Science motivation questionnaire II: Validation with science majors and nonscience majors

From the perspective of social cognitive theory, the motivation of students to learn science in college courses was examined. The students—367 science majors and 313 nonscience majors—responded to the Science Motivation Questionnaire II, which assessed five motivation components: intrinsic motivation, self‐determination, self‐efficacy, career motivation, and grade motivation. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses provided evidence of questionnaire construct validity. The motivation components, especially self‐efficacy, were related to the students' college science grade point averages. The science majors scored higher than the nonscience majors on all of the motivation components. Among both science majors and nonscience majors, men had higher self‐efficacy than women, and women had higher self‐determination than men. The findings suggest that the questionnaire is a valid and efficient tool for assessing components of students' motivation to learn science in college courses, and that the components play a role in students' science achievement. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 48: 1159–1176, 2011     

ICDP approach to awareness-raising about children's rights and preventing violence, child abuse, and neglect

In April 2011, the Committee on the Rights of the Child issued the General Comment No. 13 on the right of the child to freedom from all forms of violence. Its Article 19 declares that "protective measures should, as appropriate, include effective procedures for the establishment of social programs to provide necessary support for the child and for those who have the care of the child." One available social program that focuses on providing support for parents, caregivers and children is the International Child Development Program (ICDP), which is presented in this article. The ICDP is designed to influence and improve the quality of contact and relation between the caregivers, usually parents, and children, through the practical application of the eight themes or guidelines for positive interaction. The Convention on the Rights of the Child is a value-based legal document ratified by most countries in the world. This is a significant achievement and it gives a new basis and legitimization for a more humane treatment of children all over the world. Nevertheless, it is important to understand that there is a big gap between a legal document describing ideal conditions for children at a macro-governmental level and its implementation at the microlevel of families and communities. The ICDP is another expression of the same humanitarian spirit as it is encoded in the convention of children' rights. ICDP can be put in practice in any community to create positive conditions for the fulfillment of fundamental children's rights: the right to be protected from violence and to receive the loving care and guidance from the immediate environment which is required to ensure healthy human development. Introducing children's rights is likely to have a major impact on families (and all levels of authorities) if efforts are also made to activate awareness and deeper bonding to children as persons. Without a deep activation of a more humanized and caring relationship to children, provided by social programs such as ICDP, the advocacy for children's rights may become an empty shell without its basis in human realities.     

Educator perceptions of children who present with social,emotional and behavioural difficulties: a literature review with implications for recent educational policy in England and internationally

In support of their recommendations, recent policy pronouncements in England on behaviour (DFE (Department for Education). 2010 DFE (Department for Education) 2010. The Importance of Teaching – The Schools White Paper. London: TSO. [Google Scholar]. The Importance of Teaching – The Schools White Paper. London: TSO) and on reform of special educational needs and disabilities make reference, respectively, to educator perceptions of poor behaviour by children and to practitioner views about social, emotional and behavioural difficulties (SEBD). The evidence base for this analysis appears absent (DFE 2010) or is at best unclearly articulated (DFE (Department for Education). 2012 DFE (Department for Education) 2012. Support and Aspiration: A New Approach to Special Educational Needs and Disability – Progress and Next Steps. London: DFE. [Google Scholar]. Support and Aspiration: A New Approach to Special Educational Needs and Disability – Progress and Next Steps. London: Department for Education). In response, this article offers a timely brief review of research, published since 2000, exploring educator perceptions of children who present with SEBD. Research included does not offer clear support to the views expressed by recent policy in England, although it does, in varied ways, suggest the need for positive change in educational practice which affects children who present with SEBD, with particular emphasis upon the need for enacting educational inclusion. Articles included in this literature review are also, briefly, analysed in terms of their: methodological features; theoretical basis, particularly applications of the theory of planned behaviour; broad disciplinary affiliations; and also underpinning rationale. Recommendations for future research and implications for international policy on this topic are outlined: particularly the role of research in persuading practitioners and policy-makers away from deep-rooted but simplistic conceptualisations about this highly varied population of children.     

Constructing Television Communities: The FCC,Signals, and Cities, 1948–1957

This study analyzes the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) efforts to define the television “community” as it formulated a national television system. The first opportunity came with the Sixth Report and Order, when the FCC made no provision for tailoring signal contours to existing communities. The second came when the FCC established program guidelines for new TV licensees and mandated a broad, amorphous community to be served by local programming. Such communities often bore little relation to local political, cultural, or social units. These spatial dimensions, which efficiently served network advertisers, still exist in many U.S. television communities.     

Other Books on Broadcasting

Howard Poteet's Published Radio a Television, and Film Scripts:A BibLioqraphy (Troy, N.Y.: Whiston Publishing Co., 1975—$15.00)

Richard Adler (ed.) Television as a Cultural Force (New York: Praeger Special Studies, 1976—$15.00/4.95, with single pbk copies available from the Aspen Communications program office in Palo Alto (see order form enclosed))

Jethro K. Lieberman and Neil S. Rhodes' The Complete CB_Handbook (New York: Avon Books 29553, 1976—$1.75, paper)

Fredric Stuart's The Effects of Television on the Motion Picture and Radio Industries (New York: Arno Press, 1976—$23.00)

Ben Armstrong and LaVay Sheldon (eds.) Directory of Religious Broadcasting : 1976 (National Religious Broadcasters, Box 2254R, Morristown, N.J. 07960—$15.00, paper)

MARC Newsletter (Missions Advanced Research and Communication Center, 191 West Huntington Drive, Monrovia, Calif. 91016)

Spectrum (Billy Graham Program in Communications, Graduate School, Wheaton College, Wheaton, Ill. 60187)

WACC Journal (Eckart-Verlag, D-4800 Bielefeld 1, Postfach 2520, Federal Republic of Germany)

Action (World Association for Christian Communication, 7 St. James St., London SW 1, England)

Interfilm Reports (Bulletin of Interfilm, the International Interchurch Film Centre, P.O. Box 515, Hilversum, Netherlands)

Pastor A.W. Allworthy's Petition Lansman-Milam Petition (Christ the Light Works, Box 19641, Dallas, Texas 75219– $8.45, paper, including postage)     

A Classroom Study on the Relationship Between Student Achievement and Retrieval-Enhanced Learning

Retrieval practice has been shown to produce powerful learning gains in laboratory experiments but has seldom been explored in classrooms as a means of enhancing students’ learning of their course-relevant material. Furthermore, research is lacking concerning the role of individual differences in learning from retrieval. The current study explored the effects of retrieval in a large undergraduate introductory biology course as a function of individual differences in student achievement. Students completed in-class exercises that required them to retrieve course information (e.g., recalling definitions for terms and labeling diagrams) followed by feedback or to simply copy the information without retrieving it. A later quiz over the information showed that high-performing students benefited more from retrieving than copying, whereas middle- and low-performing students benefited more from copying than retrieving. When asked to predict their quiz scores following the in-class exercises, high-performers demonstrated better overall metacognitive calibration compared to middle- or low-performers. These results highlight the importance of individual differences in learning from retrieval and encourage future research using course-relevant material to consider the role of student achievement in classroom-based interventions.