Use Of Educational Materials Research Articles

Teaching Americanism: Ray K. Daily and the Persistence of Conservatism in Houston School Politics, 1943-1952

Teaching Americanism:Ray K. Daily and the Persistence of Conservatism in Houston School Politics, 1943-1952 Margaret Nunnelley Olsen (bio) Click for larger view View full resolution Figure 1. Dr. Ray K. Daily, 1954. Daily, an ophthalmologist, was first elected to the Houston Independent School District board in 1928 and served for twenty-four years. Courtesy the collection of photographer Joseph Maurer, Houston Academy of Medicine–Texas Medical Center Library. [End Page 240] I think basically the game of the whole thing is the game of money," former Houston Independent School District (HISD) board member and president Dr. Ray Karchmer Daily explained in a 1974 interview. "It cost money to have good schools." And concerns about money, according to Daily, ultimately shaped the raucous contests over control of the Houston school board throughout its history. This assertation was accurate in part; Daily herself finally had been defeated in an election that focused on, among other issues, federal funding to Houston schools. Her cynical hindsight notwithstanding, however, much more than money was at stake in the hostile competitions that plagued Daily's long tenure on the administrative board of the Houston school system. Daily served on the HISD board for twenty-four years, from 1928 to 1952, and her terms coincided with some of the most tumultuous years in Houston's history. First elected at a time when the Ku Klux Klan actively controlled the city, Daily finally departed her post with the fifties red scare in full swing and the Brown v. Board of Education case under consideration by the Supreme Court. 1 Daily [End Page 241] participated in some of the board's most controversial decisions, including the equalization of pay for black and white teachers. Ever an advocate of contentious measures—she supported special education classes, equal pay for female employees, reading programs, and, finally, a federally funded free lunch program for students from low-income families—Daily was a lightning rod for protest during her time on the board. 2 As such, she is also a useful guide to the issues that galvanized the population of Houston, Texas, and the nation as a whole, during these years. Notoriously liberal in her views on education, Ray Daily was a particular target during the heyday of anti-Communism in Houston. 3 As a pervasive red scare enveloped the nation in the late forties and early fifties, activists seeking to combat the threat of domestic Communism focused on American schools. 4 Houston was no exception. Local civic organizations mobilized to police Houston's educational institutions in search of subversive textbooks, instructors, and administrators and actively campaigned for conservative representation on the school system's administrative body. These groups opposed Daily specifically because she had a history of supporting "progressive education," generally defined as an "educational philosophy that focused on relativism and the cultivation of problem solving." Innocuous as this focus may have seemed to its proponents, attacking programs that were subsumed beneath the "progressive" rubric became a favored tactic of community anti-Communists in the 1950s. The term "progressive education" was broadly applied, in the cultural lexicon of the times, to a whole range of activities, including the use of educational materials provided by the United Nations Educational, Social, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and support for federal educational funding. Daily's progressive stance encouraged her conservative opponents in Houston to accuse her of supporting socialist [End Page 242] teaching in the schools. In spite of her history of effective leadership, her progressive opinions helped instigate the final and successful campaign against her reelection to the school board in 1952. 5 An assessment of Daily's career on the school board, however, reveals that efforts against her had a longer history, one that exposes a rarely discussed tradition of conservatism in American culture. 6 Historian of McCarthyism Richard Fried contends that anti-Communism endured in the United States because it emerged from "a deeply rooted cluster of values shared by much of American society." Fried expands the boundaries of the red scare of the 1950s to expose its cultural roots in the economic upheaval of the 1930s and American bewilderment at the "social and political changes at work...

Management of mechanical low back pain: A survey of beliefs and attitudes in GPs from Leicester and Nottingham

Mechanical low back pain creates a significant economic burden in the industrial world. The costs of treating mechanical back pain in terms of sickness absenteeism and compensation claims are increasing rapidly.1-3 There is robust evidence that staying active and continuing or resuming ordinary activities is more effective than rest in the management of mechanical back pain.4 This evidence in the international literature has been incorporated in a set of Clinical Guidelines produced by the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP).5 These guidelines recommend that early investigation and referral to a specialist for simple mechanical back pain are unwarranted in most cases. Positive advice to stay active and continue ordinary activities is emphasised. The RCGP guidelines recommend the use of educational material for patients in the form of The Back Book, to reinforce positive messages.6 This book has been shown to be clinically effective in a randomised, controlled trial.7 A comparative study from Australia8 showed that a public education campaign based on The Back Book had a positive effect on GP management of mechanical back pain and related morbidity.

Comparison of osteoporosis knowledge in menopausal women who view a teaching video versus those who don’t

Objective: To determine the effectiveness of enhancing osteoporosis education for menopausal patients via a video. Methods: Data were collected from 194 menopausal, ambulatory patients: 98 patients observed an educational osteoporosis video before their office visit, and 96 patients did not view the video. After their gynecologic visit, all patients answered a standardized osteoporosis questionnaire. Results: No statistically significant differences were noted as to the demographics of the patients, including level of education. Test scores for the control group were 82%, versus 94% for the video group. The most notable differences: two-thirds of those who did not view the video did not know the role of hormone replacement therapy in osteoporosis treatment and prevention and did not understand the role of family history and the role of weight-bearing exercise. The video group answered these questions correctly. Conclusion: The study objectively demonstrated that the use of educational materials in addition to physician counseling improves patient understanding of osteoporosis.

Multidisciplinary Collaboration and the Development of Multimedia Resources: The Images for Teaching Education Project

SUMMARY The University of Exeter heads the Images for Teaching Education Project which has developed multimedia products under Phase 2 of the Teaching and Learning Technology Programme. An aim of the project was to investigate the educational potential of a range of image‐based multimedia formats. Products include videodiscs, videotapes, Photo CDs, and Photo CD portfolios with computer‐ and paper‐based support materials; some of the latter are linked to images through barcodes. The management of the project and the development of the products, which involved specialists in subjects, the design and use of educational materials, the production and use of images and sound, and the evaluation of teaching and learning, are described in a national context. The processes and outcomes of collaboration are discussed and the importance of a multidisciplinary approach is emphasized.

Use of Educational Materials to Modify Stressful Behaviors in Post-Divorce Parenting

A 32-page educational booklet was mailed to half of all parents filing for divorce in one urban domestic relations court over a If-week period. A total of 358 primarily lower-middle class intervention and wait-list control parents were interviewed by telephone approximately three months post-filing. Mothers in the treatment group reported greater reduction of loyalty conflict behaviors and increased encouragement of child-fathcr involvement. No differences were obscrved between intervention and control for either mothers' willingness to share responsibility or in rate of conveyance to children of interparental conflict and personal distress. No differenccs were observed for father behaviors. Children exhibiting greater internalizing and externalizing behaviors on the Child Bchavior Checklist (Parents) had mothers who reported experiencing greater interpersonal conflict and personal distress, and more often spoke of their difficulties to their children. A one-year follow-up revealed that intervention paren...

Copyright Law

Nurse administrators, inservice educators, and other nursing supervisors need to be aware of how copyright law affects the use of educational materials in hospitals, medical centers, and nursing homes. The United States' Copyright Act of 1976, along with Congressional guidelines and federal rulings, have a great deal to say regarding photocopying, off-air videotaping, and use of materials borrowed from lending libraries. Examples of copyright infringement are given, with suggestions for avoiding them.

Recreation and fire management: Public concerns, attitudes, and perceptions

Abstract Data from three separate but related surveys address the linkages between recreation and public perception of and attitudes toward fire management. Recreation ranks high among alternative forest resource uses and is a serious concern vis‐a‐vis fire effects. Public acceptance of new fire‐management policies may be greater and more sophisticated than commonly thought. Public knowledge of fire effects and tolerance of light‐intensity fires can be increased through use of educational materials. However, there is some evidence that increases in knowledge and tolerance may not affect perceptual judgments of recreational acceptability or scenic beauty. Some recreational activities, particularly camping, show considerable sensitivity to fire effects. New fire‐management policies and educational programs will need to account for increasing sophistication in the public's understanding and tolerance of fire, as well as for different impacts that fire may have on various outdoor recreation activities.

Role of the Pediatrician in Patient Education

Although most pediatricians agree on the importance of teaching parents and children about health care, they may not succeed in patient education because of a lack of the requisite communication skills, inadequate printed materials to augment personal involvement, a tendency to substitute such materials for personal involvement, and inadequate compensation. Physician recognition of an obligation to teach is a requisite for effective education. Adjustment of current practices is essential: use of educational materials must be systematically incorporated; educational efforts must make effective use of time and be cost-effective. Information should be readily understood, parents given an opportunity to ask questions, and effectiveness of the education evaluated. Pediatricians must have a constant source of supplementary material to use in patient education. Videotapes and interactive computer programs should be considered for more effective communication. Residency programs must teach future pediatricians how to educate parents and children.

Physician practice in the management of patients with uncomplicated myocardial infarction: changes in the past decade.

To determine changes in the patterns of care between 1970 and 1980 for patients with uncomplicated acute myocardial infarction, questionnaires were sent to almost 6000 physicians in 1979 and responses were compared with those of a similar survey taken in 1970. Almost all physicians in 1979 reported the availability and use of an intensive care/coronary care unit facility with continuous electrocardiographic monitoring. Progressive-care facilities are also becoming more widely available. The median length of hospitalization has decreased markedly. Early ambulation and an earlier return to work are more common. There is a high level of informal patient and patient-family counseling about myocardial infarction and its management, both during and after hospitalization, and wider use of educational materials. Most physicians continue to recommend progressive physical activity after hospitalization. The routine prescription of anticoagulant therapy during hospitalization has declined, while prescription of prophylactic antiarrhythmic agents has increased. Nitrate drugs and tranquilizers are routinely prescribed by a large percentage of physicians for their patients with uncomplicated myocardial infarction. Use of standard exercise tests has increased among all physician specialties. The treadmill test is most often used, and testing is typically done 6 weeks after infarction. A significant increase in the availability of and familiarity with exercise testing is characteristic of all medical specialties. Symptoms of new chest pain and palpitations are now considered important enough to warrant the recommendation to report immediately to an emergency room. Other current findings include the routine use of coronary angiography by a large percentage of physicians to evaluate the need for surgical intervention, and the routine posthospitalization prescription by only a small percentage of physicians of aspirin and of nitrate drugs for patients with uncomplicated myocardial infarction.