In this article I develop heuristic types for understanding how the U.S. evangelical Christian subculture engages the newer science of molecular biology as it works to legitimate and enchant religious worldview: 1.) "symbolic engagement," employing genes and DNA as sacred icon; 2.) "disputatious engagement," debating genetic essentialism and…

This document presents an analysis of the 1992 nationwide Survey of Public Participation in the Arts (SPPA), conducted by the U.S. Bureau of the Census for the National Endowment for the Arts. Data were collected in household surveys. Respondents were part of a larger continuously rotating panel of adults who were interviewed monthly either by…

The 1998 Roper Youth Report is based on a nationwide cross-section of 1,189 children aged 6 to 17 years. Face-to-face interviews were conducted in the children's homes during April and May, 1998. Children who watch Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) are more likely to read, be active participants and share in family activities than non-viewers. PBS…

With the advent of the process approach to teaching writing, the use of products or models in the composition classroom has declined, replaced by heuristic exploration of the rhetorical situation, with special emphasis on audience analysis. Some researchers have emphasized the difference between internal audiences and audiences external to the…

Three effective strategies in quality open-broadcast programming for increasing educational radio's audience attraction are suggested as alternatives to the usual approach to such programming in the third world: (1) the advertising approach, which is suited to audience motivation for accomplishing concrete behavioral objectives; (2) the…

Discusses Web-based instruction (WBI)and presents a decision making model based on a set of questions relating to the use of WBI. Topics include motivation for WBI; content and pedagogy, including instructional design; the target audience, including characteristics of successful online students; time factors; resources needed, including costs,…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the use of a personal response system (PRS) in conjunction with a form of cooperative learning in an introductory, undergraduate psychology class to determine if the combination produced a beneficial impact on student academic achievement. Student attitudes toward use of a PRS with cooperative learning…

This fact sheet summarizes data gathered in the 2010 survey of National Science Foundation (NSF) Advanced Technological Education (ATE) grant recipients. Conducted by EvaluATE, the evaluation resource center for the ATE program located at The Evaluation Center at Western Michigan University, this was the eleventh annual survey of ATE projects and…

This project began in response to a perceived need to assess students' perceptions with respect to the emerging use of audience response systems (clickers) in several mid- to large-size undergraduate courses at the University of Victoria. We developed and validated a "Clicker Use Survey" to gather students' opinions with respect to…

A number of studies have focused on how students and instructors feel about digital learning technologies. This research is focused on the substantive difference in learning outcomes between traditional classrooms and classrooms using clickers. A randomized block experimental design involving four sections of undergraduate Operations Management…

Until recently, international education has existed at the margins of educational research. However, in the current context of globalization, international education has moved closer to the center of educational research throughout the world. In this article, the authors identify, describe, and analyze six distinct research approaches to…

This paper explores the potential for conducting collaborative and critical research in higher education which problematises the role and practices of the academy in maintaining exclusion. It begins with a brief discussion of UK government discourse on widening participation, and contrasts this with the research literature which indicates the…

As an educational media, radio has a long and complex history in the United States, but its most extensive and important use in education took place during the School of the Air (SOA) movement. From approximately 1929 to 1975, commercial broadcast networks, state universities and departments or colleges of education, and local school boards…

Examining the factors that influence the distribution of technologies in developing countries should provide new possibilities for organizations engaged in international communication and audience research to understand, and respond, to potential audiences. Five critical elements influence the distribution of media technologies in developing…

A practicum was developed to determine whether the motivation of a private school's ninth grade English class (18 students) could be increased by gearing the course toward a specified, authentic public audience and whether an increase in motivation would positively affect the quality of and attitude toward writing assignments and the use of…