(1996). Fact Book, Fiscal Year 1996. This annual report provides information about the institutions under the South Dakota Board of Regents including six universities and the schools for the deaf and visually handicapped. The first section provides information on general concerns (such as the Regental Committee structure and institutional mission statements). The bulk of the report consists of tables and charts that summarize the following (with sample sub-topics): (1) financial affairs (operating budgets and budgeted mean salaries); (2) tuition and fees (historical tuition rates–1971-1996 and Fiscal Year 1996 tuition and fees schedule; (3) financial aid (student financial aid by program and state funded financial aid programs); (4) enrollment (student profile, fall 1995 headcount data, enrollment by site of instruction); (5) student right-to-know (campus crime reports and student persistence rates); (6) special schools (the South Dakota Schools for the Deaf and Visually Handicapped); (7) human resources (faculty… [PDF]
(1995). Racism: Divided by Color. Multicultural Issues. Racism can be defined as any attitude, belief, behavior, or institutional arrangement that favors one race or ethnic group over another. This discussion of racism for young people defines attitudinal racism, ideological racism, individual or group discrimination, and institutional racism as four aspects of racism in the United States. While some scientists have abandoned the idea of classifying human beings into races, the average person continues to identify himself or herself and others as members of a particular race. This type of classification has been in effect throughout history, and continues, in spite of advances in civil rights, today. More subtle than overt racism is the institutional racism that society's structures have established and often maintain. Efforts to desegregate the school system have reduced some manifestations of institutional racism, and research indicates that schools in the past 20 years have been very successful in teaching children that it is wrong to…
(1991). The Fiesta Bowl Fiasco: Department of Education's Attempt To Ban Minority Scholarships. Eighth Report by the Committee on Government Operations, Together with Dissenting Views, 102d Congress, 1st Session. This is the eighth report by the Committee on Government Operations in the aftermath of the U.S. Department of Education's (DOE's) December 1990 attempt to ban race-specific scholarships, now called the Fiesta Bowl Fiasco. Based on a study by the Human Resources and Intergovernmental Relations Subcommittee, this report finds the following: (1) race-specific scholarships are legal when used in conjunction with voluntary or involuntary affirmative action as encouraged and affirmed by the Congress and the judiciary; (2) the December 1990 ban on race-specific scholarships was drafted secretly, without the opportunity for public comment, in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act; (3) despite the dubious legal basis of the ban on race-specific scholarships, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has begun investigations of schools that use race-specific financial aid in their affirmative action programs. The report recommends that DOE should continue to uphold the legality of… [PDF]
(1981). Reflexiones Sobre la Capacitacion de Docentes (Reflections on In-Service Teacher Training). Everyone concerned with educational systems performance agrees that the improvement of teaching qualities is a high priority in any educational effort. Teachers are assigned the role of change agents and are presented with new challenges, e.g., to make education global and permanent, flexible enough to serve in any environment (in or out of the classroom) for life, and reflective of the community. Teachers have to learn to adapt creatively to changes in science and technology and to prepare generations who are universal, critical, and creative and who have firm identities with their sociocultural background. However, a realistic approach to inservice teacher training should consider that teachers are ordinary human beings with their virtues, defects, duties, and rights. Providing some reflections on inservice teacher training, this paper discusses the rationale for and gives a definition of inservice teacher training. Some characteristics of managers in charge of teacher training… [PDF]
(1978). The Relationship Between Piagetian Cognitive Development and Cerebral Cognitive Asymmetry. This paper reviews research and opinions concerned with the lateralization of brain functions and cognitive development as described by Piaget. Optimal cognitive functioning in humans is a product of the complete development of interhemispheric communication in the brain. Growth spurts in brain development have been found to correlate closely with Piaget's developmental stages. The preoperational stage includes the progressive development of the neural fibers which connect the brain hemispheres, i.e., the corpus callosum (CC), and includes a brain growth spurt between the ages of 2 and 4. At this stage true lateralization of cognitive functions begins to occur as both hemispheres and the interhemispheric communication system continue to develop. Both right and left hemispheric developments can be seen in the stage of concrete operations. The development of the CC appears to be dependent upon its use and on the utilization of both hemispheres. A bias toward linear, logical thinking,…
(1980). A New World Information Order for Better Human Understanding. Many studies, particularly the report of the International Commission for the Study of Communication Problems (ICSCP), have tried to define a new world information order for better human understanding. What appears to be needed is the establishment of a new, open-ended, conceptual framework leading to a freer, more efficient, more equitable, better balanced international communication system–one founded on democratic principles and favoring equality in the relations between sovereign states. The new order would be the ideal framework for promoting freedom of information/communication as an individual and collective right that must be guaranteed at all levels. In some respects, development and communication rest on the same principles. In other respects, the new communication order is a prerequisite to the new economic order. The ICSCP has made over 80 recommendations to put this orientation into concrete form. Intended for developing countries, industrialized countries,…
(1979). Ethics and the Professions, Spring 1979. Faculty members from Hagerstown Junior College present eight position papers discussing ethical issues in their various disciplines. Ralph Chapin reports on the impact of the recent federal copyright law and how it affects library and media personnel who must deal with and evaluate duplicated written materials, films, and recordings. E. Walter Clark discusses ethics, logic, and the structure of mathematics. An economics professor, Ray Johns, points out a series of business concerns frequently misconstrued as ethical problems and identifies economic freedom and security and anonymity in business transactions as pivotal ethical issues. Ethical issues facing health workers, particularly nurses, are the topic of the paper presented by L. Elizabeth Misner, and the rights of clients and therapists in a counseling situation are discussed by Marie Nowakowski. Allan Powell presents three brief examples of ethical violations in the study of human subjects in social science research. Robert…
(1975). Cerebral Assymetry: Changes in Factors Affecting Its Development. This study attempts to evaluate procedures for studying hemispheric differences in newborn human infants and to determine what acoustic characteristics of speech sounds will trigger a left hemisphere (LH) repsonse. Within 48 hours of birth, 14 neonates were individually administered five aural stimuli which comprised two speech syllables, two nonspeech stimuli, and a 500 Hz tone. These stimuli were presented individually to the infants, and corresponding auditory evoked potentials (AEP) were measured by means of recording electrodes on left and right temporal areas of the infant's brain. Factor analysis was used to isolate the minimum number of AEP components which accounted for the majority of the variance. Four factors were found which together accounted for 96% of the variance. The results offer further evidence to support the idea that hemispheric differences are present during early infancy and that there are AEP differences between male and female infants. Although the study…
(1970). Learning into the Twenty-First Century. 1970 White House Conference on Children, Report of Forum 5. (Working Copy). In this nation, the right to learn what there is to be learned has been denied because of prejudices and adherence to unproductive teaching techniques. There has been too little acceptance of advanced practices. Federally funded experimental schools must be initiated as alternatives to present learning modes and for the development of exemplar models of philosophy and practice. Learning must become an end in itself, an individual choice, implying an individual definition of success. Modern technology will be implemented for flexible scheduling and progress rates. Acknowledging the growing emphasis on television in the home, the forum suggests each home could house computers and microfilm libraries. \School\ will focus on human interaction and the ability to know oneself. Teachers will be engaged in preparing computerized lessons, evaluating programs, and counseling; therefore, funds must be allocated for redesign of teacher education. The achievement of this program means commitment… [PDF]
(1967). Planning and the Educational Administrator. Fundamentals of Educational Planning Series, No. 4. Educational planning is defined as the exercising of foresight in determining the policy, priorities, and costs of an educational system, having due regard for economic and political realities, for the system's potential for growth, and for the needs of the country and of the pupils served by the system. As related particularly to an educational administrator, five aspects of this view are discussed: (1) The new longterm dimension of national educational planning, taking into account economic growth, human resource development, and \macro-planning,\ or the simultaneous consideration of a country's several development plans; (2) planning regarded as a linear operation involving preparation, adoption, and execution; (3) sensitivity to political realities, including national goals and influence groups; (4) the educational administrator as special guardian of the rights of the child, within the total framework of the country's economic and manpower needs, and (5) the educational…
(1971). Studies in Family Planning, Volume 2 Number 10. Changes in abortion legislation in Romania, together with the effects of restrictive legislation, are summarized in "Abortion Legislation: The Romanian Experience," the first of two articles in this monthly publication of The Population Council. Romania legalized abortion on request in September, 1957. Nine years later, October, 1966, the right to abortion was severely restricted, while other legal measures with pronatalist intent were introduced. Speculating upon the utility of this legislation in attempting to influence human fertility behavior, it is shown that well-established behavioral patterns of fertility control are resistant to significantly prolonged change by governmental edict alone. The second article, "Family Planning Patterns in Sierra Leone," is a sequel to Thomas Dow's paper which appeared in "Studies in Family Planning", Volume 2, Number 8 (SE 012 796). While the focus of the earlier paper was on presentation of data and… [PDF]
(1999). Standards for Service Coordination in Early Intervention. The Vermont Interagency Coordinating Council for Families, Infants and Toddlers (VICC) was established by federal law to advise the Vermont Department of Education and the Agency of Human Services on the statewide system of early intervention services for families of children with special needs, ages birth to three. In Vermont, the early intervention system is known as the Family, Infant and Toddler Project. Every family of an infant or toddler referred for evaluation and early intervention services has the right to family-centered, comprehensive service coordination. In response to a statewide need expressed by families and service providers, the VICC has worked to develop standards for service coordination in early intervention. These standards reflect Vermont's family-centered, community-based, interagency service delivery model, illustrating what every qualified, agency-supported service coordinator should know and be able to do to support families of children with special… [PDF]
(2005). Sustaining High Growth Through Innovation: Reforming the R&D and Education Systems in Korea. OECD Economics Department Working Papers No. 470. OECD Publishing (NJ1) With inputs of labour and capital slowing, sustaining high growth rates in Korea will increasingly depend on total factor productivity gains, which are in turn driven to a large extent by innovation. While a number of Korean firms are at the world technology frontier in areas such as ICT, the diffusion of technology to lagging sectors is a priority to sustain growth. This paper recommends policies to improve the science and technology system by upgrading the R&D framework, in part through closer linkages between firms, universities and the government, and enhanced intellectual property right protection. Strengthened competition, particularly in the service sector, is needed to promote the diffusion of new technologies. Innovation also requires policies to ensure the supply of high-quality human capital through reforms of tertiary education. This requires a restructuring of the university system through increased competition and deregulation, as well as additional financial… [Direct]
(2005). Prefrontal Brain Activity Predicts Temporally Extended Decision-Making Behavior. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, v84 n3 p537-554 Nov. Although functional neuroimaging studies of human decision-making processes are increasingly common, most of the research in this area has relied on passive tasks that generate little individual variability. Relatively little attention has been paid to the ability of brain activity to predict overt behavior. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we investigated the neural mechanisms underlying behavior during a dynamic decision task that required subjects to select smaller, short-term monetary payoffs in order to receive larger, long-term gains. The number of trials over which the long-term gains accrued was manipulated experimentally (2 versus 12). Event-related neural activity in right lateral prefrontal cortex, a region associated with high-level cognitive processing, selectively predicted choice behavior in both conditions, whereas insular cortex responded to fluctuations in amount of reward but did not predict choice behavior. These results demonstrate the utility… [Direct]
(2004). Challenges and Issues in Designing Inquiry on the Web. British Journal of Educational Technology, v35 n5 p627-643 Sep. The purpose of this study is to discuss major issues in designing inquiries on the web. Instructional designers face a lot of difficulties and challenges to deal with in the course of designing inquiry experiences for learners in the online environment, a complex and ill-structured learning environment. Facilitating inquiry or using an inquiry-based learning approach on the web has both advantages and disadvantages. Instructional designers need to acknowledge the design issues arising in each and every phase of the design process. Utilising appropriate design strategies, instructional designers can provide positive learning experiences for their online learners. For this purpose, three representative cases in the context of teacher professional development were examined and six major issues were identified as follows: (1) seeking a balance between a system-generated guide and human facilitator, (2) visual representation of the inquiry process, (3) motivating learners with the right… [Direct]