The Desire for Fame: An Extension of Uses and Gratifications Theory

Social network sites (SNSs) enable users to self-disclose to broad and anonymous audiences. Drawing on social cognitive theory (SCT) and the uses and gratifications (U&G) approach, this study investigates how reality television (RTV) cultivates desire for fame in its audience, which is operationalized as a human desire motivating nondirected self-disclosure (NDSD) online, a technique seeking fame. Results from an online survey (N = 221) show that whether watching RTV with friends interacted with time spent viewing RTV to affect desire for fame, which in turn affected the use of SNSs to pursue fame. In addition, exhibitionism, a motive of SNS use for the purpose of fame, fully mediated the relationship between desire for fame and NDSD. These results have implications for refining U&G and new media research.     

Aesthetic encounters and learning in the museum

Abstract

This article discusses how museum settings can provide opportunities for sensory and aesthetic encounters and learning. It draws on research into museum education programmes that included examinations of curatorial construction and display, observations of teaching and open-ended interviews with museum educators. The examples selected here focus on themes of display and learning to illustrate how aesthetic experiences can emerge as incidental adjuncts to learning in other fields. They also acknowledge how museums draw on aesthetic judgements to categorise or present objects and employ aesthetic artefacts and practices as representative devices of cultural engagement, especially in learning themes in the humanities. The studies show how museums can offer opportunities and skills, and cultivate dispositions to the examination of challenging ideas about aesthetic status, sensibility, interpretation or value. Examples of purposefully constructed sites for aesthetic learning show how museum educators have rethought ways of facilitating affective sensory experiences, and raising questions of aesthetic status, response and the social and cultural functions of the arts. The studies discussed here suggest that museums can provide dedicated opportunities to cultivate independent aesthetic thinking and debate about aesthetic ideas as lifelong skills and pleasures.     

The Development and Field Testing of the Chinese Career Key among High School and College Students in Hong Kong

A career interest inventory, the Chinese Career Key (CCK) was adapted from the Career Key (Jones, 1987, 1997), which is based on Holland’s theory of vocational choice. The goal was to create a professional-quality career interest inventory for use in China and countries having significant populations of Chinese speaking citizens. This report describes the development of the CCK and its first study at a public high school (n=101) and a public university (n=80) in Hong Kong. In general, the research findings support its validity, reliability and user satisfaction among high school and university students in Hong Kong. Cultural differences were explained.     

What Journals are the Most Cited Journals in Criminology and Criminal Justice’s “Big Three” Journals?

Recently, scholars have sought to learn more about scholarly activity within the fields of criminology and criminal justice (CCJ). Research in this area has examined which departments have the most productive faculty, which scholars are the most productive, and which journals are the most prestigious. However, no study of which we are aware has determined what journals criminologists are most likely to cite in their scholarly research. In this study, we rank the most influential journals by the number of times those journals were cited between 2009 and 2013 in Criminology, the Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, and Justice Quarterly. Our analyses suggest that Criminology is clearly the most influential CCJ journal in terms of citations, while the American Sociological Review, the Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, and the American Journal of Sociology remain influential in CCJ as well.     

Early kindergarten identification of academically not-ready children by use of human figure drawing developmental score

The Koppitz Human Figure Drawing (HFD) Test was examined for use in early identification of academically not-ready kindergarten children. HFD developmental scores of a group of children who later “passed” the Metroplitan Readiness Test (stanine score ≥4), as required for admission to the first-grade classroom, were compared with the HFD scores of a group of children who later “failed” the Metropolitan Readiness Test (stanine score ≤3). Evaluation of the test data showed that the optimum HFD score cut-off point for prediction of nonreadiness was ≤3; 42% of the nonready and 90% of the ready children, as defined by the Metropolitan Readiness Test (MTR) score criterion, were correctly identified. An overall hit rate of 75% was obtained on the experimental population. The work indicates that HFD developmental scores are useful for early identification of the academically not-ready kindergarten child.     

Midwives,Obstetrics, Fear,and Trust: A Four-Part Invention

When done well, maternity care brings together four “voices”: the voice of midwifery, which sees birth as a healthy physiological process; the voice of obstetrics, which can manage pathology; the voice of fear (or respect), which encourages vigilance; and the voice of trust, which allows a woman to have confidence in herself and her caregivers. Our goal is to keep these voices singing in harmony.     

Perceived control and instruction in the college classroom: Some implications for student achievement

Recent research suggests that loss of control by students interferes with the quality of instruction in the college classroom. The present study examined how four types of feedback affected perceived control and student achievement in different instruction settings. College students wrote an aptitude test which provided either contingent, low noncontingent failure, high noncontingent failure, or no-performance feedback. The amount of feedback was varied by modifying the length of the test: short, medium, long. The students then observed a videotaped lecture, presented by a low or high expressive instructor, and completed a postlecture achievement test. High noncontingent failure feedback reduced students' perceived control over their performance and created an external attribution profile. For expressive instruction, achievement deteriorated in accordance with the severity of students' uncontrollability. Implications are discussed regarding loss of control and effective instruction.Parts of this work were presented at the American Psychological Association annual meeting, Los Angeles, August 1981.     

Exploring the position of curriculum studies across the continuum of teacher education in Ireland

Curriculum, while often narrowly defined, is a contested space that stimulates continuing international debate, yet the importance of curriculum studies is frequently overlooked across the continuum of teacher education. Within the Irish context a technicist interpretation of curriculum studies, focusing primarily of subject knowledge and development, has historically been adopted. More recent Teaching Council of Ireland policy documents have espoused a broader macro understanding of curriculum studies as a foundation discipline within initial teacher education. However, concerns have been raised regarding student teachers’ ability to fully engage with such material so early in their professional development. With the recently embraced continuum of teacher education in Ireland, this paper examines how curriculum studies is currently defined by Irish policy and problematises how it is addressed in practice. The paper proceeds to explore emerging opportunities to expand this area of study across the continuum. A case for the place of curriculum studies as central to the advancement of the profession through the promotion of teachers as change agents is presented.