Learning Logo: The social context of cognition

In the wake of South Africa's first non-racial elections in 1994, the new Minister of Education launched a national process which would purge the apartheid curriculum of its most offensive racial content and outdated, inaccurate subject matter. At a first glance these essential alterations to school syllabuses sounded reasonable and timely, given the democratic non-racial ideals of the new government. However, these syllabus alterations had little to do with changing the school curriculum and much more to do with a precarious crisis of legitimacy facing the state and education in the months following the national elections. The haste with which the state pursued a superficial cleansing of the inherited curriculum is explained in terms of the political constraints, conflicts and compromises which accompanied the South African transition from apartheid.     

Reasons Not to Cheat,Academic-Integrity Responsibility,and Frequency of Cheating

The authors investigated the relations among reasons students gave for why they would not cheat in response to a cheating vignette, self-reported cheating, and the extent to which students take responsibility for promoting academic integrity. The authors surveyed 1,086 graduate and undergraduate students. Students who said they would not cheat because of punitive consequences were more likely to report that they cheated in classes and took less responsibility for promoting academic integrity. Students whose reasons related to the value of learning, personal character, and/or it being simply not right reported less cheating and took more responsibility for academic integrity. Academic-integrity responsibility correlated with less cheating. Results are discussed in terms of the effectiveness of punishment and the significance of internalizing integrity standards.     

Teaching With Tupac: Building a Solid Grounding in Theory Across the Social Work Education Continuum

This article describes a collaborative and emergent approach utilizing Tupac Shakur’s “Brenda’s Got a Baby” to leverage theory education. This song/video uses a fictionalized account of a pregnant 12-year-old African American girl to chronicle the ecological realities of life in the inner city (e.g., teen pregnancy, drug addiction and trafficking, incest, poverty, dysfunctional families, lack of opportunity, ineffective educational and welfare systems, runaway youth, commercial sexual exploitation, violence, and a racially insensitive law enforcement response). Because of the complexity and convergence of multiple issues and social problems in Brenda’s life, and their impact across the micro–macro spectrum, this song/video is an effective anchor for a semester-long emphasis on a critically conscious approach to theory. This article (a) reviews hip-hop as a vehicle for pedagogy; (b) explores Tupac’s early history and approach to information dissemination; and (c) discusses underlying assumptions and application in BSW-, MSW-, and PhD-level theory courses.     

Book Reviews

The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of intensive interaction during interactive play between a preschool boy with autism and his teacher and, as a consequence, improve the social interaction between the boy and a non-autistic girl in an inclusive class in Greece. A single subject ABA design was applied. Observed variables included changes in the frequency of initiations and responses of the two children. Results indicated significant improvement and post-training maintenance in the social interaction of the two children. Discussion of results in light of known research in autism is highlighted and implications are discussed.     

In Support of Pair Programming in the Introductory Computer Science Course

A formal pair programming experiment was run at North Carolina to empirically assess the educational efficacy of the technique in a CS1 course. Results indicate that students who practice pair programming perform better on programming projects and are more likely to succeed by completing the class with a C or better. Student pairs are more self-sufficient which reduces their reliance on the teaching staff. Qualitatively, paired students demonstrate higher order thinking skills than students who work alone. These results are supportive of pair programming as a collaborative learning technique.     

The effectiveness of health disclosures within children's television commercials

In a study involving 164 children ages 3 to 14, the effectiveness of incorporating health information disclosures into actual television commercials was tested. Results indicated that most children were able to recall and make sense of such disclosures.     

The Sinclair Effect: Comparing Ownership Influences on Bias in Local TV News Content

Sinclair Broadcast Group, the largest owner of U.S. local television stations, has received recent attention due to its apparent political lean and journalistic practices. This study compared the content and quality of national political news stories at Sinclair and non-Sinclair stations in three television markets. Results indicated evidence of a “Sinclair Effect,” whereby Sinclair-owned affiliate stories exhibited more cable news-style elements. Stations generally adhered to traditional journalistic principles, regardless of ownership, but Sinclair stations produced more stories with dramatic elements, commentary, and partisan sources.     

Socialization,resocialization, and communication relationships in the context of an organizational change

This investigation explores the influence of perceptions of socialization tactics' use and communication relationships on employees at the initiation of and 4 months into an organizational restructuring. Results of this longitudinal investigation reveal that employees (N = 72) report considerable changes in perceptions of organizational socialization/resocialization efforts. Results also indicate that both perceptions of socialization tactics' use and communication relationships contribute to decreased role ambiguity and role conflict and increased commitment at the initiation of the restructuring and four months later. However, the influence of these factors on the dependent variables changes over time. These findings are discussed in relation to recent research on organizational entry and change, and suggestions are made for future research.     

New books

PUBLIC SPEAKING: PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE. By Giles Wilkeson Gray and Waldo W. Braden. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1951; pp. xiv + 581. $4.00.

THE FUNDAMENTALS OF SPEAKING. By Wilbur E. Gilman, Bower Aly, and Loren D. Reid. New York: The Macmillan Co., 1951; pp. vx + 608. $4.00.

BASIC EXPERIENCES IN SPEECH. By Seth A. Fessenden and Wayne N. Thompson. New York: Prentice‐Hall, Inc., 1951; pp. xii + 427. $3.75.

ARGUMENTATION AND DEBATE: TECHNIQUES OF A FREE SOCIETY. By James H. McBurney, James M. O'Neill, and Glen E. Mills. New York: The MacMillan Company, 1951; pp. vii + 336. $3.50.

GROUP LEADERSHIP AND DEMOCRATIC ACTION. By Franklyn S. Haiman. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1951; pp. vii + 309. $2.50.

DISCUSSION AND DEBATE. By Henry Lee Ewbank and J. Jeffry Auer. Second Edition. New York: Appleton‐Century‐Crofts, 1951; pp. x + 492. $3.50.

DISCUSSION METHODS: By J. V. Garland. Third Edition Revised. New York: H. W. Wilson Co., 1951; pp. 376. $3.00.

CREATIVE BROADCASTING With Twelve Scripts for Broadcast. By H. J. Skornia, Robert H. Lee, and Fred Brewer. New York: Prentice‐Hall, Inc., 1950; pp.x + 407. $4.50.

TEACHING SPEECH IN THE SECONDARY SCHOOL. By Karl F. Robinson. New York: Longmans, Green and Co., 1951; pp. vii + 438. $4.00.

GERRIT J. DIEKEMA, ORATOR. By William Schrier. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1950; pp. xix + 269. $3.50.

A TREASURY OF THE THEATRE: From Agamemnon to A Month in the County. Edited by John Gassner. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1951; pp. xvii + 718. $4.50.