Educators’ perceptions of bringing students to environmental consciousness through engaging outdoor experiences

This paper explores the premise that environmental education involves raising environmental consciousness rather than simply knowing about the environment in a technical-rational manner and acting for it in mechanistic prescribed ways. The paper draws on educational theory and data from a phenomenological case study of educators working together at an outdoor education centre in urban Canada, whose practice of environmental education we believe can best be described as environmental consciousness raising. Based on our study’s findings, we suggest that raising environmental consciousness involves connecting people to their environment, fostering care for the environment, and building agency for the environment. Educating for environmental consciousness also requires providing people with deeply engaging experiences that afford authenticity, multidimensionality and serendipity. Our study shows how these features can work to raise environmental consciousness, by creating epiphanies or moments when sudden expansions of the self, realization and empowerment become possible.     

The Impact of APA and AERA Guidelines on Effect Size Reporting

Given the long history of effect size (ES) indices (Olejnik and Algina Contemporary Educational Psychology, 25, 241–286 2000) and various attempts by APA and AERA to encourage the reporting and interpretation of ES to supplement findings from inferential statistical analyses, it is essential to document the impact of APA and AERA standards on ES reporting practices. In this paper, we investigated the impact by examining findings from 31 published reviews and our own review of 451 articles published in 2009 and 2010. The 32 reviews were divided into two periods: before and after 1999. A total of 116 journals were reviewed. Findings from these 32 reviews revealed that since 1999, the ES reporting has improved in terms of its rate, variety, interpretation, confidence intervals, and fullness. Yet several inadequate practices still persisted: (1) the dominance of Cohen’s d, and the unadjusted R ²/η², (2) the mere labeling of ES, (3) the under-reporting of confidence intervals, and (4) a lack of integration between ES and statistical tests. The paper concludes with resources on Internet and recommendations for improving ES reporting practices.     

Stress responses during aerobic exercise in relation to motivational dominance and state

We examined the hypothesis that congruence between motivational dominance and state results in optimal psychological responses and performance during exercise. Twenty participants (10 telic dominant and 10 paratelic dominant) rated their stress at 5 min intervals as they cycled on an ergometer at gas exchange threshold for 30 min in both telic and paratelic state manipulated conditions. Participants then performed a test to exhaustion at a resistance equivalent to 110% of VO(2max). The hypothesized interaction between condition and dominance was significant for internal tension stress, as paratelic dominants were more stressed than telic dominants when exercising in the telic state and telic dominants were more stressed than paratelic dominants when exercising in the paratelic state. Similarly, the condition × dominance interaction for internal stress discrepancy was significant, as paratelic dominants reported greater internal stress discrepancy exercising in the telic compared with the paratelic state. Findings are discussed in relation to the application of reversal theory for understanding stress responses during aerobic exercise.     

The impact of coworker support and stigma on breastfeeding after returning to work

This study assessed the impact of coworker support on lactating mothers’ breastfeeding self-efficacy after maternity leave. A cross-sectional survey of 1000 working adults assessed effects of perception of fairness, coworkers’ support for breastfeeding colleagues, and ick response on willingness to help mothers needing breaks to pump breastmilk at work. The study also examined how coworker support affected mothers’ self-efficacy to continue breastfeeding. One out of four coworkers showed moderate to strong stigma, saw breaks to pump breastmilk as unfair, and showed less intention to help new mothers. These results suggest that while the majority of coworkers are generally supportive, lactating women are likely to encounter disapproving coworkers who may discourage them from continuing to breastfeed. The data showed that the majority of organizations included in this study have only passively fostered mother-friendly workplaces and could do more to encourage employees to be supportive of lactating colleagues.     

Study of cellulolytic soil fungi and two nova species and new medium

This study is aimed at identifying and determining the percentage of occurrence frequency of cellulose decomposing soil fungi. The soil samples were inoculated into culture plates prepared in Sabouraud medium under sterilized conditions and incubated at 30 ℃ for 4 to 7 d. The identified fungal species were incubated in self-designed cellulose medium for testing their cellulolytic ability. Forty-two species, including2 nova species, representing sixteen genera showed growth and sporulation in the cellulose medium. Most of the isolated species were from genus Aspergillus and Penicillium. Aspergillus niger and Mucor hiemalis showed highest occurrence frequency （45% and 36% respectively）, as these species were collected from about 80% of soil samples. Being agar free and cheaper, the new fungal medium designed showed results equivalent to Sabouraud medium.