Job Stress and Satisfaction Among Special Education Teachers: Effects of gender and social role orientation

Eighty-nine female and 43 male special education teachers completed a battery of instruments dealing with job stress and satisfaction and social role characteristics. Social role orientation (expressive, instrumental, balanced, and undifferentiated) was determined for each of the teachers both on- and off-the-job using the Bem Sex Role Inventory, and then analysed in relation to six indices of work-related stress and satisfaction. For female special educators, a balanced social role orientation was associated with higher levels of satisfaction and lower levels of stress, while an undifferentiated orientation was associated with lower levels of satisfaction and higher levels of stress. Implications for teacher preparation programs are discussed, and suggestions for future research are included.     

Oxygen uptake kinetics in children and adults after the onset of moderate-intensity exercise

The literature suggests that the oxygen uptake (VO2) response to the onset of moderate-intensity exercise may be both mature from childhood and independent of sex. Yet the cardiorespiratory response to exercise and the metabolic profile of the muscle appear to change with growth and development and to differ between the sexes. The aim of this study was to investigate further changes in the VO2 kinetic response with age and sex. Participants completed a series of no less than four step change transitions, from unloaded pedalling to a constant work rate corresponding to 80% of their previously determined ventilatory threshold. Each participant's breath-by-breath responses were interpolated to 1 s intervals, time aligned and then averaged. A single exponential model that included a time delay was used to analyse the averaged response following phase 1 (15 s). Participants with parameter confidence intervals more than +/- 5 s were removed from the sample; the results for the remaining 13 men and 12 women (age 19-26 years), 12 boys and 11 girls (age 11-12 years) were used for statistical analysis. Children had a significantly shorter time constant than adults, both for males (19.0+/-2.0 and 27.9+/-8.6 s respectively; P<0.01) and females (21.0+/-5.5 and 26.0+/-4.5 s respectively; P<0.05). There were no significant differences in the time constant between the sexes for either adults or children (P>0.05). A significant relationship between the time constant and peak VO2 was found only in adult males (P<0.05). A shorter time constant in children may reflect an enhanced potential for oxidative metabolism.     

TV NEWS AND U.S. PUBLIC OPINION ABOUT FOREIGN COUNTRIES: THE IMPACT OF EXPOSURE AND ATTENTION

This article assesses the potential for US news coverage offoreign affairs to influence US public opinion about foreigncountries during the latter part of 1989 and early 1990, a timeof dramatic changes in central Europe. The study draws on twosources of data: content analysis of US network news and wireservice coverage of nine countries (West Germany, East Germany,the Soviet Union, Hungary, Poland, Great Britain, France, Japan,and Israel) over a six month period, and a nationally representativesurvey of 1,117 US adults which measured opinions about thesecountries, conducted in early 1990. The study shows that thereis an important relationship between the visibility of foreigncountries in TV news and US public opinion about these countries.TV is more important than newspapers for influencing publicopinion about foreign countries. And attention to foreign affairsnews, rather than simple exposure to news, best predicts generalliking of a country. Finally, attention to television news coveragehad a positive and significant influence on sympathy with Westand East Germany in 1990, even if one had German friends, relativesor ancestors, or had visited Europe.     

Gender and ethnic changes in physical work capacity from childhood through adolescence

This study determined gender and ethnic differences in physical work capacity (PWC170) of 8-16-year-old American youth as they progress from elementary to high school. A multicohort group of 2,540 youth participated 50.4% girls (21.4% African Americans, and 78.6% Caucasians). PWC170 was predicted from cycle ergometer testing six times over a 7-year period. The absolute PWC170 of girls stabilized in early adolescence, while boys increased with each trial. The PWC170 relative to body weight of girls decreased steadily, whereas the boys remained stable. African Americans had greater absolute PWC170 values than Caucasians (p = .0001). The relative PWC170 was lower for African American girls than Caucasian girls (p = .0001), but there were no ethnic differences for boys (p > .05). Although correlations and grouping suggested moderate tracking; girls with high relative PWC170 tended to migrate to lower levels as they aged, where as high-peforming boys maintained their PWC170 as they aged.     

Integrating Information Literacy and Evidence-Based Medicine Content within a New School of Medicine Curriculum: Process and Outcome

This column describes a process for integrating information literacy (IL) and evidence-based medicine (EBM) content within a new school of medicine curriculum. The project was a collaborative effort among health sciences librarians, curriculum deans, directors, and faculty. The health sciences librarians became members of the curriculum committees, developed a successful proposal for IL and EBM content within the curriculum, and were invited to become course instructors for Analytics in Medicine. As course instructors, the librarians worked with the other faculty instructors to design and deliver active learning class sessions based on a flipped classroom approach using a proprietary Information Mastery curriculum. Results of this collaboration may add to the knowledge base of attitudes and skills needed to practice as full faculty partners in curricular design and instruction.     

Developing Young Thinkers: An intervention aimed to enhance children's thinking skills

It is increasingly popular to ‘teach’ thinking skills in schools. A diverse variety of programmes exist to support practitioners in this task, and some research has been gathered on the effectiveness of individual approaches. However, the difficulties when assessing the development of thinking skills are widely documented. This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of teaching thinking skills explicitly to 11/12-year olds by infusing thinking skills into the curriculum (i.e., teaching thinking skills simultaneously with subject content). There were three intervention conditions: collaborative, individual and control. The effectiveness of the intervention was evaluated with a combination of standardised and study-specific pre- and post-tests. Results demonstrated statistically significant gains for both the individual and collaborative learning conditions in a range of thinking skills. The greatest increase in performance was seen in the collaborative learning condition. Educational implications for policy and practice are discussed.     

The Effects of Writing Workshop on Abilities of First Grade Students to Become Confident and Independent Writers

Writing Workshop is an interactive approach to teaching writing as students learn and practice the importance of rehearsal, drafting/revising, and editing their pieces of writing (Calkins, 1986; Graves, 1983). This study implemented a mixed methodology design incorporating qualitative and quantitative analysis (Mills, 2007) by administering a pre survey to each child before he/she began the Writing Workshop and a post survey after the intervention; systematic observational research as a checklist (Glanz, 2003) to record observed practices of students during peer revising conferences; portfolios to assess student writing and graded via a rubric; and lastly interview of students regarding confidence and ability in writing. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to explore the writing processes of drafting/revising and editing to support first grade students to become independent writers.     

Assessing the impact of information services in a regionalized health-care organization

Objectives: Assessment of the usage of medical library services before and after the implementation of several new services, as well as assessment of the clinical impact of the information provided by the medical library. Methods: A sample of employees, residents and physicians were surveyed using a stratified, random selection process in two surveys 4 years apart. The response rate for the first survey was 52% and the response rate for the second survey was 35.2%. Results: Differences in usage included increased overall use of the librarians and library services, decreased use of the Internet as a source of information, and direct and indirect impacts upon patient care. Information needs of respondents also increased to where 65% of employees and 94% of physicians require information at least once a week. Patient management was the main reason for needing information. The top two specific uses were to find out about a condition and determine a treatment plan. Conclusions: These findings parallel some of the findings of other researchers, and contradict the findings of others. Possible explanations for these findings and implications for future research are discussed.