Teaching the Social Curriculum: Classroom Management as Behavioral Instruction

Psychological science has identified positive classroom management and climate building strategies as a key element in developing and maintaining effective learning environments. In this article, we review the literature that has identified effective strategies that build classroom climates to maximize student learning and minimize disruption. In general, these strategies indicate a shift away from reactive and punitive approaches towards an emphasis on instructional and preventive approaches, including setting clear expectations, appropriate curriculum to increase student engagement, positive acknowledgment, and building relationships between students and teachers. Emerging research has also begun to identify features of culturally responsive classroom management that can engage and build relationships for a diverse student population.     

Parenting Control in Contexts of Political Violence: Testing Bi-directional Relations between Violence Exposure and Control in Post-Accord Belfast

OBJECTIVE: The goal of the present study is to examine bi-directional relations between youth exposure to sectarian and nonsectarian antisocial behavior and mothers' efforts to control youth's exposure to community violence in Belfast, Northern Ireland. DESIGN: Mother-child dyads (N=773) were interviewed in their homes twice over 2 years regarding youth's exposure to sectarian (SAB) and nonsectarian (NAB) community antisocial behavior and mothers' use of control strategies, including behavioral and psychological control. RESULTS: Youth's exposure to NAB was related to increases in mothers' use of both behavioral and psychological control strategies over time, controlling for earlier levels of these constructs. Reflecting bi-directional relations, mothers' behavioral control strategies were associated with youth's reduced exposure to both NAB and SAB over time, whereas psychological control was not related to reduced exposure. CONCLUSION: Only nonsectarian community violence was associated longitudinally with mothers' increased use of control strategies, and only behavioral control strategies were effective in reducing youth's exposure to community antisocial behavior, including both sectarian and nonsectarian antisocial behavior.     

Using an action learning set (ALS) to support the nurse and allied health professional consultant role

Advanced clinical practice roles are now an integral feature of many healthcare services and have been adopted in a diversity of areas. However, mentoring of these roles is not well documented in the literature and formal mechanisms of support are limited. An action learning set (ALS) was developed to provide support for consultants currently in post. The purpose was to facilitate clinicians in developing and meeting the demands of these posts by providing peer supervision, identifying strategies for leading service developments, providing a focus for problem solving and reflection. The ALS meets bi-monthly and is externally facilitated with the option to attend individual sessions with the facilitator. Participants also completed questionnaires measuring coping skills and stress, which were fed back in the individual sessions, providing opportunity for further opportunities for reflection. Initial evaluation was conducted formally using a structured questionnaire and reflective accounts, and provided evidence of the value of the ALS and an indication of how the criteria for success were being met, with greatest achievement reported in the area of work–life balance. The evaluation demonstrates the ongoing value of this ALS and the effectiveness of this method of supporting senior clinical staff.     

Book Reviews

Abstract

The extent to which Federal agencies may properly engage in information dissemination activities is currently an issue of debate within the public and private sectors. Related to this is the question of how Federal agencies should price their information products and services. These issues, although they involve information activities in many spheres, are discussed with specific reference to the policies and practices of the National Library of Medicine.     

Bypassing E-Reserves with Durable Links to Subscribed Content

Increasingly, libraries of all types and sizes are adding electronic book (ebook) titles to their collections. A survey was used to explore the implications of ebook licensing and interlibrary loan use. Among academic libraries in the United States, a widespread preference for handling print books was found along with a need for more information about ebook interlibrary loan rights at one's own institution and a means to identify format type available from potential lending libraries.     

REPRESENTING ‘INFORMAL EMPIRE’ IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY

This article proposes an approach to media imperialism from the telegraphic news agencies’ point of view. Since the mid-nineteenth century, in fact, Western imperial interests were reflected in the geographical expansion led by the first international news agencies. The War of the Pacific (1879–83) in South America provides an entry point for investigating both the notion of the British ‘informal empire’ and the role of the first telegraphic news agencies in the South American region. The history of the news agency business in the subcontinent from the 1850s onwards helps contextualize the conflict between the South American republics of Bolivia, Chile and Peru as news agencies, newspapers and other information practices of the time revealed this event in Europe and the rest of the world. By the end of the war, Reuters and Havas (the British and the French news agencies), numbered their own casualties as a consequence of their confrontation in an extra-European region.     

A structured analysis of e-government studies: Trends and opportunities

E-government involves the use of information and communications technology to facilitate government interaction with citizens, employees, businesses and other governments. E-government studies provide a platform to examine prior developments, and explore future opportunities in the field. This paper presents a theoretical model for the analysis of e-government studies and further uses a bibliometric analysis to examine constructs such as theoretical perspectives, methods, and units of analyses. We examine current trends in e-government research, and discuss emerging opportunities.     

Perceived Family Influences in Talent Development Among Artistically Talented Teenagers in Singapore

Though there have been quite a number of research studies focusing on how Singaporean families promote literacy and instill values of academic excellence inside the home, little has been written about how families nurture the gifts of teenagers talented in the arts in the Singaporean context. This article highlights how the family influences the talent development of teacher-nominated teenagers who are identified to be among the top in visual arts, dance, theater, music, and academics. Through in-depth interviews conducted with the 14 talented teenagers, the researcher highlights their family's involvement and interest in the arts, their parents' occupational backgrounds, as well as family values and activities that the young artists-in-training perceive to be influential in shaping the development of their artistic talents. Reflections on patterns of childrearing in the Asian context are likewise discussed.