Robert S. Brown’s article “Sport and Healing America” discusses how role that sports played in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on September 11^th, 2001 and specifically the 2001 MLB playoffs and the Super Bowl. However following the MLB playoffs and Super Bowl it was seen that “sport must be recognized for the powerful influence it can have, especially in the light of the messages of healing and inspiration for millions of Americans provided after September 11^th” and it’s an important and valuable part of our country and society. In the days following the attack sporting events across the country were cancelled and there was an unknown as to when they would resume. They eventually did but it wasn’t without debate as to when and who should decide. This was not the first-time sport carried on in the midst of tragedy. President Roosevelt recommended that baseball carry on following Pearl Harbor and the US’ involvement in WWII, as did NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle following the assassination of JFK. Sports matter and following 9/11 “it was clear that they understood their potential role in the healing of society” and baseball starting that process when it resumed play ten days after the attacks. And the continuing healing of our nation culminated with the 2001 World Series which featured the New York Yankees and Arizona Diamondbacks. Prior to game three, President Bush threw out the ceremonial first pitch at Yankee Stadium where he showed no fear and signaled thumbs up to a roaring crowd that chanted U-S-A, U-S-A! Baseball was back and New York mayor Rudy Giuliani said Bush’s appearance “‘shows we’re undeterred and life is moving on the way it should.’”

When it came to the NFL, the Super Bowl was “altered the format to address social issues brought about by 9/11” and during pre-game ceremonies there were tributes made for those who helped America get through what had happened and back to a sense of normalcy. Every aspect of the game had symbols that represented patriotism and love for America. And at halftime U2 performed “Where the Streets Have No Name,” the author states “while the names of those lost on 9/11 scrolled behind them on a giant screen.”

Brown, Robert S. 2004.  “Sport and Healing America”. Springer Science & Business Media. 42 (1): 37-41.  Accessed March 19, 2017. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF02687298.

Lei Sun and other researchers took cloud samples from an area of high elevation in Southern China to examine the chemical characteristics. In total, 141 cloud samples were collected during 44 cloud events over the observation period. (Sun 2015) The primary acidifying factors were sulfate and nitrate, like the many other tests for acid rain though there were some neutralizing elements like calcium and ammonium. They also detected many other very dangerous chemicals in high concentrations in these samples like Pb, Ba, As, and Cr –lead, barium, arsenic, and chromium respectively. The overall pH level came out around 3.79. The variation in cloud chemistry indicated that temperature, sandstorms, and long-range transport could affect the concentrations of species and the lives of many people. (Sun 2015) The data collection method used in this study would have been detached observation of the rainwater and various cloud samples taken from the area of study. Then the researchers needed to compare those findings with measurements taken in other regions of China and east Asia in general. This group studied southern China because it has been identified as the third largest region to be experiencing acid rain pollution after Europe and North America. The research question for this topic was how the chemicals effect the make up of clouds and why acidic clouds behave differently from a more neutral one.

Sun, Lei, et al. “Evaluation of the Behavior of Clouds in a Region of SevereAcid Rain Pollution in Southern China: Species, Complexes, and Variations.” Environmental Science and Pollution Research 22.18 (2015): 14280-14290.

The article, Does Speech Rhythm Sensitivity Predict Children’s Reading Ability 1 Year Later? By Andrew Holliman, Clare Wood, and Kieron Sheehy, question whether speech rhythm sensitivity predicts the different components of reading over time. The study examined 69 five to eight year old English speaking children. The yearlong study started off by giving the children a speech rhythm assessment, along with a cognitive assessment and a variety of reading assessments, and ended exactly one year later by doing the same assessments for the children. After completing both of the assessments over the year long span, the researchers found that when controlling for individual differences in age, vocabulary, and phonological awareness, speech rhythm sensitivity was able to predict unique variances in word reading and the phrasing component of the reading fluency measure one year later. With that being said, the type of data needed to answer this research question would be organizational data because the researchers are looking for changes in reading ability. Subsequently, the data-gathering method would be surveys, but more so in a test-like form. Then, the method of data analysis would be ordinal since the children’s abilities would be rank ordered. I found this to be a very interesting research question and results. Something I believe others may find interesting is the conclusions this research brought. The researchers found that speech rhythm sensitivity should now be included in current models of children’s reading development.

Holliman, Andrew J., Wood, Clare, and Sheehy, Kieron. (2010). Does Speech Rhythm Sensitivity Predict Children’s Reading Ability 1 Year Later? Journal of Educational Psychology, Vol. 102, No. 2, pp. 257-530.

The study is seeking to answer four questions relating to finding out whether: children invest more mental effort in reading than watching television, books being perceived to have made higher demands than television, children thinking that are more capable of learning from television than from books, and looking at television and how the perceived self-efficacy is negatively correlated to mental effort. The study was conducted with sixth-graders from five middle-class elementary schools in the Netherlands. To test the amount of invested mental effort, the individuals being tested had a four-point scale to see how hard they try to understand nine books and television programs. Through this, they are utilizing reports of acts. To test perceived self-efficacy individuals used a four-point scale to test how easy it would be for them to learn ten topics from books and television programs. To test perceived demand characteristics individuals were tested in two ways. First, on a five-point scale, they had to report on how lifelike television and books are and how important it is to know who the producer or author is. Second, on a to a four-choice questionnaire, they were asked why a hypothetical child did or did not completely understand a book or television program. The questionnaires were done in each of the subjects classrooms. A result of this study was that unlike the Salomon study they did not find an alpha value for the questions about how real book and television are. An interesting find from this study was that there was a negative correlation when testing the perceived demand characteristics between books and television programs. Overall, since the study is collecting reports of acts, the study could have collected the data through interviews.

Beentjes, Johannes W. J. 1989. “Learning from Television and Books: A Dutch Replication Study Based on Salomon’s Model”. Educational Technology Research and Development. Vol. 37. No. 2. 47-58.  

Copy

In her article “The Moment When It All Comes Together: Embodied Experiences In Ballet”, author Anna Aalten presents a critique of the one-sided analysis of the misogynist nature of ballet, in contrast to the history of research describing ballet as oppressive. She also attempts to make a contribution to a more embodied form of theory, discussing the ways in which ballet offers women the chance to transcend the discontinuity of body, mind, and emotions. To address these ideas, Aalten focuses on the topic of the “construction and representation of gender in social relations and body practices in ballet.” Her project attempts to answer the question “what is the relationship between the symbolic and material, between representations and embodiment in ballet?” To answer  this question, she collected a wide range of data, ranging from acta and reports of acts, to hidden social patterns. Aalten collected this data in a several ways. She observed different body practices during rehearsals and performances, and collected the life stories of female dancers through interviews. Though the specific type of data analysis method is not described in the article, Aalten clearly used some form of qualitative analysis to draw conclusions from her data. Her results were nuanced. Though the early data she collected seemed to confirm the idea of the stereotypical, oppressed role of women in ballet, her eventual conclusion was that the role of women was very complex, and while ballet did have oppressive elements it also provided a great number of opportunities for women. Personally, I found the research project to be interesting and thoughtful, but also felt it was less specific and detailed about the different parts of the project than i would have liked. Still I enjoyed reading about Aalten’s work, and appreciated her willingness to present her results as being complex, rather than attempting to demonstrate a clear-cut pattern.

The European Journal of Women’s Studies 11.3, August 2004, 263-276

Past research has focused on attitudes toward public spending on welfare. This study is unique in that it will focus on Americans views toward welfare restrictions. As we examine history we see that the welfare state has imposed many restrictions on its recipients. Such as the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 with the creation of Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) required for the first time that mothers work in exchange for public assistance and time limits. These restrictions are based off the belief that recipients are lazy and have to learn to become independent and self sufficient, but what about external forces? What about high unemployment and low wages, how will they be independent if society at large is not offering opportunities for them to make a living?

The first research question asks, “Are those respondents who believe that Blacks and Hispanics are lazy more likely to favor work requirements and reducing benefits on welfare?” second, “Are those respondents who believe that poverty is caused by a lack of effort by the poor more likely to favor work requirements and benefit reductions on welfare” third, “Are those who believe that income should be determined primarily by work more likely to favor work requirements and benefit reductions on welfare?  And lastly, “What is the effect of demographic versus attitudinal variables on attitudes toward welfare?”

The data is a correlational study because it aims to analyze variables, the dependent variables being support for work requirements and reducing welfare benefits. The hypothesis is “public’s demographic membership (i.e. race, gender, and class) significantly affects their attitudes toward minorities, the poor, and work, which in turn impacts their support for welfare restrictions.” The type of data are reports of acts and demographic data. The data analyzed was from the General Social Survey of 1990 which was collected from interviews of US households conducted by the National Opinion and Research Center. The date was analyzed through logistic regression models. The findings revealed reinforcing work ethic are the reasons for work requirements on welfare regardless of the respondents class, race, and gender. The study overall aimed to see if  demographic variables have an effect on one’s views on welfare restrictions. However work ethic is such a fundamental part of our society that it drives social policy such as welfare.
Harris, C. A. (2002). WHO SUPPORTS WELFARE REFORM AND WHY? Race, Gender & Class, 9(1), 96. Retrieved from http://0-search.proquest.com.books.redlands.edu/docview/218870408?accountid=14729

The article I selected is titled Irreversible Climate Change due to Carbon Dioxide Emissions. This article was written by Susan Solomon, Gian-Kasper Plattner, Reto Knutti, and Pierre Friedlingstein, all of which are experts in climate and atmospheric sciences. This journal article attempts to prove that climate change resulting from increases in carbon dioxide concentration is largely irreversible for roughly 1,000 years after the emissions stop.

Both reports of events as well as expert knowledge are required to answer the research question. This data was collected solely through public and private records. They converted the data they gathered into graphs ranging from the year 1800 up to 300 to view carbon dioxide (ppm), surface warming (K) and thermal expansion (m), making it easier to view the data as well as making it more simple to see the relationship between the three.

Their analysis of this data, among other data allowed them to determine that atmospheric warming, precipitation changes, and sea level rise will continually increase for an extended period even if globally we were to stop releasing CO2 at this very moment.

Their research was very complex but their converting it into graphs made it much easier to understand what they, as scientists, where analyzing numerically. I think the most students can take away from this is that every purchase, every mile driven, and nearly every social activity is contributing to the severe degradation of our environment and hopefully some will be encouraged to reconsider the habits, as I have reconsidered mine.

Susan Solomon, Gian-Kasper Plattner, Reto Knutti, Pierre Fredlingstein. Irreversible Climate Change Due to Carbon Dioxide Emissions. 16 December 2008.

In the article Assessing perceptions of the environment in elementary classrooms: the link with achievement  researcher Michelle LaRocque studies the perceptions students have towards the environment of their classrooms, and links those perceptions to possible effects on math and reading achievement levels. Participants in the study were elementary aged students attending school in a large urban school district. In order to gauge student achievement LaRocque pulled from the Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL). Student perception was ranked based off of scores provided by students through My Classroom Inventory (MCI).

LaRocque states the purpose of her study was to, “examines students’ perceptions of their classroom environment as well as whether their perceptions impacted their achievement in math and reading” (LaRocque 2008, 291). For the purpose of her study the researcher asked the following questions: Is there a significant difference in perceptions of the environment based on the gender of the student? Is there a significant difference in perceptions of the environment based on the grade level of the student? Is the gender difference in perceptions of the environment, if it exists, influenced by the grade level of the student? Are perceptions of the environment related to achievement in math and reading?

In order to answer these questions students were asked to complete when the MCI individually. In order to answer the first three research questions a MNOVA was conducted. Follow up ANOVAs were completed when the MNOVA showed to be statistically significant. LaRocque used gender, and grade level as independent variables, and student perceptions on the MCI as dependent variables. When the data was completed it was analyzed for normality using methods of skewness, and kurtosis.

The research conducted was clearly laid out, easy to read, and understand. I enjoyed how the researcher made clear of certain terms, especially in the methods, and procedures section.

This article focuses on past Indigenous communities’ active management of their environments for millennia using a diversity of resource use and conservation strategies. The specific research question asks to what effect did ancient British Colombian indigenous peoples have on their clam gardens. They examined variables in clam gardens with and without past indigenous activity, including intertidal height and clam size. They found clam gardens with past human activity had a much higher density and number of clams than those without human activity. They required acts and events as data, and direct observation was the data collection method. There used ANOVA as their analysis with tidal height as independent variable and clam size as dependent. They examined three walled clam gardens and three non-walled gardens. Overall I think the research was awesome, and really proves how effective Native Americans were at conserving and even improving the natural resources of their land. What was interesting to me was the fact that at some gardens there was evidence of human activity from at least 1000 years ago.

Jackley, J., L. Gardner, A. F. Djunaedi, and A. K. Salomon. 2016. Ancient clam gardens, traditional management portfolios, and the resilience of coupled human-ocean systems. Ecology and Society 21(4): 20. <http://0-web.a.ebscohost.com.books.redlands.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=24&sid=128a04c7-4e86-46a4-b654-32fd8a7b8113%40sessionmgr4008&hid=4214>