Eating Right: Linking Food‐Related Decision‐Making Concepts From Neuroscience,Psychology, and Education

This literature review uses four dimensions to classify and compare how food‐related decision‐making is conceptualized and experimentally assessed in neuroscience and other disciplines: (1) food‐related decision‐making other than the decision of what to eat that is part of each eating episode, (2) decision complexes other than the eating episode itself, (3) the evolution of food‐related decision‐making over time, and (4) the nature of food related decisions. In neuroscience in particular, food‐related decision‐making research has been dominated by studies exploring the influence of a wide range of factors on the final outcome, the type and amount of foods eaten. In comparison, the steps that are leading up to this outcome have only rarely been discussed. Neuroscientists should broaden their historically narrow conceptualization of food‐related decision‐making. Then neuroscience research could help group the numerous hypothesized influences for each of the decision complexes into meaningful clusters that rely on the same or similar brain mechanisms and that thus function in similar ways. This strategy could help researchers improve existing broad models of human food‐related decision‐making from other disciplines. The integration of neuroscientific and behavioral science approaches can lead to a better model of food‐related decision‐making grounded in the brain and relevant to the design of more effective school and nonschool lifestyle interventions to prevent and treat obesity in children, adolescents, and adults.     

Primary school headteacher recruitment and selection in England: the processes and the problematic aspects

ABSTRACT

Appointing a headteacher in England is important but under-researched, hence the study reported here. We interviewed and surveyed chairs of governing boards that had recently undertaken the appointment process. Governing bodies follow broadly similar recruitment and selection processes, which have a number of problematic aspects: the unique nature of the context; the complexity of the processes; ensuring adequate recruitment; the processes are demanding, resource intensive, a considerable responsibility and difficult to organise especially when there are internal candidates; the skills required are specialised; engaging external expertise can be beneficial, but not without challenges; and the chair’s involvement is typically substantial.     

When the governmental tail wags the disciplinary dog: some consequences of national funding policy on doctoral research in New Zealand

This paper explores disciplinary approaches to knowledge production and the supervision of doctoral students in the context of New Zealand’s current Performance Based Research Fund (PBRF). In the last decade New Zealand has experienced significant changes to the way doctoral students are funded by central government. Funding has moved away from a ‘head count’ model to one that rewards specific performance criteria of staff and timely completion of students. In the new regime, research outputs by way of peer reviewed publications, conference presentations, grant awards, postgraduate completions and so forth constitute the significant markers of such performance. Yet in general terms, the production of knowledge varies considerably by academic discipline. This paper uses qualitative methods to explore the potential for the PBRF to privilege some approaches to knowledge production (and models of doctoral supervision) while challenging the viability of others.     

The expanding sphere of journalism∗

This episode in the history of frequency modulation radio broadcasting is part of a continuing series in the Journal of Broadcasting composed of verbatim extracts from Federal Communications Commission Annual Reports. Previously published installments in this series have included: “The Evolution of Television: 1927–1943” (Summer, 1960); “The Evolution of Television: 1944–1948” (Winter, 1960–61); “The Evolution of FM Radio: 1935–1940” (Spring, 1961); and “The Evolution of FM Radio: 1941–1946” (Fall, 1961).     

A window into thinking: Using student writing to understand conceptual change in science learning

This study, conducted in an inner-city middle school, followed the conceptual changes shown in 25 students' writing over a 12-week science unit. Conceptual changes for 6 target students are reported. Student understanding was assessed regarding the nature of matter and physical change by paper-and-pencil pretest and posttest. The 6 target students were interviewed about the goal concepts before and after instruction. Students' writing during lesson activities provided qualitative data about their understandings of the goal concepts across the science unit. The researcher constructed concept maps from students' written statements and compared the maps across time to assess changes in the schema of core concepts, complexity, and organization as a result of instruction. Target students' changes were studied in detail to determine patterns of conceptual change. After patterns were located in target students' maps, the remaining 19 students' maps were analyzed for similar patterns. The ideas that students identified in their writing showed changes in central concepts, complexity, and organization as the lessons progressed. When instructional events were analyzed in relation to students' demonstrated ideas, understanding of the goal conceptions appeared in students' writing more often when students had opportunities to explain their new ideas orally and in writing.     

The broad effectiveness of seventy-four field instances of abstinence-based programming

Evaluations of a large federally funded sexual risk avoidance education (SRAE) efforts in the USA have not been widely reported in the wake of funding cuts. The purpose of this study is to report results from a broad set of programmes to demonstrate the breadth of field effectiveness of these programmes. Twenty-seven separate community-based SRAE programmes were evaluated from 2005 to 2010, comprising 74 separate evaluations and involving over 96,000 young people. Pre- to post-effect sizes on key attitudinal predictors of sexual activity were analysed using meta-analytic techniques, both individually and as an average composite score. The standardised change score effect size on the composite measure were small and statistically significant (d = 0.20, k = 75, p < 0.001), as were effects on individual measures (d = 0.15–0.31). Programmes using a single curriculum showed greater results than those using their own blend of two or more curricula. As a group, this large body of field implementations of SRAE appears to have produced modest but statistically significant effects on key predictors of sexual activity in youth.