Environmental Knowledge and Attitudes

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to assess perceived environmental education (EE) curriculum needs in the United States (K-16). The Environmental Education Curriculum Needs Assessment Questionnaire (EECNAQ) was developed, validated, and direct-mailed to 169 randomly selected professional environmental educators (58.6% return rate). The EECNAQ elicited perceptions about the desired status and the current state of EE curricula, the need for curriculum development, the anticipated use of curricula teachers, and the need for inservice teacher education. These five major questions were posed relative to fifteen goals which reflected the Tbilisi objectives and four levels of environmental literacy. The findings reveal a consensus among the professional participants that the EE goals are important ones, that they are not being met to a large extent in existing curricula, that extensive needs exist for both goal-oriented curricula and teacher education, and that the goaloriented curricula would be used by teachers.     

Older workers in the hospitality industry: valuing experience and informal learning

The research sets out to identify the learning processes adopted by older workers in the hospitality and visitor attraction industry in Scotland, with a view to determining how employers may better support their education and training within enterprises. The study was undertaken as part of the ESRC project on ‘Sustaining the employability of older workers in the hospitality sector: personal learning strategies and cultures of learning’. The data collection period was from 2008–2010 and focused on six case studies; three in hospitality and three visitor attraction centres. The conceptual framework of the research is based upon the simple yet important notion of experience and how this enhances the learning lives of older employees. It will be argued that the learning processes used by older employees are primarily recognisable as social practices, based upon the utilisation of existing knowledge and skills. The analysis suggests that organisations should be encouraged to avoid using a ‘one size fits all’ approach to education and training and, in the case of older workers, to make more use of their past work and life experiences in order to facilitate their own and others’ learning.     

Enrico Fermi — The complete physicist

Enrico Fermi was a versatile physicist contributing in equal measure to theory and experiments. He is credited to be the ‘Father of the Atomic Age’ following his successful demonstration of sustained chain reaction in Chicago Pile-1. In this article, I have discussed his major experimental contributions that clearly demonstrate his simplicity of conception, meticulous attention to detail and directness of approach to the problem at hand.     

Optimal duration of static stretching exercises for improvement of coxo-femoral flexibility

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of different durations of static stretching exercises on coxo-femoral (hip) flexibility. The experimental group, consisting of 20 sedentary women (20-30 years of age), participated in an exercise programme of static stretching exercises with emphasis on the hamstring muscles. The programme lasted for 10 weeks and consisted of two 50-min sessions per week. A control group of 15 sedentary women did not participate in the programme. Hip flexibility was determined before, during and at the end of the programme by means of a goniometric measuring technique developed by us and described elsewhere. Three sub-groups were formed, each following the same programme except that the duration of the static stretch differed (group 1, 10 s; group 2, 20 s; group 3, 30 s). The ANOVA tests showed that for all groups - the control group excepted - the hip flexibility had improved significantly after 10 weeks (P less than 0.05). No significant differences in hip flexibility were noted between the three subgroups at the end of the programme. This finding suggests that a duration of 10 s static stretching is sufficient for improving coxo-femoral flexibility.     

ATTITUDINAL ROOTS OF POPULAR PROTEST: THE FRENCH UPHEAVAL OF MAY 1968

On the basis of logistic regression and employing individual-leveldata from a national panel sample survey, participation in demonstrationsand strikes during the French upheaval of May 1968 is analysed,in terms of attitudes measured during the spring of 1967, morethan a year before the May events occurred. Among the potentialexplanatory factors considered, conventional political orientationswere found to be of pervasive importance, forms of satisfactionand opinions on major issues were operative in a highly selectivefashion, particular to the protesting group, and more genericpsychopolitical values such as trust in government or politicalefficacy, were virtually without independent effects.     

An example of regional co-operation: APEID

Increasingly, as has been seen in other contributions to this ‘dossier’, developing countries are realizing that one way to increase the value of international aid and to improve their own selfsufficiency, is to co-operate among themselves. The United Nations system, in turn, has increasingly supported efforts on a regional level to exchange experience, information and know-how. At a recent meeting, ‘Technical Co-operation among Developing Countries’ (UNDP/ESCAP regional meeting, Bangkok, Thailand, March 1976), the Director of the Asia Programme for Educational Innovation for Development (the main thrust of the programme has previously been described inProspects, Vol. IV, No. 4, p. 535) made the following statement about the specifically Asian aspects of the question, as reflected through the activities of APEID.