Enhancing the Educational Communication Process

Abstract

The theme of the 1987 Conference of the International Council for Educational Media to be held at Cardiff on the 26‐27 October is ‘Communication ‐‐ the Essence of Education’.     

Being and becoming: a student trajectory

This article analyses the intellectual discourses of adult development and adult learning. It argues that through a process of transformative adult learning individuals can experience the disintegration and reintegration of past and present human growth. The development of adults is considered not in terms of discrete theories but as a collage of theories. The writers analyse and interpret the literature that attempts to study the interaction of individuals in the total context of the inner and outer forces that impinge on their life.

We conclude from a study of the literature that adult development, from a transformative perspective, is more than adjustment to a particular society; it is a qualitative change in how one views the world; it involves tension and struggle that are productive of a new consciousness. This change occurs through a dialectical process that calls for movement through the old style of meaning‐making to a reconstruction of meaning that is a synthesis of the old and the new. It is also concluded that adult learning can foster critical awareness and critical consciousness that can effect a transformation in the way adults see themselves and others. The route to transformative adult development and transformative learning lies in acknowledging contradictions and differences and working through them, as opposed to ignoring or circumventing them.     

Adjunct question effects with review

The effects on retention of adjunct questions either placed at the end of a passage or inserted after their respective paragraphs within the passage were examined. The high school subjects were encouraged to review the materials after encountering the questions, a departure from traditional procedures in the field. Both treatments led to superior retention of the previously questioned facts when compared to a passage-only control group, but did not increase retention of previously unquestioned facts. The position of the adjunct questions did not differentially affect performance. The discrepancy of the results from those traditionally reported are interpreted in terms of the procedures employed.     

Young weightlifters' performance across time

Prestigious professional organisations have questioned the efficacy of resistive training by children or have often neglected to address weightlifting in their position papers on resistive training for children. The purpose of this paper was to address the deficit in data regarding the efficacy of training children for weightlifting and to report data regarding to safety in this population. Eleven subjects (3 female, 8 male) who had trained at the USA Weightlifting Development Centre in Shreveport Louisiana for a minimum of 22 months (mean = 28.8; SD +/- 4.4) served as subjects for this study. Means for the pool of subjects subjected to t-test to compare data obtained at each subject's initial competition with that obtained at the individual's most recent competition revealed significant positive changes in body weight, snatch weight, clean and jerk weight, and total weight lifted. The latter three were significant both in absolute weight and in weight lifted per kg of body weight. Total weight lifted at competitions plotted separately for boys and for girls across time indicated an apparently steeper slope of improvement for boys. The latter were not tested for significance because of the small sample sizes. The lack of injury in training and in 534 competitive lifts was discussed. None required medical attention or loss of training time. It was concluded that there can be no doubt regarding the efficacy of weightlifting as carried out at the USA Weightlifting Development Centre. The importance of proper application of scientific theory of conditioning in a conservative manner for this population was emphasised.