Finding a Socratic Method for Information Literacy Instruction

ABSTRACT

Librarians can find techniques for improving information literacy in Plato's Socratic dialogs. The Socratic Method is an effective tool that can help engage students in critical thinking about their research, guide students to reveal flaws in their reasoning, and prepare them to learn new research skills. Examples of information literacy instruction drawn from Socratic dialogs are given in this article along with tips for avoiding pitfalls associated with the Socratic Method.     

Books and Publishing

Donald R. McCoy The National Archives: America's Ministry of Documents, 1934-1968 (Chapel Hill, Yniversity of North Carolina Press, 1978—$19.00)

Madeleine B. Stern Books and Book People in 19th Century America (New York: R.R. Bowker, 1978—$25.00)

Susan Otis Thompson American Book Design and William Morris (New York: Bowker, 1977—$29.95)     

NEW TECHNOLOGIES

THE COMMUNITY MEDIUM, edited by Nancy Jesuale with Ralph Lee Smith (182 pages)

A GUIDE FOR LOCAL POLICY, edited by Nancy Jesuale with Richard M. Neustadt and Nicholas P. Miller (131 pages)

Jane Wilson, “New Information Technologies for the Nonprofit Sector,” (The Foundation Center, 888 Seventh Ave., New York, N.Y. 10106---$4.95, paper)

1982 CABLE ADVERTISING DIRECTORY (Nations Cable Television Association, 1724 Massachuse Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036---$30. paper)

THE INTERACTIVE CABLE TV HANDBOOK (Phillips Publishing , 7315 Wisconsin Avenue, Suite 1200 N, Bethesda, MD 20814---$49.00, paper)

COUNTDOWN: DIRECT-TO-HOME SATELLITE BROADCASTING IN THE EIGHTIES (65 pages---$75.00, paper)

VIDEODISC: BOOM OR BUST? THE STORY OF THE VIDEODISC IN 1981 FROM THE PAGES OF TELEVISION DIGEST (75 pages, $75.00, paper)     

British Media Works

DYNAMICS OF THE BRITISH PRESS, 1961–1984: PATTERNS OF CIRCULATION AND COVER PRICES by Harry Henry (NTC Publications, Symot House, 22 Reading Rd., Henley-on-Thames, Oxon RG9 1AG, 1986, 178 pp.—L40, paper, no ISBN)

STRIKES AND THE MEDIA: COMMUNICATION AND CONFLICT by Nicholas Jones (Oxford: Blackwell, 1986, 220 pp.—L17.50, ISBN 0-631-14697-0)

LEARNING THE MEDIA: AN INTRODUCTION TO MEDIA TEACHING by Manuel Alvarado, et al. (Basingstoke: Macmillan Educational, 1987, 306 pp.—L25, ISBN 0-333-30522-1)

POWER WITHOUT RESPONSIBILITY: THE PRESS AND BROADCASTING IN BRITAIN by James Curran and Jean Season (London: Routledge, 1988, 372 pp. price not given, paper, ISBN 0-415-00653-8)

IMAGES INCORPORATED: ADVERTISING AS INDUSTRY AND IDEOLOGY by John Sinclair (London: Croom Helm, 1987, 214 pp.—L9, paper, no ISBN given)

NOISE: THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF MUSIC by Jacques Attali (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1985, 180 pp.—L7.50, paper, no ISBN given)

POLICING DESIRE: PORNOGRAPHY, AIDS AND THE MEDIA by Simon Watney (London: Comedia, 1987, 160 pp—L7, paper, no ISBN given)

BEHIND AND IN FRONT OF THE SCREEN: TELEVISION'S INVOLVEMENT WITH FAMILY LIFE by Barrie Gunter and Michael Svennevig (London: John Libbey, 1987, 98 pp.—L9.50, paper, no ISBN given)

TELEVISION AND SOCIAL CONTROL by Mallory Wober and Barrie Gunter (Aldershot: Gower, 1988, 274 pp.—L25, ISBN 0-566-00764-9)

VIOLENCE ON TELEVISION: WHAT THE VIEWERS THINK by Barrie Gunter and Mallory Wober (London: John Libbey & Co. Ltd., 1988, 74 pp.—L9.50, paper, ISBN 0-86196-172-2)

SEX, CLASS AND REALISM: BRITISH CINEMA, 1956–1963 by John Hill (London: British Film Institute, 1986, 228 pp.—L7.95, paper, ISBN 0-85170-133-7)

BOND AND BEYOND: THE POLITICAL CAREER OF A POPULAR HERO by Tony Bennett and Janet Woollacott (Basingstoke: Macmillan Educational, 1987, 316 pp.—L6.95, paper, ISBN 0-333-28621-9)

CINEMA, LITERATURE & SOCIETY: ELITE AND MASS CULTURE IN INTERWAR BRITAIN by Peter Miles and Malcolm Smith (London: Croom Helm, 1987, 271 pp.—L25, no ISBN given)

NATIONAL BROADCASTING UNDER SEIGE: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF AUSTRALIA, BRITAIN, ISRAEL, AND WEST GERMANY by Eva Etzioni-Halevy (Basingstoke: Macmillan Press, 1987, 228 pp. price and ISBN not given)

THE UN, UNESCO, AND THE POLITICS OF KNOWLEDGE by Clare Wells (London: Macmillan, 1987, 282 pp., L29.50, no ISBN given)

WORLD NEWSPAPER INDUSTRY by Peter J.S. Dunnett (Beckenham: Croom Helm, 1988, 276 pp.—L30, ISBN 0-07099-0834-2)

TRUTH BETRAYED by W. J. West (London: Gerald Duckworth, 1987, 262 pp.—L13, ISBN 0-7156-2182-3)

COMMUNICATIONS SATELITES: THE TECHNOLOGY OF SPACE COMMUNICATIONS by Larry Blonstein (London: Wm. Heinemann, 1987, 162 pp.—L12.95, paper, ISBN 0-434-90153-9)

EDUCATION ON DIRECT BROADCAST SATELLITES IN EUROPE: REPORT TO THE EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY by George Wedell, et al. (Manchester: The European Institute for the Media, 1987, 148 pp. price and ISBN not given, paper)

THE QUESTION OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE edited by Brian P. Bloomfield (Beckenham: Croom Helm, 1987, 286 pp.—L25, no ISBN given)

COMPUTER GRAPHICS AND APLICATIONS by Dennis Harris (New York and London: Chapman & Hall, 1984, 174 pp.—L21.00, paper, no ISBN given)

HOME IS WHERE THE HEART IS: STUDIES IN MELODRAMA AND THE WOMEN'S FILM edited by Christine Gledhill (London: British Film Insitute, 1987, 366 pp.—L7, paper, no ISBN given)

BOXED IN: WOMEN AND TELEVISION by Helen Baehr and Gillian Dyer (London and New York: Pandora Press, 1987, 234 pp.—L8, paper, no ISBN given)

A WOMAN'S GUIDE TO JOBS IN FILM AND TELEVISION by Ann Ross Muir (London and New York: Pandora Press, 1987, 342 pp.—L7, paper, no ISBN given)

G.C.H.Q.: THE SECRET WIRELESS WAR, 1900–1986 by Nigel West (London: Coronet Books, 1987, 400 pp. L3.95, paper, ISBN 0-340-41197-X)

2MT WRITTLE: THE BIRTH OF BRITISH BROADCASTING by Tim Wander (Capella Publications, Stowmarket, Suffolk, UK, 1988, 179 pp.—L12.95, ISBN 0-946443-10-6)

THE LAST DAYS OF THE BEEB by Michael Leapman (London: Coronet Books, 1987, 381 pp.—L3.50, paper, ISBN 0-340-41107-4)

THE ECONOMICS OF TELEVISION: THE UK CASE by Richard Collins, et al. (London/Beverly Hills, CA: Sage, 1988, 136 pp.—$29.95, ISBN 0-8039-8112-0)     

Repeated Exposure to Daytime Soap Opera and Shifts in Moral Judgment Toward Social Convention

This study examined the influence of prolonged exposure to soap opera on character dispositions and real-world moral judgments. Eight groups viewed from 0–7 weeks of soap opera prior to a final week after which participants completed measures of disposition towards show characters as well as perceptions of morality in real-world situations. Results demonstrated the effect of prolonged exposure on both the polarization of dispositions toward characters and a trend in moral judgments toward social convention. These findings highlight the role of disposition within social cognitive theory, and the importance of dispositional considerations in understanding learned morality.     

Taking sides in the war on news: exploring curvilinear associations and group differences related to perceptions of news media as threat

ABSTRACT

The free press performs essential democratic functions, but widespread negative attitudes toward the press threaten its legitimacy and effectiveness as a check on formal institutions. In order to combat these attitudes, media organizations must understand who holds them and why. A survey-based study of U.S. adults (N?=?2052) focuses on associations between perceptions of the news media industry as a threat to political performance and a range of politically oriented behaviors (i.e. news media exposure, political talk, political participation). Analyses reveal a series of non-monotonic relationships. Group differences between those who hold the most extreme views concerning news-media-as-threat are also explored. The opposing groups are distinct in some important ways (e.g. ideology, race), but are also found to be surprisingly similar (e.g. income, education, gender, news media exposure). The results suggest new strategies for maintaining and restoring confidence in media organizations.     

Climate Change and Morality: Students' perspectives on the individual and society

There is a growing interest in addressing moral aspects in the research and education of socio‐scientific issues. This paper investigates students' interpretations of climate change from a moral perspective. The students were 14 years old, studying at Green Schools in the Beijing area, China. The study was based on semi‐structured group interviews and the data were analysed from an intentional perspective, which means that both cognitive and situational aspects were taken into consideration in the analysis. Previous research has revealed a close relation between morality and socio‐scientific issues and also advocated the need for addressing ethical aspects in science education. However, empirical studies exploring the question of what students' moral reasoning might look like at the individual level have not yet generated enough attention. In this study this is the core focus of interest. The findings show that the students conceptualise the solutions to mitigating climate change in relation to two different stances. That is, they contextualise the problems and solutions by addressing the individual, where the individual is either ‘myself’ or ‘someone else’. The different notions of the individual become crucial as the students' views and considerations for the environment, as well as society, change according to the different contexts. From a moral point of view, the students seem quite unaware of their varying consideration for others, the environment and society. The paper ends with a discussion of implications for practice and research.     

Resources In Review

Abstract

The RFF Reader in Environmental Science and Resource Management , edited by Wallace E. Oates. Washington, DC: Resources for the Future. 1999. Paperback. $22.95. ISBN 0-915707-96-9.

Science through Multiple Intelligences: Patterns that Inspire Inquiry , by Robert Barkman. Tucson, AZ: Zephyr Press, Inc. 1999. Paperback. 165 pages. $39.00. ISBN 1-56976-096-9.

Earth Report 2000: Revisiting the True State of the Planet , edited by Ronald Bailey. New York: McGraw-Hill. 2000. Paperback. 362 pages. $19.95. ISBN 0-07-134260-5.

Hard Green: Saving the Environment from the Environmentalists (A Conservative Manifesto) , by Peter Huber. New York: Basic Books. 1999. Hardcover. $25.00. ISBN 0-468-03112-9.

Song of the Meadowlark , by James Eggert. Berkeley, CA: Ten Speed Press. 1999. Paperback. 145 pages. $12.95. ISBN 1-58008-034-0.

The Greening of Planet Earth: The Effects of Carbon Dioxide on the Biosphere , Greening Earth Society, 4301 Wilson Blvd., Suite 805, Arlington, VA 22203-4193; tel. 703-907-6168; fax 703-907-6161; info@greeningearthsociety.org. 1992. Color. 27 min 50 s. $15.00.

The Greening of Planet Earth Continues: The Promise for the 21st Century & Beyond , Greening Earth Society. 1998. Color. 27 min 30 s. $15.00 (or both for $25.00).

Nature's Nation: An Environmental History of the United States , by John Opie. New York: Harcourt Brace and Company. 1998. Paperback. 515 pages. ISBN 0-15-500219-8.

Visions of Paradise: Glimpses of Our Landscape's Legacy , by John Warfield Simpson. Berkeley: University of California Press. 1999. Clothbound. 387 pages. $35.00. ISBN 0-520-21364-5.

Beyond the Land Ethic: More Essays in Environmental Philosophy , by J. Baird Callicott. Albany: State University of New York Press. 1999. Paperback. 427 pp. $24.95. ISBN 0-7914-4084-2.

The Morning After Earth Day , by Mary Graham. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press. 1999. Hardcover, 153 pages. ISBN 0-8157-3236-8.

Natural Resource Management and Institutional Change , by Diana Carney and John Farrington. New York: Routledge. 1998. Hardback. 120 pages. $60.00. ISBN 0-415-18604-8.

Green Ink: An Introduction to Environmental Journalism , by Michael Frome. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press. 1998. Paperback. 204 pages. $19.95. ISBN 0-87480-582-1.