Student Psychological Need Satisfaction and College Teacher-Course Evaluations

Two studies examined student psychological need satisfaction as a predictor of positive teacher-course evaluations. In Study 1, 268 undergraduates recalled and rated the quality of a recent important college course, then rated their feelings of autonomy, competence, and relatedness within that course. Consistent with self-determination theory, all three ratings predicted instructor and/or course ratings. Study 2 found the same pattern in a sample of 179 introductory journalism students nested within 12 sections of a single course. Study 2 also evaluated instructor characteristics as predictors of mean levels of student need satisfaction across the 12 classes. Although instructor age and overall teaching experience were unrelated to students' need satisfaction, greater experience teaching their particular class negatively predicted student autonomy and relatedness need satisfaction. Implications for pedagogical practice are discussed.     

Images of Native Americans

This article summarizes a background study conducted for museum staff planning the National Museum of the American Indian on the National Mall in Washington, DC. Through interviews we identified attitudes of Smithsonian visitors toward Native Americans. Three results stand out: First, although most visitors have had some minimal contact with contemporary Native Americans, imagery of the past dominated their responses. This past is characterized as a period in which Native Americans had freedom of movement, had control over their destiny, and lived in harmony with nature. This peaceful existence was destroyed with the arrival of the Europeans. Second, current Indian life is seen as grim, except in those cases where Native Americans have fully assimilated into urban environments. Implicit is an assumption that traditional life and values can only be maintained on reservations. At the same time, reservations are associated with poverty, alcoholism, unemployment, and poor health care. Third, visitors would like the new museum to emphasize aspects of Native life and culture that are unique or different from their own. Overall, visitors have only a cursory familiarity with Native philosophy, history, or current conditions. Very few express strongly held beliefs or positions about Native Americans.     

Systematic Human Relations Training: Appraisal and Status

The immense impact of the Systematic Human Relations Training (SHRT) model on the contemporary helping scene is underscored and verified. The rudiments of the model and its historical antecedents are described and various technical and philosophical issues are identified. The model's uncertain theoretical status, questionable and conflicting developmental elements, the merits and hazards of graded structure, the meaning and permanency of client change, the relationship of process and outcomes, the dangers of universalizing and venerating the model's attributes, and the paradox of training for transcendence are all discussed.     

Teenage Pregnancy and Sex and Relationship Education: Myths and (mis)Conceptions

This paper explores the role of sex and relationship education (SRE) in reducing teenage pregnancy rates. It critically examines some of the assumptions underlying the emphasis placed on SRE within the teenage pregnancy strategy ( SEU, 1999 ) – in particular, the view that ignorance of sexual matters plays a key part in teenage conception. An analysis of these assumptions is used to explore the reasons why the research evidence on the efficacy of sex education in changing adolescent sexual behaviour is mixed. Attention is drawn to the wider contexts within which adolescent sexual behaviour occurs – and the wider contexts within which schools are operating to provide SRE. Also highlighted are suggestions from the literature about what young people want from sex education and the possible implications for reducing teenage pregnancy. The paper concludes that although important, SRE, on its own, is unlikely to be the panacea sought by politicians to reduce the incidence of teenage pregnancy in the United Kingdom.