Harnessing the power of superheroes: An alternative view

Superhero play offers opportunities for superfun and superlearning     

Holland environments as reinforcement systems

Holland's (1973, 1985) theory of vocational choice stipulates that model environments seek toreinforce the characteristic predispositions and attitudes of their corresponding personality types. The results of this longitudinal study of the self-perceptions of more than 2,000 graduates from eight types of colleges and universities (Carnegie Commission, 1971) generally support the validity of this premise. For example, graduates prepared in investigative environments have higher intellectual self-esteem scores and those prepared in artistic environments have higher artistic self-esteem scores, when pre- and postcollege measures are controlled. These general patterns are consistent for graduates from the eight institutional types. The implications of these findings are discussed for those who study the intra- and interinstitutional diversity of colleges and universities and their differential impact on student developmental patterns.     

Biglan's dimensions: Are the perceptions empirically based?

The clusters of disciplines originally developed by Biglan have been useful guides in classifying or categorizing academic departments. Questions remain, however, as to the validity of the Biglan clusters among a wide range of colleges and universities.This study provides evidence which supports the validity of the Biglan categories by showing how faculty salaries and instructional staffing patterns differ among departments along the dimensions described by Biglan.