How a cultural revolt against "political correctness" helped launch Trump into the presidency

Donald Trump's 2016 election victory in part reflected deep cultural opposition to Political Correctness (PC) norms. People dislike being told that they are not allowed to speak their mind, and Donald Trump represented a cultural foil to express that frustration. New research from Lucian Gideon Conway III, which studies the 2016 election campaign, shows that a sample of moderate Americans were influenced to support Trump by a brief mention of the PC movement, even though the PC movement was framed positively and the discussion had nothing directly to do with either candidate. Taken together, these results suggest that we need to look beyond simple markers of ideology to understand the Trump phenomenon – part of his support stems from a cultural revolt against Political Correctness

A Study to Determine the Contribution of Laboratory Training to Student Activities in Auburn High School

The purposes of the study are (1) to develop a practical rating scale to evaluate the activity program, and (2) to determine the contribution of laboratory training to student activities in Auburn High School. This study was conducted at Auburn High School during the 1968-1969 school year

Incorporating Self-Directed Learning Practices into an Elementary Classroom

The current focus of many school districts has been to teach students the skills and abilities that will be necessary to become successful individuals in a constantly changing, global environment. As many districts recognize the importance of incorporating more than content and knowledge in their curriculum, they are actively pursuing the intersection of creating life-long learners with current educational requirements and reforms. This means districts are attempting to create adults that are prepared with the ability to learn beyond the settings of the classroom. The goal of every educator, from teacher to superintendent to school board member, is the development of motivated learners who are excited about pursuing knowledge that both the student and the teacher deem meaningful. This thesis project explores how the incorporation of self-directed learning methods affects the motivation of students in a fifth grade language arts class. Additionally, the question of how these self-directed learning methods might affect the meaningfulness of learned material for fifth grade students is addressed. The research data, culled from a focus group of six students of varying academic achievement levels, was gathered over a month and a half time period, and comprised student interviews, surveys, and daily field notes. Several themes identified from the data include – increased student reflection on learning, increased student commitment to material and class projects, and student inconsistencies in writing. While results highlight increased student motivation and eagerness to learn, there was no noted increase with regard to depth of understanding on materials covered during the course of the study

A Coordinated School Health Approach to Obesity Prevention among Appalachian Youth: Middle School Student Outcomes from the Winning With Wellness Project

The Winning With Wellness (WWW) project was a school-based obesity prevention program that was developed to promote healthy eating and physical activity in youth residing in rural Appalachia. The project was based on the Coordinated School Health model (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 2013a) and used a community-based participatory research approach with an emphasis on feasibility and sustainability. The purpose of this study was to examine self-reported health outcomes for middle school students across the course of the intervention. Sixth grade middle school students (N = 149; 52% girls) from four schools in Northeast Tennessee completed a survey assessing demographic factors and health behaviors as well as the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL, Varni, Seid, & Kurtin, 2001) at baseline and follow-up, approximately 9-months after project implementation. Across the course of the intervention there were no statistically significant changes from baseline to follow-up in fruit and vegetable consumption, physical activity, or screen time. Further, there were no statistically significant changes in health-related quality of life (HRQoL). The lack of change in health behaviors is similar to a recent study also emphasizing sustainability (Neumark-Sztainer, Story, Hannan, & Rex, 2003). Unlike in the current study, Palacio-Vieira and colleagues (2008) found HRQoL to significantly decline with age in a population-based sample of Spanish youth. It will be important to examine whether or not obesity interventions may ameliorate this effect as well as to test the feasibility and school/structural support for sustained intervention implementation at a level that promotes lifestyle change

The geography of literacy:Understanding poleward increases in literacy rates

Asian social psychology has often focused on East/West comparisons. However, a latitudinal psychology perspective suggests that cultures will vary in predictable ways along north/south (latitudinal) gradients, rather than along east/west (longitudinal) gradients. We apply this perspective to better understand the geographical placement of literacy rates across the world. We find across 206 nations that latitude shows no linear relationship with worldwide literacy rates, but a significant curvilinear relationship, such that as one moves north from the equator, higher latitudes are associated with more literacy, whereas this relationship reverses as one moves south from the equator. No such curvilinear relationship consistently emerged for longitude. To better understand the geography of literacy, we included four potential explanatory socioecological variables (pathogens, climate, national tightness, and wealth). These analyses revealed that increases in literacy as one moves towards the North and South Poles was partially accounted for by all four variables, but a larger portion of the variance was due to pathogens. These results suggest that latitude—which, taken on its own, is just a set of abstract lines on a map—can help us organize and understand global literacy