This study was designed to examine the effectiveness of the "Fear and Loathing of Speaking Out in Public" program. The program, a personal initiative, adapts primary features of the treatment offered by Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) for clients suffering from fears and phobias. CBT strategies include progressive desensitization, identifying…

Focus groups of rehabilitation providers identified barriers to the employment of persons who are visually impaired and strategies to overcome them. The barriers included negative attitudes of employers and of persons with visual impairments, inadequate transportation, the lack of access to print, and administrative issues. Strategies for…

The aim of this study was to examine a form of sarcasm that has hardly been considered to date, sarcastic requests, at an earlier period of development than addressed in past developmental research. This article looked specifically at the role of intonation and context in sarcastic-request understanding by native French-speaking children ages 3 to…

Research on nonverbal vocal cues and verbal irony has often relied on the concept of an "ironic tone of voice". Here we provide acoustic analysis and experimental evidence that this notion is oversimplified and misguided. Acoustic analyses of spontaneous ironic speech extracted from talk radio shows, both ambiguous and unambiguous in…

Preservice elementary teachers have been shown to generally possess poor mathematical knowledge (e.g. Goulding, Rowland, & Barber, 2002) and also strong negative attitudes toward mathematics (e.g. MacNab & Payne, 2004). Recently, national organizations have proposed interventions to address these issues (Conference Board of the…

A total of 227 college students from Joliet, Illinois in the USA and Shanghai in the People's Republic of China (PRC) answered open-ended questions on their perception of being old. Topics also included participant's knowledge about older adults' regular activities, social policies and benefits for senior citizens, the happiest and the most…

The study attempted to obtain empirical evidence on teachers' attitude towards teaching profession in Midwestern Nigeria. To execute this study, 400 post primary school teachers were randomly drawn from 40 post primary schools in the area under study. The Teacher's Attitude Questionnaire was the main instrument used for data collection. Results of…

Discusses results of a study which found that attitudes toward school social studies declined with grade level among a random sample of 1,600 students in sixth through ninth grades in schools in a north central state in the United States and compares results with a survey of attitudes of 1,817 students in 17 schools in Melbourne, Australia. (DB)

The emergence of a reform movement in statistics education has influenced the teaching and learning of statistics over the past few decades. The teaching of statistics concepts and courses in elementary and secondary education as well as the implementation of technology into the statistics classroom are important changes involved in this movement.…

A total of 249 Japanese nationals--tourists (n = 107), students (n = 98), and temporary workers (n = 44)--were recruited at the targeted community venues in Honolulu, Hawaii, and completed a structured survey questionnaire. Reported lifetime sexually transmitted diseases, or STDs infection (10% male and 20% female participants), and HIV infection…

The current study assessed the subjective well-being of a broad spectrum of homeless people. One-hundred-and-eighty-six homeless people from the streets of Calcutta (India), California, and a tent camp in Portland (Oregon) were interviewed, and responded to measures of subjective well-being. They answered questions about life satisfaction,…

Prior to implementation of a Merit Award Program for school district administrators, survey responses (102 of 122) and interviews with a sample of 15 administrators found low expectations and skepticism among potential awardees. Postprogram responses (96 of 122) found increased negative attitudes regarding the desirability of such an award and the…

Having taught developmental mathematics for a number of years, the author is keenly aware of the effects of math anxiety on developmental math students. Math-anxious students complain of such things as nervousness, inability to concentrate, a blank mind, and a feeling of sickness when they are confronted with taking a math test. Math anxiety is…

To take math anxiety out of math instruction, teachers need to first know how to easily diagnose it in their students and second, how to analyze causes. Results of a recent study revealed that while students believed that their math anxiety was largely related to a lack of mathematical understanding, they often blamed their teachers for causing…

Previous research on the effect of technology-based preservice education programs has been assessed by examining changes in computer ability and attitudes. Systematic exploration looking at the effect of these programs on computer use has been noticeably absent. In addition, the role of emotions and use of computers has been largely ignored with…