Personal Bias or Government Bias? Testing the Hostile Media Effect in a Regulated Press System

This study examines the hostile media effect in relation topartisans’ perception of the slant of news coverage ina highly regulated press environment—Singapore. We foundthat partisans in Singapore perceived unbiased news to be infavor of the other side, while the nonpartisans perceived thesame news to be neutral. Our findings show that hostile mediaeffects can persist in a restricted press environment wherepeople are aware of the government's control of media coverage.We also found that partisans’ awareness of the government'scontrol of media information contributed to their perceptionof the article slant as well. Received for publication May 9, 2006. Accepted for publication December 5, 2006.     

Adult literacy,local languages and lifelong learning in rural African contexts

International Review of Education -     

The status of sign language instruction in institutions of higher education: 1994-2004

Surveys of sign language programs in institutions of higher education in the United States, conducted in 1994 and 2004, are compared to reveal changes over time. Data are presented concerning the institutional environment of programs, program administrators, and instructors. Institutions examined in 2004 were on average 5 years older than those examined in 1994. More institutions accepted sign language for general education and foreign language requirements. Program administrators in 2004 were more likely to have primary duties as teachers rather than administrators, and to have greater understanding of the subject matter. Faculty in 2004 had more education and teaching experience. Full-time faculty showed increases in the proportion who were Deaf and the proportion who were in tenure-track positions. Program staff size increased. Overall, evidence indicates that sign language has become more accepted as an academic discipline and that programs are more entrenched at their institutions.     

Impact of a Computer-Based Physics Instruction Program on Pupils' Understanding of Measurement Concepts and Methods Associated with School Science

A set of instructional materials was developed for the teaching of measurement, as part of a classroom innovation for science instruction. This project involved collaborative groupings with the computer as an instructional tool for learners to interact with. A computer-based physics instruction module was developed from a physics course dealing with the concept of measurement. This paper presents the results of an empirical evaluation undertaken over a 6-week period with 118 subjects (ages 12–17) randomly selected Form I pupils in Nakuru district, Kenya. Analysis of the quantitative data showed that the intervention promoted pupils' understanding of measurement concepts and skills, in that the subjects in the treatment groups demonstrated better at the posttests than their counterparts in the true control group. Also, the learning protocols differed markedly in favor of the subjects exposed to the treatment.     

Education quality: the disabilities of aid

Focus on textbooks, not class size, poor countries are regularly told as they seek to improve education quality. Yet, at the same time, with strong support from professional educators, the voters of the U.S. state of California approved massive expenditures to reduce the size of classes that in global terms were already quite small. These dramatically different approaches to improving education quality offer insight into the ways in which the aid relationship is itself an obstacle to improving education quality. The nature of the learning process – interactive, locally contingent, negotiated, and continually changing – requires funding agencies concerned with improving education quality to reach beyond the usual list of improved inputs. Yet, that is not easily accomplished. The structure and organization of the aid relationship set priorities and specify practices that disempower locally rooted education reform initiatives. Equally important, improved education quality and persisting and planned dependence on foreign aid cannot comfortably coexist.     

Teenage childbearing,marital status,and depressive symptoms in later life

This study examined the role of prechildbearing characteristics in later-life depressive symptomatology among 990 married and unmarried teenage childbearers. Data from teenagers in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY79) were used to test the relative contribution of age and marital status at first birth to depressive symptomatology measured during young adulthood (ages 27-29). Unmarried teenage childbearers displayed higher levels of depressive symptoms in young adulthood than did women who first give birth as married adults. However, the psychological health of married teenage mothers in later life was as good as that of married adult mothers, whereas unmarried adult mothers and unmarried teenage mothers had similarly poor outcomes. The findings of this study suggest that marital status, rather than age at first birth, may be more relevant for later-life psychological health.     

Knowledge Restructuring in Biology: Testing a Punctuated Model of Conceptual Change

Emerging from a human constructivist view of learning and a punctuated model of conceptual change, these studies explored differences in the structural complexity and content validity of knowledge about prehistoric life depicted in concept maps by learners ranging in age from approximately 10 to 20 years. Study 1 (cross-age) explored the frequencies of concepts, relationships, levels of hierarchy, branching, and cross-links in concept maps drawn by students in grades 5, 8, 11, 13, and 14. The results provide some support for a punctuated model of conceptual change. Study 2 (longitudinal) explored the same frequencies on repeated occasions among students enrolled in a college course on prehistoric life, and documented the shift in frequencies of “novice” and “expert” concepts occurring during the semester. The results suggest that college students engage in much restructuring of their knowledge frameworks during the period of a semester. Together, the two studies raise questions about common classroom practices that encourage the rote learning of biology and geology concepts at all levels.     

Values and work environment: Mapping 32 occupations

The study addresses the relationship between values and occupations. Israeli workers (N=652; mean age=47; 43% male) in 32 occupations reported their values using the Portrait Value Questionnaire (Schwartz, Melech, Lehmann, Burgess, Harris, &; Owens, 2001), and value scores were aggregated within occupations. Occupations were classified according to the Holland (1985) typology. Enterprising work environments correlated negatively with universalism values. Social environments correlated positively with benevolence and universalism values and negatively with power and achievement. The artistic environment correlated negatively with conformity values. Investigative environments correlated positively with self-direction values and negatively with tradition. A COPLOT analysis of occupational value priorities yielded meaningful clusters of occupations, each characterized by a distinct value profile, and fitting the Holland typology. The findings point to the importance of values in vocational behavior.     

The Cuban Model for Higher Education of Older Adults: Generativity,Social Commitment,and Collaborative Work

The present work is an approach to study the Cuban model for educating the elderly, and its aim is to describe the main features of the experience developed by this country. The University of the Third Age is more than three decades old in Latin America, but none of the countries in the region can show a state educational policy regulating and orienting its development. Cuba is the only country that has designed an educational program for older adults at a national level. The model is the most outstanding one among the rest of the countries in the American continent. This research is based on documentary analysis and interviews held with leaders and managers of the Chair for Older Adults, who were located in different towns of Cuba. Results led to a reconstruction of a set of dimensions of the Cuban model, such as the process of institutionalization, syllabus organization, the process of expansion and universalization, and educators' training strategies for elders. Finally, bearing in mind the features of Cuban political organization and gerontological positions, it was possible to draw the future evolution and challenges faced by the Cuban model for educating older adults.     

Monitoring of immunological parameters in adolescent basketball athletes during and after a sports season

Abstract

The objective of the present study was to monitor the immunological and hormonal responses and the occurrence of upper respiratory symptoms in adolescent basketball athletes during the different stages of a sports season. Anthropometric measures, biochemical analyses (interleukin-6, interleukin-10, tumour necrosis factor-alpha, C-reactive protein, testosterone and cortisol), neuromuscular evaluations (standing vertical jumping ability, agility and estimated VO_2max) and leukocyte counts were performed at four moments: 72 h before the season (?72 h); before the season (Pre-season); after six weeks, at the end of the preparatory period (Preparatory); and after 20 weeks, at the end of the competitive period (Competitive). Also, the occurrence of upper respiratory symptoms was collected weekly during all stages of the season. There were significant increases in monocytes, cortisol, tumour necrosis factor-alpha and C-reactive protein at the Competitive moment as compared to the Pre-season. In addition, interleukin-10 decreased at the Competitive moment as compared to the Pre-season. Occurrence of upper respiratory symptoms demonstrated increases (38%) during the competitive period as compared to the preparatory. These results suggest that periods of training and competition could increase the occurrence of upper respiratory symptoms in adolescent athletes and this may be due to the unwanted effects of an inflammatory process in response to the excessive stress of training and competition.