The Role of Perceptions of Media Bias in General and Issue-Specific Political Participation

Despite a large body of literature documenting factors influencing general political participation, research has lagged in understanding what motivates participation regarding specific issues. Our research fills this gap by examining the interplay of perceptions of media bias, trust in government, and political efficacy on individuals' levels of general and issue-specific political participation. Using survey data with indicators related to general political participation, our results demonstrate that perceptions of media bias overall are negatively related to general political participation. Moreover, this relationship is an indirect one, mediated by trust in government and political efficacy. Using survey data with indicators of issue-specific political participation in the context of stem cell research, our results show that—contrary to the relationship found for general political participation—perceptions of media bias are directly and positively associated with issue-specific participation. Implications for political participation and media bias theories are discussed.     

Extending the Cognitive Mediation Model: Examining Factors Associated With Perceived Familiarity and Factual Knowledge of Nanotechnology

This research—a pilot study on the cognitive mediation model (CMM) in Singapore—seeks to revisit and test the applicability of an extended CMM in the context of nanotechnology by examining perceived familiarity as a separate outcome variable in addition to factual knowledge. A cross-sectional survey was administered to a nationally representative sample of 719 adult Singaporeans. Results demonstrated partial support for the hypothesized CMM. First, elaboration was positively associated with both factual knowledge and perceived familiarity, whereas interpersonal discussions about science was associated only with familiarity. Results also showed differential relationships between attention to media platforms (traditional vs. new media) and reflective integration (composed of elaborative processing and interpersonal discussion); whereas attention to science reporting in newspapers and science television programs were associated with elaboration, media attention across all platforms were associated with interpersonal discussions. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

The microstructure of coaching practice: behaviours and activities of an elite rugby union head coach during preparation and competition

The activities and behaviours of a female head coach of a national rugby union team were recorded in both training and competition, across a whole rugby season, using the newly developed Rugby Coach Activities and Behaviours Instrument (RCABI). The instrument incorporates 24 categories of behaviour, embedded within three forms of activity (training form (TF), playing form (PF) and competitive match) and seven sub-activity types. In contrast to traditional drill-based coaching, 58.5% of the training time was found to have been spent in PF activities. Moreover, the proportion of PF activities increased to a peak average of 83.8% in proximity to the team’s annual international championship. Uniquely, one of the coach’s most prolific behaviours was conferring with associates (23.3%), highlighting the importance of interactions with assistant coaches, medical staff and others in shaping the coaching process. Additionally, the frequencies of key behaviours such as questioning and praise were found to vary between the different activity forms and types, raising questions about previous conceptions of effective coaching practice. The findings are discussed in the light of the Game Sense philosophy and the role of the head coach.     

Image processing for teaching

The Image Processing for Teaching (IPT) project provides a powerful medium to excite students about science and mathematics, especially children from minority groups and others whose needs have not been met by traditional coded ways of teaching these subjects. Using professional-quality software on microcomputers, students explore a variety of scientific data sets, including biomedical imaging, Earth remote sensing and meteorology data, and planetary exploration images. They also learn about the many mathematical concepts that underlie image processing, such as coordinate systems, slope and intercept, pixels, binary arithmetic, along with many others. We have developed curriculum materials in all areas of mathematics and science for the upper elementary and secondary levels, allowing this tool to be used across a variety of grade levels and student interests. Preliminary indications show image processing to be an effective and fun way to study the application of science and mathematics to real world applications, as represented by digital imagery. The use of image processing is also an effective method with which to engage students in inquiry and discovery learning.     

Enhancing the quality of argumentation in school science

The research reported in this study focuses on the design and evaluation of learning environments that support the teaching and learning of argumentation in a scientific context. The research took place over 2 years, between 1999 and 2001, in junior high schools in the greater London area. The research was conducted in two phases. In phase 1, working with a group of 12 science teachers, the main emphasis was to develop sets of materials and strategies to support argumentation in the classroom, and to support and assess teachers' development with teaching argumentation. Data were collected by video‐ and audio‐recording the teachers' attempts to implement these lessons at the beginning and end of the year. During this phase, analytical tools for evaluating the quality of argumentation were developed based on Toulmin's argument pattern. Analysis of the data shows that there was significant development in the majority of teachers use of argumentation across the year. Results indicate that the pattern of use of argumentation is teacher‐specific, as is the nature of the change. In phase 2 of the project, the focus of this paper, teachers taught the experimental groups a minimum of nine lessons which involved socioscientific or scientific argumentation. In addition, these teachers taught similar lessons to a comparison group at the beginning and end of the year. The purpose of this research was to assess the progression in student capabilities with argumentation. For this purpose, data were collected from 33 lessons by video‐taping two groups of four students in each class engaging in argumentation. Using a framework for evaluating the nature of the discourse and its quality developed from Toulmin's argument pattern, the findings show that there was improvement in the quality of students' argumentation. This research presents new methodological developments for work in this field. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 41: 994–1020, 2004     

Teachers’ Experience of Working with Socio-scientific Issues: A Large Scale and in Depth Study

The research is an investigation of teachers’ experience of working with socio-scientific issues (SSI). A large group of teachers (55) chose one of six cases with the characteristics of SSI and were free to organize the work as they found appropriate. The research focuses on how teachers chose content, organized their work and experienced the students’ interest and learning. The teachers answered a questionnaire after working with the cases and seven of them were interviewed to provide in-depth understanding of issues raised in the questionnaire. The teachers found the SSI to be current topics with interesting content and relevant tasks and they felt confident about the work. They were quite content with the students’ learning of scientific facts, how to apply scientific knowledge and to search for information. However, they found that the students did not easily formulate questions, critically examine arguments or use media to obtain information about the task. The interviewed teachers did not find this work new, but they organized it as ‘a special event’. They understood SSI work as ‘free’ work and group work was frequent, but only a few of the teachers developed explicit strategies for teaching SSI. They had different ideas about learning but they all talked about knowledge as a set of facts to be taken in by the students. They all included elements of SSI but mostly to introduce the regular science content. However the teachers started to reflect upon the potential of using SSI to cover more goals in the curriculum.     

Report to the President on the Use of Technology to Strengthen K–12 Education in the United States: Findings Related to Research and Evaluation

The Panel on Educational Technology was organized in April 1995 under the auspices of the President's Committee of Advisers on Science and Technology (PCAST) to provide advice to the President on matters related to the application of information technologies to K–12 education in the United States. Its findings and recommendations were set forth in March 1997 in the Report to the President on the Use of Technology to Strengthen K–12 Education in the United States. This report was based on a review of the research literature and on written submissions and oral briefings from a number of academic and industrial researchers, practicing educators, software developers, governmental agencies, and professional and industry organizations involved in various ways with the application of technology to education. Its most important finding is that a large-scale program of rigorous, systematic research on education in general and educational technology in particular will ultimately prove necessary to ensure both the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of technology use within our nation's K–12 schools. Finding that less than 0.1 percent of our nation's expenditures for elementary and secondary education are currently invested to determine which educational techniques actually work, and to find ways to improve them—an extremely low level relative to comparable ratios within the private sector—the Panel recommended that this figure be increased over a period of several years to at least 0.5 percent, and sustained at that level on an ongoing basis. Further, because no one state, municipality, or private firm could hope to capture more than a small fraction of the benefits associated with a significant advance in our understanding of how best to educate K–12 students, the Panel concluded that such funding will have to be provided largely at the federal level in order to avoid a systematic underinvestment (attributable to a classical form of economic externality) relative to the level that would be optimal for the nation as a whole. This paper originally appeared as Section 8 of the report.     

Response to “A Comparison of Reliability Estimation Using Trials-to-Criterion and Sequential Probability Ratio Testing”

The “feel better” effect of exercise has been well established, but the optimal intensity needed to elicit a positive affective response is controversial. In addition, the mechanisms underlying such a response are unclear. To clarify these issues, female undergraduate students were monitored for electroencephalographic (EEG) and self-reported affective responses during the recovery period following rest, low, moderate, and high intensities of treadmill running, each lasting 30 min. Frontal EEG asymmetry and self-reported vigor scores following exercise at all three intensities were significantly elevated compared to those observed following rest. The results suggest that steady-state aerobic exercise bouts executed at varying intensities induce a similar affective response during the recovery period when assessed at both the behavioral and psychophysiological levels.