The effects of an environmental studies course on the defensibility of environmental attitudes

Two different study sites (University of Maryland at College Park and State University College at Buffalo) were examined to see if the completion of an environmental studies course affected the defensibility of environmental attitudes. The general trend was toward a more defensible attitude (one with more informational supports). These observations support a hypothetical connection between the cognitive and affective domain and suggest that after being exposed to environment content, student attitudes should be examined for stronger attitudinal supports rather than large changes in attitudes.     

The reverse transfer student: A growing factor in higher education

Study purposes were (a) to identify factors associated with academic performance of students enrolled at a four-year university and a two-year community college; and (b) to determine if students who (1) dropped out of a four-year university, (2) entered a two-year community college, and then (3) returned to the same four-year institution improved in academic performance. The 195 undergraduate subjects began their college careers at a large university and subsequently transferred to a community college, a type of student mobility referred to as reverse transfer student. Following a poor academic performance at the university, the students achieved satisfactorily at the two-year college. Students who later returned to the university improved their grades with each quarter's course work. Factors associated with academic performance at the two institutions were identified.     

Raising awareness of uncertainty: A useful addendum to courses in the history and philosophy of science for science teachers?

A brief consideration of the need for courses in the history and philosophy of science (HPS) for science teachers is followed by the development of a suggested addendum. The rationale accepts the developmental argument that a conscious awareness of personal uncertainty of explanation provides the motor of change needed to involve science teachers in thinking critically about the nature of their subject. Following the technique pioneered in a different context by Acredolo and O'Connor (1991), the addendum is developed as a test procedure fostering the expression of uncertainties in relation to important questions about science. Using questions designed to serve our specific purposes, a form of the test is trialled on a small group of science teachers attending courses in a Graduate Certificate in Science Education, and the results used to stimulate and promote their discussion of some critical matters concerning the nature of science.     

The Humanities vs. Careerism

ABSTRACT

Integrating research in the classroom experience is recognized as potentially important in enhancing student learning (Price 2001 Price, J. N.. 2001. “Action Research, Pedagogy and Change: The Transformative Potential of Action Research in Pre-Service Teacher Education.” Journal of Curriculum Studies 33 (1): 43–74.[Taylor &; Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]; Schmid 1992 Schmid, T. J. 1992. “Classroom-Based Ethnography: A Research Pedagogy.” Teaching Sociology 20 (1): 28–35.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). This article asks if student integration as research subjects augments their learning about political science. A quasi-experimental project focused on media usage, construction, and influences on the political context of election competition finds that participation as research subjects fostered increased awareness among students of their own media usage, of media effects on politics and of politics in general. Findings also suggest that this process of learning happens within the context of students' pre-existing ideological frameworks despite experimental controls over ideological exposure.     

Broadcasting

Jack Lyle's The People Look at Public Television: 1974 (Washington: Corporation for Public Broadcasting, 1975—$1.00, paper)

Ken Coleman's So You Want to be a Sportscaster (New York: Hawthron Books, 1973—$5.95)

Joseph Fletcher Littell (ed.) Coping with Television (Evanston, Ill.: McDougal, Littell, 1973— cost not given, paper)

Joseph Julian's This Was Radio: A Personal Memoir (New York: Viking, 1975—$8.85)

Dick Cavett and Christopher Porterfield's Cavett (New York: Harcourt, Brace Jevanovich, 1974—$8.95)     

Telecommunication (not broadcasting)

Jack M. Nilles, et al. The Telecommunications-Transportation Tradeoff (New York: Wiley-Interscience, 1976--$22.95)

Geoffrey Wilson's The Old Telegraphs [London: Phillimore (Totowa, N.J.: Rowman and Littlefield), 1976--£7.50 with U.S. price of $18.75]

Information Resources Policy, Annual Report 1975- 76 (two volumes, $23.50, paper, 36 and 49 pp.)

Information Logistics: Local Distribution (Delivery) of Information, by Wallace P. Wormley (August 1976, 89 pp., $10.90, paper)

Separations Procedures in the Telephone Industry: The Historical Origins of a Public Policy, by James W. Sichter (August 1976, 146 pp., $10.90, paper)