A Conversation on Object‐Centered Learning in Art Museums

Danielle Rice and Philip Yenawine are veteran art museum educators who have wrestled for decades with the thorny issues involved in teaching about and learning from art objects in the museum setting. While there is general agreement within art museums today that the object should be the focus of educational practice, debate continues as to the most effective processes for facilitating learning. Gallery teaching is one of the most contested arenas, with much of the disagreement centering on the place of information in teaching beginning viewers. In art museums, the issue of what and how to teach is complicated by the fact that many people, including artists, museum professionals, psychologists and educators consider art primarily as something to be enjoyed, and they posit this enjoyment in direct opposition to learning about art. Partly because of this, the function of art museum education and gallery‐based instruction is still evolving.     

Internet information-seeking and its relation to support for access to government records

Public access to government records is essential for democratic self-governance, and attitudes toward that right can facilitate or hinder public policy regarding transparency. As more people use the internet for gathering information about their governments and communities, it is unknown whether such online information-seeking is related to increased support for government transparency and the right to request public records. This paper applies a uses and gratification theory approach to examine internet information use and its relation to support for citizen and press access to government records. Three U.S. studies examined media-use correlates with support for government transparency: a paper questionnaire survey of college students (N = 614), an online survey (N = 1819), and a random-digit-dial telephone survey of randomly selected U.S. adults (N = 403). Analyses indicated varying results for television and newspaper use, but in all three datasets reliance on the internet for information was positively associated with support for access to public records. Implications for government transparency in a society increasingly reliant on the internet for information are discussed.     

Perceived contingency of reinforcements,helplessness, locus of control,and academic performance

To determine the relationships among perceived contigency of teacher-administered reinforcements, locus of control, teacher ratings of children's helplessness-competence, and academic achievement, 86 sixth graders (43 girls and 43 boys) were studied. In general, children's internality of locus of control and their perceptions that teachers administer rewards contingently were predictive of good academic achievement and teacher ratings of the children as competent as opposed to helpless. Perceptions of the contingency of teacher-administered punishments were unrelated to academic achievement or teacher ratings. For boys, locus of control and perceived contingency of teacher-administered rewards were significantly related, while for girls they were unrelated. Results are related to prior research linking perceived contingency of reinforcements, locus of control, and academic achievement.     

Re-imagining the local in national cultural policy formulation – the case of the Anglophone Caribbean

ABSTRACT

The formulation of cultural policies in the Anglophone Caribbean constantly straddles the demands of global, regional and national imperatives as a function of its position as a region of post-colonial, small-island states. This paper will argue that the role these factors play in the art of policy making problematises conventions in the current global/local (glocal) debate circulating in the arena of Cultural Policy Studies. The paper shows that cultural policy making in the Caribbean constitutes a mélange of approaches that are in a constant state of contestation during the policy-making process. It employs content analysis of cultural policy texts from selected Caribbean states, as well as an analysis of stakeholder views from the national cultural policy consultations in Trinidad and Tobago to derive its findings. A Five Factor framework was developed to illustrate the range of responses that guide and shape local actors and activities in the national cultural policy domain. The research concludes that the relationship between the national and local (nocal) actors has to be re-imagined if cultural policy is to deliver on its promise of social transformation in the Caribbean.     

Taking a ‘reality’ check: Expanding pre-service teachers' views on pedagogy and diversity

The outcomes of a two-pronged ‘real-world’ learning project, which aimed to expand the views of pre-service teachers about learning, pedagogy and diversity, will be discussed in this paper. Seventy-two fourth-year and 22 first-year students, enrolled in a Bachelor of Education degree in Queensland, Australia, were engaged in community sites outside of university lectures, and separate from their practicum. Using Butin's conceptual framework for service learning, we show evidence that this approach can enable pre-service teachers to see new realities about the dilemmas and ambiguities of performing as learners and as teachers. We contend that when such ‘real-world’ experiences have different foci at different times in their four-year degree, pre-service teachers have more opportunities to develop sophisticated understandings of pedagogy in diverse contexts for diverse learners.     

Development of an Educational Packet for Persons with Life-Threatening Food Allergies

ABSTRACT:  Previous studies have shown that those with severe food allergies have significant gaps in knowledge about their disease and how to prevent recurrences. The purpose of this study was to address these deficiencies by creating and testing an educational packet, "Coping with Food Allergies." Participants included 46 of 58 adults with documented severe food allergies (response rate = 79%); and indeed, over half (57%) of the participants had experienced a food allergic reaction in the past year. The educational packet was tested in waves, with comments from participants used to revise the next version of the packet. Language targeted a lay audience and hand-drawn illustrations were added to make the material more appealing. Most participants recommended expanding sections dealing with symptom management and approaches to take when eating at restaurants. These sections became prominent features of the final edition.
The participants were equally divided regarding preferred learning type: text-based compared with visual. No significant associations could be drawn between learning style and perceived clarity of information, with 93% finding the packet very clear and easy to read. Participants commented that the simple illustrations were ideal for a child with allergies or someone reading at a 6th to 8th grade level. Even among this group with longstanding food allergy, over 60% reported that they learned something new from the packet. "Coping with Food Allergies" will be made available to the public via the Food Safety Educators web site of the USDA and the allergy support group, Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network (FAAN).