concept represented by the 4Ps typology provides the conceptual structure. This paper argues that although the characteristics of the PSA role appear to place it within the category of work requiring emotional labour, PSAs and parents regard that aspect of the role in a positive light. For the PSAs there was little evidence that emotional labour necessary for the role of PSA led to dissonance between role and worker or alienation from the product of PSA labour.     

Masculine generics=sexist language: A review of literature and implications for speech communication professionals

This article reviews empirically based studies demonstrating gender‐biased perceptions resulting from use of “man”‐linked words (e.g., “mankind”) and third‐person‐singular masculine pronouns. Contrary to commonsense beliefs, neither of these linguistic conventions has been found to he associated with equal likelihood perceptions of female and male referents. Specific suggestions are made for the adoption of alternatives to masculine generics in speech and communication teaching and research reportage. Also, suggestions are made for research and development activities.     

Classroom justice: Perceptions of fairness as a predictor of student motivation,learning, and aggression

The present study examined the relationship between students’ perceptions of distributive and procedural justice in a college course and student motivation concerning the course, affective learning in the course, and aggression toward the course instructor. Although student perceptions of both distributive and procedural justice were positively correlated with student motivation and affective learning and negatively correlated with student aggression toward the course instructor, multiple regression analyses indicated that only perceptions of procedural justice predicted the three criterion variables at a statistically significant level while distributive justice perceptions did not. Implications and suggestions for future research in classroom justice are offered.     

Trust in top management and immediate supervisor: The relationship to satisfaction,perceived organizational effectiveness,and information receiving

Utilizing 2068 individuals in 60 organizations in the U.S. and Italy, this study (a) examines the overall relationship between trust in top management and immediate supervisor and overall estimates of satisfaction and perceived organizational effectiveness, (b) compares the amount of variance in satisfaction and effectiveness that can be explained by trust in top management to the amount of variance explained by trust in immediate supervisor, and (c) clarifies the role of information receiving as a predictor of trust in top management and immediate supervisor. Results of a canonical correlation analysis indicated that the canonical equation explained 49% of the variance in the linear composites (Canonical R = .69, p < .001). Trust in top management was more strongly associated with satisfaction and effectiveness than was trust in immediate supervisor. Tzvo separate multiple regression analyses indicated that after controlling for geographic location of company and type of industry, information received about job and organizational issues uniquely explained 26% of the variance in trust in top management and 13% of the variance in trust in immediate supervisor.     

The impact of communication apprehension on college student retention and success

Communication apprehension is conceptualized as a causal agent in student success. It is implicated in both academic and interpersonal success, two factors identified by prior resesarch as primary predictors of persistence. A four year longitudinal study of the impact of communication apprehension on grade point average and persistence at the university level was conducted. Results indicated high CA students were significantly more likely to drop out and attain lower grade point averages compared to low CA students. The impact of CA was strongest during the first two years. A replication of the study confirmed the impact of CA on student persistence. It is concluded the impact of CA on the probablity of high CA students’ survival in college is substantial and this impact adds to the case favoring the provision of training programs to assist such students overcome their apprehension about communication.     

Antisocial classroom communication: Instructor influence and interactional justice as predictors of student aggression

The present study investigated potentially destructive instructor and student communication. In particular, it examined the relationships between instructor use of antisocial behavior alteration techniques (BATs), student perceptions of instructor interactional justice, and students' likelihood of indirectly aggressing against their instructors. Results indicate that student perceptions of instructors' use of antisocial BATs and instructor interactional injustice predicted increased student indirect aggression. In addition, student perceptions of instructor antisocial BAT use and interactional justice were negatively correlated and interactional justice was a stronger predictor of student indirect aggression than was instructor antisocial BAT use.     

Integrating health communication pedagogy,social science,and health interventions

Three studies exemplify how health communication research concepts can be integrated pedagogically with health interventions in undergraduate courses. The academic structure for creating and conducting applied community health communication research using current theoretical frameworks is explained. Three empirical projects, increasing community seatbelt use, examining conscientiousness and campus safety behaviors, and increasing cervical cancer screening among college women, are described in detail. Student outcomes for the class demonstrate high learning and satisfaction.

Suggestions for future interventions integrated with general health communication classes are explored. But the overarching outcome is that even with low financial resource significant change can be achieved in health related outcomes, while simultaneously introducing students to health communication and social science procedures.     

Speech education ‐ ways and means of political education in Germany

This study of the utility of evidence differs from previous studies in its use of a respondent‐generated matrix of information and sources. This matrix comprised three dimensions (expertness × trustworthiness‐acquaintanceship x information type] and was used to produce Q‐statements which subjects sorted according to a most useful‐Jeast useful criterion in three hypothetical decision‐making situations. The Q‐analysis revealed several types of persons, including: types which found directive information most useful, types which preferred unknown but competent sources, and types which depended upon sources who were known and trusted regardless of the kind of information the source offered.