The effect of neighborhood racial composition on black and white attitudes

The impact of the racial composition of neighborhoods, rather than race per se, is examined in this study. The sample includes 1027 families with children attending 5 of the 11 former school districts in New Castle County, Delaware. Questionnaires were sent to these families in the spring of 1978, prior to school desegregation, and again in the spring of 1979, at the end of the first year of desegregation. Scales were developed to measure attitudinal variables for both parents and students. These included racial attitudes, attitudes toward school desegregation, and attitudes about education. Results show that attitudes both before and after desegregation varied according to the neighborhood racial composition. Thus it is important in future studies of racial attitudes to examine neighborhood racial characteristics as well as the race of the individual.This research has been supported by a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation, Division of Social Sciences.     

Coping with writing apprehension

Students with high writing apprehension (WA) were exposed or not exposed to visualization (a procedure designed to encourage positive thinking). Those exposed to visualization reported enjoying writing more than those who were not trained to visualize, both immediately and over time. The paper ends with a discussion of these and other results.     

Music video as persuasive form: The case of the pseudo‐reflexive strategy

This essay examines music video as a media form designed to persuade television viewers to purchase musical recordings. By associating performers and their songs with strategically selected visual images, video makers hope to evoke impressions which might lead viewers to desire the recordings produced by the performers featured in video clips. One specific production strategy, “pseudo‐reflexivity,” involves employing imagery that demystifies some, but not all, of the aspects of the video making process in order to both draw audience attention away from the promotional motives underlying video production and enhance the anti‐commercial stance typically adopted by hard rock musicians.     

Mediatizing educational policy: the journalistic field,science policy,and cross‐field effects

This paper is concerned to demonstrate the usefulness of the theory of Bourdieu, including the concepts of field, logics of practice and habitus, to understanding relationships between media and policy, what Fairclough has called the ‘mediatization’ of policy. Specifically, the paper draws upon Bourdieu’s accessible account of the journalistic field as outlined in On television and journalism. The usefulness of this work is illustrated through a case study of a recent Australian science policy, The chance to change. As this policy went through various iterations and media representations, its naming and structure became more aphoristic. This is the mediatization of contemporary policy, which often results in policy as sound bite. The case study also shows the cross‐field effects of this policy in education, illustrating how today educational policy can be spawned from developments in other public policy fields.     

What Drives Successful Technology Planning?

ABSTRACT

Providing computers and in‐servicing staff is not enough to get teachers and students using technology for teaching and learning. Schools of teacher education can prepare teachers better by helping college and university education faculty model technology use throughout the teacher credentialing curriculum. Another approach is to help teachers construct a model for identifying and developing factors that will support their own technology initiatives. The literature on technology integration reveals eight success factors for schools attempting to help teachers adopt technology in their classrooms. This article examines those success factors and looks at strategies for implementing them.     

Preparing Instructional Designers for Game-Based Learning: Part III. Game Design as a Collaborative Process

In this three part series, four professors who teach graduate level courses on the design of instructional video games discuss their perspectives on preparing instructional designers to optimize game-based learning. Part I set the context for the series and one of four panelists discussed what he believes instructional designers should know about instructional game design. In Part II, two faculty members who teach courses on instructional game design presented their perspectives on preparing instructional designers for game-based learning. Part III presents a fourth perspective along with conclusion that contrasts the four views posited in Parts I-III.     

The communication of laboratory investigations by university entrants

The purpose of the study reported here was to analyse the ways in which unversity entrant science students carry out and communicate experimental activities and to identify a model to explain characteristic communication practices. The study was prompted by a need to inform the development of an introductory laboratory course. The students studied shared an educational background characterised by a lack of experience with laboratory work and scientific writing. Seven groups of three students were studied. The investigative strategies of these groups were observed. Laboratory reports were used to identify the ways in which students communicated these strategies. Data are presented that show a discrepancy between the strategies used and those reported. The results suggest that: (i) students' perceptions of the purpose of a laboratory task influence their decisions on what to report; (ii) understandings of laboratory procedures greatly influence their decision on what to report and on how much detail to include in a report and; (iii) knowledge of discourse rules contributes to effective reporting. It is concluded that students' communication of an investigation results from the differential operation of various perceptual filters that determine both the procedural and discourse elements of their reports. It is recommended that the communication of science should be taught explicitly and alongside the procedures and concepts of science. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 37: 839–853, 2000