BANDWAGONING AND UNDERDOGING ON NORTH-AMERICAN FREE TRADE: A QUASI-EXPERIMENTAL PANEL STUDY OF OPINION MOVEMENT

A quasi-experimental panel methodology is used to measure opinionmovements of student groups on North-American Free Trade. Itis found that stimulation with regard to majority trends inpublic opinion produces both bandwagon and underdog effectson individual opinions. After controlling for various non causalfactors, these effects are attributed partly to the stimuliand partly to mechanisms by which individuals try to maintaininternal consistency in their opinion structure. Attention isgiven to the methodology of opinion movement measurement.     

Analyse d'un programme d'electromecanique en ses concepts et principes physiques: Methode et application

Résumé L'intérêt va grandissant, dans de nombreux pays occidentaux, quant à l'utilité des connaissances scientifiques en formation professionnelle et technique. Par ailleurs, on y tend aussi, de plus en plus, à une formulation par objectifs des programmes scolaires en vue d'un rapprochement avec les tâches réelles du monde du travail. Afin de déterminer les connaissances nécessaires, une méthode générale d'analyse de programmes de formation professionnelle formulés par objectifs a été développée. Elle permet l'identification des concepts et principes scientifiques et mathématiques minimalement exigés par l'atteinte des objectifs d'apprentissage, d'en établir l'importance et d'en préciser le degré d'approfondissement requis. Elle fut utilisée pour déterminer les concepts physiques essentiels à la section Mécanique industrielle (625 heures) d'un programme d'Electromécanique de systèmes automatisés. Les résultats révèlent la présence de 41 concepts requis pendant un total de 2.452,5 heures. Un groupe restreint d'entre eux est particulièrement important.

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In many Western countries there is growing interest in the usefulness of scientific knowledge in vocational and technical training. Moreover, there is an increasing tendency in these countries to formulate objectives within teaching programmes, in order to come closer to the real tasks of the world of work. To determine what knowledge is required, a general method of analysing objective-based vocational training programmes was developed. This allows the identification of the minimum scientific and mathematical concepts and principles which are necessary to reach the learning objectives, and the establishment of their relative significance and the requisite level of detail. It has been used to determine the essential physical concepts of the industrial mechanics section (625 hours) of a programme on the electromechanics of automated systems. The results reveal the existence of 41 concepts needed for a total of 2,452.5 hours. A limited group of these is of particular importance.

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Zusammenfassung In vielen Ländern der westlichen Welt wächst das Interesse an der Verwendbarkeit wissenschaftlicher Kenntnisse in der beruflichen und technischen Ausbildung. Darüberhinaus gibt es eine zunehmende Tendenz in diesen Ländern, innerhalb der Lehrprogramme solche Ziele zu formulieren, die den tatsächlichen Erfordernissen der Arbeitswelt eher gerecht werden. Um festzustellen, welche Kenntnisse dazu notwendig sind, wurde eine allgemeine Methode zur Analyse zielgerichteter Berufsausbildungsprogramme entwickelt. Sie ermöglicht es, das Minimum an wissenschaftlichen und mathematischen Begriffen und Prinzipien zu erkennen und ihre relative Bedeutung und das erforderliche Maß an Genauigkeit festzustellen. Sie wurde angewandt, um die wichtigsten physikalischen Begriffe für die Abteilung Industriemechanik (625 Stunden) zu ermitteln in Bezug auf ein Programm zur Elektromechanik automatisierter Systeme. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, daß es 41 Begriffe sind, die für eine Gesamtanzahl von 2.452,5 Stunden gebraucht werden. Eine begrenzte Anzahl von ihnen ist von besonderer Bedeutung.

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R. Gagné et L.P. Leclerc, du département de didactique de l'Université Laval, sont également co-auteurs de cet article. Pour des raisons bibliographiques, LaRevue Internationale de Pédagogie limite à trois le nombre des auteurs nommés. Nous remercions Jasmin Côté pour sa contribution à la phase initiale des travaux et Alcide Brisson pour sa participation à certains aspects de l'analyse. Nous remercions également le Ministère de l'Enseignement supérieur et de la Science pour son aide financière dans le cadre du programme RDF.     

Foundational aspects of classroom relations: associations between teachers’ immediacy behaviours,classroom democracy,class identification and learning

This study focused on foundational aspects of classroom relations. Specifically, relationships between teachers’ immediacy (interpersonal) behaviours, classroom democracy, identification and learning were considered. Previous work suggests that these variables can be used as a foundation to shape classroom climate, culture and learning outcomes and, by extension, assist educational institutions to achieve their civic mission. This study examined classroom democracy and class identification as variables that mediate the relationship between immediacy behaviours and learning using data collected from 529 students in six institutions of higher learning in Rwanda. Structural equation modeling revealed that classroom democracy mediates the relationship between immediacy behaviours and that classroom democracy and class identification covary substantially. The significant relationships in the final structural model suggest that immediate teachers are likely to have a positive influence on perceptions of classroom democracy, class identification and learning. Based on the growing scholarship of instructional dissent, this study highlights the foundational and strategic aspects underlying these relationships within the context of relating in the classroom and beyond.     

Publication and citation patterns among LIS faculty: Profiling a “typical professor”

Research on publication and citation patterns generally focuses on prolific or highly cited authors or on highly ranked programs. This study investigates the work and influence of a cross-section of library and information science (LIS) researchers at various stages of their academic lives, using a random sample of faculty members at programs accredited by the American Library Association. The analysis shows that the number of publications increases steadily as faculty rank advances. Assistant professors publish more conference papers and fewer journal articles, a pattern that is reversed with associate and full professors. Researchers used Web of Science® and Google™ Scholar to determine the influence of the publications. Web of Science reported no citations for most LIS faculty publications. With its broader scope, Google Scholar located more citations and revealed that the works of professors are cited significantly more frequently than publications by assistant or associate professors. When faculty profiles are compared by type of program, faculty members at schools granting doctoral degrees publish significantly more than their counterparts at schools where there is no doctoral program or where the doctoral degree is offered jointly with other academic units. When the comparison is made across ranks, full professors publish significantly more than faculty members at other ranks. There is no significant difference between assistant and associate professors.     

The Role of Maternal Affect Mirroring on Social Expectancies in Three-Month-Old Infants

The role of maternal affect mirroring on the development of prosocial behaviors and social expectancies was assessed in forty-one 2- to 3-month-old infants. Prosocial behavior was characterized as infants' positive behavior and increased attention toward their mothers. Social expectancies were defined as infants' expectancy for affective sharing. Mothers and infants were observed twice, approximately 1 week apart. During Visit 1, mothers and infants were videotaped while interacting over television monitors for 3 min. During Visit 2, infants engaged in a live, 3-min interaction with their mothers over television monitors (live condition) and they also viewed a replay of their mothers' interaction from the preceding week (replay condition). The order of conditions was counterbalanced. Maternal affect mirroring was measured according to the level of attention maintenance, warm sensitivity, and social responsiveness displayed. A natural split was observed with 58% of the mothers ranking high and 42% ranking low on these affect mirroring measures (HAM and LAM, respectively). Infants in the HAM group ranked high on prosocial behaviors and social expectancy--they discriminated between live and replay, conditions with smiles, vocalizations, and gazes. Infants in the LAM group ranked low on these variables--they gazed longer during the live condition than during the replay condition, but only when the live condition was presented first; however, they did not smile or vocalize more. These findings indicate that there is a relation between affect mirroring and social expectancies in infants.     

Extended Collective Licensing and Archives

While extended collective licensing (ECL) is seen by many to be the solution to the use of copyright-protected works in the digital environment, this column critically examines the extent to which ECL applies to the holdings of archival institutions, and concludes that archival holdings and ECL are not a good match.