Population Education in the United States

Abstract

With the increased societal awareness of environmental issues, social scientists have expanded their examination of environmentally related topics. One component of this expansion has been the generation and growth of social theory which has the human-environment relationship at its core. This study is a further test of one of these theories, the New Environmental Paradigm (NEP). Using survey data, the relationship of the NEP to knowledge of environmentally relevant issues is examined. The results show ecological worldview as measured by the NEP scale has an independent influence on net environmental knowledge of other sociodemographic characteristics.     

The community junior college and the second reconstruction in higher education

CAUGHT IN THE WEB OF WORDS: JAMES MURRAY AND THE OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY by K. M. Elisabeth Murray. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1977. xiii + 386 pp. $15.00.

THE WORLD OF LEARNING 1978–79. 29th Edition. Published by Europa Publications Ltd., 1978. Available in America from Gale Research Company, Detroit, Michigan. 2,038 pages in two volumes. $84.00/set.     

‘Why am I putting myself through this?’ Women football coaches’ experiences of the Football Association's coach education process

In recent years, there has been a significant increase in the provision of formal coach education. However, research has repeatedly demonstrated how coach education has had a limited impact on the learning and development of coach practitioners. To date however, these investigations have avoided female coach populations. Ten women football coaches who had recently completed various association football coach education courses participated in this study. Following the interpretive analysis of 10 semi-structured interviews the findings revealed high levels of gender discrimination and inappropriate cultural practice. The women's experiences are discussed in line with the Bourdieuian notions of social acceptance, symbolic language and power. The women coaches provided a number of recommendations for future coach education provision, which in turn, may help to improve the experiences for those women who participate in the coach education process.     

Human perceptions of artificial surfaces for field hockey

Measuring the performance of a sports surface is typically derived from a series of field and laboratory tests that assess the playing properties under simulated game conditions. However, from a player’s perspective their own comfort and confidence in the surface and its playing characteristics are equally if not more important. To date no comparative study to measure playing preference tests has been made. The aim of this research was to develop a suitable method for eliciting player perceptions of field hockey pitches and determine the key themes that players consider when assessing field hockey pitches. To elicit meaningful unbiased human perceptions of a playing surface, an individual subjective analysis was carried out, using interviews and inductive analysis of the recorded player statements. A qualitative analysis of elite hockey players (n = 22) was performed to obtain their perceptions immediately after a competitive match. The significant surface characteristics that emerged as part of an inductive analysis of their responses were grouped together and formed five general themes or dimensions: player performance, playing environment, pitch properties, ball interaction and player interaction. Each dimension was formed from a hierarchy of sub-themes. During the analysis, relationships between the dimensions were identified and a structured relationship model was produced to highlight each relationship. Players’ responses suggested that they perceived differences between pitches and that the majority of players considered a ‘hard’ pitch with a ‘low’ ball bounce facilitating a ‘fast’ game speed was desirable. However, further research is required to understand the relative importance of each theme and to develop appropriate measurement strategies to quantify the relevant engineering properties of pitch materials.