The effects of tactile stimulation on imprinting in ducklings after the sensitive period

Four-day-old ducklings received visual-plus-tactile exposure to one novel object and visual-only exposure to a different novel object. In a subsequent test, strong suppression of ongoing distress vocalization was exerted only by the object to which visual-plus-tactile exposure had been given. With these results, the experimental conditions under which physical contact is known to facilitate the initiation of imprinting are extended to include subjects that are past the sensitive period.     

Effects of microcomputer-administered diagnostic testing on immediate and continuing science achievement and attitudes

This investigation had three purposes: (1) to document any immediate and continuing benefits associated with the use of microcomputer-administered testing; (2) to determine what type of student might benefit most from microcomputer-administered diagnostic testing; and (3) to document the feasibility of microcomputer-administered diagnostic testing. The subjects of the study were enrolled in a biology course based on the BSCS Blue text. A random half of the students received behaviorally-stated performance objectives, while the remaining half received behaviorally-stated performance objectives in conjunction with microcomputer-administered diagnostic testing. The results of this study indicate that microcomputer-administered diagnostic testing can positively influence the immediate, but not the continuing, achievement of students in science. In addition, neither student aptitude nor achievement motivation level were found to interact with treatment or influence achievement. Affective data indicate that students react favorably to the use of objectives, computers, and diagnostic testing. Cost summary data reveal that when the expense of administering diagnostic testing by microcomputer is prorated over a five-year period, the cost of a diagnostic test is reduced to approximately three cents.     

GENDER BIAS AND THE COLLEGE PREDICTIONS OF THE SATS: A Cry of Despair

This study reviews and extends the considerableliterature demonstrating that the various College Boardexaminations (most importantly the Scholastic AptitudeTests) make a small underprediction of women's college grades relative to those of men in allfields except engineering. This finding persists evenwhen corrections are made for differences in the fieldsthat women and men study and for sample selection bias. Because of this underprediction, womenmost probably are underrepresented relative to theirmerit in freshman classes and scholarship competitionsat selective public universities. The differences in predicted grades are small, but account foran underrepresentation of women by at least 5% of thefreshman classes of the University of California atBerkeley (200 to 300 a year) in the late 1980s. Various solutions to this underprediction by the SATsand the dilemmas they pose for public universities suchas Berkeley are explored.     

Review and criticism

The network tone of voice

Mass Communication in China, John Howkins (New York: Longman, 1982).

Television and Radio in the United Kingdom, Burton Paulu (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1981).

Mass Media and Social Change, ed. Elihu Katz and Tamas Szecsko (Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications Inc., 1981).

Electronic Colonialism: The Future of International Broadcasting and Communication, Thomas L. McPhail (Beverly Hills, CA.: Sage, 1981).

The First Amendment Under Seige: The Politics of Broadcast Regulation, Richard E. Labunski (Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press, 1981).     

General Motion Pictures

Dana H. Hodgdon and Stuart M. Kaminsky BASIC FILMMAKING (New York: Arco Publishing, 1982—$12.95/$7.95)

Stewart Bronfeld WRITING FOR FILM AND TELEVISION (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1981—$11.95)

Leonard Maltin TV MOVIES (New York: New American Library, 1982— $4.95)

Alan Frank THE HORROR FILM HANDBOOK (Totowa, NJ: Barnes E. Noble Books, 1982—$24.95)

Richard Dyer MacCann and Jack C. Ellis CINEMA EXAMINED: SELECTIONS FROM CINEMA JOURNAL (New York: E. P. Dutton, 1982—$9.95 paper)     

REASON AND CULTURE IN COSMOPOLITAN EDUCATION

In this essay, Leonard Waks reviews three recent books on cosmopolitan education: Kwame Anthony Appiah's Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a World of Strangers; Neil Burtonwood's Cultural Diversity, Liberal Pluralism, and Schools: Isaiah Berlin and Education; and Thomas Popkewitz's Cosmopolitanism and the Age of School Reform: Science, Education and Making Society by Making the Child. Each of the three books challenges cosmopolitan universalism. Appiah argues that universal principles do not help us understand how members of distinct cultural groups can flourish in close proximity. Burtonwood adds that the expression of these principles in conflict situations can offend and humiliate illiberal groups and render them culturally reactive, inventing restrictive ideals of cultural “purity” that block cosmopolitan harmony. Popkewitz argues that the cosmopolitan premise of enlightenment for all imposes civilizing disciplines on those the dominant groups perceive as “others,” disciplines that render them abject. Taken together, the three books provide important planks in a comprehensive critique of cosmopolitan universalism as a philosophy of education.     

First-generation college students: Characteristics,experiences, and cognitive development

This study sought answers to three questions: (1) Do the precollege characteristics of first-generation students differ from those of traditional students? (2) Do first-generation students' college experiences differ from those of other students? (3) What are the educational consequences of any differences on first-year gains in students' reading, math, and critical thinking abilities? Answers come from 2,685 students (825 first-generation and 1,860 traditional students) who entered 23 diverse institutions nationwide in Fall 1992 and who completed one year of study. First-generation students differ from their traditional peers in both entering characteristics and college experiences. Although traditional students make greater net gains in reading during their first year, the two groups gain to about the same degree in math and critical thinking skills. Those gains, however, appear to result from somewhat different experiences.     

A Q factor analysis of college undergraduate students' study behaviours

This study attempted to better understand the study behaviours of undergraduate students by categorizing students into distinctive typologies based on their self-reported study behaviours through an exploratory approach – Q factor analysis. A sample of 152 undergraduate students completed a survey instrument, the Study Behavior Inventory. The Q factor analysis yielded a 2-factor structure. Participants exhibiting the 1st behavioural type demonstrated reflective, well-organized study behaviours and favoured high-level thinking; thus were described as “Organized Holistic Learners”. Those exhibiting the 2nd behavioural type were found to manage time poorly and primarily focus on memorizing facts; thus were labelled “Disorganized Procrastinators”. Type 1 students had significantly higher grade point averages (GPAs) than Type 2 students. Student type was a significant predictor of academic achievement, as measured by self-reported GPA above and beyond students' attribute variables including sex, age, major, and enrolment status. Theoretical and practical implications were discussed.     

REVIEW OF CURRENT PERIODICAL LITERATURE

Art and Literature: Children's Experiences in Art by Pearl Greenberg. New York: Reinhold, 1966. 132 pp. $7.50.

Comparative and International Education: The World in Their Hands by Anna L. Rose Hawkes. West Lafayette, Ind.: Kappa Delta Pi Press, 1966. go pp. $2.50.

Chinese Communist Education: Records of the First Decade. New York: John Wiley &; Sons, Inc., 1966. 542 PP. 82.95 paper.

Guidance and Psychology: Neurological Organization and Reading by Carl H. Delacato. Springfield, Ill.: Charles C Thomas, Publisher, 1966. 181 pp. $7.50.

Frustration and Conflict by Aubrey J. Yates. New York: John Wiley &; Sons, Inc., 1966, 236 pp. $1.45 paper.

Cybernetic Principles of Learning and Educational Design by Karl U. Smith and Margaret Foltz Smith, New York: Holt, Rinehart &; Winston, 1966. 529 PP. 88.95.

Guidance—Personnel Work: Future-Tense edited by Margaret Ruth Smith. New York: Teachers College Press, Columbia University, 1966. 176 PP. $4.75

Higher Education: The University in the American Future by Kenneth D. Benne, Sir Charles Morris, Henry Steele Commager, and Gunnar Myrdal. Edited by Thomas B. Stroup. Lexington: University of Kentucky Press, 1966. 111 pp. $4.00.

Eighteen Plus, Unity and Diversity in Higher Education edited by Marjorie Reeves. London: Faber &; Faber, Ltd., 1965. 226 pp. 25s.

History and Philosophy of Education: Toward A Theory of Instruction by Jerome S. Bruner. Cambridge: The Belnap Press of Harvard University Press. x + 176 pp. $3.95.

Catholic Schools in Action edited by Reginald Neuwien. Notre Dame, Ind.: University of Notre Dame Press, 1966. 328 pp. $10.50.

Authority and Freedom in Education by Paul Nash. New York: John Wiley &; Sons, 1966. 342 pp. $3.95 paper.

Classrooms on Main Street by Harold F. Clark and Harold S. Sloan. New York: Teachers College Press, 1966. 162 PP. $3.95.

Mathematics: Basic Concepts of Elementary Mathematics (2nd Ed.) by William L. Schaaf. New York: John Wiley &; Sons, Inc., 1965. 384 pp. $6.95.

Social Studies and Science: A Sourcebook for the Biological Sciences (2nd Ed.) by Evelyn Morholl, Paul Brandwein, and Alexander Joseph. New York: Harcourt, Brace &; World, Inc., 1966. 795 PP. $9.75.

Geography in the Teaching of Social Studies by Paul R. Hanna, Rose E. Sabaroff, Gordon F. Davies, and Charles R. Farrar. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1966. 511 pp. $4.00 paper.