Public Communication of Climate Change Science: Engaging Citizens Through Apocalyptic Narrative Explanation

Working from the premise that public input is essential to science policy deliberations, we analyze how two recent works of public communication about climate change (An Inconvenient Truth and Climate Change Show) draw on the rhetorical resource of apocalyptic narrative explanation to promote scientific fluency and inspire citizen engagement in the issues. By weaving together the proofs of ethos, logos, and pathos within a framework of cultural rationality, these narratives illustrate available means of persuasion for stimulating the public's informed participation in science policy discussions.     

Big Macs/Peanut Butter and Jelly: An Exploration of Dialectical Contradictions Experienced by the Sandwich Generation

Grounded in relational dialectics theory, this article reports a study exploring the influence of internal relational dialectic contradictions of women who are in the “Sandwich Generation,” or simultaneously providing some kind of care for generations of family both older and younger than them. Two hundred twenty-five female multi-generational caretakers (MGCs) reported their perceptions of the autonomy–connection, predictability–unpredictability, and openness–closedness of the relationship they have with an older adult for whom they provide care, as well as their current satisfaction level with this relationship. The data indicate communication between MGCs and their care recipient is more satisfying when the caretaker believes she has a high level of autonomy in the relationships and when there is a high level of openness within the relationships. These findings are interpreted using dialectic contradiction, change, and totality. This article also discusses practical implications of these findings for members of the Sandwich Generation.     

Quality of Effort and Career Preparation Differences Between African American and White Community College Students

This study examined data from a random sample of 500 White students and 500 African American students who have taken the Community College Student Experiences Questionnaire to determine which factors in the environment impact their career preparation. The results showed that interaction with faculty had the strongest impact on career preparation for all students. Counseling services were significant for African American students. The African American students indicated they put more effort into student-faculty interactions and peer interactions than White students, and they reported greater gains in career preparation.     

Anthropometric dimensions of male powerlifters of varying body mass

Abstract

The aim of the study was to determine whether vibration applied directly to a muscle-tendon could enhance neuromuscular output during and 1.5 and 10 min after a bout of ballistic resistance training. Fourteen participants were exposed to two training conditions in random order: exercise with vibration and exercise with sham vibration. The exercise comprised three sets of ballistic knee extensions with a load of 60–70% of one-repetition maximum. Vibration (1.2 mm amplitude, 65 Hz frequency) was applied with a portable vibrator strapped over the distal tendon of the quadriceps. Knee joint angular velocity, moment, and power, and rectus femoris and vastus lateralis electromyography root-mean-squared were measured during knee extension. During and after training, the vibration did not induce significant changes in peak angular velocity, time to peak angular velocity, peak moment, time to peak moment, peak power, time to peak power, or average EMG of the rectus femoris and vastus lateralis. We conclude that direct vibration, at the selected amplitude and frequency, does not enhance these neuromuscular variables in ballistic knee extensions during or immediately after training.     

The impact of an integrated approach to science and literacy in elementary school classrooms

This study investigates the efficacy of an integrated science and literacy approach at the upper‐elementary level. Teachers in 94 fourth grade classrooms in one Southern state participated. Half of the teachers taught the treatment unit, an integrated science–literacy unit on light and energy designed using a curriculum model that engages students in reading text, writing notes and reports, conducting firsthand investigations, and frequent discussion of key concepts and processes to acquire inquiry skills and knowledge about science concepts, while the other half of the teachers taught a content‐comparable science‐only unit on light and energy (using materials provided by their districts) and provided their regular literacy instruction. Students in the treatment group made significantly greater gains on measures of science understanding, science vocabulary, and science writing. Students in both groups made comparable gains in science reading comprehension. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 49: 631–658, 2012     

Speech training through children's plays

Four‐Star Scripts. By Lorraine Noble. New York: Doubleday, Doran, 1936; $1.50.

A History of the American Drama. By Arthur Hobson Quinn. New York: F. S. Crofts &; Co., 1936; pp. xxv + 432. $5.00.

Historic Costume. By Nevil Truman. New York: Pitman Publishing Corp., 1936; pp. 152; 300 illustrations. $3.00.

The Philosophy of Rhetoric. By I. A. Richards. New York: Oxford University Press, 1936; pp. 138. $1.75.

The Psycho‐Biology of Language. By George Kingsley Zipf. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1935; pp. ix + 336.

An Actor Prepares. By Constantin Stanislavski. Translated by Elizabeth Reynolds Hapgood. New York: Theater Arts, Inc., 1936; pp. 295. $2.50.

Modern Acting: A Manual. By Sophie Rosenstein, Larrae A. Haydon, and Wilbur Sparrow, New York: Samuel French, 1936; pp. 129. $1.50.

Reorganisation of the Supreme Court. The Reference Shelf, vol. xi, no. 4. Compiled by Julia E. Johnson. New York, The H. W. Wilson Co., 1937; pp. 326. $.90.

You, Too, Can Become a Public Speaker. By John Hewins Kern. New York: Governor Publishing Corp., 1937; pp. 72. $1.00.

Industrial vs. Craft Unionism, The Reference Shelf, vol. xi, no. 3. Compiled by Julia E. Johnson. New York: H. W. Wilson Co., 1937; pp. 320. $.90.

General Principles of Play Production. By Gilmor Brown and Alice Garwood. New York: Samuel French, 1937; pp. 177. $2.00.

The Art of Make‐Up. By Serge Strenkovsky. New York: E. P. Dutton Co., 1937; pp. 350. $3.75.

How To Teach Good Speech in the Elementary Schools, Letitia Raubicheck. New York: Noble and Noble, 1937; pp. 276. $2.00.

Twenty Short Plays on a Royalty Holiday: Edited by Margaret Mayorga. New York: Samuel French, 1937; pp. 435. $3.00.

The Flying Wasp. By Sean’ O'Casey. London: The Macmillan Co., Ltd., 1937; pp. xiii +201. $2.25

Ease in Speech. By Margaret Painter. Chicago: D. C. Heath and Co., 1937; pp. 420, $1.64.

Going To Make a Speech? By E. St. Elmo Lewis. New York: The Ronald Press, 1937; pp. x +350. $3.00.

A Contemporary of Shakespeare on Phonetics and on the Pronunciation of English and Latin. By H. G. Fiedler. New York: Oxford University Press, 1936; pp. 21. $1.00.

S.P.E. Tract No. XLVIII. New York: Oxford University Press, 1937; pp. 12. $.85.

Your Everyday Speech. By William Norwood Brigance. New York: Whittlesey House, 1937; pp. ix + 230. $2.50.

University Debaters’ Annual. Edited by Edith M. Phelps and Julia E. Johnson. New York: The H. W. Wilson Co., 1937; Vol. XXIII, pp. 533. $2.25.

The Speech Choir. With American Poetry and English Ballads for Choral Reading. By Marjorie Gullan. New York: Harper &; Brothers, 1937; pp. vii‐xix + 284. $1.75.

The Art of Choral Speaking. By Cécile de Banke. Boston: Baker's Plays, 1937; pp. 227. $1.75.

Reading, Writing and Speech Problems: A Presentation of Certain Types of Disorders in the Development of the Language Faculty. By Samuel Torrey Orton, M.D. New York: W. W. Norton and Co., 1937; pp. 215. $2.00.

Smith, Joseph E.: Better Speech Training Through Teaching Technique. (Papers from the Convention of the Western Association of Teachers of Speech). Ann Arbor: Edwards Brothers, Inc.; 1936; pp. 72. $1.60.

The New Better Speech (Revised Edition.) By A. T. Weaver, Gladys L. Borchers and C. H. Woolbert. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1937; pp. xii + 548. $1.60.

Handbook of Broadcasting: How to Broadcast Effectively. By Waldo Abbot. New York: McGraw‐Hill Book Company, 1937; pp. xi + 424. $3.50.

Ways of Thinking and Writing. By Frank W. Cushwa and Robert N. Cunningham. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1936; pp. xviii + 542. $1.80.     

Why the Range in Grades? An Attempt to Explain the Variance in Students' Public Speaking Grades

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of student motivation, unwillingness to communicate, first-generation college status, and biological sex on students' public speaking grades. A standard multiple regression analysis tested the hypothesis. Participants were enrolled in public speaking courses at two midwestern universities. The only independent variable with a significant main effect was biological sex. While this finding was consistent with earlier research, biological sex differences outweighed other understudied variables. These results require further investigation.     

Doubling Student Numbers — What are the Prospects?*

This article looks at the feasibility of doubling the number of first degree students in the UK and considers the likely patterns of change in the 1990s. It looks at the changing policy towards higher education in the UK, and provides an analysis of the types of students entering degree courses. It then looks at the past expansion of higher education and degree courses. An overview is then given of what happens to these students when they graduate in terms of employment and other destinations. Consideration is given to the likely trends in the supply and demand for graduates in the 1990s. The types of changes an academic performance and participation which would be needed to double student numbers over the next 25 years are next reviewed using a model developed by the IMS. Conclusions are drawn about the likely changing balance of supply and demand in the 1990s.