Spillover in the Academy: Marriage Stability and Faculty Evaluations

The literature on the relationship between work and family has shown that there is a spillover effect between both domains. In particular, research that has investigated the influence of home environment on work has shown that family instability affects work satisfaction and performance. This study investigates the spillover between family and work by examining the link between marital status and work performance across the three phases of marriage, divorce, and remarriage. Specifically, this article links marital status and work performance through a longitudinal analysis of a set of university teaching evaluations. A polynomial regression model was fit to the data and a cubic curve through the three periods of marriage, divorce, and remarriage was statistically significant. Implications of the study and areas for future research are discussed.     

Power imbalance and anticipation of conflict resolution: Positive and negative attributes of perceptual recall

This study investigated the impact of power imbalance on the relationship between perceived communication behaviors and the anticipation of conflict resolution. The subjects were 120 students who responded to a survey questionnaire in which they evaluated a conflict in which they were engaged. They were divided into three groups (high power, low power, equal power) based upon their responses to the survey. Correlational analysis indicated that when the participants in the conflict were of equal power, anticipated resolution was related to perceptions of both solution‐oriented and control behavior. However, in cases of power imbalance, solution‐oriented behavior was the only significant cue identified, and it was used by both low‐and high‐power participants.     

Sensing the Impact of Elementary School Science Reform: A Study of Stakeholder Perceptions of Implementation,Constructivist Strategies,and School–Home Collaboration

This case study of a midwestern school districts reform effort explored the treatment fidelity of the Science: Parents, Activities, and Literature (Science PALs) project. Data were collected from the perspectives of three stakeholders: students, school district, and parents. Students and school district supervisors perceptions indicated that teachers were implementing predicted curricular and instructional features promoted by the Science PALs project. Students perceptions of their current teachers classroom performance did not parallel the supervisors perceptions of the teachers implementation. Parents perceptions and comments indicated a high level of satisfaction with the implemented features. Collectively, the three perspectives suggest that the Science PALs project was successful in changing the classroom practices of K–6 teachers involved in the professional development. The results of this study appear to support the findings of other recent studies that indicate the need for extended professional development and support to fully implement changes in elementary school science instruction.     

Modeling and mental imagery use by multiply handicapped and learning disabled preschool children

Multiply handicapped mentally retarded and learning disabled preschool children participated in a series of learning tasks designed to clarify task-related effects of modeling-based mental imagery training experiences. A modified single-subject multiple-baseline design was employed with alternating baseline and treatment sessions occurring for tasks involving uncategorized recall, categorized recall, and paired associates learning. Facilitative effects of modeling were found to occur for all learning tasks. Facilitation of learning was most apparent for associative learning and with learning disabled subjects. The findings are discussed in terms of the viability of instructional modeling and mental imagery processes as factors in the education of children with problems in learning, language, and cognition.     

Students’ awareness of science teachers’ leadership,attitudes toward science,and positive thinking

There appears to be a complex network of cognitive and affective factors that influence students’ decisions to study science and motivate their choices to engage in science-oriented careers. This study explored 330 Taiwanese senior high school students’ awareness of their science teacher’s learning leadership and how it relates to the students’ attitudes toward science and positive thinking. Initial results revealed that the optimism of positive thinking is highly and positively correlated with the future participation in science and learning science in school attitudes toward science and self-concept in science. Moreover, structural equation modelling (SEM) results indicated that the subscale of teachers’ leadership with idealised influence was the most predictive of students’ attitudes toward science (β = .37), and the leadership with laissez-faire was predictive of students’ positive thinking (β = .21). In addition, the interview results were consistent with the quantitative findings. The correlation and SEM results indicate some of the associations and potential relationships amongst the motivational and affective factors studied and students’ attitudes toward and intentions to study science, which will increase their likelihood of future involvement in science careers.     

宇宙中温度最低点

To an Eskimo(爱斯基摩人), the saying goes, hell is a very cold place, not a hot one. Now NASA and European astronomers have pictures of Eskimo hell: the coldest spot in the known universe. The place is 5, 000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Centaurus(人马座). It' s the Boomerang Nebula: a cloud of gases that are being expelled from a dying star.