‘The Winner Takes it All’: Values and Benefits of Israeli Sports Gambling Advertisements

Sports gambling is a well-established practice in Israel, whose beginnings can be traced to 1951. In recent years, the activities of the Israel Sports Betting Board (ISBB), also known as the ‘Toto Commission’, have become extremely popular with the public at large, and especially with sports fans. The study examines the changing advertising messages and creative appeals featured in the ISBB’s various advertising campaigns throughout Israeli history, and specifically the broad social meanings that can be inferred from these campaigns. The findings illustrate how significant structures of meaning in advertising function as reflections of the state of sports and society in Israel and as representations of some of the most salient phenomena in these domains. For example, for many years advertisements have been dominated by male presence, reflected primarily in the featured characters and language representations. Also prominent are representations of militarism as well as global biases, which are illustrated by the use of English in the local Israeli gambling brand name (‘Winner’), for example.     

Understanding reforms,school reactions to major changes: the case of Israel

ABSTRACT

Two major education system reforms were introduced by Israel’s government in collaboration with the teachers’ unions. These reforms redefine principals’ and teachers’ roles, increasing teachers’ work hours, and the scope of their work. School principals absent from the reform negotiations, are expected to apply the reform, although their work conditions were harmed. This research examines how principals cope with those reforms, and why they sometimes apply them in ways that seem to contradict their interests? Semi-structured interviews with 30 school principals, and 10 schoolteachers, indicated that the reforms have encumbered school principals’ complex tasks. They have little time or ability to thoroughly apply the reforms, responding to multiple stakeholders, political pressures, the exam regime, human resource management, etc. They often ignore policy directives, delegating authority to others, refrain from using certain resources provided by the reforms and allow internal forces to lead, while remaining uninvolved. Conclusions are presented.     

The curriculum potential of Darwin's Theory of Evolution

Unity and diversity are best reconciled by Darwin's Theory of Evolution. Two major dilemmas related to the study of Evolution are described. The first, concerning pedagogy, can be solved by teaching the topic at an elementary level in the middle school so that the Theory may serve as an advanced oragnizer and returning with in-depth study in the last two years of high school. The second, concerning Faith, is a sensitive issue. Some successful approaches are discussed. The place of Darwin's Theory in the all-elective high school biology curriculum is described as well. The role of the Theory regarding explanations is especially highlighted.     

Cognitive preferences and creativity: An exploratory study

Cognitive preference, a cognitive style acquired through life and learning experiences and representing a distinct orientation to the processing of information, is related to creativity in this study. Significant correlations were observed between cognitive preference and verbal creativity but not with figural creativity as measured by the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking.     

Assessing the cognitive demands required of students in class discourse,homework assignments and tests

An important question which is often overlooked addresses the nature and quantity of higher‐order thinking activities when teachers are not explicitly ‘teaching for thinking’ but rather acting and behaving routinely. This study investigates the scope and nature of tasks demanding students’ application of higher‐order thinking skills while studying biology in junior and senior high schools in Israel. The method used is the collection and analysis of questions asked by teachers during classroom discourse, in homework assignments and in tests. The main findings show: (a) that the frequency of higher‐order thinking questions in biology class discourse in Israel is approximately 20%; (b) that the cognitive level of teachers’ questioning in HS is higher than in JHS; (c) that the matriculation exam has a strong influence on tests given by teachers; and (d) that while inquiry questions permeated HS testing they are less salient in HS class discourse, indicating the need for remedial treatment which should include the integration of more inquiry‐oriented pedagogies into classroom practice.     

The human factor in the historical development of the media: Israeli sports pages as a case study 1

The current study attempts to present a unique, initial contribution to existing models of communication media's historical development, by calling attention to the parallel processes taking place within the journalist community itself. By means of in-depth interviews with male and female sports journalists in Israel, breakthrough, establishment, defense and adaptation mechanisms to a new journalistic reality can be identified as part of the generational and societal changes that have taken place in the newsroom.     

Incorporating Research into Preservice Teacher Education

Few teachers keep up with educational research and make use of research findings in their daily work. Also the number of teacher educators actively engaged in research is limited. This paper describes how preservice teachers can be introduced to educational research by carrying out ‘minisearch’ projects under guidance as part of their methods classes. Examples of topics which lend themselves to this kind of research include identifying pupils’ alternative conceptions and ‘shadowing’. Such research projects are regarded by most preservice teachers as interesting and very useful, and teaching staff are able to pool together the findings of their student teachers to form a publishable article. Research data collected in this way can provide significant information, yet can be obtained relatively simply at low cost. Further research is needed to find out the impact of involvement in research within preservice education on the use of research by practising teachers.     

Teachers' self report as an alternative strategy for the study of classroom transactions

The Self Lesson Report Form (SLRF) was designed as an alternative either to direct classroom observation or to commonly used questionnaires in which students and/or teachers report on general practices used in their classes. In the SLRF teachers report what happened in their last lesson. Certain items are structured while others are open. A special procedure was developed for the analysis of the open answers. A high level of reliability was obtained by comparing results of teachers' and observers' reports on the same lesson. Two hundred and fifty SLRF's were analyzed and the results are reported to illustrate the kind of information which can be obtained with this instrument. It was found that, on the average, junior high science classes in Israel are inquiry oriented, have abundance of discussions and hands-on laboratory activities which are closely supervised by the teachers.