Post-metatheorizing Environmental Behaviours in Environmental Education

A five-participant dialogue is constructed using Kollmuss and Agyeman's (2002) model of pro-environmental behaviour, Stern's (2000) coherent theory of environmentally significant behaviour, the Hart and Nolan (1999) and Rickinson (2001) critical reviews of the environmental education research literature and this repondent's views. The dialogue demonstrates how metatheoretical development might selectively sensitize and circumstantially advance the practical aspirations of environmental education.     

Less Hope,More Paint: On the Political War Being Waged in Urban Contexts

Abstract

In this response to the call for transformative models of teaching students in urban contexts, the author presents his own experiences in becoming a critical pedagogue, the path that led him there, and three models of classrooms that he sees in such contexts. He emphasizes the need to reject an apolitical stance in urban education, and provides a brief example of such a classroom learning environment.     

Teachers' Perceptions of Classroom Competencies over a Decade of Change

A study of four teacher samples, surveyed between 1991 and 1998, has investigated similarities and differences in teaching styles, classroom behaviours and reactions to changes between teachers nominated by their students as influential on study decisions and non-nominated classroom teachers. Differences and similarities in response of teachers over a decade marked by significant changes in policy and practice have also been examined, especially with regard to the conflict between economic rationalist/instrumental and humanistic/ affective ideologies evident in education which has intensified in recent years. Similarities between the 'exemplary' and broadly representative classroom teachers in terms of classroom ideals, constructs of teaching competencies and teaching styles are observed, along with the persisting commitment to student-centred repertoires, despite external organisational pressures. Complex responses to change are noted, including a slight reduction in stress of most recent teacher cohorts over the period, with a continuing high level of work fulfilment.     

Conceptualizing and Measuring How Employees and Organizations Manage Uncertainty

The study of uncertainty is central to an understanding of organizational communication. This research investigates the organizational work climates that emerge from the way employees manage uncertainty as well as the way they perceive their organization manages uncertainty. The uncertainty management matrix (UMM) is presented as a conceptual framework, followed by three scale development studies. The article concludes with a variety of research questions to direct future communication research.     

Diversity in Broadcast Television: An Empirical Study of Local News

The relation between the structure of a market and the diversity of its product offering has been extensively explored by theorists. We develop 2 measures of diversity and explore the content of local news for 60 stations and 20 designated market areas (DMAs) in the United States. Using a relative station-level diversity metric, ordinary least squares (OLS) estimates imply that relative diversity of local news content decreases as market concentration increases. This result is not, however, robust to an instrumental variables specification. Using a total market diversity metric, the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (Hirshman, 1964) is significant in OLS and robust to instrumental variable estimation. Because the total market diversity metric is arguably superior to the incremental metric as a measure of overall diversity, this result is useful-it suggests that the total diversity of local news content within a DMA is sensitive to the level of concentration.     

The 2008 Presidential Campaign: Political Cynicism in the Age of Facebook,MySpace, and YouTube

Considerable research over the years has been devoted to ascertaining the impact of media use on political cynicism. The impact of the Internet has been difficult to assess because it is not a single monolithic medium. For example, the 2008 presidential campaign was the first presidential campaign in which popular social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace, and YouTube were widely available to voters. Therefore, the campaign offered the first opportunity to explore the influence of these social media on political cynicism. In this study, we examined whether the use of such social media influenced political cynicism. We also considered the influence of user background characteristics (e.g., self-efficacy, locus of control, political orientation, demographics, and influence of family and friends), motives for using social media for political information, and users’ elaboration on political content. Several individual differences were stronger predictors of political cynicism than was social media use. In fact, social networking use was a negative predictor of political cynicism. Results supported uses and gratifications’ notions that the influence of social media on political cynicism is more attributable to user background and media-use differences than to sheer use of these popular sites.     

From Theory to Practice: Operation Emotional Intelligence

ABSTRACT

Emotional intelligence is more than an abstract concept. While the leader sets the dominant tone for the rest of the organization, employees at all levels can benefit from learning about and implementing the principles of emotional intelligence. The benefits of improved relationships and efficient emotional auditing have a profoundly positive impact on the quality of the working environment. This article seeks to provide the reader with a basic introduction to emotional intelligence and offer examples of how the theoretical concept can be put into practical use.     

Exceptional Research or Why Harry Truman Sought a One-Handed Economist

This article challenges the traditional illustration of the relations between circulation size and advertising rates used by educators. It does so by using a sample of newspapers and explores various regression trendlines and data display of the data obtained from the sample. I find that the relations are best explained by curvilinear rather than linear trendlines and suggest an improved illustration of the relations between advertising price and newspaper circulation.     

How the state of the art can inform the art of the practice

Advanced Structural Equation Modeling: Issues and Techniques. George A. Marcoulides and Randall E. Schumacker (Eds.). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1996, 376 pages, $79.95     

Reading-Related Skills in Earlier- and Later-Schooled Children

We investigate the effects of age-related factors and formal instruction on the development of reading-related skills in children aged 4 and 7 years. Age effects were determined by comparing two groups of children at the onset of formal schooling; one aged 7 (later-schooled) and one aged 4 (earlier-schooled). Schooling effects were measured by comparing the later-schooled group with earlier-schooled age-matched controls. There were significant effects of age and schooling on phonological awareness and visual–verbal learning, and an effect of age, but not schooling, on vocabulary and short-term verbal memory. We conclude that age-related factors and reading instruction contribute to the development of phoneme awareness and that vocabulary and verbal memory improve with age.