Book Reviews

Horace Mann: Educational Statesman. By E. I. F. Williams. Illustrated. The Macmillan Co. 354 pp. $1.50.

Recollections and Reflections. By J. J. Thomson. The Macmillan Co. 451 pp. $4.00.

The Woodrow Wilsons. By Eleanor Wilson McAdoo in collaboration with Margaret Y. Gaffey. Illustrated. The Macmillan Co. 301 pp. $3.50.

Glimpses into the Long Ago and a Brave Young Land. By Edna McGuire. First two volumes in a series of History texts for the Elementary School. Illustrated. The Macmillan Co. 333 and 392 pp. $.96 and $1.08.

Measuring Intelligence. A Guide to the Administration of the New Revised Stanford-Binet Tests of Intelligence. By Lewis M. Terman and Maud A. Merrill. Houghton Mifflin Co. 461 pp. $2.25.

My Typewriter and I. By Nellie Louise Merrick, Robert Frederick Bown, and August Dvorak. Foreword by Alfred L. Hall-Quest. American Book Co. 363 pp. $2.20.

Naturalism in American Education. By Geoffrey O'Connell. The Catholic University of America. 219 pp.

Philosophy of Education. By Rupert C. Lodge. Harper and Brothers. 328 pp. $2.00.

Secondary School Teaching. By J. G. Umstattd. Ginn and Co. 459 pp. $3.00.

As of the Gods. By Walter Rollo Brown. D. Appleton-Century Co. 237 pp. $2.00.

Death Stops the Rehearsal. By Richard M. Baker. Charles Scribner's Sons. 335 pp. $2.00.

Notable Short Stories. Selected and Edited by Raymond McFarland. The Macmillan Co. 423 pp. $1.00.

Storm in a Teacup. By Gus March-Phillips. E. P. Dutton and Co. 304 pp. $2.00.

The Long Death. By George Dyer. A Catalyst Club Mystery. Charles Scribner's Sons. 250 pp. $2.00.

Dine at Home with Rector: A Book on What Men Like, Why They Like It, and How to Cook It. By George Rector. Preface by Arthur “Bugs” Baer. E. P. Dutton and Co. 248 pp. $2.50.

For Readers Only. By J. Penn. Cartoons by Low. E. P. Dutton and Co. 289 pp. $2.50.

Forty Years on Main Street. By William Allen White. Illustrated. Farrar and Reinhart. 409 pp. $3.00.

Look Through the Bars. By Ernst Toller. Farrar and Rinehart. 310 pp. $2.75.

Suns Go Down. By Flannery Lewis. The Macmillan Co. 226 pp. $2.00.

A Declaration of Interdependence. By H. A. Overstreet. W. W. Norton and Co. 284 pp. $3.00.

The Dangerous Sea. By George Slocomb. The Macmillan Co. 286 pp. $2.50.     

Research Tactics for Constructing Perceptions of Subject Matter in Organizational Contexts: An Ethnographic Study of Technical Communicators

Theories of invention often overlook the role of learning subject matter in order to write, especially in workplaces. This ethnographic study describes technical communicators' abilities to learn about software within organizational constraints and resources. These writers' tactics for learning software included using it themselves, talking to co-workers, studying program specifications, learning from comments on internal reviews, and studying old manuals. I evaluate each tactic for its usefulness in creating rich knowledge. Knowing how to adapt subject matter research to one's organizational context should prove useful to novice technical communicators. This research can also help explain processes of creating knowledge in discourse.     

Beyond authorship: attribution,contribution, collaboration,and credit

• As the number of authors on scientific publications increases, ordered lists of author names are proving inadequate for the purposes of attribution and credit.
• A multi‐stakeholder group has produced a contributor role taxonomy for use in scientific publications.
• Identifying specific contributions to published research will lead to appropriate credit, fewer author disputes, and fewer disincentives to collaboration and the sharing of data and code.

     

Developing Literacy in Inner-city Schools

This article examines the impact of a two-year multimedia computer-based program of structured learning and assessment introduced into fifteen primary schools in three London boroughs. The project was evaluated and the results are reported here. The evaluation had two purposes: to explore the actual effects of the programs during the time span of the project, and to understand the contexts in which they operated.     

Career‐span education for the chemistry teacher

This paper considers the implications of the Cognitive Acceleration through Science Education (case) project results for science teaching methods. Results are summarized briefly and then the peculiar features of the case methodology and subject‐matter are described and consideration given to how they could be incorporated into any science curriculum. In particular, the use of cognitive conflict, metacognition, and bridging are described, and set in the context of the development of formal operational thinking. Finally, the potential roles of printed materials and INSET are reviewed for introducing such features into the professional repertoire of science teachers.     

PERSONALITY FACTORS FOR SUCCESSFUL HIGH‐RISK STUDENTS

The purpose of this study was to identify those factors related to academic success in high‐risk students so that college educators could more precisely develop remedial programs to heighten the probability of academic success for high‐risk populations.

Demographic, academic, and personality variables were analyzed for groups of successful and unsuccessful high‐risk students in order to determine which were significant predictors of academic success.

An analysis of the data revealed that a greater proportion of the students in the successful group were married and female. The successful group's reading score at the time of admission was significantly higher than the unsuccessful group's. The majority of the successful group had enrolled in college to acquire job related skills; the unsuccessful group had enrolled to receive transfer credits toward a baccalaureate degree.

The personality analysis indicated that the successful group scored significantly higher on self‐esteem, assertiveness, and internal locus of control. Their learning style was characterized by their desire for detailed instruction, their preference for working with inanimate objects, and reading was their preferred modality for learning. The unsuccessful group scored lower on self‐esteem and higher on control by chance. The learning style inventory revealed that they did not like detailed instruction, they preferred working with people, and listening was their preferred mode of learning. Their grade expectancy was extremely unrealistic; they predicted higher grades for themselves than did the successful group.

The authors suggest strategies for utilizing these findings in the development of remedial programs for high‐risk students.