Online Plagiarism Training Falls Short in Biology Classrooms

Online plagiarism tutorials are increasingly popular in higher education, as faculty and staff try to curb the plagiarism epidemic. Yet no research has validated the efficacy of such tools in minimizing plagiarism in the sciences. Our study compared three plagiarism-avoidance training regimens (i.e., no training, online tutorial, or homework assignment) and their impacts on students’ ability to accurately discriminate plagiarism from text that is properly quoted, paraphrased, and attributed. Using pre- and postsurveys of 173 undergraduate students in three general ecology courses, we found that students given the homework assignment had far greater success in identifying plagiarism or the lack thereof compared with students given no training. In general, students trained with the homework assignment more successfully identified plagiarism than did students trained with the online tutorial. We also found that the summative assessment associated with the plagiarism-avoidance training formats (i.e., homework grade and online tutorial assessment score) did not correlate with student improvement on surveys through time.     

Sex Differences in the Use of Science and Technology in Children's Cartoons

Television is among the many mechanisms that transmit information about sex-appropriate behavior to children. In order to examine whether television cartoons portray male and female characters using science and technology in a different manner, we examined the amount and type of science and technology utilized by characters in popular children's cartoons. Results revealed that most characters in these cartoons were male who were often depicted using science and technology, usually while being aggressive. When female characters were shown, they were portrayed as both able and prosocial, using science and technology for the greater good of others, rather than for destruction. In addition, female characters performed prosocial behaviors such as caring and sharing, showed self-confidence and explained things to others, and were less angry and violent than were male characters. Our findings suggest that the portrayal of female characters as competent may be successfully linked with the tendency to also show them as prosocial. Despite relatively positive portrayal of female characters, however, their appearance was rare and most likely not the main focus of the action.     

Responsibility of learning: a cross-cultural examination of the relationship of grit,motivational belief and self-regulation among college students in the US,UAE and Turkey

Learning Environments Research - The present study explored the relationship between grit, motivational beliefs and self-regulation among undergraduate students in the United States, the United...     

The Works of Gilbert Seldes

W.J. Baker's A History of the Marconi Company (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1972–$12.95)

Vishwa Mohan Mishra's Communication and Modernization in Urban Slums (New York: Asia Publishing House, Inc., 1972—$6.95, with paper edition available)

James R. Bradon (ed.) The Performing Arts in Asia (Paris: Unesco [available in this country from New York: Unipub, Inc.], 1971—$3.00, paper)

John A. Lent (ed.) The Asian Newspapers' Reluctant Revolution (Ames: Iowa State University Press, 1971—$12.50)

Richard L. Merritt (ed.) Communication in International Politics (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 19Y2—$15.00)

Gayle Durham Hollander's Soviet Political Indoctrination: Developments in Mass Media and Propaganda Since Stalin (New York: Praeger Special Studies in International Politics and Public Affairs, 1972—$15.00)     

How gay and bisexual men compensate for the lack of meaningful sex education in a socially conservative state

The information shared in schools on sex education in the USA is highly variable depending on the state and sometimes city in which a student lives. Gay and bisexual students living in a socially conservative, primarily rural state such as Oklahoma often receive little information about sexual health information that pertains to their behaviours unless it is discussing the dangers of sex. Using a qualitative approach, 20 gay and bisexual men currently residing in Oklahoma completed semi-structured interviews about their experiences with sex education and alternate ways to compensate for lack of information provided. Participants noted an awareness of the lack of meaningful sex education or if it was offered, a primary focus on abstinence-only until marriage heteronormative curricula. Participants described various ways they compensated for lack of sex education including accessing pornography and information from the internet. With the current socio-political environment of Oklahoma, it is unlikely wholesale changes to the sex education curricula can be made. The importance of public health professionals using the internet and peer educators to deliver inclusive and informative sexual health information remains salient and viable for men who reside in socio-politically conservative areas like Oklahoma.     

MEMORY RECALL AND PARTICIPATION LEVELS IN THE ELDERLY: A STUDY OF GOLDEN AGE RADIO

Institutionalized elderly people often appear to live in the past, or in their long‐term memories. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of playing tapes of Golden Age radio shows, both musical and comedy, on the residents of a nursing home. In particular, the researchers were interested in memory recall, reactions to the memories, and the effects of this activity on involvement in planned nursing home activities. Trivia questions about the same time period were also utilized to determine if discussion of significant historical events in older persons’ lifetimes might be triggers for increased participation and socialization. The study was conducted in a 30‐bed nursing center located 20 miles west of a large midwestern metropolitan area. The participants included 12 women with a mean age of 90 years and of varying levels of cognitive functioning. The Golden Age radio programs were played on a tape recorder for a length of time not exceeding 20 minutes. Trivia questions were verbally posed by the researchers to the study group. Reactions to the Golden Age musical programs indicated that this type of music may evoke memories and encourage reminiscence in the lives of the elderly. The use of trivia is also recommended as a means of stimulating recall of historical and life events. The comedy programs evoked little response in this study, and the researchers feel that additional study in this area could be valuable.     

Subaltern voices and postcolonial schizophrenia: The political tensions of M.I.A.’s Kala

ABSTRACT

Banned from the U.S. during the “war on terror,” the British/Sri Lankan hip-hop artist M.I.A. responded by recording her 2007 album Kala in multiple locations throughout the global South, collating indigenous musical styles and unorthodox recording techniques. Via a critical/cultural analysis, this paper explores M.I.A.’s work on Kala as subaltern resistance mobilized by “differential movement,” particularly in its mode of production, which operated outside of, and in opposition to, institutional mechanisms designed to expunge or neutralize politically subversive art and artists. Yet M.I.A.’s musical sampling also surfaces conflicts between creative freedom and cultural appropriation, emblematizing “postcolonialist/postmodern schizophrenia” (Vályi, 2011. Remixing cultures: Bartók and Kodály in the age of indigenous cultural rights. In K. McLeod & R. Kuenzli (Eds.), Cutting across media: Appropriation art, interventionist collage, and copyright law (pp. 219–236). Durham, NC: Duke University Press.).     

Identifying Key Intercultural Urgencies,Issues, and Challenges in Today's World: Connecting Our Scholarship to Dynamic Contexts and Historical Moments

In the next section of the discussion, the participating scholars elaborate on their views of the most pressing intercultural urgencies, issues, and challenges that we face in today's world. The discussants identify both historically persistent and newly emerging challenges and crises that greatly impact our world's communities, their health and well-being, the environment, war and violence, oppression, domination, resistance, and political consequences far into the future. It is clear that the perceived “intercultural urgencies” reach deep within and far beyond specific relational episodes and communicative moments. These scholars delineate the many trajectories for much-needed examination, analysis, critique, and intervention.