Identifying mediating factors of moral reasoning in science education

The purpose of this research was to examine how science content knowledge, moral reasoning ability, attitudes, and past experiences mediate the formation of moral judgments on environmental dilemmas. The study was conducted in two phases using environmental science majors and nonscience majors of college age. Phase One determined if environmental science majors exhibited higher levels of moral reasoning on nontechnical environmental social issues than on general social issues and examined the extent to which possible mediating factors accounted for differences in moral reasoning. Phase Two was qualitative in nature, the purpose of which was to observe and identify trends in conversations between subjects as to how certain mediating factors are revealed as people form moral judgments. The framework on which this study was constructed incorporates a progressive educational position; a position that views science education as being interdisciplinary, and a social means to a social end.     

Infants can learn decontextualized words before their first birthday

Can infants below age 1 year learn words in one context and understand them in another? To investigate this question, two groups of parents trained infants from age 9 months on 8 categories of common objects. A control group received no training. At 12 months, infants in the experimental groups, but not in the control group, showed comprehension of the words in a new context. It appears that infants under 1 year old can learn words in a decontextualized, as distinct from a context-bound, fashion. Perceptual variability within the to-be-learned categories, and the perceptual similarity between training sets and the novel test items, did not appear to affect this learning.     

Attachment to Mother/Attachment to Father: A Meta-Analysis

An important tenet of attachment theory is that classification of security or insecurity as derived from the Strange Situation reflects the quality of an infant's relationship with its caregiver. One piece of evidence supporting this claim is the lack of concordance of classification between an infant and its mother and father. We performed a meta-analysis of the 11 studies that have examined the concordance of mother/father attachment to an infant. We found that security of attachment to one parent was dependent upon security to the other parent, that type of insecurity (avoidant/resistant) to one parent was dependent upon type of insecurity to the other, and that subcategory classification within the secure category (B1B2/B3B4) to one parent was dependent upon subcategory classification to the other. These data raise important questions regarding the meaning of infant attachment classification as derived from the Strange Situation. Among the possible explanations for the pattern of data are existence of concordant parenting styles and/or influence of infant temperament (possibly the tendency to cry upon separation) on classification of security/insecurity in the Strange Situation.     

Factors affecting parental control over children's television viewing: A pilot study

In the pre-divestiture era, the regulatory environment in the US was fairly uniform and harmonious with the FCC setting the course and the PUCs making accommodative changes. The divestiture fractured this monolithic system as it forced the PUCs to respond to new forces unleashed in their own backyards. Within this new environment, there is considerable disparity among the PUCs in their ability to implement new ideas. This paper seeks to understand, via a comparative study of local telephone competition policy making in Arkansas and New York, the structural factors that influence PUCs' ability to introduce new ideas into their states.     

A State Perspective on Multiple Measures in School Accountability

Several meanings of the term multiple measures exist. One of these is the use of assessments from different sources, such as an external test, along with a state-developed test. The use of multiple sources is increasing, especially due to increased federal Title I requirements for state accountability programs and associated increases in the amount and costs of mandated testing. Several issues seem pertinent for states considering combining assessments from internal sources (usually criterion-referenced tests) and external sources (usually norm-referenced tests) into their accountability programs. These are explored from the standpoint of the impact of federally required decision making for schools based on test data. Other possible uses are mentioned briefly.     

The World Of Music

R. Murray Schafer's The Tuning of the World (New York: Knopf, 1977—$12.95)

Garry E. Clarke's Essays on American Music (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1977—$16.95)

Walter Herdeg, ed. Graphis/Record Covers (New York: Hastings House, 1974—$21.50)

Northrop Moore's A Matter of Records (New York: Taplinger Publishing, 1977—$10.95)

Thomas Busby's A Grammar of Music (New York: Da Capo Press, 1976—$25.00)

Thomas Busby's A Musical Manual or Technical Directory (New York: Da Capo Press, 1976—$17.50)     

Academe versus academy: Faculty views on awarding academic credit for police training

An emerging debate among criminal justice (CJ) educators concerns awarding academic credit for professional training experiences. The key point of contention within this debate is whether such training is analogous to learning experiences obtained in the college classroom. Using survey data from the state of Illinois, the authors explore how CJ educators view this issue in the context of police training. Findings suggest that the strongest factor predicting respondents’ views of awarding college credit for professional training experiences was their orientation toward the “vocational” model of criminal justice education (CJE). Respondents who believe CJE should focus on imparting technical skills and preparing students for an entry‐level position in CJ were more supportive of awarding academic credit to students who completed professional training than were respondents who endorsed alternative models of CJE. After controlling for respondent orientation toward the vocation model, neither highest degree earned nor CJ experience significantly affect preferences for the awarding of college credit. Consideration is given to the pedagogical implications of these findings within the broader debate over the structure and content of CJE.

The quality of police service will not significantly improve until higher educational requirements are established for its personnel. Due to the nature of the police task and its effect on our society, there is need to elevate educational requirements to the level of a college degree from an accredited institution for all future personnel selected to perform the functions of a police agent. The demands on the police should preclude a lower requirement for persons responsible for confronting major crime and social problems. (President’s Commission on Law Enforcement and the Administration of Justice 1967 President’s Commission on Law Enforcement and the Administration of Justice. 1967 Task Force Report: The Police Washington DC U.S. Government Printing Office  [Google Scholar]:126)     

Protein identification and localization using mass spectrometry and staining tests in cross-sections of polychrome samples

The identification and localization of the proteinaceous binders are essential issues in studies of painting materials and techniques, for further proposing valid restoration and conservation treatments of the painted or polychrome works of art. The challenge for analytical chemists and conservation scientists is the availability of methods able to simultaneously identify and map the presence of the binders in the multilayered structure of a sample and the possibility to use a very low amount of sample from the studied art object (considering also the criteria of minimum sampling). These methods should be fast, reproducible in different artefacts and in case of mixture of protein-based binders with other non-proteinaceous constituents (oils, resins, waxes, gums etc.) and also economical (both in terms of materials and time consume). In this context, the present paper proposes an innovative protocol of investigation using two complementary techniques – Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionisation – Time of Flight Mass Spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) and staining tests (one visible and one fluorescent stain) assisted by Optical Microscopy (OM) on cross-section of samples – for the simultaneous identification and mapping of protein – and oil-based binders in paint materials. The novelty is based on the use of MALDI-TOF MS on cross-sections of paints together with a fluorescent stain for protein identification and mapping (mainly used in the area of proteomics) complementing the use of a traditional visible stain for oil-based material identification. The protocol was successfully applied on several samples taken from a Czech medieval polychrome sculpture, entitled “The Mourning of Jesus Christ” (16th century) belonging to the Moravian Gallery (Brno).